Montana State put together one of the best offensive performances in program history on Saturday afternoon, but it wasn’t enough for a victory over Eastern Washington. On Sunday, the Bobcat coaches took a long look in the mirror.
Montana State had 16 days off between a season-opening 45-14 win over Division II Fort Lewis on September 3 and Saturday’s trip to the Palouse. The Bobcats looked completely out of sorts defensively, missing tackles in bunches as Eastern Washington scored on 11 of 14 possessions and averaged 11.7 yards per snap.
MSU safety Desman Carter misses a tackle vs. EWU
“We have to tackle better,” MSU head coach Rob Ash said on Tuesday, his first time talking to the media after his team’s 55-50 loss in Cheney. “We hadn’t tackled in 16 days from Game 1 to Game 2. I’m going to take responsibility for that. We probably should’ve tackled some in practice. If I ever have this situation again with a really early-season bye, we will tackle again in practice. We treated it as a mid-season bye where the emphasis was getting healthy and staying clean that way. I think it showed. I have to do a better job of getting our guys ready by tackling in practice.”
Eastern Washington rolled up 667 yards of offense on just 57 plays. The Eagles totaled 16 plays of more than 29 yards, including 10 passes that gained more than 30. EWU averaged 7.8 yards per carry and 19.5 yards per pass completion as Jordan West threw six touchdowns, no interceptions and did not have an incompletion after the first quarter. The offensive outburst off-set an MSU performance that saw the Bobcats pile up 718 yards of total offense, 40 first downs, 365 rushing yards and run 104 plays.
“It sucks for our offense and I know we are all in this together and we win and lose as a team but to have our offense have a day like they had is special and they should be able to celebrate that with a win but they don’t get to,” MSU ninth-year defensive line coach Bo Beck said. “As a team, we take the L. But that’s on the defense.
MSU’s Nate Bignell and Tyrone Fa’anono celebrate a second half sack vs. EWU
“We as coaches have to take the blame for that. We have 16 days to get them ready on top of fall camp and they didn’t execute and that’s on us. We have to get the kids right. Our motto is to demand more from them. That’s what we are going to do.”
Montana State did have a few bright spots defensively, albeit not very many. The Bobcats made two consecutive stops out of halftime, the second of which the offense converted into a touchdown to cut the EWU lead to 34-24. As MSU scrambled to come back, the deficit stayed between 17 and 11 points until Mac Bignell’s fourth-quarter forced fumble. MSU cut the lead to 55-50 late but Nzuzi Webster’s interception of Dakota Prukop’s pass with less than a minute to play sealed MSU’s fate.
“These guys are all competitors and they don’t want to walk off the field by any means feeling the way we did on Saturday,” MSU first-year defensive coordinator Kane Ioane said. “I know our guys are going to bounce back. You can see it in their eyes. They are ready and willing to do anything to demand more of each other and demand more of themselves to go out there on Saturday and put a good defense on the field.”
“We are not going to make any excuses as far as the layoff and not tackling live. We teach certain techniques and we expect our players to practice those techniques in practice elements and when we get in live situations, we hope they come out. Now we will continue to hammer home the fundamentals of tackling at practice and on Saturdays, hope that it benefits us to have more experience under our belts.”
The Bobcats don’t have much time to dwell on the disheartenment of Saturday’s defeat. On Saturday, a hungry Cal Poly team coming off two straight tough losses — at Arizona State and at home to No. 7 Northern Iowa — will be in Bozeman looking for a second wins in as many seasons over Montana State. The Mustangs employs a physical triple-option attack the polar opposite of Eastern Washington’s high-flying, field-stretching aerial attack. Cal Poly enters the Big Sky Conference opener for both schools leading the country with 321 rushing yards per game.
MSU linebacker Blake Braun misses a tackle vs. EWU
“It’s completely different but I guess it’s kind of refreshing in a way,” Ash said. “It’s a preparation that the guys will enjoy because it’s different. We are going to treat it as a positive that way. Our scout team guys are fired up to run this option as best we can. We will treat it as a new, exciting situation.”
Ash admitted that the “jury is still out” on a MSU defense trying to master Ioane’s new scheme and work in at least nine new starters in the process. MSU has three senior defensive tackles in Taylor Sheridan, Connor Thomas and Nate Bignell, a senior cornerback in Bryson Keeton and a senior safety in Desman Carter. The rest of the two-deep is filled with underclassmen.
That young defense will face not only the deception of Cal Poly quarterback Chris Brown while operating the triple option but also a physical, cut-blocking offensive line that takes pride in putting its opponents on the ground on every single play.
“We will do cut blocking in practice,” Ash said. “There’s some risk involved obviously but I don’t think we can afford to go into the game having not worked against that type of blocking. We will get our scout team guys coached up and we will give it a try in some drills and in some of our team periods. We are not going to make the same mistake we made last week with the tackling by not practicing against cut blocks this week in practice. We are going to practice against it because we are going to see it on Saturday.”
Cal Poly shows their physical, cut-blocking line of scrimmage vs. Montana
Ioane was visibly shaken following his first game calling the MSU defense against a Division I opponent. He admitted he made in-game adjustments and most, especially in the first half, did not work as Eastern scored 34 points in less than 12 minutes of first-half possession. Now his defense transitions into stopping a team that set a Big Sky record with 4,221 yards on the ground last season. He’s not taking any chances when it comes to getting his players prepared.
“We will throw bags at our guys, medicine balls at our guys, I may cut our guys as they are walking to class just to get them accustom to them getting cut at any given point,” Ioane said. “We will do everything in our power to simulate that as best we can but on game day, it may take a couple of snaps before they wake up and realize they are going to cut you every single time and it’s coming from everywhere.
“Just like tackling, on Saturdays, it needs to be a habit. We are going to continue to teach it and it will continue to show on Saturdays. WE have faith in that.”
Photos by Brooks Nuanez. All Rights Reserved.
