Cat/griz Prediction thread

[CelticCat]

38-21 the CATS

The defense will pressure Sneed and take away the passing game. Calhoun is gone so I'm not sure what they have for a running game maybe Sulser?

From what I've seen, their running game consists of end-arounds to Sulser, and Sneed running for his life.

Yea I was a little surprised to hear Choate single out Eastwood, he's had a pretty pedestrian season. He ran for 132 against Poly (who hasn't), but other than that his best game was 14 rushes for 88 yards against PSU. He's only broke 60 rushing yards 3 times this year. He had 11 rushes for 37 yards against SUU and even worse at Idaho, 11 rushes for 27 yards.

Football is very much a game of matchups. The Griz D strength is their run D, although it has been vulnerable to giving up big plays. Their pass defense is suspect but I can't imagine we'll be able to take advantage of that.

Likewise Montana's strength on offense is their passing game, and our strength is passing defense, although we are solid in run defense as well.

It's simple really. We have to be able to run the ball and sustain drives, and we have to make the Griz one dimensional and force Sneed into implosion mode.

[Buckaroo Bonzi]

I think this game will go by the way of our Offensive Line , if they Dominate like last time at Wagriz , we Win this Game.
Turn Overs will dictate by how much.

[John K]

38-21 the CATS

The defense will pressure Sneed and take away the passing game. Calhoun is gone so I'm not sure what they have for a running game maybe Sulser?

From what I've seen, their running game consists of end-arounds to Sulser, and Sneed running for his life.

Yea I was a little surprised to hear Choate single out Eastwood, he's had a pretty pedestrian season. He ran for 132 against Poly (who hasn't), but other than that his best game was 14 rushes for 88 yards against PSU. He's only broke 60 rushing yards 3 times this year. He had 11 rushes for 37 yards against SUU and even worse at Idaho, 11 rushes for 27 yards.

Football is very much a game of matchups. The Griz D strength is their run D, although it has been vulnerable to giving up big plays. Their pass defense is suspect but I can't imagine we'll be able to take advantage of that.

Likewise Montana's strength on offense is their passing game, and our strength is passing defense, although we are solid in run defense as well.

It's simple really. We have to be able to run the ball and sustain drives, and we have to make the Griz one dimensional and force Sneed into implosion mode.

I agree with most of what you said, but we haven't shown the ability to sustain long drives all season, except against really bad defenses. If we're going to score enough points to win, we're going to have to hit on a few big plays and/or get some turnovers and short fields. If we could hit even one or two downfield throws early in the game to loosen up their defense, it would really open things up for our running game, but I don't have much confidence that we can do that.

[The MICKSTER]

I’m surprised that I haven’t seen this mentioned yet, but did anyone else notice the ‘new wrinkles’ that OC Matt Miller put in against NCU. There were more Jonsen at QB plays as well as Kassis at QB……I think partly to give TA a rest from time to time, and partly just to throw another wrinkle in. They had several plays where there were 4 in the backfield with TA shifting wide and then Jonsen taking the snap. There was one play where I think it was Kassis went into motion to the left and TA faked a fly sweept to him, then TA started to run right and pitched it to Logan Jones (zone read) who went for a big gain.

Speaking of Logan Jones…..WHAT A WEAPON! He’s getting more touches every week since he’s been back, and I expect to see him get more touches in the Brawl. He’s kinda the RB version of JLM for the griz.

With the ‘new wrinkles’ that I saw both in alignments and plays, it is really goin’ to make it difficult for the jizz to prepare for em all. I know they can concentrate on runs, but it seems like each week since MM has been OC, the CATS are finding new ways to make the run game work. I think there will be several plays that we’ll see on SA that the CATS haven’t run yet this year.

Another reason I’m optimistic is as others have said……I think we will win in the trenches on both sides of the ball, especially our DL vs their OL.

My preliminary prediction is 30-24.

