Grade thru 5 games

[[cat_bracket]]

I think we're exactly where most expected. A few thought 2-3 with an L to UCA, but no one had us 4-1.

The loss to Ark. St. was a little worse than expected, but the D had its moments.
The W over BHSU was about right.
W over UCA was better than expected until the goofy safety that wasn't.
L to EWU was a lot better than expected and really served notice that MSU is a team to reckon with and will probably get better.
The W over UND wasn't pretty, but there was more to it than meets the eye.

Overall I think our record is right where most thought it'd be, but I think we're playing better than expected and are ahead of where most thought we'd be in all phases. We're very capable of running the table.

Offense - A-
Defense - B
Special teams - A+

[91catAlum]

I agree with most of what CB said.
The offense is better than I expected, mostly due to the QB - but now that we're losing WRs left and right, I think that might have an impact as the season moves along.
The defense is worse than I expected. But perhaps my expectations were off. With all Na'a/Singleton/Moore/Young returning at LB, Sheridan/Coe/Dees returning on the line, Flowers/Barnett/Marshall returning at DB + a solid CB dropdown, plus all the Marino hype, I think most of us thought this could be a dominant defensive year. So far that hasn't played out... I wouldn't say the D as a whole has been bad; just below expectations.

Offense: A
Defense: C
ST: A

[[cat_bracket]]

I agree with most of what CB said.
The offense is better than I expected, mostly due to the QB - but now that we're losing WRs left and right, I think that might have an impact as the season moves along.
The defense is worse than I expected. But perhaps my expectations were off. With all Na'a/Singleton/Moore/Young returning at LB, Sheridan/Coe/Dees returning on the line, Flowers/Barnett/Marshall returning at DB + a solid CB dropdown, plus all the Marino hype, I think most of us thought this could be a dominant defensive year. So far that hasn't played out... I wouldn't say the D as a whole has been bad; just below expectations.

Offense: A
Defense: C
ST: A

I'm torn on the defense a bit. The stats aren't good, but they've played some very good offenses and have had some weird plays happen that skew their numbers.

[91catAlum]

I agree with most of what CB said.
The offense is better than I expected, mostly due to the QB - but now that we're losing WRs left and right, I think that might have an impact as the season moves along.
The defense is worse than I expected. But perhaps my expectations were off. With all Na'a/Singleton/Moore/Young returning at LB, Sheridan/Coe/Dees returning on the line, Flowers/Barnett/Marshall returning at DB + a solid CB dropdown, plus all the Marino hype, I think most of us thought this could be a dominant defensive year. So far that hasn't played out... I wouldn't say the D as a whole has been bad; just below expectations.

Offense: A
Defense: C
ST: A

I'm torn on the defense a bit. The stats aren't good, but they've played some very good offenses and have had some weird plays happen that skew their numbers.

Ya I agree. Let's see what happens at Sac this weekend.

Sent from my DROID RAZR HD using Tapatalk

[Counter Assault]

Offense: A-
QB: A+. Biggest surprise of year.
Line: B-, Eekhoff D and needs a tutor.
RB's: A-. We need somebody stronger up the middle.
WR's: B+

Defense: B-. Disappointment vs. probably too high expectations.
Line: C.
Backers: B-
Secondary: A-

Spec Teams: A+

2-2 is exactly in line with what I expected. I am thinking we solid 7-4 this year and maybe, 8-3. If we play like we did last week against "better" teams, I think 6-5 or 7-4, but the competition also seems to look weaker ala Cal Poly and Sac State.

[Counter Assault]

I agree with most of what CB said.
The offense is better than I expected, mostly due to the QB - but now that we're losing WRs left and right, I think that might have an impact as the season moves along.
The defense is worse than I expected. But perhaps my expectations were off. With all Na'a/Singleton/Moore/Young returning at LB, Sheridan/Coe/Dees returning on the line, Flowers/Barnett/Marshall returning at DB + a solid CB dropdown, plus all the Marino hype, I think most of us thought this could be a dominant defensive year. So far that hasn't played out... I wouldn't say the D as a whole has been bad; just below expectations.

Offense: A
Defense: C
ST: A

I'm torn on the defense a bit. The stats aren't good, but they've played some very good offenses and have had some weird plays happen that skew their numbers.

Ya I agree. Let's see what happens at Sac this weekend.

Sent from my DROID RAZR HD using Tapatalk

agree with all of this.

[SaxCat]

I still think the Cats will lose one of the games in California. I'm not sold on this team being as great as people are talking about until they win on the road. I'm excited that the Cats are better than I thought they would be, but I could still see them struggling away from Bozeman with the three long trips to California coming up. I'm thinking 2-1 for California as the most likely outcome and 1-2 as the worst case.

