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STACKED ON ‘D’NAU has one of

the best units in the country I 2

SATURDAY, OCT. 16AT NORTHERN ARIZONA GAME

DAY T NORTHERN ARIZONA

FULL PAPERINSIDE

INSIDE

YANKS AGAIN?ALCS opens in Texas I

PAGE B1

DOMEWARD BOUND

The Chronicle’s Will Holden handicaps today’s matchup I 6

GOOD TIMES One more victory

and the Bobcats have ninth winning season in a row I 2

FULL PAINS

NO. 9 MONTANA STATE AT NORTHERN ARIZONA, WALKUP SKYDOME 4:05 P.M.

PRINTED ON RECYCLED PAPAP PER

SELECT, EXECUTE, REPEATSELECT, EXECUTE, REPEATSELECT, EXECUTE, REPEATSELECT, EXECUTE, REPEATSimplicity, options key to MSU’s high-powered offense

By WILL C. HOLDENChronicle Sports Writer

On the football field, life ap-pears simpler for Denarius McGhee.

Part of it has to do with his personality. The other part

has a lot to do with Montana State of-has a lot to do with Montana State of-has a lot to do with Montana State offensive coordinator Brian Wright.fensive coordinator Brian Wright.

Those 16 players who have caught Those 16 players who have caught

passes from McGhee this season have helped, too.

No other quarterback in the country has as many players around him that have been as productive. Not even Bethune-Cookman’s Matt Johnson, who quarterbacks the only offense in the nation that is gaining more yards and scoring more points than Montana State.

Just how effective has the Bobcats’ offense been? They average more than

500 yards per game and put up 44.5 points per contest. If both hold up, they would stand as school records.

It appears to be the sign of a whole It appears to be the sign of a whole lot of elements coming together.

But how much of his supporting cast’s success is due to McGhee? And how much of McGhee’s success is due to Wright, the guy who draws up the plays?

Handoff to RB Davis

B R E A K D O W N O F M S U O F F E N S E

Optionto Palmer

ScrambleQB McGhee

IF NOT

THTHROWROW DEEPto Akpla

THROWSHORTto Begger

THROWINTERMEDIATATA E

to Gilbert

IF NOT

More OFFENSE I 5

Roll outQB McGhee

The Bobcats have come a long way. How far? Just go back 10 years.

Montana State lost all 11 games in 2000, but here the ’Cats are, closing in on their ninth consecutive winning season.

One more win does the trick.You have to go back nearly

50 years to find another such streak.

Even with that winless season, MSU won 59 games in the first decade of the 2000s, one of the program’s best. Only the 1970s produced more: 63.

Recalling the 2000 season isn’t meant to dredge up bad memo-ries, but to magnify how well the recent past has gone.

The Bobcats are ranked in the top 10 and have one of the most electrifying offenses in the country. Their 44.5 points per game is second nationally, and even without the blowout over Fort Lewis in the opener, the ’Cats are still putting up nearly 42 a game.

Those are impressive num-bers. Even for the Big Sky, which

has always been known as an offensive conference.

And the attendance num-bers have increased as well. To see how much, just use the Portland State games from 10 years ago and last Saturday as examples.

In 2000, just 4,500 showed up at Bobcat Stadium to see the home team drop a heartbreaker to PSU, 31-24, on a touchdown with 17 seconds to go. It was the fourth time that miserable sea-son that the ’Cats led or trailed at halftime only to … well, you know.

A week ago, more than 15,000 saw MSU top PSU by 13 points.

And with a planned expansion expected to be ready by next fall,

attendance figures could creep toward 20 grand.

Yes, these are good times.So let’s hand out some game

balls.Mike Kramer deserves credit

for taking that 2000 team and turning it into a conference champion in just two seasons. The program has been among the best in the Big Sky ever since.

Same goes for Rob Ash. To inherit an unfamiliar team just two months before the 2007 season — well after spring drills — and keep the winning ways going was beyond what most people expected.

By WILL C. HOLDENChronicle Sports Writer

This isn’t 2009’s Michael Herrick. But then again, this isn’t 2009’s Northern Arizona defense, either.

While the Lumberjacks’ Wal-ter Payton candidate at quarter-back has taken a step back this season, thanks largely to a lack of offensive depth and health is-sues, the defense has stepped up, thanks largely to increased depth because of a lack of health issues.

The one thing that remains constant is head coach Jerome Souers’ chagrin that his Lum-berjacks have once again caught Montana State in the middle of one of the toughest stretches on the schedule.

