The Bobcat Nation

The Mustangs of Cal Poly put a whoopin' on Sacramento State last Saturday both on offense and defense. While the defense held Sacramento State RB Ryan Mole to less than 100 yards (which we know now is not easy), the offense bludgeoned the Sacramento State defense like a battering ram. The Mustangs ran the ball 44 times while throwing on 23 times. Yardage-wise, the passing and rushing attacks were balanced (210 and 188 respectively).

I would expect to see a lot of the same against the Bobcats early on. They will be forced to run the ball because of the Bobcats' tough secondary led by Kahiaim Hunter. Hunter learned a lot from playing with Joey Thomas for a few years and shares the same physical style of play at cornerback.

The rest of the Bobcats' defense was very impressive as well, with most of the plays coming from the LB's and secondary. Epi King is amazingly fast and loves to hit. If you haven't seen him play yet, you need to. Mollohan, Marudas, King, and Lowe all have tha ability to bust plays before they start by the blitz. Ryan Force, Dre Fuller, Kahiaim Hunter, and Toph Grenfell are all much improved thanks to experience. Honestly, this Cats' defense is the best I have seen, period. With Big Lou up front with Papich, Siataga, Rogers, and Kolone, the defensive line takes up a lot of offensive linemen just to keep them at bay. Imagine what we would be with Arizona State starter Will Kofe as well.

The Cats' offense speaks for itself. Murray is awesome and we all know what Gatewood can do. Guinn has been a nice surprise this year and Junior absolutely raves about Javon Miller, so I expect big things from him as well. Bass is shifty, quick, and a not easy to take down once the defense has a guy or two on him. As much potential as he has to help this year's team, I have heard everyone rave about Evin Groves and on Saturday we didn't even see the tip of the iceberg as to what he can do. I expect Groves to be our number 2 running back for the rest of the year after the Cal Poly game. Would it be too much to ask to have 2 1,000 yard rushers on the same team? We'll see.

Although the Mustangs' defense may be improved over last year, the Cats have shown such improvement on both sides of the ball that I don't see the Mustangs staying in this one past the first half. This is not a slight to the Mustangs in any way. Cal Poly has a good team and had a very good team last year. This Cats team is just that good this year.

My prediction stands at Montana State- 38, Cal Poly- 14.

Cal Poly also has a vastly better offense than what you saw last year.

Cal Poly 27 MSU 24

Stang,

I wasn't meaning any disrespect towards the Mustangs, I just have never seen a Cats team like this in my life. The expectations and hopes very high for this team. The talent level is extremely high on both sides of the ball. Again, it wasn't meant in a disrespecting way. The Cats have possibly the best leader in D-1AA football under center. He has talent on that side of the ball with him this year, the Cats are dangerous.

'Cats have a vastly improved defense (and an OK offense ).
42-21 'Cats.

profisme,

I have complete respect for the Bobcats. I think you will make a run in both the Big Sky and the playoffs. I just have an equal amount of respect for the Mustangs and we are playing in SLO. If Poly can ever get by the east coast byas of the selection committee we have a good chance of seeing you again in Bozeman this year.

Good grief!!! I can't believe some of you MSU fans think that the Cats are going to win by 3 or more touchdowns. I think I remember the Cal Poly vs MSU prediction thread from last year, and it was along the same lines. "The Cats by 4 touchdowns!". It didn't happen last year, or the year before that, or ...., and it's not going to happen this year. I agree with SloStang. It's most likely going to be a close game, not some 3+ touchdown blowout in favor of MSU.

-- Go Mustangs!

I have to agree with Slo on this one - sort of I don't see this as a blow out but rather as a tight game. I think that it will be a battle of good defenses, with ours holding there offense to 1 TD and a couple of FGs. They will hold use to a couple of TDs and FGs.

Final Score:

MSU 20
CP 13

Cal Poly Mustang wrote:Good grief!!! I can't believe some of you MSU fans think that the Cats are going to win by 3 or more touchdowns. I think I remember the Cal Poly vs MSU prediction thread from last year, and it was along the same lines. "The Cats by 4 touchdowns!". It didn't happen last year, or the year before that, or ...., and it's not going to happen this year. I agree with SloStang. It's most likely going to be a close game, not some 3+ touchdown blowout in favor of MSU.

-- Go Mustangs!

This game will be within 10 points (VERY CLOSE) unless one team turns the ball over a ton etc. I wouldn't base too much on the Sac State score. It sounds like the planets aligned up in that game as they got lots and lots of charity from Sac. If they played them again, it would not be that lopsided in my opinion. I'm not saying Cal Poly wouldn't beat them again, but I doubt the game would turn out the way it did with that many turnovers etc etc.

Cardiac Cat,

Good defense creates turnovers. Poly defense brings preasure from all over the field. Last years defense had 50 sacks and 25 interceptions. 13 different players had at least one sack last year and every position on defense was responsible for at least one including the cornerbacks and safeties. Poly returns players that account for 35 of the sacks and 15 of the interceptions.

This years team already has 10 sacks and 3 interceptions. It sounds like Kramer respects this defense and has switched MSU to a very similar D this year.

Because of this I think it will be a hard fought relatively low scoring game that will turn on which teams makes the fewwest mistakes. Because it is a home game for Poly, I am going with Poly. If it were in Bozeman I would probably have to favor MSU. No matter who wins, I expect a great game.

How many MSU fans will make the trip? I think this one will be worth the trip.