New Mexico....the good. The bad. The ugly

[Justwinbaby]

The ugly:
1. The passing game. There WILL be games where the cats have to play from behind...

Thats an interesting take...

It's the correct take...

If you think we witnessed some sort of grand improvement in the passing game - you are not paying attention. Outside of that single drive - there is no evidence the team made strides.

Not to mention the terrible defensive scheme played by the Lobos to close the game.

Give me a friggin break. Can anyone here be unbiased in anything?

Here's my take - Mellott looked terrible in the first half, it was very discouraging. But he kept battling and had a fantastic 4th quarter. AND I'll say this: If MSU gets 200 passing yards and 2 passing TDs every game from Mellott to go along with our running game, nobody will beat us. (I highly doubt we get that every game, I'm just saying, the final passing numbers ended up OK despite looking like hot garbage for much of the game).

I agree with all of this...

[kennethnoisewater]

I still haven't been able to watch a full replay of the game. Due to poor social planning on my part, I was relegated to watching bits and pieces on my phone.

Good:
Not giving up...expecting to win despite being down 17 twice.
Run game, as expected...even with 5 or 6 starters out (I know not all were offensive starters but obviously key offensive players were missing)
Better second half shows ability by the coaching staff to make corrections

Bad:
Defense in general...some bad angles on contain, obviously not great in pass coverage at times. However, things did improve in the second half and 17 points to a team we knew very little about is respectable.
Tommy's decision making. Doubtful he's been tackled since December, so he has to learn to eat it and take the sack. A year ago he'd have taken off running so the sack-fumbles COULD have saved him from injury (looking for a silver lining here)

Ugly:
I guess it's the slow start and being forced to play from behind. Some of it's understandable with not knowing much about UNM. They got a ton of transfers, and they are always going to be hopeful in their first game. These are all guys who think they're legit FBS guys, and they want to prove it. This could very well be their best game of the year unless Mendenhall can convince them to keep hope alive for the season. Having said that, I'd sure love to see MSU step on somebody's throat early and never let up.

I am admittedly an optimistic fan almost all the time, but I think there's more good than bad to take away from this. Obviously some things need to be cleaned up, but let's get some guys back, get a lot done before conference play, and have a great season. I'd love to see comfortable wins the next two weeks, heal up over the bye week, get another easy win with tons of guys playing, then hit the ground running for conference play. There are no bad FBS wins, but I like the easy schedule for the next month because I think this team needs that for multiple reasons.

[Cataholic]

I liked Tyler Walkers play calling. The pass calls were relatively easy throws. In past seasons we had a tendency to throw too many low percentage deep passes, IMO.

The ugly - Many of our posts when things were not going well.

I agree completely. It is funny how the coaches get torn apart when the plays don’t work, but don’t get credit when the plays work great. Two examples of great play calls:

Adam Jones TD - Great effort by line and Jones, but motion by the slot back to the right and Tommy moving to the right after handoff all contributed to setting up the secondary to flow to the right while Adam burst left for 93 yards.

Scottre TD to go ahead - Great play call with great execution. Read option where NM was keying on Tommy. MSU let the two NM defenders on the end go untouched and after Tommy while Scottre exploded through a massive hole by the line set up by the blocking scheme.

Two Tommy passes for TDs - Both great plays calls that were almost impossible to defend.

[BobcatBuiltTexan]

Good: our run game...ol aross the board looked really good. Pass pro was good they just blitzed us. Wrs have ability and will be needed with our run game. Was actually impressed with the dl. Held their own against a bigger ol. Cbs can cover well.

Bad: pass game needs improvement. We have to use the run blitz against them by throwing quick center fire passes, not throwing to the outside. Would like see more rollouts to give Tommy a two way go. Lbs are good in between the tackle not very good sideline to sideline. Safeties have to improve they are slow to read and wrs with speed get on them quick. Tackling across the board has to improve.

Ugly: 2TOs.....2TDS... these can be avoided but having TOs is the quickest way to derail a NC title run


Added thoughts....I know MSU is an fcs powerhouse but I think there needs to be a little more respect given to unm. They are an fbs team. While they may not be great yet they definitely had some players. We came back from 17 down to beat an fbs team, that's huge. It seems that we are looking at unm as a bottom tier fbs team and kinda of dismissing the fact that they are up a level from us. With that said long as we can avoid major injuries we will make a deep run in the POs. In order to win a NC you have to be good and have a little luck..... yesterday we were good when we needed it and we also had a little luck to help us out.

[St George]

Good:
At times when UNM sent the blitz they had very good penetration, with that said I want to say how great the Bobcats did on all their extra points.

