NAU @ UM

[John K]

The griz should be thanking their lucky stars that such a stupid play was called. I doubt the QB spends much time practicing blocking. Changed the whole dynamic of the game. Cookus was carving their secondary up. He doesn't get kicked out NAU wins going away. But it is what it is and that is a W.

At the same time, everyone seems to forget the Griz used their 4th string QB, lost their starting RB, and were without their starting stud safety. Everyone is quick to bring up how the Cookus ejection Hurt NAU so badly but no one wants to recognize how depleted the Griz were and still earned a big win. It should go both ways. There aren't many teams who could win Amy FCS game on their third and fourth string QBs. Stitt has had that problem every year. It's almost eerie.

No kidding!!! That Stitt is an offensive genius! 44 passing yards for the game with 18 wide receivers on the roster. You guys should give him a lifetime contract extension.

Why do you bash Stitt for using a 4th string QB to throw for 44 and run for over 100 but embrace Choate for doing the exact same thing....with a starting QB. I mean at least the Griz won doing it that way.

You got to quit making sh1t up. I love Choate, but I definitely think we have a long ways to improve on offense, especially at QB. I also don’t ever recall Choate categorizing himself as an offensive genius. Stitt is so full of himself as an offensive guru and his 44 yards of passing with 18 receivers clearly shows his prowess. On top of that, one of your scores last week was by SPECIAL TEAMS. You give Stitt a lot of credit for winning last week when I don’t see the data to back it. Given your support of Stitt above, you should be supporting a lifetime extension for him. Or are you just trying to be argumentative again?

By the way, Cookus was 4 of 6 for 44 yards after one series. He was moving the ball very efficiently. His replacement which played for 3.5 quarters passed for 99 yards. NAU has no offense without Cookus. No chance the Griz win that game if Cookus was not thrown out for a ridiculously bad call by the refs.

I am rooting for a Griz win over UNC this week. It might get you into the playoffs and seal an extension for Stitt. We would love to see that!!!! Given your support of Stitt above, I am guessing you are supporting an extension as well????

You can slice it any way you want and you can whine and cry about it any way you want but the bottom line is this, a 4th string QB who hasn't thrown a pass for 2 years should never beat a 2nd string QB. And you can say "if Cookus" all you want just as easily as I could say "if Phillips" or "if Gresch".

The gameplan of running the ball for 75% of their plays, getting completely away from their pass heavy offense, is a coaching move that deserves credit. Also pulling the 3rd string after one series because he knew the team would respond better to their senior Simis is a coaching move that deserves credit.

If Stitt gets this VERY YOUNG Griz team to playoffs, then yep I support an extension. I think the coaching carousel has hurt the Griz more than anything else. We need stability right now.

You still didn't answer my question, why bash Stitt for utilizing a 4th string QB and gameplan to use his strengths as a runner and not a passer (which led to a win over the 9th ranked team by the committee) but embrace Choate for doing the exact same. Heck Simis stats looked just like a MSU game.

Nope....the bottom line is that Cookus is far better than all four of the Griz QB's added together. You can't equate loosing Cookus to losing any of the UM QB's. I guarantee you that NAU would have won that game if Cookus hadn't been ejected, even if all four of the Griz QB's would have been healthy. But it doesn't really matter at this point does it? It "is what it is" as they say. It's time to put up or shut up for the Cats, and get it done on Saturday. I"m sick and tired of losing to UM in Bozeman.

[grizatwork]

The griz should be thanking their lucky stars that such a stupid play was called. I doubt the QB spends much time practicing blocking. Changed the whole dynamic of the game. Cookus was carving their secondary up. He doesn't get kicked out NAU wins going away. But it is what it is and that is a W.

At the same time, everyone seems to forget the Griz used their 4th string QB, lost their starting RB, and were without their starting stud safety. Everyone is quick to bring up how the Cookus ejection Hurt NAU so badly but no one wants to recognize how depleted the Griz were and still earned a big win. It should go both ways. There aren't many teams who could win Amy FCS game on their third and fourth string QBs. Stitt has had that problem every year. It's almost eerie.

No kidding!!! That Stitt is an offensive genius! 44 passing yards for the game with 18 wide receivers on the roster. You guys should give him a lifetime contract extension.

Why do you bash Stitt for using a 4th string QB to throw for 44 and run for over 100 but embrace Choate for doing the exact same thing....with a starting QB. I mean at least the Griz won doing it that way.

