Lights looking to cage the stingy Bulldogs

With how good the Frontier Conference is right now, it seems like every single week, the Montana State University-Northern Lights are facing a team on a hot streak - a team climbing the national rankings.

Last week, it was a trip to Rocky Mountain College, just seven days after the Battlin' Bears shocked Southern Oregon. Now, the Lights (0-6, 1-6) come back home and have to square off against not just one of the hottest teams in the Frontier, but perhaps one of the hottest in the NAIA.

Saturday Northern plays host to No. 18 UM-Western (5-1, 5-1). The Bulldogs have won three straight, and can win the Frontier championship by winning their last four games. Northern, on the other hand, will try not only to spoil Western's run, but, with it, to win its first Frontier game of the Andrew Rolin era. Kickoff is slated for 1 p.m. inside Blue Pony Stadium.

"They're a very good football team," Rolin said of the Dawgs, who are alone in first place, and come in averaging a league-best 38 points per game, while only allowing 19.5 ppg, which is second-best in the Frontier. "They're very solid in all three phases. They are very well-coached. And they're playing really good football right now."

Rolin knows first-hand how solid the Bulldogs are, too. Northern dropped a 55-3 decision to Western last month in Dillon. In that game, Western's defense, led by linebacker Jason Ferris, who leads the Frontier in tackles, held Northern to a season-low 223 yards of offense, with only 41 coming on the ground. Ferris, who has 77 tackles and three interceptions, along with fellow LB Riley Martello, are the catalysts for a Western defense that is as stingy and stout as any the Lights have faced all season.

Still, MSU-N can feel good about what its offense has done the last two weeks. Northern is fourth in the Frontier in passing, and fourth in the league in total offense. Senior quarterback Tommy Wilson is really coming on strong, having thrown for 1,610 yards and seven touchdowns against just five picks. Sophomore WRs Bryce Bumgardner and Marvin Williams are also having a big impact on Northern's potent passing attack, while Jett Robertson's yards at running back may have slowed down as of late, but he too is another weapon in the passing game.

"I think our offense has improved every single week since the Western game actually," Rolin said. "We've been pretty efficient. We've taken care of the ball pretty well, and we've done a good job moving the chains most of the time. Now, what we've got to do is finish more drives. We've shot ourselves in the foot too many times in the redzone. And we need to make more explosive plays. We've been efficient, but we have to make those big plays when they're there, and we've got to score more points."

No question, while the Lights are averaging over 240 yards a game through the air, and almost 400 yards in total offense, they still average just 17 points per game.

And with how good Western's offense is, Northern will need to score points Saturday.

Sophomore starting QB Jon Jund has exploded onto the scene this season, averaging 270 yards per game in the air. He's thrown nine touchdowns and rushed for 191 yards as well. Jund also has a slew of weapons to use, including receivers like former Northern standout Jake Messerly, as well as Nate Simkins and Walker McKitrick. Sophomore running back Kylar Plante is also a weapon, and Western operates behind a big, veteran offensive line.

"I think whether it's the run or pass, everything starts with their quarterback," Rolin said. "He's the x-factor for them. He's a very good football player. He also has a lot of talent at wide receiver, so their passing game is really good. And with a really solid offensive line, all of that really opens up their running game, and when they get going, they're really hard to stop."

And that's what the Northern defense is up against Saturday. The Lights have struggled mightily to stop the run, allowing nearly 230 ypg. They are also last on stopping teams on third downs, and with injuries also piling up on the MSU-N defense, the Lights will have a tough task against a Western offense that averages 432 yards per game, led by the explosiveness of Jund.

"Defensively, we've just got to get better," Rolin said. "There's no other way to say it. We've got to execute, we've got to tackle better and we've got to limit the explosive plays against us. Just like we need more explosive plays on offense, we need to stop those on defense. Across the board, we just have to start playing better defensively."

Playing better especially includes the start of Saturday's game. At Rocky last week, Northern was behind 21-0 seemingly before the game had really got going, and Rolin said, he's challenged his team to fix that this week.

"We need to start faster this week," Rolin said. "Offensively and defensively, we were not good at all in that first half against Rocky. We've got to start much faster, and be better in all three phases this week. We've really challenged our guys to step up this week."

The Lights would certainly like to step up Saturday, as time is starting to tick away on the 2018 season. Northern has just four games left, and following Saturday's bout with the Bulldogs, the next two are on the road. But while MSU-N has been through its share of struggles since its season-opening win over Mayville State back in August, Rolin also admits, he's seen his team also make plenty of strides.

"We're getting better, I really believe that," Rolin said. "There's no excuses here. We know we still have to play better. We've got to go out and execute at a high level. We have a lot to clean up. But I also see how much this team has evolved since August. It's there and you can see it and you can feel it. This team is getting better, and we're going to keep getting better."

Saturday's game between the Lights and Bulldogs kicks off at 1 p.m. inside Blue Pony Stadium. The Lights are on the road next Saturday when they travel to Helena for a rematch with Carroll College.

Rematch

MSU-Northern Lights (0-6, 1-6) vs #18 UM-Western Bulldogs (5-1, 5-1)

Saturday, 1 p.m.

Blue Pony Stadium

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Radio: 92.5 KPQX FM

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