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Week 5: Hornets @ Bobcats

cats25061

Active member
Well here we go again, I have been dreading this game since the "shootout in the sauna" last year. The Hornets earned our respect in that game an I am very glad that the game will be in Bozeman this year. Don't expect the Cats to overlook you, we expect this to be one of the toughest games of the year.

Here is my view of the match up, feel free to correct me or dissagree.

Your offense is dependent on Flemming, as he goes so goes the team, he has a very solid cast to hep in OL receivers and RB's. I saw the OSU game online and have watched the UM game once. I havent seen the WSU or SUU games. Flemming is dangerous because he can be so accurate and is mobile and will hurt you with his legs if the play breaks down. I think our gameplan will be to contain him in the pocket and let our secondary lock up the receivers while our LB's stop the run. Its a difficult task and still expect you to score a lot of points.

On offense we have a much stronger running power run game than last year. Expect us to run the ball to set up the pass, we will controllable the ball and clock as much as possible. As much as any other team I see mirror images of ours when I look at SAC.

I see a close hard fought game that is higher scoring, but not in the 60's. If turnovers become a factor they will likely decide the game, however if turnovers are not a factor or even then I think we got the edge in 2 areas, the DL and we still have Cunningham while the older Diniz(sp) has graduated.

Feel free to visit us at http://www.bobcatnation.com/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

You have probably heard that we have upgraded our stadium by adding a bowled endzone and a state of the art HD video screen. Its homecoming so we are expecting about 18,000 loud Bobcat fans and a few Hornet fans.
 
Kadeezy said:
I saw that! Woo hoo! Hopefully we can get an HD feed from MSU! :)
I looked last night on dish, it is listed on the STD Def channel but not the HD channel, the game will be produced in HD though so maybe they just don't have the listing yet
 
Let me first say, I drank a 12 pack to celebrate the much needed win over the Griz!!! :party:

Now on to what I think will be the toughest road trip of the year. There is no doubt that Sac (both team and fans) will be feeling much better about themselves after last week. But in all honesty I have no clue which team will be wearing Hornet uniforms this week. The team that played with confidence against OSU and UM? Or the team the slept through Utah? :sleep:

The stats don't look good for the road teams, so far this season the BSC is 12-3 at home (6-2 in BSC). NCU and EWU were the only two teams to lose at home, those teams are 0-8 on the season. MSU is 2-0 at home this season and have outscored their opponents 81-21, including the 38-14 dismanteling of UCD. My gut tells me since the Hornets are major underdogs - they will show up and compete. But if Sac St is going to be a real contender for the playoffs they're going to need to step up and add another quality win to help their resume - especially on the road against a top 5 FCS team.

Unfortunately Sac hasn't shown that they can handle success. I say MSU pulls out to an early lead then Sac responds but their come back falls short.

MSU 38
SAC 28
 
Sorry guys, I’m really lagging on the MSU preview for tor this week. Work has been brutal due to an upcoming deadline. I’ll try to get something up by tonight. :|
 
Berger's release is up...

http://www.hornetsports.com/sports/football/release.asp?release_id=9879" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
 
What a great day last saturday! Cats pull off the first road win on the Inferno, and three hours later we're still celebrating the Griz' loss to the Bees. It's a long shift from 3:00 to Midnight, but a bunch of us pulled it off at our viewing party.

You guys looked really good, (Or is it just that the Griz aren't nearly as good as Weber or Southern Utah?)

Safe travels for any of you venturing to the Rocky Mountain front, and good luck.
 
Week 5: Sac State @ Montana State
The Hornets are coming off of handing Montana a beating only to hit the road yet again to the unfriendly confines of Montana State. With the implosion of EWU, MSU is the favorite to take down the BSC Championship. The Hornets will be looking to carry their momentum into this weekend as they look for an upset in the marquee BSC matchup of the week.

Offense
Montana State has a well balanced offense and can beat a team in multiple ways. MSU’s QB, Denarius McGhee, is a mobile QB who can throw well on the run and he runs the MSU offense well. He can create plays with his legs but MSU has a stable of RB’s that are more than capable of moving the ball. As of this week, MSU’s offense is firing on all cylinders. When they aren’t pounding away with the run, they are stretching the defense with passes to their stud WR’s Akpla and Bleskin. MSU’s team stats and statistical leaders:
  • • Rushing attack: 203.5 ypg
    • Passing Attack: 218.8 ypg
    • McGhee, QB: 57 of 102 for 845 yards, 6 TD’s, 4 INT’s, 34 carries for 128 yards, 2 TD’s
    • Kirk, RB: 64 carries for 387 yards, 5 TD’s, 8 recs for 146 yards
    • Robinson, RB: 30 carries for 150 yards, 1 TD, 4 rec for 54 yards
    • Akpla, WR: 14 recs for 293 yards, 3 TD’s
    • Bleskin, WR: 12 recs for 139 yards, 1 TD
    • OL: Allowed 6 sacks
    • Avg TOP: 32:10
In all honesty I don’t know how this Hornet defense is going to stop this MSU offense enough to keep the Hornets in the game. MSU is not the one dimensional team that UM is so the Hornet defense is going to have to prepare for a totally different style of play. If the front 4 can have a presence and get a lot of penetration they might have a chance. Also if the Hornets can force MSU into some passing situations, the Hornets will have a chance for more INT’s if the secondary plays like they did a week ago.

