Gunning for No. 1

Eastcoastgriz · Post by **Eastcoastgriz** » Mon Nov 27, 2006 1:41 pm

Gunning for No. 1
By SCOTT MANSCH
Tribune Asst. Sports Editor

It appears that Montana State's Bobcats have a little hill to climb this weekend in the Blue Ridge Mountains of North Carolina.

After all, the Bobcats will be meeting top-ranked Appalachian State in Boone, N.C., where the Mountaineers have won 25 in a row.

"I don't think it's way uphill," said MSU head coach Mike Kramer Sunday, a day after his Bobcats drilled seventh-ranked Furman 31-13 in an FCS first-round game in Bozeman. "This is an absolutely level game for us."

Defending national champion Appalachian State is 11-1 after Saturday's 45-28 victory over Coastal Carolina. The Mountaineers of veteran coach Jerry Moore haven't lost on the artificial turf at Kidd Brewer Stadium — nicknamed The Rock — since Maine won 14-13 in a first-round playoff game in 2002.

The 18th-ranked Bobcats have won seven of eight games and are 8-4 overall. Montana State's only loss since September was a 13-7 decision at No. 2 Montana two weeks ago.

Appalachian State and Montana State have never met on the football field. The Mountaineers lost an overtime playoff game to the UM Grizzlies in Missoula in 2001.

The Southern Conference champion Mountaineers lost 21-10 to NCAA I-A North Carolina State in their season opener. Among the team's triumphs at home this fall was a 40-7 victory over SoCon runner-up Furman.

"They're fast, they're aggressive and they're tough at home," Kramer said. "They're like Montana a little bit at home. They're smaller than Montana, but faster. They're lighter than Montana, but very fast ... It's shotgun option, just like watching West Virginia on offense."

The Bobcats have met the nation's top-ranked team five times. Kramer's 2002 club lost on the road to No. 1 McNeese State. The 2001 Bobcats fell to the top-ranked Grizzlies 38-27 in Bozeman.

On Nov. 13, 1993, the Cats of head coach Cliff Hysell defeated top-ranked Idaho 40-35 in Bozeman.

Recently, top-ranked teams haven't always won the national championship. Two seasons ago, in fact, Big Sky Conference member Eastern Washington went on the road and upset No. 1 Southern Illinois 34-31 in the first round of the playoffs.

"It's been done," said Kramer. "We can do this; we just have to go play our game."

The Bobcat defense has been outstanding for two months. Furman, which averages about 350 yards per game, had only 53 yards when the score was 31-0 on Saturday. Furman finished with 273 yards as Kramer played many reserves defensively in the fourth quarter.

Clearly, the Bobcat head coach expects a four-quarter game on Saturday.

"We've just got to play good defense and we'll be fine," Kramer said. "We've got to tackle. And we've got to get ahead and force 'em to throw."

The second-round game in the Division I Football Championship Subdivision playoffs (formerly I-AA) is slated for a 2 p.m. start Saturday. ESPN2 will provide live coverage.

GavinDonos · Post by **GavinDonos** » Mon Nov 27, 2006 3:45 pm

Thanks for all the article postin' you've been doing recently ecg. Much appreciated.

CatsRback · Post by **CatsRback** » Mon Nov 27, 2006 3:54 pm

I just browsed the App State site - it's obvious that they believe in themselves - the general concensus is that MSU is better than Coastal but a win is a foregone conclusion. If we can take them out of their game (i.e. stop the quarterback) early we have a very legit chance.

Like last week, I don't think this game will be super close - whoever starts out strong will run away with it.