Cats renew an old rivalry, Griz hope to bounce back

In different ways, Saturday is going to be one gigantic day for the Montana State Bobcats and Montana Grizzlies.

In Bozeman, the Bobcats (1-1, 3-2) return from their bye week to renew an old rivalry when they host the University of Idaho on homecoming. Meanwhile, the No. 22 Grizzlies (2-1, 4-2) have to trek east to take on the North Dakota Fighting Hawks.

And neither game is one the Cats and Griz can really afford to lose.

The Bobcats should be heavy favorites against the Vandals inside Bobcat Stadium. That's because Idaho's (1-2, 2-2) return to the Big Sky Conference has been a rough one. Idaho heads to Bozeman, for the first time in almost three decades, fresh off an absolute thrashing at the hands of Idaho State. Meanwhile, the Cats should have fresh legs, having not played last Saturday. And yet, given what happened to the Grizzlies last Saturday, MSU can ill-afford to take the game with the Vandals lightly, and they won't.

“They did not have their competitive edge” against Idaho State, Choate said of the Vandals. “They gave up a ton of yards and a lot of explosive plays to a very good outfit.” That was one of the things that we talked to our guys about (Sunday) before practice — lessons learned from the bye week,” he said. “If you are prepared and you bring your edge competitively you can beat anybody, and if you are not prepared and you do not have your competitive edge you can get beat by anybody."

Indeed, the Cats are looking to avoid the same kind of letdown. And to avoid that, they'll once again lean heavily on running the football, with Troy Andersen at quarterback, and, a defense that has been stout against the run, led by defensive end Bryce Sterk.

“Hopefully you feel like you’re a little bit refreshed. Guys’ legs are getting a little bit heavy toward the middle of the season. You give them a couple days off, they kind of get their legs back a little bit,” said Choate, who is 12-15 in two-plus seasons as coach at MSU. “Mentally, just getting away from it sometimes can be a real positive for these kids, too, and (they can) come back with a little bit more enthusiasm."

MSU will want to come out and play with enthusiasm, because Saturday's game is critical to the Cat's playoff hopes. A loss to Eastern Washington two weeks ago probably means the Cats will have trouble winning the Big Sky title, but they still have playoff aspirations, and with huge road games at Idaho State and Weber State looming, the Cats can't afford to stumble on their home turf, and especially not against an Idaho squad that has inexplicably struggled after spending the last 23 years at the FBS level. Idaho, led by former Carroll College star Paul Petrino, as well as former Havre High and Bozeman High head coach Troy Purcell, hasn't played in Bozeman since 1995, and while the Vandals are struggling, especially offensively, Choate knows Saturday's game is not only a big one, but a new rivalry, as well.

“I know coach Petrino and his staff are a veteran group of guys, coached a lot of football and will have their guys ready,” Choate said. There’s a huge group of guys — even though there isn’t a lot of recent history with this rivalry — that get that there is a rivalry (here), and this is a big game, I think, for them from the standpoint of it’s a little bit of a homecoming deal. And it’s a big game for us because it’s the next opportunity we have to compete.”

While MSU will try to avoid getting tripped up the Vandals, Montana has no such worries about staying focused at this point. After last Saturday's shocking 22-20 loss at home to Portland State, the Griz have little margin for error the rest of the way, and a game against UND, which is no longer in the Big Sky, but still counts toward Montana's conference record, is not going to be an easy one.

“It’s a big week for us, certainly, having to come off a loss at home and go on the road and get a win,” Hauck said at Monday’s news conference. “There’s things that are stacked against us with them having the open date. Us, we’re nursing a few things, obviously."

Huge could also best describe both UND's running game and it's defense. The Hawks are coming off a stunning upset of nationally ranked Sam Houston State, where they held the high-octane Bearkats to just 24 points. Offensively, the senior running back tandem of John Santiago and Brady Olivera will be formidable, so there's no doubt, the Griz have their hands full, with the defense led by stars Josh Buss and Dante Olson and an offense that needs to atone for four turnovers against PSU last week.

“This will be a tough trip,” Hauck said. “We kind of expect it to be sold out this weekend, so we’ll have to practice with crowd noise and do our best to try to alleviate some of that. But the hard part is they’re pretty good. It’s a big game. Huge game for us.”

Montana meets UND Saturday at noon in Grand Forks, North Dakota. The game can be seen statewide on SWX Montana. Saturday's game between Montana State and Idaho will kick off at 2 p.m. in Bozeman. The game will be televised nationally on Root Sports.