IS UM any good?

[tdub]

Cats win today vs PSU confirms it. MSU is now a passing team. My mistake.

With about 250 yards on the ground and less than that through the air? Run plays 2-1 over pass? I’m curious why today’s game confirmed that in your head?

[TomCat88]

Cats win today vs PSU confirms it. MSU is now a passing team. My mistake.

With about 250 yards on the ground and less than that through the air? Run plays 2-1 over pass? I’m curious why today’s game confirmed that in your head?

He’s saying MSU can now pass and run. So it’s a passing and running team, instead of just a running team.

[Montanabob]

As much as I’d love to see it, it just doesn’t make sense to play a talented Freshman over a very capable Senior.

Good point. Chip Kelly made the same mistake of starting a talented R-FR named Marcus Mariota over his two-year capable starter R-SR Darron Thomas and it didn’t turn out very well at all. Bobby is making all the right moves. Oh, wait…

And yes, the Griz are very good. So are the Bobcats.

I’d say Oregon was in a slightly different position competing for a championship in 2012 than Montana in 2021. Every game has huge ramifications for a P5 school.

Griz are a contender with either Humphrey or Brown at QB.

Yes. The Cats are a very good, championship caliber team. It’s the strongest, most athletic team I’ve ever seen at MSU. I hope the Griz can stop their run game. We shall see.

So far everyone has done a decent job stopping the run game. I'm not sure you're actually paying attention. (hint: the Cats are a passing team now)

Against USD the Cats rushed for over 300 yards, Passing was only 235, We will see what happens in the next few weeks, but I think our run game is going to be just fine.

Take out runs over 40 yards and the average isn't very good at all.

Just as well make up your own stat then so it fits the narrative.

My point is if you take out 3 runs, our average run was under 2 yards/run. That is not a strong rushing game by any standards.

So again we have trouble consistently running except for long runs. Something needs to happen on the oline and running plays. Too many stops at the line of scrimmage to be an effective running team.

[Bobcat4Ever]

Cats win today vs PSU confirms it. MSU is now a passing team. My mistake.

Check with Isaiah for confirmation.

[TomCat88]

That's a tough game to evaluate UM with. They seemed to struggle to move the ball and it wasn't a good game for them, statistically. But when you have three returns for TDs it skews the stats. Then you have CP moving the ball, but missing FGs. So. Dakota played at CP last week and racked up 615 yards, but UM only had 354 (again that's skewed a bit by the returns) at home.

[griz5700]

Joking about you guys being a passing team now. Someone told me earlier this week on here that MSU is now a passing team..

When you got a guy like Ifanse, you run the damn ball. Impressive day for him.

PSU isn’t a terrible team. Alexander is a decent QB and they have a couple good receivers. The closer the game got, I went from thinking a 14-17pt win for the cats to taking PSU at +10.5. Figured an afternoon game in the Portland suburbs and coming off Drake and San Diego, PSU may make it tight. Solid road win for you guys.

[cats2506]

As much as I’d love to see it, it just doesn’t make sense to play a talented Freshman over a very capable Senior.

Good point. Chip Kelly made the same mistake of starting a talented R-FR named Marcus Mariota over his two-year capable starter R-SR Darron Thomas and it didn’t turn out very well at all. Bobby is making all the right moves. Oh, wait…

And yes, the Griz are very good. So are the Bobcats.

I’d say Oregon was in a slightly different position competing for a championship in 2012 than Montana in 2021. Every game has huge ramifications for a P5 school.

Griz are a contender with either Humphrey or Brown at QB.

Yes. The Cats are a very good, championship caliber team. It’s the strongest, most athletic team I’ve ever seen at MSU. I hope the Griz can stop their run game. We shall see.

So far everyone has done a decent job stopping the run game. I'm not sure you're actually paying attention. (hint: the Cats are a passing team now)

Against USD the Cats rushed for over 300 yards, Passing was only 235, We will see what happens in the next few weeks, but I think our run game is going to be just fine.

Take out runs over 40 yards and the average isn't very good at all.

Just as well make up your own stat then so it fits the narrative.

My point is if you take out 3 runs, our average run was under 2 yards/run. That is not a strong rushing game by any standards.

But then it wouldn't be an "average" would it?
tdub has an idea to evaluate runs in 2 different categories, but you still cant ignore one of the catagories.

