Bobcats turn on lights for William & Mary
Isaiah Ifanse saw his first action of the season on Saturday, Dec. 3, against Weber State in a second-round FCS playoff game, which the Bobcats won 33-25. (Garrett Becker/MSU Athletics)
William & Mary likes to run the ball, sometimes with a quarterback, a lot of times with a running back, all of it behind a young, highly-touted offensive line.
Sound familiar?
It’s not quite a mirror image that Montana State is facing Friday night in the FCS quarterfinals, but there are some notable similarities. The first meeting between the Tribe and MSU will kick off at 8:15 p.m. inside Bobcat Stadium. The game will be televised on ESPN2.
The visitors have had a strong program in a powerful conference (Colonial Athletic), and are hunting their third semifinal berth. In each earlier case, in 2004 (James Madison) and ‘09 (Villanova), the Tribe lost to the eventual national champion.
The team out of Williamsburg, Va., has rarely been this side of the Mississippi.
“We never played William & Mary at North Dakota State, but they were a playoff team the last couple years I was there,” said MSU coach Brent Vigen, who coached at NDSU from 1998-2013. “Coach (Mike) London taking it to where it is right now is impressive.”
You can say the same about what Vigen has accomplished in two seasons. He had three offensive linemen named Sophomore All-Americans by HeroSports.com Thursday: Rush Reimer, JT Reed and Justus Perkins.
London, who guided Richmond to the 2008 FCS title, had Colby Sorsdal named to the exclusive all-FCS honors team and Charles Grant as a Sophomore All-American.
And so it goes. The Tribe has running back Bronson
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Yoder and superb sophomore quarterback Darius Wilson; the Cats have Isaiah Ifanse back to take handoffs from sophomore QB “Touchdown” Tommy Mellott.
One difference is William & Mary seems to have a much sturdier defense. It’s a 3-4 look though sophomore linebacker John Pius, who has 11.5 sacks, is often at the rush end. A pair of 285-pounders, Carl Fowler and Zyquan Bessant (who is 5-foot-10) anchor the front alongside end Nate Lynn, who has six sacks and four forced fumbles.
The Tribe is 17-2 in their last nine games scoring 20 points or more. Sophomore receivers JT Mayo and DreSean Kendrick are among the top targets for Wilson.
“They get things going run-wise,” Vigen said. “And the RPO (run-pass option) and play-action off that is where they’ve gotten a bunch of big plays. It’s not just their quarterback.
“Like any week for us, it’s really about limiting the run game. The pass game, again I say keep the game in front of us.”
A few teams have gotten over the top on the Cats, and the Tribe piled up 300 pass yards in their 54-14 win over Gardner-Webb last week.
“We haven’t been perfect at that by any means,” Vigen said. “But I think we’ve gotten better and better as the season’s gone on.”
Montana State hopes to keep going to a second straight championship berth. Last season marked their first trip to the semifinals or final since the 1984 title season. First up are some Friday Night Lights, a beyond-prime time battle.
If it’s not optimal, the Bobcats will still be ready to go.
“They set the time, you’ve got to go play at it,” Vigen said.