DIVISION I FOOTBALL CHAMPIONSHIP: MONTANA ST. VS NORTH DAKOTA ST.

January 7, 2022

Matt Entz

North Dakota St. Bison

Media Conference

MATT ENTZ: Really excited to be here. We're really excited to be back in the Frisco, Texas, area. A lot of great memories have been created here. Our team is very appreciative of everything that the community of Frisco, the organizers of this game, the NCAA have done to make this a seamless trip and one that our players will remember for a long time to come.

Playing a very good football team, Montana State. The minute we turned on the film, they got our kids' attention. They got our kids' respect right away. We've played them a few times in the playoffs in previous years. We know they're very talented. We know they play hard.

They want to run the football. They want to play great defense, very similar to ourselves, and it's going to be a challenging day for the Bison, and we need to be at our best for us to have any sort of success.

We're as healthy as we're going to be right now. We're really looking forward to having everyone. I know our last game, the semifinal game, we were short a couple of offensive linemen. Both of them will be back. Christian Watson we anticipate will be playing for us tomorrow, and looking forward to that.

But having all those people back doesn't mean anything if you can't execute and be efficient with the football and play well. That's our number one objective.

Had a great walk-through this morning. We have another little team activity/practice this afternoon, and we're getting excited. We're getting real excited about getting to tomorrow and look forward to it.

With that, I'll open it up for some questions.

Q. Another injury front is a guy like Dominic Gonnella, do you anticipate him being ready, and if Christian Watson is available or does play, what does he add back to the offense?

MATT ENTZ: Dom Gonnella will be dressed tomorrow. Had that ankle injury late in the season, so he does add a little bit of depth to the running back room.

Well, I think both offensively and special teams, Christian is going to add a huge -- he's a dynamic player. He's one of the best receivers in mid-major football. He's going to give us a deep threat. He's going to be able to get in and out of breaks. Special teams wise he'll be back there returning kicks, as well.

I think we've got to find ways to be creative, get the ball in his hands, because he does have game-breaking speed. He has the ability to generate those explosive plays that you want to have offensively.

Q. You mentioned that these guys garnered your players' respect kind of instantaneously. The last two times North Dakota State has taken on Montana State in the playoffs, they've been pretty significant margin of victories for NDSU. What is Montana State doing better that you guys have seen on film? Where have they improved to get to this point?

MATT ENTZ: The first thing that jumps out at me is defensively I think they're playing at a different level. A lot of familiar names, a lot of -- you see a lot of development, a lot of growth has happened since then. I think what they're doing defensively, a lot of single high, eight-man spacing, one back, one gap type of fits, but very sound in their fundamentals, and schematically what they're trying to accomplish, they create takeaways, they get the ball back to their offense.

Offensively they're doing a great job, especially with the addition of the quarterback run game and a lot of the gap scheme out of it. They're going to force you to maybe have to water down some calls, but you have to be really precise in some of your run fits, and from a defensive standpoint to be able to get them off the field, it's going to be challenging on both sides of the ball. They've got very good players.

Brent has done an unbelievable job coaching this group up, and he's done an outstanding job getting them to believe in maybe some new things that they're trying to accomplish, and they're seeing the benefits of it.

Q. Is the alum thing going on this afternoon, and if so, how important is that for your players?

MATT ENTZ: It is this afternoon. We are going to have a number of former players and alumni that will be with us at practice today. It's become a tradition, something that I know our alum really look forward to because we have the opportunity for a couple of them to address our team. But a couple of our current seniors will address the alum, too.

I go back to 2019, Terry Hanson spoke, became emotional, and a guy like Dom Jones who's from Atlanta, Georgia, walked up to me afterwards and goes, Coach, I get it; I see why this place is different.

So it's experiences, it's the messages that these guys have who some of them played back in the '60s, '70s, '80s, '90s, to our recent players will be there. I think it says a lot about Bison Nation and reenergizes the Bison pride that our kids feel.

Q. It's well-documented the support you guys have down here in Frisco. What's it like being able to come back down here and see the support you guys get in this community?

MATT ENTZ: Well, there's times it's hard to believe. The amount of green and yellow that is everywhere, just the volume of people that you see in and out of the hotels, the drive over here, the logos, people throwing horns up, it's why we say we have the greatest fan base in the country, and it's a great example of why that is an accurate statement.

To be back here is super special. It's something you can never take for granted. I think it's something that that's part of our program we seldom talk about, this being the ultimate goal, but when we do get here, our kids appreciate it. Our staff appreciates it, and I hope our fans appreciate the hard work and effort and energy that our kids have put into this season.

Q. I'm curious about just this whole year, 2021. This will be your 24th football game you're playing tomorrow. Just encapsulate what the last 12 months have been like.

MATT ENTZ: Well, you're exactly right. Today is the 7th. I want to say on January 4th we officially have been practicing football for a year. You can say what you want about the summer months, but you guys have been around our program enough to know that our summer is pretty highly organized, a lot of energy, a lot of development goes into it. Very little amount of time off for our players.

We made some adjustments in the spring to try to make sure that we're going to protect the fall. I wouldn't change any of the things that we did or how it worked out. I think this was for the betterment of the program the way we did it. It's going to give us legs moving forward, as well.

But kudos to our staff, our medical personnel, and especially to our players for handling this. When you have to test -- we had our last test Wednesday before practice in Fargo, and if you're a senior and you still had to test, you're putting everything -- your career is coming down to a test if you get to go or not. It created some stressful situations. It created some probably heated situations within our program.

