What's the game plan?

[catatac]

I have no doubt or defense is going to play well and play fired up. Our D Line is going to make things miserable for UM's O Line and their running game in general. Need our LBs to contain Sneed when he breaks the pocket though. I think our DBs will hold up well against the UM receivers also.

So that leaves our offense. I firmly believe we'll score at least seven points off Special Teams or Defense. In my estimation that means we need our offense to score three TDs and one FG. That would give us 31 points which I believe is enough to win.

So my question is, how do we manufacture that? 20 designed TA runs should get us two TDs, it's a numbers game. Is that what we do? We've been better at spreading the ball around to other play makers, will there be more of that? Are we going to take several shots downfield or just one or two as has been the norm? Is ig going to be more of a steady dose of Ifanse, Jones, and Jonsen? Will we see more WR and bubble screens? Draw plays? How many pass plays will we run? So many questions!!!!!

This is the dumbest thing i have ever read. if your defense is playing well and fired up and your d-line is making things miserable for UM adn your secondary is not getting beat by our WRs... then you should pray to jesus that you don't need 31 points

UM has too many play makers and too much speed for me to expect they wont find the end zone two or three times. Especially with Sneed if he doesn't have an off day as can happen. I have respect for that guy, he's a gamer.

[kennethnoisewater]

I have no doubt or defense is going to play well and play fired up. Our D Line is going to make things miserable for UM's O Line and their running game in general. Need our LBs to contain Sneed when he breaks the pocket though. I think our DBs will hold up well against the UM receivers also.

So that leaves our offense. I firmly believe we'll score at least seven points off Special Teams or Defense. In my estimation that means we need our offense to score three TDs and one FG. That would give us 31 points which I believe is enough to win.

So my question is, how do we manufacture that? 20 designed TA runs should get us two TDs, it's a numbers game. Is that what we do? We've been better at spreading the ball around to other play makers, will there be more of that? Are we going to take several shots downfield or just one or two as has been the norm? Is ig going to be more of a steady dose of Ifanse, Jones, and Jonsen? Will we see more WR and bubble screens? Draw plays? How many pass plays will we run? So many questions!!!!!

This is the dumbest thing i have ever read. if your defense is playing well and fired up and your d-line is making things miserable for UM adn your secondary is not getting beat by our WRs... then you should pray to jesus that you don't need 31 points

Take it easy KB. The griz have averaged 50+ in their last two games. If the Cats keep them under 30, they'll be playing pretty well.

[Hawks86]

I have no doubt or defense is going to play well and play fired up. Our D Line is going to make things miserable for UM's O Line and their running game in general. Need our LBs to contain Sneed when he breaks the pocket though. I think our DBs will hold up well against the UM receivers also.

So that leaves our offense. I firmly believe we'll score at least seven points off Special Teams or Defense. In my estimation that means we need our offense to score three TDs and one FG. That would give us 31 points which I believe is enough to win.

So my question is, how do we manufacture that? 20 designed TA runs should get us two TDs, it's a numbers game. Is that what we do? We've been better at spreading the ball around to other play makers, will there be more of that? Are we going to take several shots downfield or just one or two as has been the norm? Is ig going to be more of a steady dose of Ifanse, Jones, and Jonsen? Will we see more WR and bubble screens? Draw plays? How many pass plays will we run? So many questions!!!!!

This is the dumbest thing i have ever read. if your defense is playing well and fired up and your d-line is making things miserable for UM adn your secondary is not getting beat by our WRs... then you should pray to jesus that you don't need 31 points

I suggest reading more.

[ilovethecats]

I have no doubt or defense is going to play well and play fired up. Our D Line is going to make things miserable for UM's O Line and their running game in general. Need our LBs to contain Sneed when he breaks the pocket though. I think our DBs will hold up well against the UM receivers also.

So that leaves our offense. I firmly believe we'll score at least seven points off Special Teams or Defense. In my estimation that means we need our offense to score three TDs and one FG. That would give us 31 points which I believe is enough to win.

So my question is, how do we manufacture that? 20 designed TA runs should get us two TDs, it's a numbers game. Is that what we do? We've been better at spreading the ball around to other play makers, will there be more of that? Are we going to take several shots downfield or just one or two as has been the norm? Is ig going to be more of a steady dose of Ifanse, Jones, and Jonsen? Will we see more WR and bubble screens? Draw plays? How many pass plays will we run? So many questions!!!!!

