Add it up and the Montana State Bobcats' 2006 season can be summed up in one Mike Kramer superlative.
“Miserable,” Kramer, the Cats' seventh-year head coach, said Monday. “It's been miserable. We had pretty high aspirations, and those were accentuated by us getting a great win over a storied program (CU).
The Bobcats' troubles - they lost three straight after stunning the Buffs 19-10 - are long ago but not forgotten, least of all by Kramer. They are 7-3 and ranked 15th in I-AA heading into Saturday's 106th “Brawl of the Wild” against No. 2 Montana, at 12:37 p.m. inside Washington-Grizzly Stadium.
They're in position to win a fourth Big Sky Conference title in five seasons, and that says plenty about the Cats' resilience. You just get the idea that Kramer hasn't enjoyed it much.
“Those were three games of no sleep, three games of holding your breath until the injury report in the morning,” said Kramer. “It took the fun out of the season.”
Yet after a 19-10 home loss to Eastern Washington on Sept. 23, MSU hasn't lost. The wins haven't been of the “throw the third-string in the fourth quarter” variety. After shutting out a potent Portland State team 14-0 on Oct. 7, the Cats' last four victories have come by 3, 7, 6 and 3 points.
“What we are is a pretty determined team,” Kramer said. “A pretty forceful team. And a team that still wants to play a lot of football to absolve itself.”
Injuries have hounded MSU to some extent all year, reaching their apex after the Cats' 35-24 home loss to Division II Chadron State on Sept. 9. Receiver Josh Lewis, linebacker Epikopo King and safety Ryan Force joined running back Evin Groves and tight end Elliot Barnhart on the sidelines the next two weeks, while MSU suffered home losses to UC-Davis (45-0) and Eastern.
“The low point was definitely after Davis,” said senior guard Brant Birkeland. “Even though we lost to Eastern and lost our first conference game, we played well. After Davis, our confidence was so low I wasn't sure how we were going to come back.”
“Getting beat that badly, and at home - it was a first-time experience for probably everybody on the team,” said Force. “We had to kind of rally the troops a littel bit, get them to believe in the stysem again and tell them the season wasn't over yet.”
Health played a role. The five aforementioned players returned. Groves, who'd missed seven games, ran for 128 yards in MSU's 13-10 win over Northern Colorado two weeks ago.
The Bobcats have been without strong safety Marcosus LeBlanc, and quarterback Cory Carpenter is likely to miss his fifth straight game after being injured against PSU. It hasn't mattered, much.
Jake Rolovich, who narrowly lost the starting QB job to Carpenter, has taken over and played at the least, efficiently. He's 4-0 as the starter. He has benefited from a solid front line - Birkeland, left tackle Peder Jensen and right tackle Joe Hirst have 61 straight starts between them - and a receiver corps that Kramer calls his best group at MSU.
Michael Jefferson, who caught a school-record 239 yards worth of passes in MSU's 42-35 win at Northern Arizona, leads that grup.
Rolovich has had less help from the running game, though the return of Groves - who ran for 143 yards against Montana last year - is timely. The sophomore saw his freshman rushing marks eclipsed by Aaron Mason (529 yards) this fall, but Mason has been banged up of late.
“He's not really hurt, he just got a little worn out,” said Kramer.
The biggest adjustment by the Bobcats has come on defense. They began the year playing a 3-down lineman look, but scrapped it after taking their lumps against Davis. Now they're in a Flex, employing the same look as NAU and Cal Poly.
It has helped the Cats pressure the QB: After four sacks through their first five games, they have 18 in their last five. The zone-pressure defense is also making a household name out of a former walk-on named Bobby Daly, who plays the “Mike” or middle linebacker spot.
“Which means he never gets touched,” Kramer said of the sophomore from Helena Capital. “He runs downhill and makes plays. He plays bullet-proof. He's just the kind of player we thought he'd be when we didn't recruit him.”
“A lot can be said about Bobby,” added Force, another former walk-on. “He came in last year when we had some injuries and did the job. He hasn't disappointed this year. He's been playing extremely well.”
The defense hasn't been the lock-it-down type seen in past MSU teams. The secondary is playing more zone than man. The linebackers aren't as deep, now that Will Claggett (46 tackles) is out.
The Bobcats are third in the league in total defense, fifth in pass defense. The offense is different, too, if their eighth-place ranking in rushing among Big Sky teams means anything.
But the Cats have kept winning after a 1-3 start. Kramer just isn't convinced that was the start of something great.
“I don't think we'll ever get over that 3-game soiree,” he said. “It's made us better, but to have to go through that is just heart-wrenching. I'm excited that we've been able to find ways to win and be successful, but we've done it because we are determined.”
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