[catatac]

I’m surprised that I haven’t seen this mentioned yet, but did anyone else notice the ‘new wrinkles’ that OC Matt Miller put in against NCU. There were more Jonsen at QB plays as well as Kassis at QB……I think partly to give TA a rest from time to time, and partly just to throw another wrinkle in. They had several plays where there were 4 in the backfield with TA shifting wide and then Jonsen taking the snap. There was one play where I think it was Kassis went into motion to the left and TA faked a fly sweept to him, then TA started to run right and pitched it to Logan Jones (zone read) who went for a big gain.

Speaking of Logan Jones…..WHAT A WEAPON! He’s getting more touches every week since he’s been back, and I expect to see him get more touches in the Brawl. He’s kinda the RB version of JLM for the griz.

With the ‘new wrinkles’ that I saw both in alignments and plays, it is really goin’ to make it difficult for the jizz to prepare for em all. I know they can concentrate on runs, but it seems like each week since MM has been OC, the CATS are finding new ways to make the run game work. I think there will be several plays that we’ll see on SA that the CATS haven’t run yet this year.

Another reason I’m optimistic is as others have said……I think we will win in the trenches on both sides of the ball, especially our DL vs their OL.

My preliminary prediction is 30-24.

Totally agree. Also, there is one play I keep thinking about that I promise you will work and I don't really remember seeing it but this is money. You know absolutely without a doubt they are going to load up the box to try to stop TA on his running plays. So especially when it looks like a designed QB run where TA lets his blockers get going and he hesitates and waits for an opening to shoot through. So he just needs to act like he's taking off, take a couple steps forward then stop and hit the TE over the middle. I guarantee if the TE fakes like he missed a block on the LB coming up he'll be wide open.

[91catAlum]

Griz open as 7 point favorites on 5 dimes.

[PapaG]

Griz 27
Bobcats 17

I just don't like the offense to consistently move the ball without any threat of passing in Missoula. Here's to me being completely wrong!

[Montanabob]

Cats 48
Griz 15

[Mtcatfan]

Without passing Troy needs to break at least two long runs for tds. The D needs to put pressure on Sneed and sack him at least 3 times. With these two items occurring, we will win.

[BleedingBLue]

I never predict this game but I do think we push the 3 year rushing total to 1000+ yards and have a chance to score high 20s to mid 30s. We have to contain Sneed or we will give up more than that. If we contain him we have a good chance to give up less than that.

[CelticCat]

I didn't realize Troy had rushed for 100 yards in every single game he started at QB this year except for EWU, 94, in which he probably had 130 yards rushing but took some big sacks.

[GoCats18]

MSU—32
UM—-16

[bobcat92]

I’m surprised that I haven’t seen this mentioned yet, but did anyone else notice the ‘new wrinkles’ that OC Matt Miller put in against NCU. There were more Jonsen at QB plays as well as Kassis at QB……I think partly to give TA a rest from time to time, and partly just to throw another wrinkle in. They had several plays where there were 4 in the backfield with TA shifting wide and then Jonsen taking the snap. There was one play where I think it was Kassis went into motion to the left and TA faked a fly sweept to him, then TA started to run right and pitched it to Logan Jones (zone read) who went for a big gain.

Speaking of Logan Jones…..WHAT A WEAPON! He’s getting more touches every week since he’s been back, and I expect to see him get more touches in the Brawl. He’s kinda the RB version of JLM for the griz.

With the ‘new wrinkles’ that I saw both in alignments and plays, it is really goin’ to make it difficult for the jizz to prepare for em all. I know they can concentrate on runs, but it seems like each week since MM has been OC, the CATS are finding new ways to make the run game work. I think there will be several plays that we’ll see on SA that the CATS haven’t run yet this year.

Another reason I’m optimistic is as others have said……I think we will win in the trenches on both sides of the ball, especially our DL vs their OL.

My preliminary prediction is 30-24.

