No. 3 MSU (2-0) hosts fellow FCS team Maine (1-0) at 6 p.m. Saturday at Bobcat Stadium for their home opener Gold Rush. It’s the first-ever matchup between the Cats and Black Bears.

Maine running back Jaharie Martin was a RB and fullback at MSU from 2019-22, while MSU FB/tight end Rohan Jones transferred from Maine after last season, which saw the team go 2-9 for the second straight year.

The Cats, who have won their last five Gold Rush games, are 28 ½-point favorites, making it their sixth straight win.

Here are five things to watch during Saturday’s game, which will air on Montana CBS, stream on ESPN+ and be broadcast on the Bobcat Radio Network:

The Cats will be without All-Big Sky Conference center Justus Perkins, all-league guard JT Reed and key backup guard Burke Mastel for the third straight game. Conner Moore, last season’s first-string left tackle who started the previous two weeks at left guard, missed the second half of Saturday’s win over Utah Tech with an injury. MSU head coach Brent Vigen said Monday there’s a “reasonable chance” Moore will play against Maine.

Despite the injuries, MSU’s offensive line paved the way to 362 rushing yards on 7.7 yards per carry in the season-opening 35-31 win over New Mexico and 339 yards on 5.7 ypc in last week’s 31-7 win over Utah Tech. MSU’s O-line depth, option-heavy scheme and stable of talented ball carriers — such as All-Big Sky quarterback Tommy Mellott — may be more than enough to run anywhere around Maine, which allowed 4.81 ypc last season (30th most in the FCS).

“They can dominate football games, control the time of possession,” Maine head coach Jordan Stevens told 406 MT Sports on Wednesday. “That’s really impressive, just to see how hard their running backs run, the athleticism of the quarterback and his ability to make plays in the passing game, get the ball down the field, but also ad-lib, make plays with his feet.

“When you watch the film, the field almost seems bigger because of the speed at which they play.”

MSU’s 2-ypc drop-off from Week 0 to Week 1 could be a slight concern considering UNM is an FBS program and Utah Tech is an unranked FCS team. MSU’s first two drives last week ended in punts, and three red zone trips resulted in field goal attempts.

Against the Cats, UNM had six QB hits and three sacks, two of which forced fumbles that were returned for touchdowns. Utah Tech finished with three QB hits and one sack last Saturday.

Colgate’s offense isn’t as good as MSU’s, but struggled in last week’s 17-14 loss to the Black Bears, ultimately allowing 303 total yards, 4.0 ypc, two turnovers and two sacks.

Vigen praised Maine’s defense, led by D tackle Izaiah Henderson (49 tackles, 9 ½ tackles for loss, four sacks last season), D end Xavier Holmes (one sack last week; 51 tackles, 7 ½ TFLs, 2 ½ sacks last season), nose tackle John Costanza (26 tackles, 3 ½ TFLs, two sacks last season) and DE Jacob Tuiasosopo (one sack last week).

“No preseason all-conference guys. That surprises me because I think they have some good players, especially in their front seven,” Vigen said. “They’re a team that seems principled in what they’re trying to do.”

Maine threw for the 10th-most passing yards per game in the FCS last season (280.1) and had the 25th-best completion percentage (64.2%), with 27 TDs and 13 interceptions. However, the Black Bears ranked 48th in yards per attempt (7.25) and 79th in yards per completion (11.29).

Maine’s starting QB last season was All-Coastal Athletic Association honorable mention Derek Robertson, who now plays at Monmouth (Maine hosts Monmouth next week). The Black Bears acquired Carter Peevy from Mercer in the offseason, and the grad transfer completed 16 of 21 passes for 182 yards, no TDs and no INTs last week against Colgate. He averaged 11.38 yards per completion with one long pass of 33 yards.

