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Poly-Cats Observations

HookedonGriz

Well-known member
DONOR
Finally had a chance to watch the Poly-Cats game and had a few observations:

- the Cats offense looked good and was very efficient scoring almost every time they had the ball
- CP was so worried about Prukop running they bit on everything and the Cats receivers were so wide open even I could have had a high QB rating
- cats had a well executed fake punt early in the first that helped them go up 14-0 (kind of a new risk-taking Ash we are seeing)
- the Cats defense did nothing the Griz didn't do....in fact they did worse.....they gave up 25 first downs, 406 yards, and 28 points compared to the Griz who gave up 19 first downs, 386 yards, and 20 points
- the key difference is the Cats scored almost at will where the Griz struggled to find points which led to a pretty convincing Cats win
- cats took care of the football with no turnovers, the Griz had 4
- cats had 1 penalty for 10 yards, the Griz had 6 for 54
- another key difference is this defensive performance has Cats fans ecstatic and talking about how they may be "scary" good whereas e-griz thought the sky was falling and that our defense was awful and that Gregorak should be fired

Perspective is a funny thing sometimes....with the main factor being they got a win and felt great about it. We shot ourselves in the foot and lost and you would have thought the season ended.

That's why you just win baby. Winning makes it all better and makes everything look and seem better whether it is or not.
 
I agree that the fizz defense looks better that the Cats defense, but last weeks defensive performance was much better than what the Cat have seen in a long time, I would say right now that our defense might be decent.

One big difference is that Brown rushed for 130 yards and a long of 60 and one TD against um, against the Cats he only had 58 yards with a long og 13 and zero td's, that put their offense a little bit out of sorts when he was limited.
 
The MSU offense is legit. It doesn't take a rocket scientist to see it, and acknowledge it. Prukop is about as confident a QB as I've seen in a long, long time. He's also a great kid who is a natural leader. And no matter how bad MSU's defense is, and it is pretty bad, the Cats will roll into Nov. 21 at 9-1 and an on 8-game winning streak. And, they will most likely set a school record for margin of victory per game doing it. The problem isn't what the Cats will do to the NAU's, PSU's and Sac State's of the Big Sky, and maybe even the Griz, it will be what they won't be able to do against the NDSU's, the Illinois State's and the Jacksonville State's, and that's get the stops when they need them the most. MSU is an FCS quarterfinal team, which isn't a bad thing, but the Cats aren't a serious threat to win a national title this season no matter how scary their offense is.
 
The main reason I started the thread is because of two reasons, one being it's our only common opponent so far and two because I've had two Griz fans say in the last week that the Cats will probably have our number this year. When I asked why they think so, both answers were based solely and completely on the fact we lost to CP and the Cats won. When I pointed out some of those other stats and the fact if we could have scored 24 measly points then we aren't having that discussion. They said they didn't think of it that way. Yea I know, scary.
 
The.Real.2506 said:
I agree that the fizz defense looks better that the Cats defense, but last weeks defensive performance was much better than what the Cat have seen in a long time, I would say right now that our defense might be decent.

One big difference is that Brown rushed for 130 yards and a long of 60 and one TD against um, against the Cats he only had 58 yards with a long og 13 and zero td's, that put their offense a little bit out of sorts when he was limited.

I would say while this is true, Garcia/Protheroe racked up 260 against Cats compared to 160 against Griz, so even that evened out a bit.
 
Brown is the trigger man in that offense, limiting him was key and forced them to grind it out against an efficient offense that the Cats have
 
The.Real.2506 said:
I agree that the fizz defense looks better that the Cats defense, but last weeks defensive performance was much better than what the Cat have seen in a long time, I would say right now that our defense might be decent.
That was against a one-dimensional team that had no passing game. It was pretty clear in the EWU game how good the MSU pass defense is.
 
HookedonGriz said:
Finally had a chance to watch the Poly-Cats game and had a few observations:

- the Cats offense looked good and was very efficient scoring almost every time they had the ball
- CP was so worried about Prukop running they bit on everything and the Cats receivers were so wide open even I could have had a high QB rating
- cats had a well executed fake punt early in the first that helped them go up 14-0 (kind of a new risk-taking Ash we are seeing)
- the Cats defense did nothing the Griz didn't do....in fact they did worse.....they gave up 25 first downs, 406 yards, and 28 points compared to the Griz who gave up 19 first downs, 386 yards, and 20 points
- the key difference is the Cats scored almost at will where the Griz struggled to find points which led to a pretty convincing Cats win
- cats took care of the football with no turnovers, the Griz had 4
- cats had 1 penalty for 10 yards, the Griz had 6 for 54
- another key difference is this defensive performance has Cats fans ecstatic and talking about how they may be "scary" good whereas e-griz thought the sky was falling and that our defense was awful and that Gregorak should be fired

Perspective is a funny thing sometimes....with the main factor being they got a win and felt great about it. We shot ourselves in the foot and lost and you would have thought the season ended.

