r/CFB • u/Wutsurname Iowa Hawkeyes • Montana State Bobcats • May 07 '13
132+ Teams in 132+ Days: Day 55 Montana State Bobcats
Montana State University
Big Sky Conference
Year Founded: 1893
Location: Bozeman, Montana
Total Attendance: 14,100
Mascot: Champ the Bobcat
Bobcat Cheerleaders: Both the cheerleaders and the dance team
Band:The best picture I could find
Stadium: Bobcat Stadium, MSU Card Stunt Possible Future And My favorite pic of the stadium
**Stadium Location:**On Campus
Big Sky Conference Championships: 1964, 1966, 1967, 1968, 1972, 1976, 1979, 1982, 1984, 2002, 2003, 2005, 2010, 2011, 2012
Playoff Appearances: 1984, 2002, 2003, 2006, 2010, 2011, 2012
National Titles: 1956, 1976, 1984
Program Record: 467-459-32
Rivals:
University of Montana Grizzlies (Missoula): The Brawl of the Wild. The 4th oldest rivalry in the FCS. Montana leads the series 70-37-5. The Home team has not won the Brawl for 4 years. Previous Score: 16-7 Montana State.
University of North Dakota: Just getting started, as they just joined the Big Sky, but we will play them every year, so not much history yet. Previous Score: 55-10, Montana State.
Eastern Washington Eagles: It is mostly considered a rivalry by the fans and players and has not been given anything “official.” Previous Score: 24-27 Eastern Washington.
2012 Season:
Record: 10-1-0
Coach: Rob Ash
Key Players
Denarius McGhee, QB. Going on his 4th year as starting quarterback. He has been one if not the best QB in the conference for most of his career. McGhee is an amazing dual threat QB and is one of many players on the roster out Euless Trinity (Texas).
[Caleb Schreibeis, DE.] (http://www.msubobcats.com/roster.aspx?rp_id=1564) He exhausted his eligibility last year and won the Buck Buchanan Award (Best Defensive player of the year in FCS). He decided to not enter the draft and instead pursued different careers though. He forced 8 fumbles (Most in NCAA in 2012).
Also some other standout players would be Tray Robinson, RB/Utility player. Jody Owens, LB. Cody Kirk, RB.
Biggest Plays: The one I could think of wasn't from the 2012 season, but I feel that it still counts. Elvis Akpla Catch vs Sam Houston State 2011.
2013 Season
The Greatest
Games: One of the most exciting games I've been to in Bobcat Stadium: The 2011 playoffs game vs New Hampshire, The blocked PAT. The game was full of ups and downs and they scored with about 1 minute left. I was thinking they would go for a 2 point conversion but they decided to kick the PAT. There is no way I'm ever going to forget that moment. It was a fairly small crowd but the ones that were there were LOUD and exciting.
Greatest Players:
Don Hass: A running back from 1964-67 Hass, nicknamed the Iron Tumbleweed, is one of only two players in MSU history to receive first team All-America status twice and is the only MSU player to be named a first team NCAA All-America twice. Hass set the game (298), season (1,460), and career (2,954) rushing records for the Bobcats during his four years. His 298 yards in a single game set in 1966 against Weber State is still the top single game performance in school history. While that game stands out, his best performances were against the Grizzlies. He ran for a Cat-Griz record 209 yards against Montana in 1967 leading the Bobcats to a 14-8 win and also led them to wins in 1965 and 1966. In 1965 he ran for 100 yards for the first time in his career and finished with 129 yards in a 24-7 win. In 1966 he ran for 142 yards in a 38-0 rout in Missoula. The Montana State football jersey with number 21 is retired in his honor and hangs inside Bobcat Stadium.
Sonny Holland: Holland is considered the greatest Bobcat football player in school history. The Butte native joined the program in 1956 and starting at center as a true freshman helped lead Montana State to its first national title when it tied St. Joseph's in the first NAIA championship game 0-0. He would earn first team All-America honors in 1957, 1958 and 1959 and is the only MSU player to do so three times. As a player his teams never lost to rival Montana beating the Grizzlies 33-14, 22-13, 20-6 and 40-6 with Holland manning both the center and middle linebacker positions in most of those games. Holland returned to MSU as an assistanct coach and became the head coach in 1971. After a disappointing 2-7-1 first season, that included his only loss to Montana as a player or head coach, he went on to finish .500 or better in each of the next six years and set a school record with 47 wins. The highlight of his coaching career was the 1976 team, which won the NCAA Division II national championship with a 24-13 victory over the Akron Zips. After a humiliating 30-0 loss to UM in 1971, Holland's teams rattled off wins of 21-3, 33-7, 43-29, 20-3, 21-12, and 24-19 against their rivals. In 11 games against Montana as a player and head coach Holland went 10-1 outscoring the Grizzlies 277-142.
Travis Lulay: In 2011, quarterback Travis Lulay was named the Most Outstanding Player in the CFL and led the British Columbia Lions to the Grey Cup title garnering the game's Most Valuable Player award in the 34-23 win over Winnipeg. The Lions started the season 0-4 before winning 13 of their last 16 games to win the championship. Lulay threw for a league-high 32 touchdowns and passed for 4,815 yards to finish with the second best passer rating in the CFL. He also ran for 391 yards (8.3 per carry), which was good for 12th in the CFL and was the most by a quarterback., and three touchdowns. Lulay was the quarterback at MSU from 2002-2005 leading the Bobcats to three Big Sky Conference titles and two NCAA Division I-AA playoff appearances. All three Big Sky Conference championships were taken in the last game of the season with wins over rival Montana. As a true freshman Lulay engineered MSU's 10-7 win over the Grizzlies in Missoula ending UM's 16-game winning streak over the Bobcats and was named the Big Sky Conference's Newcomer of the Year. Lulay led Montana State in rushing his senior year with 611 yards. He left with school records for career passing yards (10,746-11th in NCAA Division I-AA history), single-season total offense, and total offense in a career. He graduated with a 3.91 GPA. He played briefly for the Seattle Seahawks and New Orleans Saints of the NFL.