The first two QBs MSU faced this season combined for one completed pass of 14-plus yards and averaged 9.17 yards per completion against the Cats. That second number is much lower for snaps against MSU’s starting defense. MSU forced three-and-outs on all eight drives with its first-stringers on the field against Utah Tech.

“They’re a very physical, aggressive defensive line,” Stevens said. “Their linebackers are flying from sideline to sideline. When I watched the Utah Tech game and even the New Mexico game, it seemed like once the ball got out of the numbers or in the numbers, how quickly guys would come out and take the ball down.

“They absolutely dominated the game against Utah Tech.”

MSU’s defense has yet to record a sack — its first consecutive game without a sack since 2017. But the Cats pressed in both games and had to deal with a seven-player max defense against UNM, Vigen noted.

While MSU’s players would like to have more sacks, it’s hard for them to complain about their overall results. Their first-string defense allowed 17 points on 324 total yards at UNM (which scored 39 points on 470 yards last week against Power 4-ranked Arizona) and zero points on 48 yards at Utah Tech.

“We were the best in the country in sacks (per game) last year, and we didn’t play great defense,” Vigen said. “We played good defense, but we didn’t play, in my estimation, championship-caliber defense. So that sack stat is tough. I know we have some guys that can really get after the quarterback.”

With only two of Maine’s first-string O-linemen (guards Jack Boutaugh and Nicolas Cruji) starting games last season, the Black Bears could try short passing and max protection on Saturday, especially since they have a proven backfield blocker in Martin. Or perhaps they’re hoping the O-line can give Peevy enough time to throw passes to talented receivers like Montigo Moss, son of NFL Hall of Fame wideout Randy Moss.

MSU’s Taco Dowler averaged 23.2 yards per punt return with a long of 53 against Utah Tech. The redshirt sophomore from Billings could turn the field around again on Saturday against Maine, which allowed 14.75 yards per punt return in 2023 (11th most in the FCS).

“We had a good plan in place. He’s not the only one there,” Vigen said last Saturday. “But he’s dangerous and reliable at the same time. I think you don’t just take a chance with that combination. He’s going to catch the ball at least, he’s going to make really good decisions. And he’s got a nose for opening up and making some meters.”

While Aidan Cadogan and Bailey Timms (who exhausted his eligibility in 2023) allowed 20 punt returns last season, Maine’s punting team may be more frugal this year. Cadogan made fair catches on all four of his punts last week.

The Cats’ first field goal attempt of the season was blocked. Vigen credited Utah Tech player Scooter Jackson, who made the play, saying the MSU blocker “didn’t get a good piece” from Jackson.

It wasn’t a problem on MSU’s other two field goal attempts. Myles Sansted missed his second kick to the left and made his third. The sophomore has also been perfect on point-after attempts in two games.

Whether it’s Sansted or Casey Kautzman — whose injury status was uncertain Monday, according to Vigen — placekicking Saturday, blocks will still be a concern for MSU. The Cats allowed five blocked kicks last season (tied for fifth in the FCS), while Maine blocked three (tied for 24th).

Playing the No. 3 FCS team is tough enough. The Black Bears also have to deal with an excited Gold Rush crowd in a place where virtually none of their players and coaches have ever been. The Cats will likely play with more intensity than most weeks, and the fan noise could cause false starts and other mistakes by Maine (the Black Bears committed six penalties at home last week).

Orono, Maine, which is just above sea level, is much more humid than Bozeman, which is at an elevation of over 4,700 feet and where temperatures at the start of Saturday are about 85 degrees Fahrenheit with less than 20 percent humidity.

“We’ve been doing extra conditioning all summer and getting our guys cardiovascularly prepared to play in that environment,” Stevens said.

Maine played New Mexico to open the 2022 season, and Stevens “felt our players handled it pretty well” in terms of the heat and altitude (Albuquerque is a mile high). That game was played before 15,166 spectators — about 6,500 fewer than either of MSU’s last two Gold Rush visitors — and UNM defeated the Black Bears 41-0.