APP State is good

crazycat · Post by **crazycat** » Sat Dec 02, 2006 9:13 pm

We hung in there with a damn good team. I don't see anyone beating them. Sorry UM. These guys could've beat us by 40 had we not forced some miscues in thesecond. Still they beat us by 21. We shot ourselves in the foot a lot, as did they. We didn't help ourselves with that punt right into their guy and the bad coaching desisions.

We've got a ton of talent coming back for next year. Can't wait.

We need better QB play or a better QB. Maybe Rassmussen is the answer, maybe Jack or Cory will improve or maybe we get a transfer. We also need a new offensive coordinator, because I think the players have no faith in Bailey and you can't function without that.

But hats off to ASU, they're for real. Glad we hung with them and fought back.

1BadBobcat · Post by **1BadBobcat** » Sat Dec 02, 2006 9:17 pm

Yeah, I agree ASU is a very good team. However, I think Youngstown State will give them a very good run, and if it happens, I think the Griz will beat them on a neutral field.

LuvMaroon · Post by **LuvMaroon** » Sat Dec 02, 2006 9:26 pm

I watched your game on Espn2 and I agree they are very good. I also agree they could have beat you by 40 today.

I do not, however, think they are unbeatable. Because they pounded you at their house, I know you feel they are too good for anyone else, including UM.

Here is why I feel we have a better chance against them than the Cats:
1) Our QB is better than Rolovich, quite a bit better.
2) Even though your D is good, ours is better, and faster, which is the one thing that can give their offense trouble, speed on D.
3) We will play them on a neutral field, not on theirs.

I am not saying that the Griz will beat Appy for sure, but I do believe it would be a great NC, and I know we can beat them!!

Htowngriz · Post by **Htowngriz** » Sat Dec 02, 2006 9:56 pm

LuvMaroon wrote:I watched your game on Espn2 and I agree they are very good. I also agree they could have beat you by 40 today.

I do not, however, think they are unbeatable. Because they pounded you at their house, I know you feel they are too good for anyone else, including UM.

Here is why I feel we have a better chance against them than the Cats:
1) Our QB is better than Rolovich, quite a bit better.
2) Even though your D is good, ours is better, and faster, which is the one thing that can give their offense trouble, speed on D.
3) We will play them on a neutral field, not on theirs.

I am not saying that the Griz will beat Appy for sure, but I do believe it would be a great NC, and I know we can beat them!!

Let's focus on UMass for now

Citizen Griz · Post by **Citizen Griz** » Sat Dec 02, 2006 10:17 pm

I thought MSU had their chances to win that game. I know the Cats' stats weren't stellar, but MSU was within striking distance when Jefferson threw that pick. You erase that SNAFU and the Rolovich's turnover in the shadow of his own goalpost and the game isn't as lopsided as the final score suggests.
It wasn't your offense's best game, but the D did well considering some of the holes it was put in.

crazycat · Post by **crazycat** » Sun Dec 03, 2006 8:37 am

LuvMaroon wrote:I watched your game on Espn2 and I agree they are very good. I also agree they could have beat you by 40 today.

I do not, however, think they are unbeatable. Because they pounded you at their house, I know you feel they are too good for anyone else, including UM.

Here is why I feel we have a better chance against them than the Cats:
1) Our QB is better than Rolovich, quite a bit better.
2) Even though your D is good, ours is better, and faster, which is the one thing that can give their offense trouble, speed on D.
3) We will play them on a neutral field, not on theirs.

I am not saying that the Griz will beat Appy for sure, but I do believe it would be a great NC, and I know we can beat them!!

OK, no one's unbeatable, but they didn't play their best (four unsportsmanlike penalties and three TOs) and still beat us by 21. I doubt UM makes the stupid mistakes we made or gets a punt blocked, but even without that stuff and all their own mistakes they still would've beat us.

1) I agree Swogs is better than Rolo, but what sticks out is that Rolo was sacked seven times. Remember Swogs was sacked second most in the nation this year.