NAU takes on ninth-ranked MSU in Flagstaff Saturday after losing to 12th-ranked Eastern Washington on the road last week. Next week it’s a flight to Missoula to take on 11th-ranked Montana.

The last time NAU had a stretch like this was in 2008, when the Lumberjacks began the season 6-1 only to finish with four straight losses to the above three teams and Weber State.

“It’s been unusual,” Souers said. “When you play the top part of your schedule all in a row like that, there are some dangers there.”

But in 2009, NAU exacted some revenge.

Herrick, who was a backup during the team’s abysmal finish in 2008, put himself on the map by throwing for 388 yards in Bozeman, leading NAU to an upset of then 23rd-ranked MSU.

But Her-rick wasn’t able to put the stamp on his team’s 2009 season the way he would have wanted. De-spite his numbers — he finished the season with 3,356 yards passing with 22 touchdowns to eight interceptions — the Lum-

berjacks once again lost four in a row to end the season.

“We didn’t feel like our record indicated how good of team we

were,” Her-rick said.

Enter Northern Arizona, version 2010. Once again, it hasn’t been everything Herrick

hoped for. Through five games, he’s already thrown almost as many interceptions (seven) as he did all of last season and NAU is 3-2 overall, with a 1-1 record in the conference.

After Herrick threw three picks in the first half and injured his non-throwing elbow against EWU last week, Souers inserted backup Chasen Stangel, a junior who hadn’t played a game since high school, to “shake things up.”

“Not being able to go back out there in the second half to redeem myself was tough,” Her-rick said. “I did the best I could do to help from the sideline. We just came up a little short.”

Stangel finished 9 of 19 for 90 yards and the Lumberjacks lost 21-14. Hardly a smashing success.

One big reason for the signal callers’ blues has been the receiv-ers that Herrick and Stangel have been targeting.

Last year, Daiveun Curry-Chapman and Austin Shanks were fourth and fifth receiving options. With the graduation of the team’s three leading receiv-ers, they’ve become first and second options.

While both Curry-Chapman and Shanks have caught more passes than they have in all of 2009, their 9.9 yards a reception and one combined touchdown aren’t exactly measuring up to the 13 yards a catch and one touchdown a game average NAU’s top two receivers put up last season.

“We knew going into it there was going to be a learning curve trying to establish some experi-ence and replace the productiv-ity we had,” Souers said. “Each week we’ve been focusing on improving fundamentally.”

Thankfully for Herrick and the NAU offense, its defense is flourishing. After finishing in the middle of the conference a season, the Lumberjacks cur-rently own the 11th-ranked unit in the nation.

A big reason is their depth. All-conference performers Cody Dowd and Kyle Rath, both of whom missed all of 2009 with injuries, have returned to join five other NAU defenders who were named to the all-confer-ence team a season ago.

Souers, whose defenses have held MSU to less than 15 points in two of the last three seasons, said this group “ranks up there” among the best he’s coached in 13 seasons at NAU.

Armed with that bunch and surprising true freshman run-ning back Zach Bauman, who has rushed for 478 yards and a league-high seven touchdowns this season, Herrick thinks NAU could be primed to break up its traditional second-half swoon this season.

Right now, though, after five weeks away from the friendly confines of Flagstaff, it just feels good to be home.

“Hopefully we’ve gotten the tough part of our schedule out of the way,” Herrick said.

Will Holden can be reached at wholden@dailychronicle.com and 582-2690.

SidelineBriefingRecords Montana State 5-1, 3-0 Big Sky Northern Arizona 3-2, 1-1

Series 45th meeting, NAU leads 23-21

Weather forecast Air conditioning (dome)

Crowd About 7,000 expected

TV ABC 28 (Chris Byers, Mike Callaghan, AJ Donatoni)

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

Coaches

SchedulesNorthern Arizona

48 W. New Mexico 0 20 @ Arizona St. 417 @ Idaho St. 3226 @ Southern Utah 2314 @ Eastern Washington 21 Today Montana St. 4:05 p.m.10/23 @ Montana 1:05 p.m.10/30 Sacramento St. 4:05 p.m.11/6 @ Northern Colorado 12:35 p.m.11/13 Weber St. 3:05 p.m.11/20 Portland St. 3:05 p.m.

Montana State59 Fort Lewis 10 22 @ Wash. St. 2348 Drake 2130 Eastern Washington 764 @ Sacramento St. 6144 Portland St. 31Today @ Northern Arizona 4:05 p.m.10/23 Northern Colo. 1:05 p.m.10/30 @ Idaho St. 1:35 p.m.11/6 Weber St. 12:05 p.m.11/20 @ Montana 12:05 p.m.

