Game Day - UC Davis

7/27/2019 Game Day - UC Davis

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Saturday, Oct. 26

vS. uc daviSGameDay

Full PaPer

InsIDe

unIversIty oF CalIFornIa DavIs at no. 5 montana state, BoBCat staDIum, 2:05 P.m.

rollInG on

The Bobcats are 3-0 athome and have yet to betested n Bozeman. Don’texpect that to change

ths afternoon I 6

InsIDe

leaDInG the

CharGe Veteran sgnal caller

Randy Wrght’s return

to lneup has transformed

UC Davs from wnlesssquad to possble factor

n Bg Sky ttle chase I 2

Get yourBoBCats FIx

For all of the latest updates

and analyss and to jon the

dscusson on the Bobcats’

battle wth UC Davs, vst

dalychroncle.com/lve

startng at 2 p.m. today.

Also be sure and follow

@jmaletz

on Twtter.

ByKYLE SAMPLE

Crc Srts Wrtr

Based purely onmathematics, convert-ing third downs and

sustaining long drives issomething at which footballteams should excel.

Ten yards is merely 10percent of the field length,and four plays is a relatively small drop in the bucketin the context of the game,which generally encompasses120-140 plays.

Last season, Montana Statewas one of the best teamsin the nation at solving theconundrum the four-downallowance presents. TheBobcats were the FootballChampionship Subdivision’sfifth-best third-down offenseand defense, won 11 gamesand advanced to the nationalquarterfinals.

To understand why Mon-

tana State was so effective atsustaining drives and endingthose of its opponents, youdon’t have to look far. Itfeatured an experienced,efficient offense led by aquarterback and center thatspent three years together.Defensively, it had seniors inkey positions and employeda rather simple philosophy rooted in gap-sound, assign-ment schemes that funneledplays to its best players.

The offense convertednearly half of its thirddowns and the defense al-lowed a conversion about

one-third of the time.This season, the offense’s

success rate has dipped whilethe defense’s has remainedstatic. The Bobcats are con-

verting at a 39-percent clip,while the defense is hold-ing opposing offenses to a35-percent success rate.

What is ailing the offense?“There’s a lot of things that

go into it,” Montana Statehead coach Rob Ash said.

Using last week’s win overWeber State as an example,Ash explained that penaltiesand inconsistent executionoccasionally put the Bobcats

in bad situations — whatcoaches describe as being“behind the sticks.”

MSU’s staff plots its down-by-down strategy as cover-ing 4 yards on first down,cutting that distance in half on second and picking up theremainder on third. It keepsthe offense in control andsaps some of the aggressive-ness a defense would like toexert.

“It’s definitely one of ourkey goals,” junior right tackleQuinn Catalano said. “CoachAsh brings it up every week,coach (Tim) Cramsey talksabout it every week.”

Not surprisingly, in theirtwo most lopsided victoriesof the season — a 42-24 winover Monmouth and a 63-20win over North Dakota — the’Cats were the most successfulon third down, converting acombined 15-of-26 attempts.

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Aggs

quartrback

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Maa Sae ffese sugglg cue - lls

“i’m not a bg stat guy, (but) the bggest stats n

football are how many ponts we score and how

many ponts they score, turnovers and then, the

fourth one, s the thrd down converson rate

because that’s what keeps us on the feld and

them off the feld.”

— tim cramsey, MSU offensve coordnator

Mr third down I 5



2 | Saturday, October 26, 2013 bozeman daily chronicle

BOBCATS GAME DAY

UC Davis at No. 5 Montana State

2:05 p.m., Bobcat Stadium, Bozeman

Sideline BriefingRecordsNo. 5 Montana State 5-2, 3-0 Big SkyUC Davis 3-5, 2-1

SeriesFourth meeting, Montana State leads 2-1

Weather forecastSunny, 63 degrees

CrowdBobcat Stadium (17,777)

TVMax Media (Chris Byers, Mike Callaghan, Je Eberle)