2) Your D is slightly better and faster than ours, not much. Stats don't tell the whole story, but you were better statistically. It's not as fast as ASU's and will be the best you've seen since Iowa.

3) Playing them on a neutral field takes more away from UM that it does from ASU. The home field wasn't much of a factor in this game.

For you to win, you have to have big plays on offense and you have to force turnovers. If you don't do both, you won't win. ASU gave up the ball and the big play all year.

Cat Grad · Post by **Cat Grad** » Sun Dec 03, 2006 10:28 am

Although I'll never accept anything being called a moral victory, I'd like to call yesterday a definite positive: our kids lined up and went toe to toe with the defending national champions (who unfortunately get the honor of playing another solid team next week) and finally settled down midway through the first quarter after the shell shock of being there wore off.

We've examined the failed gadget plays, but haven't spent much time looking at basics, or the lack thereof and why. Suppose Daly falls on their first fumble instead of trying to pick it up while he's setting on the ground and they don't get new life and go down and score? What point in the game did our kids realize they had to tackle in addition to playing their position?

Ape State is good and should they go on and win the national championship, we'll take a little consolation in the fact that the new power on the block actually had a game by the future new kid on the block

Let's get ready for a revisit with Dennis in College Station--I don't think he has a very good record against the Cats from his years in the Southland. Oh, has anyone mentioned that we were finally able to get a couple extra weeks of practice in? That's the equivalent of an entire spring!

Cat Grad · Post by **Cat Grad** » Sun Dec 03, 2006 10:29 am

Although I'll never accept anything being called a moral victory, I'd like to call yesterday a definite positive: our kids lined up and went toe to toe with the defending national champions (who unfortunately get the honor of playing another solid team next week) and finally settled down midway through the first quarter after the shell shock of being there wore off.

We've examined the failed gadget plays, but haven't spent much time looking at basics, or the lack thereof and why. Suppose Daly falls on their first fumble instead of trying to pick it up while he's setting on the ground and they don't get new life and go down and score? What point in the game did our kids realize they had to tackle in addition to playing their position?

Ape State is good and should they go on and win the national championship, we'll take a little consolation in the fact that the new power on the block actually had a game by the future new kid on the block

Let's get ready for a revisit with Dennis in College Station--I don't think he has a very good record against the Cats from his years in the Southland. Oh, has anyone mentioned that we were finally able to get a couple extra weeks of practice in? That's the equivalent of an entire spring!

sandm1 · Post by **sandm1** » Sun Dec 03, 2006 1:20 pm

LuvMaroon wrote:I watched your game on Espn2 and I agree they are very good. I also agree they could have beat you by 40 today.

I do not, however, think they are unbeatable. Because they pounded you at their house, I know you feel they are too good for anyone else, including UM.

Here is why I feel we have a better chance against them than the Cats:
1) Our QB is better than Rolovich, quite a bit better.
2) Even though your D is good, ours is better, and faster, which is the one thing that can give their offense trouble, speed on D.
3) We will play them on a neutral field, not on theirs.

I am not saying that the Griz will beat Appy for sure, but I do believe it would be a great NC, and I know we can beat them!!

Finley Stadium may be a neutral field, but ASU does play there every other year. Chattanooga is in the SoCon. But, first there is YSU and UMASS to get through.

gofurman · Post by **gofurman** » Sun Dec 03, 2006 4:08 pm

Furman guy here. I want ASU out but to respond to some of the comments I have seen:

- I do think ASU is best in the nation

- You saw their sack ability today and they have a DE from last year on the Packers roster (with our QB). So, last year they definitely had even more sack ability! Their current #44 probably makes a pro roster as a DE. I think Rolo was sick of seeing him. SO that means last year BOTH DEs were PRO ! Unbelievable - most 1A teams cannot say that. To the Montana guys, if your OL can't stop QB pressure you will be in for a LONG day against App. Heck, they won the NC last year on DE pressure alone. Basically scored 14 of their 21 points of TOs by hitting the QB repeatedly.

