Chinks in the Grizzly armor
The Daily Inter Lake
The University of Montana football team is off to a 3-0 start in the Big Sky Conference and is on its way to its ninth straight Big Sky title.
The Grizzlies have risen to the No. 3 spot in the nation, behind top-ranked New Hampshire and defending national champion Appalchian State.
But while the Griz lead the Big Sky in seven team statical categories and are in the top four of every category except three, it's those three that could really hurt them: sacks, sacks allowed and penalties.
The Griz are last in the league in sacks. They have only six, which is two less than the next-lowest team.
It's relatively easy to see why they don't have a lot of sacks because defensive coordinator Kraig Paulson runs a vanilla 4-3 where linebackers and safeties rarely blitz. But there is no arguing the merit of that D. It is ranked first in the conference and 26th in the nation in rushing yards (111 yards per game) and second in the conference in passing yards (178 ypg).
The Griz are second-to-last in the league in penalties. They have been flagged 40 times for 407 yards, averaging 81.4 ypg.
They are ranked 97th out of 116 I-AA teams in fewest penalties.
Of the 11 fouls committed Saturday against Eastern Washington, five were called on the offensive line (three holds and two false starts). There were two defensive pass interference calls, but one was a bad call. There was one apiece of defensive holding, face mask, intentional grounding and encroachment calls. The positive sign: There were no personal fouls called on the Griz.
Another huge undoing for the Griz on offense has been sacks allowed. They have given up 17 sacks and lost 101 yards. They are ranked seventh in the conference and an eye-popping 109th in the nation.
Cats win at home
while traveling
What is up with that Montana State team?
The Bobcats started the season off with an upset over I-A Colorado in Boulder and got another victory on the road, but had lost three straight home games.
So MSU coach Mike Kramer found the solution last weekend when the Cats hosted Portland State.
He simulated a road game.
The Bobcats traveled to Livingston and stayed there Friday night in a hotel and came back to Bozeman Saturday morning.
The Cats responded with a 14-0 victory over the Vikings to give them back-to-back victories over ranked teams.
The Bobcats are back
MSU is now second in the Big Sky with a 2-1 record.
Former Flathead High School standout Brandon Hoffenbacker recorded two of the Bobcats' three sacks on Saturday.
The MSU defensive line was credited for applying constant pressure on the Portland State quarterback and the Bobcats held an opponent to less than 100 yards rushing for the second straight game.
Second-placed Sac St.?
From enduring a new low for a Big Sky Conference team three weeks ago when it lost to the Grizzlies to set a league-record 12-game road losing streak, Sacramento State has won back-to-back conference games.
The Hornets beat Eastern Washington on the road two weeks ago and then held off Weber State, 24-21, in Ogden on Saturday. They are now tied with Montana State in second place in the Big Sky with a 2-1 record.
The 2-1 start is the best start for Sac State since joining the league in 1996. The back-to-back victories over I-AA opponents is a first for the Hornets since joining the division in 1993.
Soak it up
This will be the last season of NCAA Division I-AA football. So, whichever team wins the championship this season will be the last to win the Division I-AA title.
For the past 30 years, the term "I-AA" has had a nice ring to it. But the powers that be in NCAA football have made a change.
No, they will not be combining Division I-AA with Division I-A. And no, they are not getting rid of the idiotic bowl system which sends more than half (54 percent) of the 119 I-A teams into a postseason, which starts - on average - about month after the regular season ends.
Instead, the Division I Board of Directors approved the change of the two divisions' names. Division I-A will become the Football Bowl Subdivision. Division I-AA will become the NCAA Football Championship Subdivision. The changes will become effective after these seasons are over.
Griz tidbits
. Tuff Harris's 94-yard punt return for a TD Saturday tied a Big Sky record. In 1971, Weber State's Randle Anderson set the mark against North Texas. Harris's return is the longest in I-AA this season. Harris is ranked fourth in the nation in punt return average (20.9 yards per return).
. Junior kicker Dan Carpenter missed his first field goal of the season on Saturday. It was from 37 yards. But he connected on his next two attempts, from 35 and 28 yards. He has made nine of 10 this season. Carpenter is fifth in the nation in field goals and is 17th in scoring (9 ppg). He is fifth all-time on the UM scoring leader list with 245 points. He needs 16 points to pass Andy Larson. Chris Snyder is tops on the list with 394 yards.
. Senior quarterback Josh Swogger has passed for at least 200 yards in each game that he has played for the Grizzlies.
. UM held on to its top rank as the nation's No. 1 net punting unit with a 40.3 yards per punt average. The Griz are seventh in punt returns (18 ypr), 13th in scoring offense (32.2 ppg), 16th in defensive passing efficieny (103.4), 17th in passing offense (230.8 ypg) and 19th in kickoff returns (22.7 ypr).
Cat tidbits
. Including his tenure at Eastern Washington, MSU coach Mike Kramer has 48 Big Sky victories. The only coaches to win 50 Big Sky games are Chris Ault of Nevada-Reno from 1979 to 1991 and Don Read of Montana with 54 between 1986 to 1995.
. The 132 total yards allowed by MSU's defense Saturday against Portland State was the fourth-lowest in the Kramer era and is the best effort this year by a Big Sky team.
. The Bobcats have beaten nationally-ranked I-AA teams in consecutive weeks three times in Kramer's tenure. He is the first MSU coach to do it more than once.
. The Bobcats hadn't won their first two road games of a season since 1978 until this year.
. While QB Cory Carpenter is out for the Bobcats Saturday against Sacramento State, RB Evin Groves will return for the first time since the season opener. DE Aaron Papich, SS Ryan Force and WR Josh Lewis are not on the injury list for the first time this year.
. Freshman RB Aaron Mason rushed for 128 yards on 34 carries against Portland State and became the first RB since Ryan Johnson in 2002 to post back-to-back 100-yard games. He scored both TDs in the 14-0 victory.
Conference All Games
W L PF PA W L PF PA
Montana 3 0 118 51 4 1 161 99
Montana St. 2 1 63 51 3 3 106 141
Sacramento St. 2 1 59 100 2 3 69 162
Portland St. 2 2 85 53 3 3 118 101
Idaho St. 1 1 68 46 2 3 150 139
N. Arizona 1 1 65 66 2 3 152 160
Weber St. 1 2 57 65 2 4 87 125
E. Washington 1 2 56 64 1 5 90 193
N. Colorado 0 3 37 112 1 5 86 205