RadioKXLB-FM (100.7) (Tyler Wiltgen, Dan Davies, RileyCorcoran)

Coaches

SchedulesUC DAVIS

Aug. 31 South Dakota L, 10-7

Sept. 7 Neada L, 37-7

Sept. 14 NORTHERN ARIZONA L, 21-10

Sept. 21 PORTLAND STATE L, 41-10

Sept. 28 IDAHO STATE W, 30-13

Oct. 5 Southern Utah W, 21-3

Oct. 12 MONTANA L, 42-7

Oct. 19 Northern Colorado W, 34-18

Oct. 26 @ Montana State 2:05 p.m.

No. 2 CAL POLY 5 p.m.

No. 16 NORTH DAKOTA 5 p.m.

No. 23 Sacramento State 4:30 p.m.

MonTAnA STATe

Aug. 29 MONMOUTH W, 42-24

Sept. 7 Southern Methodist L, 31-30

Sept. 14 COLORADO MESA W, 26-0

Sept. 21 Stephen F. Austin L, 52-38

Sept. 28 North Dakota W, 63-20

Oct. 5 NORTHERN ARIZONA W, 36-7

Oct. 19 Weber State W, 34-16

Oct. 26 UC DAvIS 2:05 p.m.

No. 2 Northern Colorado 1:35 p.m.

No. 9 Eastern Washington 1 p.m.

No. 16 SOUTHERN UTAH 4 p.m.

No. 23 MONTANA Noon

Players to watchUC DAVIS

QB Rady Wright: Since being reinserted as the

starter ollowing UC Davis’ 0-4 start, the senior has

guided the Aggies to three wins in their past our

games. In last week’s victory at Northern Colorado,

he logged the ourth 300-yard passing game o

his career. He threw or 242 yards and scored on a

5-yard run in last year’s loss to Montana State.

MonTAnA STATe

CB Dt Fwrs: The athletic junior has emerged

as one o the Big Sky’s top shutdown corners. He has

recorded at least one pass breakup in our straight

games, held North Dakota standout wide receiver

Greg Hardin to no catches and last week produced

his frst interception in a win at Weber State. His pick

and subsequent 47-yard return set up Montana Stateor a ourth-quarter touchdown that put what was a

close game out o reach.

Injury reportUC DAVIS

Undisclosed

MonTAnA STATe

out r sas: LB Na’a Moeakiola (shoulder), WR Kurt

Davis (knee), LB Wyatt Christensen (knee)

out idfity: WR Tanner Roderick (hand), DL Zach

Hutchins (undisclosed), C Christian Williams (eye)

Prbab: S Eryon Barnett (shoulder), DE Preston Gale

(knee)

Quick hitsn Montana State averages three sacks per game,

which is ninth in the Football Championship

Subdivision and frst in the Big Sky Conerence.

n The Bobcats are now 36-2 under Rob Ash when

scoring 30 or more points and 29-1 when holding an

opponent to less than 20.

nMSU is ourth in the FCS in average attendance at

19,960.

n The ‘Cats average 427 yards and more than 37

points per game on their six-year-old tur feld.

nMSU’s three takeaways against Weber State

boosted it into frst place in the Big Sky in turnover

margin.

nSenior running back Cody Kirk’s 12 touchdowns

and 10.6 points per game each lead the conerence.

He is eight touchdowns away rom Don Hass’s single-

season program record.

n The Bobcats have produced at least 20 frst downs

in all seven o their games.

nSenior Brad Daly has at least one tackle or loss in

15 consecutive games dating to 2012.

RoB ASHMSU, 7th year

34th year overall

55-24 at MSU

231-123-5 overall

Ron GoUlDUC Davis, 1st year

1st year overall

3-5 overall

Leaning the opes

ADRIAN SANCHEZ-GONZALEZ/CHRONICLE

Bozeman 11yearold Kaelan Patten, second from left, drops back to pass as Montana State quarterbacks DeNarius McGhee, left, and Jake

Bleskin look on Wednesday afternoon. The Bobcats welcomed local Lions Club youth teams for practice at Bobcat Stadium.