Defense
MSU runs a 4-3 and they have a very talented defense. In last weeks win at EWU, they were very aggressive and got to BLM often enough to knock their passing game out of sync. The Bobcat defense is filled with underclassmen but they have preformed well in all of their games thus far. MSU’s defensive stats:
  • • Rushing allowed: 118.0 ypg
    • Passing allowed: 165.8 ypg
    • Owens, LB: 33 tackles, 3.5 TFL’s, 2 sacks
    • Bignell, LB: 23 tackles
    • Schreibeis, DE: 22 tackles, 4 TFL’s, 2 sack
    • Jones, CB: 19 tackles, 0.5 TFL’s
    • Bethley, DB: 16 tackles, 0.5 TFL’s, 2 INT’s
    • Minter, DT: 14 tackles, 3.5 TFL’s, 2.5 sacks
    • Trammel, LB: 11 tackles
    • Gords, DB: 10 tackles, 1.5 TFL’s, 1 sack
    • Flowers, DB: 10 tackles, 1 INT
    • Laidet, DE: 8 tackles, 1 TFL’s
To crack this stout defense the Hornets are going to have to maintain a balanced offense as they did last week. The Hornets have struggled to do this on the road and given that MSU’s stadium underwent an expansion over the offseason, the added noise of a larger crowd will make that harder to do. It’s going to take a perfect effort by the Hornets to effectively dissect this MSU defense.

Special Teams
MSU hands down has the best kicker in the BSC, if not the FCS. Cunningham is coming off of an amazing game in which he went a perfect 5 for 5 in his FG attempts, including two from 55 yards out. If this game some how comes down to a FG, MSU has the definite edge. MSU’s season stats:
  • • Cunningham, K: 9/11 FG’s, 14/14 PAT’s
    • Perez, P: 17 punts for 743 yards (43.7 ypp), 7 Inside 20
    • Johnson, PR/KR: 8 pr’s for 33 yards (4.1 ypr), 5 kr’s for 104 yards (20.8 ypr)
    • Ellis, KR: 3 kr’s for 60 yards (20.0 ypr)
    • Kick Coverage: Allowed 17 returns for 370 yards (21.8 ypr)
    • Punt Coverage: Allowed 8 returns for 75 yards (9.4 ypr)
The Hornets have made some plays on special teams this season and MSU has allowed a blocked punt this season. The Hornets will need to create some plays in this category if they want to pull off the upset.

Intangibles
MSU committed 26 penalties for 254 yards on the season and averages 63.5 penalty yards per game. This could be an issue as it could stall some MSU drives. MSU has only turned the ball over 6 times (4 INT’s & 2 fumbles) so turnovers will be hard to come by.
I don’t think MSU has any key players injured so they should be at full strength.

Hornetsports preview:
http://www.hornetsports.com/sports/football/release.asp?release_id=9879

This will be one of the rare weeks where I don’t think the Hornets can get a win. Don’t get me wrong, I’ll be pulling for the Hornets to pull the upset but I think this will be the toughest test for this team yet. The Hornets will need to be flawless at every aspect of the game, and MSU has this team beaten by a large margin in the kicking game and I would also give the nod to their defense as well as there isn’t much give to that unit when compared against the Hornet defense. I hope the Hornets prove me wrong and I’m hoping this turns into a good game.

Go Hornets!
 
WalkOn79 said:
What a great day last saturday! Cats pull off the first road win on the Inferno, and three hours later we're still celebrating the Griz' loss to the Bees. It's a long shift from 3:00 to Midnight, but a bunch of us pulled it off at our viewing party.

You guys looked really good, (Or is it just that the Griz aren't nearly as good as Weber or Southern Utah?)

Safe travels for any of you venturing to the Rocky Mountain front, and good luck.
:flag:
Same avatar as cats2506. :tothehand: :kisswink:
 
SDHornet said:
WalkOn79 said:
What a great day last saturday! Cats pull off the first road win on the Inferno, and three hours later we're still celebrating the Griz' loss to the Bees. It's a long shift from 3:00 to Midnight, but a bunch of us pulled it off at our viewing party.

You guys looked really good, (Or is it just that the Griz aren't nearly as good as Weber or Southern Utah?)

Safe travels for any of you venturing to the Rocky Mountain front, and good luck.
:flag:
Same avatar as cats2506. :tothehand: :kisswink:

I will change mine, '79 has used that avatar for a long time on Bobcat nation
 
cats2506 said:
I will change mine, '79 has used that avatar for a long time on Bobcat nation
I don’t really care; I was just ribbing the noob. BTW welcome to the board WO79. :thumb:
 
hornets_SM.jpg
 
i think i agree with SDHornet...i just don't see the Cats losing at home. they seem to be the real deal, and play tough at home, especially with the expanded stadium. even though EWU is down, that 15-point win on the road is impressive. their defense looks pretty solid -> they held Bo Levi (best name in college football) in check. if the hornets can get the running game going, and stop the run (they ran for 250 vs. Davis and EWU), it could be interesting late in the game. win this one, and you could run the table.
 

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