A Team Loss

[George Ferguson]

What a f#$@cking joke. You either bust your ass to win it all like ndsu or you go home. Spin it girls...

Are you saying the Griz' effort was lacking? Cause wow, that sure as hell isn't what I saw. I wonder if Caleb Kidder thinks he and his team didn't give 100 percent, or, as you put it, bust their asses.

 

[George Ferguson]

Sometimes I wonder if people actually bother to actually gather the evidence they need to support their gripes, BEFORE, they gripe, or do they just post off the cuff. Because, in regards to the whole stretching the field thing, if you don't think Stitt and BG want to go down the field and go vertical, your nuts. Stitt talked about all summer long. But, there is a problem, and if you watch the games a little more closely, you'll see it. The receivers the Griz are playing are not capable of getting vertical against Big Sky/FCS caliber corners. Watch the UNI game again, watch the official game tape from today. Routes those guys on the outside are running, they are blanketed 99 percent of the time. It's the same in practice against what a few of you tonight called our horrible secondary. They don't run by our secondary in practice either. But don't just take my word for it, go watch the film.

Want to know why the Griz can't stretch the field and throw vertical right now? Cause Jamaal Jones graduated. Cause Ellis Henderson decided he just couldn't do another year of summer school to get his one more year of eligibity. He wanted to move on with his life. And cause Ben Roberts graduated too!. Stitt has said in MANY of AJ's stories he wants to throw deep, and he was quoted as saying he loves it when BG takes those shots. But, it's just not there right now with this receiver group. Not the guys on the outside. I'm not saying it will stay that way. But right now, it just isn't there.

 

[HookedonGriz]

Good post, PR.

Plenty of blame to go around and there were mistakes made all around.

Things I liked:

• Brady played a good game. Showed good accuracy and made good decisions. Had some really pretty throws and had more command out there.
  
  WR played much better. Looked much more comfortable out there and got to the right spots. Much more on the same page with Brady today. They clearly put some work in.
  
  Calhoun had a good game at RB. We were struggling to run the ball and then had some success after we put him in. That may be the wearing down of the defense a bit, but I also think Calhoun hits the hole much quicker with more explosiveness.
  
  The DL played pretty well. Held the line of scrimmage and didn't allow much inside the tackles, except for a few late
  
  The screen plays looked a lot better and were very well executed

Things I didn't like:

• The defense didn't contain the pitch read very well. Kidder was lined up in the C gap most of the game, which left contain to the OLB, which Poly did a great job blocking and getting guys down field. They made hay on the pitch all game. Our secondary helped blow some of those plays up later (Reynard) but too little too late. This also clearly impacted the safety play. The safeties would hesitate and then lose their coverage responsibilities.
  
  Yamen had a bad game. Hopefully he is knocking the rust off. In that case, I kind of wish they would have rotated in Sandry a bit more.
  
  The turnovers deep in our own territory killed us. Some of that is on Brady, some of that is on the OL. On the tip interception that was just a very good play by their DL to get up and get the ball. On the fumble that was a missed blocking assignment. Watching that play again, it appeared that the pre-read had that rush picked up, but nobody touched him. Brady has a long release, so some time where he only has his throwing hand on the ball that makes a fumble vulnerable.
  
  The run game. Seemed like all the run plays were dive plays. As a DB and MLB, that makes your job easier. It would be good to see more variation in the run offense. We saw one counter with Calhoun that ended up being a good run
  
  Last offensive series. We had the big pickup by Nguyn on a very well executed play. Got close to field goal range and then the offense looked like it was very tentative. I don't know if that was the play calling or the players, but it was bad and a lost opportunity to use momentum to score. Maybe they were trying to keep the plays short to eat up clock and limit Poly's time to have the ball back at the end of the game, but it ended up in a very long FG attempt at sea level

Just my opinion based on observation watching on the television. Hate to be critical of the coaching as Stitt and Semore know way way way more than I do. Regardless, it is a tough loss. On the positive side we improved on a lot of things and won't have to worry about defending a triple option offense of that effectiveness for a while.

