I was going to post this in the bobcat thread from last night's game, but after wading through page-after-page discussing such enlightening topics as the Bobcat announcers
, I decided to give my thoughts on the Cats in a new thread.
This game was very typical for a FCS team moving down to play a Div. II team. It was close for about 1 1/2 quarters, until the Fort Lewis starters got tired, and their subs were not good enough to play with the Cats. Don't be fooled by how bad the Cats looked most of the first half. They are better than that, but not nearly as good as the hype surrounding their team this year.
Here are my thoughts:
1) The Cat offense is not nearly as diverse as they would have you believe. Their O-line is all back, but so what? They were not that good last year, and are not very good this year either. Remember how well we defensed them last season? It will not be different this year.
2) Prokop is a great running QB, similar in ability to the NDSU QB, but not as big. He is a serviceable passer, but nothing special. Could not believe that Fort Lewis did not spy Prokop in the first half, as he was the only weapon the Cats had, and it seemed like he ran the ball about 50% of the plays.
3) You stop Prokop from running, you stop the Cat offense. He will not beat you with his arm, and their backs are very average behind an average O-line.
4) The Cat defense is no better than last season, and maybe not as good. We should be able to score lots of points on them.
5) It will be very difficult for Prokop to stay healthy this season, considering how many times he runs the ball. He is gonna get hit often and hard.
6) In summary, if Gus can stay healthy and play in the Griz/Cat game, we should be able to win yet again in Bozo-land. However, if Gus goes down, it will be a different ball game.