This is the dumbest thing i have ever read. if your defense is playing well and fired up and your d-line is making things miserable for UM adn your secondary is not getting beat by our WRs... then you should pray to jesus that you don't need 31 points

Take it easy KB. The griz have averaged 50+ in their last two games.

Against Southern Utah and Idaho.....

[Darth Yoda]

I have no doubt or defense is going to play well and play fired up. Our D Line is going to make things miserable for UM's O Line and their running game in general. Need our LBs to contain Sneed when he breaks the pocket though. I think our DBs will hold up well against the UM receivers also.

So that leaves our offense. I firmly believe we'll score at least seven points off Special Teams or Defense. In my estimation that means we need our offense to score three TDs and one FG. That would give us 31 points which I believe is enough to win.

So my question is, how do we manufacture that? 20 designed TA runs should get us two TDs, it's a numbers game. Is that what we do? We've been better at spreading the ball around to other play makers, will there be more of that? Are we going to take several shots downfield or just one or two as has been the norm? Is ig going to be more of a steady dose of Ifanse, Jones, and Jonsen? Will we see more WR and bubble screens? Draw plays? How many pass plays will we run? So many questions!!!!!

This is the dumbest thing i have ever read. if your defense is playing well and fired up and your d-line is making things miserable for UM adn your secondary is not getting beat by our WRs... then you should pray to jesus that you don't need 31 points

I suggest reading more.

That's the first thing that came to mind for me too. This poster must have only read a handful forum posts...ever.

[CARDIAC_CATS]

Logan Jones is a nice addition to the MSU backfield now that he has his sea legs back. I see a similar dynamic to the 2016 group. I liken him to Gunnar Brekke.

Yeah he makes a huge difference in the offense. I am glad he is back and fresh. They can't sell out with TA running to the edge because you have seen what they do with Jonsen and Jones in the misdirection the last 2 weeks.. The Griz love to blitz their LB's as well so I hope they do just that and commit at the LOS and then get bottled up inside as TA and the other RB's hit the edge gaps and explode up the middle. Like people said, it's not a one man show the last 2 games. There are 5-7 different guys that can get the ball every play now and those guys have wheels and power.

[kennethnoisewater]

I have no doubt or defense is going to play well and play fired up. Our D Line is going to make things miserable for UM's O Line and their running game in general. Need our LBs to contain Sneed when he breaks the pocket though. I think our DBs will hold up well against the UM receivers also.

So that leaves our offense. I firmly believe we'll score at least seven points off Special Teams or Defense. In my estimation that means we need our offense to score three TDs and one FG. That would give us 31 points which I believe is enough to win.

So my question is, how do we manufacture that? 20 designed TA runs should get us two TDs, it's a numbers game. Is that what we do? We've been better at spreading the ball around to other play makers, will there be more of that? Are we going to take several shots downfield or just one or two as has been the norm? Is ig going to be more of a steady dose of Ifanse, Jones, and Jonsen? Will we see more WR and bubble screens? Draw plays? How many pass plays will we run? So many questions!!!!!

This is the dumbest thing i have ever read. if your defense is playing well and fired up and your d-line is making things miserable for UM adn your secondary is not getting beat by our WRs... then you should pray to jesus that you don't need 31 points

Take it easy KB. The griz have averaged 50+ in their last two games.

Against Southern Utah and Idaho.....

That's still a lot of points two weeks in a row. But really I was just sticking up for the guy when mtgrizfankb thought it was the dumbest thing they'd ever read.

[CARDIAC_CATS]

Bobby does an excellent job of getting his team's game face on. We need to come out strong and dissipate that energy. If we do that, we win going away. If we are unsuccessful in that and it will boil down to who has the ball last.

We will definitely have a few wrinkles in the run game that will result in chunk yards and between our three or four qb's we will have a successful day passing.

Have you ever won this game going away? These teams are as even as I can remember so I don’t see that happening. All about match ups and there are some good ones.