[tdub]

Good: our run game...ol aross the board looked really good. Pass pro was good they just blitzed us. Wrs have ability and will be needed with our run game. Was actually impressed with the dl. Held their own against a bigger ol. Cbs can cover well.

Bad: pass game needs improvement. We have to use the run blitz against them by throwing quick center fire passes, not throwing to the outside. Would like see more rollouts to give Tommy a two way go. Lbs are good in between the tackle not very good sideline to sideline. Safeties have to improve they are slow to read and wrs with speed get on them quick. Tackling across the board has to improve.

Ugly: 2TOs.....2TDS... these can be avoided but having TOs is the quickest way to derail a NC title run


Added thoughts....I know MSU is an fcs powerhouse but I think there needs to be a little more respect given to unm. They are an fbs team. While they may not be great yet they definitely had some players. We came back from 17 down to beat an fbs team, that's huge. It seems that we are looking at unm as a bottom tier fbs team and kinda of dismissing the fact that they are up a level from us. With that said long as we can avoid major injuries we will make a deep run in the POs. In order to win a NC you have to be good and have a little luck..... yesterday we were good when we needed it and we also had a little luck to help us out.

Agree with what you said. I think there is WAY more on the positive of this game than most seem to be giving credit for.

Coming into this game with ZERO film on this team. There was guessing going on as to what UNM would be doing based on Bronco’s history, but definitely no trends or anything with this team. So when pass pro broke down early in the game, it was definitely a combo of MSU’s shuffled o-line and the inability to prepare for those blitz packages. That would explain why Sain was late coming off a double-team and getting to the blitzer early that led to a sack. Adjustments and recognition made MSU look more prepared as the game went on.

Even with Tommy on his reads and throws…it’s tough to trust your eyes when there is doubt on what the defense is doing. Couple that with difficult weather, and things just look ugly quick. But again, adjustments and recognition made things better. When what UNM was actually doing became evident, that is when the game changed and MSU looked like the better team.

I’m not worried about our DB’s in coverage as the year goes on. They were in great spots most of the game, but just didn’t execute the finish of the play (which led to PI’s). But yes, safety recognition and reaction was also slow in the first part of the game.

[49thparallel]

The bad: two scoop-and-scores, lack of QB pressure by D, and secondary coverage unaware of ball
The ugly: the wind, compounding PI call w/ personal foul
The good: (I wanted to end on a high-note) Cats showed tenacity and didn't give up which I thought showed lots of heart to come back from a deep deficit. It was a poor start but the last quarter and, specifically, the two minute drill was a good indicator of their potential. NM is not a great FBS team and I think Cats will have lots of takeaways. I'm not going to read too much into this game but if they can bring the same work ethic and fourth quarter play into every game, they should have a great season.

[cat22[2010]]

The good.... @BobcatBuiltTexan dude I read your posts and I appreciate you being on this board. You make awesome posts that have great insight.

The bad....I had to be the one to start this thread. I mean who's slacking? I've never started a good/bad/ugly thread because someone always starts them right away.
Also I was someplace without power. So I couldn't watch the game. That was bad.

The ugly....the poster calling for Vigan to be fired already. Bad look man. That egriz type stuff there. Lol

Literally came here just to post the bad and/ or ugly were the Gameday thread!

[TomCat88]

Lots of good stuff. Jones and Scottre. Mellott's ability to stay focused and not get distracted by his own failings, then play at a very high level. The OL is mind-boggling at this point. The TE/HB position made huge contributions. The third TE catches a TD. McCullouch has emerged as a leader. O'Reilly really played well. Parsons made a couple good plays.

The bad is that the defense and pass game were inconsistent. If either one gets consistently good, then MSU is going to be nearly unstoppable. At this point, there wasn't much change from last year. The defense wasn't out there much due to the strip-6s mainly, so a little tough to say for sure on them, but too many open receivers, too many penalties by the D. They did come through in the second half, but they'll need to show they can do that 2-3-4 games in a row to make believers out of anyone. Mellott was rough at the start. The big plus for him was that there is no one else to turn to and he stuck with it and eventually got it going. The WRs/TEs and Jones all held up their end of the deal but Mellott has to be more consistent, effective and effecient especially right out of the gate.

The ugly was the lack of discipline by Stillwell kicking the ball.

[mslacatfan]

Lots of good stuff. Jones and Scottre. Mellott's ability to stay focused and not get distracted by his own failings, then play at a very high level. The OL is mind-boggling at this point. The TE/HB position made huge contributions. The third TE catches a TD. McCullouch has emerged as a leader. O'Reilly really played well. Parsons made a couple good plays.

