Complete Notes

Game #8 Information

Date: Saturday, November 1, 2008

Kickoff: 12:05 p.m.

Location: Bozeman, Mont.

Stadium: Bobcat Stadium

Capacity: 15,000

Series: MSU, 13-10-1

Last Meeting: Oct. 27, 2007, NC 16-13

Radio: Northern Colorado Radio Network

     Greeley: 1310 KFKA

     Troy Coverdale, play-by-play

     Anders Nelson, color analyst

Video Streaming: www.bigskytv.org

Storyline

     Northern Colorado looks to get back on the winning track at Montana State on Saturday... The Bears have won two of the three meetings since the teams renewed their rivalry in 2003... Both teams have a league victory over Idaho State and a loss to Weber State, while Montana State also has a win over Sacramento State and a loss to Eastern Washington... The Bobcats were the Bears' lone win a year ago as kicker Zak Bigelow made a field goal with four seconds left to secure the 16-13 victory... Three teams, Montana State, Eastern Washington and Portland State, are tied with 2-2 records for fourth in the Big Sky standings, while the Bears are right behind them at 1-3... If senior linebacker Cristian Sarmento keeps to his average, he will crack the century mark for tackles as he currently has 89 on the year.

The Matchup

     Montana State holds the slight advantage, 13-10-1 in the all-time series, but the Bears have won two of the last three meetings since the teams renewed the rivalry in 2003... The last two games have been decided by a field goal as the Bears were victorious 16-13 last year and the Bobcats won 13-10 in 2007... The very first Northern Colorado homecoming game was against the Bobcats in 1923, when Montana State spoiled the event, winning 49-12.

                2007:       Greeley           W, 16-13            1941:               Greeley              W, 7-6

                2006:       Bozeman         L, 10-13              1940:               Bozeman           L, 0-7

                2003:       Bozeman         W, 14-10            1939:               Greeley              W, 12-3

                1956:       Greeley           L, 0-13                1938:               Bozeman           T, 0-0

                1955:       Bozeman         L, 7-29                1937:               Greeley              W, 33-26

                1954:       Greeley           L, 7-26                1936:               Bozeman           W, 13-0

                1953:       Bozeman         L, 0-26                1935:               Greeley              W, 6-0

                1952:       Greeley           W, 47-0              1934:               Bozeman           W, 19-0

                1951:       Bozeman         W, 24-13            1928:               Bozeman           L, 2-6

                1950:       Greeley           L, 7-18                1926:               Bozeman           L, 6-9

                1947:       Greeley           L, 13-32              1924:               Bozeman           L, 0-59

                1946:       Bozeman         L, 7-27                1923:               Greeley              L, 12-49

Last Meeting

     The Bears got 10 points from kicker Zak Bigelow (three field goals, one extra point) and a touchdown from quarterback Dominic Breazeale to tight end Clint Wright. The defense also stepped up big, intercepting three passes (two by Quincy Wofford, one by D.J. Craft) and recovering two fumbles (one Wofford, one linebacker Asa Matthews). Wide receiver Brandon Smith led the Bears with 72 reception yards on six catches, both career highs, while running back DC Wilson carried the ball 32 times for 67 yards. Breazeale was 19-for-31 for a career-high 266 yards with one interception and one touchdown. Defensively, junior linebacker Cristian Sarmento led the team with 12 tackles, while both Wofford and linebacker Joe Kenney added 10 each.

Connecting The Dots

     Northern Colorado junior Chris Jones and Montana State sophomore Blayde Beckstad both attended Poudre High School in Fort Collins, while freshman safety Chuks Nweke and MSU defensive tackle Ryan Cerise played at Cheyenne Mountain High School in Colorado Springs together. Junior defensive tackle Tony Kolone plays for the Bears, while his brother Chris is a nose tackle for the Bobcats.

