IAAfan

MSU has a fairly solid run defense that came into form late last year. MSU had a similar situation to UND last year in that we lost a bunch of starters on defense last year, mainly the DL. At one point we were playing a converted 3rd string TE at DE, and played several true freshman. Now we are truly fully healthy and this is a group that is much better against the run than the pass, as they don't really generate much of a pass rush. MSU defense has given up an average of 138 rushing yards per game in their last 4 game dating back to the last year. Granted none of the teams, except for maybe UC Davis, really feature the run game (Griz, Wazzu, SDSU), but our defense has come a long ways since 2015. UND is a completely different animal than any of those teams so we shall we how far we really have come in our run defense.

Ha, these are great. It's pretty funny to be a mini anything at 6'6 260, and he is only a freshman, has been injured, so he doesn't even have a full year in the strength program.

The Bobcats lost to Chadron State at home 35-24, UC Davis 45-0 (owe), and EWU 19-10 in 2005 and still made the playoffs. We beat Colorado, lost those 3 games in a row all at home, then won 6 of our next 7 and somehow made the playoffs and beat Furman in a 1st round home game. This was in 2005 before the field expanded to 24. So certainly all is not lost. That being said, I'm looking for a strong showing from my Bobcats. Our defensive strong suit is against the run, and our passing defense has improved a little bit although we still lack a solid pass rush. If we can contain the two headed monster that is the UND backfield, and give our offense some chances to move the ball, I like our chances. It remains to be seen whether that 2nd half showing against SDSU was truly a coming out party for QB Chris Murray, or was SDSU just off and we took them by surprise. One thing is for certain, the Cats need to find a running game outside of Murray. I expect you'll see a fair amount of Troy Andersen, a 6'3 220 freshman who runs a 10.88 100 meter. He had a few nice runs against Washington State but suffered a bit of a sprain and only played 1 snap as far as I can remember against SDSU. He is fully healthy, but he isn't going to get double digit carries or anything. We are still trying to see who can run the ball, so far no one has separated themselves. Our OLine is simply not creating holes, and teams stuff the box to try and force Murray to pass. Now that Murray may have finally found a passing game, it will be interested to see how that affects opposing team's defensive schemes, and if that opens up our running game at all.

Just wanted to stop by with a few comments after the game. UND's defense came to play, they were as good as advertised. We couldn't get any push up the middle, and your speed sideline to sideline kept Prukop and Johnson from breaking anything. If UND can find an offense they will be a solid team. Your QB had a good arm and throws a nice deep ball but he threw a pick six and legimitely could have thrown 2-3 more if our guys hadn't flat out dropped them. I pity the team that gets behind to UND, that will be a hard hole to dig out of. UND is a team built to maintain a lead. I'm happy MSU came out with the win, my prediction of 28-16 was pretty close! We were without both our outside starting WRs, a solid second string WR who has played quite a bit, our backup RB who has just 9 less carries than our starter but who has scored 6 TDs, our starting DT, and a on and off starting true freshman DE who was also out. We had 2 true freshman starting at WR, we are very depleted there. So I am very happy we were able to produce enough to win. Good luck the rest of the way out, and good luck against Montana next week, although I'm afraid that one could get ugly. Montana's defense is for real, and they have some serious playmakers on offense.

Fortunately for MSU, our defense has always been much better against traditional pro-set offenses. It's when we run into teams that run the spread, or even the option, where the offense has speed all over the field, we struggle. It is hard to judge the MSU defense so far, as ASU is a very fast FBS bowl team, UCA gained most of their yards against our 2nd string (only a drive or two) and in the 4th while playing catchup, and EWU is the #1 offense in the country. Black Hills State did gash us for like 270 yards in the first half but gained only 9 after halftime. Our safety play has underwhelmed, our defense end play hasn't been mediocre to subpar, and our LB corp is playing just above average, when they should be one of the best corps in the nation with the talent and experience they bring. I think UND can move the ball a bit just because our defense isn't playing at a high level right now, but I don't think they will be able to score that much.

My memory isn't great and my history is shaky, but I think Kramer brought back the M in 2000 when he took over to bring back the tradition to MSU, got rid of the Cat head logo. I don't think it had been used for a long long time. But now it's incorporated not only in athletics, but you'll see a big M for the university as a whole in advertising. We also have www.montana.edu which pisses off Griz fans as well.

http://www.montana.edu/them/history.html A lot more history than just that but I can't remember exactly and can't find any more sources. This photo circa 1897 is our football team, haha. It does have the added bonus of pissing off Griz fans. http://www.montana.edu/mountainsandminds/article.php?article=9313

Here are some highlights from the EWU MSU game:

Holy cow when did I register on this site? This username lol. Anyways, MSU fan here. I'm expected a closer game than maybe some of you think. MSU is coming off a very emotional loss at home against EWU, and UND's defense looks like they are pretty solid. I also think UND will have some success moving the football - the Cats just can't seem to grasp that whole tackling concept. And our front 4 isn't generating enough pressure on their own, so we are having to bring blitzes. MSU has come out of the gate firing this year only to fizzle in the 4th quarter. I wouldn't be surprised to see us struggle a bit early on here, maybe 7-3 at the end of the 1st Cats. But I think we'll get our footing and put the petal down, and I think the final score will be in the 28-16 range.

Not so fast on that. Not sure if you are very familiar with Mike Van Diest, but in 7 seasons at Carroll he has: Won 6 conference championships Made it to the playoff semifinals 6 straight years Won 4 consecutive national championships Posted a 20-2 playoff record Posted a 78-16 overall record Named conference coach of the year 5 times Named national coach of the year 2 times Not to mention he has a lot of DI experience, at UM, UMass and Wyoming.

Does anyone else want to storm Notre Dame with me?

Would someone please send a memo to the Vikings and tell them that the name is offensive to us Norwegians and the like. And the Americans, I find that extremely offensive. Montreal Canadians? Get rid of that too. What irritates me a lot about this kind of thing are the people who insist on having blank-Americans in their name. Native-Americans. So you are too good to be just Americans like the rest of us, or what is the deal with that. I call everyone just American, but those who claim they want more acceptance refer to themselves as Asian-American, what have you, and nothing could be more hypocritical. Being proud of your heritage is one thing, but naming yourself thusly just further seperates you.