This is a solid summary. A lot of good. A lot of bad. I agree 100% that we seemed to go very conservative once we got down close to FG range in that last drive. I would have much rather seen the Griz do all they could to move the chains again. They were able to do it all game and all of a sudden it seemed like they were fine trying go run a couple up the gut and then kick a 48 harder. Go get the damn first and get rid of this conservative bull shit.

 

[putter]

Griz gave up too many big plays but played hard. Tired of seeing that WR screen that got no yards...all game, not even a fake and send a receiver up field. Poly is legit and will do some damage for the rest of the year. Time to learn and move on from that horrible triple-option....

 

[PlayerRep]

All comments colored maroon glasses! As long as we throw left and we throw right, we will never contend with the top teams! Again, throw the ball up the field! Last drive was conservative at best. Stitt's fault! I didn't see one pass up the field past 10 yards. Thank god for JLM, but he is going to get worn out! Stitt, throw the damn ball up the field!

Not sure why he didn't stretch the field more, they were able to come up and close the cushion on JLM and Griz didn't make them pay deep or at least make them respect it.

CP plays their safeties very deep, taking away the long pass and forcing opponents to beat them short, with shorter passes and the run. UM needed a better running game today.

 

[PlayerRep]

Griz gave up too many big plays but played hard. Tired of seeing that WR screen that got no yards...all game, not even a fake and send a receiver up field. Poly is legit and will do some damage for the rest of the year. Time to learn and move on from that horrible triple-option....

So you missed the longer TD pass into the right corner of the end zone? BG pumped faked short and threw long.

 

[Htowngriz]

All comments colored maroon glasses! As long as we throw left and we throw right, we will never contend with the top teams! Again, throw the ball up the field! Last drive was conservative at best. Stitt's fault! I didn't see one pass up the field past 10 yards. Thank god for JLM, but he is going to get worn out! Stitt, throw the damn ball up the field!

Not sure why he didn't stretch the field more, they were able to come up and close the cushion on JLM and Griz didn't make them pay deep or at least make them respect it.

CP plays their safeties very deep, taking away the long pass and forcing opponents to beat them short, with shorter passes and the run. UM needed a better running game today.

Could just be me but I thought the running game looked fine when Calhoun was in. I understand Nguyen is a senior pass blocks well, but I think JC needs to be on the field more often.

 

[Fahque]

Griz gave up too many big plays but played hard. Tired of seeing that WR screen that got no yards...all game, not even a fake and send a receiver up field. Poly is legit and will do some damage for the rest of the year. Time to learn and move on from that horrible triple-option....

So you missed the longer TD pass into the right corner of the end zone? BG pumped faked short and threw long.

That wasn't a long throw. I believe we were in the red zone, or close to it.

 

[PlayerRep]

All comments colored maroon glasses! As long as we throw left and we throw right, we will never contend with the top teams! Again, throw the ball up the field! Last drive was conservative at best. Stitt's fault! I didn't see one pass up the field past 10 yards. Thank god for JLM, but he is going to get worn out! Stitt, throw the damn ball up the field!

Not sure why he didn't stretch the field more, they were able to come up and close the cushion on JLM and Griz didn't make them pay deep or at least make them respect it.

CP plays their safeties very deep, taking away the long pass and forcing opponents to beat them short, with shorter passes and the run. UM needed a better running game today.

Could just be me but I thought the running game looked fine when Calhoun was in. I understand Nguyen is a senior pass blocks well, but I think JC needs to be on the field more often.

Calhoun had some nice runs. He was in at the end of the first series and in the second series. He played alot. Except for his 29 yard run, he was 10 for 34, for 3.4 yard average. I don't call 10 runs for a 3.4 average a good or fine running game.

 

[Ursa Major]

It was a team loss. Too bad. Much good to go with the bad. O much improved, except for the turnovers. Turnovers kill you. TO's not completely BG's fault.

Life will go on. CP is a good team. I like this team, and both sides of the ball, and they have much potential.