Making It Count

     Redshirt freshman quarterback Dylan Orms got the first action of his career in the second half against Montana, playing for injured junior Bryan Waggener, and he made the most of it. Orms completed 8-of-10 passes for 150 yards with one touchdown pass and he carried the ball nine times for 67 yards with a touchdown. He completed the long pass of the day for the Bears, a 72-yarder to sophomore wide receiver Brandon Smith and also scampered 52 yards, the long rush of the day for NC.

Taking Care of the Ball

     For the second time in three games, Northern Colorado did not turn the ball over on Saturday and they have committed just one turnover in the last three contests. The Bears are now second in the Big Sky Conference statistics in turnover margin at +4, just one back of Northern Arizona at +5.

Seeing Red

     Northern Colorado continues to have the best red-zone defense in the Big Sky Conference, allowing opponents to score just 69 percent of the time. The Bears have forced two fumbles, have intercepted three passes and forced two turnovers on downs. Against conference opponents, the Bears are holding the opposition to just 56.2 percent and also lead in red zone offense, scoring eight of the nine times they've been inside the 20 in four games.

What Can Brown Do For You?

     Senior cornerback Eric Brown entered the season as one of the top return guys in school history after amassing 538 yards in kickoff returns in 2008. Then at Purdue in the season opener, he injured his hand, requiring him to stick to defense. That all changed when the cast was removed and Brown made his comeback to the return game. On Saturday, he returned four kicks for 63 yards, giving him 601 for his career, which vaults him from 11th to seventh on the school record charts.

Moving On Up

     Senior linebacker Cristian Sarmento tallied 13 tackles on Saturday, bringing his career total to 323, moving him into a tie for seventh on the Northern Colorado career charts. He ties Tim Cross (1985-88) with the 323 total tackles, needing 24 more to move into sixth place all-time.

Young Guns

     The youth of Northern Colorado is starting to shine through as 10 of the 14 passes caught on Saturday were caught by freshmen or sophomores with sophomore Brandon Smith and freshman Dominic Gunn each catching three. Smith caught three passes for 92 yards and one touchdown to lead all players in the game. Freshmen and sophomores were also responsible for 89 of the team's 199 rushing yards as freshman quarterback Dylan Orms led the team with 67.

Readying For The Road

     The Bears have just four games left on the slate for the 2008 season and three of those four will be played away from Nottingham Field. Northern Colorado is at Montana State this Saturday before concluding the home portion of the schedule on Nov. 8 against Eastern Washington at noon. The final two games will be played at Sacramento State and Portland State, respectively. The last road win for the Bears occured in 2006 when the Bears defeated Texas State in San Marcos.

Getting To The QB

     In the first five games of the season, the Northern Colorado defense recorded eight quarterback sacks. In the last two, the Bears have tallied six qb sacks, including three by senior linebacker Cristian Sarmento. Northern Colorado has 14 sacks for 101 lost yards.

Honored

     Northern Colorado player shared the Big Sky Conference defensive player of the week honors two straight weeks as senior linebacker Cristian Sarmento and sophomore safety Max Hewitt both were named. Sarmento was named after the game against Weber State. Sarmento registered 17 total tackles, two sacks, a forced fumble and a pass breakup in the 17-10 loss to No. 18 Weber State. He finished with eight solo stops. Hewitt became the first Bear to earn a weekly honor in 2008 after the win over Idaho State. He was second on the team with five tackles and tallied two interceptions, one on the one-yard line saving a Bengal score. He also broke up one pass.

Block Party

     Sophomore safety Max Hewitt became the sixth active player on the roster to block a kick when he blocked a Weber State punt. He is the third player to block one this year, as sophomore Mike Van Portfliet has blocked two punts and junior Ryan Lutz has blocked one. Martin Awachie and Cristian Sarmento have also blocked kicks during their career. Since reclassifying to Division I, the team record for blocks in a season is seven by the 2004 squad.

Pick Me

     Last season, the Bears intercepted 14 passes in 12 games with three different players recording three interceptions on the season. This year already, the Bears have eight picks, with both senior Myles Hayes and sophomore Max Hewitt intercepting three each.

