The script has flipped for the Montana State Bobcats.
For the past two seasons, MSU’s breakneck offense lit up scoreboards across the West but a defense as soft as a feather pillow could not stop anyone in big moments.
On Saturday, the Bobcats found themselves in the completely opposite circumstance. Montana State’s defense notched three interceptions, as many as it did during the entire 2015 season, and forced five turnovers overall to overcome a sputtering offense that didn’t do much after halftime to escape with a 27-24 win over Bryant University at Bobcat Stadium.
MSU cornerback John Walker (22) intercepts a pass in the redzone, one of two INTs on the day
“Honestly, the way we was able to force them turnovers is just the way we practice,” said Montana State senior cornerback John Walker, a graduate transfer from Colorado who snared interceptions with Bryant in the red-zone in the second and fourth quarters. “We gotta get three turnovers every day in practice or we gotta run so we work hard at turning the ball over whether it’s a force fumble or an interception. We just trying to get our hands on the ball any time we can as much as we can.”
The victory is the first for Montana State under first-year head coach Jeff Choate. The Bobcats avoided an upset to their Northeast Conference foe — a team with just 30 scholarships to MSU’s 63 — despite allowing 452 yards of total offense and gaining just 265 themselves with senior captain running back Chad Newell on the shelf with a wrist injury.
“Bryant is exactly who I thought they were,” Choate said. “I talked all week to our young guys and said the bottom line is that team plays a lot of really close games. What they do is they hang around and make a play. They were very game and that’s a tribute to their coaching staff.
“It’s very difficult to play football with hands around your neck. Our guys didn’t choke today. They made the plays they needed to make to win the football game.”
Bryant senior quarterback Dalton Easton showed the poise and moxie of a third-year starter under center, completing 26-of-44 passes for 368 yards and two touchdowns, each of which came on fourth downs to keep the Bulldogs in it. But his three interceptions, including one picked off by Walker in the end-zone late in the fourth quarter, proved to be the final nail in the coffin for Bryant’s upset bid.
“They out-coached me today,” said Bryant 13th-year head coach Marty Fine, who downplayed his team’s abilities all week leading up to the game before giving the Bobcats all they could handle. “I thought our players played just as hard as theirs to be quite honest. That loss is on me.
MSU safety Bryson McCabe (10) pressures Bryant quarterback Dalton Easton (2)
“You’d have to be blind not to see the talent difference. They must out-weigh us by 50 pounds and six or seven inches a man. It looked like playing your big brother in the backyard on Thanksgiving. You don’t win very often.”
One of Choate’s first hires shook up the Big Sky Conference landscape when he lured longtime Montana assistant Ty Gregorak away from the Grizzlies to coordinate the Bobcat defense. Within a month of his hiring, Choate had added secondary coach Gerald Alexander, a former second-round draft pick who played in the NFL for five seasons. The dividends, at least early on, are paying off big time for the Bobcat defense, an essential improvement for a team with an offense that is a far cry from the offensive juggernaut that averaged 42 points per game last season.
“It’s awesome to be leaned on,” said junior strong safety Bryson McCabe, who had an interception that he returned a yard from the end-zone, broke up another pass and notched six bruising tackles. “If the game comes down to us, that’s what it’s about, why we play football.”
Montana State built a 14-3 lead midway through the second quarter and looked like it would bulldoze the athletically over-matched Bulldogs but Bryant hung around all afternoon. Easton threw a 27-yard touchdown to Taylor Barthelette on fourth down with 57 seconds left in the first half to cut the Bobcat lead to 14-10 at intermission.
Gunnar Brekke’s first touchdown of his senior season — he missed MSU’s opener against Idaho with pneumonia — gave MSU a 21-10 advantage early in the third quarter. The four-yard burst for the Helena Capital product, who finished with 80 yards on 17 carries, came two plays after Bryant senior Zach Devlin rolled the snap to Drew Chretien before the Bryant punter was swallowed up by MSU freshman defensive end Marcus Ferriter on the BU 9-yard line
MSU safety Bryson McCabe (10)
Bryant again responded as Jean Constant began his barrage, ripping off receptions of 25 and 30 yards to set up Matt Sewall’s two-yard touchdown run to cut the lead to 21-17. McCabe snared an interception with Bryant backed up into the end-zone and Nick Lasane scored his first touchdown of 2016 on a one-yard on the next play to give MSU a 10-point advantage, 27-17.
“I think their safety, 10 (McCabe), is a star,” Fine said. “We played one at Liberty, one at Monmouth who both ended up playing professional football. I think he’s every bit of those guys. He’s a terrific player.”
The Bulldogs refused to go away. Montana State senior captain middle linebacker Fletcher Collins pursued Ryan Black tightly before Easton threw a strike that Black caught for what looked like a first down. In one fluid motion, Collins punched the ball loose, roll tackled Black and nestled the ball into his chest for a forced fumble and fumble recovery on the first possession of the fourth quarter. But MSU went 3-and-out on the next possession, setting up Bryant’s last charge.
