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Texas Tech football: What Red Raider fans need to know about Montana State

By Matthew Conner

PULLMAN, WA - SEPTEMBER 02: Gerard Wicks #23 of the Washington State Cougars is tackled by Kelu Leota #98 of the Montana State Bobcats in the second half at Martin Stadium on September 2, 2017 in Pullman, Washington. Washington State defeated Montana State 31-0. (Photo by William Mancebo/Getty Images)
PULLMAN, WA - SEPTEMBER 02: Gerard Wicks #23 of the Washington State Cougars is tackled by Kelu Leota #98 of the Montana State Bobcats in the second half at Martin Stadium on September 2, 2017 in Pullman, Washington. Washington State defeated Montana State 31-0. (Photo by William Mancebo/Getty Images) /
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(Photo by Bob Levey/Getty Images)
(Photo by Bob Levey/Getty Images) /

Montana State wants to run the ball and shorten the game

Plenty of FCS teams have pulled off upsets of FBS teams and most that have done so utilized a spread passing attack to level the playing field.  But Montana State will hope to take the air out of the ball and keep it away from the Red Raiders by utilizing its ground game.

In 2018, MSU ran for 3,014 yards and 37 touchdowns but threw for only 1,864 yards and 8 touchdowns.  That was mainly a byproduct of having to turn to converted linebacker Troy Andersen at QB when the presumed starter was lost for the year due to academic issued.

In his first year as a QB after playing fullback and LB in 2017, Andersen earned first-team all-conference and third-team All American honors.  But the junior is back to playing LB and he is being replaced by 6-foot-6 redshirt freshman Casey Bauman.

The native of Washington saw action in only one game last year.  But he has a huge arm and has fans in Bozeman thinking he could be the next Carson Wentz in that he could be the next big-time FCS QB to get a look in the NFL. He is a pro-style QB that will stay in the pocket more than Andersen did last year when he ran for 1,412 yards and 21 touchdowns on 206 carries.

He will be looking to his top receiver Kevin Kassis.  The 6-foot senior caught 55 passes for 663 yards and three touchdowns last year.   Individually, he accounted for 35.5% of the Bobcats receiving yards last fall.

With an offensive line returning four starters, look for MSU to try to establish the run.  Ifanse ran for just over 1,000 yards last year while finding the endzone seven times.  The 5-foot-11, 202-pound sophomore will be MSU’s go-to weapon this year and he plans on being a larger part of the passing attack as well.

The MSU ground attack will be a good test for Matt Wells’ team.  The Red Raider head coach has said all offseason that he wants to stop the run at all costs and the first running back his defense will see is a preseason FCS All-American.

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