Your D Line over our O Line

Our receivers and TEs over your secondary

Your good run game vs a pretty good run defense

Both QBs hoping to be dominant

Griz speed with JLM and Sulser using the edges against your slower LBs

Should be another good game with lots of back and forth.

Yeah I am actually very confident in our secondary matching up with your WR. But I would agree with the rest of your post. I don’t know if you can give one team a significant advantage over the other at any position except for MSU DL >> um OL and Sulser/JLM/Sneed on the edge >> MSU OLB.

Colter and Brooks did a nice job on their recent Big Sky breakdown talking about match ups. They also thought the big TEs and big WRs like Akem and Toure may be a hand full for some of the smaller DBs

They will be a handful if Sneed has time to set his feet and throw accurately downfield. So far this season that is a 50/50 prospect for the Griz this year so I hope we pick off some of those passes

[KittieKop]

What are the chances of Bauman coming in to run a few plays? Choate mentioned after Rovig went down that they've been working with the freshmen on plays they are comfortable with. This could be the perfect time to use them and catch the defense off guard with something they haven't been able to game plan for.

Zero, unless Andersen leaves the game in an ambulance. Then it would be about a 10% chance.

[iaafan]

Correct KK. I think Jonsen is the obvious move if Andersen goes down. MSU would still have solid personnel to run the offense. Jonsen, Ifanse and Jones.

Just depends on how far Bauman has progressed. Is he at a similar point to Rovig going into the SDSU game? Hard to say. I expect it would be an in-game decision based on how well Andersen is doing dumping the ball off. If UM completely takes that away, then maybe Andersen gets a shot.

[catatac]

Correct KK. I think Jonsen is the obvious move if Andersen goes down. MSU would still have solid personnel to run the offense. Jonsen, Ifanse and Jones.

Just depends on how far Bauman has progressed. Is he at a similar point to Rovig going into the SDSU game? Hard to say. I expect it would be an in-game decision based on how well Andersen is doing dumping the ball off. If UM completely takes that away, then maybe Andersen gets a shot.

Assume you meant Kassis rather than Ifanse? I don't think Ifanse has taken any snaps at QB unless I missed something.

[DriscollCat]

Game Plan:

1. Hit Dalton Sneed
2. Hit him hard
3. Hit him early
4. Hit him often
5. Watch griz offense melt down
6. Watch griz defense wear out and fold

7. Don't leave Sneed on his feet in order to tackle the dive or pitch. Tackle Sneed, then tackle dive or pitch.

[ilovethecats]

Game Plan:

1. Hit Dalton Sneed
2. Hit him hard
3. Hit him early
4. Hit him often
5. Watch griz offense melt down
6. Watch griz defense wear out and fold

7. Don't leave Sneed on his feet in order to tackle the dive or pitch. Tackle Sneed, then tackle dive or pitch.

I like this line of thinking. I've seen Sneed look like a great qb when he has some time. His threat with his feet makes him that much more dangerous.

However, behind that weak o-line, I've also seen him rattled, in a hurry and looking pretty bad back there. If our front 7 can set the tone early, it will really help our chances.

[Walk-on]

I’m hoping we can have a season best with penalties; even better, a career-best over the last three years. And better overall discipline on the field, whether it be penalties or assignments. The personal fouls on defense, and last week’s sideline?; C’MON! These and false starts on offense continue to plague us. One thing I’ve always respected with coach Hauks’ teams at UM is their discipline and attention to detail. Always polished. (Of course he had an incredible recruiting advantage years ago.) I suspect that is why this year’s squad continues to improve. Though I haven’t watched them play.
If we can avoid unforced errors, we would be deadly. If TA was better with his footwork throwing the short passes..he would have 3 more completions per game, and give the coaches cause to open up the passing game. Eliminate unforced errors (or at least reduce), and we win easily.

[kennethnoisewater]

I’m hoping we can have a season best with penalties; even better, a career-best over the last three years. And better overall discipline on the field, whether it be penalties or assignments. The personal fouls on defense, and last week’s sideline?; C’MON! These and false starts on offense continue to plague us. One thing I’ve always respected with coach Hauks’ teams at UM is their discipline and attention to detail. Always polished. (Of course he had an incredible recruiting advantage years ago.) I suspect that is why this year’s squad continues to improve. Though I haven’t watched them play.
If we can avoid unforced errors, we would be deadly. If TA was better with his footwork throwing the short passes..he would have 3 more completions per game, and give the coaches cause to open up the passing game. Eliminate unforced errors (or at least reduce), and we win easily.