Again, our players handled it very maturely and professionally along the way.

Q. People kind of, I guess, described your game against ETSU as kind of a look in the mirror because you're going to get a chance to defend some under-center stuff, some stuff that you guys run. How much common game plan is there between you and Montana State? Obviously Coach Vigen having been the offensive coordinator here, Coach Banks having played here, how much North Dakota State is there at Montana State?

MATT ENTZ: You know, from a schematic standpoint there's a little bit quarterback run game wise. I think that's an area that's probably grown quite a bit since Coach Vigen was at NDSU. I know when Brock was the quarterback here they got into some of that, but I think we've kind of expanded upon that, but you do see some similarities there, trying to utilize the quarterback as an extra player.

From a defensive standpoint, I think the things that, being a defensive guy myself, that I really appreciate is how hard they play, getting to the football, as a team understanding perimeter fits. They're a big cover-three team, single high, play a little bit of man coverage, some internal pressures.

What I see from Coach Banks is we're going to have built-in adjustments in very few calls, but we're going to play really well, really hard, and I think that has been a system or a manner in which they can get through the Big Sky and play really good and be very effective.

I think it's more the intangibles that you see that are similar, the way their kids play, the energy that they play with, how they execute. They're very detailed. They're very disciplined. That's what's going to make it a very challenging game for us.

Q. You were a longtime assistant before becoming a head coach for the first time. Describe what Brent Vigen has done going the same route.

MATT ENTZ: Kudos to him. It's much more difficult than I think people think. All of a sudden, like you said, you're a lifelong assistant, you're kind of looking at things through maybe different colored glasses, and now to be the guy in front of the room trying to lead your players, your staff and sell the vision every day, there is a different set of demands. Hopefully he's found time where he can still continue to coach because that's the one thing -- that's the big reason why we all got into this profession, and unfortunately with what we've had to deal with over the course of the last year, year and a half, sometimes that's the last thing that you get to do as a head football coach.

That would be my only suggestion I'd have for anyone, and I'm sure Brent and I will catch up tomorrow, but hopefully he's had the opportunity to keep coaching the kids on the grass at different times.

Q. You mentioned about the testing before you took off. Has there been anything different on the ground in Frisco from previous years with the pandemic stuff, or does it seem once you got there it's been pretty similar to the lead-up?

MATT ENTZ: Pretty similar to the lead-up. We've had a few less events than have traditionally been on our schedule that we haven't had, so we've tried to do more team-only events, trying to keep our group together, and so that way we can kind of create our own little -- I don't want to overuse the word "bubble," but just keep our healthy kids around other healthy kids right now. That's the only adjustment.

But we tried to -- like I said, last night we rented out top golf and we were the only people there, so that was a chance for our kids to get away from the hotel, get away from football for a little bit. I truly got to see how bad or how good some of our football athletes really are.

Q. With all the quarterbacks that have played in this game for NDSU, how have you seen Cam deal with this weekend and the winter camp overall?

MATT ENTZ: He's been unbelievable. But he's a super mature kid. You have to remember, Cam has had a football probably in his hand his whole life. I mean, Coach Miller, very successful Iowa high school coach at Solon, Cam has been around. He's played in state championships. He's been in critical games. He's had, I'm sure, pressure put on him to be successful.

He's approached this game like all of them. He's very preparation based, trying to understand everything he can about our game plan, dive into our opponent, making sure he sees rotations. All the things we'd ask him to do in a week's time, he's now spread it out over three weeks, and I know he's super excited, and I anticipate he's probably heard from some of our former quarterbacks, as well, on how to handle this.

The thing we got to continue to talk to our kids is make sure, hey, you're appreciating the moment, as well. Don't take this for granted. This is an unbelievable opportunity that they've created.

Q. You talked about injuries and some players are returning after long layoffs. What's the challenge of maybe deciding whether someone coming back is to provide depth or someone coming back is to kind of go into the role they had prior to that injury?

MATT ENTZ: Well, you know, there's a lot of guys that are just -- to be able to be back and help us means they've been practicing for a couple weeks now, so we have a pretty good grasp of how they can help us. Some are just adding some depths to some rooms or to some position groups.

But really we felt like come the Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday after the semifinals, we were in a much better position with guys like Nash Jensen, Jalen Sundell. To get both those guys back, still continue to make sure that they're -- but I think both of them are full speed. Get Dom Gonnella back, add some depth to that room. I don't know if we're going to count on him to carry the ball 15, 20 times, but I know he can get in there, and he understands protections still. He understands our run game. It's going to be an added bonus to have him, and then his name is going to be found on some special teams, as well.

Q. Is Coach Vigen allowed for the alumni gathering today?

MATT ENTZ: That would be kind of a unique situation. I'm sure Coach Vigen has a lot of other things that are on his plate right now. One, he's going to be on the mic here with you guys. I'm sure he wants to -- I'm sure he's going to balance his time and make sure he's doing everything for his team, but I know -- I anticipate him and I will get a chance to catch up tomorrow.

Q. Any final comments before you get ready for championship day tomorrow?

MATT ENTZ: Super excited that we're here, and thank you to everyone who's enabled us to get here, most importantly our players. Those guys -- there's been a lot of football over the course of the last year, but they've handled it the way you're supposed to. They've been very professional, very mature about it. I couldn't be more excited to be the head coach at North Dakota State because of the young men that I get to work with every day.