Players to watch NO. ARIZONA: QB Michael Herrick has struggled this season, but could rebound in his team’s "rst home game in over a month. MONTANA STATE: RBs Orenzo Davis and C.J. Palmer go up against one of the toughest run defenses in the nation.

Injury reportMONTANA STATE OUT: DE Brad Smith (shoulder), Ben Tauanuu (leg), LB Dustin O’Connell (collar bone). QUESTIONABLE: LB Clay Bignell (ankle), S Jordan Craney (ankle), OG Conrad Burbank (knee).NO. ARIZONA QUESTIONABLE: QB Michael Herrick (elbow). C Je! Hines.

Herrick struggles while defense thrives

Good times, big crowds in Bobcat Country

More DUMAS I 5

COURTESY OF NORTHERN ARIZONA UNIVERSITY

NAU defensive end Isaac Bond has five tackles for loss this season.

TIM DUMASChronicle Sports Editor

ROB ASHMSU, 4th year31st year overall25-15 at MSU 201-114-5 overall

JEROME SOUERS NAU, 13th year 13th year overall 69-72 at NAU 69-72 overall

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“It’s been unusual. When you play the top part of your schedule all in a row, there are some dangers.”

— Jerome Souers, NAU coach

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#15 // kicker

Jason Cunningham

2010 MONTANA STATE UNIVERSITY

Photo Nick Wolcott

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With all this finger-pointing going on, it’s tough to tell.

“It’s all about the guys around me,” said McGhee, who still insists he’s yet to have a good game this season despite being the nation’s fifth-most efficient passer.

“Denarius takes whatever the defense gives him,” said Elvis Akpla, one of two receivers to have caught four touchdown passes this season. “He’s been doing a great job.”

“I want it to be known that our guys are executing,” said Wright, who is in his first year on the job. “They’re the ones that make the plays.”

This much is clear: Whatever the Bobcats are doing, it appears to be working.

On several plays this season Akpla has gotten so wide open that he had time to turn back and look for the ball — only to find that the rest of the team’s eligible receivers are as wide open as him.

“On my touchdown catch (last week) everyone was open,” Akpla said. “Literally everyone got over the top of their defend-ers. That’s been happening more often than people realize.”

This much also appears to be certain: That the MSU offense has been simplified doesn’t ap-pear to be hurting.

“It really hasn’t been a com-plex system,” Wright said. “We only have a handful of read progressions for the quarterback. It’s just that there are multiple route concepts within that. A lot of plays end up in the same spot. You just get there different ways.”

And there is one final truth: No MSU player has played and no MSU coach has coached on a more successful college offense than the one they’re all a part of this season.

It’s all based on a system that is not tailored to any one player

and designed to take what the defense gives it.

There are plenty of offenses in the history of football that have claimed to do that. This one can back up that claim.

Against Eastern Washington, Akpla caught five passes for 117 yards as the Bobcats put up 30 points. The next week against Sacramento State, the Hornets held him to one catch for 23 yards — and the Bobcats scored 64 points.

Both games were MSU wins.That’s somewhat routine for

passing-based offenses. This Bobcat attack is anything but, considering their rushing offense is ranked 12th in the country.

In the MSU backfield is where the often-overshadowed third new piece of the offense resides. Junior college transfer Orenzo Davis has racked up 608 yards on the ground with six touch-downs.

Both numbers surpass the current totals of EWU’s Tai-wan Jones, the most-publicized running back in the Big Sky Conference.

It’s information that hasn’t been lost on Wright.

“That running back position is a critical element,” Wright said. “The depth we’ve added at tailback has been crucial.”

Speaking of depth, even at the running back position, where you can only use one player per down, Davis isn’t alone.

Fellow Bobcat back C.J. Palmer has been far from an af-terthought in his junior year. He has one 100-yard rushing game to his credit and has gained an average of 51.5 yards a game in the other four contests in which he has played.

He averages 6.5 yards a carry and has found pay dirt

four times on the ground and two times through the air this season.

Palmer and Davis have been two of the biggest reasons MSU has scored 13 red zone touch-downs this season — the third-best mark in the nation. It was an area of supposed weakness to start the season.

With the addition of several goal line option plays, it’s be-come one of the team’s strengths.

