The good, The bad and the Ugly

[gtapp]

Good:

Prukop can run better than I thought
Greibel looked good
The DT's looked good (especially the backups Thomas and Bignell)
Defense looked OK most of the game (got worn down IMO)


Bad:

DE: They could not contain the edge most of the game. ASU ran around end all night.
Passing game/QB play: for those who said we would be better at QB this year... I don't think so. Prukop will get better every game but he will not be DM this year
DB play: We could not stay with the ASU players.

Ugly:

Running game: ASU fans told us their DL was suspect and I think they had 2 LB's out. Didn't seem to matter.
Depth: I did not see much substitution except at DT
Handoffs
Center snaps

I don't know how to rate the OL. Look bad at times and good at times on passing downs. Run blocking - see above.

[LTown Cat]

Good
-Special teams. I think Daly could be a good one.
-Prukop running.
-Mitch Griebel.

Bad
-Offensive play calling. Hopefully it was vanilla on purpose.
-Oline appeared bad but I'm with Gtapp. Not sure how to judge them. Should the ball be out sooner?? Just don't know enough here.
-Linebackers in coverage. Hopefully this was only due to ASUs speed and athletes.

Ugly
-The hit on SJ. Hope he is ok.
-Finish! Hate to see the Cats wear down like that. Wish the good showing early was reflected by the final score.

[Bozcat003]

While I will admit I got a some "blue and gold glasses" on, I think I am a realistic enough fan to give a fair judgement on this game:

First let me say this. Arkansas State is the fastest, most athletic team we will play. The were a much better team than I thought they would have been. Very well coached, very explosive team and I will be rooting for them the rest of this season.

The good
- Dakota Prukop - His stats might not be great, but he played very good in my opinion. He had 2 huge runs that were called back for penalties (I think he wouldv'e had about 80 yards rushing if it wasn't for that), and he had a few excellent passes that were dropped. He is super athletic, and will be a nightmare for Big Sky caliber teams to take stop. Yes, he does have a long ways to go, but not as far as some may think. Arkansas State blitzed a lot because they trusted their secondary to make plays on the ball.

- Luke Daly - Despite going 1-2 I thought he kicked very well. The kick he missed was a long one, and the 34 yarder that was good was right down the middle. Glad to have him for the next 4 years!

- Justin Paige - Have fun Big Sky conference trying to stop him. 1 catch for 55 yards. He will be electrifying


The bad
- We struggled at containing Arkansas State, which resulted in big gains. Like I said earlier this is the fastest/most athletic team we will play so I think we can't judge to quickly on that.

- The run game struggled all game. I imagine that is because Arkansas State was blitzing so much, but not exactly sure, but we struggled a lot with the run.


I am actually more confident in this season than I was earlier today. We are significantly faster than last year. The connection between Dakota and Paige is going to be straight up increadible by season end. Although we lost by more than I thought we were going to, I truthfully think we are a playoff team and will be very hard to stop come conference time. We need to realize that a big reason we got blown out in the second half is because ASU had more scholarships. . . that means more players they can use than us. I am very excited for next week when we play Black Hills State as I suspect we will dominate that game. That game will provide us a good way to take off the rust and get ready for Central Arkansas (who is better than some think) and then the big one. . . Eastern Washington.

Go Cats

[GoCats18]

The O-line did not help Prukop and the receivers weren't much better. Our run game was pathetic. This team was supposed to be built around the top o-line in the conference, not tonight. None of the QB's would have done better than the other. I think this team can easily be one of the top teams in the conference. We should not forget that Arkansas State has been to three bowl games the last 3 years and look at where their coaches have gone to the last 4 years. This is no Wyoming!!

[JumpinJoe]

I was very impressed with the turnout of Montana State fans at the game. They brought more fans than a few teams in our own conference! Kudos for that. I can tell you guys are used to winning.

Was very impressed with your DL and LBs especially Marino. I can't imagine there being a better defensive player in FCS than him when he gets his stamina built up.

Prukop will be a good QB. He is evasive, can run, just didn't get much time to throw today. When he did he was pretty accurate with only a couple exceptions.

Your punter Bolton is a great one. Other than Memphis' punter he is the best that's been here in a few years in my opinion. What a weapon to have!

You guys didn't think the humidity would play a factor but it certainly did. I sat first row behind the visitors bench and your players stood by the water fans the whole game. (FYI also the first time I've ever seen those fans set up on the sideline) They were zapped by the third quarter. I saw a handful just lay on the ground to catch their breath. That air was heavy tonight.

