Well nothing like a comfortable and easy first few weeks to start the season, right? Montana’s 3rd home game in as many weeks is this weekend – and don’t forget it’s “stripe the stadium” this weekend, I’ll post the graphic here for each section. Our next opponent is another MVFC team, the Indiana State Sycamores, who the Griz faced 2 years ago. In that game it was tied at 7-7, and the Griz had a 21-7 halftime lead which turned into a 49-14 blowout win.
Pre-season MVFC voters didn’t seem to think too much of ISU, voting them 9th out of 10 teams in the preseason poll. I see one ISU DB did make the 3rd team Stats all-America team. As I said last week, the MVFC doesn’t do preseason teams, but instead has a players to watch list. This list is pretty long (it has 8 QBs, 9 RBs, 15 WRs) so take it with a bit of a grain of salt, however 12 ISU players are on this list. Per ISU’s gameday release both of their offense and defense lost 7 starters each and thus each unit returns 4 starters each.
It does look like this team has had quite the injection of transfers. Their starting WR trio are transfers from Toledo, Rutgers, and UConn. Their backup QB who started the Indiana game is from USC (starter from the prior year was on the Jerry Rice finalist list). I see other additions from Kansas, Virginia, UNLV, Toledo, and Kent State. So, worth noting, Elijah Owens their talented young QB, is seemingly out after a collarbone injury the week before.
Indiana State Sycamores: 1-2
41-24 win vs McKendree: ISU out-gained D2 McKendree by 450 yards to 325, they forced 3 turnovers and while they had a lot of drives sputter out they did hit a few field goals. McKendree had a safety in the game and 14 of their 24 points came pretty late when the game was pretty much settled.
38-14 win vs Eastern Illinois: It was one of those “too close for comfort” wins for ISU until midway through the 4th quarter, where then they took a 24-14 lead and expanded it on two TD drives to set the final score to 38-14. This was the game where QB Owens was knocked out but the backup Patterson came in and went 11-17 passing, had 2 passing TDs, and lead the team with 78 rushing yards too. Eastern Illinois was held to just under 240 total yards of offense.
0-73 loss @ Indiana: Long day at the office for ISU, they were held to just 77 yards total on offense on 5 total first downs the whole game and the furthest they ever got across the field was to the Indiana 46 yard line. Indiana ran for 300 yards and passed for 380 yards.
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General Stats
Passing yards per game GRIZ (278 for GRIZ vs 163 for ISU)
Rushing yards per game GRIZ (189 for GRIZ vs 150 for ISU)
Total offense GRIZ (467 for GRIZ vs 313 for ISU)
Passing yards allowed per game GRIZ (183 for GRIZ vs 239 for ISU)
Rushing yards allowed per game ISU (211 for GRIZ vs 176 for ISU)
Total defense GRIZ (394 for GRIZ vs 415 for ISU)
Offense points scored GRIZ (33 for GRIZ vs 26.3 for ISU)
Defense points allowed GRIZ (20 for GRIZ vs 37 for ISU)
Turnover margin ISU (-2 for GRIZ / +2 for ISU)
Field goal % GRIZ (100% for GRIZ vs 75% for ISU)
Punt Returns ISU (11.5 yards for GRIZ vs 15.6 yards for ISU)
Kick Returns GRIZ (24 yards for GRIZ vs 20.6 yards for ISU)
T.O.P. GRIZ (26:37 for GRIZ vs 26:12 for ISU)
Red Zone defense (touchdowns) GRIZ (37.5% GRIZ / 86% ISU)
Red Zone offense (touchdowns) GRIZ (67% GRIZ / 60% ISU)
3rd down offense GRIZ – (40% for GRIZ / 22.9% for ISU)
3rd down defense GRIZ – (31.25% allowed for GRIZ vs 44% allowed for ISU)
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Big pull for the Griz but that rushing stat gives me some worry as we’re facing yet another rushing QB style offense. Griz get 14 to ISU’s 3.
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Indiana State Players to Watch:
#1 Plez Lawrence, RB: Their starting RB, he’s 5-9, 200 pounds, he has the most amount of rush attempts. He’s got 154 yards and 3 TDs on the ground, he’s also the 2nd leading receiver with 109 yards and 2 TDs there. He’s a guy we’ll need to keep tabs on
#15 Keegan Patterson, QB: The once USC quarterback appears to now be the starter, he set some Colorado high school passing records, walked on to USC, and then transferred out the next year. He’s another dual threat guy, he has 62 rushing yards and 124 passing yards and 2 passing TDs
#8 Rashad Rochelle, WR: A transfer from Rutgers, he’s leading the team with 111 receiving yards, he’s got 1 receiving TD as well. He’s a dangerous punt returner with a very solid 15.6 yards per return average, we’ll also see him fielding kicks, on average almost 23 yards per return there. He’s a good one!
