Records entering the game
Portland State is 2-2 on the season and 1-0 in conference play after a resounding 38-3 victory over conference rival Idaho State in last week’s home opener. Montana State is 4-1 on the season and a perfect 2-0 in conference play after snagging a clutch, 64-61, overtime win last week against another Big Sky contender, Sacramento State.
Last year’s meeting
The Bobcats were the victors with a score of 28-10, but the Viks were never really in this one. By halftime, the Bobcats had padded their lead to 28-0. The Viking defense did kick in after the midway point and limited the Bobcats to little more than 50 offensive yards, but it was too little, too late. The starting quarterback, Drew Hubel, was lost in the first half with a shoulder injury that has never gone away.
At the time, neither team was built for offense. The Viks weren’t built for defense either, but the Bobcats were. Montana State will have history on its side entering the fray. It has won seven of the last eight matchups with Portland State, and leads the all-time series, 9-2, on the turf in Bozeman.
Kicking matchup
The Viks’ sophomore kicker Zach Brown has been just as impressive this year as he was last year. He’s 8 of 12 on the season with two of his four misses coming from over 50 yards. The season isn’t over yet, and he has already put up an impressive 53-yarder. Brown is incredibly accurate in the 40 to 49 yard zone, kicking for a perfect 6 of 6—a feat that most NFL kickers can’t claim.
Despite this, the Bobcats have the Big Sky’s top-ranked kicker on their team. Jason Cunningham has missed only one field goal this season, bringing his tally to 13 of 14. He is also the Big Sky’s leading scorer with 61 points. His only miss is from 52 yards and he enters this game the second-ranked kicker in the nation.
Scouting the Bobcats
This looks to be a different Montana State team than those of years past. The Bobcat offense has been putting up some big numbers and leads the Big Sky in just about every offensive category: scoring offense, pass offense, rushing offense and total offense. The Bobcats are ranked 10th in the nation in their division, third in the nation in total offense and second in the nation in scoring offense.
Montana State’s real threat is freshman quarterback Denarius McGhee, who has given the Bobcats an offensive identity. Last week, he was named the Big Sky’s Freshman of the Week, and his four touchdown passes and 386 yards also qualified him for Offensive Player of the Week. Making the feat even more impressive is the fact that McGhee threw an interception-free game. McGhee also exhibits some mobility as evidenced by his five-yards per rush average in last week’s game. He is second in the conference in passing average per game and third in pass
efficiency.
This is also the homecoming game for the Bobcats, so the team will surely be riding a swell of pride. Everything and everyone in Bozeman will be looking for a Bobcat win.
Scouting the Vikings
Head coach Nigel Burton’s defense really came into its own last week against Idaho State. The Vikings not only prevented the Bengals from getting a touchdown—something they haven’t done to a team since 2006—but they also limited them to just 195 yards of total offense. Hopefully, they will be able to do the same thing this week and pressure their opponent’s freshman quarterback into mistakes. Look for junior safety Manoa Latu, this week’s Co-Defensive Player of the Week, to wreak some havoc.
Latu is having a tremendous first year at Portland State. He is tied for the team lead in tackles, 31, with junior linebacker Ryan Rau. He also had two interceptions, one of which was returned 43 yards for a touchdown in last week’s game against Idaho State, and has broken up four passes. Both of these also tie with team leaders.
The passing offense will hopefully start to gel in the same way that the running offense has. Junior quarterback Connor Kavanaugh is ranked dead last in the Big Sky in passing efficiency, completing just 58.1 percent of his passes. Portland State also doesn’t have even one of the top 10 receivers in the conference.
The running game should continue to improve and keep making the dynamic strides that it has been. The Viks had run the spread offense for so long that not a single opponent’s defense really had the weight of that possibility on their shoulders. All of that has changed now. Junior running back Cory McCaffrey is the fifth-ranked rusher in the conference with three touchdowns, 322 yards and an average of 5.2-yards per carry. Most surprising of all is that the Viks had not one but two rushers with over 100 yards last week.
Kickoff for the Vikings’ second game of conference play is set for 12:35 p.m. on Saturday. The game can be viewed live online at www.b2tv.com or heard on 970 AM. Replay will be available on Comcast Sports Net at 2:30 p.m. on Sunday.