Bobcats pull away from Fort Lewis
BOZEMAN — Montana State fans can quit worrying about their team peaking too soon.
The Bobcats stuttered and sputtered at times Thursday night before finally putting away unheralded Fort Lewis (Colo.) College 45-14 in a college football opener.
Junior quarterback Dakota Prukop threw a pair of touchdown passes and rushed for another score as the Bobcats overcame nearly 100 yards in penalties and overwhelmed the NCAA Division II Skyhawks before a sellout crowd on 19,367 on a beautiful night at Bobcat Stadium.
It was the ninth-largest crowd in Montana State history.
Montana State outgained Fort Lewis 421-277 in total yards. The defensive effort, a focus this year for head coach Rob Ash and his staff, was encouraging.
“I liked the way our defense played,” Ash said. “We have some work to do and some things we have to clean up. When we pressured we allowed too many escape acts.
“But we put relentless pressure on that quarterback and that really helped us. That’s what we were looking for in this game.”
Prukop, the swift Texas native, finished with nearly 200 yards passing and about 70 yards on the ground. Chad Newell scored two touchdowns, backup QB Jake Bleskin threw a TD pass and sophomore kicker Luke Daly booted a career-best 47-yard field goal.
Prukop hurt Fort Lewis repeatedly with his legs. He overcame a slow start to throw a pair of touchdown passes in the third quarter as the Bobcats finally pulled away from the Division II Skyhawks, 3-8 last year and picked for eighth place in the Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference.
“III overthrew like three or four deep balls that would have put this game away,” Prukop said. “A lack of execution on my part.”
The Fort Lewis defense certainly frustrated the Cats early.
“It’s funny. You’re playing a Division II opponent, but game speed is way different than practice,” Prukop said.
The huge crowd, too, provided some butterflies.
“I’m usually a pretty calm guy,” Prukop said. “But inside I was wound up. I had a lot of adrenaline going through my veins.”
The Bobcats scored on three of their first four possessions in the second half. One of the drives was set up by Trace Timmer’s fumble recovery at the Fort Lewis 30. Timmer, the former Great Falls High star whose father, Kirk, starred on MSU’s 1984 national championship team, is a senior cornerback who was starting for the first time as a Bobcat.
Timmer later later left with an apparent leg injury.
Desmon Carter, a former UAB safety and one of five transfers brought in during the offseason to rebuild the Bobcat defense, caused the fumbled and Timmer pounced on it. A few plays later, Newell rammed it in for a score.
The Bobcat offense sputtered in the first two periods, but took a 14-0 lead by scoring twice in the final 4:24 of the half. The Skyhawks yielded yards grudgingly and the Bobcats hurt themselves with five penalties, including holding infractions on both the offense and defense.
Prukop displayed his dazzling speed, but he was inaccurate with the deep ball. He overthrew four open receivers and the Bobcats were forced to punt three times.
The Fort Lewis passing attack was worse. Jordan Doyle had little time in the pocket and threw for just 11 yards in the first half.
Sophomore Mac Bignell set the tone for the MSU defense. The 6-3, 215-pounder from Drummond whose father, Joe, is the legendary former Bobcat tight end that sparked the Cats to the 1984 national championship, delivered several crushing hits.
Among them was a bruising blow to Fort Lewis halfback PJ Hall, who tried to catch a swing pass from quarterback Jordan Doyle before Bignell arrived. No go. The resulting hit could be heard throughout the stadium and produced a roar from the loud crowd.
“I just read my keys,” said Bignell. “It worked out well for me.”
Bignell was asked what a hit like thaat all.
“It feels smooth,” he said. “You don’t feel pain at all. But you hope they do.”
Other than a few hits by Bignell and his buddies, including a crushing smack by Fletcher Collins on the opening kickoff, the Bobcat crowd didn’t have a lot to cheer about early on.
The Cats punted on their first three possessions, including a 3-and-out deep in MSU territory that was particularly unproductive, and flags flew on many of the their positive plays.
