Photo by: R. Dean Hendrickson
BOBCAT CALENDAR: Today in 1998, Rob Compson Led the Cats to a Big Win at Cal State Northridge
10/24/2020 9:00:00 AM | Football
Kevin Lundstrom intercepted two fourth-quarter passes
A day by day look at Bobcat football history...
October 24
SPOTLIGHT: If it hasn't already happened, there will be a day when Big Sky Conference football fans will see an asterisk next to their team's game against Cal State Northridge between 1996 and 2000 and be a little surprised that the Matadors were once a Big Sky football rival.
Anyone in the Big Sky in the late '90s will have no trouble vouching for this statement - playing the Matadors in Northridge was a unique experience. For one thing, the stadium was on the very edge of campus, and felt more like a trip to a strip mall than to a college football game. But more seriously, the stadium was an old horse racing track. The press box was converted from private boxes where once aficianados in the Valley watched the ponies ply their trade.
As a football stadium it was a pretty mediocre horse track, but the Northridge football team was no joke. That club always had talent - when CSN dropped football in 2001 the bobcats benefited by taking Bruce and Jonathan Molock, Isaac Gardner, and Jason Nicastro. All four helped the Bobcats to championships.
In 1998, the matchup between MSU and the Matadors at North Campus Stadium pitted a pair of 4-2 teams with title hopes. The home team opened the scoring with a Manny Marquez field goal and a touchdown by brilliant quarterback Marcus Brady. The Cats answered with a two-yard Lathian Tyler touchdown run late in the first quarter, but Marquez kicked another field goal early in the second quarter to give CSN a 13-7 lead. Marquez and MSU's Mathew Peot traded field goals to close the quarter, and MSU trailed 16-10 at the intermission.
Again, field goals were swapped in the third quarter, and trailing 19-13 the Bobcat offense came to life. Rob Compson moved the Cats 66 yards in nine plays, finishing the drive with a four-yard scoring pass to Chip Hobbs. The kick failed,
Early in the fourth quarter, Eric Kinnaman tipped the game in MSU's favor by scampering 63 yards to the Northridge seven. Lathian Tyler scored on the next play, and MSU led 26-7.With 9:01 remaining, Kevin Lundstrom intercepted a pass on the next play from scrimmage, and four plays later Compson connected with Hobbs again on a 47-yard strike to push MSU into a 32-19 lead.
But strange things happed at North Campus Stadium, and things were about to get weird. On the ensuing drive Lundstrom again intercepted Brady, and MSU appeared headed toward a blowout when the Bobcats drove down the field. On second-and-seven from the CSN 13, Tyler's fumble was scooped up by Vito Clemente, and after lateralling the ball Brennen Swanson dashed 73 yards for a touchdown. What was about to become a blowout suddenly was again a squeaker. Cal State Northridge got the ball after an MSU punt, but Shon Flores ended the proceedings with another interception.
For those counting, Montana State had intercepted Brady on each of CSN's last three offensive possessions. It was a statement win for a Bobcat team that would finish with seven wins.
GAMES ON TODAY'S DATE
2015 - MSU 63, East Tennessee State 7
2009 - at Eastern Washington 35, MSU 24
1998 - MSU 32, at Cal State Northridge 26
1992 - at UM 29, MSU 17 - Most recent Cat-Griz in late October
1987 - at Northern Arizona 54, MSU 21
1981 - at Northern Arizona 20, MSU 14
1970 - MSU 28, Northern Arizona 8
1964 - at NDSU 7, MSU 0
1959 - at Utah State 22, MSU 13
1953 - at North Dakota 14, MSU 7
1936 - UM 27, MSU 0 at Butte
1931 - UM 37, MSU 6 at Butte
1923 - Montana Tech 7, MSU 2
1922 - MSU 34, at Rocky Mountain 6
1914 - MSU 26, at Montana Tech 0
1902 - MSU 5, Broadway AC Butte 5
FINIS: For Treasure State football fans of a certain age playing the Cat-Griz game in late October was *the* tradition, but in the full scope of the series that was a fairly small slice of time. In 1981 the Grizzlies came to Bozeman on Halloween, and the Bobcats beat their arch-rivals 27-17. In eight of 12 seasons from that season until 1992, the Bobcats and Grizzlies got together on the last Saturday in October. In the other four years, the game fell on the first Saturday in November. More generally, though, UM and Montana State didn't close the regular season together from 1964 to 1993. From college football's genesis in Montana in 1897 until 1934 the Grizzlies closed Montana State's season 20 times. Talk over moving Cat-Griz to "Rivalry Week," or the Saturday before Thanksgiving, revved up in the early '90s, and MSU Director of Men's Athletics Doug Fullerton worked with UM AD Bill Moos and Big Sky Commissioner Ron Stephenson to move the rivalry game to the end of the regular season in 1993. That has remained the case ever since.