We need more production out of Louis-McGee. He needs to break more plays. Why give him 21 receptions if he's not going to take more to the house. Obviously, kidding. He is a tremendous player. Catches everything. Very very exciting; actually electric.

Solid post PR! Lots of good stuff today!!

 

[PlayerRep]

Griz gave up too many big plays but played hard. Tired of seeing that WR screen that got no yards...all game, not even a fake and send a receiver up field. Poly is legit and will do some damage for the rest of the year. Time to learn and move on from that horrible triple-option....

So you missed the longer TD pass into the right corner of the end zone? BG pumped faked short and threw long.

That wasn't a long throw. I believe we were in the red zone, or close to it.

Yes, red zone. However, BG pumped faked short and then threw the pass over the top. There was no defender deeper than the receiver, at least on the receiver's side of the field.

 

[Sam A. Blitz]

All comments colored maroon glasses! As long as we throw left and we throw right, we will never contend with the top teams! Again, throw the ball up the field! Last drive was conservative at best. Stitt's fault! I didn't see one pass up the field past 10 yards. Thank god for JLM, but he is going to get worn out! Stitt, throw the damn ball up the field!

Not sure why he didn't stretch the field more, they were able to come up and close the cushion on JLM and Griz didn't make them pay deep or at least make them respect it.

CP plays their safeties very deep, taking away the long pass and forcing opponents to beat them short, with shorter passes and the run. UM needed a better running game today.

Good observation. There wasn't much available deep. Also not sure we have a reliable deep threat receiver right now. The offense takes advantage of what the defense gives them, which worked out pretty well for a good part of the game...

Strange that we score over 40 points and all the bitching and griping is about the offense. Do we need to score 50 points before people are satisfied?

 

[Sam A. Blitz]

...also, we have over 400 yards passing and people are griping about the passing game? Wow

 

[grizband]

...also, we have over 400 yards passing and people are griping about the passing game? Wow

Almost 500 total yards, on 83 plays. Aside from two turnovers deep in their territory, and#11 slipping on a blown coverage, Griz played very well. Tough game, hopefully it's a lesson, similar to Weber in 2008.

*Edit: I agree the defense could have played better. The triple option is always tough, but the Griz struggled to cover the pitch man all day.

Sent from my SM-N920V using Tapatalk

 

[mtgrizrule]

Thanks to my evening work schedule, I only watched 3 quarters before work.

Anyway, I watched the final quarter just now (gotta love a dvr). Going into this season, I expected the team to be 2-1, at this stage. I thought we would lose a tight one to Northern Iowa, and win tight one against Cal Poly. We always have difficulty with Poly's triple option attack. Unfortunately, this game was no exception. It really has not mattered who our DC is. That option attack is a pain in the ass!!! We struggled against it even when Hauck was coaching. Our defense was not helped at all by the offense turning the ball over to give them short fields for scores.

PR, summed it up well. This is a team loss. The offense looked much better, but turnovers are costly. Even more costly when they are deep in your own territory. So, that is 14 points on the offense. Speaking of offense, I am very encouraged by the improvement, since the UNI game. I expected this offense to be inconsistent through 5 to 6 games this season. The passing game looked terrific. We saw the offense starting to use the middle of the field a little more (still have a way to go). We are seeing the impact a go to YAC type of player, JLM does for this offense. Granted, he had a game for the ages, statistically. However, what I like even more is how his presence is helping his other WR's play roles in this offense. Justin Calhoun, Keenan Curran, Caleb Lyons are all having their development made easier because of JLM. We already know what we get from Horner.

The offense will likely use this game as a foundation. A few things need to happen to continue progressive improvement. As a whole, the WR's need to learn to create separation. They are really struggling with that. Hence, 1 of the reasons for this offense not using the long ball as much as Stitt and Gustafson would like. The sign of the timing passes sure is encouraging though. The OL has to become more consistent, in both run blocking and pass blocking. So far, Gus and the WR's do not consistently have the time to improve the deeper passing game. Also, there is very little threat of running game. Run blocking needs a lot more consistency. Right now, Calhoun is the best back for this offense, being he hits the LOS much quicker than Nguyen. To me, the reliance on JLM and the short passing game really is not all that surprising, and actually makes sense why the GRIZ are relying on it.

