Montana State @ Sam Houston State

[MTfan4life]

Since 1994, a team from the Big Sky has faced a team from the Southland 24 times.

When the Big Sky hosts, they are 14-1 and the average score is 43-14.
When the Southland hosts, they are 7-2 and the average score is 26-24.

The game is usually much closer and much more competitive when the Southland hosts and I'm betting it will be a battle yet again next weekend in Huntsville. Good luck to both teams!

[TexasTerror]

We'll roll out a game thread probably tomorrow...

But in the mean time, all Bobcats are encouraged to visit KatFans.com! :)

[putter]

MSU takes this one by 10

[Dallas Demon]

Since 1994, a team from the Big Sky has faced a team from the Southland 24 times.

When the Big Sky hosts, they are 14-1 and the average score is 43-14.
When the Southland hosts, they are 7-2 and the average score is 26-24.

The game is usually much closer and much more competitive when the Southland hosts and I'm betting it will be a battle yet again next weekend in Huntsville. Good luck to both teams!

Interesting statistics! I suspect the weather plays a much bigger role when Southland schools visit up north. Also, the atmosphere, especially at Montana, is very intimidating to the college kids who aren't used to playing in that kind of environment.

[Squealofthepig]

MSU takes this one by 10

I think it depends on which MSU team shows up. If they play up to what McGhee and crew is capable of, I think you're right. But their last two games (watching the replay of MSU/UNH now), they really did not execute well, and if they play like they did vs. the Griz, I see the Bearkats capable of smacking 'em down. They've been able to shut down teams (the 27 scored against them today was the highest from an FCS team), so it could be a battle of the trenches - hence why I think it depends on which Cats team shows up.

[Squealofthepig]

Interesting statistics! I suspect the weather plays a much bigger role when Southland schools visit up north. Also, the atmosphere, especially at Montana, is very intimidating to the college kids who aren't used to playing in that kind of environment.

Just as a note, I thought Central Arkansas handled the crowd really well today. Only two false starts, and only one of those was due to noise. We definitely rattled them, and the team could speak more to the atmosphere, but at least up to the snap, they played really well. But, yes, weather probably helps there; some of today's turnovers (for both teams) probably don't happen in warmer weather.

[MplsBison]

Since 1994, a team from the Big Sky has faced a team from the Southland 24 times.

When the Big Sky hosts, they are 14-1 and the average score is 43-14.
When the Southland hosts, they are 7-2 and the average score is 26-24.

The game is usually much closer and much more competitive when the Southland hosts and I'm betting it will be a battle yet again next weekend in Huntsville. Good luck to both teams!

The Big Sky in general is not the same thing as the Montana schools.


How about in that same time period, just looking at the Montanas?

[Twentysix]

31-21 real cats.

[katstrapper]

NCAA going to send down BIG SKY officials again next week llike they did this week?

[jackattack030]

Gonna be interesting. Thing bout Stony Brook and Sam Houston. Sam Houston strength on offense was Stony Brook strength on defense. And it was a bad match up for Sam Houston State. Question I had was how would Sam Houston respond if they were down and needed to score and the responded great. Montana State is #31 in rush defense so Sam Houston will now have there strength vs not that good of a run defense. If Sam Houston State plays like they did in the 1st half they will lose by 3 TDs. If they are 2 dimensional like the 2nd half then Sam Houston wins by 10.

[Squealofthepig]

The Big Sky in general is not the same thing as the Montana schools.


How about in that same time period, just looking at the Montanas?

Bolded home teams; went back to 2002, as that's as far back as I have data:

2000
Montana 45, Northwestern State 14
McNeese State 24, Montana 20

2002
McNeese State 21, Montana State 14
2004
Montana 56, Northwestern State 7
Montana 34, SHSU 13

2005
Montana State 42, SFA 6 <-Regular season game

2006
Montana 31, McNeese 6

2008
Montana 31, Texas State 13

2009
Montana 51, SFA 0

Definitely seems to be a trend.

[Dallas Demon]

Just as a note, I thought Central Arkansas handled the crowd really well today. Only two false starts, and only one of those was due to noise. We definitely rattled them, and the team could speak more to the atmosphere, but at least up to the snap, they played really well. But, yes, weather probably helps there; some of today's turnovers (for both teams) probably don't happen in warmer weather.