Prukop’s apparent 58-yard touchdown dash was called back early in the quarter. But the junior eventually scored on the drive. Justin Paige rambled 26 yards on an end-around and Prukop scrambled for 10 on 4th-and-6. When Paige drew a pass interference call, the Cats had it 1st-and-goal at the 10.
Three plays later it was fourth down, but Newell crashed into the end zone. Touchdown.
The Bobcat defense stiffened after a pair of Skyhawk first downs, and MSU got the ball back at its own 44 with 98 seconds left in the half. Prukop completed a 22-yard strike to tight end Beau Sandland down the 5, and then took it into the end zone himself from five yards out on a nifty misdirection keeper that left the Fort Lewis defenders flatfooted.
The Bobcats outgained the Skyhawks 190-103 in the first half, with Prukop running for 60 yards and passing for 74 on 7-for-14 accuracy. Hall had 42 yards and Doyle ran for 40 in the first half.
Fort Lewis scored in the third quarter as Doyle tossed a 23-yard touchdown pas21s to Juquelle Thompson. That brought the Skyhawks within 21-7, but MSU scored two quick touchdowns thereafter and eventually put the game away.
The Bobcats don’t play again until Sept. 19 at powerful Eastern Washington.
“I’ve said for 40 years that the biggest improvement a team makes is between Game 1 and Game 2,” Ash said. “Because you finally get to watch yourselves on tape after you’ve played that first game. That’s what we need to do. We’ve got to fix the things that are broken, correct the things that didn’t work and also see the good things and keep trying to recreate those. And we’ve got plenty of time to do that.”
MONTANA ST. 45, FORT LEWIS 14
Fort Lewis
0
0
7
7
—
14
Montana St.
0
14
14
17
—
45
Second Quarter
MtSt—Newell 1 run (Daly kick), 4:24.
MtSt—Prukop 5 run (Daly kick), :09.
Third Quarter
MtSt—Herbert 1 pass from Prukop (Daly kick), 12:35.
FtLw—Thompson 23 pass from Doyle (Castanha kick), 4:34.
MtSt—Herbert 7 pass from Prukop (Daly kick), 2:17.
Fourth Quarter
MtSt—Newell 2 run (Daly kick), 14:31.
MtSt—LaSane 14 pass from Bleskin (Daly kick), 9:41.
FtLw—Gillen 9 pass from Thigpen (Castanha kick), 6:47.
MtSt—FG Daly 47, 2:39.
A—19,367.
FtLw
MtSt
First downs
17
23
Rushes-yards
45-174
38-163
Passing
103
258
Comp-Att-Int
10-17-1
20-32-0
Return Yards
17
4
Punts-Avg.
5-29.6
4-34.5
Fumbles-Lost
3-1
0-0
Penalties-Yards
6-93
8-75
Time of Possession
30:57
29:03
INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS
RUSHING—Fort Lewis, Hall 20-75, Doyle 13-58, Thigpen 5-29, Ogbonnaya Jr. 5-16, Team 1-0, Thompson 1-(minus 4). Montana St., Prukop 11-69, Newell 14-44, J.Gates 1-26, Brekke 4-20, LaSane 4-4, Bleskin 2-1, Dodd 2-(minus 1).
PASSING—Fort Lewis, Doyle 8-14-1-50, Thigpen 2-3-0-53. Montana St., Prukop 14-24-0-197, Bleskin 6-7-0-61, Team 0-1-0-0.
RECEIVING—Fort Lewis, Thompson 2-67, Hatton 2-20, Thigpen 2-3, Hall 2-1, Gillen 1-9, Shaw 1-3. Montana St., Herbert 4-28, Griebel 3-36, Paige 2-95, Sullivan 2-20, Sandland 2-16, Newell 2-11, Roderick 1-25, LaSane 1-14, Brekke 1-11, Dodd 1-2, D’Agostino 1-0.