“We’ve worked hard as an of-fensive staff to get creative down there,” Wright said. “We’ve put such an emphasis, maybe more than I ever have, on that part of the field.”

Finally, like the set of a film, there are the tight ends. They’re some of the largest players in the whole production and yet they fade into the background.

Make no mistake, they are there.

Kyle Begger, Shane Robi-son and Steven Foster have all nabbed meaningful McGhee passes this season. And on those rare occasions where McGhee finds no one open, MSU’s tight ends have been far from incom-petent.

Running an out route into the end zone near the end of the first half against Portland State last week, Begger noticed he wasn’t going to be open. Instead of moping, he got to blocking.

McGhee noticed the cleared path and scampered into the end zone untouched to put the Bob-cats up 23-18. They never looked back on the way to a 44-31 win.

“You’ve got to find a way to score when you get the ball in that part of the field,” Beg-ger said. “Coach Wright calls it touchdown alley.”

Right now, it’s pretty much Montana State’s home address.

SUNNY DAYS AT MSU: Montana State, at 5-1, is off to its best start since 1978 when Sonny Lubick led MSU to seven straight victories to open his first season as head coach.

The Bobcats rolled up 326 rushing yards last week against Portland State, the third time this season the team has rushed for more than 200 yards in a game. Montana State leads the Big Sky in rushing offense (233.3 yards per game), scoring of-fense (44.5 points per game), and total offense (516.2 yards per game). MSU is second in the nation in scoring and total offense.

MSU sophomore receiver Everett Gilbert caught five passes for a career-high 124 yards on Saturday and finished with 257 all-purpose yards. MSU freshman QB Denarius McGhee has thrown for 591 yards with seven touchdowns and no interceptions in his last two games. McGhee leads the league in pass efficiency and is the highest-ranking fresh-man in the nation in passing yards per game, passing ef-ficiency and total offense.

MORE MOORE: For the second time this season, Idaho State’s Tavoy Moore returned a kick and a punt for a touchdown in the same game. The junior took a kick 100 yards for a score against Montana early in the fourth quarter. Later in the fourth quarter, Moore returned a punt 84 yards for a touch-down.

He finished the game with 195 kick return yards and 92 punt return yards. Moore’s four returns are two shy of the Big Sky and FCS record for combined returns for scores in a season. Montana State’s Corey Smith had six in 2003 — four punt and two kick. Eastern Washington’s Bashir Levingston had six in 1998 — three kick and three punt. Levingston’s three kick return touchdowns all came in the same game against Sacramento State.

Moore is one of five play-ers in league history to have two 300-all-puprose yardage games.

SKY IN THE SAGARIN: The Big Sky Conference moved to No. 1 among FCS conferences in this week’s Sagarin Ratings. The Big Sky is rated 11th overall among Division I conferences, ahead of Bowl Subdivision confer-ences the MAC (13) and the Sun Belt (18). The Colonial Athletic Association, which has been the top-ranked FCS conference all season, dropped to the No. 2 spot. Montana State is 50th overall and third among FCS teams.

Dumas/from 1Offense/from 1

BIG SKY CONFERENCE

N O T E S

“I want it to be known that our guys are executing. They’re the ones that make the plays.”

— Brian Wright, offensive coordinator

!"#$%&' (&)*+ ,-."'),*$ S&/0.(&+ , O,/"!$. 12 , 3414 5|

BIG SKY CONFERENCE

StandingsTeam Conf. AllMSU 3-0 5-1E. Wash. 3-1 4-2 Montana 3-1 4-2 N. Ariz. 1-1 3-2 Sac. St. 2-2 3-3Portland St. 1-1 2-3Weber St. 1-2 2-3N. Colo. 1-3 2-4 Idaho St. 0-4 1-5

Today’s GamesE. Wash. at N. Colo, 1:35 p.m.Weber at Idaho St., 3:35 p.m.MSU at N. Arizona, 4:05 p.m.Montana at Port. St., 6:05 p.m.

(12) E. WASHINGTONAT NO. COLORADO

At Greeley, Colo. (1:35 p.m.)Nottingham Field

TV: Altitude & Comcast NWInternet: Big Sky TVSeries History: EWU leads 6-1.Last Meeting: Linebacker J.C. Sherritt

recorded 15 tackles to lead the Eastern Washington defense, as it posted a 16-0 win over the Bears in Cheney. Taiwan Jones rushed for 95 yards in the victory.

The Coaches: EWU’s Beau Baldwin is 18-11 in his third season... NC’s Scott Downing is 8-43 in his fifth season. Baldwin is 2-0 vs. Downing.

