Is Travis the Travis we know and love?

catsrback76 · Post by **catsrback76** » Mon Oct 10, 2005 1:32 pm

I am interested in what you all think. Is Travis Lulay the Travis we have come to know and love?

Clearly he carried the team through Weber BUT...

--- he seems to key in on one reciever and go with him rather than checking down on other reads.
--- he seems to want to run more than ever (last week we won with it but we won't next week).
---his passing has not been that sharp at times. His TD to INT percentages are not that impressive. He seems to be forcing it at times.
--- his touch on sideline passes has been there at times, but why don't Murray, Gatewood and Guinn have more downfield numbers?

I am a huge Lulay fan and his record speaks for itself--but he seems to be running at 75% this year ( other than the SFA game). Your thoughts?

CARDIAC_CATS · Post by **CARDIAC_CATS** » Mon Oct 10, 2005 1:39 pm

Lack of consistent running game = everything all on Lulay. That is why he is running at around 75% right now. Teams coming in game plan for the passing game and try and shut us down. When you have drops by the receivers and or TIPS/INT's it stalls your drives and you get behind. Couple that with Penalties and you know the picture. Time to spray in some CARB CLEANER and get this HEMI of an offense moving this week. I think we do just that.

grizsuck24 · Post by **grizsuck24** » Mon Oct 10, 2005 2:13 pm

lack of O coordinator is why he is running at 75% right now. I still feel that we have too much talent on offense not to be putting up at least 30-40 pts/game.

mquast53000 · Post by **mquast53000** » Mon Oct 10, 2005 2:19 pm

catsrback76 wrote:I am interested in what you all think. Is Travis Lulay the Travis we have come to know and love?

Clearly he carried the team through Weber BUT...

--- he seems to key in on one reciever and go with him rather than checking down on other reads.
--- he seems to want to run more than ever (last week we won with it but we won't next week).
---his passing has not been that sharp at times. His TD to INT percentages are not that impressive. He seems to be forcing it at times.
--- his touch on sideline passes has been there at times, but why don't Murray, Gatewood and Guinn have more downfield numbers?

I am a huge Lulay fan and his record speaks for itself--but he seems to be running at 75% this year ( other than the SFA game). Your thoughts?

When it seems that Lulay keys in on one player it is usually because he has. When he drops back only 3 steps he is suppose to get rid of the ball, and he has a 1st read and a 2nd read. The ball is going to one of those two players. I think you might have also posted that because you were thinking about all the balls going to Gatewood, and he subsequently dropped some of those passes. Gatewood got the ball thrown to him because he was getting open. Lulay’s job is just to get the ball to the open receiver, and it is the coach’s job to take the receiver out if he isn’t catching the ball.

Lulay ran the ball a lot because Weber was playing a lot of man-to-man coverage. The receivers were running the secondary deep down field, so Lulay took off with the ball. Better to run with the ball then trying to throw it into double coverage (especially when you end the game with over 100 yards).

The defenses are playing the pass, and so that is making the coverage a lot tighter on our receivers. Lulay is making the same passes he always has, but now no one is worried about our running game so they are tightening up their pass defense and this is allowing little room for errors.

Lulay is not a deep ball thrower. He is more of an accurate short range passer. He can go deep, but with our receivers being double covered short passes are going to be safer.

Lulay’s game will be much better with the development of a running attack. Now we just have to hope that one will emerge very soon, so that the pressure can be taken off of Lulay.

catsrback76 · Post by **catsrback76** » Mon Oct 10, 2005 2:22 pm

grizsuck24 wrote:lack of O coordinator is why he is running at 75% right now. I still feel that we have too much talent on offense not to be putting up at least 30-40 pts/game.

I'm with you here. I think there is a coming out of Travis Lulay yet to be seen. Last week was pure heart--- I want to see him get surgical with the offense that we have. There is talent on this team that has not yet been tapped and Travis may have to WILL IT OUT just like last weeks game. But it will take him not doing it all by himself.

I think it could be a simple issue of frustration that has built knowing that we have the talent and have not yet fully connected to it all. M Bass coming back will make the Offense deadly.

Platinumcat · Post by **Platinumcat** » Mon Oct 10, 2005 2:26 pm

Lulay’s game will be much better with the development of a running attack. Now we just have to hope that one will emerge very soon, so that the pressure can be taken off of Lulay.[/quote]

so true, so true

Helcat72 · Post by **Helcat72** » Mon Oct 10, 2005 3:07 pm

catsrback76 wrote:
grizsuck24 wrote:lack of O coordinator is why he is running at 75% right now. I still feel that we have too much talent on offense not to be putting up at least 30-40 pts/game.
I'm with you here. I think there is a coming out of Travis Lulay yet to be seen. Last week was pure heart--- I want to see him get surgical with the offense that we have. There is talent on this team that has not yet been tapped and Travis may have to WILL IT OUT just like last weeks game. But it will take him not doing it all by himself.

I think it could be a simple issue of frustration that has built knowing that we have the talent and have not yet fully connected to it all. M Bass coming back will make the Offense deadly.

Weber was using 6 defensive backs the whole game with 4 down linemen and one linebacker. The defensive backfield looked like two chorus lines out there. Travis definitely didn't have a lot of time to look for second and third receivers!

iaafan · Post by **iaafan** » Mon Oct 10, 2005 3:22 pm

Defensive coords. are (and should be) giving quarterbacks like Lulay different looks to try to confuse them. It's working a little bit, but not too much. It has kept three teams (NDSU, ISU and WSU) in the game this year.

