Following are Sunday’s Montana State football notes as provided by the MSU Sports Information Department …
Montana State’s win against Portland State Saturday was historic for Bobcat coach Rob Ash. MSU’s sixth-year head coach…
* Won his 224th career game, 43rd-most in college football history and tied for 15th among active coaches
* Won his 48th game as Montana State’s head coach, breaking Sonny Holland’s school record
* Led MSU to its third consecutive nine-win season, which has never occurred previously in school history
* Led MSU to its 20th conference win since the beginning of 2010, the most victories in the Big Sky in that time
INJURY REPORT
OUT – SEASON: DE Odin Coe, OL Christian Williams, OL Charles Lee. OUT – INDEFINITELY: TE Tiai Salanoa, WR Jake Olson. PROBABLE: WR Tanner Bleskin, TE Lee Perkins, DT Taylor Dees
BOBCAT NOTES
• A week after failing to throw a touchdown pass for the first time in his Bobcat career, McGhee’s 35th game as MSU’s starting quarterback produced four scoring strikes – the fifth four-TD game of his career
• DeNarius McGhee is 50-for-71 passing in the last three games
• Montana State’s win Saturday gave McGhee a 28-7 record as Montana State’s starting quarterback
• Cody Kirk rushed for 122 yards Saturday, his third consecutive 100-yard rushing effort since missing a pair of games with an injury, raising his total to 411 yards and seven touchdowns in those three games
• Kirk stands seventh in school history with 2,253 career rushing yards and second with 27 career rushing touchdowns (his 12 rushing TDs this year is tied for 4th in MSU history)
• Shawn Johnson’s punt return for a touchdown was the first by a Bobcat since 2007 (Kory Austin)
• Montana State remains the Big Sky team with the best conference record since the beginning of 2010 (20-3), while Eastern Washington is second (18-5)
• DeNarius McGhee’s last four touchdown pass game was against Northern Colorado in 2010
• Montana State continues to lead the Big Sky in rushing defense (88.8) and total defense (305.2), and stands first or second in each of the league’s five main defensive categories
• MSU leads the Big Sky in scoring offense (38.7), the eighth-best mark in the country
TEAM AWARDS
OFFENSIVE MVP: QB DeNarius McGhee (Euless, TX)
DEFENSIVE MVP: DE Caleb Schreibeis (Billings, MT)
KICK TEAMS MVP: Shawn Johnson (Bakersfield, CA)
OFFENSIVE SCOUT: Mitch Greibel (Littleton, CO)
DEFENSIVE SCOUT: Kris Cooper (Gardena, CA)
SPECIAL TEAMS SCOUT: Cale Howells (Manhattan, MT)
