Montclair State University Football Standings

MSU Football: Season Highlights

This past weekend, November 16th, the season ended for the Montclair State Football team. They ended with a record of six wins and four losses taking third place in NJAC Football standings. The RedHawks closed out the season with a win against Kean University, ending the season on a three-game winning streak.

Montclair State won the last three of their games for the season starting with a 24-17 win against Rowan University. The streak continued with a big win of 36-6 against William Paterson University on November 9th, as a part of the Route 46 Rivalry. Closing the season, the Montclair State RedHawks defeated the Kean Cougars 40-12.

Overall, it seemed the team played much better at home winning three of the four games played at Sprague Field. Away, however, the story was much different. The RedHawks won three of their away games and equally lost three of them. The main takeaway from this season though should be penalty control. Throughout the season, the team received a substantial amount of penalties during games that often put them in poor situations as any penalty does. If the RedHawks can clean up some sloppy play they will be in a much better position to succeed. The plays they are making are high quality, but often time brought back because of simple mistakes.

In order to get plays in motion, you need a good playmaker; that brings us to Ja’Quill Burch, the Montclair State University quarterback. Burch will start next season as a senior and will most likely continue as the starting quarterback for the team. This season was a good one for him as he racked up 2311 passing yards with 26 rushings. After a tough start to the year, he corrected some mistakes, only throwing nine interceptions over ten games. He had a total of 303 passing attempts for the season and 177 completions, showing that Burch knows how to get the ball in his playmakers’ hands efficiently. Burch even won player of the week in the NJAC Division during the second week of the season as he was leading the division in passing yards per game at the time. If Burch begins next season like this, and the team really cracks down on penalty control, the RedHawks could go far.

Positives from this season mixed with corrections of negatives could put MSU high in the NJAC Division standings and in the ECAC Division next year. While 2019 had both its good and bad, this upcoming season could really be special if the team makes the necessary corrections this offseason.