BOZEMAN — The Montana State Bobcats return home this weekend after a win on the road against Portland State last Saturday. The Bobcats dominated the Vikings 43-23 in Hillsboro, Ore., but one of the biggest challenges Montana State will face all season will be in Bobcat Stadium this Saturday when No. 5 Eastern Washington visits.
While the Bobcats have the home-field advantage, the Eagles still hold a six-game win streak over Montana State. Eastern Washington does have weapons on its end, but the Bobcats have shown promise in their run game.
“The quarterback having the ability to run the football is a nightmare for defenses,” MSU head coach Jeff Choate said. “Because if you’ve got a great running back and you got a guy who’s a statue handing it off to him, all eyes are on that running back. But if you put 15 (Troy Andersen) back there with 22 (Isaiah Ifanse), that’s a problem. You’ve got to defend the guy who’s taking the snap as well as the other guy.”
And while this game might pose the biggest challenge the Cats have seen so far this season, Choate is aware that it isn’t quite the biggest in Montana.
“We all know what the biggest game is around here, ok? I think we’re ready to go measure ourselves against an excellent team in our league,” he said. “We’ve got to have a great week of preparation and compete as hard as we can compete and play mistake-free football, and that’s what its going to take to have an opportunity to win this game.”
The Bobcats and Eagles kick off at 1 p.m. on Saturday in Bobcat Stadium.
