BOZEMAN — After falling behind 21-0 to Northern Arizona on Saturday, Montana State head coach Jeff Choate understands his team has one hindering problem lurking over it at this point of the season.
Despite the second-half comeback, in which the Bobcats went on to win 49-31 over NAU, it still brought up concerns over an issue that has plagued the Bobcats dating back to last season. MSU has had its fair share of struggles in the first half of games. Choate knows that as the season goes on it will be crucial for his team to build early momentum and not give up the early upper hand to their opponents.
“I’ll be honest with you, that’s something we talked about at length on Sunday as a staff and players is, 'Why are we so sluggish in the first half?'" said Choate. "It’s not like this is a one time thing. Let’s go back to last year. We started slow against Montana, we started slow against Incarnate Word, we started slow against North Dakota State, we started slow against (Southeast Missouri State). This is a pattern for us now," he added "and the better teams we play, we can’t spot people 21 points. That’s not going to be effective for us in terms of our long-term success.”
Montana State travels to Cal Poly on Saturday for a 6 p.m. (MDT) kickoff against the Mustangs.
