It's often hyperbole to say an athlete or a team has risen to heights unseen. It's not hyperbole when used for the Montana State football team, as long as you are talking about the last 35 years.
Monday, Montana State came in at No. 2 in both the Sports Network Football Championship Subdivision Top 25 and the FCS coaches' poll. The No. 2 poll position is the highest the Bobcats have been ranked during a season since 1976. MSU won the 1984 Division I-AA national title to earn a No. 1 offseason ranking. MSU also won the national title in 1976.
The Bobcats (8-1), winners of eight straight following Saturday's 54-13 victory over Idaho State, collected 19 out of 158 first-place votes in the TSN poll to pile up 3,671 points. North Dakota State is No. 1 in the TSN poll after receiving 133 first-place votes and 3,918 points. MSU got two first-place votes from the FCS coaches and collected 654 points. The Bison received 22 of 28 first-place votes from the coaches, piling up 693 points.
"I think it's exciting, honestly, I do; it's a great compliment to our program and it's very exciting for us and for our fans," said Montana State head coach Rob Ash Monday via cell phone. "More than that, when you are No. 1 or No. 2, if you can hang on, if we can hang on to that, it gives you home-field throughout the playoffs. That's a huge spot to get to. To me, that's the significance of being No. 2.
"But it doesn't make any difference where we are ranked in the middle of the season; the only one that matters is the one at the very end."
Ash made sure to emphasize the fact that the TSN and FCS coaches' polls were separate entities than the NCAA FCS Playoff Selection Committee. High rankings in the TSN, FCS and Gridiron Power Index all play into playoff seeding, but the selection committee makes the final decision.
North Dakota State's No. 1 ranking is the first in school history. The Bison (8-0) defeated the Bobcats 41-17 in Bozeman in the second round of the FCS playoffs last December.
"It's ironic, but it's also telling (that NDSU is No. 1)," Ash said. "We didn't lose to a bad team last year. (NDSU) lost to the eventual national champions (Eastern Washington) in a closely contested overtime game after (NDSU) beat us. They were pretty darn good last year and they obviously made a commitment similar to what we tried to do after last year to try to get better. They are rolling right along. It's pretty ironic because it was that game against those guys that motivated us for this season."
Appalachian State (6-2) is No. 3 in both polls after defeating conference rival and former No. 1 Georgia Southern 24-17 this week. GSU was No. 1 for seven consecutive weeks. The Eagles got four first-place votes to sit at No. 4 in the coaches' poll. GSU is No. 5 in the TSN poll. App State got five first-place TSN votes.
Sam Houston State (8-0), the owner of the nation's longest winning streak at nine games dating to last season, is No. 4 in this week's TSN poll and No. 5 according the to coaches.
Former No. 2 Northern Iowa fell to No. 6 in both polls following a 27-19 loss to North Dakota State Saturday.
After Saturday's 45-10 shellacking of Weber State, the University of Montana is lone Big Sky Conference team aside from MSU ranked in this week's poll. UM (7-2) moved up one spot to No. 11 in the TSN poll and held steady at No. 8 in the coaches' poll. With the win over Weber, UM clinched no worse than a tie for second place in this year's BSC standings.
This week, MSU goes to Weber. Ash said the No. 2 ranking wouldn't get in his players' heads; rather, he thinks it will be motivating.
"This group of guys I don't think will be distracted; if anything it will motivate us to work even harder because now we have latched onto a spot that's really crucial if we can hang on," Ash said.
For the first time in six weeks and just the third time all season, a Montana State player did not garner one of the Big Sky's weekly awards. Every week for the past five has netted the ‘Cats at least one of the awards. Despite last Saturday's thrashing of ISU, no Bobcat was honored this week.
On the offensive side, MSU sophomore running back Cody Kirk was the Bobcat nominee after a 184-yard, four-touchdown performance against ISU. The touchdown total tied a school record. But Kirk's competition for the BSC Offensive Player of the Week award was stiff.
Montana sophomore quarterback Jordan Johnson and Northern Colorado wide receiver Patrick Walker shared this week's award after record-setting days.
Johnson threw for a career-high 299 yards including a school-record six touchdown passes for UM. Johnson threw TD passes of 31, 18, 11, 17, 8 and 25 yards, including five first-half scores as UM built a 38-3 halftime lead. Four of Johnson's touchdown passes were caught by senior wide receiver Jabin Sambrano as Johnson became the first BSC quarterback to throw six touchdown passes since 2007. The sophomore completed 23-of-32 passes total and also ran eight times for 53 yards in earning College Sports Madness and College Sporting News National Player of the Week honors.
Walker set a Big Sky single-game record with 315 receiving yards in UNC's 27-25 loss to North Dakota. Walker caught 10 passes, including touchdowns covering 80 and 88 yards. His receiving yardage surpassed the 22-year-old record set of 299 yards set by Nevada's Treamell Taylor in 1989. Walker also earned Sports Network national player of the week honors.
Portland State defensive back Joel Sisler was the Big Sky's Defensive Player of the Week after returning an interception 23 yards for a touchdown in PSU's 43-26 win over Eastern Washington. Sisler also recorded five tackles and a sack as the Vikings essentially ended EWU's playoff hopes.
PSU kicker Zach Brown made three field goals and totaled 12 points in the Vikings' win. Brown hit a pair of 38-yarders and a 41-yarder. He is now 14-of-15 on field goals this season. The award is the fifth in the junior's career.
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