The run game is a lot like a boxing match, the jab doesn't do much, but it keeps the opponent honest, the body shot isn't going win the fight right away either, but they have a cumulative effect. You keep the jab going and keep throwing body shots and eventually a power shot will open up. After the fight people will say that he was knocked out by a right hook, but in reality that right hook wouldn't have happened without being set up by the jabs and the body shots.

Ifanse's interview said just that, they knew that they would have runs for zero gain or a loss, they also knew that they would get openings for big runs. It is the nature of the defense PSU plays. https://406mtsports.com/college/big-sky ... 8470b.html


Taking the big run play out and saying that it isn't the result of the previous run plays that went for little or no gain is disingenuous at best.

[John K]

That's a tough game to evaluate UM with. They seemed to struggle to move the ball and it wasn't a good game for them, statistically. But when you have three returns for TDs it skews the stats. Then you have CP moving the ball, but missing FGs. So. Dakota played at CP last week and racked up 615 yards, but UM only had 354 (again that's skewed a bit by the returns) at home.

Agreed...about being tough to evaluate them based on that game. Turnovers are part of the game obviously, and it's impressive that their defense and ST sorta bailed them out, after a somewhat lackluster performance by their offense. Good teams do things like that. However, the fact remains that they were outgained in total yards by the worst team in the BSC, according to the Sagarin ratings, and at home no less. I think they are a good team, with a very good defense, but I also think they may be a bit overrated.

[iaafan]

That's a tough game to evaluate UM with. They seemed to struggle to move the ball and it wasn't a good game for them, statistically. But when you have three returns for TDs it skews the stats. Then you have CP moving the ball, but missing FGs. So. Dakota played at CP last week and racked up 615 yards, but UM only had 354 (again that's skewed a bit by the returns) at home.

Agreed...about being tough to evaluate them based on that game. Turnovers are part of the game obviously, and it's impressive that their defense and ST sorta bailed them out, after a somewhat lackluster performance by their offense. Good teams do things like that. However, the fact remains that they were outgained in total yards by the worst team in the BSC, according to the Sagarin ratings, and at home no less. I think they are a good team, with a very good defense, but I also think they may be a bit overrated.

Compare UM's game vs. Cal Poly in Missoula for homecoming to So. Dakota's game AT Cal Poly. I know the transitive properties doesn't work in football, but SD was at CP and won 48-14 (34 points), compared to 39-7 (32 points) for UM. The yardage comparison is glaring, however, with SD gaining 615 yards and allowing just 243 (+372), while UM gained just 354 and allowed 362 (-8).

SD just lost to Missouri State, which may be one of the biggest surprise teams of 2021. We'll see.

[TomCat88]

I just realized that UM has a chance to beat three teams from three different levels from the same state in one calendar year this Saturday. Central Washington, Univ. of Washington and Eastern Washington. I wonder if that's ever been done before. Has anyone brought this up yet?

[griz5700]

That's a tough game to evaluate UM with. They seemed to struggle to move the ball and it wasn't a good game for them, statistically. But when you have three returns for TDs it skews the stats. Then you have CP moving the ball, but missing FGs. So. Dakota played at CP last week and racked up 615 yards, but UM only had 354 (again that's skewed a bit by the returns) at home.

Coming off a bye week, homecoming, a bad CP team, and EWU next week I wasn’t expecting a 55-0 blowout. But that was pretty bad. 98yds rushing for UM and 362 total yards to CP isn’t good.

That was a classic Hauck Special Team save the day performance by UM.

Cal Poly D sold out out on the run and forced Humphrey to beat them. It worked. He didn’t beat them. Griz struggled to convert on 3rd down and lost TOP.

Am I concerned heading into EWU? Absolutely. If the Griz aren’t able to sustain drives it doesn’t matter what defense you have, Barriere will have a huge day.

[cats2506]

That's a tough game to evaluate UM with. They seemed to struggle to move the ball and it wasn't a good game for them, statistically. But when you have three returns for TDs it skews the stats. Then you have CP moving the ball, but missing FGs. So. Dakota played at CP last week and racked up 615 yards, but UM only had 354 (again that's skewed a bit by the returns) at home.

Coming off a bye week, homecoming, a bad CP team, and EWU next week I wasn’t expecting a 55-0 blowout. But that was pretty bad. 98yds rushing for UM and 362 total yards to CP isn’t good.

That was a classic Hauck Special Team save the day performance by UM.

Cal Poly D sold out out on the run and forced Humphrey to beat them. It worked. He didn’t beat them. Griz struggled to convert on 3rd down and lost TOP.