Also, I'm excited to actually go to the games in Sacramento and Davis! See you there!

[5yearfreshman]

It is so nice not to have to hide my eyes on extra point and field goals. It has been a long time since we had Big Sky Honors for our special team play ......who can put a date to that one?
A+

Not to put a jinks on our secondary but Pass interference isn't three times a game as in the past.....Flowers looks great so far...(Not that I was referring to him)

[John K]

I still think the Cats will lose one of the games in California. I'm not sold on this team being as great as people are talking about until they win on the road. I'm excited that the Cats are better than I thought they would be, but I could still see them struggling away from Bozeman with the three long trips to California coming up. I'm thinking 2-1 for California as the most likely outcome and 1-2 as the worst case.

Also, I'm excited to actually go to the games in Sacramento and Davis! See you there!

I pretty much agree with that assessment. My expectations were pretty modest going into the season...4-4/6-6 or maybe 5-3/7-5. The defense hasn't been quite as good as I expected, but the offense has been better. Prukop has certainly exceeded everyone's expectations thus far, and the WR's have also performed better than expected, although losing two of our top four for the season will be a big blow. The freshman have played very well so far, but I think you have to expect some inconsistency, with so many inexperienced players at that position.

I'm now predicting 6-2/8-4. I agree that we're likely to lose one of the Cali games, although I have no idea which one it may be, and I hate to say it, but I also think we lose in Missoula. That should get us a home game in the 1st round, but if we win that one, we'd then have to go on the road in the 2nd round. I'd be surprised if this team wins more than one playoff game, or two at the most, but I don't believe we're quite good enough to make a deep run...i.e semi-finals or better.

I also agree with you, in that I'm very interested to see how we fare on the road these next two weeks against a couple of decent, but not great teams. We can't win the BSC title, unless EWU stubs their toe somewhere along the line, which doesn't seem likely. But if we are to have any chance at finishing 2nd, and/or getting a top 8 playoff seed, then we absolutely have to win both of these next two games.

[suptscott]

Offense B+ -- Lots of promise and a lot of young talent, last weeks WR's impressed me. The O line is getting better and better, I was a little critical early, but I have been impressed the last two games. Lots of running backs with talent and they too are young however, we can't pound it like we did with Cody Kirk. Prukop is the real deal; the sky is the limit for this kid! This group just needs to play and gel and keep the coordinator for a while.

Defense B-- I feel they have played pretty good in some tough positions. Seems like the coordinator has been a little more aggressive in the play calling lately, I think that is a good thing. I thought our Linebackers would dominate a little more, but that may be scheme. I think corner play has been solid, but safety play is a struggle. The lineman work their tails off out there and we have some really good young ones coming.Have always felt the coordinator is far to conservative and vanilla, but he seems to produce.

Special Teams B+-- Lots of ability and energy in this group. Kicker and punter are strong and will continue to play a factor. Decision making has been a little shaky at times.

I just really like this team! I really like our young players and how Coach Ash is developing the program. I won't be surprised to see straight A's by the end of the season!!

[[cat_bracket]]

I still think the Cats will lose one of the games in California. I'm not sold on this team being as great as people are talking about until they win on the road. I'm excited that the Cats are better than I thought they would be, but I could still see them struggling away from Bozeman with the three long trips to California coming up. I'm thinking 2-1 for California as the most likely outcome and 1-2 as the worst case.

Also, I'm excited to actually go to the games in Sacramento and Davis! See you there!

Not sure why you think that. Law of averages? MSU has won five straight in California, including twice in 2012. Haven't lost there since 2005.

[[cat_bracket]]

Offense: A-
QB: A+. Biggest surprise of year.
Line: B-, Eekhoff D and needs a tutor.
RB's: A-. We need somebody stronger up the middle.
WR's: B+

Defense: B-. Disappointment vs. probably too high expectations.
Line: C.
Backers: B-
Secondary: A-

Spec Teams: A+

2-2 is exactly in line with what I expected. I am thinking we solid 7-4 this year and maybe, 8-3. If we play like we did last week against "better" teams, I think 6-5 or 7-4, but the competition also seems to look weaker ala Cal Poly and Sac State.

We're 3-2, not 2-2. We play 12 games, not 11, so we can't go 7-4, 8-3.

[Weltercat]

Offense A – I predicted that Dakota Prukop would struggle this season and we would find ourselves back in a qb controversy. This kid has far exceeded my expectations in every single way; I couldn’t be much more impressed. Our rb’s are deep and very good, better than I thought as well. I also think our receiver corp is good despite the loss of 5 very good pass catchers. I am so disappointed that we never really got to see Kurt Davis reach his potential. I am disappointed in the o-line. We will continue to make early exits from the playoffs without an o-line that can dominate. The griz are finding out what the bobcats learned the hard way, cleverness and great skill players are no substitute for a dominate o-line.