I know some of you guys are down but you've got a dang good team and a classy group of players. I hope you guys win every game you play from here on out. I think you're much better than you give yourselves credit for just wait until you start playing teams with the same depth as you.

[PHAT CAT]

I was very impressed with the turnout of Montana State fans at the game. They brought more fans than a few teams in our own conference! Kudos for that. I can tell you guys are used to winning.

Was very impressed with your DL and LBs especially Marino. I can't imagine there being a better defensive player in FCS than him when he gets his stamina built up.

Prukop will be a good QB. He is evasive, can run, just didn't get much time to throw today. When he did he was pretty accurate with only a couple exceptions.

Your punter Bolton is a great one. Other than Memphis' punter he is the best that's been here in a few years in my opinion. What a weapon to have!

You guys didn't think the humidity would play a factor but it certainly did. I sat first row behind the visitors bench and your players stood by the water fans the whole game. (FYI also the first time I've ever seen those fans set up on the sideline) They were zapped by the third quarter. I saw a handful just lay on the ground to catch their breath. That air was heavy tonight.

I know some of you guys are down but you've got a dang good team and a classy group of players. I hope you guys win every game you play from here on out. I think you're much better than you give yourselves credit for just wait until you start playing teams with the same depth as you.

Good luck and health to you're team the rest of the season Joe. Thanks for hosting us.

[onceacat]

I made a long post but it got wiped out by a computer crash. To sum up:

Prukop played as well as D-Mac played against Utah (a better team IMO) in 2011.

Speed Kills MSU; Makes for horrible matchups. FWIW, the Denver Broncos, the New England Patriots, and the NO Saints are exceptionally slow teams. It isn't a given that this kill MSU.

OL was awful. I'm hanging this game on them. You have to give your new QB time to throw and your RBs a push. Tony Knight 4 plays for 5 yards? Seriously? OL needs to step up and carry this team. They have the size, talent, and athleticism. Its up to personal execution now.

D-Line: Stop the run. Looks good on passing, but can't contain athletic QBs. Reminds me too much of last year. Stop the trucking run.

Cheers. COBN. Google the box scores against Utah in 2011. This team is tracking right where it should be to be in the FCS quarterfinals. Its up to execution and health now.

[arkstfan]

Really like your QB. He didn't have much time and when he did the receivers didn't always do their part. He had some really good escapes.

Figured famous last words since I had posted here that return teams were the only part of special teams I was confident in and it was 13-7 at the half after the muff despite AState posting 200 more yards offense.

Didn't see that many first game mistakes from the Bobcats, OLine had pretty good discipline, AState was bringing numbers and often shooting past guys, gets real tempting to grab a jersey or push from behind, not much of it considering circumstances. Be interested to know how your coaches grade your RB on one of the sacks. He pulled to his right and put out a nice block to protect the QB but in doing so an LB shot up the middle and got the sack from the spot he was covering. Be interesting to know if they grade it well for the hustle (and good block) or ding him for breaking assignment.

Nice group in gold/yellow, didn't run into any of them, hope they were treated well.

Best of luck and beat the Griz.

[Kicking Wing]

First of all, nice turnout by your fans. As good as a lot of CUSA and SBC teams we play. May be inappropriate but I saw a lot of cute Montana girls.

You guys are going to be better. Like us, the Bobcats showed some first game jitters but your guys avoided big mistakes for three quarters. Arkansas State has the youngest lineup I have seen in a long time, especially on offense and Michael Gordon getting knocked out really affected our running game. We couldn't push your DL at all and our young OC took a while to figure that out.

I only got the chance to meet one of your fans after the game but if he was representative of the rest then you guys have a friendly and knowledgeable fan base. Good luck the rest of the year.

