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tick, tick ...n ISU quarterback longs for more time in pocket I 2

Saturday, oct. 30at idaho State Game

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Business mann MSU’s Craney spent summer in ‘real world’ I 2

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nO. 13 mOntana state at iDaHO state, HOlt arena 1:35 P.m.

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SEAN SPERRY/CHRONICLE

Montana State quarterbacks Denarius McGhee and Cody Kempt (12) walk off the field after defeating Northern Colorado last week.

Well-Kempt secret

Bobcats’ backup quarterback says he’s as happy as ever

By WILL C. HOLDENChronicle Sports Writer

It’s been a tad ridiculous.Then again, that’s the definition of mania

— “an irrational but irresistible motive for a belief or action.”

Grown men have debated for weeks about an appropriate theme song to immortalize him — so far “The Age of Denarius” has a slight lead. Young girls have been spotted buying T-shirts outside Bobcat Stadium that pay him homage — they read “In McGhee we Trust.”

Denarius McGhee Mania has arrived. It’s here to stay.

And Cody Kempt, the quarterback whose job McGhee took, couldn’t be happier about it.

Lest it be forgotten, before McGhee notched any of his dizzying 2010 accom-plishments — the 2,075 yards passing, the two national player of the week honors and the 6-2 record, which is tied for the best start in school history since the 1984 national championship season — he faced what many believed to be an insurmountable obstacle.

Winning Montana State’s starting job. You can count his dad among the doubters.

Mike Gause, a.k.a. Big Mike to friends of his son Denarius, didn’t bother purchasing season tickets for this season. A military man, Gause knew a thing or two about seniority.

His son, a redshirt freshman, didn’t have it. Kempt did.

A fifth-year senior, Kempt had started several games for the Bobcats coming into 2010. To put it simply, Gause said, there were many who “didn’t think there was any way Denarius was going to be the guy this year.”

Aug. 31, 2010, the day McGhee was named MSU’s starter, would consequently prove to be a bittersweet day for Gause. Interestingly enough, the same goes for Kempt.

‘A sign from god’

It was the third time in his career that Kempt had been demoted. As a redshirt freshman at Oregon, it prompted him to transfer. (He also lost his job last year). As a senior at Montana State, some folks might say a similar course of action wasn’t taken only because Kempt had run out of options.

Those folks don’t know Cody Kempt. Then again, neither do most folks.

“He’s a fifth-year senior who has played a lot of games who’s been beat out by a freshman at the premier position on the field and he’s handled it like an absolute champion.”Rob Ash, MSU head coach

More kEmpt I 5

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Kicking & punting: David Har-rington, the nation’s second-rated punter in terms of distance, doesn’t have ISU fans yearning for departed all-conference punter Jon Vander-wielen. But MSU’s Jason Cunningham might have the Holt Arena crowd green with envy. Cunningham has hit 17-of-18 field goals this season while ISU’s kicker, Brendon Garcia, has been an adven-ture, going 5-11.

Returns & Coverage: Moore, who has returned

two kicks and two punts for touchdowns this year, is about as dangerous as they come. But MSU has a couple of weapons that every team wishes it had against a good returner — Rory Perez, a punter who has hang time, and Cunningham, a kicker with a big leg. MSU has the ability to neutralize Moore like few other teams in this conference have. That said, Cunning-

ham better kick it out of the back of the end zone, because if Moore can catch it, he’s coming out.

