Following are game notes for the Montana State football team’s game at home against Portland State on Saturday provided by the MSU Sports Information Department. Click below for a PDF of the media game notes.

Cats-Portland State game notes

THE STORYLINE
Montana State bids an official farewell to one of its most accomplished senior classes ever Saturday, hosting Portland State for Senior Day 2012. The team’s 17 seniors – 15 of whom have played at least four seasons at MSU – own 34 wins in the Blue and Gold, the largest win total by any MSU senior class, and based on win percentage MSU’s current four-year clip of .756 is just a shade below the legendary Bobcat teams of the late ‘50s. PSU’s explosive offense, paced by a powerful ground game, invades Bobcat Stadium Saturday. The Vikings (2nd) and Bobcats (1st) stand as the top two offenses in the Big Sky.

THIS WEEK’S GAME
KICKOFF: 1:35 pm
SITE: Bozeman
STADIUM: Bobcat Stadium
RADIO: Bobcat Radio Network (Tyler Wiltgen, Dan Davies)
TELEVISION: ROOT Sports (Tom Glasgow, Sherdric Bonner, Jason Stiles, Jenny Cavnar)

FOR OPENERS
•  Linebacker Na’a Moeakiola’s five tackles-for-loss Saturday was the most by a Bobcat since 2002, and the most in the Big Sky this season

•  MSU’s third straight eight-win season matches 1956-58 as the best in school history

•  Rob Ash’s 47 wins at MSU is tied with Sonny Holland for most in school history

STADIUM STUFF

•  MSU averages 431.4 yards and 33.0 yards per game in four-plus seasons on its turf

BIG SKY BULLET POINTS
•  Big Sky teams own wins over the Pac 12 (Sac State beat Colorado), Mountain West (NAU topped UNLV, Cal Poly beat Wyoming), and WAC (EWU beat Idaho) this season

•  MSU leads the Big Sky in third down offense (54.9%) and defense (28.1%)

•  The Cats lead the Big Sky in rush defense (63.9) and total defense (285.8)

2012 MSU SCHEDULE
Aug 30 — Chadron State, W, 33-6
Sept 8 — at Drake, W, 34-24
Sept 15 —  Stephen F. Austin, W, 43-35
Sept 22 — *Northern Colorado, W, 41-16
Sept 29 — *at Southern Utah, W, 24-17
Oct 6  — *at UC Davis, W, 48-41
Oct 13 — *Eastern Wash., L, 24-27
Oct 27  — *North Dakota, W, 55-10
Nov. 3 — *at Sacramento St, W, 20-17
Nov 10 — *Portland State, 1:35 pm
Nov 17 — *at Montana, 1:35 pm

HIGHLIGHTS
•  The 34 wins by this year’s seniors is the most by any group over four seasons in school history

•  The Bobcats’ 19 league wins since 2010 is the most in the Big Sky

STREAKS
•  MSU’s 25 straight weeks in the top 10 is longer than any other string of consecutive weeks in the top 25 in school history

•  Cody Kirk has rushed for at least 100 yards in two straight games

•  Caleb Schreibeis has at least one sack in each of his first eight games of 2012

MILESTONES
•  DeNarius McGhee‘s 64 career TD passes is an MSU record, and his 8,209 passing yards is second in school history

•  Rob Ash’s 47 career wins is tied with Sonny Holland for first in MSU history

•  DeNarius McGhee’s 27th win as MSU’s starting quarterback Saturday broke Paul Dennehy’s school record (26)

•  Cody Kirk’s 25 career rushing TDs is 2nd in MSU history

SHINING
•  RB Cody Kirk rushed for 289 yards and five TDs in the last two games

•  LB Na’a Moeakiola earned Big Sky Co-Defensive POTW honors for his effort at Sac State last weekend

•  DE Caleb Schreibeis has forced five opponent fumbles this season and has at least one sack in his eight games