Defense B—I thought this defense would be a brick wall. I am still convinced that they are very good and believe they will be near the top statistically in the league by the season’s end. Our lb’s are a little rusty but god we have some great young talent coming.

Special Teams A—Shawn Johnson has been a little shaky but Luke Daly has been worth his weight in gold. Daly is going to win a ton of games for the cats over the next few years if he stays healthy. It is so very nice to have a rock solid kicker in the program.

This team has certainly far exceeded my expectations already. I predicted 8-4 from the coach’s challenge but I thought it could easily be 6-6... Like most, I’m surprised that the offense has outshined the defense at least to this point. The defense will get better as the season goes along unless we have to deal with injuries. I’m way more optimistic about the season than I was at the start.

[gtapp]

I still think the Cats will lose one of the games in California. I'm not sold on this team being as great as people are talking about until they win on the road. I'm excited that the Cats are better than I thought they would be, but I could still see them struggling away from Bozeman with the three long trips to California coming up. I'm thinking 2-1 for California as the most likely outcome and 1-2 as the worst case.

Also, I'm excited to actually go to the games in Sacramento and Davis! See you there!

Not sure why you think that. Law of averages? MSU has won five straight in California, including twice in 2012. Haven't lost there since 2005.

The last time we beat Cal Poly was what the 60's? Sac has always been close games when at Sac and Davis has been an issue at Davis. So yes either 2-1 or 1-2 in CA. My guess 2-1.

[gtapp]

Offense: Must better than expected. O-line has had some good moments but as a whole average. Young WR's need to step up, they are all we have left.

Defense: Average: No pass rush. DT's have played pretty good. LB have been a slight disappointment (Moore has been great). Will have to blitz more to put pressure on the QB.

ST: Excellent!

[luckyirishguy25]

I think most people are being way to kind.

Offense: B
The loss Flotk, hurts as he was really our only experienced receiver, some younger kids are going to have to get up to speed quickly to help get this O rolling again. Even with the Freshman, there's still enough talent to put a ton of points on the board . What we really need is to put our offense through blocking drills for a majority of the practice and hammer in the importance of, if you didn't get the ball then go make a FING BLOCK! mentality.

Defense: C
With the huge experience of this group, this is the biggest surprise and letdown. While its not a total loss the plus side is the secondary is getting better and better each game, Flowers is a BEAST, he might get some NFL looks. I wish the DL was getting better and better, but they're not. most of the starters have had flashes, but no one has really put together a dominate game. Coe tries but his football IQ seems low because he's always 2 steps behind the play and then will top it off with a late hit. Marino looks like he's always trying to manhandle his blockers, he apparently needs to learn some moves. The LB corps has been good, but I don't think they're the best in the Big Sky group we thought they we're, Singleton is a Stud minded you, but Na'a still looks rusty and a shadow of his former self.

ST: A
Punting and Kicking has been a good surprise for us, the only place I see to improve is cleaning up mistakes and making better blocks and it would be A+

[[cat_bracket]]

I still think the Cats will lose one of the games in California. I'm not sold on this team being as great as people are talking about until they win on the road. I'm excited that the Cats are better than I thought they would be, but I could still see them struggling away from Bozeman with the three long trips to California coming up. I'm thinking 2-1 for California as the most likely outcome and 1-2 as the worst case.

Also, I'm excited to actually go to the games in Sacramento and Davis! See you there!

Not sure why you think that. Law of averages? MSU has won five straight in California, including twice in 2012. Haven't lost there since 2005.

The last time we beat Cal Poly was what the 60's? Sac has always been close games when at Sac and Davis has been an issue at Davis. So yes either 2-1 or 1-2 in CA. My guess 2-1.

1960? Since you've established yourself as someone unwilling to look anything up on your own, I'll inform you that the last time we beat CPSLO was 1996. We've lost 7 straight since then with the last coming in 2005.

[John K]

I still think the Cats will lose one of the games in California. I'm not sold on this team being as great as people are talking about until they win on the road. I'm excited that the Cats are better than I thought they would be, but I could still see them struggling away from Bozeman with the three long trips to California coming up. I'm thinking 2-1 for California as the most likely outcome and 1-2 as the worst case.

Also, I'm excited to actually go to the games in Sacramento and Davis! See you there!

Not sure why you think that. Law of averages? MSU has won five straight in California, including twice in 2012. Haven't lost there since 2005.

The last time we beat Cal Poly was what the 60's? Sac has always been close games when at Sac and Davis has been an issue at Davis. So yes either 2-1 or 1-2 in CA. My guess 2-1.