QB’s returnprompts bigturnaroundfor UC DavisBy JON MALETZ

Chronicle Sports Editor

To turn its season around, UCDavis turned to a familiar face.

For the better part of fourweeks, veteran quarterback Randy Wright languished on thesideline as first-year head coachRon Gould seemed intent ongiving strong-armed Boise Statetransfer Jimmy Laughrea every opportunity to land the perma-nent starting job.

Wright, a three-year starterand one of the most decoratedsignal callers in program his-tory, watched helplessly as theoffense stumbled, generating just34 points through its first fourgames — losses to South Dakota,Nevada, Northern Arizona and

Portland State.A curious thing happened inSept. 28’s Big Sky opener against

visiting Idaho State, however. Af-ter yet another inauspicious startfrom Laughrea, whowas fresh off consecu-tive two-interceptionperformances, and twofirst-quarter drives thatstalled, netting justthree points againstone of the league’sperennial bottom feeders, UCDavis called on Wright.

“They said start warming up,”Wright said of Gould and offen-sive coordinator Kevin Daft inan article in the Sacramento Bee.“You don’t have to tell me twice.”

Wright, who had not seen thefield since Aug. 31, immediately injected life into the Aggies,throwing for 201 yards, twotouchdowns and spearheading a455-yard offensive output.

More important, he helped UCDavis — and Gould — secure anall-important first victory.

Nearly one month later Wrightremains the starter, and theAggies (3-5, 3-1) are thriving.They’ve won three of their pastfour and have emerged as a vi-able challenger in the Big Sky

title chase.“Randy was a little sporadic

early on. … He really needed tounderstand that we were run-ning a new program and it’s notOK just to go through the mo-tions; it’s unacceptable,” Gouldsaid earlier this week. “He’sreally embraced that. He’s neverpouted; (because of) his com-petitiveness, he wasn’t happy that we benched him, but heworked his fanny off and con-tinued to stay mentally focused.Now that the opportunity hascome up again, he’s taken fulladvantage of it.”

Wright capped his first driveagainst the Bengals with a 20-yard touchdown strike to TomHemmingsen.

CHRONICLE FILE PHOTO

’Cats middle linebacker Michael Foster has recovered a fumble in three consecutive games.

By JON MALETZ

Chronicle Sports Editor

It seemed fitting thatMontana State’s defensivequarterback was wearinga red no-contact jersey atTuesday’s practice.

“The coaches just want meto be careful,”middle line-backer MichaelFoster said ashe stole a quick glance at his

ailing shoulder. “They just want me to heal up.By the time the big gamerolls around, though, I’llbe good to go. I really do

feel f ine.”His air of nonchalance

initially was striking,particularly consideringthe scene that unfolded

earlier this month againstNorthern Arizona; asellout crowd watchedthe junior slowly ambletoward the Bobcat

Stadium sideline in theopening quarter with hisleft arm lifelessly hangingby his side.

Then again, the circum-stances are hardly foreign.The Seabrook, Texas, na-tive played the bulk of the2012 season with a poste-rior labral tear in his rightshoulder that necessitatedoffseason surgery. Hestill managed to lead theBobcats in special-teamstackles and return in timeto participate in fall campwithout limitations.

Nerve damage this timearound has producedsome lingering discom-fort, sure, but Foster iscertain the injury won’t

relegate him to the role of bystander.

“You’re going to getstingers; if you pinch it, it

just fires and it sucks for

a while,” he said. “You’vegot to just deal with it,play through it. … I don’twant to let my teammatesdown.”

Foster was amonga host of Bobcats thatswarmed star runningback Zach Bauman ashe plunged through themiddle for a negligiblegain on the first play of NAU’s second possessionOct. 5. While the exactcircumstances are a bithazy, Foster remembersfalling to the turf and

landing awkwardly on hisarm.

