The state of Montana football

As long as Jeff Choate is in Bozeman, there’s always going to be a little more interest in Montana State football in these parts.

The former St. Maries High football star, as well as former Post Falls High football coach and athletic director, is entering his fourth season at Montana State. Last year, he coached the Bobcats to a 8-5 record and their first FCS playoff berth since 2014.

Just as important — and perhaps more important, depending on your point of view — he’s 3-0 against Montana.

“It (beating the Griz) definitely helps you, but it’s only good until right up to about now,” Choate said last month, at the Big Sky football media days in Spokane. “Now it’s a new season, and we have to reset the clock.

“We don’t get a lot for it in 2019.”

MAKING THE playoffs did give the Bobcats a boost, heading into this season.

“It helps you obviously on the recruiting trail,” said Choate, 17-18 as MSU coach. “It gives you a good momentum going into the offseason. Those dog days in February, when you’re grinding through the weight room in Bozeman, can be a challenge. But certainly when you have some loftier goals to talk about, and some things to pursue, that certainly does help. I’m excited to see that that brings us.”

So where can the Bobcats improve in 2019?

“I think we’ve got to be more balanced on offense,” Choate said. “We don’t have to be crazy throwing the ball, but we have to be a little more of a passing threat.”

Last year, when the returning starter ran into academic issues (and has since transferred from the program), Choate turned to Troy Andersen, a running back/linebacker. He actually rushed for more yards last season (1,412) than he passed for (1,195). The Bobcats totaled 3,014 rushing yards, and just 1,826 through the air.

“We’re going to play him a little of everywhere; I don’t know that he’ll JUST be a quarterback,” Choate said of Andersen. “He’ll play some more on defense and you’ll see him carrying the ball.”

Recently, Choate named redshirt freshman Casey Bauman starting quarterback.

“(We’ll) continue to run the ball at a high clip,” Choate said. “The biggest thing on the defensive side is to get off the field on third down. We were pretty good in scoring defense, we were pretty good in red zone defense, pretty good in total defense, but really, really poor on third downs.”

MEANWHILE, IN Missoula, Bobby Hauck guided the Griz to a 6-5 record last year in his return to Montana. But the Griz came up short of the playoffs, in large part because they were stopped on the goal line by Montana State in the waning seconds of last year’s Brawl of the Wild in Missoula. It was a game played before 26,508 — the largest crowd in the history of Washington-Grizzly Stadium.

Hauck has only been around for the last one of the three straight losses to the Bobcats. But he’s quick to point out the Griz lead the series 72-40-5.

“It’s been a lopsided rivalry, and we need to make sure it stays that way,” Hauck said.

WITH THE coaching change has come a different role for Jerry Louie-McGee, a fifth-year senior from Lake City High. He’s always been a punt returner, but under Hauck there’s been less bubble screens for him to try to make somebody miss and spurt for big yardage, but there’s been a few more carries.

After catching 83 passes as a freshman, Louie-McGee caught 50 as a sophomore and last year, Hauck’s first year, he caught 42 for 451 yards and two scores. For his career, he has 175 catches for 1,809 yards and eight TDs. He’s sixth in career receptions at UM; Raul Pacheco (1995-98) is the career leader with 192.

“Jerry’s an awesome guy; I really enjoy coaching him,” Hauck said. “I really admire him … when you have a coaching change, and you go from being a guy that’s catching 10 bubble screens in a game, to a guy that the ball isn’t coming that direction, he’s responded appropriately … he just wants to win, and he’ll do anything, whether it’s catching 10 passes, or whether it’s not getting the ball and making a couple blocks in the run game to spring somebody. He is about winning, and being a tough guy, and I just admire him.

“There’s one ball, and 11 guys out there, and we aren’t going to throw 15 bubble screens; we’re just not going to do that; that’s not who we are,” Hauck continued. “So that cuts into the number of times he gets the ball into his hand. But he’s going to get it enough, and when he does, he has a tendency to make things happen.”

A STRING of 6-5-type seasons might be cause for optimism elsewhere, but that won’t cut it in Missoula, especially for a program which at one time made 17 straight FCS playoff appearances (1993-2009). But Montana has made the playoffs just four times since then — the last time coming in 2015.

“We were the youngest team in the history of Grizzly football last year,” said Hauck, who went 80-17 at Montana in his first stint (2003-09). “Hopefully that’s why we made a lot of big mistakes. We did not complete games. We were in the lead 10 out of 11 games in the fourth quarter, and only won six.

“We need to learn how to complete games. Probably got to to a better job head coaching.”

Mark Nelke is sports editor of The Press. He can be reached at 664-8176, Ext. 2019, or via email at mnelke@cdapress.com. Follow him on Twitter@CdAPressSports.