R. Dean Hendrickson
football
Bill Lamberty
Bobcats want to build on good start against CAA team
BOZEMAN, Montana – The Montana State football team faces the same situation as only two previous Bobcat teams on Saturday when the team welcomes Maine to Bobcat Stadium for the annual Gold Rush game.
After two games in opposing stadiums, the Bobcats are 2-0. This has only happened before in 1957 and 1899.
“After a few weeks on the road, a lot of travel, heat and different environments, we are excited to be back at Bobcat Stadium for our first home game,” said MSU head coach Brent Vigen.
This year’s Gold Rush game begins at 6 p.m. Saturday and features an exciting, intersectional matchup. Maine and MSU will face each other on the field for the first time, but there is a certain level of familiarity. From an overall perspective, this will be the third Coastal Athletic Association (formerly Colonial Athletic Association) opponent MSU has faced at Gold Rush, and the eighth current CAA member overall.
There is also some intrigue on a personal level. Montana State leads the team in receiving yards after two games. Rohan Jonesa junior who transferred from Maine to MSU. The Black Bears’ rushing leader after the opening game is Jaharie Martinwho transferred from Montana State to Maine.
“I’m not really focused on them, it’s all about us,” Jones said of the game against his former team. “It’s my first home game here at Bobcat Stadium, so I’m really excited to play here in front of our fans in our city. I’m looking forward to it.”
Jones has been outstanding early in his first season with the Cats, catching seven passes for 92 yards and a 46-yard touchdown. Martin, for his part, rushed for 66 yards last week, including a touchdown run late in the third quarter that gave the Black Bears a 17-7 lead and swung the momentum in Maine’s favor.
Vigen said Maine’s momentum is consistently positive as a program. “At first glance, they have a lot of experience,” Vigen said. “They have 27 guys on their roster that are listed as seniors or graduates. Last year they were 2-9, but it was still a team that averaged 24 points per game with a number of close losses in between, and they’re very good on both offense and defense. You can see it’s a team that’s trending in the right direction.”
While Jones is one of the many offensive players who stand out as a star piece for the Bobcats, defense is the focus. Particularly defense on third down.
“We made a lot of plays on third down,” Vigen said of his team’s stifling defensive performance at Utah Tech. The same can be said for the opening game at New Mexico, when MSU held the Lobos to 1-for-8 on third down, but Utah Tech’s performance was notable. MSU did not allow the Trailblazers a first down until early in the fourth quarter.
“When you don’t allow a first down until the fourth quarter, it speaks volumes about the execution, but the performance was really phenomenal,” Vigen said. “I thought we were flying around, but more than flying around, I thought the performance was intentional. We were where we were supposed to be, we tackled well, we made it really difficult for their quarterbacks to get into any kind of rhythm.”
On offense, Montana State continues to focus on the running attack. The Cats averaged 350.5 rushing yards and threw for 178.5 yards in their two games, with nearly two-thirds of the team’s offensive plays coming on the ground. But none of that matters much to Vigen, he said.
“We won as a team and we put a lot of things together in the first two games,” he said. “The defense largely outpaced the offense in the first half (at Utah Tech) and we took control of the game in the third quarter. It was a good win.”
Saturday’s game will be broadcast on CBS stations across the state through Scripps Sports Montana. Ben Creighton, Ty Gregorak and Grace Lawrence will provide commentary. The game will also be broadcast on the Bobcat Radio Network, with Keaton Gillogly joined in the booth by former Bobcats Michael Rider and on the sidelines by Dan Davies.
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