First Look

FIRST LOOK: UT Martin makes cross-country trek to face 8th-seeded Bobcats

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BOZEMAN, Montana — A new season within Brent Vigen’s first season at Montana State begins on Saturday at Bobcat Stadium.

Under the first-year head coach, MSU ripped off nine wins in a row to rise to No. 3 in the national polls. But the Bobcats encountered a rabid group of Grizzlies in Missoula in their regular-season finale.

Montana never let up, dominating the energy and field position battle from start to finish of a 29-10 victory over Montana State two weeks ago.

If Montana State is to chase a second straight run in the playoffs — MSU advanced to the semifinals of the FCS Playoffs for the first time in 35 years in the fall of 2019 — the Bobcats will have to put their first loss to the Griz since 2015 in the rearview.

“It’s win or go home now so everyone’s intensity is a little higher,” Montana State senior wide receiver Lance McCutcheon, a first-team All-Big Sky Conference selection after leading the league in receiving yards, said earlier this week.

“We are more locked in coming off the loss against Montana, then a bye week, we haven’t played since we lost so everyone is a little amped up and excited for this opportunity on Saturday.”

Despite the season-ending loss, Montana State finished with seven Big Sky Conference wins, marking the team’s most since 2012. The last time MSU went undefeated in league play came in 1976 when the Bobcats surged all the way to the Division II national title.

And despite falling to the Grizzlies, Montana State still earned the No. 8 seed in the playoffs, marking the second year in a row the Bobcats get a bye in the 24-team field.

“We certainly won’t forget it (the Montana loss) but we are moving on,” Vigen said on Monday.

Last week, Tennessee Martin forced six turnovers and rallied for its first playoff win in program history against No. 10 Missouri State. The Skyhawks rallied on the road to post a come from behind 32-31 victory to advance to the second round for the first time ever.

“Tennessee Martin did a lot of good things in that game and opportunistic to get six turnovers and turn them into points,” Vigen said. “The way we see it is they won a game they weren’t supposed to win, tons of momentum. Conference champion, any time you win a conference, you have a chance to do some things. They won a lot of close games this year.”

Saturday at 2 p.m., UTM will play Montana State for the first time, marking just the second time the Skyhawks have ever played in the Mountain time zone; Tennessee Martin played at Boise State in 2013. The squad also played Hawaii in 2016, it’s only other trip out West.

“They are a very mature team in terms of number of sixth year players so we have to find a way for us to play much better than we did the previous Saturday and we understand we have a tough challenge in front of us,” Vigen said.

QUICK HITS

Location: Martin, Tennessee (population: 11,473)

Nickname: Skyhawks – the school’s website indicates the nickname first stems from when the institution was a Bible college and the school’s athletic teams were referred to as the “sky pilots”, a commonly used term for preachers at the time.

Then in World War II, the school known at the time as UT Junior College contracted with the Naval War Training Service to help train pilots, who completed their flight training at a local airport.

Founded: From 1900 until 1927, the current campus was operated as several forms of a sort of state normal school with heavy Baptist influence.

Most commonly referred to as the Hall-Moody instituted, that iteration of the school was in parrell before politicians influenced the state of Tennessee stepping in to take the facilities under the umbrella of the University of Tennessee system.

The UT Junior College started that September with 120 students. The school nearly closed twice curing the Great Depression as enrollment struggled to even flirt with 400 students. World War II didn’t do the student population any favors.

Executive officer Paul Meek repurposed a 1940 program training Army Air Corps pilots into a program training naval air cadets. Each cadet brought nine times as much income to UT Martin as a civilian student.

In 1951, the addition of four-year bachelor degrees helped designate the school as University of Tennessee Martin Branch (UTMB).

In 1961, UTMB was the first campus in the University of Tennessee system to begin racial desegregation of undergraduates. Meek helped the school grow rapidly in the 1960s, peaking in 1969 when UTM had as many incoming freshman as the overall existing student body.

Enrollment: Offering colleges of agriculture, education, engineering, business and humanities, Tennessee Martin currently has 6,705 students and an endowment of $27.5 million.

Stadium: The Skyhawks have played at 7,500-seat Hardy M. Graham Stadium since 1964. The stadium is named for a dedicated supporter who contributed more than $1 million to the university. The venue was referred to as Pacers Stadium from 1971 until 1995, an homage to the former UTM nickname.

The Coach

Jason Simpson, 16th season (99-79 overall, 77-47 in Ohio Valley Conference play)

Simpson is the longest tenured football coach in the Ohio Valley. He has bookended his time at UTM by leading the Skyhawks to the only two playoff appearances in school history in his first season in 2006 and this season.

In between, UT Martin has been competitive but has never won a conference title other than those two seasons. Still, Simpson has led his team to 77 OVC wins after the school won a total of 20 OVC games in its first 14 seasons in the league.

He has coached 120 All-OVC players after the program tallied 33 such players in its first 15 seasons in the OVC. Simpson’s 99 career victories rank fourth in OVC history while his 77 conference wins sits in third place. 

Simpson, who had previous stints as an offensive coach at Jacksonville State (1997-99), Texas State (2000-2002) and Chattanooga (2003-2005), is a finalist for the Eddie Robinson Award. It’s the fourth time he has been a finalist for the FCS national Coach of the Year award.

PLAYERS TO WATCH – The Offense

Dresser Winn, quarterback, 6-3, 215, senior

Once upon a time, the local product was a true freshman who made five starts and won Ohio Valley Conference Newcomer of the Week twice. Then the injury bug kept biting.