[luckyirishguy25]

The Good:
Keeton was all over the field last night he'll be great.
Singleton also showed great instincts, and was all over the ball
Dakota has an CANNON!
Greibel and Paige looked great for freshman
pass blocking was decent
ST had a good night

The Bad:
Can we please spy running QB's?
saw lots of hesitation by linebackers and lineman, during PA passes we were fooled every time, defense needs to develop more and get better at reading plays
Na'a looked rusty

The Ugly:
we still can't buy a run block, its like nobody on our team has ever run blocked in their lives
Astate's D played up on us the whole game and we played into it instead of exploiting the middle and a long field, too many short plays
D needs to swarm to the ball better, Astate did a great job of that last night... our D should strive to look like theirs

All-in-all it was a good fight for 3 quarters, Astate has a sound D, and a great QB. I thought we could have done a few things different and kept it closer but I still don't think we win. And from what I saw yesterday we need to improve dramatically, or the cats aren't going to make the playoffs again. I watched a lot of games yesterday and saw many FCS teams that are better than us: Villanova, UNH, Liberty, NDSU, SDSU, Wofford, central Arkansas, SUU and Bethune-Cookman all looked really good yesterday (even though a few of these teams got thumped in the 4th, their first 3 quarters were way more impressive than ours.)

[mslacatfan]

The Good:
Keeton was all over the field last night he'll be great.
Singleton also showed great instincts, and was all over the ball
Dakota has an CANNON!
Greibel and Paige looked great for freshman
pass blocking was decent
ST had a good night

The Bad:
Can we please spy running QB's?
saw lots of hesitation by linebackers and lineman, during PA passes we were fooled every time, defense needs to develop more and get better at reading plays
Na'a looked rusty

The Ugly:
we still can't buy a run block, its like nobody on our team has ever run blocked in their lives
Astate's D played up on us the whole game and we played into it instead of exploiting the middle and a long field, too many short plays
D needs to swarm to the ball better, Astate did a great job of that last night... our D should strive to look like theirs

All-in-all it was a good fight for 3 quarters, Astate has a sound D, and a great QB. I thought we could have done a few things different and kept it closer but I still don't think we win. And from what I saw yesterday we need to improve dramatically, or the cats aren't going to make the playoffs again. I watched a lot of games yesterday and saw many FCS teams that are better than us: Villanova, UNH, Liberty, NDSU, SDSU, Wofford, central Arkansas, SUU and Bethune-Cookman all looked really good yesterday (even though a few of these teams got thumped in the 4th, their first 3 quarters were way more impressive than ours.)

side note- I don't think Griebel is a freshman. Good post though, pretty much agree with everything ya said.

[codecat]

Good:
-I think Prukop played well for his first game, especially given the back 7 defense of A-State and their speed
-Griebel is continuing to show us that he can get open when nobody else can, and Paige can get past single coverage (three times I think)
-Although we didn't see it, I believe we have a great stable of running backs
-We have a good solid defense & deserve to be optimistic about the DL both on the ends and the middle (Bignell & Thomas did great backing up)

Bad:
-Either Prukop was rushed in delivering and didn't see, or A-State blanketed our receivers really well (believe it was both but mostly the latter)
-The DE or defensive scheme needs to be able to turn the play inside and we haven't been able to do that with the faster QB's or RB's
-The offense needs to be able to sustain drives in order to keep our defense fresh - they got gassed yesterday toward the end of the 3rd quarter.

Ugly:
-Our run game was non-existent and whether it was the OL run blocking or scheme, I don't really know. I did think that pass blocking was worse than it was as I see the stats were just posted and Prukop only got sacked 4 times (where I thought it was about 6). He was hurried way more than I thought he would be.

[TomCat88]

After watching the game over...

Good: The defense held ASU to 259 yards on 56 plays beginning with the second drive to the 10th drive.
Bad: Defense allowed 299 yards on the other 22 plays on the other five drives.

Good: The offense had chances to make plays and came up with a few more than I recalled.
Bad: Four glaring mistakes cost the offense four first downs, 70 yards and at least six points.

Good: Punting and kicking were much better than anticipated.
Bad: A couple poor decisions on returns.

[DicTater]

I think a lot of people are blaming the Oline for a nonexistant running game when it really wasn't their fault. Here's why. The spread offense is meant to spread the field and put pressure on the DBs. It is also designed to spread the LBs and safeties out so there are running gaps. The problem for the Cats is that ASU never really spread out. They knew their DBs could play man to man. For example, did you ever see Flotkoetter, Kalfell or Roderick open? No, you didn't. ASU never kept a safety back, they were in the box. The only guy who got open was Greibel against a LB and Paige on one play. That allowed ASU to keep 7-8 guys in the box, being blocked by 5-6 Cats. No offensive line is going to win that battle. If the D is playing that way, and your WRs can't get separation, you end up with the proverbial long night.

