Bobcats ready for huge showdown at South Dakota State

The Montana State Bobcats and Montana Grizzlies couldn’t have asked for a better start to the 2018 season. Both teams beat Missouri Valley Conference powerhouses on the opening week of the year — and by identical 26-23 scores to boot.

Now however, the Cats and the 14th-ranked Grizzlies will go in opposite directions.

Montana State (1-0) will take on the second-ranked team in all of the FCS, the South Dakota State Jackrabbits Saturday in Brookings, South Dakota. It’s the second straight game for MSU and third-year head coach Jeff Choate against an MVC opponent, after the Cats beat Western Illinois last Thursday night in Bozeman. It’s also the second straight season in which the Cats and Jacks have met. SDSU edged the Bobcats last year in Bozeman. SDSU was an FCS semifinalist a year ago, and the Jacks would likely be 0-1 on the season had their game with Iowa State not been called due to thunderstorms last Saturday night.

"If there's an opponent where you can throw (knowledge gleaned from the opening weekend) out the window, other than getting the opportunity to see who some of the new personnel are, it would be this group," MSU head coach Jeff Choate said of a Jackrabbits team that returns a dozen starters from a national semifinal team a year ago. "Coach Stiegelmeier has done a great job of developing a true program there."

Indeed. For some time now, SDSU has been one of the most consistent teams in the FCS. And while the Jacks sent star receivers Dallas Goedert and Jack Weinieke to the NFL this offseason, the Jack’s offense returns Walter Payton Award candidate Taryn Christon at quarterback, as well as a defense with eight returning starters.

MSU will counter with a nasty defense of its own, led by the emergence of Washington Husky transfer Bryce Sterk at defensive end. Offensively, the Cats will hope for a better start than the 13-3 hole they fell into last week against WIU, but quarterback Troy Andersen settled in in the second half, and MSU’s offense built up some great momentum to take into what will be a hostile environment Saturday in Brookings.

"On the offensive side of the ball it stops and starts with their quarterback," Choate said. "He's an unbelievably successful player. They can play football for another 100 years there at South Dakota State and they may not have a guy that's won as many games as this guy. He's a special player, not unlike maybe what DeNarius (McGhee) did for this program in terms of putting it on the map. I think Taryn's been that for them. He's a four-year starter, just a prolific player, has all the tools."

No doubt, the Cats will have their hands full at SDSU. But given how they played in the second half of last week’s Gold Rush Game, the Bobcats are certainly for real, and plan on going to South Dakota to win.

Montana meanwhile, has a much lesser-known opponent this week inside Washington-Grizzly Stadium, in the form of the Drake Bulldogs, an FCS school from the Pioneer League. UM also doesn’t have the second-half momentum that MSU does, as the Griz, in Bobby Hauck’s second debut as head coach, jumped all over nationally ranked Northern Iowa last Saturday night, leading 26-0 at halftime, before having to hold on for a three-point win.

The victory was a huge one for a Griz (1-0) team that started more freshmen than seniors, and it propelled the Griz to a No. 14 ranking this week. But concerns over an ineffective running game and a young defense that wore down in the second half will have the Griz on their toes this week, and by no means overlooking Drake. Like SDSU, Drake’s season-opener last week was canceled, so the Griz have little to go on in terms of preparation, which means, they can’t afford to overlook the Bulldogs at all.

"Unfortunately they had their game canceled after a series on Saturday. So we don't have any film on them to prepare for. They've got that advantage, which is significant. We'll be doing a little guessing again this week as to what we're going to see,” Hauck said. "We also know that they've got a very veteran team with eight starters that are seniors on either side of the ball. Most of them fifth-year seniors. We're going to be playing an experienced football team that'll know what they heck they're doing."

Montana’s home game with Drake will kick off at 1 p.m. Saturday in Missoula. The game will be televised statewide on Montana SWX. MSU’s showdown at SDSU will kick at 5 p.m. Saturday and is also televised on SWX.