Notes: NC is 2-1 at home this season... EWU is 2-2 away from Cheney this year... EWU won 31-16 in 2008, the last meeting between the two in Greeley... NC’s only victory in the series came in 1981, a 13-9 win in Greeley... EWU shutout the Bears in 2006, 34-0 and again last season... The game will air live on Altitude and Comcast Sports Net Northwest... EWU WR Brandon Kaufman ranks second in the league with an average of 91.2 yards per game... EWU LB J.C. Sherritt ranks second in the league in tackles per game at 11.0. NC LB John Eddy is third at 9.5... NC averaged 45.3 points per game over its first three games, but has scored just 21 total points over its last three games... EWU is looking for its third straight win. NC is trying to snap a three-game losing streak... EWU is allow-ing a leauge-high 278.3 passing yards per game, but the Eagles are fourth in pass defense efficiency.

WEBER STATEAT IDAHO STATEAt Pocatello, Idaho (3:35 p.m.)

Holt ArenaInternet: Big Sky TVSeries History: WSU leads 35-14.Last Meeting: Cameron Higgins

completed 26-of-32 passes for 257 yards and three touchdowns as WSU beat ISU 44-17 in Ogden. WSU rolled up 531 yards of total offense.

The Coaches: WSU’s Ron McBride is 34-30 in his sixth season... ISU’s John Zamberlin is 6-34 n his fourth season...McBride is 4-0 vs. Zamberlin.

Notes: Weber State has won seven straight over the Bengals, and 24 of the last 25 in the series... WSU had a bye last week... Weber State leads the league in pass offense and is second in total of-fense... ISU leads the Big Sky in net punt-ing, kick returns and punt returns... ISU’s Tavoy Moore averages a league-high 203.2 all-purpose yards per game. He has returned two kicks and two punts for touchdowns... ISU LB A.J. Storms leads the league with an average of 13 tackles per game. He had 20 last week against Montana... ISU is looking to snap a five-game losing streak... WSU allows 174.8 rushing yards per game. ISU aver-ages a league-low 72.7 rushing yards per game... WSU QB Cameron Higgins enters the game with 94 career TD passes. He needs three more to become the Big Sky’s all-time leader. Higgins has 11 career TD passes, one interception and 1,058 passing yards against the Bengals.

(11) MONTANAAT PORTLAND STATE

At Hillsboro, Ore. (6:05 p.m.)Hillsboro Stadium

Internet: Big Sky TVSeries History: UM leads 26-11.Last Meeting: Marc Mariani caught four

passes for 130 yards and two touchdowns to lead Montana to a 49-17 win over the Vikings in Missoula in 2009. Portland State led 14-0 in the first quarter.

The Coaches: Montana’s Robin Pflugrad is 4-2 in his first season... Portland State’s Nigel Burton is 2-3 in his first season.

Notes: Pflugrad played at Portland State and was an assistant coach for the Vikings. He was the Vikings’ team captain in 1979... In 2000, Montana beat Portland State 33-21 at Hillsboro Stadium. (PSU’s home field, PGE Park, is undergoing a renovation this season)... UM is 1-2 on the road this season. PSU is 1-0 at home... UM leads the Big Sky in total defense. Portland State is ninth and last in total defense... Montana RB Chase Reynolds has 54 career touchdowns, a school record... UM has lost a league-high 20 turnovers...Montana has won 34 of its last 36 confer-ence games dating back to the start of the 2006 season... Opponents are convert-ing just 18.4 percent of their third downs against the Grizzly defense... PSU RB Cory McCaffrey has rushed for at least 100 yards in all three of the Vikings’ games against Football Championship Subdivi-sion opponents... Montana has won 10 of the last 11 meetings against the Vikings... UM averages 39.7 points per game. PSU averages 23.8.

Ash, whose 25 wins at MSU already rank him ninth on the school’s career list, now has the Bobcats in line for their first outright confer-ence title since 1984.

And that season ended in a national championship.

Ash was also the one who, from day one, said he was going to stock the roster with Montana high school players. This season, that plan has come to fruition in a big way. Not just on the roster, but in the starting lineup.

From the defensive backfield (Joel Fuller) to the offensive one (Cody Kirk) — and all points in between — a Treasure State starter has been seen at each position at one point.

Because in-staters Tanner Bleskin, Aleksei Grosulak and Shaun Sampson are all underclassmen, you may see them make a big play at the first Bobcat Stadium crowd to top 20,000 in the near future.