You got to quit making sh1t up. I love Choate, but I definitely think we have a long ways to improve on offense, especially at QB. I also don’t ever recall Choate categorizing himself as an offensive genius. Stitt is so full of himself as an offensive guru and his 44 yards of passing with 18 receivers clearly shows his prowess. On top of that, one of your scores last week was by SPECIAL TEAMS. You give Stitt a lot of credit for winning last week when I don’t see the data to back it. Given your support of Stitt above, you should be supporting a lifetime extension for him. Or are you just trying to be argumentative again?

By the way, Cookus was 4 of 6 for 44 yards after one series. He was moving the ball very efficiently. His replacement which played for 3.5 quarters passed for 99 yards. NAU has no offense without Cookus. No chance the Griz win that game if Cookus was not thrown out for a ridiculously bad call by the refs.

I am rooting for a Griz win over UNC this week. It might get you into the playoffs and seal an extension for Stitt. We would love to see that!!!! Given your support of Stitt above, I am guessing you are supporting an extension as well????

You can slice it any way you want and you can whine and cry about it any way you want but the bottom line is this, a 4th string QB who hasn't thrown a pass for 2 years should never beat a 2nd string QB. And you can say "if Cookus" all you want just as easily as I could say "if Phillips" or "if Gresch".

The gameplan of running the ball for 75% of their plays, getting completely away from their pass heavy offense, is a coaching move that deserves credit. Also pulling the 3rd string after one series because he knew the team would respond better to their senior Simis is a coaching move that deserves credit.

If Stitt gets this VERY YOUNG Griz team to playoffs, then yep I support an extension. I think the coaching carousel has hurt the Griz more than anything else. We need stability right now.

You still didn't answer my question, why bash Stitt for utilizing a 4th string QB and gameplan to use his strengths as a runner and not a passer (which led to a win over the 9th ranked team by the committee) but embrace Choate for doing the exact same. Heck Simis stats looked just like a MSU game.

Nope....the bottom line is that Cookus is far better than all four of the Griz QB's added together. You can't equate loosing Cookus to losing any of the UM QB's. I guarantee you that NAU would have won that game if Cookus hadn't been ejected, even if all four of the Griz QB's would have been healthy. But it doesn't really matter at this point does it? It "is what it is" as they say. It's time to put up or shut up for the Cats, and get it done on Saturday. I"m sick and tired of losing to UM in Bozeman.

It is certainly your strong belief that NAU wins, but I don't think you can guarantee it. You are probably right, but it played out the way it did.

[John K]

The griz should be thanking their lucky stars that such a stupid play was called. I doubt the QB spends much time practicing blocking. Changed the whole dynamic of the game. Cookus was carving their secondary up. He doesn't get kicked out NAU wins going away. But it is what it is and that is a W.

At the same time, everyone seems to forget the Griz used their 4th string QB, lost their starting RB, and were without their starting stud safety. Everyone is quick to bring up how the Cookus ejection Hurt NAU so badly but no one wants to recognize how depleted the Griz were and still earned a big win. It should go both ways. There aren't many teams who could win Amy FCS game on their third and fourth string QBs. Stitt has had that problem every year. It's almost eerie.

No kidding!!! That Stitt is an offensive genius! 44 passing yards for the game with 18 wide receivers on the roster. You guys should give him a lifetime contract extension.

Why do you bash Stitt for using a 4th string QB to throw for 44 and run for over 100 but embrace Choate for doing the exact same thing....with a starting QB. I mean at least the Griz won doing it that way.

You got to quit making sh1t up. I love Choate, but I definitely think we have a long ways to improve on offense, especially at QB. I also don’t ever recall Choate categorizing himself as an offensive genius. Stitt is so full of himself as an offensive guru and his 44 yards of passing with 18 receivers clearly shows his prowess. On top of that, one of your scores last week was by SPECIAL TEAMS. You give Stitt a lot of credit for winning last week when I don’t see the data to back it. Given your support of Stitt above, you should be supporting a lifetime extension for him. Or are you just trying to be argumentative again?

By the way, Cookus was 4 of 6 for 44 yards after one series. He was moving the ball very efficiently. His replacement which played for 3.5 quarters passed for 99 yards. NAU has no offense without Cookus. No chance the Griz win that game if Cookus was not thrown out for a ridiculously bad call by the refs.