All competitiveness aside - the environment at Montana is special. Unfortunately (or fortunately come to think of it because of the results of the games!), I didn't make the trip up for the 3 games when Northwestern St. played in the early 2000s. But I heard of the great stories our fans told of how well they were treated by the folks from Missoula, the bars the night before, etc. etc. I've watched a ton of games on TV/Internet, so I know what it is like from afar. Maybe the next time I'll make it up that way.

[Squealofthepig]

NCAA going to send down BIG SKY officials again next week llike they did this week?

They shouldn't; believe they always have a non-conference officiating crew (that is, a crew from neither conference) - so anyone but BSC or Southland.

[kdinva]

Hopefully more than 8,100 will show up......

[Dallas Demon]

Bolded home teams; went back to 2002, as that's as far back as I have data:

2000
Montana 45, Northwestern State 14
McNeese State 24, Montana 20

2002
McNeese State 21, Montana State 14
2004
Montana 56, Northwestern State 7
Montana 34, SHSU 13

2005
Montana State 42, SFA 6 <-Regular season game

2006
Montana 31, McNeese 6

2008
Montana 31, Texas State 13

2009
Montana 51, SFA 0

Definitely seems to be a trend.

I don't think we played in 2000. In 2001 playoffs, it was Montana 28-19 over Northwestern St. That one was very close with the game not being decided until the final minute or so of the game.

[Squealofthepig]

All competitiveness aside - the environment at Montana is special. Unfortunately (or fortunately come to think of it because of the results of the games!), I didn't make the trip up for the 3 games when Northwestern St. played in the early 2000s. But I heard of the great stories our fans told of how well they were treated by the folks from Missoula, the bars the night before, etc. etc. I've watched a ton of games on TV/Internet, so I know what it is like from afar. Maybe the next time I'll make it up that way.

Glad you guys had great experiences! We love our football here, but we're also a hospitable bunch (the trash-talk is generally good-natured). I know of Wofford, App, SDSU, McNeese and SIU fans who enjoyed the atmosphere here. (I also know of Griz fans who had good experiences at McNeese and SFA, I would add - not a condemnation of SHSU, just don't know any fans who went).

[katstrapper]

They shouldn't; believe they always have a non-conference officiating crew (that is, a crew from neither conference) - so anyone but BSC or Southland.

I said that with a smirk on my face. I dont think there should be referees from the conferences of the teams in our bracket. I just found it interesting that there were officials from the Big Sky calling SHSU game with both Montana schools in the bracket.

[Squealofthepig]

I don't think we played in 2000. In 2001 playoffs, it was Montana 28-19 over Northwestern St. That one was very close with the game not being decided until the final minute or so of the game.

Good point - I accidentally a number there somewhere. :( And yeah, you guys put up one hell of a game - we were fortunate to get out of that one, especially since that was our second NC year.

[blackfordpu]

Hopefully more than 8,100 will show up......

Tonight's attendance was not 8,100, closer to 12,500, maybe 13,000.

[Squealofthepig]

I said that with a smirk on my face. I dont think there should be referees from the conferences of the teams in our bracket. I just found it interesting that there were officials from the Big Sky calling SHSU game with both Montana schools in the bracket.

That is kind of odd. I'm not sure who we had (the game had a couple of weird calls, but they seemed to go both ways). I'm guessing they bussed the officials around using the same regionalization stuff (it's possible the MSU game had Southland officials - or even the Griz game, just don't know, I'll do some checking).

[Squealofthepig]

Oh, btw, Katsrapper, you're not alone - one of the Griz fans asked on egriz,

"Anyone know who got the "great" Big Sky refs?"

[katstrapper]

Hopefully more than 8,100 will show up......

Well, I was at the game and I dont know how they come up with these numbers. Stadium holds 14,000. (7000 each side). That stadium had at least 10k and I would have guessed more like 11k. There is NO WAY there was only 8100.

[Dallas Demon]

Well, I was at the game and I dont know how they come up with these numbers. Stadium holds 14,000. (7000 each side). That stadium had at least 10k and I would have guessed more like 11k. There is NO WAY there was only 8100.

Looked full while watching on espn3. I would imagine that the reported attendance is what is used to pay the NCAA. Sam typically OVERREPORTS their attendance - so using normal numbers I would have thought the attendance today was over 30K. :-)

[MTfan4life]

The Big Sky in general is not the same thing as the Montana schools.


