BOZEMAN — After more than 600 days without football inside Bobcat Stadium, Montana State can finally say “we’re back.”
The Bobcats return to action this Saturday for a sold-out Gold Rush game, and the anticipation is so real you can feel it.
“Gold Rush is already an exciting game but because of our circumstances of not playing since 2019 of December," Bobcat wide receiver Lance McCutcheon said. "I think everyone is really, really excited for what’s going to happen on Gold Rush.”
Excitement is brewing within the program as 64 Bobcats prepare to suit up for the first time in front of a home crowd. The anticipation can be felt in the coaching staff as well, however, they’re trying to control that eagerness as they look back at their narrow loss at Wyoming.
“Once we broke the film down, we left a lot of plays out there," McCutcheon added. "We beat ourselves. Simple as that. Just trying to eliminate a lot of those little errors and being just able to go out there on Saturday and just execute a full offensive game plan.”
One play, in particular, came on the final drive of the game. With just seconds left on the clock, running back Isaiah Ifanse dove for a first down instead of running out of bounds to stop the clock. However, the refs said he came up short, which ended the game.
“You risk the time of the game there," head football coach Brent Vigen explained. "I think if he was able to do it again, he would just go out of bounds. That’s got to be a learning lesson.”
"I looked back on film, and I know I made a mistake," running back Isaiah Ifanse added. "I should have went out of bounds, got my team an extra play to get an extra shot, but you just learn from those mistakes, and then make sure to not make the same one next week.”
As Vigen said in Monday’s presser, discipline is key as the Bobcats prepare for the Drake Bulldogs who opened their season in dominant fashion with 45-3 win over West Virginia Wesleyan.
“Offensively, I think we feel like their quarterback can make some plays.," Vigen explained. "He’s a guy that can get out of the pocket and create some problems. Running back-wise, they have two guys that put up some good yards. Defensively, they returned a bunch of guys particularly from the spring that played well upfront. They play sound, so I think for us we can’t get in our own way. I think we did a little too much of that on Saturday.”
The Bobcats will be without defensive tackle Kyle Rygg this Saturday after suffering a lower-body injury against Wyoming, which promotes Blake Hehl to starter.
And for the second week in a row, wide receiver Nate Stewart and cornerback Tyrel Thomas were left off the depth chart.
Gold Rush is set to kick off Saturday night at 6 pm. Make sure to visit us at MontanaSports.com for those highlights and more.