I agree but when the Grizzlies have lost this year they have been VERY undisciplined. The coach's kid is one of the worst culprits. Hoping for more of that Saturday.

[catatac]

I’m hoping we can have a season best with penalties; even better, a career-best over the last three years. And better overall discipline on the field, whether it be penalties or assignments. The personal fouls on defense, and last week’s sideline?; C’MON! These and false starts on offense continue to plague us. One thing I’ve always respected with coach Hauks’ teams at UM is their discipline and attention to detail. Always polished. (Of course he had an incredible recruiting advantage years ago.) I suspect that is why this year’s squad continues to improve. Though I haven’t watched them play.
If we can avoid unforced errors, we would be deadly. If TA was better with his footwork throwing the short passes..he would have 3 more completions per game, and give the coaches cause to open up the passing game. Eliminate unforced errors (or at least reduce), and we win easily.

I agree but when the Grizzlies have lost this year they have been VERY undisciplined. The coach's kid is one of the worst culprits. Hoping for more of that Saturday.

100%. They have been very, very bad in this area in several games. They are going to come out and try to mess with our players' heads early with cheap shots, dirty play, etc. We need to stay focused and not get sucked into that but continue to play extremely physical and hit them hard.

[DriscollCat]

I’m hoping we can have a season best with penalties; even better, a career-best over the last three years. And better overall discipline on the field, whether it be penalties or assignments. The personal fouls on defense, and last week’s sideline?; C’MON! These and false starts on offense continue to plague us. One thing I’ve always respected with coach Hauks’ teams at UM is their discipline and attention to detail. Always polished. (Of course he had an incredible recruiting advantage years ago.) I suspect that is why this year’s squad continues to improve. Though I haven’t watched them play.
If we can avoid unforced errors, we would be deadly. If TA was better with his footwork throwing the short passes..he would have 3 more completions per game, and give the coaches cause to open up the passing game. Eliminate unforced errors (or at least reduce), and we win easily.

I agree but when the Grizzlies have lost this year they have been VERY undisciplined. The coach's kid is one of the worst culprits. Hoping for more of that Saturday.

100%. They have been very, very bad in this area in several games. They are going to come out and try to mess with our players' heads early with cheap shots, dirty play, etc. We need to stay focused and not get sucked into that but continue to play extremely physical and hit them hard.

This is a really good point. I hope Choate has them ready for this.

[Grizaddict]

I’m hoping we can have a season best with penalties; even better, a career-best over the last three years. And better overall discipline on the field, whether it be penalties or assignments. The personal fouls on defense, and last week’s sideline?; C’MON! These and false starts on offense continue to plague us. One thing I’ve always respected with coach Hauks’ teams at UM is their discipline and attention to detail. Always polished. (Of course he had an incredible recruiting advantage years ago.) I suspect that is why this year’s squad continues to improve. Though I haven’t watched them play.
If we can avoid unforced errors, we would be deadly. If TA was better with his footwork throwing the short passes..he would have 3 more completions per game, and give the coaches cause to open up the passing game. Eliminate unforced errors (or at least reduce), and we win easily.

I agree but when the Grizzlies have lost this year they have been VERY undisciplined. The coach's kid is one of the worst culprits. Hoping for more of that Saturday.

100%. They have been very, very bad in this area in several games. They are going to come out and try to mess with our players' heads early with cheap shots, dirty play, etc. We need to stay focused and not get sucked into that but continue to play extremely physical and hit them hard.

This is a really good point. I hope Choate has them ready for this.

****** that. Go back and watch Collins wrenching on ankles at the bottom of the pile vs UNC. That was as bad as it gets. Don’t act all high and mighty here like your own team doesn’t do ******.

[mtgrizfankb]

I have no doubt or defense is going to play well and play fired up. Our D Line is going to make things miserable for UM's O Line and their running game in general. Need our LBs to contain Sneed when he breaks the pocket though. I think our DBs will hold up well against the UM receivers also.