That thought would have been preposterous 10 years ago.

Tim Dumas can be reached at tdumas@dailychronicle.com and 582-2651.

FRONTIER CONFERENCE

Standings

Team Conf. AllCarroll 5-0 5-0Tech 4-1 4-2E. Ore. 3-2 3-3Rocky 2-3 2-4Northern 1-4 1-4Western 0-5 0-6

Today’s GamesWestern at Northern, 12 p.m.Carroll at Rocky Mtn., 1 p.m.Montana Tech at E. Ore., 2 p.m.

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Kicking & punting: Thanks in part to his dome, sweet Walkup Skydome, Northern Arizona’s Matt Myers has been one of the most consistent kickers in the Big Sky Conference over the past two years. Head coach Jerome Souers has con!dence to trot Myers out there on !eld goals as long as 55 yards. Jason Cunningham has been equally consistent, if not more. The Bobcats get the edge in the punting category. The question is, will Rory Perez hits the Skydome ceil-ing with one of his massive hang-time punts?

Returns & coverage: This was a big key last year as both MSU and NAU mu"ed kicks in the 23-10 loss for the home team in Bozeman. Shanks, who had the North-

ern Arizona fumble, doesn’t return punts any-more. Estrada handles those duties for NAU now and he’s returned one for a score this season. DeSean Thomas, who had Montana State’s fumble, has punt returned sparingly this year. His primary replacement, Akpla,

hasn’t been exceedingly special.Edge: Even

DEPTH CHARTSMontana State

OffenseLEFT TACKLE

72 Mike Person 6-5/295 Sr70 Killian Fitzpatrick 6-8/270 Fr

LEFT GUARD57 Casey Dennehy 6-1/270 So68 Conrad Burbank 6-4/280 Jr

CENTER56 Shaun Sampson 6-0/249 So61 Alex Terrien 6-4/285 Jr

RIGHT GUARD61 Alex Terrien 6-4/285 Jr71 Jesse Hoffmann 6-4/286 Sr

RIGHT TACKLE50 Leo Davis 6-4/271 Jr70 Killian Fitzpatrick 6-8/270 Fr

QUARTERBACK9 Denarius McGhee 6-0/197 Fr12 Cody Kempt 6-2/211 Sr

RUNNING BACK8 Orenzo Davis 5-9/185 Jr20 C.J. Palmer 6-0/210 Jr

W RECEIVER14 Everett Gilbert 5-9/180 So 27 DeSean Thomas 6-1/180 Jr

X RECEIVER1 Elvis Akpla 6-1/187 Jr 86 Tanner Bleskin 6-3/210 Fr

Z RECEIVER82 Julius Lloyd 6-0/184 Sr10 Kruiz Siewing 5-11/182 So

TIGHT END81 Kyle Begger 6-2/245 Jr88 Shane Robison 6-5/250 Jr

KICKER15 Jason Cunningham 6-1/162 Jr

DefenseBANDIT

90 Dan Ogden 6-0/270 Sr34 Preston Gale 6-2/239 Fr

TACKLE96 Zach Minter 6-2/277 So63 Zach Logan 6-3/295 Fr

NOSE TACKLE45 Jason D’Alba 6-2/277 Sr 98 Christian Keli’i 6-0/282 So

END11 John Laidet 6-5/250 Jr 49 Caleb Schreibeis 6-3/245 So

SAM LINEBACKER44 Aleksei Grosulak 5-10/250 Fr9 Roger Trammell 6-1/230 Jr

MIKE LINEBACKER42 Clay Bignell 6-2/236 Jr44 Aleksei Grosulak 5-10/250 Fr

WILL LINEBACKER23 Jody Owens 6-1/214 So59 Tanner Ripley 6-1/214 Sr

BOUNDARY CORNER26 Arnold Briggs 5-10/185 Sr17 Sean Gords 5-10/185 Fr

FREE SAFETY22 Michael Rider 5-11/196 Sr32 A. Cosme-Peko 5-11/209 Sr

ROVER7 Jordan Craney 6-1/205 Sr 5 Joel Fuller 6-0/200 So

FIELD CORNER13 Darius Jones 5-10/167 So24 James Andrews 6-1/187 Jr

PUNTER18 Rory Perez 6-2/180 Fr

Northern ArizonaDefense

LEFT END96 Isaac Bond 6-4/260 Jr99 Brandon Vance 6-2/236 Sr

LEFT TACKLE98 Dan Pela 6-3/275 Jr75 Dwight Boyd 6-5/325 Jr

NOSE TACKLE93 Kainoa Pe’a 6-0/250 Sr95 Blayne Anderson 6-4/240 Jr RIGHT END89 Kyle Rath 6-5/271 Sr49 Michael Battisti 6-3/240 Sr

