Brian Morse

Adam Jones is congratulated by MSU’s offensive line

Football
31-08-2024 18:57:00 hrs

Lamberty’s Account

Mid-90s temperatures hit MSU in second straight away game

ST. GEORGE, Utah – On the weekend that college football gets underway, the Bobcats really get going. Temperatures in St. George, Utah, for Montana State were over 100 degrees for most of game day Saturday, and 94 degrees are forecast for kickoff.

That forecast would be the sixth-highest temperature ever recorded for a Bobcat kickoff game. The two hottest kickoffs in history have been 98 degrees, the most recent of which came in 2022 during the Gold Rush game against McNeese.

The starting temperature last week in New Mexico was 90 degrees.

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Montana State’s 362 rushing yards at New Mexico last week marked the second-most in a season opener in Bobcat history. The previous record was 407 yards in 2023 against today’s opponent, Utah Tech.

Two Bobcats contributed to that effort. Adam Jones’ 167 yards is the second-most by a Bobcat in a season opener in school history, while Scottre Humphrey’s 140 is seventh. Humphrey’s 114 in the 2023 season opener a season ago marked the first time a Bobcat had rushed for 100 or more yards in his debut as a true freshman.

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Today’s game marks the seventh season in the last 50 years that the Cats have opened with back-to-back road wins, but only the second time this century. The last time was in 2001, when MSU lost its season opener at UAB before snapping a 16-game losing streak by beating Weber State in Ogden.

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When Bobby Daly When he donned the headset to start last week’s game against New Mexico and assumed the duties of full-time defensive coordinator for the Bobcats, he became only the fourth former MSU player to serve as a full-time coordinator on the coaching staff.

Daly, who previously held the coordinator position on an interim basis for one game, joins a respected group that includes Kane Ioane (defensive coordinator in 2015 and 2019), Dan Davies (offensive coordinator, 1986) and Cliff Hysell (defensive coordinator, 1978-81).

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Utah Tech coach Lance Anderson has never met the Bobcats as a head coach, but he has met MSU once. The first time was as a linebacker at Idaho State. In 1993, Anderson’s Bengals led Montana State in the final seconds of a game, but on third down, ISU threw a pass that Chris Steinbeisser intercepted and returned for a touchdown, giving Montana State the win. A year later, ISU defeated Montana State Bozeman 38-20.

Ten years later, Anderson was defensive coordinator at Saint Mary’s when the Bobcats defeated the Gaels 40-0.

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