Cat And Griz Round 1 Playoff Preview
It’s playoff time in the FCS, and both Montana teams open with a home game. With 24 teams selected, eight receive a first round bye. Montana hosts San Diego. Montana State hosts South Dakota State. The winner of the UM game would face Eastern Washington in Cheney and the winner of the MSU game would travel to North Dakota State. Let’s dive in a little deeper into both match-ups and their betting lines.
SDSU at MSU
Montana State can take a deep breath after the ugly loss against their in-state rival. MSU’s 8-4 record, along with the respect the Big Sky conference receives, and having a large stadium (attendance helps decide Home/Away games in the first round) were enough to pick up a home playoff game. Despite hosting the game, the Cats aren’t receiving much respect from the odds makers – they are 11 point underdogs. Many factors contribute to this line: MSU still is questionable at the QB spot, their defense gave up big plays vs UM, and SDSU is a good team from a power-house conference.
How good is SDSU? Two games this year stand out: a home win over Cal Poly of 44-18 (a team MSU lost to by two scores) and a road victory over Northern Iowa (who is the only team to beat North Dakota State in over two years). The Jackrabbits are battle tested and have a 2,000 yard rusher on their roster.
Can the Bobcats keep SDSU’s powerful run game off the field? Can they limit turnovers? Will Bobcat Stadium be more than 60% full on this Holiday weekend? Will Prukop be healthy enough to play? Will Bleskin find redemption? Does McQueary step up big if neither Prukop or Bleskin can play?
If MSU is going to win they can not turn the ball over, they must capitalize on the big plays and keep a smaller crowd fired up.
Too many questions surround the Bobcats and the Jackrabbits will run wild.
Prediction: SDSU 36 MSU 17
San Diego at Montana
After last year’s surprise loss against Coastal Carolina, the Griz can’t take anyone lightly. This is solid advice and a good motivational technique for the players who weren’t involved last year. But San Diego is not Coastal Carolina and it’s not even close. Montana is favored by 23.5 points. San Diego finished second in a conference that does not have athletic scholarships, but got the automatic bid because the team they lost to (Jacksonville) admitted to violations. San Diego is coming off a 34-3 loss against Cal Poly at home. The Griz should dominate in the trenches and will have size and speed advantages at nearly every position. Coastal Carolina was a high scoring passing team from a strong FCS conference, San Diego will be lucky to score a touchdown.
Barring double digit turnovers, the Griz should win this easily. Making for an interesting match-up next week against their rival Eastern Washington. Only question is: will they get the shutout?
Prediction: Montana 24 San Diego 0
Photo Credit: Billings Gazette
About the Author
Montana Parlay Born in Billings. Attended MSU. Likes sports, enjoys gambling, loves Montana. Purveyor of wit and bullshit. Wannabe poet, occasional writer.
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