'Cats face winless Weber

By ANDREW HINKELMAN

The Daily Inter Lake

The Montana State Bobcats have to be thanking their schedule maker - again.

After starting the season with two lackluster offensive performances, the Bobcats started to show signs of life two weeks ago at Colorado State. Then MSU played the porous Idaho State defense and looked even better still.

Today they get Weber State, another struggling team that was taken apart by Craig Ochs and the Montana Grizzlies a week ago.

"They can be a sticky team to play against," MSU coach Mike Kramer cautioned Tuesday. "They're a good team.

They've struggled at quarterback but feature one of the great running backs in the history of the conference."

That would Nick Chournos, who ran for 129 yards and two touchdowns against the Griz.

"We really have to make sure that Chournos is not the reason they beat us," Kramer said. "He's really a consummate player."

The Weber quarterback situation has been in flux, with three different players getting a turn last week. Kyle Bauer threw the most passes, but Ian Pizarro had the most yards.

"I think we'll see mostly Kyle Bauer," Kramer said. "We anticipate a full mouthful of Kyle Bauer."

And while the Bobcat offense has steadily improved (326 yards at ISU), the ground game is still not where it needs to be, only 79 yards on 29 carries.

Kramer said that he will probably make a more concerted effort to establish the run today. He picked a good opponent. Weber State gave up 175 yards to the Griz, a season-high.

But there is some history working against the Bobcats. It's homecoming, and the last two have ended in defeat. Plus, MSU seems to have difficulty playing as the favorite.

"You should be able to play well at home," Kramer said.

"Hopefully we can acquit ourselves the way we should.

"It's always a bit of a mystery for a Mike Kramer-coached team playing as the favorite."

Kickoff is scheduled for 1:30 p.m. at Bobcat Stadium. The game will be televised by Altitude Sports, Dish Network channel 410.

Standings

Conference All Games

W L PF PA W L PF PA

N. Arizona 2 0 81 27 2 2 101 72

E. Washington 1 0 47 22 2 2 120 109

Montana St. 1 0 17 13 2 2 64 79

Montana 0 0 0 0 3 1 124 100

Portland St. 0 0 0 0 2 1 90 41

Sacramento St. 0 1 0 26 1 3 53 160

Weber St. 0 1 27 55 0 4 87 152

Idaho St. 0 2 35 64 1 4 125 179

Last Saturday

Montana St. 17, Idaho St. 13

N. Arizona 26, Sacramento St. 0

Montana at Weber St., 8 p.m.

E. Washington at Portland St., 9 p.m.

Saturday, Oct. 9

1 p.m. - Idaho St. at Montana

1:30 .m. - Weber St. at Montana St.

3 p.m. - N. Arizona at E. Washington

7 p.m. - Portland St. at Sacramento St.