He remembers the pain.

Injuies nothing new fo MSU LB

More FOSTEr I 5

More dAvIS I 5



Saturday, October 26, 2013 | 3bozeman daily chronicle

2013 MONTANA STATE UNIVERSITY

#4 // Wide Receiver

Jon Ellis



bozeman daily chronicle4 | Saturday, October 26, 2013



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bozeman daily chronicle Saturday, October 26, 2013 | 5

BOBCATS GAME DAY



Photo courtesy of

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The Aggies tackedon two more field goalsbefore the half to amassa 16-0 lead, and then putthings out of reach witha 14-point fourth quar-ter and the dominantrunning of transfer GabeManzanares, who finishedwith 208 yards on 33 car-ries.

One week later, Man-zanares rushed for 175and two more scores andWright pitched in with aneconomical 193 yards on16-of-25 passing in Davis’21-3 win over SouthernUtah.

After Oct. 12’s 42-7

setback against Montana,Wright and company regrouped last week inGreeley, Colo. The signalcaller logged his fourth300-yard passing gameand matched a career highwith four touchdowns ina 34-18 win over North-ern Colorado that was farmore one-sided than thefinal score would indicate.The Aggies’ first fourdrives covered 74, 74, 79and 82 yards and resultedin 24 points, they convert-ed 11 of 16 first downs and

accumulated a season-high488 yards of offense.

They ran 42 plays to theBears’ 17 in the first 30minutes alone.

“I’m very pleased with

how the guys came back and regrouped,” Gouldsaid. “Their effort andconcentration on the roadhas been very spectacular.It was a good, good team

victory.”A marquee win this

afternoon against a muchmore formidable foe,No. 5 Montana State (5-2,3-0) — the third rankedFootball ChampionshipSubdivision team it hasfaced thus far — couldposition Davis for a titlerun in the next month.The prospect is not so far-fetched; the Aggies scored24 points in the thirdquarter to snatch the leadin last year’s tussle with theBobcats, who responded

with a 17-point final frameto escape California witha 48-41 victory and theirthen-unblemished recordintact.

Wright rushed for ascore in that contest in ad-dition to completing 23 of 27 passes for 242 yards.

MSU players and coach-es came away impressedwith the Santa Rosa, Calif.native, who last week set aprogram record for pass-ing completions (1,170)and needs just 23 yards tobecome the second Davis

player to throw for morethan 8,000.

“I remember him jukingme once last year, whichwas not fun,” linebackerMichael Foster said. “It

was one of those that eatsat you.”

Added head coach RobAsh, “Randy Wright had afabulous game against us

last year. I’m very con-cerned about him; he’s agreat player. He throwsthe ball extremely well,but boy, where he hurt uslast year was with his feet.… He was able to run fora touchdown, and he wasable to extend plays, keepplays alive. … He’s playingreally well right now, and itseems like he’s getting bet-ter every week like I saidtheir whole team was.

“I thought we were alittle careless in the pocketlast week against WeberState. We need to just refine

our passing lanes and getback to what we do. It’s notanything new, it’s just tryingto get our technique betterso that we keep the pocketintegrity so that there’s notreally a lot of wide openspace for him to get out.”

Gould is excited to havehis veteran quarterback back in the mix.

“He gets us in and outof plays so nicely. … If weneed to check plays, hedoes a great job of seeingit, seeing the field and get-ting us into the right play

starting out and the guysin great positions,” thecoach added.

“The leadership fromRandy has just really emerged.”

“It happened so fast, but my arm went limp from my neck down to my f ingertips. WhenI moved, pain shot all the way through,” he said. “It was a weirddeal, and I honestly thought itwas my labrum; it hurt in thesame place as my other shoul-der. … The feeling came back,though, so I went back in.

