Tommy Mellott (photo by Colter Peterson)
Photo by: Montana State University
GAME #8: Bobcats Head West to Face Explosive Portland State on Saturday Afternoon
10/17/2024 3:19:00 PM | Football
Tommy Mellott, Dante Chachere square off in matchup of brilliant quarterbacks
BOZEMAN, Montana – As Brent Vigen leads his third-ranked Montana State football team on the road for the first time in three weeks, he knows a stern test lies ahead.
"Portland State got their first win this past weekend, and they're a very dangerous team," Vigen said. "They're a team that gave us fits last year, it was a 17-14 game at halftime. They certainly have one of the more explosive players in our league and probably in the country in Dante Chachere at quarterback. He was 200-200 (yards rushing and passing) plus and accounted for six TDs at Idaho State last week, and they've got really good skill led by Quincy Craig who's a running back-slash-receiver type."
Vigen cautions that Portland State's 1-5 overall record (1-2 in the Big Sky) says more about one of the toughest schedules in the Football Championship Subdivision (FCS) than the quality of opponent in front of Montana State (7-0, 3-0) on Saturday. The game stands as Portland State's second home game after a contest against South Dakota was cancelled, but the Vikings have already played two Division I Football Bowl Subdivision teams, Washington State and Boise State, along with two nationally-ranked FCS foes.
That schedule skews most obvious evaluation points, Vigen said. "They have two games, Washington State and Boise, where they gave up 126 points, so that's hard to make your way back statistically no matter what you do," he said. "But a lot of credit goes to Coach Barnum and that staff for keeping them together. Going on the road, being down, (against) Idaho State, an emerging team, to go on the road and pull that out is impressive."
Chachere's brilliance at Idaho State, when he threw for 216 yards and ran for 202, led to conference and national player of the week honors. "He's just a tremendous athlete," Vigen said, "and his ability to make quick decisions and positive plays, the unscripted in his game is significant. The unscripted is hard to practice for, it's really hard to replicate in practice. He's throwing the ball well, and beyond throwing the ball to Craig they have three receivers that are really dangerous."
Craig is a key weapon for the Vikings. He rushes for 43.2 yards a game, and is PSU's leading receiver with 24 catches. Eric Denham's 328 receiving yards leads the team in that category, Deion Thompson adds punch in the running game at 4.7 yards per carry and 50.2 per game.
Vigen said Portland State's ability to neutralize an offense in different ways presents a challenge. "They're multiple, they're a pretty active front," he said. "When you look at their numbers it's not like they've lit the world on fire but two weeks ago (UC) Davis is coming off their win against Idaho and goes up there and (PSU) really defended Davis well. It ultimately came down to the final play, and they took Davis' running game and really made it hard. Davis had to throw it probably more than they want to, more than 50 times that game if I'm correct, and it wasn't at a high rate, either. They can play to a high level."
Linebackers Michael Montgomery and Peyton Wing lead the Vikings with 51 tackles each, 4.5 behind the line of scrimmage for Wing with four passes broken up for Montgomery. Defensive end Spencer Elliott has one sack, one interception, and one forced fumble.
Saturday's game, with a 2 pm MT kickoff, marks Montana State's third visit to Hillsboro Stadium, where the Vikings moved in 2019. The Cats earned a 43-23 there in 2018, and 30-17 in 2021. Other than those two losses to the Bobcats, PSU is 13-7 there.
The Bobcats ride tremendous balance into Saturday's contest. MSU leads the Big Sky in scoring offense (41.3 points per game), total offense (498.6 yards per game), rushing offense (311.4), passing efficiency (175.71), and fewest passes intercepted (0).
Defensively, MSU continues to deal with a wave of injuries. After losing a starter in the front (nose tackle Blake Schmidt) and secondary (safety Caden Dowler) in the previous two weeks, the Cats lost three-year starting linebacker Danny Uluilakepa last week.
