Chronicle Article 11/30 -- Cnockaert column
Posted: Thu Nov 30, 2006 11:00 am
MSU has different mindset for game
Man, has the mindset of the Montana State football team changed over two weekends.
Thoroughly down after losing at Montana, sensing they’d blown their chance to make the playoffs, the Bobcats at first adopted a we’re-just-gladto-be-here attitude after getting an unexpected opportunity to play host to a first-round game. That quickly morphed into a determination to prove with a strong performance against Furman that they deserved not only a home game but a playoff berth.
Now that they’ve settled that, at least in their own minds, the Bobcats are confident, even cocky. They appear not to care one bit that their next game is on the road against defending national champion Appalachian State.
Simply put, their attitude is: Now that we’re in it, we might as well win the whole thing.
Forget any notion that they have nothing to lose in this game. They don’t see it that way at all. In fact, they figure they have as much or more to lose than the top-seeded Mountaineers, many of whom have a championship ring from last season.
“We could easily slip into a persona that says, ‘We won a home game, so get this one over with and call it a great year,’” MSU coach Mike Kramer said this week.
“(But) we don’t want to be denied. We feel now that destiny is riding with us, whether it’s Appalachian State or North Carolina State or Alaska State, it doesn’t matter. We’re coming, and we’re bringing everything we’ve got, and you’d better be ready for it for 60 minutes.”
Kramer said he already has a pre-game speech in mind for Saturday afternoon, but his players will hear variations of it this week. Kramer plans to remind his players constantly of the opportunity they have created for themselves: a chance to write their own glorious chapter in MSU football history.
Only three MSU teams have won national championships. That last was in 1984. In fact, that was the last time an MSU team advanced beyond the first round of the playoffs.
“What I am telling them is that this opportunity comes only rarely,” Kramer said. “In 22 years of Bobcat football, players have not had this opportunity. Don’t waste what they didn’t have. When someone gives you the keys to the Porsche, drive it.”
Given the odds that appear to be stacked against them, the Bobcats are going to have to steal those keys away from the Mountaineers. ASU has speed and playmakers, both on offense and defense, and they have the nation’s secondlongest home winning streak (25 games).
Obviously, the challenge facing MSU is a tall one.
And yet it is a challenge that must seem familiar. After three consecutive losses in September, MSU’s season appeared to be headed for disaster. Rather than fold, the Bobcats regrouped and won six straight to put themselves in a position to earn a playoff bid.
That resilience impressed Kramer, who, even as he acknowledged that his team was unpredictable, said his players never gave him any reason to doubt their heart.
“We were gauged unpredictable by the outcome of our games, but where we were predictable was in our everyday effort,” he said. “You always tell your team to never back down, never give in, never quit, that it’s what you do today at matters. All those coaching bromides have come true. I’ve got enough coaching ammunition to coach 20 teams for 20 years.”
Still, the only team that matters is this one. And what Kramer knows about his team convinces him that Appalachian State will be in for the fight of its season on Saturday.
“That’s why I said at the end of the game last week: ‘Wait ‘til they see what we’ve got,’” the coach said. “They have no idea.
“We will match their intensity. We want to match them play for play, minute for minute, series for series, quarter for quarter, half for half, game for game.”
Will it be enough? That question will be answered Saturday on the field.
But Kramer said he knows this much: “We will be sorely disappointed if we don’t win. Bottom line.”
Man, has the mindset of the Montana State football team changed over two weekends.
Thoroughly down after losing at Montana, sensing they’d blown their chance to make the playoffs, the Bobcats at first adopted a we’re-just-gladto-be-here attitude after getting an unexpected opportunity to play host to a first-round game. That quickly morphed into a determination to prove with a strong performance against Furman that they deserved not only a home game but a playoff berth.
Now that they’ve settled that, at least in their own minds, the Bobcats are confident, even cocky. They appear not to care one bit that their next game is on the road against defending national champion Appalachian State.
Simply put, their attitude is: Now that we’re in it, we might as well win the whole thing.
Forget any notion that they have nothing to lose in this game. They don’t see it that way at all. In fact, they figure they have as much or more to lose than the top-seeded Mountaineers, many of whom have a championship ring from last season.
“We could easily slip into a persona that says, ‘We won a home game, so get this one over with and call it a great year,’” MSU coach Mike Kramer said this week.
“(But) we don’t want to be denied. We feel now that destiny is riding with us, whether it’s Appalachian State or North Carolina State or Alaska State, it doesn’t matter. We’re coming, and we’re bringing everything we’ve got, and you’d better be ready for it for 60 minutes.”
Kramer said he already has a pre-game speech in mind for Saturday afternoon, but his players will hear variations of it this week. Kramer plans to remind his players constantly of the opportunity they have created for themselves: a chance to write their own glorious chapter in MSU football history.
Only three MSU teams have won national championships. That last was in 1984. In fact, that was the last time an MSU team advanced beyond the first round of the playoffs.
“What I am telling them is that this opportunity comes only rarely,” Kramer said. “In 22 years of Bobcat football, players have not had this opportunity. Don’t waste what they didn’t have. When someone gives you the keys to the Porsche, drive it.”
Given the odds that appear to be stacked against them, the Bobcats are going to have to steal those keys away from the Mountaineers. ASU has speed and playmakers, both on offense and defense, and they have the nation’s secondlongest home winning streak (25 games).
Obviously, the challenge facing MSU is a tall one.
And yet it is a challenge that must seem familiar. After three consecutive losses in September, MSU’s season appeared to be headed for disaster. Rather than fold, the Bobcats regrouped and won six straight to put themselves in a position to earn a playoff bid.
That resilience impressed Kramer, who, even as he acknowledged that his team was unpredictable, said his players never gave him any reason to doubt their heart.
“We were gauged unpredictable by the outcome of our games, but where we were predictable was in our everyday effort,” he said. “You always tell your team to never back down, never give in, never quit, that it’s what you do today at matters. All those coaching bromides have come true. I’ve got enough coaching ammunition to coach 20 teams for 20 years.”
Still, the only team that matters is this one. And what Kramer knows about his team convinces him that Appalachian State will be in for the fight of its season on Saturday.
“That’s why I said at the end of the game last week: ‘Wait ‘til they see what we’ve got,’” the coach said. “They have no idea.
“We will match their intensity. We want to match them play for play, minute for minute, series for series, quarter for quarter, half for half, game for game.”
Will it be enough? That question will be answered Saturday on the field.
But Kramer said he knows this much: “We will be sorely disappointed if we don’t win. Bottom line.”
