Most sports fans know the importance of depth. Obviously, if someone gets hurt, you need to have players that are ready and able to step in or be “the next man up” as coaches say.
Rarely do you get to see the importance of depth in real time. Such was the case Saturday night when Montana State, which walked on the field already down one starter, found itself without senior All-Big Sky first team nose tackle Chase Benson after the first play run by Sam Houston State. Later in the first half junior All-Big Sky second team defensive back Ty Okada had to leave the game. Neither would return.
Sophomore Eric Zambrano did not make the trip and was replaced by junior James Campbell, a part-time starter previously this season, at cornerback. Benson was replaced by the combination of senior Byron Rollins and redshirt freshman Blake Schmidt. Junior Blake Hehl and freshman Sebastian Valdez also rotate on the interior of MSU’s defensive line. Redshirt freshman Rylan Ortt, a former all-state quarterback and state champion javelin thrower out of Missoula Sentinel, took over for Okada.
Despite Benson and Okada’s prominence and production, the drop off was negligible as MSU rolled to a 42-19 win over the No. 1 team in the country to advance to the semifinals of the FCS Playoffs.
“Obviously, Chase is a huge loss, but all I’ve got to say about that is everybody looks at those guys like their backups.” MSU’s first team All-BSC defensive end Daniel Hardy said of all the defensive players, particularly along the line, that roll into the game regularly off the bench. “Those dudes aren’t backups, they’re all starters. They take real reps every game and they’re just as important as anybody else.
“We expect them to make plays like that and we know they’re capable of doing that. I got nothing but love for those guys and I’m happy to see how they’ve developed as players.”
Ortt was undaunted despite being hurdled by star SHSU quarterback Eric Schmid, who gained a first down on the play, shortly after Ortt entered the action. He would rebound to finish with six tackles – fourth most on the team – with five of those being solo. He also had a sweet stick that jolted the Bobcat sideline as the beat down continued in Huntsville.
“Rylan Ortt has been really patient waiting for his opportunity,” Montana State first-year head coach Brent Vigen said. “He’s essentially been backing up all of our safety, nickel spots. That’s the first time he’s been called on for major action, but he’s been ready to go. He’s a guy that really jumped in our mind in spring ball.”
Nose tackles aren’t known for their gaudy stats. They just eat up space and blockers to allow the back lines access to ball carriers against the run game and to allow one-on-one opportunities for defensive ends against the pass. Rollins and Schmidt were part of the rotating defensive line that allowed just 79 yards rushing on 35 carries, which is just 2.3 yards per carry. The Bearkats came into the game averaging 232 yards per game and 6.1 yards per rush. Both numbers were tops in the WAC-Challenge conference this season.
“I think all season I’ve talked about playing with ten guys (along the defensive line) and being comfortable with ten guys,” Vigen said at his weekly press conference on Monday. “Throughout the season guys have stepped up, up front.”
Campbell, who was the starting cornerback at the beginning of season before an injury bumped him from the two-deep, was heavily tested throughout the game. While the Bearkats hit a few big plays in their pass game, he was steady coming up with a pass breakup along the sideline on a deep pass route and adding four tackles, including three solo stops.
“James hasn’t really played much since Portland State,” Vigen said. “He went out and did a really nice job for us and made some good plays.”
The Bearkats had the most yards of any team all season against MSU, but it took them 75 plays to amass their 433-yard total, which comes out to 5.8 yards per play far below their season averages of 496 yards per game and 7.0 yards per play.
“You can say ‘next man up,’ but you better have that next man up ready to go,” Vigen said.