“I spent (the following week)getting a couple MRIs to makesure it wasn’t in my neck;something like that and I’d defi-nitely have to pass the torch to(backup) Rhett Young — I don’twant to be in a wheelchair forthe rest of my life. … They saidit was nerves, though, and they said it was something I couldplay through. So that’s what you

do.”Added fellow linebacker Cole

Moore, “Mike is an extremely tough and resilient kid, andit’s important to have him outthere. Alex (Singleton), Mikeand I have been able to developconfidence in each other to bein the right spots and be execut-ing and making plays. He may come out for a play or two, butyou can bet he’ll get right back in there and be ready to go.”

That’s good news for theBobcats, who have experiencedsome attrition at the position inrecent months. Injuries shelved

one player — Na’a Moeaki-ola — for the season and forcedanother likely starter, AlekseiGrosulak, to leave the programduring the summer.

Foster eagerly embraced anaugmented role and addedresponsibility. After a period of transition and some early seasoninconsistency, Foster, Mooreand Singleton have transformeda perceived team weakness intoan unequivocal strength.

“Mike is really coming intothat role and developing into agreat playmaker for us,” MSUlinebackers coach Kane Ioane

said. “He’s really the leader of our defense; he’s basically thequarterback out there, gets those

guys up front lined up and theback end, as well. He’s invaluableto have out there at all timesbecause of his communicationskills and his ability.”

Foster has logged 33 tacklesand has recovered a fumble inthree consecutive games. Thelast came at a most opportunetime. With little more than 10minutes remaining in the fourthquarter of last week’s contest inOgden, Utah, Weber State wasmarching and appeared poisedto produce the go-ahead touch-down. Foster turned the tide ona second and 4 at MSU’s 22-yardline, however, stripping tailback Josh Booker and emerging fromthe scrum with the ball.

“As far as pulling the trigger, Icould see a few times where hedidn’t want to use his shoul-der — the bad shoulder — at

certain points,” Ioane said of Foster, who spent some time onthe sideline in Ogden. “I think he was still playing fast andphysical, so we’re certainly notlosing any step with him beingout there.

“If he’s going to be on thefield, he’s going to give it ev-erything he has, fly around andbe the physical ball player heis. In practice we have to toneit down a bit and have him puton the red jersey — no one cantouch him, which makes his lifeeasy — but when he’s on thefield he can’t worry about injury.

If you’re out there, you’ve gotto just go play. If things flareup, we’ll have him take a quick break and get him out there asquick as he can.”

The red jersey comes off thisafternoon.

Don’t expect Foster to behesitant.

“Yeah, you feel it when it hap-pens, when you make a big hit,but then it just goes away,” Fos-ter said. “In the moment, youhave that adrenaline going andyou have to keep pushing. Youhave to keep doing your job.”

Jon Maletz can be reached at

[email protected] or 582-2601. Follow him on Twitter @jmaletz.

Montana State also producedits largest average gains on firstdown in those wins — 10.1yards against Monmouth and9.3 in Grand Forks, N.D.

The consequences of notpicking up 4 yards on first down

typically create rippling effects.Cramsey says his creativity is di-minished when Montana Stateis behind the sticks and almostnonexistent in long-yardagesituations with low percentagesof success.

It should comfort the staff that the Bobcats have aver-aged 7.2 yards on first down,although the numbers areskewed by the 16 plays of 20 ormore yards they have already produced on first down.

Of their 223 first downs, 93have gained 4 or fewer yards,which is similar to their third-

down success rate.Montana State faced 28 firstdowns against Weber State (it

was credited with 20 but facedeight others as part of start-ing the game with the ball andafter scores and turnovers) andgained 4 or more on 17.

In the second quarter, quar-terback DeNarius McGhee wassacked for a loss of 10 on firstdown. He then found DavidDash for 11. The down and dis-

tance was not ideal, and a falsestart pushed the ’Cats back 5more; despite a 12-yard comple-tion to Cody Kirk, the Bobcatshad to punt.

