2018 Montana State Bobcats football team

The 2018 Montana State Bobcats football team represented Montana State University in the 2018 NCAA Division I FCS football season. The Bobcats were led by third-year head coach Jeff Choate and played their home games at Bobcat Stadium. They were a member of the Big Sky Conference. They finished the season 8–5, 5–3 in Big Sky play to finish in a tie for fourth place. They received an at-large bid to the FCS Playoffs where they defeated Incarnate Word in the first round before losing in the second round to North Dakota State.

2018 Montana State Bobcats football
FCS Playoffs Second Round, L 10–52 vs. North Dakota State
Conference	Big Sky Conference
Ranking
STATS	No. 17
FCS Coaches	No. 17
2018 record	8–5 (5–3 Big Sky)
Head coach	Jeff Choate (3rd season)
Offensive coordinator	Brian Armstrong (2nd season, games 1–7) Matt Miller (games 8–13) (1st as OC, 3rd overall season)
Defensive coordinator	Ty Gregorak (3rd season)
Home stadium	Bobcat Stadium (Capacity: 17,777)

2018 Big Sky Conference football standings
	Conf							Overall
Team		W		L					W		L
No. 6 Weber State +^		7	–	1					10	–	3
No. 2 Eastern Washington +^		7	–	1					12	–	3
No. 7 UC Davis +^		7	–	1					10	–	3
No. 17 Montana State ^		5	–	3					8	–	5
Idaho State		5	–	3					6	–	5
Montana		4	–	4					6	–	5
Cal Poly		4	–	4					5	–	6
Northern Arizona		3	–	4					4	–	6
Portland State		3	–	5					4	–	7
Idaho		3	–	5					4	–	7
Northern Colorado		2	–	6					2	–	9
Southern Utah		1	–	7					1	–	10
Sacramento State		0	–	7					2	–	8
$ – Conference champion ^ – FCS playoff participant Although North Dakota was classified as an independent, games against them still counted as Big Sky Conference games. Rankings from STATS Poll

Previous season

The Bobcats finished the 2017 season 5–6, 5–3 in Big Sky play to finish in a tie for sixth place.

Preseason

Polls

On July 16, 2018 during the Big Sky Kickoff in Spokane, Washington, the Bobcats were predicted to finish in eighth place in both the coaches and media poll.[1]

Coaches poll

Predicted finish	Team	Votes (1st place)
1	Eastern Washington	134 (6)
2	Weber State	124 (3)
3	Northern Arizona	121 (3)
4	Idaho	101 (1)
5	Sacramento State	94
6	Southern Utah	91
7	Montana	82
8	Montana State	76
9	UC Davis	64
10	Cal Poly	40
11	Northern Colorado	30
12	Idaho State	29
13	Portland State	21

Media poll

Predicted finish	Team	Votes (1st place)
1	Eastern Washington	651 (27)
2	Weber State	636 (19)
3	Northern Arizona	535 (1)
4	Montana	496 (2)
5	Idaho	483 (3)
6	Southern Utah	449 (1)
7	Sacramento State	415
8	Montana State	391 (1)
9	UC Davis	331 (1)
10	Idaho State	170
11	Cal Poly	169
12	Northern Colorado	166
13	Portland State	103

Preseason All-Conference Team

The Bobcats had one player selected to the Preseason All-Conference Team.[2]