SAM LINEBACKER34 Reid Worthington 6-0/225 Sr33 Anthony Llanos 6-3/251 Sr

MIKE LINEBACKER44 Cody Dowd 6-3/250 Sr56 Brandon Phillips 5-10/215 So

JACK LINEBACKER46 Scott McKeever 6-1/220 Jr28 Phil Pollock 6-1/105 Fr

CORNERBACK20 Taelor Worrell 5-10/185 Sr27 Darren Watson 6-1/190 Sr

STRONG SAFETY3 Taylor Julio 6-0/185 So25 Kasseem Osheroff 5-11/205 Jr

FREE SAFETY5 Matt Estrada 5-10/185 Sr38 Taylor Malenfant 6-1/190 So

CORNERBACK31 Brian Hunter 6-0/185 Sr37 Darren Watson 6-1/190 Sr

PUNTER

42 Drew Zamora 6-1/187 Jr

OffenseLEFT TACKLE

57 Anthony Williams 6-5/290 Sr55 Stuart Tawney 6-5/245 Fr

LEFT GUARD78 Alex Mott 6-5/290 Jr64 Adrian Garcia 6-1/305 Sr

CENTER68 Jeff Hines 6-0/312 Sr61 Kris Poindexter 6-2/295 Sr

RIGHT GUARD64 Adrian Garcia 6-1/305 Sr61 Kris Poindexter 6-2/295 Sr

RIGHT TACKLE72 Trey Gilleo 6-6/280 So69 Matt Wilson 6-6/300 So

QUARTERBACK7 Michael Herrick 6-1/205 Sr8 Chasen Stangel 6-1/190 Jr RUNNING BACK35 Zach Bauman 5-10/200 Fr22 Giovannie Dixon 5-10/175 So

TIGHT END85 Nick Larson 6-8/250 Sr88 Drew Emanuel 6-4/225 Fr

RECEIVER4 D. Curry-Chapman 6-2/205 Sr81 Jeremy Dang 6-3/215 Fr

RECEIVER2 Austin Shanks 5-8/175 Jr82 Daniel Adler 5-9/180 Jr

RECEIVER11 Mike Czyz 5-10/180 Jr18 Khalil Paden 6-1/165 Jr

KICKER29 Matt Myers 6-0/200 Jr

THE EDGEPORTLAND STATE AT MONTANA STATE

Passing: Make no mistake, Northern Arizona’s defense will be the best Montana State has faced this season. The Lumberjacks swarm on the defensive side of the ball with waves of experience. But the unit isn’t without weaknesses. The most glaring is at corner. Despite having a solid secondary with all-conference safeties Matt Estrada and Taylor Julio, the Lumberjacks are as weak at corner as they’ve been in a long time. Senior Daivon Dumas, expected to be the team’s shutdown guy, was lost for the year in the season opener. Taelor Worrell has done an admirable job replacing Dumas, but he’s far from a sure thing. And opposite Worrell it’s been a struggle. The current rotation NAU seems to be favoring includes Brian Hunter, an Arizona State transfer who the team has tried to convert to corner from safety, and true freshman Randy Hale, who has been victimized by several teams. MSU QB Denarius McGhee is coming o" his worst game as a Bobcat. But even in his 15-for-27, 206-yard, 3-touchdown, no-interception performance in MSU’s 44-31 win over Portland State, he had a stretch where he was 9 of 13 for 120 yards and three touchdowns. Forget the foot injury he su"ered against PSU. McGhee will play this weekend and likely show no ill e"ects. With their quarterback in tow, it looks like the Bobcats have the talent to gash a lesser Lumberjack secondary. Look for outside receivers like Julius Lloyd and Elvis Akpla to have big days.

