GAME #2: Bobcats Travel to Utah Tech Facing 'Unknown' for Second Straight Game - Montana State University Athletics (2024)

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Football 8/30/2024 10:08:00 AM Bill Lamberty

MSU looks to keep improving after season-opening win at New Mexico

BOZEMAN, Montana – Bobby Daly's seen this before.

Montana State's defensive coordinator and fifth-year linebackers coach recorded 10 tackles and a sack in Montana State's 19-10 upset of Colorado in 2006, and he felt powerless the next week when NCAA Division II foe Chadron State shredded MSU 35-24. That eight-day period continues to inform Daly's coaching career.

"I think we got overconfident," Daly said matter-of-factly in the days following Montana State's exhilarating come-from-behind win at NCAA Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS) New Mexico last Saturday. That Colorado win was MSU's most recent against an FBS foe before Saturday. "We went down and beat an FBS opponent and thought we had arrived. Then a week later Danny Woodhead and Chadron State came in here and put it on us. So my message to the defense on Monday was that exact story."

The Bobcats serve as Utah Tech's season-opening opponent in St. George, Utah, on Saturday at 8 pm, and MSU head coach Brent Vigen said his team used its experience a week ago purposefully in preparing for the Trailblazers. "We were extremely pleased with the outcome" of the New Mexico game, he said, "and I think our guys and coaches took a good look at it and realize there's a lot to improve upon. That's really what we need to be about this week, another step forward."

After a 2-9 season in 2023, Utah Tech hired former Idaho State linebacker and Stanford defensive coordinator Lance Anderson as head coach. Anderson injected the Trailblazers' roster with talent, luring 17 transfers to St. George, but Vigen said he is building around "a core of players that were on the field against us last year and played well."

Vigen said the element of the unknown, facing a team with a new coaching staff that hasn't played a game yet, emerges as a major factor for the second straight week. "We've got another opponent, Utah Tech, there's a lot of uncertainty even though we played them last year," he said. "That's a lot of games ago, for them that's a lot of different players, a new coach and coaching staff. Obviously we're going to their place this year so this game will be played in a new environment. We've got to really focus on what we can do to get better while again predicting to some degree what Utah Tech will do."

The Cats faced similar circumstances a week ago in beating New Mexico and first-year coach Bronco Mendenhall. MSU scored 21 fourth-quarter points to wipe out a 17-point Lobos advantage with less than 14 minutes to play, earning the program's first win over an FBS opponent in 18 years. The Cats rushed for 362 yards and out-gained New Mexico 567 total yards to 324. When the team needed him the most, quarterback Tommy Mellott engineered scoring drives of 80, 93, and 89 yards.

"When you have a quarterback like Tommy that's been in a few of those situations through the course of his career," Vigen said, "the moment wasn't too big for him. He executed real well, and we had some guys on the other end of those throws who made good catches and offensive line-wise we stood up to a lot of pressure through that stretch."

In-game adjustments loom large, Vigen said. "Offensively, just like last week, you've got to see that's maybe where things start as how they want to build their offense. If Deacon Hill, the transfer from Iowa, is their starter it would suggest to lean more toward a passing offense. They seem to like their skill from what some of the fall preview stuff looks like. It's a pro style to some degree, I suppose, but more of a 50-50 offense (between run and pass) because they do have some good running backs."

Vigen said that Montana State's offensive staff has taken in information in various ways leading to Saturday's game. "You have to look at what Coach Anderson ran at Stanford. He was the long-time defensive coordinator there and they were really good through that stretch. A lot of big bodies, I know that, probably a little different than what they looked like last year but there are definitely some guys that were on the field last year that did some good things against us."

Still, Vigen said Montana State's approach is to prepare for what it's seen on film and to stick to the team's own plan. "We can't practice against ghosts this week, we have to be confined to what we think we'll get and like last week get in the game and make some adjustments to whatever they are doing."

Also like last weekend, the Bobcats will have to deal with high heat. The temperature in Albuquerque at kickoff last weekend was 90 degrees, and this week's projection is for mid-90s at kickoff. That would stand as on the of the five or six hottest games at kickoff the Cats have played. "It's another game dealing with the elements, it will be 90-plus at 8:00 on Saturday night," Vigen said.

Kickoff is 8 pm MT on Saturday at Greater Zion Stadium. The game is streamed on ESPN+, with no over-the-air telecast planned. It also airs on the Bobcat Sports Radio Network around Montana.

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