Cats should be confident, but not too confident, against Bryant
Coach Jeff Choate gets his first home game on Saturday as the Bobcats host Bryant University out of Smithfield, Rhode Island. Bryant is a FCS squad out of the Northeast Conference that is 1-0 on the year after beating a pretty bad DII squad (Merrimack) in the season opener. The Bobcats should dominate, right?.
Coach (Cat fan): This game is not a gimme. Bryant’s only been around since 1999. They’ve two conference titles in that time and have an overall record of 97-60 which is actually pretty respectable. They lost to Coastal Carolina 31-17 last year. when Coastal Carolina was #2 in the nation. They also beat Saint Francis by 2 last year.
Z-Train (Griz fan): Playing Coastal Carolina that close would give me heartburn.
Coach (Cat fan): They seem like a legit program. I saw on twitter that Bryant’s coach Marty Fine thinks that MSU is better than his squad and they’ll have to slow down the game and protect the ball to have a chance in Bozeman. Fine is simply blowing smoke up our asses with these quotes. No headcoach wants to come in and collect a check just to get their ass beat. I think he’s just playing to the media. He has a better squad then he lets on and he knows it. This will be a tougher game than people think. Marty
Hot Take Nate (Cat fan): I’m interested in Bryant’s QB Dalton Easton. Linehan last week for Idaho was supposed to light up the Cats D and whether it was him playing horrible or the Cats D playing well, he didn’t look at all like the player he was touted to be. Bryant’s QB seems efficient, but nothing crazy. He went 13/20 for 223 and 4TD against a DII school so it’s tough to tell how impressive that is. If Cats can hold a FBS and spotlight player to what they did, can’t they do that against this FCS, efficient, but not spectacular QB?
Coach (Cat fan): I think it could be tight at times but the Cats will clearly pull away in the second half and win 42-14.
Hot Take Nate (Cat fan): Wait, you think they’re going to win 42-14 BUT it will be tight at times? Damn, contradiction.
Coach (Cat fan): I said tight AT TIMES!
Bear Tycoon (Griz fan): The public’s view of this game is skewed in favor of MSU for the same reason people overlooked St. Francis last week against UM. They sound like a Div II team so there cupcake-game type confidence. In our fan confidence index, fans had around a 98 percent confidence score for the Cats which is outrageous. Bryant is an average to above average FCS program. The Cats should only be favored because of home field advantage.
Hot Take Nate (Cat fan): I am predicting a win for MSU. I’m going with 35-17. I really do think this game means a lot to Choate in front of the home crowd for the first time and he definitely came out and told his boys that losing is not acceptable at MSU. You’ve had to have seen his quote from his presser earlier this week.
Coach (Cat fan): The pat you on the back quote?
Hot Take Nate (Cat fan): Yep – This one: “I’ll tell you what I told the players the other day: don’t let anyone around town pat you on the back for losing a game… I’ve felt that around here. We have to change that mentality. It’s not ok. Close doesn’t mean anything. That’s the edge we have to gain back. We are Montana State and if we lose a game, that’s unacceptable.”
I love that shit. Love his attitude.
Coach (Cat fan): Last week’s near loss to Idaho should have proven that the Cats will be better than most people think. Yes, we lost our all-everything QB in Prukop, but we returned several members of a stellar offense. In my opinion, that showed against Idaho. We moved the ball almost at will and the only thing that stopped us was ourselves (outside of the big 4th down stop in Idaho territory; credit the Vandal D there).
Hot Take Nate (Cat fan): Coming up with nothing on each drive after pulling to within 3 hurt. The offense just couldn’t get it going.
Coach (Cat Fan): I feel the biggest hindrance was our QB play. Bruggman missed on more throws than I would have liked and threw that costly INT. That hurt. I thought he was afraid to break the pocket and that was weird to see considering that’s what we’ve been accustomed to with guys like Lulay, McGhee and Prukop.
Jasper Moonshot (Griz fan): Much to my delight, MSU’s 2015 defense had more holes than a musket-riddled covered wagon. But after holding the Vandals to just 20 points, MSU appears to have turned things around. Give thanks to the defensive aura Choate exudes as a former Pac-12 D-Coordinator, and the savvy schema provided by Benedict Arnold Fan Club President and MSU’s new D-Coordinator, Ty Gregorak.
Z-Train (Griz fan): I agree that the Cattitude from the top seems to be don’t expect to fail and brush off mistakes. That would itself be a huge improvement over last year, where the cat D had the self-esteem of a 14 year old with back hair at his first high school swim class.
Jasper Moonshot (Griz fan): Appearances aren’t everything though. Despite allowing those mere 20 points, MSU struggled with the big play. They gave up 14 plays of over 10 yards, allowed 6.4 yards per rush, and 16 yards per pass completion. Perhaps this is a “Bend. Don’t Break” philosophy, but it could be a sign the personnel is still on the steep end of the learning curve.
Hot Take Nate (Cat fan): 14 doesn’t sound bad considering what we were like last year! They only had two “big” pass plays of over 30 yards which I think is an improvement and they were both to that massive receiver Deon Watson. Linehan only completed 8 passes. Thats such a different story than last year when it comes to the Cats pass defense.
Jasper Moonshot (Griz fan): That is true. 14 sounds like a really good day if it was the 2015 Bobcats defense.
Hot Take Nate (Cat fan): Like the coaches have been saying, last year a dude would give up a huge play and the whole D would get down and it’d spiral downhill. Against Idaho they definitely had the “Bend but don’t break” attitude and didn’t allow a string of huge plays.
Bear Tycoon (Griz fan): Speaking of the Idaho game, that was a weird game. It seemed like there was no atmosphere in that dome. I honestly couldn’t tell if there was a crowd there from the telecast.
Hot Take Nate (Cats fan): Yeah, that crowd in Moscow was horrible. I think MSU will be hyped on Saturday with a sellout crowd. The atmosphere will help. Also, Bryant averaged around 5,200 fans at their 4 home games last year. (Why the hell did they only have 4 home games, by the way? Weird.) Anyway, the Cats will get 19,000+ in Bozeman on Saturday and that’s going to make a difference. I’m sure the Bryant players are jacked for that atmosphere too considering the crowds they get at Northeast Conference games are shit.
Hot Take Nate (Cat fan): Damn, Bryant has a 6’0, 300 lb. middle linebacker.
Jasper Moonshot (Griz fan): Can’t believe there’s a 6’0 300 lb. MLB! That’s a 40.7 on the BMI scale, which puts him in the Morbidly Obese category. Due to this, I’m only picking MSU by 7. Cats win 27-20.
Z-Train (Griz fan): I don’t trust BMI. No accounting for incredibly dense muscle mass.
Click here to receive our weekly newsletter, with Montana Mint Sport updates, exclusive content, and the occasional Ryan Leaf update. If you watch Cat/Griz, you should do it. (Sign up here)
Follow us on twitter @MTMintSports. And follow our team: @MintsHotTakeN8, @ztrainmint,@BearTycoon, @ScottyMint,@JasperMoonshot, & @MintyCoach!
Related Posts
Griz Fan Podcast – Farris, Mariani, Schmidt, and Sample on the title game & the Griz →
Griz Fan Podcast – Furman win & NDSU in the semifinals →
Griz Fan Podcast – Blue Hen beatdown with the quarterfinals up next →