I am rooting for a Griz win over UNC this week. It might get you into the playoffs and seal an extension for Stitt. We would love to see that!!!! Given your support of Stitt above, I am guessing you are supporting an extension as well????

You can slice it any way you want and you can whine and cry about it any way you want but the bottom line is this, a 4th string QB who hasn't thrown a pass for 2 years should never beat a 2nd string QB. And you can say "if Cookus" all you want just as easily as I could say "if Phillips" or "if Gresch".

The gameplan of running the ball for 75% of their plays, getting completely away from their pass heavy offense, is a coaching move that deserves credit. Also pulling the 3rd string after one series because he knew the team would respond better to their senior Simis is a coaching move that deserves credit.

If Stitt gets this VERY YOUNG Griz team to playoffs, then yep I support an extension. I think the coaching carousel has hurt the Griz more than anything else. We need stability right now.

You still didn't answer my question, why bash Stitt for utilizing a 4th string QB and gameplan to use his strengths as a runner and not a passer (which led to a win over the 9th ranked team by the committee) but embrace Choate for doing the exact same. Heck Simis stats looked just like a MSU game.

Nope....the bottom line is that Cookus is far better than all four of the Griz QB's added together. You can't equate loosing Cookus to losing any of the UM QB's. I guarantee you that NAU would have won that game if Cookus hadn't been ejected, even if all four of the Griz QB's would have been healthy. But it doesn't really matter at this point does it? It "is what it is" as they say. It's time to put up or shut up for the Cats, and get it done on Saturday. I"m sick and tired of losing to UM in Bozeman.

It is certainly your strong belief that NAU wins, but I don't think you can guarantee it. You are probably right, but it played out the way it did.

You're right...it's not guaranteed that NAU would have won, but after watching how well he played against MSU, I can't imagine that he wouldn't have been worth at least one more TD against UM if he had played the whole game, and that's all it would have taken to change the outcome. No doubt that UM's defense has been playing very well lately, but MSU has been very solid as well, particularly in the 2nd half. The Cats had given up a total of only 9 2nd half points (and no TD's) in their last 3 games before running into Cookus and NAU, so I think that shows how good their offense is with him at the helm. The main point I was trying to make in my response to grizaddict is that UM losing Jensen or any of their other QB's is not even close to being equivalent to NAU losing Cookus.

For the record, I think the officials had to make that call, if you look at it within the context of other targeting penalties that have been called in the BSC this season. It certainly wasn't intentional, and it was dumb that he was even put in the position of attempting to make a block on that play. The play was essentially over and the guy was already going out of bounds by the time Cookus made contact with the UM player. Plus the guy he attempted to block was behind the ball carrier, so even he'd blocked the guy successfully without any helmet to helmet contact, NAU wouldn't nave gained any extra yardage as a result of his block...really really dumb. But again, when you look at some of the other targeting calls that have been made this year, that one was not any more questionable than many others, so I don't think NAU fans (or Cat fans either) should be losing their minds about it.

[Grizaddict]

The griz should be thanking their lucky stars that such a stupid play was called. I doubt the QB spends much time practicing blocking. Changed the whole dynamic of the game. Cookus was carving their secondary up. He doesn't get kicked out NAU wins going away. But it is what it is and that is a W.

At the same time, everyone seems to forget the Griz used their 4th string QB, lost their starting RB, and were without their starting stud safety. Everyone is quick to bring up how the Cookus ejection Hurt NAU so badly but no one wants to recognize how depleted the Griz were and still earned a big win. It should go both ways. There aren't many teams who could win Amy FCS game on their third and fourth string QBs. Stitt has had that problem every year. It's almost eerie.

No kidding!!! That Stitt is an offensive genius! 44 passing yards for the game with 18 wide receivers on the roster. You guys should give him a lifetime contract extension.

Why do you bash Stitt for using a 4th string QB to throw for 44 and run for over 100 but embrace Choate for doing the exact same thing....with a starting QB. I mean at least the Griz won doing it that way.

You got to quit making sh1t up. I love Choate, but I definitely think we have a long ways to improve on offense, especially at QB. I also don’t ever recall Choate categorizing himself as an offensive genius. Stitt is so full of himself as an offensive guru and his 44 yards of passing with 18 receivers clearly shows his prowess. On top of that, one of your scores last week was by SPECIAL TEAMS. You give Stitt a lot of credit for winning last week when I don’t see the data to back it. Given your support of Stitt above, you should be supporting a lifetime extension for him. Or are you just trying to be argumentative again?