Was it a good move? In the 27 years that Montana State has faced UM on Rivalry Week, the winner has captured at least a share of the Big Sky Championship 18 times.
October 24
SPOTLIGHT: If it hasn't already happened, there will be a day when Big Sky Conference football fans will see an asterisk next to their team's game against Cal State Northridge between 1996 and 2000 and be a little surprised that the Matadors were once a Big Sky football rival.
Anyone in the Big Sky in the late '90s will have no trouble vouching for this statement - playing the Matadors in Northridge was a unique experience. For one thing, the stadium was on the very edge of campus, and felt more like a trip to a strip mall than to a college football game. But more seriously, the stadium was an old horse racing track. The press box was converted from private boxes where once aficianados in the Valley watched the ponies ply their trade.
As a football stadium it was a pretty mediocre horse track, but the Northridge football team was no joke. That club always had talent - when CSN dropped football in 2001 the bobcats benefited by taking Bruce and Jonathan Molock, Isaac Gardner, and Jason Nicastro. All four helped the Bobcats to championships.
In 1998, the matchup between MSU and the Matadors at North Campus Stadium pitted a pair of 4-2 teams with title hopes. The home team opened the scoring with a Manny Marquez field goal and a touchdown by brilliant quarterback Marcus Brady. The Cats answered with a two-yard Lathian Tyler touchdown run late in the first quarter, but Marquez kicked another field goal early in the second quarter to give CSN a 13-7 lead. Marquez and MSU's Mathew Peot traded field goals to close the quarter, and MSU trailed 16-10 at the intermission.
Again, field goals were swapped in the third quarter, and trailing 19-13 the Bobcat offense came to life. Rob Compson moved the Cats 66 yards in nine plays, finishing the drive with a four-yard scoring pass to Chip Hobbs. The kick failed,
Early in the fourth quarter, Eric Kinnaman tipped the game in MSU's favor by scampering 63 yards to the Northridge seven. Lathian Tyler scored on the next play, and MSU led 26-7.With 9:01 remaining, Kevin Lundstrom intercepted a pass on the next play from scrimmage, and four plays later Compson connected with Hobbs again on a 47-yard strike to push MSU into a 32-19 lead.
But strange things happed at North Campus Stadium, and things were about to get weird. On the ensuing drive Lundstrom again intercepted Brady, and MSU appeared headed toward a blowout when the Bobcats drove down the field. On second-and-seven from the CSN 13, Tyler's fumble was scooped up by Vito Clemente, and after lateralling the ball Brennen Swanson dashed 73 yards for a touchdown. What was about to become a blowout suddenly was again a squeaker. Cal State Northridge got the ball after an MSU punt, but Shon Flores ended the proceedings with another interception.
For those counting, Montana State had intercepted Brady on each of CSN's last three offensive possessions. It was a statement win for a Bobcat team that would finish with seven wins.
GAMES ON TODAY'S DATE
2015 - MSU 63, East Tennessee State 7
2009 - at Eastern Washington 35, MSU 24
1998 - MSU 32, at Cal State Northridge 26
1992 - at UM 29, MSU 17 - Most recent Cat-Griz in late October
1987 - at Northern Arizona 54, MSU 21
1981 - at Northern Arizona 20, MSU 14
1970 - MSU 28, Northern Arizona 8
1964 - at NDSU 7, MSU 0
1959 - at Utah State 22, MSU 13
1953 - at North Dakota 14, MSU 7
1936 - UM 27, MSU 0 at Butte
1931 - UM 37, MSU 6 at Butte
1923 - Montana Tech 7, MSU 2
1922 - MSU 34, at Rocky Mountain 6
1914 - MSU 26, at Montana Tech 0
1902 - MSU 5, Broadway AC Butte 5
FINIS: For Treasure State football fans of a certain age playing the Cat-Griz game in late October was *the* tradition, but in the full scope of the series that was a fairly small slice of time. In 1981 the Grizzlies came to Bozeman on Halloween, and the Bobcats beat their arch-rivals 27-17. In eight of 12 seasons from that season until 1992, the Bobcats and Grizzlies got together on the last Saturday in October. In the other four years, the game fell on the first Saturday in November. More generally, though, UM and Montana State didn't close the regular season together from 1964 to 1993. From college football's genesis in Montana in 1897 until 1934 the Grizzlies closed Montana State's season 20 times. Talk over moving Cat-Griz to "Rivalry Week," or the Saturday before Thanksgiving, revved up in the early '90s, and MSU Director of Men's Athletics Doug Fullerton worked with UM AD Bill Moos and Big Sky Commissioner Ron Stephenson to move the rivalry game to the end of the regular season in 1993. That has remained the case ever since.
Was it a good move? In the 27 years that Montana State has faced UM on Rivalry Week, the winner has captured at least a share of the Big Sky Championship 18 times.
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