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Big sky notebook

Bobcats prowl for Sky crown


Montana State and head coach Mike Kramer are enjoying a shiny season in the Big Sky. (File/The Spokesman-Review )



Dave Trimmer
Staff writer
November 4, 2004

Mike Kramer and the Montana State Bobcats went from sleight of hand to sledgehammer to take control of the Big Sky Conference football race.

After three consecutive wins secured on the last possession, MSU went to Northern Arizona – where the Wildcats hadn't won since 1979 – and pounded the Lumberjacks 60-14.

"We're not that good and they are not that bad," Kramer told The Great Falls (Mont.) Tribune.

"We could play this game a million times and it would never look like that again. It was just an aberration."


But Kramer also pointed out that consistently pulling out close games wasn't a matter of luck.

"I think a lot of teams look at us and say, 'Hey, they're lucky.' We're not a lucky team," he said. "We are really, really mentally tough."

MSU, ranked No. 17, scored on all eight of its first-half possessions, rolling up 411 yards and a 53-0 lead.

"The first half was about the worst half of football I've ever seen," NAU coach Jerome Sauers told The Arizona Daily Sun.

MSU junior quarterback Travis Lulay continued his hot streak, completing 21 of 32 passes for 366 yards and three touchdowns in three quarters.

In earning three consecutive Big Sky player of the week honors, Lulay has passed for 1,156 yards and seven touchdowns with one interception.

The Bobcats (6-2 overall, 4-0 in conference) travel to Sacramento State before playing host to No. 21 Eastern Washington (6-3, 5-1) in a showdown for the Big Sky lead, now that No. 10 Montana (6-2, 3-1) lost a league game.

NAU heads to Montana, which is smarting from a 38-35 loss at Portland State that knocked the Grizzlies out of a share of the lead.

Eastern has a critical game with playoff implications this weekend when No. 11 Cal Poly (7-1) visits for a non-conference game.

Mustangs ride high

Cal Poly goes from Big to Great for football.

The Mustangs, members in the Big West Conference with the University of Idaho for other sports, are in the first-year, football-only Great West Conference with UC Davis, North Dakota State, Northern Colorado, Southern Utah and South Dakota State.

That Great West has a 5-4 record against the Big Sky and is ranked second – to the Big Sky's fourth – in the GPI, the I-AA equivalent of the BCS.

Individually, Cal Poly is ranked seventh, Montana 10th, MSU 16th and EWU 17th in the GPI.

The Mustangs really are good. Eastern opened the season with a 37-14 loss at Nicholls (La.) State. North Dakota State defeated Nicholls State 24-14 on Oct. 2. Cal Poly defeated NDSU 13-10 two weeks ago before losing its first game to UC Davis, 36-33.

The Mustangs also beat Montana State 27-14 and Idaho State 35-20 earlier this season.

Vote of confidence for EWU

After shaking hands with the Eastern coaches following last weekend's 45-10 loss, Sacramento State coach Steve Mooshagian mingled with some the players, slapping their pads and telling them to go win the conference.

"I felt like that with these guys," he explained. "I have a lot of respect for coach (Paul) Wulff. Joe Wade, the running back coach, is good friend of mine I've known for years.

"I'm happy for these guys. I think they're the best team, I really do. ... I think they should win the Big Sky; definitely a playoff-caliber team."


Quick kicks

Montana State scored 22 first-quarter points at NAU, more than its total in any of its first five games. The Bobcats have won five in a row for the first time since their 1984 national championship season, when Mike Kramer was an assistant coach. ... The previous worst loss in the Skydome for NAU was 59-21 to Montana last year. ... EWU, which limited Sac State to minus-34 yards on 17 carries, became the fourth BSC team to allow no rushing first downs in a game. The Hornets' minus-2 yards per attempt was close to the record of minus-2.2 for Idaho State against MSU in 1966