Bobcats defense rules scrimmage

The Daily Inter Lake

BOZEMAN - The Montana State University football team's defense limited the offense to 293 yards on 76 plays Satuday during the Bobcats' first scrimmage of the fall.

"Naturally, the defense is a little ahead of the offense," MSU's seventh-year head coach Mike Kramer said. "The defense knows our offense as well as our offense knows it. It's the 14th practice of the fall but it's really the 29th straight practice (counting spring drills) they've faced only our offense."

"I liked what Ryan (Force), Epikopo (King) and Bobby (Daly) were able to do on defense," Kramer said. "The defense got good pressure on the quarterback."

MSU quarterbacks Cory Carpenter (4-for-7, 58 yards) and Jack Rolovich (9-for-14 for 141 yards) each had their moments, but Kramer wasn't entirely happy with them.

"Both guys held the ball a little too long for my liking," Kramer said, indicating he would announce MSU's starting quarterback on Monday.

Rolovich threw the only interception by a varsity quarterback. Newcomer Jordan Rasmussen threw two picks.

Deon Toliver made a diving catch in the end zone on a 27-yarder from Rolovich on the varsity's last possession of the day.

"I thought we caught the ball pretty well," Kramer said. "There weren't a lot of drops, they held onto the ball well."

Toliver, a sophomore, transferred from East Los Angeles Junior College.

Fourteen receivers combined for MSU's 25 catches, with Mark Desin catching four and Josh Lewis three.

Desin, the true freshman who was moved from quarterback a couple of weeks ago, led Billings Senior deep into the Class AA playoffs last season.

Starting tailback Evin Groves played on only MSU's first two possessions, taking the rest of the afternoon off.

"He's not really injured, but his groin tightened up because he's fatigued," Kramer said.

Groves, a sophomore from San Deigo, is MSU's top returning rusher. He had 435 yards last year with six touchdowns. His marks were second next to graduated QB Travis Lulay's 611 rushing yards. Groves's 435 yards were the second-most yards by a freshman in school history.

Sophomore running back Isaiah Taito from Shelton, Wash., also exited early with a hamstring injury (out at least one week), leaving most of the ground work to freshmen Aaron Mason, Brandon Grimsley and Blayde Becksted.

Grimsley had 10 carries for 39 yards to lead the team.

"Brandon (Grimsley) worked his way into the varsity sequencing with the way he played," Kramer said.

Kramer called Saturday's affair "just a camp scrimmage," and said the team is "leg-tired and not very sharp because we are fatigued."

Saturday's practice was the 14th of 27 prior to MSU's September 2 season opener at Colorado.

Still, Kramer was pleased with what his squad has shown him to this point.

"This team has a lot of physical skill and physical ability," he said. "The element of game experience will elude this team, though, until it actually plays in a game."

The Bobcats will scrimmage again on Thursday at 4 p.m. on the Bobcat practice fields.

The Bobcats enter the season with five straight winning Big Sky seasons for the first time since 1972-76. They are 23-12 in the conference since 2001 and joined the Griz as the only winning teams in the Big Sky in each of the past five seasons. The three Big Sky titles the Cats have earned in the past four years is the second-best stretch run in school history, behind the run from 1964-68. They are ranked No. 22 in the nation.

RUSHING - Brandon Grimsley 10-39, Blayde Becksted 6-14, Aaron Mason 5-1, Evin Groves 4-19; Isaiah Taito 2-5, Cory Carpenter 1-5, Jack Rolovich 1-6, Jordan Rasmussen 2-7.

PASSING - Cory Carpenter 4-7-0-58, Jack Rolovich 9-14-1-141 (TD), Jordan Rasmussen 12-24-2-108.

RECEIVING - Mark Desin 4-50, Josh Lewis 3-39; Kyle Begger 3-36, Mike Jefferson 3-28, Kody Swartz 2-8, Deon Toliver 1-27-1, Ty McDonald 1-13, Derek Erickson 1-14, Brandon Bostick 1-5, Tyler Bolton 1-25, Derek Green 1-20, Skylar Johnson 1-0, Isaiah Taito 1-11, Jamelle Banks 1-10.