OGDEN -- For the past three years, Trevyn Smith has been the most dominant running back in the Big Sky Conference; however, there is one team that has found a way to keep him from having big games.

Smith will likely get his final shot, baring a postseason meeting, on Saturday against the only Big Sky team that has held him to under 100 yards rushing in every game it faced Smith.

That team is Montana State.

"I hadn't heard that before," Smith said with a surprised look following practice earlier this week. "That's good to know."

The senior from Springville has averaged 72 yards per game in his three meetings against the Bobcats, who visit Stewart Stadium on Saturday to face the No. 11 Wildcats (2-2, 2-0 Big Sky Conference). WSU won only one of those contests, and part of their ability to contain Smith may be the respect that the Bobcats have for his ability.

"That's probably the first thing, when you respect an opponent a lot you try hard to stop him," said Montana State head coach Rob Ash.

Smith, who has led the Big Sky in rushing each of the past three seasons and is WSU's all-time leader, has noticed in the past that the Bobcats have been well-prepared to face Weber State. He expects nothing different from Montana State (2-1, 1-0 Big Sky Conference) on Saturday.

"Montana State always brings the wood," Smith said. "They run around, they always have a good front on defense and playing those guys in the past, they've always been ready for me. I'm excited to play against them Saturday."

Smith's first meeting with the Bobcats came in 2006, when he ran for 65 yards and a touchdown off 22 carries in the Wildcats' 24-18 loss in Bozeman. The numbers improved as a sophomore when he finished with 78 yards on 17 carries, however he failed to reach the end zone in WSU's 21-5 loss in Ogden. Smith also had one catch for 39 yards in that game.

WSU's result on the scoreboard changed last season during its 35-12 win in a Bozeman snowstorm, however Smith still failed to reach the century mark as he ran 21 times for 73 yards and reached the end zone once while also catching seven passes for 63 yards and a touchdown.

Not only is Smith looking forward to getting a shot at running for more than 100 yards for the first time against Montana State, he's looking forward to bouncing back from what he calls probably his worst game at WSU.

Smith had a difficult time last week at Portland State. Shortly after scoring a touchdown early in the second quarter, he cut his lower lip. Since it wouldn't stop bleeding he spent the rest of the quarter in the locker room having it stitched up before returning after halftime.

Smith finished with 30 rushing yards, which dropped him into second place behind Eastern Washington's Taiwan Jones in the race for this season's rushing title. Jones had 190 yards on Saturday against Sacramento State and is averaging 102.2 yards per game while Smith's average dropped to 94.2.

"He didn't have a bad game," said WSU head coach Ron McBride. "There was 50 yards, 60 yards wasted because he was in getting fixed up."

But even without its top running back moving the ball on the ground, the balanced Wildcat offense found a way to win the game. That's one of the things Ash said the Bobcats also have to be prepared for, since last season WSU quarterback Cameron Higgins threw for 366 yards and four touchdowns in WSU's victory.

"It doesn't really help, in my mind, to hold Trevyn Smith to 80 yards rushing if we give up 35 points," Ash said.