Last Saturday was full of positives for the Montana State Bobcats, who swamped Eastern Washington 57-3 in the Big Sky Conference football opener for both teams.

We’re not necessarily talking about how Bobcat sophomore Adam Jones looked more like Adam Jones, with 72 yards and two touchdowns on 10 carries to go with two catches for 22 yards. Or Colson Coon, who had a 54-yard touchdown burst. 

We’re talking of course about MSU kicker Colby Frojker, who — after getting field goal blocked in the second quarter — tore off a 26-yard touchdown burst on a faked field goal. 

Eastern has made a habit of blocking kicks, and Bobcat coach Brent Vigen wasn’t too happy about a third block suffered this season by his special teams. But he was happy about a 43-yard catch and run by Hunter Provience that put MSU up 14-0, along with Coon and Jones and more. 

“Hunter can run,” Vigen said. “That’s probably the first time anybody has seen Hunter get out and run. We’ve got some impressive young athletes that continue to emerge and Hunter is one of them.” 

Frojker belongs in there. 

“Colby is a really good athlete, too,” Vigen asserted. “He can get up and go, too, which he did on that.” 

“We drew it up, and the hole was open and it was off to the races,” said the freshman punter and kicker. “Now everybody else has got to be afraid of it.” 

Not Truly Happy 

Count NAU coach Brian Wright and Idaho State mentor Cody Hawkins as a pair of coaches that could have been happier despite scoring Big Sky road wins last week. 

“Felt like we had some opportunities to put the game away last week, and just didn’t do that,” Wright said after NAU’s 31-17 win at Portland State. “(The Vikings) certainly in that second half, really outplayed us. So that was disappointing. They really played harder than us the second half.” 

“We did not throw the way we wanted to,” said Hawkins, who got quarterback Jordan Cooke back, only to see him complete just 12 of 33 passes (for 209 yards). “We had guys open that we did not hit.” 

Northern Arizona is now home to face the Bobcats. “We’re looking forward to getting better this week and making some improvements,” Wright said. “We’ll certainly need to before Saturday.” 

For his part, Vigen appreciated the job Wright has done in his season-plus at NAU. He noted that Wright was MSU’s offensive coordinator in 2010-11 and that MSU more or less escaped Flagstaff with a win in 2022, before Wright came over from Division II Pittsburg (Kan.) State. 

“Being able to bring a quarterback in particular with him made that transition a little more seamless,” Vigen said. 

Ty Pennington, a favorite for the Big Sky offensive player of the year, threw for 447 yards and six touchdowns and ran for 359 and four scores for the 11-2 Gorillas in 2023. 

Eight-Ball Arrives 

Speaking of QBs, you might be surprised at who leads the Big Sky in quarterback efficiency:  Montana’s No. 8, Keali’i Ah Yat. 

Two straight sterling performances have helped the sophomore — who has completed 69 percent of his passes for 1,086 yards and seven touchdowns — amass a 163.1 rating. Pennington, who has 1,347 yards and nine scores, is next at 155.2.  

Right behind Pennington is MSU’s Justin Lamson (155.1), who is quietly amassing some excellent numbers: 73 percent completion percentage, 1,005 yards, five scores. 

A couple QBs with lesser opportunities have higher ratings: Ty Dieffenbach of Cal Poly (196.2) and Davis Harsin of Idaho State.  

2 QBs in Pocatello? 

Hawkins said both Harsin, who threw for six touchdowns in a 90-0 wipeout of NAIALincoln a couple weeks ago, and Cooke will play Saturday when the Montana Grizzlies come to town.  

The Bengals are a different cat: They’ve made 26 straight field goals for one thing, dating back to the 2023 season. Newcomer Trajan Sinatra is 9-for-9 on field goals this season, and hit some big ones against Northern Colorado. 

Special teams are generally special for the Griz. 

“I know people are probably more excited to watch us play Montana than Lincoln,” Hawkins said. “Montana is playing darned good football.  

“I’m excited to get them in our place. I hope that we can do a good job of putting butts in the seats and being loud for the Griz; hopefully they’ve gotta go with a sideline cadence and get a taste of their own medicine. Buy up those tickets, support your guys.” 

Ouch in Aggieville 

The UC Davis Aggies handled Weber State 34-12 late Saturday but might have lost a pair of standouts. 

The Sacramento Bee newspaper noted that in the fourth quarter, All-American safety Rex Connors was sent in to carry in a goal-line situation. Connors scored from 2 yards out but suffered a knee injury.  

Aggies coach Tim Plough told the media afterward: “Prayers to him.” 

“We don’t know the extent of it,” Plough, whose club is at Cal Poly this week, added. “It is the knee. It could be a couple of days before we know anything. Never want to see your leader go down.” 

Somewhere during a 288-yard performance, and before he hit Samuel Gbatu, Jr., for 85 yards and a score, quarterback Caden Pinnick missed some snaps with a sore shoulder.  

Pinnick, the reigning offensive player of the week for the Big Sky, is still listed as starter this week; Connors is not on the Aggies’ two-deep. 

NOTES: Cal Poly’s Brian Dukes, who had two picks and a touchdown in the Mustangs’ win at Sacramento State last week, got the league’s weekly honor on defense. ... Sinatra, who hit field goals of 27, 26, 48 and 49 yards against UNC, brought the special teams honor back to Pocatello. ... The loss dropped Sac State from the FCS polls.