#5 Kimal Clark, DB: Clark landed on the Stats 3rd team all-American preseason roster, he’s their workhorse on defense just 3 games into the season again leads the team in tackles so far with 31. Last year he was at Central Connecticut State and had 117 tackles and was named NEC defensive player of the year.
#95 Logan Wilson, DL: Maybe ISU’s best D-lineman of their 3 man front. Previously transferred from Western Michigan Wilson’s a big guy at 6-3, 275. He’s got 5.5 TFLs, 2 sacks, and has even blocked a kick this season. He’s 5th on the team with 15 total tackles this season so far.
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Keys to a Grizzly victory
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Montana will be favored and all signs point to a win here. I do think ISU will come to play, they’re a team in the best football conference in the FCS and are loaded with talented transfers. Being down their primary QB hurts, but the backup looks very capable. They have an offense that gives us fits and they’ve got 1 more game under their belt than the Griz.
Bobby said this was a young/inexperienced team after the UND game and sometimes these types of teams can fall into traps of assuming this is an easier game and then get caught on their heels. I could totally see yet again another tighter first half that opens up as the day goes. I’m thinking by the end it’s a comfy win but at first we’re still biting our nails a bit. I’ll say Griz take it 45-13
Go Griz!
Pre-season MVFC voters didn’t seem to think too much of ISU, voting them 9th out of 10 teams in the preseason poll. I see one ISU DB did make the 3rd team Stats all-America team. As I said last week, the MVFC doesn’t do preseason teams, but instead has a players to watch list. This list is pretty long (it has 8 QBs, 9 RBs, 15 WRs) so take it with a bit of a grain of salt, however 12 ISU players are on this list. Per ISU’s gameday release both of their offense and defense lost 7 starters each and thus each unit returns 4 starters each.
It does look like this team has had quite the injection of transfers. Their starting WR trio are transfers from Toledo, Rutgers, and UConn. Their backup QB who started the Indiana game is from USC (starter from the prior year was on the Jerry Rice finalist list). I see other additions from Kansas, Virginia, UNLV, Toledo, and Kent State. So, worth noting, Elijah Owens their talented young QB, is seemingly out after a collarbone injury the week before.
Indiana State Sycamores: 1-2
41-24 win vs McKendree: ISU out-gained D2 McKendree by 450 yards to 325, they forced 3 turnovers and while they had a lot of drives sputter out they did hit a few field goals. McKendree had a safety in the game and 14 of their 24 points came pretty late when the game was pretty much settled.
38-14 win vs Eastern Illinois: It was one of those “too close for comfort” wins for ISU until midway through the 4th quarter, where then they took a 24-14 lead and expanded it on two TD drives to set the final score to 38-14. This was the game where QB Owens was knocked out but the backup Patterson came in and went 11-17 passing, had 2 passing TDs, and lead the team with 78 rushing yards too. Eastern Illinois was held to just under 240 total yards of offense.
0-73 loss @ Indiana: Long day at the office for ISU, they were held to just 77 yards total on offense on 5 total first downs the whole game and the furthest they ever got across the field was to the Indiana 46 yard line. Indiana ran for 300 yards and passed for 380 yards.
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General Stats
Passing yards per game GRIZ (278 for GRIZ vs 163 for ISU)
Rushing yards per game GRIZ (189 for GRIZ vs 150 for ISU)
Total offense GRIZ (467 for GRIZ vs 313 for ISU)
Passing yards allowed per game GRIZ (183 for GRIZ vs 239 for ISU)
Rushing yards allowed per game ISU (211 for GRIZ vs 176 for ISU)
Total defense GRIZ (394 for GRIZ vs 415 for ISU)
Offense points scored GRIZ (33 for GRIZ vs 26.3 for ISU)
Defense points allowed GRIZ (20 for GRIZ vs 37 for ISU)
Turnover margin ISU (-2 for GRIZ / +2 for ISU)
Field goal % GRIZ (100% for GRIZ vs 75% for ISU)
Punt Returns ISU (11.5 yards for GRIZ vs 15.6 yards for ISU)
Kick Returns GRIZ (24 yards for GRIZ vs 20.6 yards for ISU)
T.O.P. GRIZ (26:37 for GRIZ vs 26:12 for ISU)
Red Zone defense (touchdowns) GRIZ (37.5% GRIZ / 86% ISU)
Red Zone offense (touchdowns) GRIZ (67% GRIZ / 60% ISU)
3rd down offense GRIZ – (40% for GRIZ / 22.9% for ISU)
3rd down defense GRIZ – (31.25% allowed for GRIZ vs 44% allowed for ISU)
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Big pull for the Griz but that rushing stat gives me some worry as we’re facing yet another rushing QB style offense. Griz get 14 to ISU’s 3.