Edge: Montana State

Depth chartsMontana State

OffenseLEFT TACKLE

72 Mike Person 6-5/295 Sr

70 Killian Fitzpatrick 6-8/270 Fr

LEFT GUARD

57 Casey Dennehy 6-1/270 So

68 Conrad Burbank 6-4/280 Jr

CENTER

56 Shaun Sampson 6-0/249 So

61 Alex Terrien 6-4/285 Jr

RIGHT GUARD

61 Alex Terrien 6-4/285 Jr

71 Jesse Hoffmann 6-4/286 Sr

RIGHT TACKLE

50 Leo Davis 6-4/271 Jr

70 Killian Fitzpatrick 6-8/270 Fr

QUARTERBACK

9 Denarius McGhee 6-0/197 Fr

12 Cody Kempt 6-2/211 Sr

RUNNING BACK

8 Orenzo Davis 5-9/185 Jr

20 C.J. Palmer 6-0/210 Jr

W RECEIVER

14 Everett Gilbert 5-9/180 So

27 DeSean Thomas 6-1/180 Jr

X RECEIVER

1 Elvis Akpla 6-1/187 Jr

86 Tanner Bleskin 6-3/210 Fr

Z RECEIVER

82 Julius Lloyd 6-0/184 Sr

10 Kruizz Siewing 5-11/182 So

TIGHT END

81 Kyle Begger 6-2/245 Jr

88 Shane Robison 6-5/250 Jr

KICKER

15 Jason Cunningham 6-1/162 Jr

DefenseBANDIT

96 Zach Minter 6-2/277 So

34 Preston Gale 6-2/239 Fr

TACKLE

90 Dan Ogden 6-0/270 Sr

63 Zach Logan 6-3/295 Fr

NOSE TACKLE

45 Jason D’Alba 6-2/277 Sr 98 Christian Keli’i 6-0/282 So

END

11 John Laidet 6-5/250 Jr

49 Caleb Schreibeis 6-3/245 So

SAM LINEBACKER

9 Roger Trammell 6-1/230 Jr

44 Aleksei Grosulak 5-10/250 Fr

MIKE LINEBACKER

44 Aleksei Grosulak 5-10/250 Fr

42 Clay Bignell 6-2/236 Jr

WILL LINEBACKER

23 Jody Owens 6-1/214 So

59 Tanner Ripley 6-1/214 Sr

BOUNDARY CORNER

26 Arnold Briggs 5-10/185 Sr

17 Sean Gords 5-10/185 Fr

FREE SAFETY

22 Michael Rider 5-11/196 Sr

32 Anthony Cosme-Peko 5-11/209 Sr

ROVER

7 Jordan Craney 6-1/205 Sr

5 Joel Fuller 6-0/200 So

FIELD CORNER

13 Darius Jones 5-10/167 So

24 James Andrews 6-1/187 Jr

PUNTER

18 Rory Perez 6-2/180 Fr

Idaho StateDefense

RIGHT END

50 Sean Rutten 6-3/226 Sr

45 Jake Rouser 6-4/228 So

NOSE GUARD

71 Marcus Austin 6-0/286 Jr

95 Chad O’Donnell 6-1/265 Sr

TACKLE

55 Jordan Monga 6-0/256 Jr

57 Justin Vae’ena 5-11/246 Fr

LEFT END

48 Jeff Tuua 6-2/256 Sr

97 Rustin Phillips 6-2/219 Sr

SAM LINEBACKER

54 Jarrid Nash 5-11/236 Sr

52 Phillip Arias 6-1/213 Sr

MIKE LINEBACKER

8 Basim Hudeen 5-10/230 Jr


WILL LINEBACKER

30 A.J. Storms 6-0/215 Jr


FREE SAFETY

21 Chris Holmesly 5-9/193 Sr

25 Tanner Davis 5-11/191 Fr

STRONG SAFETY

27 Dustin Tew 6-1/196 Sr

25 Tanner Davis 5-11/191 Fr

CORNERBACK

2 Keith McGowen 5-9/180 So

15 Kelvin Miller 6-0/183 Jr

CORNERBACK

28 Colby Riggins 5-11/170 Jr

32 Kenny Viser 6-0/195 Jr

PUNTER

16 David Harrington 6-3/185 Jr

OffenseLEFT TACKLE

79 Brad Shedd 6-7/278 Jr

74 Nick Beckman 6-5/270 Fr

LEFT GUARD

63 David Tyler 6-2/276 Jr

61 Jon Van Vliet 6-2/244 So

CENTER

56 Mark Clampitt 6-2/271 So


RIGHT GUARD

76 Braedon Clayson 6-6/308 Jr


RIGHT TACKLE

66 Mitch Rudder 6-3/283 Sr

76 Braedon Clayson 6-6/308 Jr

QUARTERBACK

12 Russel Hill 5-11/193 Sr

9 Kyle Morris 6-1/164 Fr

RUNNING BACK

10 Tavoy Moore 5-7/195 Jr

24 Phil Pleasant 5-11/188 Fr

TIGHT END

88 Josh Hill 6-5/228 So

43 Leki Fuapau 6-1/240 Jr

RECEIVER

18 Kelvin Krosch 6-5/219 Jr

82 Luke Austin 6-1/170 Fr

RECEIVER

82 Luke Austin 6-1/170 Fr

29 Izzy Ramirez 5-7/170 Sr

RECEIVER

13 Rodrick Rumble 6-2/190 So

22 Demitrius Cowherd 6-1/192 Fr

KICKER

17 Brendon Garcia 5-9/142 Jr

THE EDGEMontana state at IDaho state

Passing: Idaho State has some issues in its secondary. Against Montana State that’s a death sentence. Kenny Viser, the barely-eligible transfer from Nevada that was supposed to save the ISU secondary, has fallen off the map. Transfer strong safety Greg Melendez, who looked like the real deal in his first game with the Bengals, only lasted one game before suffering an injury. Senior safety Chris Holmsely and senior corner Keith McGowen have been the stabilizing forces, but the Bengals have started six other players at the opposite safety and corner spots. Say Holmsely and McGowen lock down a couple of MSU receivers on every down; there are still four more receivers on the field that all have the ability to punish the Bengals. Throw in the fact that the Bengals can’t get to the quarterback — they have nine sacks this year — and you can see why Denarius McGhee and Co. could have a huge day. MSU’s freshman quarterback has been pretty big in a few games where he’s been sacked more than twice — like last weekend when he threw for 400 yards and four touchdowns when he was sacked three times — but he’s been ridiculous in games he’s been sacked less than twice. More specifically, he’s passed for 1,096 yards, eight touchdowns, no interceptions while completing 66 percent of his passes with none of those troublesome fumbles. That’s the one area where Idaho State has excelled

