KittieKop wrote: ↑Sun Dec 02, 2018 2:05 pm
I will agree that MSU is on the track to being back, and that they were the 4th place team in the Big Sky shows about where I think they are - upper mid-pack. Compete with most of the "best" but not ready to beat them. Yet.
One thing to stop is qualifying where MSU stands because they don't have a QB. "If we had a QB then...." Lacking a true quarterback, and I've said this over and over and been castigated for it, is THE biggest failure of this staff. It's not due to a broken foot or bad luck. There's zero reason to be stuck without someone in that position. Going now into year 4, that needs fixed. Now. If TA is back next year at QB, we have a problem.
That said, MSU had an amazingly good season basically missing a lynchpin to an offense. They did well for what they had, but many of the struggles were exactly due to not having A QB on the field. And that's on the staff, not the players.
I think that's what I've been trying to say, and coming across as overly negative. This is not a bad team, by any stretch. It is also a long way from being a great team, and I fundamentally believe that Choate was hired to take this team from "good" to "great".
I think that's been accomplished on D. I also think he's instilled a much better culture in the program than we had in the past, and I think the entire staff needs to be applauded for doing that. I think a big congratulations is in order to making the playoffs after a 4 year drought.
But I think there are a few big time red flags looking at next year.
1) The QB situation: This staff walked into a QB disaster on day 1 with Prukop & Hoy leaving and no real recruits in the wings. I don't really think Murray was recruited as a QB...I'm guessing Cramsey had him pegged as an 'athlete' that would find a niche due to his off the charts athleticism. And I do think the staff has worked hard to recruit both high school studs (Bauman & Rovig sure looked like GREAT recruits) and two 4 star dropdown/transfers. Some bad luck & circumstances, to be sure, but now we are looking at Year 4 with 5 scholarship QBs on the roster and we are STILL crossing our fingers hoping to get the guy that Bobby Hauck sent packing (BTW, I think Gresh is a total stud and wanted him the instant he left the Griz). Desperately hoping for a transfer to fix your QB problem in year 4 is a big problem, and at some point, you have to stop blaming luck and hold some people accountable for the lack of production at that position.
2) "Look how young our roster is": Totally true, but also a bit of a red flag. It makes sense that a bunch of guys would leave during the transition, but in Year 4, the team is basically at 90% Choate recruits. I agree that its a super young team, but it was also a young team last year, and a young team the year before that. (The year before that, when Ash got fired, I think there were 3 Freshmen starting on the D-line). At some point, just like at QB, fans should start questioning this rationale.
3) Close games: All sports take a bit of luck in order to have great seasons. If you look at last year, the ball bounced the wrong way in a few games (SDSU, WSU, NAU, KSU, EWU) and we lost to really good teams because of some bad breaks. If 5-7 plays go differently, the Cats could have been 9 or 10 win team. As a fan, that doesn't really bother me, it makes me think the team is on the cusp of something great. Fast forward to this year and 3 mediocre teams missed easy field goals (UM, WIU, UI) that would have given them the win. So, with some lucky breaks, the Cats hit 7 wins. If those 3 kickers hit, we are looking at a 4-7 record. Don't get me wrong, a win is a win and good teams deserve some of that "luck"...but teams usually revert to the mean when it comes to lucky bounces, and good teams rely less on luck and more on making sure that they dominate for 4 quarters so that luck doesn't ply into things. So I'm really cautious about reading too much into our 7-4 record given how close it was to 4-7.
4) Three offensive co-ordinators in 3 years. Maybe a new one next year, maybe not. Enough said.
I apologize for coming off as a nattering nabob of negativity. This was a solid season-I would say "average" for the Cats over the last 15 or so years. Really like the kids, really like the coaches, really like the intensity that they bring to the game. I had a really fun time watching them this season. I'm hoping that my red flags are total non-issues and they get 100% cleared up before next season.
Go Cats!
. It was nice to see some run blitzing in the third quarter, but by then it was too late (not that it would have mattered though). NDSU is just a machine on both lines. They out athlete you (and power) at every level. Like coach Choate said, it is a good measuring stick of what they need to get to. NDSU has such an awesome recruiting advantage now it is hard for teams to get up to their level.