On a third and long, Easton threw a 22-yard toss to tight end Joe Fine, who endured a vicious hit from Montana State junior safety Khari Garcia that sent the Bobcat captain to the sideline. Garcia returned four plays later, but Constant caught a path underneath in the middle of MSU’s zone, then beat Garcia around the corner and sprinted into the end-zone for a 40-yard touchdown to cut the MSU lead to 27-24 with eight minutes to play. Bryant attempted and recovered an onside kick right away as Constant swooped in to give MSU one final possession.
Easton and the Bulldogs converted a fourth down, then pushed the ball into the MSU red-zone. On second and nine from the MSU 20, Easton fired to Aaron Aryee, who appeared to be wide open, only to have Walker undercut the pass for his second interception of the day, MSU’s third as a team equaling last year’s total and pushing the takeaway count to five for the afternoon.
MSU running back Gunnar Brekke
“I knew it was coming because they kept trying to run double moves,” Walker said. “We was in the red-zone. Coach GA teach us when we in the red-zone to play ‘whiff’ (don’t bite on the slant route) because you have to check the fade. I knew it was coming. I just kept my eyes on the ball. I went up for it and he tried to take it away from me at the bottom of the pile but I made sure I squeezed on tight to that thing.”
MSU assumed control with 4:49 left and used nine plays to run out the clock. Montana State faced a fourth down and one yard to go with less than 90 seconds and elected to go for it. Brekke gained three yards to seal the win.
“That’s winning time,” Brekke said. “If you don’t want the ball as an offense and an player in that situation, there’s something wrong with you.”
Bryant showed no fear in front of a sellout crowd of 18,867 on a picturesque Bozeman afternoon. The Bulldogs forced a three-and-out on Montana State’s first possession, then countered with a 10-play, 40-yard drive that ate up almost five and a half minutes and resulted in a 51-yard Ricky Perez field goal. The Bulldogs possessed the ball for almost 10 minutes in the first quarter and ended the frame up by a field goal.
During the second quarter, Montana State’s offense found its only sense of rhythm for the afternoon thanks to a few explosive plays, a few tightrope throws by Tyler Bruggman and a good tempo throughout scoring drives on back-to-back possessions.
MSU quarterback Tyler Bruggman (11) steps up in the pocket
On the first possession of the second quarter, Brekke ripped off a 28-yard run, his longest of the afternoon. Bruggman followed with a 19-yard toss to senior tight end Austin Barth, then ran the hurry-up and threaded the needle for a 25-yard gain to sophomore tight end Connor Sullivan to push MSU to the Bryant 10-yard line. Two plays later, Bruggman found a wide-open John D’Agostino for a 10-yard touchdown, the first of the Bozeman High product’s career.
Two plays into Bryant’s first possession of the second quarter, Christian Martey botched the handoff from Easton and MSU linebacker Mac Bignell recovered the ball on the Bryant 222. Three plays later, Bruggman against fired a laser to junior Mitch Herbert, who beat double coverage on a skinny post for a 27-yard touchdown, his first of the season and the 13th of his career, the seventh-most in program history.
The fumble sparked a trend for the Bulldogs as Bryant coughed the ball up four more times. With just over five minutes in the first half remaining, the officiating crew called an “inadvertent” timeout on the first field goal attempt of true freshman Gabe Peppenger’s career. His first attempt from 41 yards looked good but was blown dead. His second attempt missed wide left.
Two plays later, Easton hit Barthelette for a 64-yard gain to the Montana State 14. Barthelette caught seven passes for 157 yards in the first half but managed just one four-yard reception after halftime after a sprained ankle slowed him down. The Bobcats were called for roughing the passer on the long catch, giving Bryant a first down inside the 10. On the next play, Walker snared the first of two interceptions.
MSU head coach Jeff Choate talks with a ref during his first game in Bobcat Stadium
A year ago, Montana State ranked in the top three in the FCS in scoring offense and total offensive yardage. Scoring 40 points and gained 500 yards at the drop of the hat over the last two seasons, but it didn’t equate to wins. Montana State posted a 13-11 record over the last two seasons despite scoring nearly 1,000 points. On Saturday, the Bobcats displayed an entirely different style and came out on top with a hard-fought victory.
“To see our team get put in tough situations and battle through them, that was sweet,” Brekke said. “Defense, they bailed us out. They really did. They showed up today. My hat’s off to them.
“Going into the year, I had full trust in them. You can call me crazy off the year they came off last year. We really came together as a team for one thing. And I really saw those guys rise up as leaders and as men, too. They challenged themselves all year. That showed today, them being in those situations and coming out on top.”
Photos by Brooks Nuanez. All Rights Reserved.