this year: forcing turnovers. The unit has collected eight the past two weeks. It means McGhee needs to be careful with the football this week. But aside from a few blips this year, he’s more than shown he has the ability to do so.

Running: ISU has a trio of linebackers that are quite impressive. The appropriately named A.J. Storms is leading the conference in tackles, middle linebacker Basim Hudeen is a great athlete and the leader of the defense, and senior Jarrid Nash has played well enough this season to beat out incumbent Phillip Arias, who has provided depth for the trio. The problem for the Bengal linebackers is that they have a pretty poor line in front of them. Some of the league’s smaller, quicker backs have had no trouble burning past that ISU front line and into the second level. Northern Colorado’s Jhamele Robinson, Portland State’s Cory McCaffrey, Northern Arizona’s Zach Bauman and Weber State’s Josh Booker combined to average 5.4 yards a carry against ISU. And bear in mind, ISU has yet to face arguably the Big Sky Conference’s most explosive three backs, MSU’s Orenzo Davis, Sacramento State’s Bryan Hilliard and Eastern Washington’s Taiwan Jones. Put it this way: It’s only going to get tougher for this unit. And it starts this week. Edge: Montana State

WHEN MONTANA STATE HAS THE BALL

EDGE

Passing: Who is Idaho State’s start-ing quarterback? Don’t be certain that the Bengals are even sure themselves. Redshirt freshman Kyle Morris has been given every opportunity to win the job over fifth-year senior Russel Hill, who’s been largely ineffective throughout his career. But despite the fact that Morris has five starts to Hill’s two, he’s thrown only four more passes for 11 fewer yards. Morris has also thrown eight interceptions to Hills’ three.

That slight disparity in productivity is probably the biggest reason Hill got the start in last week’s slim 16-13 loss to Weber State and will get the nod again this week. But the Bengals weren’t in the game against the Wildcats because of Hill. Quite contrarily, the Bengals were in the game despite Hill, who completed barely over 50 percent of his passes for 195 yards with one interception and no touchdowns. That said, it’s hard to blame it all on Hill and Morris. ISU’s signal callers have been sacked an average of four times a game this year, including six times last week.

All of that would seem to spell a rebounding ef-fort this week for the MSU defense. Then again, the Bobcats have allowed the conference’s three least proficient quarterbacks besides Hill and Morris to average 300 yards passing in four of their last three games. The hope is that ISU’s pass offense, even

though it has some decent receivers in Kelvin Krosch, Tavoy Moore and Rodrick Rumble, might be even worse. From the looks of it, it is.

Rushing: Under new offensive coor-dinator Phil Early, the running game was supposed to be a renewed focus in ISU’s offense, which is becoming more West

Coast-based. Unfortunately for the Bengals, falling behind early hasn’t helped. Neither has the fact that they’re averaging 2.5 yards a carry. Only six teams in the nation are averaging less.

As if that weren’t enough bad news for the Bengals, throw in the fact that, through their struggles, the Bobcat defense has remained fairly stout against the run. Currently MSU is allowing 127 yards on the ground a game — it’s the second best mark in the conference and the 28th best in the nation.

