BOZEMAN — The Montana State Bobcats dropped their second game of the season to a top-five team in a 34-17 loss to Eastern Washington on Saturday.
On paper, that shouldn’t worry coaches too much. But head coach Jeff Choate thought his team could have pulled the upset, except for mental mistakes.
“The most disappointing thing for me today was lack of discipline,” Choate said Saturday. “A lot of penalties at critical times in the game – things in terms of unsportsmanlike conduct. That’s certainly not characteristic of our program and something you can’t do against a good team and win.”
After an impressive first-quarter touchdown by quarterback Troy Andersen, the Eagles’ defense stepped up to keep the Bobcat offense at bay.
“They’re a big group up front,” said Andersen. “They’re experienced all the way around, they’ve played a lot of football. It’s hard to get blocks on them – you get one play and you probably won’t get it again. You just try to come up with new schemes and packages to give them a new look. They played great (Saturday).”
The Bobcats head into their bye week at 3-2 overall, and 1-1 in the Big Sky Conference. MSU returns on Oct. 13 for Homecoming against Idaho.
