BOZEMAN, Montana — At long last, the Bobcats take to the gridiron. And Montana State’s opener at Wyoming on Saturday comes with extra intrigue.
MSU hasn’t played since falling 49-14 to No. 1 North Dakota State in December of 2019 in the semifinals of the FCS playoffs. That turned out to be Jeff Choate’s final game at the helm for the Bobcats.
Saturday, Brent Vigen will make his head coaching debut against a Wyoming Cowboys squad he served as the offensive coordinator for the last seven seasons.
Montana State saw the Big Sky Conference delay the fall season before MSU opted out of the spring season as well. Now a team led by a talented core spearheaded by Troy Andersen is thinking big, starting with the Cowboys.
“We’ve been looking at Wyoming for months,” MSU redshirt freshman offensive tackle T.J. Session said. “We are so ready for this game. It’s better man wins and right now, I feel like we are the better men. We are working our butts off right now to accomplish this. We haven’t played a game in two years and we are just ready.”
The Cowboys posted a 2-4 record during the truncated 2020 season last fall. Wyoming is picked to finish second in the Mountain Division of the Mountain West Conference this season.
“I know as much as anyone and I’m trying to help our guys as best I can to go out there and play and give everything we can,” Vigen said.
“It’s unique for me in my career. We’ve played against people I’ve coached with and maybe overlapped, but as far as this situation, it’s extremely unique. There’s a knowledge of players and individuals, talent, that it can’t help but help knowing who they are. But knowing, they have players who can really cause problems.”
QUICK HITS
Location: Laramie, Wyoming
Nickname: Cowboys
Founded: 1886. The University of Wyoming (UW) is a public land-grant research university in Laramie, Wyoming. It was founded four years before the territory was admitted as the 44th state, and opened in September 1887.
The University of Wyoming is unusual in that its location within the state is written into the state’s constitution. The university also offers outreach education in communities throughout Wyoming and online.
The University of Wyoming consists of seven colleges: agriculture and natural resources, arts and sciences, business, education, engineering and applied sciences, health sciences, and law. The university offers over 120 undergraduate, graduate and certificate programs.
Enrollment: 12,249 including 9,807 undergraduates
Stadium: The Cowboys have played in War Memorial Stadium since 1950. The venue sits at the highest elevation of any stadium in the United States at 7,220 feet above sea level. It is nearly 600 feet higher than Air Force’s Falcon Stadium. Northern Arizona’s Walkup Skydome is 6,880 feet above sea level.
War Memorial Stadium is the only college football venue in the state and is the state’s largest venue. Jonah Field is named after a natural gas field at the Green River Basin in Sublette County.
“I think it will be a tremendous atmosphere,” Vigen said. “It’s been a long time for the majority of fans in Wyoming. These early September games were always tremendous crowds and I expect that to be the case again. Our guys shouldn’t have any misgivings where this isn’t going to be electric, this isn’t going to be a big crowd.
“You will have a hostile crowd that is certainly pulling for their team and rooting against you. They have a great fan base in Wyoming and they come from all corners of the state and I know these afternoon games early in the fall, they always attend.”
The Coach: Craig Bohl, eighth season at Wyoming.
The Tom Osborne disciple — Bohl played defensive back on Top 10 teams at Nebraska in 1977-79, then was the linebackers coach at Nebraska when the Cornhuskers claimed national titles in 1995 and 1997 — is familiar to football followers around the Rocky Mountain West, particularly those in Montana.
After serving as a NU assistant from 1995 until 2002, Bohl took his first head coaching job at North Dakota State. He helped lead NDSU from Division II into Division I, then to the top of the Football Championship Subdivision.
Bohl took NDSU from the North Central Conference of D-II to the Great West (the Bison won 45 games between 2004 and 2007 but were ineligible for the playoffs) to leading North Dakota State as one of the pioneering members of the Missouri Valley Football Conference.
North Dakota State went 9-13 in 2008 and 2009 before taking the first step toward reaching and retaining the summit of the FCS. In 2010, North Dakota State rallied for a playoff victory at Montana State, the first of 14 playoff victories in just four seasons under Bohl.
NDSU’s 2010 run stopped short in a narrow 38-31 overtime loss at eventual national champion Eastern Washington in the quarterfinals. Bohl led the Bison to 43 victories and three consecutive national titles between 2011 and 2013 before taking over as Wyoming’s head coach.
Bohl won just six games his first two seasons at Wyoming. In 2016, the Cowboys won eight games and earned the Mountain Division title in the Mountain West Conference. Bohl earned MWC Coach of the Year honors, adding to the Missouri Valley Coach of the Year honors he won in 2011, 2012 and 2013.
Wyoming went 8-5 in 2017 and 2019 but fell to 2-4 last fall. UW won the Famous Idaho Potato Bowl in 2017 and the Arizona Bowl in 2019. Bohl is 38-44 overall at Wyoming.
PLAYERS TO WATCH – The Offense
Sean Chambers, quarterback, 6-3, 225, sophomore
The Kerman, California native is a former three-star recruit and top-ranked dual threat quarterback who has a 10-3 record as the starter for the Pokes. The issue has been Chambers staying healthy.
As a redshirt freshman, Chambers went 3-0 as a starter, eventually unseating Tyler Vander Waal, who then matriculated to Idaho State. He is expected to be the starter this season for the Bengals.
Meanwhile, as the starter in 2019, Chambers threw for 915 yards and seven touchdowns while rushing for 567 yards and 10 touchdowns as Wyoming got off to a 6-2 start. But Chambers got hurt against Nevada and Wyoming lost three of its final five games.