Quickly, Quickly

     Northern Colorado has had 25 scoring drives this season and 11 have taken less than two minutes to complete. The Bears have also struck the scoring column nine times in less than one minute, with four taking less than 30 seconds. The quickest score came against Texas State, 11 seconds when junior quarterback Bryan Waggener found sophomore wide receiver Brandon Smith for a 75-yard touchdown strike.

Making A Name

     Cristian Sarmento is the only three-year player in Big Sky Conference history to appear on the league's career top 10 tackles chart and is one of three active players to rank in the top 10. Sarmento now has 305 in his three seasons in the league to rank 10th, just one behind Sacramento State senior Cyrus Mulitalo and Matt Logue of Sacramento State (2002-05) with 306 in a tie for eighth. Sarmento is also now tied for seventh on the Northern Colorado charts with 323 total tackles, tied with Duane Hirsch, 1976-79.

Driving School

     Four different times this season, Northern Colorado has scored on a play of 75 or more yards. Against Idaho State, junior running back DC Wilson scored on a 75-yard rush, while sophomore wide receiver Brandon Smith scored on an 80-yard rush and 75-yard reception from junior quarterback Bryan Waggener against Texas State and junior cornerback Quincy Wofford went the length of a field, 100-yards on a kickoff return against Northern Arizona.

Kicking The Habit

     Junior kicker Michael York is tied for first in the Big Sky Conference statistics with a perfect 14-for-14 mark on point-after kicks this year. He and Felipe Macias of Eastern Washington remain the only two without misses in the league. York added a two-point conversion to his record when he picked up a bad snap and ran it in against Idaho State. He is also 8-for-11 on field goals, which is the third-best percentage in the conference. With one more field goal, York will move into a tie for 10th on the Northern Colorado career charts with 10 field goals made. He is currently 9-for-15 in his three seasons with the Bears.

Rewriting The Books

        Several different players have made a name for themselves in the record books already this season. Those accomplishments follow:

• Junior cornerback Quincy Wofford tied the Big Sky and Northern Colorado records, returning a kickoff 100 yards against Northern Arizona. It is the fourth time in school history and the 17th time in the Big Sky a player has gone end zone to end zone.
• Junior quarterback Bryan Waggener's 66-yard run is the second longest ever by a quarterback in school history. In 1972, Gerry Dattilio scampered 68 yards for a touchdown against Fort Hays State.
• Against Texas State Waggener threw for 402 yards, which is the second-most in a single game in school history behind Nick Henkowski's 436 yards against North Dakota in 1983. Waggener also amassed 395 yards of total offense, which is the fourth-highest total in Bears history. Waggener also had 31 completions against Texas State, which is one shy of the school record of 32 against Central Oklahoma in 1978 and North Dakota State in 1987.
• Sophomore safety Mike Van Portfliet tied the school record for blocked kicks in a game, blocking back-to-back punts against Northern Arizona. He is the fourth player in school history and the first since 1996 to block two kicks in a contest.
• Sophomore wide receiver Brandon Smith had an 80-yard rush on the first play from scrimmage against Texas State for the fourth longest rushing play in school history.
• Junior running back DC Wilson went 75-yards for a touchdown run against Idaho State, marking the ninth longest rushing play ever at Northern Colorado.
• Junior kicker Michael York tied for the sixth most field goals in a game at NC, when he made three at UC Davis.
• Wofford's 124 kickoff return yards against Northern Arizona is the ninth-best single game total in school history.
• Senior linebacker Cristian Sarmento is now tied for seventh in career total tackles with 323, while senior linebacker Joe Kenney is now tied for eighth in fumble recoveries with six in his career.
• Freshman punter Cameron Kaman tied the school record for longest punt with his boot of 80 yards at Weber State.
• Senior Eric Brown vaulted four spots to seventh in career return yards. He now has 601 career return yards after notching 63 against Montana last week.