isusuperfan said:
OK, predictions against Montana State! How will we do? They have one hell of an offense being run by a FRESHMAN QB. OldSkoolCat, can ya'll supplah tha numbahs, so we can say how well ya'll are doin?
I think if the defense does the job they've done the past couple of weeks and if the offense wakes up and starts hurting people (ie, getting rid of the ball and the offensive line getting the desire to hit something), we could pull this off. But if the offense struggles, the defense tires...and those Bobcats will roll.
I will not be at the game, as we are playing BYU-Idaho this Saturday and because Altitude likes, for some reason, having 1:35 kickoff times (this is the one thing that seperates me from my fellow Buckeye fans. They prefer the traditional 12pm-3pm daytime kickoffs, I'm much more a night game kind of guy).
Howdy Bengal fans from the 406! Thanks for the wake-up call superfan; here's what I got:
This is the most potent Bobcat offense I have ever seen in my 25 years of following the Cats. We have weapons galore, and can run
and throw the ball. Here's some numbers:
-- Points Per Game............. 38.9
-- Average Yards Rushing Per Game............ 194.4
-- Average Yards passing Per Game............ 275.5
-- Average Yardage Per Game............ 469.9
-- TDs scored total - 38; FG attempts 17-18;
-- RED-ZONE SCORES............... 37-41 90%
-- RED-ZONE TOUCHDOWNS........... 24-41 59%
Of course, the offense all starts with freshman QB Denarius McGhee. D-Mac has been named BSC Offensive Player of the Week twice, and The Sporting News National Freshman of the Week twice. But he has been hobbled the past couple weeks with an ankle injury. However, if for some reason he goes down, we have more than a capable back-up in 5th senior Cody Kempt. Cody's passer rating for the season is 218.24, and pass completion ratio is 80.0%. We have a two-headed RB tandem in Orenzo Davis & CJ Palmer. Davis has already rushed for 815 yards this season, and CJ will pound you inside. We have the best receiving corps I have ever seen in Elvis Akpla, Everett Gilbert, Julius Lloyd, and Tanner Bleskin.
That said, there are some glaring deficiencies on the Bobcat team this season. Defensively, this is not your same old Bobcats. After leading the conference is defense the past several years, the Cats are at or the near the bottom of every defensive category this year. This is not for lack of talent, but rather massive injuries and lack of season veteran depth. Guys like Brad Smith (season), Dustin O'Connell, Clay Bignell, Arnold Briggs & Jordan Craney have all seen time on the bench due to injury. Most of those guys I listed probably won't see time on the field this week. The Cats are easy to throw the ball on, as we play a very soft coverage on the opposing wide-outs, giving 10-15 yard cushions on the line. This is a very rare season for MSU, in which we just hope to out-score our opponents.
Special teams are a mixed bag. On the kick team, we have one of the best kickers in the nation in Jason Cunningham. He is 17 of 18 in FG attempts, and is highly accurate from 55 yards and in. The strange thing is that he is only 32 of 38 on PAT attempts :? . Our freshman punter Rory Perez is averaging only 40 yards per punt, but has extremely high hang time, and opponents are averaging -2 yards in return yards. On the return side, it is odd that with all the team speed we have, our kick/punt returns have been anything but exciting. We have ZERO returns for a TD, and are averaging only 7.5 yards per punt return and 21.1 yards per kick return.
Probably more info than you wanted, but hey what can I say! This game scares me. ISU will bring it, and would love nothing more than to play spoiler against the Cats. While your record does not show it, the Bengals have played some great games against conference opponents. I really thought you should have won last week's game against Weber. Russel Hill is a great QB and has a fantastic target in Andrew Benavides. Your return man, Tavoy Moore, is simply one of the best in the nation. ISU will play their guts out in this game, and I expect it to be a hard-fought contest.
Then there is always the topic of Holt Arena and your turf. Personally, I love Holt and have enjoyed a few games there, but that artificial turf has got to go! The Cats are banged up enough already, and inevitably we always limp away from Pocatello with more injuries. I am not into predictions; all I have to add is that MSU really needs this victory to inch closer to a playoff bid, and possibly hosting a first round game. We have come a long way the past decade, but we have found that playoff hurdle to be a hard one, and one that has really held us back. A win at ISU would be win #7, and possibly enough to garner a playoff bid. We come into the game ranked #13 in the nation. Unfortunately, I will not be able to make the trip down to Pokey this year, and I am bummed as I have found ISU fans to be nothing but extremely cordial and great to hang out with. Here's to a great game with no further injuries!!!