So that leaves our offense. I firmly believe we'll score at least seven points off Special Teams or Defense. In my estimation that means we need our offense to score three TDs and one FG. That would give us 31 points which I believe is enough to win.

So my question is, how do we manufacture that? 20 designed TA runs should get us two TDs, it's a numbers game. Is that what we do? We've been better at spreading the ball around to other play makers, will there be more of that? Are we going to take several shots downfield or just one or two as has been the norm? Is ig going to be more of a steady dose of Ifanse, Jones, and Jonsen? Will we see more WR and bubble screens? Draw plays? How many pass plays will we run? So many questions!!!!!

This is the dumbest thing i have ever read. if your defense is playing well and fired up and your d-line is making things miserable for UM adn your secondary is not getting beat by our WRs... then you should pray to jesus that you don't need 31 points

Take it easy KB. The griz have averaged 50+ in their last two games.

Against Southern Utah and Idaho.....

That's still a lot of points two weeks in a row. But really I was just sticking up for the guy when mtgrizfankb thought it was the dumbest thing they'd ever read.

What Im saying is. If the Cat D line is making things miserable for the griz that means we have little to no run game. which means we are probably in 2/3 and long situations which is not our specialty. historically this year when we have been in those situations we struggle very hard and if your DBs are doing well vs our Receivers...doing well I assume is not letting anyone get over 100 yards receiving right? I just don't think if you talk football and you say our Defense is doing well and our d line is dominating....that would also make me believe that you didn't give up 30 points. No team gives up 30 points and say we dominated the LOS and held up well in the secondary. The griz score what like 34 PPG? so if that's what your giving up...you didn't really hold up that well. holding up well/dominating the LOS would be in the low 20s I would imagine.

I am glad that many of you are respecting the WRs and Sneed. Much like griz fans are respecting that great DL and TA on offense. But you can't really say were going to dominate this and hold up well here but still give up the average amount of points. What that analysis should sound like is, I think we can hold them to their normal offensive production and maybe make a few more stops than normal with our strong DL play.

What I personally think:
I think we both have 2 very mediocre defenses. MSU is 67 in total D and Montana 83 something. Surprisingly Montana is better vs the run than MSU is. Montana is 66th in run D and MSU is 81st. Still that is mid par and MSU should be able to run with decent efficiency vs a team that's averaging giving up 4 yards a run. Sneed, Sulser and JLM are probably licking their chops to be able to get the edges on the MSU Defense. MSU will probably try and spread out their scheme a little knowing Montana has been poor at running up the middle most the year. Montana has been able to design some plays this year that have taken advantage of that defensive scheme. That sneed fake pitch cut back has given sneed over 200 yards this year on that one play. It has to be averaging 20+ yards per attempt. However, I don't think UM has seen the type of backfield pressure they will see vs MSU. For me...the DE's and OLB play by MSU will determine if Montana scores 35 or 14 in this game. UM wide outs are going to get open but it doesn't matter if Sneed is running for his life. Montana without a doubt will run our 3 TE set a bunch. we have been running the 3 TE set and spreading it 4 wide with 2 TEs lined up as a WR, They have also ran the same 13 group but had 2 TEs on the LOS and one in the backfield as a FB. They often motion between those 2 formations in the same play and its hard for defenses to match up with it so far. you end up with LBs on big TEs and when teams run zone...those TEs are just sitting on inside 3-5 yard routes and having a hay day. MSU will have to counter this somehow...Im sure TG has something up his sleeve.

As for the other side of the ball. TA, TA, TA and oh yea TA. Griz have great LBs in Olson and Buss and even Lewis has been coming up big the last few weeks. The griz moved a 3 man front a lot and that seems to be helping spacing and surprisingly QB pressure. The thing that stinks for MSU...UM has not been great about getting QB pressure without blitzing....but MSU doesn't really take advantage of that. They are gonna run and run in about every way possible. The griz D I would imagine is going to play a lot of that 3 down line and try and stay gap contained with the LBs. UM has been bringing a lot of run blitzes from either side of the line and often 2 at once. Either 1 LB and 1 CB or 2 LBs. If TA and the cat OL can stay inside and pick a lane...they could have some big gainers up the center of the field. Much like last year....Sandry and Hauck in the griz secondary have been aggressive and have been beat when overplaying some runs and passes. I would expect MSU to run either some tricks or atleast some different personnel groups to try and bait in those griz backers and then shoot it over the top for some easy gains. MSU doesn't have and offense to really score a ton but is more of an explosive offense still. MSU is 108th in T.O.P on the year. That's pretty shocking for a team that grounds and pounds. What that tells me is when they hit they hit big and get rolling they are tough to stop. When they struggle....well you know.