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Indiana State Players to Watch:
#1 Plez Lawrence, RB: Their starting RB, he’s 5-9, 200 pounds, he has the most amount of rush attempts. He’s got 154 yards and 3 TDs on the ground, he’s also the 2nd leading receiver with 109 yards and 2 TDs there. He’s a guy we’ll need to keep tabs on
#15 Keegan Patterson, QB: The once USC quarterback appears to now be the starter, he set some Colorado high school passing records, walked on to USC, and then transferred out the next year. He’s another dual threat guy, he has 62 rushing yards and 124 passing yards and 2 passing TDs
#8 Rashad Rochelle, WR: A transfer from Rutgers, he’s leading the team with 111 receiving yards, he’s got 1 receiving TD as well. He’s a dangerous punt returner with a very solid 15.6 yards per return average, we’ll also see him fielding kicks, on average almost 23 yards per return there. He’s a good one!
#5 Kimal Clark, DB: Clark landed on the Stats 3rd team all-American preseason roster, he’s their workhorse on defense just 3 games into the season again leads the team in tackles so far with 31. Last year he was at Central Connecticut State and had 117 tackles and was named NEC defensive player of the year.
#95 Logan Wilson, DL: Maybe ISU’s best D-lineman of their 3 man front. Previously transferred from Western Michigan Wilson’s a big guy at 6-3, 275. He’s got 5.5 TFLs, 2 sacks, and has even blocked a kick this season. He’s 5th on the team with 15 total tackles this season so far.
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Keys to a Grizzly victory
- Stop / Slow the run – 3rd game in 3 weeks against a mobile / running QB that can beat them both passing and with his feet. There’s a lot to clean up from the UND game and you can bet that ISU will be mimicking some success UND had against the Grizzly defense. It starts with correction on run stopping, I’d love to see the Grizzly defense keep ISU under 100 rushing on the day.
- Flip the turnover margin – In both of Montana’s wins they’ve been -1 in turnovers. Let’s correct that, you can’t keep playing with more giveaways than takeaways and expect to keep winning.
- 15+ touches for Eli / 10+ touches for Stevie – I want our running game to get rolling here. ISU’s got a good defensive front and I want to see this Grizzly OL start to impose some will on teams. This feels like a good chance to “get right” in the running game.
- Keep #8 under wraps – The Grizzly ST worries me a bit and this is the most dangerous returner we’ll have faced. They cannot let him get loose and flip the field or tack on an easy ISU score.
- No over the top deep shots – You just know they’re going to take a few - more work is needed in these zone sets to make sure the back end of the field isn’t wide open
- Win on 3rd down – They’re really not good on 3rd down offensively. Let’s make sure they’re facing 3rd and 4 or more yards and lock it down.
- Use the middle of the field more – The Grizzly passing game hasn’t seemed to develop that 5-10 yard route really well, I’d like to see a lot better use of TEs / RBs to build out that mid range passing game.
- Avoid the slow start – Both week 1 and 2 for the Grizzlies they were slow out the gate with tight halftimes, lets try to find our groove sooner than later.
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Montana will be favored and all signs point to a win here. I do think ISU will come to play, they’re a team in the best football conference in the FCS and are loaded with talented transfers. Being down their primary QB hurts, but the backup looks very capable. They have an offense that gives us fits and they’ve got 1 more game under their belt than the Griz.
Bobby said this was a young/inexperienced team after the UND game and sometimes these types of teams can fall into traps of assuming this is an easier game and then get caught on their heels. I could totally see yet again another tighter first half that opens up as the day goes. I’m thinking by the end it’s a comfy win but at first we’re still biting our nails a bit. I’ll say Griz take it 45-13
Go Griz!