It’s worth mentioning that the Bengals appear determined to give more touches to Moore. One of the most explosive players in the conference could be tricky, but behind him the Bengals are banged up (see Jahmel Rover, Corey White, and Phil Pleasant) and unmotivated (Stew Tracy nearly quit the team earlier this year). That ain’t good news.

Edge: Montana State

WHEN IDAHO STATE HAS THE BALL

20

overall It seems like the Bengals have got to figure it out at some point. And over the past two years, they’ve played their best football toward the end of the season. Unfortunately, the schedule doesn’t end as kindly for ISU this year, with Montana State, Georgia, Sacramento State and Eastern Washington left on the docket. The Bengals will have their best shot against the Hornets in Pocatello in a couple weeks. Today, it could get ugly.

Sure, Idaho State seems to put it together for one game every year (see its 12-10 loss to Montana in Pocatello last year). Coming off the bye week, the consensus seems to be that this could be the game that it all clicks this year. It seems equally possible, though, that the 16-13 loss to Weber State last week was that game. And in front of a conference-low crowd of 5,083 against a downtrodden Wildcat team that committed five turnovers, the Bengals couldn’t pull it out.

ISU head coach John Zamberlin said it himself this week: Idaho State still hasn’t established the winning culture that conference opponents like Montana State seem to have down pat. It’s why the Bobcats can pull out a two-point win over UNC at home and three-point win at Sacramento State on the

road. That means even if this game gets close, which isn’t likely, MSU still has the mental edge.

Edge: Montana State

INTaNGIBleS

41Analysis by WILL C. HOLDEN of the Chronicle

SpecIal TeamS

EDGE

EDGE

EDGE

bozeman daily chronicle Saturday, October 30, 2010 6 |

BOBCAT GAME DAYMontana State at Idaho State

1:35 p.m. Holt Arena

A former Bobcat himself, Kempt’s father Mychal knows his son hasn’t shown the “affable and goofy” side of his personal-ity that comes out around his two younger brothers, both of whom are also quarterbacks.

Mychal knows very well the side Kempt has shown Bobcat fans the past two years.

“The Cody you know is a very protective, guarded, straight-faced, unemotional, quiet, work, work, work type,” Mychal said. “The Cody I know is funny as heck.”

These days, the Cody that My-cal knows has been making more appearances.

That side comes out in the grin that sneaks across his face while overhearing McGhee galloping through the nearby locker room, overpowering the bass boost from an impressive speaker system with a chorus of, “Oh baby! Oh baby! Oh baby!”

It’s evident as he relaxes his chiseled shoulders, exhales and calls his coaches decision to make him a backup a “sign from God.”

“It was kind of like He was giving me a taste of humble pie and telling me to get my priorities straight,” Kempt said. “Through this whole situation, I’ve finally learned that my football career is not going to define who I am.”

In MSU head coach Rob Ash’s eyes, McGhee’s story has been a great one. But Cody’s “may be the greatest story on the whole team this season.

“He’s a fifth-year senior who has played a lot of games who’s been beat out by a freshman at the premier position on the field and

he’s handled it like an absolute champion,” Ash said. “I just can’t say enough about the positive impact he’s had on this team. He’s been fabulous.”

Unlikely tUtors

If their roles were reversed and he was back on the Montana State campus in the mid-1980s, My-chal’s not sure he would have had the strength to handle losing his starting spot to a freshman.

“I was a little bit immature, I was a little bit misguided,” Mychal said. “I would have probably been a little bit more focused on myself than I would have been on my team. Seeing Cody handle this situation this year, I’ve actually learned a lot.

“To be able to say that about my son, I can’t tell how proud it makes me.”

Cody didn’t get there overnight, though. For a kid who says, “I once made football my idol,” his maturing process has been far from brief. Mychal and his wife Marlene are well aware.

“There were times when we were concerned,” Mychal said. “He was just so focused, so competitive. There were multiple occasions where we’d talk to him and say, ‘It’s okay to take a day off.’”

Cody admits that some of his loosening up started when the team signed McGhee a season ago.

“I’ve learned so much from Denarius and this whole situa-tion,” Cody said. “If you become too serious or too mature, it will affect you negatively. Denarius has a solid balance in his life and he’s helped me learn how to have fun with the game.”

Mychal has seen it firsthand.“Watching Cody on the side-

line, he seems entirely different,” Mychal said. “His attitude and demeanor — he’s more relaxed. He’s more himself. And I do think that has to do with the youngster that he’s with. I really do.”