On their first drive of thethird quarter, the ’Cats faced athird and 2 after Shawn Johnsonpicked up 2 on first down andMcGhee connected with BrianFlotkoetter for 6 a play later.It was the distance in whichCramsey feels comfortable;he can open the playbook andselect any number of plays froma number of formations.

A holding call negated that,

however, and McGhee fired anincomplete pass on third down.“I think it’s the fourth biggest

stat in football,” Cramsey said.“I’m not a big stat guy, (but)the biggest stats in football arehow many points we score andhow many points they score,turnovers and then, the fourthone, is the third down conver-sion rate because that’s whatkeeps us on the field and themoff the field.”

Cramsey, Ash and the otheroffensive assistants are search-ing for ways to increase MSU’ssuccess rate on third down.

“It’s different every week.We could sit here and talk forhours on specifically what (theproblem) is,” Cramsey said. “Iwould say it’s a combination;it’s play calling, it’s execution.That’s what it comes down to alot of times. I have to do a better

job of calling plays when thingsdon’t go well and they have todo a better job of executingwhen things don’t go well. Wenever separate them from each

other. … If we’re both doingit well, we’re going to have bigtime games.”

Foster /m 2

Third Down /m 1

Davis /m 2

chronicle file Photo

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bozeman daily chronicle6 | Saturday, October 26, 2013

BOBCATS GAME DAY



Depth charts

Montana State

OffenseLEFT TACKLE

55 John Weidenaar 6-7/280 So

76 Marshall Womack 6-5/280 Fr

LEFT GUARD

63 Kyle Godecke 6-5/315 So

72 Charles Lee 6-3/280 Jr

CENTER

74 Matthew Devereux 6-3/300 So

70 Joel Horn 6-4/295 So

RIGHT GUARD

75 JP Flynn 6-5/304 Fr

72 Charles Lee 6-3/280 Jr

RIGHT TACKLE

79 Quinn Catalano 6-4/300 Jr64 Andy Austin 6-3/285 Sr

QUARTERBACK

9 DeNarius McGhee 6-0/212 Sr

2 Jake Bleskin 6-1/195 So

RUNNING BACK

25 Cody Kirk 5-10/213 Sr

33 Shawn Johnson 5-9/175 Jr

X RECEIVER

86 Tanner Bleskin 6-3/218 Sr

83 Manny Kalfell 6-3/193 So

F/Y RECEIVER

4 Jon Ellis 5-10/175 Sr

12 David Dash 5-7/174 Jr

Z RECEIVER

84 Brian Flotkoetter 6-2/211 Jr

11 Tanner Roderick 6-3/185 So

TIGHT END

80 Tiai Salanoa 6-3/257 Sr

93 Lee Perkins 6-2/240 Jr

KICKER

18 Rory Perez 6-3/185 Sr

DefenseEND

7 Preston Gale 6-3/254 Sr

10 Odin Coe 6-3/250 So

TACKLE

47 Taylor Dees 6-2/273 Jr

92 Nate Bignell 6-2/273 So

NOSE TACKLE

50 Craig Ashworth 6-1/280 Sr

90 Taylor Sheridan 6-3/280 So

BANDIT

41 Brad Daly 6-1/240 Sr

46 Hayden Vick 6-3/236 Jr

SAM LINEBACKER

16 Cole Moore 6-2/220 Jr

34 Blake Braun 6-1/225 Fr

MIKE LINEBACKER

51 Michael Foster 6-1/228 So

58 Rhett Young 6-0/215 Jr

WILL LINEBACKER

43 Alex Singleton 6-2/240 Jr

29 Fe’ao Vunipola 5-10/222 Fr

BOUNDARY CORNER

37 Deonte Flowers 5-11/183 Jr

36 Brad Nordahl 5-11/172 Jr

ROVER

5 Robert Marshall 6-0/200 Jr

22 Eryon Barnett 6-2/200 Sr

FREE SAFETY

1 Steven Bethley 5-11/210 Sr

26 James Nelson 5-11/199 Jr

FIELD CORNER

3 Sean Gords 5-10/193 Sr

26 James Nelson 5-11/199 Jr

PUNTER

18 Rory Perez 6-3/185 Sr

THE EDGEUc Davis at Montana state

Which UC Davis deense will be making the trip

to Bozeman?