Winn threw for 1,601 yards and 12 touchdowns in 2018 before his season ended seven games in because of a shoulder injury. He redshirted in 2019 and had his season cut short after four games in the spring when he broke his ankle.

Still, he was named to the Ohio Valley’s second team preseason all-conference squad.

Slow to return and because of the emergence of an FBS transfer, Winn did not win his spot back and did not appear in a game until the regular-season finale.

Last week in UTM’s 32-31 win at No. 11 Missouri State, Winn came off the bench to replace Ohio Valley Offensive Player of the Year Keon Howard to lead the Skyhawks to their first-ever FCS playoff victory.

Winn threw for 272 yards and two touchdowns.

“I didn’t even know he was the backup while I was watching the game,” McCutcheon said.

Howard, a 6-foot-3, 215-pound fifth-year senior is a former Tulane transfer. This season, he took the OVC by storm, rolling up 2,283 total yards and 25 total touchdowns to earn league MVP honors. But he did not play in a 31-14 loss in UTM’s final regular-season game at Southeast Missouri. And Howard did not play last week.

The media coverage about the Skyhawks’ program is limited. So it remains to be seen which quarterback Montana State must prepare for.

“We don’t know exactly what we are going to see,” Vigen said. “Conference player of the year, Howard, was there, on the sideline, not dressed. But we have to anticipate that he can play. But Winn came in and made some throws. They are quite a bit different but Winn came in and made throws.

“They do differ based on who plays quarterback. From a run perspective, they are a zone team. From the game Saturday in particular, it was about finding one-on-one matchups. If Howard is playing QB, quarterback run is a much bigger part of the offense.”

Peyton Logan, running back, 5-8, 190, senior

Zak Wallace, running back, 6-0, 220, redshirt freshman

Tennessee Martin senior running back Peyton Logan

The one-two punch is one of the best in the CS. Logan is credited with starting all 12 games. He has piled up 1,072 yards, scored four touchdowns and has helped UT Martin average 219.4 rushing yards per game.

Wallace has just one less carry than Logan’s 143 totes. Wallace is averaging 5.5 yards per carry and has piled up 788 yards. He’s also hammered home 15 rushing touchdowns.

The Skyhawks have scored 32 of their 49 touchdowns on the ground. Howard also has 10 rushing TDs.

Logan and Wallace each scored rushing touchdowns in the first round last weekend.

“Those guys for sure stood out and they are a little different combination, for sure,” Vigen said.

“Very much there’s a change of pace between the two, different styles. And that different does create problems for tacklers especially if you allow them to get into space, depending on how you take on one guy, it’s a different mindset. It’s been a good blend for them.”

THE DEFENSE — Players to Watch

Devin Sims, safety, 6-2, 200, junior

Sims lived up to his preseason all-conference billing by leading the Skyhawk defense this season. In the spring, he was a first-team all-league selection after leading the team with 60 tackles, including five tackles for loss

This season, his third as a starter, the physical ball-hawk rolled up a team-high 85 tackles, the fifth-most in the OVC. He also has 5.5 tackles for loss, a sack and an interception for a defense that allows 25 points and 354 yards per game.

He had five tackles last week.

UTM senior linebacker John Ford/ Tennessee Martin athletics

John Ford, linebacker, 6-3, 230, senior

Ford first burst into the lineup as a steady contributor in the spring season, compiling 43 tackles, three tackles for loss and a sack in his seven starts.

That helped earn him preseason All-OVC honors. This year, he’s lived up to that prediction.

The rangy outside linebacker is second on the team with 76 tackles. He is also one of the Ohio Valley’s leaders with four interceptions. He has five tackles for loss and half a sack so far this season.

He had one of UTM’s three interceptions last week.

“Defensively, they are a 3-man front and they move quite a bit, disrupt quite a bit,” Vigen said. “They are different than most of the teams that we’ve seen this year. They have some guys who can really cause problems

Eyabi Anoma, defensive end, 6-6, 275, sophomore

The former Under Armour All-American is absolutely one of the most prestigious former recruits playing in the FCS. Once upon a time, the Baltimore native was ranked as the No. 4 player in the nation according to the ESPN 300 recruiting rankings.

He was ranked the No. 2 defensive end in America after piling up more than 50 sacks his two years as a prep starter at St. Frances Academy.

He spent the 2018 season at Alabama, where he earned SEC All-Freshman honors. He saw action in the College Football Playoff and the FBS national title game. He played in 12 total games, notching two tackles for loss among his nine total tackles. 

Tennessee Martin defensive end Eyabi Anoma/ UTM athletics

But the consensus five-star prospect was dismissed from Alabama for a violation of team rules following that first year breaking into the rotation.

“The guy was dismissed from school, and that’s really all I can say about it,” famed Alabama head coach Nick Saban said at the time.

Anoma landed at Houston, where he was dismissed before he ever played a game. Reports surfaced of similar indiscretions – tardiness, skipping class, clashing with teammates, insubordination among the issues.

He’s only started five of UTM’s 12 games this season but he still led the Ohio Valley with six sacks. Anoma forced a fumble last week against Missouri State. He will be a matchup issue if he plays to his potential on Saturday.

About Colter Nuanez

Colter Nuanez is the co-founder and senior writer for Skyline Sports. After spending six years in the newspaper industry with stops at the Missoulian, the Ellensburg Daily Record and the Bozeman Daily Chronicle, the former Washington Newspaper Association Sportswriter of the Year and University of Montana Journalism School graduate ('09) has cultivated a deep passion for sports journalism during his 13-year career covering the Big Sky Conference. In August of 2014, Colter and brother Brooks merged their passions of writing and art to found Skyline Sports.

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