It was one of those life lessons that Mychal feels probably had to come from a source like Denarius.

“For me to say it, or his mom to say it or even a coach to say it, it might have seemed like, ‘You don’t get it,’ or, ‘You don’t get me,’” Mychal said. “I think Denarius has had that affect not only on Cody but on the entire team. He’s a special kid, and as an alumnus, as a dad of a player on this team, I’m so glad that he’s our guy.”

Being able to say that about the quarterback starting in front of his son means something to Mychal.

“I’m a former player, I’m a father of a current player; you probably couldn’t get a less objec-tive observer,” he said. “But hey, I think Denarius is awesome. He’s doing a great job. Cody and I agree.”

Finding his calling

While Cody says he gave himself some time to digest the fact that he wouldn’t be a starting quarterback in his final year of college and “be down for a little bit,” it didn’t last long.

“About two days,” he recalled.Not only did Cody feel as

though getting behind Denarius was the right thing to do, he felt as though it was his duty.

“I owed it to this team,” Cody said. “I owed it to this program, I owed it to the community, I owed it to the state. I wasn’t going to be someone who was going to let this

situation affect this team nega-tively.”

Why? Because “more than anything,” Cody wants to win. And with McGhee, that’s what the Bobcats have been doing.

“That’s all I’ve ever wanted,” Kempt said. “I’m going to do whatever I can do to help us to win. If that’s giving my best in practice and helping Denarius as much as I can, that’s what I’m go-ing to do and have been doing.”

But when his senior year does end, whether it’s three weeks from today in Missoula or 10 weeks from today at the national championship in Frisco, Texas, Cody can take solace in knowing that he has a career waiting for him.

Hoping to become a coach, he has a list of nine references ready and waiting to vouch for him.

“I will do whatever I can possibly do to make sure Cody Kempt makes it into the coaching profession,” MSU offensive assis-tant Brian Von Bergen said. “He’s earned that.”

As for his dad, it doesn’t matter if he sees his son throw one more pass.

“I’m more proud of him now for what he’s done when he hasn’t been playing than I ever was when he was playing,” Mychal said. “A couple months ago, I might not have shared that. Now, I’m happy I’m getting the chance to do so.”

As for Cody, he may not be able to call himself Montana State’s starting quarterback. But he can say one thing.

“I’m 23 years old and I have my whole life ahead of me,” he said. “But right now, I can honestly say I’m as happy as I’ve ever been.”

Will Holden can be reached at [email protected] and 582-2690.

MSU originally got word of Craney, a quarterback/safety in high school, after he played well against Twin Falls High, which was coached by former Bobcat assistant Brock Berryhill.

When Craney’s senior season was over, Ida-ho State fired head coach Larry Lewis. In the interim, MSU continued its recruiting push. Craney was already becoming enamored of the Bobcats. The last time he sat in the stands as a Holt Arena spectator, MSU’s Michael Jefferson set school records for touchdowns (5) and all-purpose yards (305) during the 2006 season.

Craney, whose parents are both ISU grads, had been to dozens of Bengal games and prob-

ably heckled the Bobcats along the way, but Jefferson’s performance was one to remember.

“That’s the one that really sticks out because that’s when I really started following MSU,” Craney said.

When John Zamberlin was hired at ISU, the Craney house was the new staff ’s first visit.

But by then, Craney had already traded in his stripes for spots. It was a rare coup for the ‘Cats; you don’t see players on the roster from, say, Ogden or Flagstaff or Sacramento or even Missoula.

“Anytime you can get a player from right underneath someone else’s nose,” McEndoo said, “it’s good.”

Craney, who will graduate in the spring and aspires to work in a college athletic depart-ment, still talks about Holt Arena as if it were

the Superdome. He played some of his high school games in the dark and cavernous venue.

“I may be the only kid in the Big Sky (Con-ference) who enjoys playing in that facility,” he said with that sparkling smile. “Underrated and underappreciated, man. It’s where legends are made.”

On Saturday, he’ll play there for the final time. He could have played most of his college games just down the street from where that had-to-have Christmas present still sits.

Surprisingly, he left his stripes behind and brought his game — and paint brush — to Bozeman.

“I probably had no business ending up here.”Instead, he ended up running one.Tim Dumas can be reached at tdumas@

dailychronicle.com and 582-2651.