Considering the offense still being a work in progress, the passing numbers and Gus's performance is actually quite encouraging. Hard to believe, an offense with much to improve on can put up 40+ points and 400 plus yards. Imagine how this offense can be when they are able to use a running game and deep passes? Overall, great job by the offense. I am looking forward to watching this offense continue to add more wrinkles and become more consistent over the next 3 games.

Defensively, I am disappointed by another struggle for a GRIZ defense to better contain Poly's triple option. I am disappointed and surprised, this defense gave up big passing plays this game. That was a huge problem last season as well, even under another DC. Then again, this is an offense we very seldom see. The good news, the GRIZ will face more conventional offenses rest of the regular season. I actually like how the GRIZ defense match up against non triple option offenses. Yes, there are some great offenses in this conference, but I really am not that worried about the defense.

In my opinion, this team is headed for great things. The quicker the OL and running game can become better, the quicker this offense can begin to meet it's potential. I think this offense will have it together quite well after mid October. In the meantime, the defense needs to find it's mojo again.

Be patient, GRIZ NATION. There is a lot to like about this team, despite the loss to Poly.

 

[grizaremoregooder]

Cal Poly went with two high safeties and manned up our trips formations. I doubt the Griz will see that for the rest of the season with how effective JLM and the passing game was. If the Griz put up 41 points from here on out they won't lose many games. Gonna have a tough Southern Utah bunch coming in next week can't wait!

 

[cameo]

I was curious about one play. Every touchdown of ours went to review before they were confirmed. The one touchdown reception of CP in the front corner of the end zone looked very questionable as it appeared the receiver's foot was out when he caught the pass. Even the announcers questioned the play. I also noticed that CP hurried to get the extra point kicked. This play was not reviewed. It may not have made a difference, but it may have resulted in a FG instead of a TD if reversed. I would have liked to have seen that play in sloMo.

 

[jodcon]

Good take on it PR. Not surprised by the one point loss but was a little surprised by the 40+ points each way. Was good to see Calhoun get a few more productive touches, hope that keeps showing up going forward. Offense moved the chains consistently all day, defense still a little susceptible to letting guys get to the corner...that's not a TG thing or a Semore thing it has been a Griz thing against these guys for a while.

Again, not surprised at the outcome, these bastards have been a constant thorn for us lately, but I really don't feel that bad coming out of it for some reason.

Line it up next week.

 

[PlayerRep]

JLM is 2d in nation in receptions per game, just ahead of Kupp.

It's nice to have egriz more pleasant and not going crazy after a loss. Must be because Brint isn't posting.

 

[Ursus1]

Sometimes I wonder if people actually bother to actually gather the evidence they need to support their gripes, BEFORE, they gripe, or do they just post off the cuff. Because, in regards to the whole stretching the field thing, if you don't think Stitt and BG want to go down the field and go vertical, your nuts. Stitt talked about all summer long. But, there is a problem, and if you watch the games a little more closely, you'll see it. The receivers the Griz are playing are not capable of getting vertical against Big Sky/FCS caliber corners. Watch the UNI game again, watch the official game tape from today. Routes those guys on the outside are running, they are blanketed 99 percent of the time. It's the same in practice against what a few of you tonight called our horrible secondary. They don't run by our secondary in practice either. But don't just take my word for it, go watch the film.

Want to know why the Griz can't stretch the field and throw vertical right now? Cause Jamaal Jones graduated. Cause Ellis Henderson decided he just couldn't do another year of summer school to get his one more year of eligibity. He wanted to move on with his life. And cause Ben Roberts graduated too!. Stitt has said in MANY of AJ's stories he wants to throw deep, and he was quoted as saying he loves it when BG takes those shots. But, it's just not there right now with this receiver group. Not the guys on the outside. I'm not saying it will stay that way. But right now, it just isn't there.

Likely only deep threats speed wise are currently wearing "redshirts"