- Their OL is nasty. As you saw you can sometimes get to their QB (true Fr) and make him fumble but they can create huge holes for the running game. As close as you held the score for awhile they put up a lot of pts and yards by the end and you have a very good D.

In short I believe the game is won in the trenches and their OL and DL are awesome. I hope someone can knock them out.

crazycat · Post by **crazycat** » Sun Dec 03, 2006 4:40 pm

I hear ya Furman guy. The GRiz are getting betting as the playoffs go, so maybe they haven't peaked yet. But I wonder just how good the McNeese and So. Illinois defenses are. As good as ASU? I don't know much about UMass, but that might shed some light on whether or not UM is improving. They are so hard to gauge because they play so well at home. Their fans make it tough. With all the sucess they've had I think they've only won 2 playoff games away from Wash-Griz Stadium. I think if UMass has a pretty good defense, they will have a good chance of winning. I don't see YSU winning at ASU. I doubt they do much better than we did, but I'm sure the final score will be closer.

Just looked it up and UMass is #9 nationally on D, while SIU was 41 and McNeese was 60, so we'll see how UM does against UMass. If they can move it on there D, then I'd say they have a shot against ASU, which is #11.

BobcatBlood · Post by **BobcatBlood** » Mon Dec 04, 2006 1:51 pm

I think the Griz win on a neutral field. Rolo got sacked because he held on to the ball too long. The field got shorter because he didn't see the wide open receivers... frequently, wide open receivers.

I couldn't have done better than Rolo. He is a great kid and I'm glad he's a Bobcat.

Griz win if they meet, I hope.

FiveApples · Post by **FiveApples** » Mon Dec 04, 2006 2:06 pm

LuvMaroon wrote:I watched your game on Espn2 and I agree they are very good. I also agree they could have beat you by 40 today.

I do not, however, think they are unbeatable. Because they pounded you at their house, I know you feel they are too good for anyone else, including UM.

Here is why I feel we have a better chance against them than the Cats:
1) Our QB is better than Rolovich, quite a bit better.
2) Even though your D is good, ours is better, and faster, which is the one thing that can give their offense trouble, speed on D.
3) We will play them on a neutral field, not on theirs.

I am not saying that the Griz will beat Appy for sure, but I do believe it would be a great NC, and I know we can beat them!!

Hold on a second; you're talking like you rolled over us. You didn't, athough you did win. Give some credit where credit is due (I know its hard, but you can do it). Also, I don't think the APP field had anything to do with it, since we also played a great game in Missoula (or are you saying you would have lost had the game been played in Bozeman).

Honestly, we did not play well Saturday. I can admit that. Personally, I don't think APP played up to their ranking either. We stayed pretty close for most of the game regardless of our shortcomings, and I still believe we showed why it was a good choice to put MSU into the playoffs. To sum it up, the No 1 team beat the No 18 team.

Now, as a State of Montana football fan, I do think UM will beat APP, if APP makes it, if UM makes it, and if APP plays the way they did against us.

Now, goto egriz and spread the word that there are Bobcats rooting for you, and that they can stop with the BS kitty talk already.

El_Gato · Post by **El_Gato** » Mon Dec 04, 2006 2:14 pm

The Griz right now remind me a lot of this season's Chicago Bears: Their D and special teams go on the field every game EXPECTING to score at least once per game.

If their offense manages to score, that's gravy but when you have a D that KNOWS they'll give up 10 or less, they figure they've already won most games. I was actually surprised that the Griz only put 20 points on the board vs the Salukis; I figured they'd score at least 30.

It's obvious that the Griz D is WAY ahead of their O and that should be troubling against ASU outside of WaGriz. The way Appy played Saturday, I really find it hard to believe the Griz O can score more than 2 touchdowns on their own against ASU's D. That means, as in many of their games this season, for the Griz to beat ASU, they'd definitely need their D & special teams to either score or set up the O with great field position to win.

If they meet in the title game, I'd expect to see a low-scoring slugfest ala Cat/Griz.