Tucker Yates – Sr. DT

Schedule

Date	Time	Opponent	Rank	Site	TV	Result	Attendance
August 30	7:00 p.m.	Western Illinois*		Bobcat Stadium Bozeman, MT	SWX	W 26–23	18,507
September 8	5:00 p.m.	at No. 3 South Dakota State*		Dana J. Dykhouse Stadium Brookings, SD	SWX	L 14–45	14,614
September 15	1:00 p.m.	Wagner*		Bobcat Stadium Bozeman, MT	SWX	W 47–24	18,037
September 22	3:00 p.m.	at Portland State		Hillsboro Stadium Hillsboro, OR	SWX	W 43–23	4,135
September 29	1:00 p.m.	No. 5 Eastern Washington		Bobcat Stadium Bozeman, MT	RTNW	L 17–34	18,667
October 13	2:00 p.m.	Idaho		Bobcat Stadium Bozeman, MT	RTNW	W 24–23	19,177
October 20	4:00 p.m.	at No. 7 Weber State		Stewart Stadium Ogden, UT	RTNW	L 24–34	8,062
October 27	3:30 p.m.	at Idaho State		Holt Arena Pocatello, ID	ELVN	L 17–24	8,851
November 3	2:00 p.m.	Cal Poly		Bobcat Stadium Bozeman, MT	SWX	W 49–42	16,747
November 10	1:00 p.m.	Northern Colorado		Bobcat Stadium Bozeman, MT	RTNW	W 35–7	14,147
November 17	12:00 p.m.	at Montana	No. 25	Washington–Grizzly Stadium Missoula, MT (Brawl of the Wild)	RTNW	W 29–25	26,508
November 24	1:00 p.m.	No. 24 Incarnate Word*	No. 23	Bobcat Stadium Bozeman, MT (FCS Playoffs First Round)	ESPN3	W 35–14	10,017
December 1	2:00 p.m.	at No. 1 North Dakota State*	No. 23	Fargodome Fargo, ND (FCS Playoffs Second Round)	ESPN3	L 10–52	17,007
*Non-conference game Homecoming Rankings from STATS Poll released prior to the game All times are in Mountain time

• Source: Schedule

Game summaries

Western Illinois

	1	2	3	4	Total
Leathernecks	7	6	7	3	23
Bobcats	3	3	14	6	26

at South Dakota State

	1	2	3	4	Total
Bobcats	0	0	8	6	14
No. 3 Jackrabbits	7	17	14	7	45

Wagner

	1	2	3	4	Total
Seahawks	7	14	3	0	24
Bobcats	14	16	10	7	47

at Portland State

	1	2	3	4	Total
Bobcats	6	20	17	0	43
Vikings	3	13	7	0	23

Eastern Washington

	1	2	3	4	Total
No. 5 Eagles	14	10	3	7	34
Bobcats	10	0	0	7	17

Idaho

	1	2	3	4	Total
Vandals	7	7	3	6	23
Bobcats	7	0	14	3	24

at Weber State

	1	2	3	4	Total
Bobcats	7	10	7	0	24
No. 7 Wildcats	0	14	10	10	34

at Idaho State

	1	2	3	4	Total
Bobcats	7	0	0	10	17
Bengals	0	17	7	0	24

Cal Poly

	1	2	3	4	Total
Mustangs	7	7	7	21	42
Bobcats	14	14	14	7	49

Northern Colorado

	1	2	3	4	Total
Bears	7	0	0	0	7
Bobcats	7	14	0	14	35

at Montana

	1	2	3	4	Total
No. 25 Bobcats	0	7	0	22	29
Grizzlies	7	15	0	3	25

FCS Playoffs

Incarnate Word–First Round

	1	2	3	4	Total
No. 24 Cardinals	7	0	7	0	14
No. 23 Bobcats	7	11	3	14	35

at North Dakota State–Second Round

	1	2	3	4	Total
No. 23 Bobcats	3	0	7	0	10
No. 1 Bison	21	17	7	7	52

Ranking movements

Ranking movements
Legend: ██ Increase in ranking. ██ Decrease in ranking.
NR = Not ranked. RV = Received votes. т = Tied with team above or below. ( ) = First place votes.

	Week
Poll	Pre	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	Final
STATS FCS	RV	RV	RV	RV	RV	RV	RV	RV	RV	RV	RV	25	23	17
Coaches	NR	RV	RV	RV	RV	RV	RV	RV	RV	NR	RV	RV	23	17

References

1. https://www.bigskyconf.com/news/2018/7/16/football-eastern-washington-picked-to-win-the-big-sky.aspx
2. http://bigskyconf.com/news/2018/7/16/doss-buss-headline-big-sky-football-preseason-all-conference-team.aspx