FRESHMEN 400: Montana State redshirt freshman QB Denarius McGhee completed 21-of-33 passes for 400 yards and four touchdowns in the win over Northern Colorado last week.

He became the first freshman quarterback to throw for 400 yards in a game since the 2007 season.

On Nov. 3, 2007, Cam-eron Higgins of Weber State and Drew Hubel of Portland State each surpassed 400 passing yards.

A BIG CHANGE: Port-land State and its “pistol offense” rushed for 322 yards and rolled up 600 yards of total offense in a 44-41 loss to Weber State on Saturday. In 2008, when the Vikings ran the run-and-shoot offense, PSU had a total of 322 rushing yards the entire season.

Portland State cur-rently leads the Big Sky in rushing with an average of 220 yards per game. Portland State’s highest per-game rushing average in the three years under Jerry Glanville was 107.6 in 2009.

Portland State has 12 rushing touchdowns this season, already sur-passing any single-year total under the Glanville regime.

On Saturday, running back Cory McCaffrey and quarterback Con-nor Kavanaugh reach rushed for more than 100 yards — the third time in four games the two have accomplished the feat. McCaffrey has rushed for at least 100 yards in all five games against FCS opponents.

The Vikings, however, can still throw the ball. Kavanaugh completed 14-of-20 passes for 278 yards and two touch-downs against Weber State.

Wide Receiver Nick Hutter and tight end Julius Thomas each had more than 100 receiv-ing yards. In conference play, PSU leads the league in total offense with an average of 482.2 yards per game.

Portland State is aver-aging 290.5 rushing yards per game in conference play almost 80 yards more than second-place Sacramento State.

Dumas/from 1

Kempt/from 1

b i g s k y n o t e s

bozeman daily chronicleSaturday, October 30, 2010 5|



big sky conference

Big SkY CONFERENCE

Standings

Team Conf. AllE. Wash. 5-1 6-2 Montana 5-1 6-2 MSU 4-1 6-2Weber St. 3-2 4-3N. Ariz. 2-2 4-3 Sac St. 2-3 3-4Portland St. 1-3 2-5N. Colo. 1-5 2-6 Idaho St. 0-5 1-6

Today’s gamesMont. at Weber, 1:05 p.m.MSU at Idaho St., 1:35 p.m.N. Colo. at S. Dakota, 3 p.m.Sac St. at NAU, 4:05 p.m.E. Wash. at Port. St. 6 p.m.

EWU faces PSU; another tight game expectedby ChroniCle staff

Let the nail-biting continue.

With all four league games going down to the wire last week, the eighth-ranked Eastern Washing-ton University Eagles find themselves in another tussle to remain on top of the Big Sky Conference football standings when they play at Portland State this Saturday in Hillsboro, Ore., at 6:05 p.m. Moun-tain time.

The Vikings are coming off a 44-41 road loss at Weber State as PSU fell to 2-5 overall and 1-3 in the Big Sky. Portland State also fell to Montana 22-21 and at Montana State 44-31 after knocking off Idaho State 38-3 in its league opener.

Eastern, meanwhile has needed to come up with a huge defensive stops and offensive scores in the final minute to win its last two games over un-ranked op-ponents — 28-24 over Sacramento State last week and 35-28 at Northern Colorado a week earlier.

Eastern is tied with Montana on top of the league standings at 5-1, with MSU right behind at 4-1. The Eagles have won their six games this season by an average of just 6.8 points per game and have been out-scored by an average of 24 points in its two losses.

The Eagles remain ranked eighth in this week’s Sports Network poll. It equals East-ern’s highest ranking since finishing the 2007 season ranked eighth.

“It’s the biggest game of the year — again,” said

Eastern head coach Beau Baldwin of this week’s contest, which will be followed by a bye week for EWU. “Portland State, like every team in this confer-ence this year, is better. Portland State could have easily beaten Montana, so obviously they are a very good football team.”

All four league games last week were decided

by four points or less — Montana edged Northern Arizona 24-21 and MSU knocked-off Northern Colorado 37-35 in the other two games last week.

GRIZ VISIT WEBER: Montana has dominated its series with Weber State, no matter where the game is played. The Grizzlies own a 37-12 career record and have won 20 of the last 24 meetings. Montana is 17-6 when the game is played in Ogden, Utah, which it is today at 1:05 p.m.

Last season, on Hallow-een, the Grizzlies took ad-vantage of turnovers and a ball-control offense, to win 31-10. Montana held the ball for more than 37 minutes and intercepted Weber quarterback Cam-eron Higgins four times.