Am I concerned heading into EWU? Absolutely. If the Griz aren’t able to sustain drives it doesn’t matter what defense you have, Barriere will have a huge day.

That's probably the biggest factor right there.

It's a lot of fun to discuss the EWU offense against the um Defense. I personally think that EWU will put up 40+, even against the um defense. EWU's defense looks pretty pedestrian, but then so the um's Offense, but that matchup and um ST will determine the game

[VictorG]

I'm not disputing the mediocre UM offense from last game. However, I have to remind myself that most of the 4th quarter was subs. Also 2 offensive drives had huge plays called back by holding and ...well....they were legitimate holds....as far as the QB situation...Hauck seems to value consistency and decision making (read ball security) over potential. He always has.

As far as the yards given up by the defense, the Griz blitzed more than I have ever seen before or at least remember before. Huge sellout blitzes. . A good portion of the yards given up were chunk plays against the blitz......But the Griz rattled the QB enough that not a whole lot came from those plays as far as points. I doubt the Griz will do that as much against EWU.

[ilovethecats]

As much as I’d love to see it, it just doesn’t make sense to play a talented Freshman over a very capable Senior.

Good point. Chip Kelly made the same mistake of starting a talented R-FR named Marcus Mariota over his two-year capable starter R-SR Darron Thomas and it didn’t turn out very well at all. Bobby is making all the right moves. Oh, wait…

And yes, the Griz are very good. So are the Bobcats.

I’d say Oregon was in a slightly different position competing for a championship in 2012 than Montana in 2021. Every game has huge ramifications for a P5 school.

Griz are a contender with either Humphrey or Brown at QB.

Yes. The Cats are a very good, championship caliber team. It’s the strongest, most athletic team I’ve ever seen at MSU. I hope the Griz can stop their run game. We shall see.

So far everyone has done a decent job stopping the run game. I'm not sure you're actually paying attention. (hint: the Cats are a passing team now)

Against USD the Cats rushed for over 300 yards, Passing was only 235, We will see what happens in the next few weeks, but I think our run game is going to be just fine.

Take out runs over 40 yards and the average isn't very good at all.

Just as well make up your own stat then so it fits the narrative.

My point is if you take out 3 runs, our average run was under 2 yards/run. That is not a strong rushing game by any standards.

So again we have trouble consistently running except for long runs. Something needs to happen on the oline and running plays. Too many stops at the line of scrimmage to be an effective running team.

Yes, but those long runs don't come in a bubble. You don't think that pounding the ball with the best running back in the conference, even getting stopped at the line of scrimmage, helps set up the big runs?

No team is going to get 5 yards plus every single time they run the ball. But some will certainly AVERAGE 5 yards a carry throughout a game. They'll come in the form of runs for a loss, runs back to the line of scrimmage, runs for short gains, and runs for huge gains.

Just curious, aside from never having runs for a loss or just getting back to the line, what is it you're looking for from our rushing attack that would make you satisfied?

[coloradocat]

[griz5700]

Damn! My Kris Brown prediction almost came to fruition in spectacular fashion.

I hope Humphrey is ok and able to return.

But, folks. The Kris Brown era has officially begun.

[griz5700]

[TomCat88]

Damn! My Kris Brown prediction almost came to fruition in spectacular fashion.

I hope Humphrey is ok and able to return.

But, folks. The Kris Brown era has officially begun.

I thought Brown got in for some mop up duty earlier against WIU or Poly. Or are you saying he's the starter this Saturday?

[TomCat88]

Yeah, he almost had it. I thought UM had the game won honestly. I thought they'd win by a couple TDs, so did a lot of people. EWU just kept at it and eventually got rolling. Not a bad loss for UM. Just hurts their BSC title chances, but definitely not out of it. You'll probably need to root for MSU when they play EWU. They have MSU and WSU at home; travel to UCD. Oddly enough, UCD probably has the best shot at winning the league now that UM lost.

[griz5700]

Damn! My Kris Brown prediction almost came to fruition in spectacular fashion.

I hope Humphrey is ok and able to return.

But, folks. The Kris Brown era has officially begun.

I thought Brown got in for some mop up duty earlier against WIU or Poly. Or are you saying he's the starter this Saturday?

On Griz final drive - Humphrey took a huge shot, had something terrible happen below the knee.. was carried off field not wearing shoe or putting any weight on right foot.

I think Brown starts from here on out.