How about in that same time period, just looking at the Montanas?

With just the Montana schools, they are 13-0 at home with an average score of 43-13. On the road they are 0-3 with an average of 16-21. All of the games except one road game were Montana.

[Squealofthepig]

Looked full while watching on espn3. I would imagine that the reported attendance is what is used to pay the NCAA. Sam typically OVERREPORTS their attendance - so using normal numbers I would have thought the attendance today was over 30K. :-)

Some teams over-report regular season (to look good) and under-report in the playoffs (to not have to cut the ncaa a bigger check than they have to). Not saying this is what happened here, just saying it's not uncommon on either front.

[veinup]

my gut feeling is that the cats are going to put these guys in a bag. my guts are pretty biased though.

[Twentysix]

my gut feeling is that the cats are going to put these guys in a bag. my guts are pretty biased though.

Honestly I think MSU might suck.. I think they win but not a body bag win..

Also they both involve cats. bearcat bobcat.

[Bearkats94]

Hopefully more than 8,100 will show up......


There was more than that there. I don't know how they come up with these numbers, but they aren't right.

[WyomingGrizFan]

my gut feeling is that the cats are going to put these guys in a bag. my guts are pretty biased though.

Being that the game is scheduled for Huntsville, Texas I wouldn't be a bit surprised if many of the MSU players will be performing before many a relative sitting in the stands. Denarius McGhee comes from Euless Trinity, Texas and at one time was the starting QB for the No.#1 rated high school team in America his senior year. The RB T. Robinson transferred from Nebraska might also be an ex-hs team mate of his, if not mistaken. They'd probably, hopefully from my point of view, will get their act together for but one more weekend. They had much too many mental errors in their game against New Hampshire; that should be a major concern going against SHSU.

[MplsBison]

Bolded home teams; went back to 2002, as that's as far back as I have data:

2000
Montana 45, Northwestern State 14
McNeese State 24, Montana 20

2002
McNeese State 21, Montana State 14
2004
Montana 56, Northwestern State 7
Montana 34, SHSU 13

2005
Montana State 42, SFA 6 <-Regular season game

2006
Montana 31, McNeese 6

2008
Montana 31, Texas State 13

2009
Montana 51, SFA 0

Definitely seems to be a trend.

Well this Sam Houston team certainly isn't better than any other Southland playoff team since 2000.

So I suppose the 2002 game is a reasonable indicator, but I still think SH is fake so I'll give it to MSU.

[TexasTerror]

Looked full while watching on espn3. I would imagine that the reported attendance is what is used to pay the NCAA. Sam typically OVERREPORTS their attendance - so using normal numbers I would have thought the attendance today was over 30K. :-)

SHSU actually in the last year or two has UNDER-REPORTED their attendance by going with actual numbers.

You'll notice the significant drop despite our success from the typically 8-9k that we were averaging. It's closer to 6.5 to 7.5k now and that speaks to UNDER-REPORTING.

[TexasTerror]

If you missed it...

SHSU vs MSU is the ESPN game at 11 a.m. CT on Saturday! For the Big Sky contingent, UM vs UNI is the Friday night game.

Unconfirmed by NCAA & SHSU..

[Bobcat in NC]

NCAA going to send down BIG SKY officials again next week llike they did this week?

God, for the sake of everyone involved, I sure hope not. You got to witness it first hand today, Big Sky refs are just flat awful all around. I think the MSU/UNH crew was Southland. Gotta say, they were WAAAAAAAAAAAY better than what the Sky trots out onto the field every week.

[Grizzaholic]

Come on Montana State. Win BIG next week. Run up the score.

[BelgradeBobcat]

http://www.bozemandailychronicle.com/sports/bobcats/article_31c81df0-1e33-11e1-a2ff-0019bb2963f4.html

According to this ^^^a quarter of MSU's traveling roster is from Texas. The Texas pipeline that our coaches have established over the years has been a big part of the success of our football team. They've been great players and model citizens. So-playing a whole team of kids like that in Sam Houston is pretty scary. But it's quite an honor to be in this game-after yesterday's dramatics Bobcatnation is obviously elated.

[Griz4ever]

NCAA going to send down BIG SKY officials again next week llike they did this week?

Impossible, you can't have officials from either conference that is playing,probably why you had them last week...Sounds to me like you are already looking for an excuse(I hate backing up the cats by the way)...