Totally agree. Also, there is one play I keep thinking about that I promise you will work and I don't really remember seeing it but this is money. You know absolutely without a doubt they are going to load up the box to try to stop TA on his running plays. So especially when it looks like a designed QB run where TA lets his blockers get going and he hesitates and waits for an opening to shoot through. So he just needs to act like he's taking off, take a couple steps forward then stop and hit the TE over the middle. I guarantee if the TE fakes like he missed a block on the LB coming up he'll be wide open.

We actually have started to utilize the others players we have on offense. We went from a one dimensional offense to a two dimensional. Maybe we can can get to three dimensional in the next game. Jonsen running the offense at QB for more than one play why on earth haven't we been running this all year. Cole must have had a huge fixation on TA.

[Helcat72]

Relax BCN, Coach Choate has it handled!

What the Griz don't know is that Travis Jonsen is the best passing QB we have ever had at MSU.
We will again use the 3 headed Monster, but when we go to Jonsen, we will find that he is the next coming of John Elway!

Bobby's staff is completely befuddled and the Bobcats win in a laughter 59 - 17.

Jonsen goes 6/8 for 214 yds, with three touchdowns. Koby Duru catches 2 TDs

Troy runs for 145 yards and 2 TDS

Isiah runs for 120 yards and 2 tds

Logan Jones adds 2 more

[Anacomando]

I've thought about this all week. I've swayed with almost every imaginable scenario happening. What I know for sure is the Cats will run the ball and the Griz will need to pass efficiently to win. Turnovers, as always are a factor, as is special teams. When it is all done, the Cats win simply by heart. Cats 29 Griz 28. Overtime! 2 point conversion by none other than #15 from #10.

[Rich K]

Bobcats 35 Griz 23

[bobcat99]

Cats: 27
Griz: 23

[Team10]

As posted on another thread:
I think the game will be the tale of two completely different halves.

First half: Game will start off similar to the game in 2016. Crow will be focused with tons energy, emotions amplified. I imagine they will have a couple big plays where the crowd erupts and may get a score. From then on play will settle in and be kind of back and forth. Cats continue their pursuit of ramming it down their throats on the ground. Andersen, Jonsen, Ifanse, Jones, Kassis get their yards, and continue to make their defense crowd the box. Score the end of the first half, Bobcats 10 - dumb 14.

Second half: Their fans are so high on Beavis mania and promises of rtd (returning to douchebagery) that they pat themselves on the back, high five, drink too much, and talk about how loud the stadium is and how cold it is outside that when they come back into the stadium the score as changed considerably. Yates, Sterk, Fa'anono, Wright begin to take control of the line of scrimmage in the 3rd completely overpowering their wola (weak offensive line antics) while one read sneed starts to panic. One read sneed tries to use his feet to make something happen and to create some room to throw, but gets hit hard, fumbles once and throws at least one int. Mean while the Cats stick to the plan. The teddy bears defense know whats coming and still cannot stop it for the third year in a row. Troy and Ifanse break off a couple of 25+ yards runs. TA throws a couple of strikes to Jonsen and Kassis, and Jones makes their struggling defense miss. Cats score three times in the second half while the guys in dark pink score once. Cats raise their helmets in victory and carry the Great Divide trophy around the stadium, all while the dumb boosters scratch their heads trying to figure out how and why bringing back the snarling nostril man didn't help them beat the Montana State University Bobcats.

Final score:
Montana State Bobcats 31
dumb 21

[saintcat40]

I missed it — what was Colter’s prediction for this game?

[aucat]

If picking the Cats would get us a win I would pick the Cats. I have a severe dislike for the Griz. The arrogance of their fans over the years. The lack of class from Hauck.

I have watched the highlights of the last two Griz games. To me it comes down to the fact that their QB is more well-rounded than our QB. UM has a deadly passing game and we don't. I love TA; he is a hell of a football player. WIsh we had many more just like him.

But Sneed is a better QB and I fear that will be the difference in the game assuming all other things are equal, and by that, one team
does not turn it over more than the other. If we win the turnovers, we win, period.

Just a bad feeling in my stomach about this game: UM 28, MSU 24 UGH, I hope I'm wrong!