Jace Palmer returned one of them 57 yards for a touchdown. Chase Reyn-olds carried the ball 33 times for 241 yards.

In 2008, the Wildcats snapped a nine-game los-ing streak to the Grizzlies with a 45-28 win at home. Montana, however, got revenge with a 24-13 win in Missoula that same sea-son in the second round of the NCAA Division I FCS playoffs.

Montana is 6-2 overall, 5-1 in the Big Sky. Weber is 3-2, 4-3.

Higgins enters the game tied with former Eastern quarterback Matt Nichols and former Griz Dave Dickenson for most career touchdown passes in Big Sky history with 96.

Higgins’ first college start came against Mon-tana in 2007, an 18-10 loss.

Eastern coach

baldwin

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#49 // defensive end

Caleb Schreibeis

2010 MONTANA STATE UNIVERSITY

Photo Sean Sperry

The kid with the Bengal helmet, the Bengal season tick-ets and the Bengal parents … became a Bobcat.

The young adult with the smile worthy of a teeth-whiten-ing commercial will soon head into the job market.

And Jordan Craney already has “real-world” experience.

“He has all the intangibles that would make a good president or CEO of a company someday,” says Montana State assistant coach Jason McEndoo, who recruited Craney away from Bengal Country four years ago.

Craney can already check that one off.

The senior captain, safety and

business marketing major spent much of the first seven months of the year running a local College Pro Painters franchise. Maybe he put a new coat on your house.

Starting on snowy February Saturdays, Craney was knocking on doors and offering free esti-mates. He worked home shows.

The business was his, but he had to start from scratch.

Clients ended up handing him four-figure checks during a summer that netted nearly $50,000 for the franchise. What he learned, you can’t put a dollar amount on.

“It was the first time I had a ‘real-world’ experience,” Craney said. “I realized I was grown up now. I knew it was going to be tough. But football’s tough, and I took that on.”

So how did the kid who asked for — and received — an ISU helmet from Santa Claus end up here? (That same helmet still rests in the bedroom of the house in which he grew up — in

Pocatello, Idaho, just up the hill from Holt Arena, home of his once-beloved Bengals).

Through a crack, that’s how.Heading into his senior year at

Century High, Craney was des-tined to wear Bengal stripes. He had his sights set on attending summer camps at the University of Idaho, Boise State and, of course, Idaho State.

Montana State’s wasn’t on Craney’s radar screen. He’d never even been to Bozeman. But since the in-state camps were later in the summer and Century was bringing a team to MSU, he came north.

By WILL C. HOLDENChronicle Sports Writer

Russel Hill recalls a story about how it took Michael Vick three years to master the West Coast offense while playing for the Atlanta Falcons. Hill, Idaho State’s senior quarterback, is try-ing to get a handle on the same system in three weeks.

Throw in the fact that he’s playing in front of a line that allowed six sacks in a game two weeks ago and it becomes a little easier to understand why Idaho State appears to be doing less rumbling and more bumbling and stumbling toward another 10-loss season.

The system that new ISU of-fensive coordinator Phil Early is installing has gained the acclaim of astute football minds since Bill Walsh first installed it with the San Francisco 49ers in the early 1980s. But there’s a reason it hasn’t exactly spread like wildfire.

The complicated system requires a great deal of time to install and a great quarterback at the helm — two things that are in short supply in present day college football.

And while Hill might be one of the more astute of minds in the Big Sky Conference himself, one thing he doesn’t have is time — both in terms of eligibility and seconds in the pocket.

His Bengals did have a bye a weekend ago, though, which gave him a extra couple of days to get comfortable with the offense and prepare for Mon-tana State. In some rare down time, he managed to squeeze in a trip to Provo, Utah, to watch Brigham Young pull out a 25-20 win over Wyoming.

He had a hard time pulling his jaw up off the bleachers.

“Both quarterbacks were sit-ting back there forever,” he said. “They had almost five sec-onds to throw every time they

dropped back. They had all day to make reads.”

Hill, who has been sacked 80 times over his four-year career and gone through just one sackless game, found himself daydreaming about what he’d do with all that time.

But he also found himself thinking about how the constant pressure — from oncoming de-fenders that have often left him black and blue and from persis-tent journalists who have often left him emotionally battered — has done him some good.