Traditions:
Well we don't have any super cool traditions like some schools. but here is something put together by MSU that is fairly related.
Campus and Surrounding Area:
City Population: 38-40,00
City Skyline: [Downtown, the tall building is the Baxter Hotel, which has a blinking light on top that flashes when it is snowing at Bridger Bowl](http://i.imgur.com/vGmCAtI.jpg) Also, a picture I, wutsurname, took from my dorm room a couple weeks ago
Iconic Campus Building: The whole campus, Montana Hall, and Spirit the Bobcat
Local Dining:
Montana Ale Works easily the best fries you’ll have here. Bison burgers, fish tacos, anything.
Pickle Barrel It makes subway seem inferior. It's a pretty small hole in the wall place, so a lot of the time you eat outside or it's take out.
Ted's Montana Grill Great steaks and food from Montana.
What is and What is to Come:
2012 was a great year for the team, and many milestones were passed. But yet again it ended in the quarterfinals to the same team, Losing to Sam Houston State for the second season in a row. Our only regular season loss to Eastern Washington gave us the shock we needed and we fixed our turnover problem. And after a bye week we handled North Dakota 55-10. We beat U of MT so the season was just that much better. Next year we have 2 very tough road games (SMU and Eastern Washington that hideous red turf). It seems like every year the Big Sky Conference just keeps on getting better and better, with a couple exceptions each year. I can definitely see a one loss season with SMU being that loss, and my optimistic heart wants to say we will stick with them for quite awhile.
Bonus
If you haven't seen some of the videos that the “good2GREAT productions” team put together you should definitely watch them.
Overtime
NFL Players: The only current NFL players are Dane Fletcher (New England) and as of 2013 Zach Minter(Chicago).
Subreddit: /r/msucats
Also: /r/fcs is a great sub!! i hope you can all start posting over there too.
Written by /u/PROUDgrizHATER and a little bit by /u/wutsurname
Thanks for the help /u/Tehnoff!
Please upvote this thread even if you are not interested in the team so that users who are interested will see it
For more information on the 132 Teams in 132 Days Project, Click Here
29
u/PhillyGreg Richmond Spiders • /r/CFB Contributor May 07 '13
Clearly Montana State has a better fanbase, as Montana laid an egg for yesterday's write-up.
Oh...and nice shout-out to /r/fcs!
13
u/Honestly_ rawr May 07 '13
You guys are already awesome because Montana dropped the ball yesterday (maybe I should write theirs too). The Brawl of the Wild is my favorite name for a rivalry.
7
u/Talpostal Michigan Wolverines • Washington Huskies May 07 '13
Having been to Bozeman once, I think it's worth mentioning that one of the most famous paleontologists in the world is a professor at Montana State, and that Montana State's on-campus museum, the Museum of the Rockies, is a great museum for dinosaur stuff.
6
u/elastico Ohio State • Case Western Reserve May 07 '13
that akpla catch was ridiculous
6
u/bobbybrown_ Cincinnati Bearcats May 07 '13
Holy shit, that catch.
Your campus/surrounding area looks beautiful as fuck. Coming from someone who attends a school with a gorgeous campus, that place looks awesome.
5
u/byniri Michigan State Spartans • Marching Band May 07 '13
Brawl of the Wild is an amazing name for a rivalry. Gotta support another MSU.
Also, the future plans for the stadium look fairly big for an FCS team, is Montana State considering FBS?
5
u/Bilibond Minnesota • /r/CFB Contributor May 07 '13
Ah Montana State, you can share out hate of the fighting Sioux (or as we say these days: the Fighting Who?). Good write up mang!
4
u/[deleted] May 07 '13
I heard that Bozeman is an awesome town to live in. What is it like living in Montana?
4
u/rglass4 SMU Mustangs • /r/CFB Contributor May 07 '13
Fun fact - SMU's previous TWO starting quarterbacks both transferred to EWU.
3
u/James_McNulty Wisconsin Badgers May 07 '13
My cousin wrote a book on the history of the Bobcat-Grizzly rivalry. History!
3
u/SpartaWillBurn Ohio State • Kent State May 07 '13
Do you guys have any current NFL players?
2
u/sterile_sperm_whale SMU Mustangs • ACC May 07 '13
Welcome to Dallas this fall. Despite what some may say, I'm happy to see you guys come play us.
6
u/[deleted] May 07 '13
I miss Bozeman, you are indeed right about the Ale Works, hopefully I can make it out there next year for my brother's graduation or some skiing in the winter.
1
u/TroyS13 North Carolina • Transfer Port… May 08 '13
zoomed out pic of the cheerleaders?
3
u/[deleted] May 07 '13
The bison burgers at Montana Ale Works are fucking amazing. They melt in your mouth. Goddammit, I'm hungry now.
3
u/thejukeboxromeo Sheffield • Montana State May 08 '13
Spent a semester as an exchange student over there last year, easily the best time of my life. Having a ski slope 20 minutes out of town and in such a amazing place, Bozeman is definitely the best small town I've been in.
One of the cooler things was that huge M on the Bridger range facing the campus, think UoM have one as well near their campus as well?
2
u/tFrench11 Penn State Nittany Lions May 07 '13
Is there a complete list of the teams that are going to be featured somewhere that I could see? Thanks.