Cats brace for high-powered Eagles; Grizzlies visit Cal Poly

The Montana State Bobcats have played in several big games already in 2018. Nothing the Cats have done thus far will compare to their next game however.

Saturday, the Bobcats (1-0, 3-1) will welcome the fifth-ranked Eastern Washington Eagles (1-0, 3-1) for a huge Big Sky Conference showdown, with what should be an electric atmosphere inside Bobcat Stadium.

“I think we’re ready to measure ourselves against an excellent team within our league, and then we’ll see,” MSU head coach Jeff Choate said. “They’re the class of the league.”

The Eagles have indeed been the class of the Big Sky for some time now, and, MSU hasn’t beaten EWU since 2010. And as always, Eastern comes to Bozeman with a high-powered, high-octane offense, led by senior quarterback Gage Gubrud, a Walter Payton Award candidate. EWU also has a host of speedy receivers, but this Eastern team might even be more dangerous because of the emergence of a powerful running game. Antoine Custer and Sam McPherson are both 100-yard type rushers, and with a veteran offensive line, the Eagles simply have no holes in their lineup.

And while the knock on Eastern in recent years is, the Eagles haven’t had a dominant defense to go with their offense, that’s not the case this season either. EWU held Northern Arizona to just 10 points earlier this season, and the Eagles are coming to Bozeman fresh off a 70-13 win over Big Sky rival Cal Poly.

But while EWU’s defense is very good this season, Choate still insists that, it’s defending the Eagles that is paramount.

“It’s like throwing spaghetti on the wall, right?” Choate said of drawing up an effective game plan against EWU. “They use tempo, multiple formations, multiple personnel groups, they’ll run some option, they’ll run some (quarterback) run game, so they make you defend a lot. One thing you don’t want to do is you don’t want to blitz because now you’re one-on-one with all these great receivers that they have down the field. They’re going to get their yards. That’s who they are. What we’ve got to do is we’ve got to play really, really good red zone defense and try to limit them to field goal opportunities when they’re down there.”

Of course, MSU is no slouch either. Offensively, the Cats have scored 87 points in their last two games, and Troy Andersen is back healthy at QB. Add in the emergence of true freshman running back Isiah Ifanse, and the Cats have become very hard to defend as of late.

Still, as impressive as MSU looked two weeks ago against Wagner and in last weekend’s road win at Portland State, the Eagles are a different animal, and MSU knows full well it will have its hands full Saturday afternoon.

“We’ve got to just find out where we stack up against the best in this league,” Choate said. “They’re coming to our house and that’s a positive for us, but we’ve got to have a great week of preparation. We’ve got to go compete as hard as we can compete and we’ve got to play mistake-free football, and that’s what it’s going to take to have an opportunity to win this game.

The young Montana Grizzlies (1-0, 3-1) are going to find out where they stack up, too. Fresh off their thrilling win over Sacramento State last Saturday in Missoula, the No. 17 Griz will shift gears as they head to San Luis Obispo to face Cal Poly (0-1, 1-3) and its triple-option attack.

Montana didn’t face the Mustangs last season, but the Griz have dropped to of their last four to Cal Poly and haven’t won in California since Bobby Hauck’s first stint as head coach. And while the Mustangs might be reeling after last week’s dismantling at EWU, they still have the Big Sky’s top rusher in Joe Prothroe, a dual-threat QB in Kaleal Jenkins and an offense that’s next to impossible to prepare for in just four or five days.

"Any time you play a team coached by Tim Walsh, you know they're going to be tough and physical," Hauck said Monday. "They're going to run the ball and they're going to tackle well and play hard. We know this will be a challenge."

Montana likes to run the ball, too, especially after QB Dalton Sneed rushed for 202 yards in last week’s win. However, as dynamic as the Griz’ offense has been, Saturday’s road trip will be all about stopping the run, and senior Reggie Tilleman and junior Jesse Sims will be crucial in that aspect, as will star linebackers Dante Olson and Josh Buss. Montana did give up over 300 yards on the ground to Sac. State last week, but the Griz still have the No. 2 run defense in the Big Sky.

Though Cal Poly’s offense presents a big challenge, perhaps even more daunting is Montana’s need to win a road game, something the Griz haven’t done this season and did only once a year ago.

"Now we get to go on the road to Cal Poly and see if we can get another (win)," Hauck said Monday. "They're always tough to play."

Montana’s game at Cal Poly kicks off at 5 p.m. M.D.T. The game can be viewed on Eleven Sports, which is only available on DirecTV. The game between MSU and Eastern Washington starts at 1 p.m. in Bozeman, and will be televised nationally on Root Sports.