By the way, Cookus was 4 of 6 for 44 yards after one series. He was moving the ball very efficiently. His replacement which played for 3.5 quarters passed for 99 yards. NAU has no offense without Cookus. No chance the Griz win that game if Cookus was not thrown out for a ridiculously bad call by the refs.

I am rooting for a Griz win over UNC this week. It might get you into the playoffs and seal an extension for Stitt. We would love to see that!!!! Given your support of Stitt above, I am guessing you are supporting an extension as well????

You can slice it any way you want and you can whine and cry about it any way you want but the bottom line is this, a 4th string QB who hasn't thrown a pass for 2 years should never beat a 2nd string QB. And you can say "if Cookus" all you want just as easily as I could say "if Phillips" or "if Gresch".

The gameplan of running the ball for 75% of their plays, getting completely away from their pass heavy offense, is a coaching move that deserves credit. Also pulling the 3rd string after one series because he knew the team would respond better to their senior Simis is a coaching move that deserves credit.

If Stitt gets this VERY YOUNG Griz team to playoffs, then yep I support an extension. I think the coaching carousel has hurt the Griz more than anything else. We need stability right now.

You still didn't answer my question, why bash Stitt for utilizing a 4th string QB and gameplan to use his strengths as a runner and not a passer (which led to a win over the 9th ranked team by the committee) but embrace Choate for doing the exact same. Heck Simis stats looked just like a MSU game.

Nope....the bottom line is that Cookus is far better than all four of the Griz QB's added together. You can't equate loosing Cookus to losing any of the UM QB's. I guarantee you that NAU would have won that game if Cookus hadn't been ejected, even if all four of the Griz QB's would have been healthy. But it doesn't really matter at this point does it? It "is what it is" as they say. It's time to put up or shut up for the Cats, and get it done on Saturday. I"m sick and tired of losing to UM in Bozeman.

It is certainly your strong belief that NAU wins, but I don't think you can guarantee it. You are probably right, but it played out the way it did.

You're right...it's not guaranteed that NAU would have won, but after watching how well he played against MSU, I can't imagine that he wouldn't have been worth at least one more TD against UM if he had played the whole game, and that's all it would have taken to change the outcome. No doubt that UM's defense has been playing very well lately, but MSU has been very solid as well, particularly in the 2nd half. The Cats had given up a total of only 9 2nd half points (and no TD's) in their last 3 games before running into Cookus and NAU, so I think that shows how good their offense is with him at the helm. The main point I was trying to make in my response to grizaddict is that UM losing Jensen or any of their other QB's is not even close to being equivalent to NAU losing Cookus.

For the record, I think the officials had to make that call, if you look at it within the context of other targeting penalties that have been called in the BSC this season. It certainly wasn't intentional, and it was dumb that he was even put in the position of attempting to make a block on that play. The play was essentially over and the guy was already going out of bounds by the time Cookus made contact with the UM player. Plus the guy he attempted to block was behind the ball carrier, so even he'd blocked the guy successfully without any helmet to helmet contact, NAU wouldn't nave gained any extra yardage as a result of his block...really really dumb. But again, when you look at some of the other targeting calls that have been made this year, that one was not any more questionable than many others, so I don't think NAU fans (or Cat fans either) should be losing their minds about it.

Man you have obviously not been paying enough attention to what Jensen has been doing. If you look at the stats from the games he's started, he's putting up better numbers than Cookus. The kid is averaging like 340 yards and 3 TDs per game. To say that doesn't compare to Cookus or (in your words) not even close to being equivalent to Cookus is just not true.

[catatac]

You have to look at the level of competition. Cookus has proven himself to consistently put up big numbers against good or even great defenses. Howmany games has GJ lit it up against good or great defenses?

[catbooster]

I'm sure the Griz were hurt by not having Jensen in during this game. But IMO the drop-off from Cookus to his backup was greater than the drop-off from Jensen to Mackennis. More importantly, IMO, is the fact that Stitt knew he wouldn't have Jensen all week so his back-ups were practicing and the coaches were game-planning based on that. NAU didn't have that benefit.

I'm fairly certain (but it's still just my opinion) that NAU would have won the game - probably by a fair margin - if Cookus had played the whole game. They might have won if they'd known to practice and game-plan without Cookus. But that's the way it goes. The Griz won fair and square.