That's why you just win baby. Winning makes it all better and makes everything look and seem better whether it is or not.

Great Post. Great Thread. Thanks
 
Cats are much better at stopping the run than the pass. Their defense will falter vs a balanced offense or a pass happy offense. But their offense will keep them in any game. If our offense keeps improving and our defense stays healthy, I like our chances come November. But I do like Prukop and hope he stays healthy throughout the year. He is fun to watch.
 
havgrizfan said:
The MSU offense is legit. It doesn't take a rocket scientist to see it, and acknowledge it. Prukop is about as confident a QB as I've seen in a long, long time. He's also a great kid who is a natural leader. And no matter how bad MSU's defense is, and it is pretty bad, the Cats will roll into Nov. 21 at 9-1 and an on 8-game winning streak. And, they will most likely set a school record for margin of victory per game doing it. The problem isn't what the Cats will do to the NAU's, PSU's and Sac State's of the Big Sky, and maybe even the Griz, it will be what they won't be able to do against the NDSU's, the Illinois State's and the Jacksonville State's, and that's get the stops when they need them the most. MSU is an FCS quarterfinal team, which isn't a bad thing, but the Cats aren't a serious threat to win a national title this season no matter how scary their offense is.

NAU is different at home than on the road! They've always played inspired football at 7200 feet! Its family weekend and the Cats haven't played there since 2010. Everyone's on the band wagon for the cats, just like they were for the Griz after they beat NDSU. This could be a trap game!
 
I watched the msu/ewu game last night and have to say Prukop is one tough SOB in the first half he took two huge shots on back to back plays and never flinched. I know the coaches wanted to limit his running but it will be hard to do he is too damn good at it. Those two hits by the way came when he stood in the pocket.
 
The TO is designed to keep the game close for the most part. If you let that happen you run the real risk of losing like the Griz did. The best weapon is to gain some amount of points separation and maintain it for a while, long enough that the offense starts to panic a little and start taking risks. At that point you have them. The Griz let them hang around and the Cats did not. The results are not at all surprising.
 
The Cats started last year with a crazy good offense but it seemed that DCs got it figured out by the end of the year. Perhaps the slowdown came because Bleskin was playing, but I am not so sure that is the reason. I agree with havgrizfan though in that whenever MSU plays a top tier defense (the Griz, NDSU, etc.) they wilt. Their defense is so horrible that there is no way they will win more than one playoff game (unless they somehow are able to get better as the season goes along...). The Griz seem to be the opposite of the Cats right now. Pretty damn good defense but struggling on offense. I am not a football expert by any stretch (I am a hockey guy and never played football) so a question for you football guys: do offenses or defenses make more improvement as the season goes along? Come November, if both teams keep improving on their weak areas, we could see an amazing game!
 
Great defense will keep you in most games. If you have no defense and your High powered offense struggles it can get ugly fast. As far as whether a offense or defense improves the most there are a ton of variables. If you just don't have the players you will not improve, if you have players working in new system you will see big improvements and if a coach is not putting players in a position to succeed you will not see any gains. just my two cents.
 
Im not worried about us going up against the Cats in two months..heres why....The cats offense is very exsplosive and very good..always has been. And that always keeps them in games. Going back to when they had Delerious McGoo...their offense has been stellar. But here why it doesnt matter.

As the season progresses deffenses start to catch on to what theyre doing, generally around the first week of November. Thats when we always see the cats start to slide. Because theyre so accustomed to having their offense win everything for them so late in the year they end up screwing themselves over because now all of a sudden their defense has to win a game or two for them, which they always fail.

In the meantime, the Griz always seem to get stronger because the entire season they have their defense to hang their hats on. Their defense is used to keeping them in games and winning them some. While the offense slowly catches up and begins to be more efficient and get the system down. It will probably be even more so the case this year as it is a completely new dynamic system on offense. Once they get a few more games under their belts, they should be efficient and even in games that they faulter a little, the D will have their backs....Thats the classic tale of the Cats and Griz in a nutshell.
 