Chambers suffered a season-ending injury in the first game of the six-game fall season.
Chambers operated as Vigen’s primary quarterback in Vigen’s most recent seasons calling plays for the Cowboys. Now his Bobcats will have to figure out a way to slow him down.
“He’s a tremendous runner and that’s where it really started, but he’s also a tremendous leader unlike any true freshman I’ve ever been around,” Vigen said. “He’s a developing passer. The gains he has made between 2019 and 2020 were significant but it just so happen he only threw one pass in 2020.
“I’m certain he’s picked up where he left off as far as his preparation relative to 2020 and becoming more complete where it doesn’t have to be all about his ability to run the football. Sean is a tremendous talent, tremendous leader and has a fair amount of experience even though these last three seasons have been cut short.”
Xazavian Valladay, running back, 6-0, 198, junior
Wyoming’s athletic website says “one of the top running backs in the nation.” And Valladay’s production has affirmed that notion.
During the fall of 2020, Valladay led the Mountain West and ranked in the Top 15 in the nation by rushing for 110 yards per game. He averaged 5.6 yards per carry. He ripped off 163 yards against Hawaii, 147 against Colorado State and 94 against UNLV.
“Valladay was not only one of the best running back in the Mountain West, but he established himself as one of the best in the nation” – Wyoming athletic website
In 2020, Valladay put up 99 carries for 550 rushing yards, 13 pass receptions for 105 receiving yards and 112 total plays for 655 yards of all-purpose yardage.
He earned First Team All-Mountain West honors. He was named to the Associated Press All-Bowl Team. Valladay was named the NOVA Home Loans Arizona Bowl Offensive MVP after rushing for 204 yards and one touchdown while averaging 7.8 yards per carry. He also had three receptions for 91 yards and caught an eight-yard touchdown pass while averaging 30.3 yards per reception as Wyoming breezed to a 38-17 bowl win over Georgia State.
“He is a tremendous back and there’s a couple of guys behind him who they can roll at you,” Vigen said. “The experience in the run game speak for themselves.”
He finished his sophomore season with 1,265 rushing yards to lead the Mountain West and rank No. 22 in the nation. His 105.4 rushing yards per game average also led the conference and ranked No. 18 nationally. He had seven 100-yard rushing games for the season including six in the last seven games of the season.
“The biggest thing I would point to is that he has continued to get better and better,” Vigen said. “He was a guy in 2018 that flashed a little bit but was still undersized, speed-wise was just ok. But he’s gotten considerably better and from a size perspective, he looks to be different even than he was last fall. He’s become a more complete back in every way.”
In 2018 as a freshman, the Matteson, Illinois native rushed for 396 yards and averaged 5.6 yards per carry. His final game of teh season, he ripped off 192 yards and a pair of touchdowns in a 31-3 win at New Mexico.
John Hoyland, kicker, 5-10, 194, freshman
Hoyland drilled 13 of the first 14 field goals of his college career to earn Freshman All-American honors in his debut season. Hoyland led the nation in points per game (2.17) during the shortened 2020 season. The Broomfield, Colorado
THE DEFENSE — Players to Watch
Chad Muma, linebacker, 6-3, 242, junior
The Lone Tree, Colorado native had a breakout season in 2019, finishing sixth on the Cowboys with 51 total tackles. He broke into the starting lineup for the first time.
Last fall, Muma rankes second in the Mountain West and No. 6 in the nation in tackles averaging 11.8 tackles per game. Muma also ranked No. 8 in the MW and No. 41 in the nation in tackles for loss, averaging 1.3 TFLs per game, with 8.0 total tackles for loss on the season.
Muma is from a similar recruiting territory as Logan Wilson, a native of Casper, Wyoming who was a third-round draft pick by the Cincinnati Bengals in 2020.
“Chad can really run; that’s the thing that separates him,” Vigen said. “Chad’s dad played for the Pokes and he grew up in Denver. He had the Cowboy blood in him from a young age but was a guy who needed to be developed still.
“He was a little on the light side when he came in but his knowledge of our program and his developmental potential was attractive. Logan Wilson, not too much different out of high school. He played receiver and corner in high school. Logan preceeded chad at that Mike position.
That’s part of the success at Wyoming and the success under Coach Bohl: to be able to project guys who can become a bonafide pro prospect like Chad going into 2021.”
The junior led Wyoming in tackles (72), tackles for loss (8.0), sacks (3.0) and solo tackles (39).
“Muma is one of the top linebackers not only in the Mountain West, but the nation. He will once again be looked to be the leader of the Cowboys” – Wyoming athletics website
Garrett Crall, defensive end, 6-5, 239, senior
Crall missed the first three games of the season but returned to start the second three last fall. He totaled 21 tackles, three tackles for loss and two sacks during that action.
The Hicksville, Ohio product has nine sacks and 12.5 tackles for loss between the 2018 and 2019 seasons. Crall’s 13.5 career sacks means he needs six in his final season to enter Wyoming’s career Top 10.
“The familiarity with the four-down look and a lot of the same alignments is beneficial to us,” Vigen said. “They are going to be sound, keep the ball in front of them and not make mistakes.
“It comes down to really executing and playing hard and that sounds simple but it’s really hard. Teams like this that we maybe think we know some things about might seem easy to prepare for but are actually hard to beat. Teams that are all over the place schematically might be hard to prepare for but easy to beat. Wyoming would fall in that first category.
“It’s going to be for them to be in the wrong place. So we have to out-play them, out-execute. That’s going to be what it really comes down to.”