1960? Since you've established yourself as someone unwilling to look anything up on your own, I'll inform you that the last time we beat CPSLO was 1996. We've lost 7 straight since then with the last coming in 2005.

OK, but that's still almost 20 years ago, and 7 straight losses is a significant losing streak. If you're looking for good omens though, we had lost 7 straight to EWU before pounding them 30-7 in 2010, so maybe 7 is our magic "streak breaking" number. My prediction that we'll lose 1 of the 3 Cali games isn't really based upon historical data though. I just think that even though we should be favored against all three teams, I believe all of them are good enough to beat us if we aren't at our best, or at least very close to it. The odds would suggest that we may be just enough "off" in one of the three games, so that one of those teams will bite us. We don't have any bottom dwellers on our road schedule this year. All of our "gimme" games are at home.

[catatac]

I still think the Cats will lose one of the games in California. I'm not sold on this team being as great as people are talking about until they win on the road. I'm excited that the Cats are better than I thought they would be, but I could still see them struggling away from Bozeman with the three long trips to California coming up. I'm thinking 2-1 for California as the most likely outcome and 1-2 as the worst case.

Also, I'm excited to actually go to the games in Sacramento and Davis! See you there!

Not sure why you think that. Law of averages? MSU has won five straight in California, including twice in 2012. Haven't lost there since 2005.

The last time we beat Cal Poly was what the 60's? Sac has always been close games when at Sac and Davis has been an issue at Davis. So yes either 2-1 or 1-2 in CA. My guess 2-1.

1960? Since you've established yourself as someone unwilling to look anything up on your own, I'll inform you that the last time we beat CPSLO was 1996. We've lost 7 straight since then with the last coming in 2005.

OK, but that's still almost 20 years ago, and 7 straight losses is a significant losing streak. If you're looking for good omens though, we had lost 7 straight to EWU before pounding them 30-7 in 2010, so maybe 7 is our magic "streak breaking" number. My prediction that we'll lose 1 of the 3 Cali games isn't really based upon historical data though. I just think that even though we should be favored against all three teams, I believe all of them are good enough to beat us if we aren't at our best, or at least very close to it. The odds would suggest that we may be just enough "off" in one of the three games, so that one of those teams will bite us. We don't have any bottom dwellers on our road schedule this year. All of our "gimme" games are at home.

I'm not sure about that, but we'll see. I'm still pretty amazed that Sac got pummeled by... ISU? EWU beat UC Davis way worse than us, and Cal Poly looks to be struggling as well. Not sure where they'll all end up when the dust settles. Having said all that, I'm not trying to disrespect any of those three programs and it's not always easy to travel to CA and win. However, Ash coached teams usually seem to do very well on the road. I think the stats back me up on that but I'm too lazy to look them up.

[catman50]

I still think the Cats will lose one of the games in California. I'm not sold on this team being as great as people are talking about until they win on the road. I'm excited that the Cats are better than I thought they would be, but I could still see them struggling away from Bozeman with the three long trips to California coming up. I'm thinking 2-1 for California as the most likely outcome and 1-2 as the worst case.

Also, I'm excited to actually go to the games in Sacramento and Davis! See you there!

Not sure why you think that. Law of averages? MSU has won five straight in California, including twice in 2012. Haven't lost there since 2005.

The last time we beat Cal Poly was what the 60's? Sac has always been close games when at Sac and Davis has been an issue at Davis. So yes either 2-1 or 1-2 in CA. My guess 2-1.

1960? Since you've established yourself as someone unwilling to look anything up on your own, I'll inform you that the last time we beat CPSLO was 1996. We've lost 7 straight since then with the last coming in 2005.

OK, but that's still almost 20 years ago, and 7 straight losses is a significant losing streak. If you're looking for good omens though, we had lost 7 straight to EWU before pounding them 30-7 in 2010, so maybe 7 is our magic "streak breaking" number. My prediction that we'll lose 1 of the 3 Cali games isn't really based upon historical data though. I just think that even though we should be favored against all three teams, I believe all of them are good enough to beat us if we aren't at our best, or at least very close to it. The odds would suggest that we may be just enough "off" in one of the three games, so that one of those teams will bite us. We don't have any bottom dwellers on our road schedule this year. All of our "gimme" games are at home.

I'm not sure about that, but we'll see. I'm still pretty amazed that Sac got pummeled by... ISU? EWU beat UC Davis way worse than us, and Cal Poly looks to be struggling as well. Not sure where they'll all end up when the dust settles. Having said all that, I'm not trying to disrespect any of those three programs and it's not always easy to travel to CA and win. However, Ash coached teams usually seem to do very well on the road. I think the stats back me up on that but I'm too lazy to look them up.

I will be at the game both this weekend and next. Will you?