“Whatever crap comes your way, you’ve got to keep improv-ing, maintain a positive attitude

and work hard,” Hill said. “It’s not been easy. When you have a bad game, you know you’ve had a bad game then you have to go answer questions about it. But that’s life. Whatever profession you end up in, you have to deal with questions.

“I feel like I’m prepared for that.”

With just four games left in his college career, the on-again-off-again Bengal starter is a starter yet again. It means Montana State is at the forefront of his mind, but as usual, his eloquence with the spoken word has seemingly doomed him to answering a few more doom-

and-gloom questions.And they have nothing to do

with Halloween.The Bengals have gone 8-44 in

his five years with the program. Forget a few rough years. Hill flew through football purgatory without passing “go.”

Not only has he lived to talk about it, he’s never shied away from it. And despite becoming an eternal optimist out of neces-sity, he hasn’t lost his sense of realism.

“It’s probably taken a few years off my life,” Hill said. “That’s for sure.”

He and his head coach John Zamberlin also think they see a corner being turned. And both are glad the program’s coaches are being given some time to get around it.

But, as is customary with the Bengals, that time is brief. Zam-berlin’s controversial contract extension will take him and his staff through the 2011 season.

“I can’t worry about that far down the road,” Zamberlin said in reference to next season. “I can only worry about getting these guys ready to go out and win these next four games.”

Even though he won’t be there for it, Hill has allowed himself to think a little bit about 2011. It will be ISU’s second year in the new offense and its third in an almost equally-fledging defense.

Both units will have returning playmakers in Tavoy Moore and A.J. Storms — two talents that Hill called “a breath of fresh air” into a program that has often dealt with stars whose attitudes have dipped along with the team’s winning percentage.

But mostly, it will give his Bengals the all-important com-modity of seconds, minutes, hours, days, weeks, months and years.

“I genuinely and honestly believe we’re getting close,” Hill said. “That’s all we need, just a little bit more time.”

Will Holden can be reached at [email protected] and 582-2690.

SidelineBriefingRecords Montana State 6-2, 4-1 Big Sky Idaho State 0-5, 1-6

Series 27th meeting, MSU leads 15-10-1

Weather forecast Dome

Crowd About 5,000 expected

TV Altitude (Doug Anderson,Brant Boyer)

Radio KXLB-FM (100.7), Jeff Lasky, Dan Davies, Tyler Wiltgen

Coaches

SchedulesIdaho State

32 Montana Western 3 17 @ Utah St. 3821 @ No. Colorado 357 No. Arizona 323 @ Portland St. 3828 @ Montana 4713 Weber St. 16 Today @ Montana St. 1:35 p.m.11/6 @ Geordia 10:30 a.m.11/13 Sacramento St. 3:35 p.m.11/20 @ E. Washington 2:05 p.m.

Montana State59 Fort Lewis 10 22 @ Wash. St. 2348 Drake 2130 Eastern Washington 764 @ Sacramento St. 6144 Portland St. 317 @ Northern Arizona 3437 Northern Colo. 35Today @ Idaho St. 1:35 p.m.11/6 Weber St. 12:05 p.m.11/20 @ Montana 12:05 p.m.

Players to watch IDAHO STATE: KR/PR/RB Tavoy Moore is one of the most explosive players in the conference. MONTANA STATE: RB Orenzo Davis can make life easy on the ‘Cats if he has a big game.

Injury reportMONTANA STATE OUT: DE Brad Smith (shoulder), Ben Tauanuu (leg). DOUBTFUL: LB Clay Bignell (ankle), LB Dustin O’Connell (collar bone). QUESTIONABLE: DB Arnold Briggs (hamstring), OL Conrad Burbank (knee).IDAHO STATE OUT: S Greg Melendez (knee). QUESTIONABLE: C Mark Clampitt (ankle), LT Braeden Clayson (illness).

Hill, Bengals yearn for more time

Craney took helmet, paint brush to Bozeman

More DuMaS I 5

COURTESY IDAHO STATE UNIVERSITY

Russel Hill has won just eight games in his five years at ISU.

TIM DuMaSChronicle Sports Editor

ROB ASHMSU, 4th year31st year overall26-16 at MSU 202-115-5 overall

JOHN zAMBERLIN ISU, 4th year 14th year overall 6-35 at ISU 69-76 overall

“It’s probably taken a few years off my life.”

— Russel Hill

bozeman daily chronicle Saturday, October 30, 2010 2 |



ISU quarterback has been sacked 80 career times

game at idaho state saturday, oct. 30 inside...

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