The unit that held Northern Arizona star

tailback Zach Bauman to just 56 yards on 18

carries and the Lumberjacks to 191 yards o total

oense? The unit that surrendered just 45 on the

ground and three points to Southern Utah?

Or, will it be the group that looked

downright clueless against the Griz

and was obliterated against Portland

State? The Vikings logged six rusheso at least 25 yards and a whopping

427 on the ground — on 38 carries, no

less — in Sept. 21’s 41-10 rout o the

Aggies.

Then again, will it really even

matter?

The Aggies have showcased ashes o stout

deensive play — particularly during their current

three-wins-in-our-games stretch — but they’ve

ailed to fnd a proven ormula or slowing the

Big Sky’s upper-echelon oenses.

The Bobcats certainly ft into that category.

Montana State is averaging more than 38 points

and 457 yards o total oense per game. It has

scored 35 touchdowns; UC Davis has just 15.Montana State has showcased some enviable

versatility and an ability to concoct the ideal

game plan to exploit whatever the deense

throws at it.

Cody Kirk, Shawn Johnson and company ran

wild against North Dakota and Northern Arizona

and are averaging nearly 5 yards per carry.

While quarterback DeNarius McGhee threw

or just 72 yards on 7-o-18 passing against the

Lumberjacks, the ‘Cats still managed

to cruise to a 29-point win on the

strength o 276 on the ground.

McGhee stepped into thespotlight last week against Weber

State, logging his frst 300-yard

passing eort in 13 team games

and showcasing a strong arm and

uncanny playmaking ability. Clearly,

any concerns about his throwing

shoulder being tender are a thing o the past.

“Just his aura, his presence exudes confdence.

… You can see it watching flm,” UC Davis head

coach Ron Gould said o McGhee. “You don’t

really stop this young man. Hopeully you’ve got

to contain him.”

Good luck, coach. You might be able to corral

McGhee, but the Bobcats have ar too many

weapons at their disposal to be completelystopped today. Barring a turnover-flled

aternoon, MSU should roll.

WHEN MONTANA STATE HAS THE BALL

At Tuesday’s weekly news conerence,

Montana State middle linebacker Michael Foster

said the UC Davis oense reminds him a lot o

the Northern Arizona unit the ‘Cats shut down in

their last home game.

I that is indeed the case, UC Davis

will play right into the Bobcats’ hands.

It is usually unorthodox or spread,

zone-read teams that have givenMSU its this all. The ‘Cats have had

little trouble shutting down pro-

style oenses, however, especially

ones that have struggled inding the

end zone.

UC Davis, which averages just 16

points per game, is the second lowest scoring o-

ense in the Big Sky and the third least proicient

in terms o total oense.

MSU head coach Rob Ash said he was worried

about Davis quarterback Randy Wright making

plays with his legs like he did in MSU’s 48-41 win

over the Aggies last season. Foster echoed his

coach’s sentiments, saying he remembered the

quarterback juking him on a run.

We don’t think that is going to happen again

this year, even with community college transer

Gabe Manzanares, the Big Sky’s ourth-leading

rusher, in the backield. Manzanares broke out

with 383 rushing yards against Idaho

State and Southern Utah, but he has

largely been held in check against

the league’s top squads (40 yardsagainst Northern Arizona and 60

against Montana.) He will struggle to

help move the chains today against

a deense that repeatedly has a

demonstrated knack or neutralizing

an opponent’s top oensive weapons

— just ask North Dakota’s Greg Hardin or NAU’s

Zach Bauman.

Montana State’s deense has really settled in

since a tough outing at Stephen F. Austin.

