R. Dean Hendrickson

Football
9/4/2024 16:43:00

Lamberty’s Account

Bobcats look to extend good start against CAA team

BOZEMAN, Montana – The Montana State football team will face the same situation as two previous Bobcat teams on Saturday when it welcomes Maine to Bobcat Stadium for the annual Gold Rush game.

After two games in opposing stadiums, the Bobcats are 2-0. The only times this has happened before were in 1957 and 1899.

“After several weeks on the road, traveling extensively, playing in the heat and living in different environments, we are very excited to be back in Bobcat Stadium for our first home game,” said MSU head coach Brent Vigen.

This year’s Gold Rush game kicks off at 6 p.m. Saturday and offers an intriguing intersectional matchup. Maine and MSU will face off on the court for the first time, but there’s a small amount of familiarity. From a big-picture perspective, they’ll be the third Coastal Athletic Association (formerly Colonial Athletic Association) opponent MSU has faced for Gold Rush and the eighth current CAA member overall.

Some intrigue also occurs on a personal level. Montana State receives yards leader after two games is Rohan Jonesa junior who transferred from Maine to MSU. The Black Bears’ leader after the opener is Jaharie Martinwho transferred from Montana State to Maine.

“I’m not really focused on them, it’s all about us,” Jones said of playing against his former team. “It’s my first home game here at Bobcat Stadium, so I’m really excited to be out here playing in front of our fans in our city. I’m excited about that.”

Jones was terrific early in his first season with the Cats, catching seven passes for 92 yards and a touchdown of 46 yards. Martin ran for 66 yards last week. That included 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.

As a program, Vigen said Maine’s momentum is all positive. “On the surface, they have a lot of experience,” Vigen said. “They have 27 guys in their two-deep that are listed as seniors or graduates. Last year, they were 2-9, but they were still a team that averaged 24 points a game with some close losses, and they’re very good on both the offensive and defensive lines. You can tell they’re a team that’s going in the right direction.”

While Jones is one of many offensive players who have emerged as standouts for the Bobcats, the defense has become the storyline, specifically the third down defense.

“We made a lot of plays on third down,” Vigen said of his team’s stifling defense at Utah Tech. The same was true in the opener at New Mexico, when MSU held the Lobos to 1-for-8 on third down, but Utah Tech’s road game was notable. MSU didn’t allow a Trailblazer first down until early in the fourth quarter.

“When you don’t give up a first down until the fourth quarter, that speaks volumes about the execution, but the effort was really phenomenal,” Vigen said. “I thought we were flying, but more than flying, I thought the effort was intentional. We were where we needed to be, we tackled well, we really made it difficult for their quarterbacks to get into a rhythm.”

Offensively, Montana State’s production remains focused on the running attack. The Cats are averaging 350.5 rushing yards in their two games, throwing for 178.5, with nearly two-thirds of the team’s offensive plays coming on the ground. But that doesn’t matter much to Vigen, he said.

“We’re winning as a team and we put a lot of pieces together” in the first two outings, he said. “The defense pretty much took 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 televised on Scripps Sports Montana on CBS stations in the state. Ben Creighton, Ty Gregorak and Grace Lawrence will have the call. The game will also be broadcast on the Bobcat Radio Network, with Keaton Gillogly, former Bobcat Michael Rider in the booth and Dan Davies on the sidelines.

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