WSU was obviously in great shape to win, but the fact is that WSU is not that good. That's why they couldn't hold the lead and it's why they didn't beat UM. They could've won both, but didn't get either because when the chips were down they couldn't perform. But someday they will.

Lulay needs to go on the field knowing that he's going to get a new look each week and he probably does just that. He figures out what will work as the game goes on. One of these weeks he'll figure it out on the first drive and roll.

I wouldn't be too disatisfied with MSU's performances so far. Teams are game planning for Lulay and other than Cal Poly no one has been successful for four quarters. It's not like the Def. Coords. are worried about MSU's running game.

gtapp · Post by **gtapp** » Mon Oct 10, 2005 3:44 pm

Actually I think it is the other way around. This is the "normal" Travis. Outside of the last five games of last year this is how Travis has been his whole career. He has never been real accurate, he is streaky, doesn't throw alot of deep balls and you never know what he is going to do next (and neither does the other team).

CelticCat · Post by **CelticCat** » Mon Oct 10, 2005 4:09 pm

gtapp wrote:Actually I think it is the other way around. This is the "normal" Travis. Outside of the last five games of last year this is how Travis has been his whole career. He has never been real accurate, he is streaky, doesn't throw alot of deep balls and you never know what he is going to do next (and neither does the other team).

I agree with gtapp. I have never thought Lulay to be a great pure passer. But he is the best leader, athlete, and playmaker I have ever seen.

grizzh8r · Post by **grizzh8r** » Tue Oct 11, 2005 12:22 am

catsrback76 wrote:I am interested in what you all think. Is Travis Lulay the Travis we have come to know and love?

Clearly he carried the team through Weber BUT...

1--- he seems to key in on one reciever and go with him rather than checking down on other reads.
2--- he seems to want to run more than ever (last week we won with it but we won't next week).
3---his passing has not been that sharp at times. His TD to INT percentages are not that impressive. He seems to be forcing it at times.
4--- his touch on sideline passes has been there at times, but why don't Murray, Gatewood and Guinn have more downfield numbers?

I am a huge Lulay fan and his record speaks for itself--but he seems to be running at 75% this year ( other than the SFA game). Your thoughts?

1 - I don't see him keying in on one receiver. He has spread the wealth around so far this season. Gatewood has 285 yds, Guinn 240, Murray 510, Miller 67, Bass 64, JD 121. Murray has 510 because he has played in all 6 games this year, and was the best receiver we had for the first 3 games. Gatewood would have well over 300 yards if he caught those 2 TD's last saturday, and the other 2 drops.

2 - His stats for rushing thru 6 games are 4, 106, 4, 46, 26, and 142 yds. He took what the D gave him in the SFA game, and last game he had to do what he did. I don't think he "wants to run more than ever", he is just taking what teams give him. He is more patient in the pocket this year than any of the 3 previous years, IMO.

3 - He should have 10 TD's at this point (Gatewoods 2 drops last game), and four (by my count) of the INT's he has thrown this year were not his fault (2 vs SFA, 2 @ WSU). As to forcing the ball, See #2 (patience). He makes very few bad descisions on his passes. No QB is perfect, all will miss a throw or two. Some of the blame must be put on recievers too, after all, he can only throw the ball.

4 - From the games I have seen and heard, his deep ball seems fine to me. He has had a couple overthrows, but I would rather they were overthrown than underthrown (INT's). Again, he can only throw the ball. The recievers have to catch it. Just in case you didnt know, Murry trails only Kimble for the league lead in receiving yards this year, by a measly 13 yards...

As to the 75% thing, I do think he is limited by the playcalling, but know this: he plays at 110% every game. Balls to the wall, all out is his style, and that is why we currently sit at 4-2 atop the Big Sky!

/endrant

Just my 2 centavos worth on our QB. My thinking is, why critique him when you should be sitting back and enjoying his last season in Blue and Gold. We may not see the likes of him for years to come. Go lulay and GO CATS!

catsrback76 · Post by **catsrback76** » Tue Oct 11, 2005 7:22 am

Great Points 8'ter. My questions were not critiques and disappointment but rather observations of what appear to be tendencies.

I do understand the issues he fights-- obviously quite well. Travis is THE Quarterback we've always wanted. There are none better.

My thoughts were centered around some tendencies that I have seen that I beleive are more "frustrations" on his end with the offense which has self destructed far too much for this time of year. My thought are that Travis really hasn't had HIS game come together yet-- and when he does look out. It is going to be fun.

BTW: Am enjoying his 110% efforts and am waiting for the cast to come to play and see the full picture form around him.

BobcatBlood · Post by **BobcatBlood** » Tue Oct 11, 2005 8:32 am

For Travis to have been able to do what he has done this year, with EVERY opponent we've played game-planning completely around him, is incredible.

Having said that, I agree that he's been a little out of sync. I can't help but think that all the penalties and discipline things are throwing EVERYONE a little out of sync. Everytime we get a few plays strung together without any penalities, everyone gets a little sharper.

The key to the rest of our season is limiting the stupid, drive stopping, defense killing penalites.

WE are way too smart and talented and CAPABLE of playing clean to keep this sloppy play going.

I'm a Kramer fan, but HE is the guy who has got to make these players step up their game from a "thinking" standpoint.

If they clean up those errors, we will run the table.

Is Travis the Travis we know and love?

Is Travis the Travis we know and love?

Re: Is Travis the Travis we know and love?

Re: Is Travis the Travis we know and love?

Re: Is Travis the Travis we know and love?