Montana State @ Washington State preview
Gesa Field at Martin Stadium
A week after being the victims of a pretty severe beat-down, Washington State hopes to deliver one of their own Saturday in its home opener against Montana State.
The Cougars (0-1) traveled to Stillwater to face Oklahoma State last Saturday in their season opener and were manhandled 65-17 by the Cowboys.
After falling behind 17-0 after the first quarter, Washington State battled back to make it 17-10 before Oklahoma State reeled off 34 consecutive points to put the game out of reach. One highlight for the Cougars was kicker Nico Grasu, who connected on a career-best 56-yard field goal, the sixth-longest in program history.
Washington State is going to need a better performance from its defense if it is going to turn things around. The Cougars were gashed by the Cowboys for 544 total yards, including 291 on the ground. Oklahoma State's Kendall Hunter ran wild for 257 yards and four touchdowns.
While the Cougar defense needs to fix things in a hurry, the offense will likely be without junior wide receiver Jared Karstetter, who suffered a concussion and sore ribs from a big hit against the Cowboys and is questionable for Saturday’s game.
A member of the Big Sky Conference in the FCS (formerly I-AA), Montana State (1-0) opened its season exactly the opposite way Washington State did, posting an easy 59-10 victory over Fort Lewis. The Bobcats led 35-3 at the half and played 17 redshirt or true freshmen on offense and defense while resting their starters for much of the final two quarters.
Youth is definitely being served this year for Montana State as a host of young players played a major role in the season-opening rout.
Freshman quarterback Denarius McGhee threw for 178 yards and two touchdowns and freshman running back Cody Kirk had two touchdown runs. Freshmen wide receivers Tanner Bleskin and Gianni Carter caught TD passes of 51 and 27 yards, respectively.
McGhee is the first freshman to start at quarterback for Montana State since Rob Stoltz in 1987 and will try to help the Bobcats achieve something that no other Big Sky Conference team has - win at Washington State.
The Cougars are 25-0 when playing current Big Sky schools in Pullman and are 41-2 overall against current Big Sky teams. They have won 13 straight against the Big Sky dating to a 13-12 loss at Montana in 1947.
Washington State has won all six meetings with Montana State. The series began in 1905 but the teams did not meet again until 1981. Washington State won the most recent encounter, 45-28 in 2002.
While Montana State has never beaten Washington State, don't expect the Bobcats to be intimidated. They are used to moving up in competition against better opponents than the Cougar team they will face Saturday.
The Bobcats knocked off Colorado in 2006 and have traveled to face Texas A&M (2007), Kansas State and Minnesota (both 2008) and Michigan State (2009).