Saturday's game is televised around Montana on MTN stations over the air (KBZK Bozeman 7.2, KXLF Butte 4.2, KTVQ Billings 2.2, KPAX Missoula-Kalispell 8.2) and NBC on all platforms in Helena (KTVH 12.1) and Great Falls (KTGF 19.1). For more information visit mtnmontana.com/findus. The game is also broadcast across the state on the Bobcat Radio Network.
#GoCatsGo
"Portland State got their first win this past weekend, and they're a very dangerous team," Vigen said. "They're a team that gave us fits last year, it was a 17-14 game at halftime. They certainly have one of the more explosive players in our league and probably in the country in Dante Chachere at quarterback. He was 200-200 (yards rushing and passing) plus and accounted for six TDs at Idaho State last week, and they've got really good skill led by Quincy Craig who's a running back-slash-receiver type."
Vigen cautions that Portland State's 1-5 overall record (1-2 in the Big Sky) says more about one of the toughest schedules in the Football Championship Subdivision (FCS) than the quality of opponent in front of Montana State (7-0, 3-0) on Saturday. The game stands as Portland State's second home game after a contest against South Dakota was cancelled, but the Vikings have already played two Division I Football Bowl Subdivision teams, Washington State and Boise State, along with two nationally-ranked FCS foes.
That schedule skews most obvious evaluation points, Vigen said. "They have two games, Washington State and Boise, where they gave up 126 points, so that's hard to make your way back statistically no matter what you do," he said. "But a lot of credit goes to Coach Barnum and that staff for keeping them together. Going on the road, being down, (against) Idaho State, an emerging team, to go on the road and pull that out is impressive."
Chachere's brilliance at Idaho State, when he threw for 216 yards and ran for 202, led to conference and national player of the week honors. "He's just a tremendous athlete," Vigen said, "and his ability to make quick decisions and positive plays, the unscripted in his game is significant. The unscripted is hard to practice for, it's really hard to replicate in practice. He's throwing the ball well, and beyond throwing the ball to Craig they have three receivers that are really dangerous."
Craig is a key weapon for the Vikings. He rushes for 43.2 yards a game, and is PSU's leading receiver with 24 catches. Eric Denham's 328 receiving yards leads the team in that category, Deion Thompson adds punch in the running game at 4.7 yards per carry and 50.2 per game.
Vigen said Portland State's ability to neutralize an offense in different ways presents a challenge. "They're multiple, they're a pretty active front," he said. "When you look at their numbers it's not like they've lit the world on fire but two weeks ago (UC) Davis is coming off their win against Idaho and goes up there and (PSU) really defended Davis well. It ultimately came down to the final play, and they took Davis' running game and really made it hard. Davis had to throw it probably more than they want to, more than 50 times that game if I'm correct, and it wasn't at a high rate, either. They can play to a high level."
Linebackers Michael Montgomery and Peyton Wing lead the Vikings with 51 tackles each, 4.5 behind the line of scrimmage for Wing with four passes broken up for Montgomery. Defensive end Spencer Elliott has one sack, one interception, and one forced fumble.
Saturday's game, with a 2 pm MT kickoff, marks Montana State's third visit to Hillsboro Stadium, where the Vikings moved in 2019. The Cats earned a 43-23 there in 2018, and 30-17 in 2021. Other than those two losses to the Bobcats, PSU is 13-7 there.
The Bobcats ride tremendous balance into Saturday's contest. MSU leads the Big Sky in scoring offense (41.3 points per game), total offense (498.6 yards per game), rushing offense (311.4), passing efficiency (175.71), and fewest passes intercepted (0).
Defensively, MSU continues to deal with a wave of injuries. After losing a starter in the front (nose tackle Blake Schmidt) and secondary (safety Caden Dowler) in the previous two weeks, the Cats lost three-year starting linebacker Danny Uluilakepa last week.
Saturday's game is televised around Montana on MTN stations over the air (KBZK Bozeman 7.2, KXLF Butte 4.2, KTVQ Billings 2.2, KPAX Missoula-Kalispell 8.2) and NBC on all platforms in Helena (KTVH 12.1) and Great Falls (KTGF 19.1). For more information visit mtnmontana.com/findus. The game is also broadcast across the state on the Bobcat Radio Network.
#GoCatsGo
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