The bad is that the defense and pass game were inconsistent. If either one gets consistently good, then MSU is going to be nearly unstoppable. At this point, there wasn't much change from last year. The defense wasn't out there much due to the strip-6s mainly, so a little tough to say for sure on them, but too many open receivers, too many penalties by the D. They did come through in the second half, but they'll need to show they can do that 2-3-4 games in a row to make believers out of anyone. Mellott was rough at the start. The big plus for him was that there is no one else to turn to and he stuck with it and eventually got it going. The WRs/TEs and Jones all held up their end of the deal but Mellott has to be more consistent, effective and effecient especially right out of the gate.

The ugly was the lack of discipline by Stillwell kicking the ball.

Yeah, the Stillwell thing really pissed me off….. you can’t play like sh’t and ALSO have those kind of penalties….. have fun riding the bench.

[BelgradeBobcat]

How bad/good was New Mexico? To my untrained eye it looks like they have some dudes. I doubt we'll see a bigger offensive line this season. Obviously we benefitted from some butter fingers receivers and they must have been way out of position on Jones' big run and the big pass completion on our last drive. Any hope for the Lobos this season after they get it more figured out?

[Prodigal Cat]

I liked Tyler Walkers play calling. The pass calls were relatively easy throws. In past seasons we had a tendency to throw too many low percentage deep passes, IMO.

The ugly - Many of our posts when things were not going well.

Scottre TD to go ahead - Great play call with great execution. Read option where NM was keying on Tommy. MSU let the two NM defenders on the end go untouched and after Tommy while Scottre exploded through a massive hole by the line set up by the blocking scheme.

I mean watch the 2 defenders BOTH go to Tommy. I'm sure they were coached to not let him get outside. He's why Scottre was able to get in.

[coachouert]

Didn’t know where to put this so here we are as it shows the good, the bad and the ugly. Great vid in my opinion.

[MSU01]

How bad/good was New Mexico? To my untrained eye it looks like they have some dudes. I doubt we'll see a bigger offensive line this season. Obviously we benefitted from some butter fingers receivers and they must have been way out of position on Jones' big run and the big pass completion on our last drive. Any hope for the Lobos this season after they get it more figured out?

I think New Mexico would finish in the top half of the Big Sky, but against the schedule they're playing I highly doubt they'll win more than 2 or 3 games this year. The remaining non-conference schedule for them is at Arizona, at Auburn, at New Mexico State. They've got some good talent on offense but the defense needs a lot of work. Unless MSU is just that good even though they were playing three starting OL out of their normal positions and two tackles making their first career starts!

[Colter_Nuanez]

[Cataholic]

I liked Tyler Walkers play calling. The pass calls were relatively easy throws. In past seasons we had a tendency to throw too many low percentage deep passes, IMO.

The ugly - Many of our posts when things were not going well.

Scottre TD to go ahead - Great play call with great execution. Read option where NM was keying on Tommy. MSU let the two NM defenders on the end go untouched and after Tommy while Scottre exploded through a massive hole by the line set up by the blocking scheme.

I mean watch the 2 defenders BOTH go to Tommy. I'm sure they were coached to not let him get outside. He's why Scottre was able to get in.

Exactly! Great play call and great execution. You have to give coaches credit as well when things go right - not just when they don’t work.

[Cataholic]

Didn’t know where to put this so here we are as it shows the good, the bad and the ugly. Great vid in my opinion.

This was great!!

[VimSince03]

[083190]

Good: O-Line in the run game. Kicking game. Mellot bouncing back from two bad turnovers to engineer his "Redemption Drive" with under two minutes.

Bad: Lack of pressure on UNM"s QB. Too much room for UNM receivers in the passing game. Desert winds in the afternoon. UNM kicking. UNM receivers on third down.

Ugly: The referees spot on The Cats 4th down try. The two defensive scores. Unsportsmanlike penalty following horrible coverage. As they say in Albuquerque, "No bueno"!

[Montanabob]

Everyone is forgetting we had NO reliable film or expectations of the offense or defense that they would run. so yeah, i think we planned for what we expected.

the good?
we mad offensive and defensive corrections. something I felt was lacking last year.
we went in with an Oline that was missing, what 4 starters from last year, and then 2 or 3 more starters this year hurt, and shuffled again and after several series, settled in and did damn well.
kept coming back fro 17 down to win.
the bad?
yeah we missed some blocks, had some PI, and tommy lost the ball twice.
the ugly?
UNM cheerleaders and fans.