Montana State dominated Utah Tech a year ago in Bozeman in a 63-20 rout. That Gold Rush victory included a whopping 638 yards in total offense for the Bobcats. Since then, however, the Trailblazers have hired a new coaching staff and this time they’ll get the Bobcats on their home turf.
UT, which finished the 2023 season 2-9, did have some early success moving the ball and stopped quarterback Sean Chambers four straight times for a goal line stand on MSU’s first possession. That piqued the interest of the sold-out Gold Rush game crowd of 21,967 early on until MSU scored two touchdowns in the last five minutes of the first quarter.
Change is a big thing in St. George, Utah – a city that has seen its population explode from 75,000 in 2010 to 200,000 currently – the fastest growing city in the United States. The UT coaching staff has likewise had a change where Lance Anderson has taken over the head coaching duties and brought in a new staff for the Trailblazers. He was at Boise State last season, but also coached at Stanford as a defensive coordinator for numerous years.
He served as defensive line coach at Stanford under then-head coach, and current Los Angeles Chargers head coach, Jim Harbaugh from 2007-09. Anderson then spent 13 seasons as the outside linebackers coach with the Cardinal, and in 2018 was elevated to associate head coach by then head coach David Shaw (2011-22). He also served as interim head coach following Shaw’s resignation at the end of the 2022 season.
“Defensively, we can look at some stuff from Stanford,” MSU head coach Brent Vigen said. “The offensive side is a little bit of a search. We need to look at both QBs. If they go with Deacon Hill the transfer from Iowa, it will be more of a passing offense. If it’s Hill, then study his strengths. That doesn’t help with specific formations but does prepare for his strengths.”
With Anderson being such a long-time defensive coach, the Bobcats may expect Utah Tech to be stronger on that side of the ball.
“They do return some guys, more so on the defensive side,” Vigen said. “Anderson was the Stanford defensive coordinator, and they were good through that stretch. They have a lot of big bodies.”
While MSU coaches have the advantage of having a game under their belts, the Trailblazer’ staff gets to use the film of that game to study the Bobcats.
“There’s an advantage that we’ve played an opponent, but they can look at that and say this is who MSU is and dial that in,” Vigen said. “They’ll have a good sense of where they can attack us. I think it works both ways, not distinctly one way or the other. We need to get better this week and raise the bar both ways.
“Regardless of how it went last year, there’s a new equation now. New players, new environment. We need to understand the value of each game is just one.”
A year ago, the Trailblazers pulled off a somewhat surprising win over Northern Arizona after being crushed by MSU, then Montana in its first two games. The week after losing to the Trailblazers 50-36, NAU turned around and beat the eventual Big Sky champion Griz 28-14.
Hill is expected to take the quarterback job, and he is a monster for the position. Standing 6-4 and weighing in at 248 pounds he presents a challenge for anyone to bring to the ground, especially if he’s got his feet moving. Hill started Iowa’s last nine games in 2023 and led them to the Big Ten championship game. The Hawkeyes were a defense-oriented team and used their ground game to augment the nation’s top scoring defense as Hill completed just 122 of 251 passes for 1,152 yards (about 125 per game) and threw for five touchdowns, while adding a pair of rushing scores.
Transfer running backs Chris Street (Cal) and Shamar Garrett (San Jose State) are expected to figure into the UT running game. Defensively, the Trailblazers have brought in a bevy of transfers, including linebackers Amari Pouncey (New Mexico), Fisher Jackson (BYU) and Moon Ashby (Washington State).
The Bobcats will jet to Las Vegas, then transport to St. George, Utah to face upstart Utah Tech this Saturday evening at 8:00.