Rushing: Don’t, on the other hand, expect big games from Orenzo Davis and C.J. Palmer. Both Bobcat running backs

have feasted on opposing rush defenses the last two weeks and both are starting to show the signs of it as they spent time nursing ailments this week in practice. That’s not good news for the Bobcats this week in particular, as they prepare to face the nation’s fourth-rated

rushing defense. MSU has faced good “front sevens” the past few weeks against Sacramento State and EWU, but the Lumberjacks blow them all out of the water. They have six all-conference-caliber players in their starting front seven — and that’s just the starters. Led by guys like Alec Hutton and Alex Llanos, NAU has !ve defensive linemen and two linebackers who come o" the bench to make consistent and key contributions. Defensive coordinators around the country would sell their kidneys for that kind of depth. Yes, MSU is the 12th-rated rushing o"ense in the country and has put up an average of 233.3 yards rushing per game despite having limited depth on the o"ensive line. MSU gets some of that back this week as starting left guard Conrad Burbank returned to practice and starting center Alex Terrien is looking healthier. But NAU has held MSU below 70 yards rushing in two of the last three years, and this NAU defense is better against the run than any of the three preceding models. This will be a tough battle for the Bobcats to win. Edge: Even

WHEN MONTANA STATE HAS THE BALL

EDGE

Passing: Montana State could not have caught NAU QB Michael Herrick at a better time. The Walter Payton candidate has not been the same player that he was a season ago when he was healthy, so don’t expect him to set the Skydome ablaze today as he tries to get over a left elbow injury su"ered last week against EWU. Don’t think an injury to a non-throwing arm will a"ect a quarterback? Take a look at Tony Pike last year at Cincinnati. Playing with an injury to his non-throwing wrist, Pike completed less than 60 percent of his passes and threw as many interceptions in his !nal two games as he had in the !rst six combined.

To make matters worse for Herrick, he’s still yet to !nd a go-to receiver this season. Austin Shanks and Daiveun Curry-Chapman have both caught more than 27 passes, but both are averaging under 10 yards a catch and they have a combined one touchdown catch between them. San Jose State transfer Khalil Paden hasn’t panned out and tight end Nick Larson, a converted power forward from the Lumberjack basketball team, is still learn-ing the position.

This will likely a"ord MSU a chance to lick its wounds when it comes to pass defense, having given up 348 pass yards to Sacramento State and several big plays to the PSU passing game in the past two weeks after starting the season very well. Regardless of whether or not safety Jordan Craney

is healthy, the MSU pass defense has far fewer questions than the NAU passing o"ense this week.

Rushing: Slowing the rushing attack has been the key to slowing the NAU o"ense this year. Last week EWU held true freshman running back Zach Bauman and Arizona transfer Giovannie Dixon to 74 yards on 28 carries and NAU struggled to

get anything going on o"ense. Bauman and Dixon provide a nice mix of power and speed, but the bot-tom line is that they can be stopped. The speed guy, Dixon, is averaging a pedestrian 3.5 yards a carry this year and the big guy seems to need more than 20 touches a game to get his yards.

NAU will also likely be playing without starting center and team captain Je" Hines, who was ruled doubtful for this week. That will be music to Dan Ogden’s ears, as the MSU senior moves back to de-fensive tackle this week with Zach Minter moving out to defensive end. In the short term, that looks like a better !t for both players.

With Clay Bignell possible for the weekend as he improves from an ankle injury that has kept him out most of the past two weeks and Aleksei Grosu-lak playing better each week at middle linebacker in Bignell’s stead, the Bobcats, who held a run-based PSU o"ense scoreless for the better part of three quarters last Saturday, look like they have the personnel to slow the NAU running game.

Edge: Montana State

WHEN NORTHERN ARIZONA HAS THE BALL

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OVERALL The Lumberjacks desperately need this win and will be playing in front of a home crowd for the !rst time in !ve weeks. They have the defense that can give that win to them, too. But just how worn out is this team from four weeks on the road, which culminated in a beat-down at EWU that was worse than the !nal score indicated? Can the nation’s 11th-ranked defense (NAU) slow the nation’s second ranked o"ense (MSU)? Who will win the battle of two statistically mediocre units — the NAU o"ense and the MSU defense? With that many questions, this one will be a squeaker. And MSU has been performing well in those lately.

There is plenty of motivation for both teams in this game. MSU is seeking revenge for the loss in Bozeman last year that greatly hurt its postseason chances. If the Lumberjacks lose another conference game, they can probably kiss the postseason goodbye this year. The key for both teams will be containing their emotions, and that might come out in the

penalty battle. Averaging a respectably low 4.8 penalties a game going into last week, the Bobcats sky-rocketed to No. 1 on the conference’s most-penalized

list after committing 11 against PSU. The team they passed? The Lumberjacks, who have had six or more penalties in all but one game this season. Edge: Even

INTANGIBLES

27Analysis by WILL C. HOLDEN of the Chronicle

SPECIAL TEAMS

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