BOBCAT SUNDAY NOTEBOOK #2: Cats Post First Regular Season Win Over Top 12 Foe Since 2010

Saturday, September 7

BOZEMAN

6 p.m.

Montana State University

1-1

Southeast Missouri State

1-1

1st

2nd

3rd

4th

Southeast Missouri

Montana State

Photo by: Garrett Becker

BOBCAT SUNDAY NOTEBOOK #2: Cats Post First Regular Season Win Over Top 12 Foe Since 2010

9/8/2019 5:49:00 PM | Football

Box Score

Troy Andersen, Bryce Sterk lead the Cats to a big Gold Rush victory

By: Bill Lamberty

Below is a look back at Montana State's Gold Rush victory over 12th-ranked Southeast Missouri, and a quick look at next week's game at Western Illinois...

PLAYER OF THE WEEK NOMINATIONS
OFFENSE: Troy Andersen, RB (6-4, 233, Jr, Dillon, Montana)
Troy Andersen started Saturday's non-conference showdown against #13 Southeast Missouri at linebacker, but he changed the game at running back. On Montana State's second offensive play Andersen lined up at quarterback, the position he started 11 games at for the Cats in 2018, kept the ball on a zone read, and dashed 38 yards for a touchdown to give Montana State a 7-0 lead. The junior from Dillon, Montana, gained 52 yards in the first quarter then gashed the Redhawks for 50 more in the decisive third quarter. Andersen galloped 44 yards on the second play of the second half to set up an MSU touchdown that put the Cats up 17-10, and on the team's next possession scored on a two-yard touchdown run. Andersen finished with 102 yards rushing on just six carries (17.0 yards per carry), and scored two touchdowns. The game marked Andersen's 11^th career 100-yard game, raising his career totals to 2,029 yards (12^th in MSU history) and 28 career touchdowns (4^th).

DEFENSE: Bryce Sterk, DE (6-5, 261, Sr, Lynden, WA)
Senior defensive end Bryce Sterk continued his pace as one of the most prolific pass rushers in college football, logging three against Southeast Missouri on Saturday. The senior from Lynden, Washington, logged six tackles, three of them sacks, as Montana State held 12^th-ranked Southeast Missouri to just 245 yards and 12 first downs. His first sack came on SEMO's second possession, his second came midway through the third quarter, and his final sack came as the Redhawks threatened to score late in the fourth quarter. The first two possessions ended in punts, the final with Southeast Missouri turning the ball over on downs. After leading the Big Sky in sacks and tackles-for-loss during the regular season in 2018, Sterk is up to his old tricks as a senior. His 2.0 sacks per game is 2^nd in the FCS through two weeks and his 2.0 tackles-for-loss per game is 15^th in the FCS. He leads the Big Sky in both categories. His 5.0 solo tackles per game is 6^th in the Big Sky.

SPECIAL TEAMS: none

POST-GAME NEWS & NOTES
Injury Report: Out – WR Willie Patterson, CB Greg Filer III, CB Ty Okada

• Montana State's last win over a team ranked as high as 12^th in the FCS 2012, when the Bobcats beat #11 Stony Brook 16-10 in a home playoff game. The last regular season win over a top 12 team was November 20, 2010 in Missoula, when the Cats beat the Grizzlies 21-16. The last home win against a team ranked that high was that same season (September 25) when the 17^th-ranked Bobcats beat #9 Eastern Washington 30-7.
• In the first 12 plays of Montana State's win over Southeast Missouri on Saturday, Troy Andersen scored on a 38-yard touchdown run and ended a SEMO drive with a third-down sack.
• Montana State is now 11-1 in Gold Rush games, and Saturday's crowd of 19,497 was 13^th-largest in MSU history and the fourth-largest for a non-conference game.
• Montana State has forced at least one turnover in 12 consecutive games.
• Southeast Missouri led the FCS in takeaways a season ago, but the Redhawks' only turnover received Saturday was a botched punt snap that SEMO recovered and converted into a touchdown drive.
• A week after scoring his first touchdown as a Bobcat, Coy Steel logged his first blocked punt against Southeast Missouri on Saturday. It was MSU's first of the season, but was the team's second in the last four games. Nolan Askelson blocked an Incarnate Word punt in the Playoffs last season.
• Through two games the Cats have committed just one turnover and been flagged seven times. The 3.50 penalties per game is 6^th in the FCS (2^nd in the Big Sky), while MSU's 40.0 penalty yards per game is 25^th in the FCS (2^nd in the Big Sky).
• The Cats have surrendered just one sack in each game after allowing a Big Sky-low 11 sacks (in 13 games) a season ago. The 1.0 sacks allowed per game is 20^th in the FCS, 2^nd in the Big Sky.
• One dozen different players have carried the ball for the Bobcats through two games, five have thrown passes, and nine have caught passes.
• Of Montana State's six coaches in the Division I era that spent more than one season at MSU, only Mike Kramer (five in eight seasons) faced a Division I opponent in his team's home opener more than Jeff Choate (this week makes it four seasons, four DI home openers). In Jeff Choate's first four seasons at Montana State, his teams will play only one non-Division I opponent (which was scheduled before Choate arrived).
• The Cats face teams from every different direction in September – Southeast Missouri, Western Illinois, and Northern Arizona.

STAT SNIPPETS
Montana State is one of 16 teams in the FCS to have turned the ball over no more than once, and only half of those teams have played two games… the Cats have surrendered one sack in each game, good for 20^th in the FCS and second in the Big Sky… on the flip side of that coin, the team's 3.0 sacks per game is 10^th in the FCS, third in the Big Sky… Jered Padmos averages 49.8 yards per punt, second in the FCS… Isaiah Ifanse's 191 rushing yards (95.5 per game) is 21^st in the FCS, third in the Big Sky.

FIRST LOOK: Montana State at Western Illinois
Game Details: Date – September 14 Kickoff – 2 pm MT Special Promotions – NA Audio – Statewide on the Bobcat Radio Network and msubobcats.com Video/Streaming – ESPN+($)