Game plans: For MSU their scheme has to be grind out some good runs early and then start beating the play action and special personnel groups to death. Just start making montana guess and get frustrated. montana is young and when they start to lose containment they often over pursue and get beat in the exact opposite way on defense. MSU on the defensive side of the ball will be asking their DL to get pressure all by themselves. I'm sure they will want all the LBs and DBs to be focused on containing the speed of both Dalton Sneed and the WR motion game. Inside stunts have proved successful vs this young griz OL, so you might see some of that. MSU has to hope to not have to bring additional pressure in this game. Under routes, slants, TE curls and Sneed runs will be available then and that's not in MSU's best hopes.

For UM, first and foremost....don't turn the ball over. The Griz have a good offense and a good defense when they don't have to compensate for turn overs. When the offense decides to boot the ball 4 times in a half....that makes it hard to win games. In all 4 losses the griz gave away the ball. The best half in all 4 losses....2 turnovers, while they had 3 half's with 4 turnovers. That my friends is how you lose games. Bobby Hauck stated...if we end all our drives in a kick...we will win the game. That has been true for the griz. In the 6 griz wins this year....a total of 2 turnovers. in the 4 losses....16 turnovers. Okay maybe the griz will focus on some other things too but it's obvious why the griz have 4 losses. Montana will look to get the inside run game going....INSIDE! yes I said it. They want to try and get MSU to have to suck in or get LBs to creep inside. When they do that...montana will have all the power in the world with Sneed/JLM/Sulser on the outside edges. Akem has 6 TD catches the last 3 games and Sneed seems to have found his deep ball. On defense, Montana will want lean on their LBs. Let Olson and Buss and Lewis go and get TA. Contain with the front 3 and let the lanes get picked apart by the LB core. Force MSU into passing situations and feast on those "at the marker" routes MSU does so often and well. Calhoun has been aggressive with jumping those routes and I don't think MSU wants to see TA throw lobs up 20+ yards.

Which scheme will win? depends on execution. If I am being HONEST!! MSU has a much more consistent club than montana does. However, Montana has much more upside WHEN they are playing well. Some are saying this is a very even match up. I would tend to agree but not in the usual way. Most even match-ups are both teams that are similar or teams that have the sames style of issues. These teams don't have the same issues. These teams are very much opposite of each other. If your a gambler you would be on the griz here. if you are the house...you bet on the cats here. there is a slim chance msu goes out and just falls apart. There is a much greater chance UM does. It will be interesting to see what the young griz team does when smacked in the face with a true rival...none of this lame Idaho garbage. the brawl is different and most MSU players know what to expect...I can't say the same for the griz and it might be enough to give MSU the edge. Griz with 1 T.O or less: 34-17 Griz, Griz with more than 1 T.O: 31-21 MSU. I have no idea which one will happen.

[cats2506]

I’m hoping we can have a season best with penalties; even better, a career-best over the last three years. And better overall discipline on the field, whether it be penalties or assignments. The personal fouls on defense, and last week’s sideline?; C’MON! These and false starts on offense continue to plague us. One thing I’ve always respected with coach Hauks’ teams at UM is their discipline and attention to detail. Always polished. (Of course he had an incredible recruiting advantage years ago.) I suspect that is why this year’s squad continues to improve. Though I haven’t watched them play.
If we can avoid unforced errors, we would be deadly. If TA was better with his footwork throwing the short passes..he would have 3 more completions per game, and give the coaches cause to open up the passing game. Eliminate unforced errors (or at least reduce), and we win easily.

I agree but when the Grizzlies have lost this year they have been VERY undisciplined. The coach's kid is one of the worst culprits. Hoping for more of that Saturday.

and you know Jr is gonna be jacked to the rafters come Saturday