HookedonGriz said:
Finally had a chance to watch the Poly-Cats game and had a few observations:

- the Cats offense looked good and was very efficient scoring almost every time they had the ball
- CP was so worried about Prukop running they bit on everything and the Cats receivers were so wide open even I could have had a high QB rating
- cats had a well executed fake punt early in the first that helped them go up 14-0 (kind of a new risk-taking Ash we are seeing)
- the Cats defense did nothing the Griz didn't do....in fact they did worse.....they gave up 25 first downs, 406 yards, and 28 points compared to the Griz who gave up 19 first downs, 386 yards, and 20 points
- the key difference is the Cats scored almost at will where the Griz struggled to find points which led to a pretty convincing Cats win
- cats took care of the football with no turnovers, the Griz had 4
- cats had 1 penalty for 10 yards, the Griz had 6 for 54
- another key difference is this defensive performance has Cats fans ecstatic and talking about how they may be "scary" good whereas e-griz thought the sky was falling and that our defense was awful and that Gregorak should be fired

Perspective is a funny thing sometimes....with the main factor being they got a win and felt great about it. We shot ourselves in the foot and lost and you would have thought the season ended.

That's why you just win baby. Winning makes it all better and makes everything look and seem better whether it is or not.


1 Cat fan, excited about the win said this, and were are cat fans saying Gregorak should be fired?... funny you guys just take whatever you want and run with it.

Why wouldn't we be happy about our win? Why would we be excited that our D showed for the first time in 2 years? Ask Cats fans whose defense is better and 95% will tell UM. You are right perspective is a funny thing, my perspective right now is 95% of egrizzers should seek counseling, maybe a regular regime of Lithium might be in order.
 
SeattleBobcat said:
HookedonGriz said:
Finally had a chance to watch the Poly-Cats game and had a few observations:

- the Cats offense looked good and was very efficient scoring almost every time they had the ball
- CP was so worried about Prukop running they bit on everything and the Cats receivers were so wide open even I could have had a high QB rating
- cats had a well executed fake punt early in the first that helped them go up 14-0 (kind of a new risk-taking Ash we are seeing)
- the Cats defense did nothing the Griz didn't do....in fact they did worse.....they gave up 25 first downs, 406 yards, and 28 points compared to the Griz who gave up 19 first downs, 386 yards, and 20 points
- the key difference is the Cats scored almost at will where the Griz struggled to find points which led to a pretty convincing Cats win
- cats took care of the football with no turnovers, the Griz had 4
- cats had 1 penalty for 10 yards, the Griz had 6 for 54
- another key difference is this defensive performance has Cats fans ecstatic and talking about how they may be "scary" good whereas e-griz thought the sky was falling and that our defense was awful and that Gregorak should be fired

Perspective is a funny thing sometimes....with the main factor being they got a win and felt great about it. We shot ourselves in the foot and lost and you would have thought the season ended.

That's why you just win baby. Winning makes it all better and makes everything look and seem better whether it is or not.


1 Cat fan, excited about the win said this, and were are cat fans saying Gregorak should be fired?... funny you guys just take whatever you want and run with it.

Why wouldn't we be happy about our win? Why would we be excited that our D showed for the first time in 2 years? Ask Cats fans whose defense is better and 95% will tell UM. You are right perspective is a funny thing, my perspective right now is 95% of egrizzers should seek counseling, maybe a regular regime of Lithium might be in order.[/quote

Holy crap that MSU education is sure paying dividends! Read it again (maybe aloud to yourself if that will help) as I said E-Griz had a meltdown about our defense after that Cal Poly game. Didn't say anything about the Cats in that light.

I am confused as to why you're on here defending the bobcats as nothing said was negative toward them. The entire reasoning behind the post was to show how different perspectives view a win. The Griz played a better defense and had better defensive statistics but when they lost we were all quite ticked off. The cats were ecstatic about their defense and like I said even calling it scary good now but they got the win which is what would lead to that. It's all perspective in a win....that is all.
 
Can we still watch older games on demand like in the past years. Can't seem to figure it out on eversport.

TIA
 
The Grizzly defense is much better than the Cats defense. No doubt.

Of note in the Cal Poly game, the Mustangs seemed content to grind out long, time-killing drives in the second half. Down three scores that seemed odd. So we gave up 200 yards and one touch down...worked out pretty good. Did it have something to do with a couple of great pass defense plays? Maybe. Otherwise it was an odd offensive strategy for sure.

There is also no doubt that the Cat's defense has show improvement over the first 2 games and has used more depth in doing so. The attitude is different and this bodes well. There is a long way to go, but for the first time in a while, I think we will progress rather than regress. We'll see.

It's also very likely that the Griz offense continues to progress in the next weeks and months. That is expected.
 
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