Sean Chambers looks for more ground gains against the Griz in 2023
Photo by: R. Dean Hendrickson
BOBCAT GAME DAY NOTEBOOK #11: Status of Treyton Pickering Delayed Until Kickoff of 122nd Cat-Griz Showdown
11/17/2023 10:53:00 AM | Football
MSU and Montana brace for historic showdown, but not historically cold weather
MISSOULA, Montana – As kickoff of a Cat-Griz clash like none before it nears, the Cats face only one unresolved injury issue.
Senior tight end Treyton Pickering missed last week's game and is in the questionable/doubtful range today. He is a game-time decision today. Ryan Loneran is likely to start at tight end.
Linebacker Danny Uluilakepa and safety Dru Polidore are both slated to play this week after missing recent games with injuries.
* * * * *
How important a factor is Wehr's status? PFF has him rated as the top tackle in the FCS. Sophomore Omar Aigbedion, who lines up right next to Wehr at right guard, is the top-rated player at his position. And the next man over, Justus Perkins, is the fifth-rated center.
* * * * *
It will escape no one's notice today that the difference in temperature from the remarkable 2022 Cat-Griz game should be nearly 40 degrees. The contest kicked off at a frigid 11 degrees in Bobcat Stadium one year ago, and temperature at kickoff today is projected to be well over 40.
* * * * *
How big is today's game in a historical context? It marks the first time in the 122 meetings that Montana State and Montana have met with each ranked in the top five. It is also the first game between the two in which the winner walks away with sole possession of the Big Sky Championship.
* * * * *
One of the most legendary figures in college football history, College Football Hall of Fame coach Dennis Erickson, has strong ties in this rivalry and to this particular game.
Erickson, a Bobcat legend who was an All-Big Sky and All-America quarterback who led the Bobcats to three Big Sky Championships, won all three Cat-Griz games in which he played. In 1967, his father Pinky was an assistant coach for the Grizzlies. Seeing his dad on the opposing sideline wasn't new for Erickson, because he played against his father's team in high school in Everett, Washington.
Erickson began his college coaching career as a Bobcat assistant, and that winding road took him to the highest reaches of the college game and to the NFL. His son Ryan took up the family business, and is in his second season an assistant coach for the University of Montana's football team.
* * * * *
If Marcus Wehr is unable to play today, Jacob Kettels steps in. Kettels joined the starting lineup after an injury sidelined Wehr in the second half of 2022.
* * * * *
It was a day for jubilation, the last time Montana State faced the Grizzlies on November 18. The game that ended the 2017 season arrived with both excitement and anxiety for Bobcat fans, who continued to exalt in MSU's upset in Missoula the season before while acknowledging the uneasiness of having lost five straight home games to the arch-rival.
Montana scored early on a field goal, but a Troy Andersen touchdown preceded a 71-yard Nick LaSane bolt on 3rd-and-21 to give the Cats control. The teams traded blows throughout the afternoon until, with just seconds remaining, Tyrel Thomas batted a fourth-down pass to clinch Montana State's win.
* * * * *
Bobcat fans are likely to notice a friendly face wearing maroon on Saturday. UM defensive coordinator Roger Cooper is a former Bobcat All-America and an inductee in the school's athletics hall of fame. He played for the Cats from 2001-04 and was in the Blue and Gold for two historic moments.
Cooper played on the 2002 team that snapped a long losing streak by winning in Missoula and clinching the Big Sky Championship, and one season later he helped the Cats beat the Grizzlies in Bozeman. That game was MSU's first home win against UM in 18 years, and Montana's first-year head coach that season was Bobby Hauck, now Cooper's boss.
An unnoticed but meaningful scene played out after the game, when an MSU athletics official and his young son accompanied Cooper to the post-game press conference and encountered Hauck exiting his media obligations. Cooper encouraged the youngster to shake the visiting coach's hand and offer good wishes, which he did, a solid lesson in sportsmanship from an all-time great Bobcat.
#GoCatsGo
Senior tight end Treyton Pickering missed last week's game and is in the questionable/doubtful range today. He is a game-time decision today. Ryan Loneran is likely to start at tight end.
Linebacker Danny Uluilakepa and safety Dru Polidore are both slated to play this week after missing recent games with injuries.
* * * * *
How important a factor is Wehr's status? PFF has him rated as the top tackle in the FCS. Sophomore Omar Aigbedion, who lines up right next to Wehr at right guard, is the top-rated player at his position. And the next man over, Justus Perkins, is the fifth-rated center.
* * * * *
It will escape no one's notice today that the difference in temperature from the remarkable 2022 Cat-Griz game should be nearly 40 degrees. The contest kicked off at a frigid 11 degrees in Bobcat Stadium one year ago, and temperature at kickoff today is projected to be well over 40.
* * * * *
How big is today's game in a historical context? It marks the first time in the 122 meetings that Montana State and Montana have met with each ranked in the top five. It is also the first game between the two in which the winner walks away with sole possession of the Big Sky Championship.
* * * * *
One of the most legendary figures in college football history, College Football Hall of Fame coach Dennis Erickson, has strong ties in this rivalry and to this particular game.
Erickson, a Bobcat legend who was an All-Big Sky and All-America quarterback who led the Bobcats to three Big Sky Championships, won all three Cat-Griz games in which he played. In 1967, his father Pinky was an assistant coach for the Grizzlies. Seeing his dad on the opposing sideline wasn't new for Erickson, because he played against his father's team in high school in Everett, Washington.
Erickson began his college coaching career as a Bobcat assistant, and that winding road took him to the highest reaches of the college game and to the NFL. His son Ryan took up the family business, and is in his second season an assistant coach for the University of Montana's football team.
* * * * *
If Marcus Wehr is unable to play today, Jacob Kettels steps in. Kettels joined the starting lineup after an injury sidelined Wehr in the second half of 2022.
* * * * *
It was a day for jubilation, the last time Montana State faced the Grizzlies on November 18. The game that ended the 2017 season arrived with both excitement and anxiety for Bobcat fans, who continued to exalt in MSU's upset in Missoula the season before while acknowledging the uneasiness of having lost five straight home games to the arch-rival.
Montana scored early on a field goal, but a Troy Andersen touchdown preceded a 71-yard Nick LaSane bolt on 3rd-and-21 to give the Cats control. The teams traded blows throughout the afternoon until, with just seconds remaining, Tyrel Thomas batted a fourth-down pass to clinch Montana State's win.
* * * * *
Bobcat fans are likely to notice a friendly face wearing maroon on Saturday. UM defensive coordinator Roger Cooper is a former Bobcat All-America and an inductee in the school's athletics hall of fame. He played for the Cats from 2001-04 and was in the Blue and Gold for two historic moments.
Cooper played on the 2002 team that snapped a long losing streak by winning in Missoula and clinching the Big Sky Championship, and one season later he helped the Cats beat the Grizzlies in Bozeman. That game was MSU's first home win against UM in 18 years, and Montana's first-year head coach that season was Bobby Hauck, now Cooper's boss.
An unnoticed but meaningful scene played out after the game, when an MSU athletics official and his young son accompanied Cooper to the post-game press conference and encountered Hauck exiting his media obligations. Cooper encouraged the youngster to shake the visiting coach's hand and offer good wishes, which he did, a solid lesson in sportsmanship from an all-time great Bobcat.
#GoCatsGo
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