KEYS:
1) REDUCE PENALTIES - We have kept so many teams alive with Personal Foul type penalties (Facemask etc.). We need to get our defense OFF the field as quick as we can so these type penalties are killers for our defense (especially until we can get some depth back). Also, holding calls are another killer for this team. Our offense is good and can move the chains but it can be killed by our own guys by holding. DRIVE STOPPERS. We cut down on penalties we will should score 30+ points a game with this offense every week.
2) TURNOVERS. I agree that 2 of the 3 INT's were not Lulay's fault. 1 was tipped so throw that out as a statistic that is due to how many times we pass the ball etc. The other 2 (Gatewood needs to hang on) and Lulay was rushed etc. I think Lulay will bounce back on this one and hopefully it won't be raing in Portland. All in all, a pretty good passing day for Lulay in the rain in Weber. He had some passes that were right on the money 75% of the time.
3) SPECIAL TEAMS (POOCH KICKING). Enough of giving the oppossing offense the ball on the 35+ every time we kick off. That is giving them way too many yards each play. If we are going to continue to pooch the ball, then kick it out of bounds. Everytime we pooch it, it seems they get more than 35 yards anyway. Kick the ball and let Gathing tear someone's head off. In my opinion we've given up more scoring by pooching than the risk of kicking it to a return guy to go back for 7 on us. Are they doing this to keep other team's drive's shorter and not fatigue our defense? Makes you wonder on this. I am not a big fan of the pooch kick.
4) EXECUTE - Our players need to take it ONE DOWN at a time. On offense, relax and have fun. I sometimes feel like they are too tight sometimes and afraid to make the mistake etc. Relax, have fun out there and our offense will start to become a machine. In NAU game last year once we got a big lead our team relaxed and had fun. We caught everything in site ... BLOWOUT. So MSU skill guys. Relax, have fun, and be sharp! Make the play because we know we have the skill guys out there to put points up in bunches on people.
5) PLAY AS A UNIT - Win the individual battles up front. Wr's need to block/TE need to block etc. Our team is only as good as each single player on the team. If we win the battles man for man with PSU we will win this game. I like our matchups on Offense against their defense, but we need our WR's to block and stay with it so we can pop off some big plays for our RB's/QB's if they get through the line. Kudo's to Murray and Gatewood and Guinn this past week as I saw some really good WR blocking in the 2nd half. We need to continue to do that and make their secondary/LB's fight for every inch to try and make the tackle on us. On Defense, we need to be smart and make the right reads at the line. Our run defense seems to get better as the game goes on so we need to be able to read the play and react faster and WRAP UP. About 25% of the run plays I have seen this year we have guys in position to make the tackle, but they do not wrap up. If we improve on our tackling our run defense improves at least 25-35%. Just remember D, even though it's an away game and our crowd cannot be with you. That there are many bars/households across Montana that are screaming in full force for you before and after the play (keep that in mind each and every play). When you make an exciting PLAY on defense, those bars are going NUTS!! So we are there!!