Despite troubles stopping the run last week-

end at Weber State, MSU’s deense has largely

kept teams rom scoring and will likely continue

that trend today.

WHEN UC DAVIS HAS THE BALL

Last year’s matchup between these teams was

a wild one.

Montana State looked like

it was going to cruise past the

Aggies as it amassed a 38-14

haltime lead, but UC Davis

ripped o 24 third-quarter

points to tie the game heading

to the ourth. Montana State

eventually took control and got

out o Davis, Cali., with a 48-41win ater ormer saety Joel Fuller knocked down

Randy Wright’s Hail-Mary attempt on the game’s

second-to-last play.

We would be surprised i this one ollowed

suit. Montana State has had its

troubles this season, but it has

been a relatively sae pick at

home.

In the past two years,

Montana State has lost just two

games at Bobcat Stadium, and

this doesn’t appear to be the

third. The ‘Cats will get their

sixth win o the season andremain undeeated in the Big Sky two weeks

beore a much-anticipated meeting with a ellow

unbeaten, No. 3 Eastern Washington.

38 13

EDGE

EDGE

THE BOTTOM LINE

UC Davis

DefenseLEFT END

18 Nick King 6-3/245 Sr

90 Zak Pettit 6-4/255 Fr

TACKLE

95 Anthony Kaspar 6-2/275 Jr

75 Inoke Raikadroka 6-0/275 Fr

TACKLE

55 Kyle DeVaughn 5-11/285 So

97 Khalid Jones 6-1/280 Sr

RIGHT END

8 Colin Kelly 6-3/235 Sr

94 Marques Barron 6-2/248 Jr

SAM LINEBACKER

35 Jonathan Bias 6-3/230 So53 Russell Reeder 6-3/200 Fr

MIKE LINEBACKER

30 Ryan Dimino 6-0/220 Jr

36 Artice Nelson 6-3/200 So

WILLIE CORNERBACK

33 Steven Pitts 6-1/225 Jr

54 Ryan Bua 6-0/240 Fr

CORNERBACK

1 Dre Allen 5-10/190 Sr

19 Shamawn Wright 5-9/170 So

FREE SAFETY

2 Charles Boyett 6-0/195 Jr

44 Zach Jones 5-11/205 Fr

STRONG SAFETY4 Aaryn Jones 6-2/197 Sr

9 Jabari Howard 6-1/185 Jr

CORNERBACK

11 Jonathan Perkins 5-11/185 Sr

29 Patrick Wells 5-11/175 Fr

PUNTER

93 Colby Wadman 6-1/185 Fr

38 Brady Stuart 5-11/163 So

OffenseLEFT TACKLE

77 Ian Joseph 6-6/300 Jr

73 Alex Hanes 6-3/260 So

LEFT GUARD78 Parker Smith 6-4/290 So

76 Andrew Hunter 6-2/280 So

CENTER

51 Jay Luchetti 6-4/285 Jr

71 Kevin Gavigan 6-3/260 Fr

RIGHT GUARD

79 Jimmy Kunkel 6-3/305 Sr

73 Alex Hanes 6-3/260 So

RIGHT TACKLE

70 Chris Schneider 6-4/245 Fr

78 Parker Smith 6-4/290 So

QUARTERBACK

17 Randy Wright 6-4/210 Sr

11 Jimmy Laughrea 6-2/205 SoRUNNING BACK

TIGHT END

86 Taylor Sloat 6-4/245 Sr

87 Mark Martindale 6-3/255 Jr

X WIDE RECEIVER

3 T.J. King 6-2/205 Jr

80 Ramon Vargas 6-3/180 So

Z WIDE RECEIVER

82 Corey Galindo 6-4/205 Jr

5 Tom Hemmingsen 5-10/180 Sr

FULLBACK

47 Dalton Turay 5-10/220 Jr

43 Derek Baljeu 6-0/240 FrKICKER

38 Brady Stuart 5-11/163 So

32 Marcus White 6-0/215 So

Game Day - UC Davis

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