[Cat Grad]

I think a lot of people are blaming the Oline for a nonexistant running game when it really wasn't their fault. Here's why. The spread offense is meant to spread the field and put pressure on the DBs. It is also designed to spread the LBs and safeties out so there are running gaps. The problem for the Cats is that ASU never really spread out. They knew their DBs could play man to man. For example, did you ever see Flotkoetter, Kalfell or Roderick open? No, you didn't. ASU never kept a safety back, they were in the box. The only guy who got open was Greibel against a LB and Paige on one play. That allowed ASU to keep 7-8 guys in the box, being blocked by 5-6 Cats. No offensive line is going to win that battle. If the D is playing that way, and your WRs can't get separation, you end up with the proverbial long night.

Part of me says "Bingo!" I believe there's only three kids on our roster with the speed to go vertical and their strength is their secondary. Their best athletes are on defense and can close so fast we were just flat out overpowered. Someone in another thread noted we were lucky it wasn't at least 50 we got beat...until last year, McGhee would have changed plays at the line and rolled out to avoid some of the rush and bought time to go down field. We will find out in two weeks what these kids can do in this offense. There's a reason the Sun Belt was the best non Big Five conference last year.

[Bobcat Sig]

There's a reason the Sun Belt was the best non Big Five conference last year.

Umm ... what!?

[Apexredwolf]

hello again bobcats

Just wanted to drop by and tell you thanks for everything!

Your fanbase (or aleast 99% of the posters on this board) are class acts.

Some things I noticed after watching the replay:
Prukop, he's gonna be a playmaker! Was real impressed with him. Sans a few throws down field, I think he did a great job. Yeah, and that one time he decided to slide the protection right and hold on to the ball... ...that was scary.

Paige. The guy has some speed. I dont see how he's not gonna be a deep threat in the Big Sky. I know of at least two times he blew past our man to man and got open behind our secondary. Prukop connected with him on one (bit underthrown) and overthrew him completely on the second.

Shawn Johnson. Well there's not much that hasnt already been said. Hope he recovers well and has no lingering head issues. I was probably most impressed with his patience as a ball carrier.

Your defense should carry you to the FCS playoffs no problem. By then Prukop should be even better.

P.S. Maybe its a western or Montana thing, but your team has some of the most interesting surnames Ive ever seen. I think yall take the cake when it comes to double-consonants and double-vowels. Weidenaarr, Eeckhoff, Flotkoetter, Brekke, Some of my other favorites mixed with a little pacific isles...Krolick, Prukop, Bignell (just cause hes a big dude), Oldenburger, Godecke....Moeakiola X2, Salanoa (looked like a big time player early on by the way). Of course this is coming from a fan who cheers on Money Hunter and last year Sirgregory Thorton. So what do i know..

[Counter Assault]

I was only able to listen to the first 1.5 qtrs.

They mentioned several times (I heard at least 3-4 times) that the center/QB exchange was bungled.

That is critical for the overall offensive cadence, particularly the run game.

If you start off a half step wrong, it can screw up 1. The play design, 2. The center's block and 3. The QB's confidence towards execution.

Lastly, I suspected that team speed would be an issue. If nobody realized where ASU recruits, it is right in the heart of SEC territory: Mississippi, Tennessee, Alabama. Not to mention LA and TX right by. They get the sloppy thirds of all those areas, which is probably the equivalent of 1's around the rest of the country....

[Kicking Wing]

There's a reason the Sun Belt was the best non Big Five conference last year.

Umm ... what!?

The Sun Belt finished last year in first among the G5 and received the highest BCS payout due to the ranking. I think the SBC was second out of 5 the year before.

[Mr Lisle]

I was only able to listen to the first 1.5 qtrs.

They mentioned several times (I heard at least 3-4 times) that the center/QB exchange was bungled.

That is critical for the overall offensive cadence, particularly the run game.

If you start off a half step wrong, it can screw up 1. The play design, 2. The center's block and 3. The QB's confidence towards execution.

Lastly, I suspected that team speed would be an issue. If nobody realized where ASU recruits, it is right in the heart of SEC territory: Mississippi, Tennessee, Alabama. Not to mention LA and TX right by. They get the sloppy thirds of all those areas, which is probably the equivalent of 1's around the rest of the country....

I come from an era and am of an age where political correctness can befuddle me. Things like holding a door open for a lady??....usually it depends on the age of the lady, which in itself is problematical, refer to someone as a "China man" or "mulatto"...things like that. But I gotta say, "sloppy thirds" is a whole different animal.