Strong team, boisterous crowd, national TV game await Vandals tonight
Tonight, Idaho at Montana State • 7:15 p.m., ESPN2
By MARK NELKE
Sports editor
Jason Eck coached for a season on the staff at Montana State.
As an assistant at South Dakota State, his teams twice played at Montana State — including his last game with the Jackrabbits before he took the head coaching job at Idaho.
So he knows the environment the Vandals are getting into tonight in Bozeman, when No. 7 Idaho (4-2, 1-1 Big Sky Conference) takes on No. 3 Montana State (6-0, 2-0) at 7:15 p.m. on ESPN2.
“I hope they still let people go out for beers at halftime,” Eck said. “The quietest that stadium ever is is that first drive of the third quarter. So I hope they still let them go out for beers in the parking lot. That gives you one series where it’s a little quiet.
“Besides that, it’s a loud, tough place to play. Really small visitors locker room, they don’t give you many tickets, you’ve got to put some of your people in standing room only. It’s a tough place to play for a lot of reasons.”
One of those is, Montana State has been one of the top teams in FCS in recent years. Jeff Choate, the former Post Falls High football coach and athletic director, elevated the program in his four years there (2016-19), and Brent Vigen took the Bobcats to the national championship game two seasons ago.
“I think they are outstanding on both sides of the ball,” Eck said. “One of, if not the best, offensive lines in FCS football. Great quarterback (Tommy Mellott) who’s played a ton of football for them, who’s a great passer — I think 12 touchdowns and no interceptions this year. And he’s a tremendous runner, a great athlete that you have to account for.
“The running back (Scottre Humphrey) is excellent. He may be the best back in the league.
“On defense, they truly have some great players. I think (linebacker Brody) Grebe is as good as anybody. He’s a tremendous player; had a great game against us last year.”
Mellott has been a running quarterback much of his time at MSU. But he’s also been an injured QB for some of that time. Last year, the Bobcats had another running quarterback, Sean Chambers, as well.
This year, it’s mostly on Mellott’s shoulders. And because of that, he’s not running as much this season. He’s thrown for 1,058 yards in six games.
“They don’t want him running the ball 20 times a game — that’s a recipe for breaking your quarterback,” Eck said. “I think they’re trying to rely more on the passing game. They’re still going to use him as a runner, he has 34 carries on the year (for 247 yards, and five touchdowns), so that’s six times a game. He’s shown that he’s a great passer — a 68 percent completion is something I aspire to with our offense. I think he is one of the best, if not the best, quarterbacks in our conference.”
Idaho is playing its fifth ranked FCS team in as many weeks, after opening at Oregon, ranked No. 3 in FBS at the time, and at Wyoming, another FBS school.
Montana State hasn’t played as strong of a schedule, but the blowouts have allowed the Bobcats to rest starters and develop depth.
“You see how coach Vigen is trying to build this team, to beat the South Dakota States and North Dakota States in the playoffs,” Eck said. “Which I think is a really smart way to do that, because those teams have a lot of national titles over the last 15 years.”
Idaho beat Montana State 24-21 last year in Moscow, taking the lead for good on a touchdown pass from Gevani McCoy to Hayden Hatten with 2:47 left.
“We kept those guys off the field last year,” Eck said of MSU’s offense. “They had like 47 plays, which I don’t think we can count it going that way again. But that’s the most effective way to stop them, is have them on the sideline.
“I do think it starts with stopping the run. They run the ball for over 300 yards a game, which is outstanding, 6.6 yds per carry.”
Humphrey averages 111.3 yards per game on the ground, freshman Adam Jones 73.0.
Idaho’s strength is its defense, which is allowing 93.3 yards rushing per game. Keyshawn James-Newby has an FCS-high 7.5 of the Vandals’ 19 sacks, and six quarterback hurries.
“Keyshawn James-Newby has been an absolute menace on third down in particular,” Vigen said. “What you see on defense is they fly to the football. They're very principled, they're generally in the right place, and they play with great effort."
Eck said he would evaluate quarterbacks Jack Wagner and Nick Josifek in practice this week, then “determine whether to go with both of them or one of them.”
He said cornerback Abraham Williams will be out “a while” with a broken arm, which caused him to miss last week’s game vs. Northern Arizona.
Tyson Pottenger, a junior from Coeur d’Alene High, is listed as a backup at strong safety for Montana State.
Eck said audibling will be tough tonight, with the expected loud crowd at Bobcat Stadium in Bozeman.
“Montana’s got a culture that enjoys cold beverages, so I’m sure they’ll be fueled up by 8:15 (local time),” Eck said. “It will be like an LSU night game a little bit that way.
“We’re playing a great football team, and we’ll have to play our best football to compete with these guys. They are deserving favorites in this game.”