Initial thoughts...

[El_Gato]

I attended the game Saturday and much of the posting here is accurate. First of all, 10 flags against MSU vs 4 vs EWU; why do we bother playing at home? The PI against Austin in the first quarter was BS; EWU then goes on to score a TD. Later in the game there were 2 no-calls where EWU players had WAY MORE contact than on Austins play, but the refs ignored the contact and BOTH Bobcat drives stalled. Then how about the play in the 3rd quarter where Travis runs for a long gain out to midfield. The EWU tackler downs him, gets up with his hands still holding TL's jersey, and literally POUNCES on him again, driving him back down into the ground after the play was clearly over? NO PENALTY? Are you kidding me? Another point on the BS officiating; I will never believe that the Cats were holding any worse than the Eagles; I saw Bobcat jerseys stretched out all afternoon and EWU gets ONE holding call. We had 2 huge ones that I can remember on both of JD's big runs.

Next point: What does the coaching staff see in Corey Austin? Please keep in mind that I hope he's a great kid & a good student... I know he's just a frosh and that injuries have forced him into action WAY ahead of schedule, but after watching his play vs SAC & EWU, I don't see a single shred of football instinct in this kid. I can accept a youngster screwing up & blowing a read if I see some good technique &/or instinct on other plays, but too many times this kid loses track of his man & the ball on the same play. Our defense may suddenly be suspect, to be kind, but #13 gave up FOUR TOUCHDOWNS ALL BY HIMSELF. I remember Ryan Force playing corner earlier this season, why not now? I can't believe after all the torch-jobs how often Austin was still left in single coverage on the league's premier wideout. I'm sorry, again, I'm not attacking the kid personally, I just didn't see ANYTHING from him the last 2 weeks that lead me to believe he's ever played the game before but I hope he turns out to be the next Joey Thomas...

Next: Has Kramer said anything about going for the 4th & 8 instead of trying a 45 yard field goal in the fourth quarter? This may be the first time I've ever questioned a big play call by Coach K but at that point, EJ had already hit 3 FG's (including a 43 yarder) and all his PAT's. Why did we not try to give ourselves a chance at a 10 point lead?

Finally: Playcalling in overtime. Did JD bounce an inside run to the outside on 1st & goal at the 2? I could've sworn I saw an interior lineman pulling which would mean Bailey called an outside run with a slow running back. If so, terrible call. If JD bounced it outside on his own, he's got to be WAY smarter than that. Second down, fake handoff to Beal and Travis bootlegs? Don't like it, especially to the short side of the field. 3rd & 4th down, straight dropbacks with little/no chance for Travis to scramble and use his athletic ability. I know it's easy to second-guess, but I think the first 2 downs should have been simple dive plays between the tackles. If you get close, you know TL can "sneak" it in. However, faced with 3rd and goal at the 4, doesn't it make sense to roll Travis out, get him into space so he has the choice of running or throwing, at least on one of the 2 final plays?

These are the main things that haunted me on the drive home yesterday; more later...

[Bleedinbluengold]

I hear ya. It's really really easy to sit here and second guess, but I agree with everything.

Refs: This goes back to what I said on another thread. If the HC makes public statements about his guys playing more aggressive and maybe having to take a penalty or two - can there be any surprise at the unbalance penalty stats? I don't think so.

Secondary: Agreed. Why put this guy in a position to fail, and fail miserably against the best receiver in the conference? He should have had safety help all day. Even if Eastern rolls up 300 yards rushing, at least they take 3 minutes to score and not a few seconds.

FG: Yup - Krames faked himself out on that one. Try the FG.

OT: The QB bootleg with Lulay at QB shouldn't surprise ANY defense in this conference. Maybe a noncon opponent, but everyone knows that if you stop Lulay, you stop the Cats. I would argue that the running up the gut might not have been the smartest calls either - I mean really, most people on this board have berated Bailey for calling those same plays time and time again. The only problem I had with the play calling was that I thought we got away from our bread and butter. Play action should have been all the calls inside the 10 - Had EWU stopped Blake at all that day? I don't think so. On the other hand - what game was it that Bolton lined up at FB? Why not do that at the 2 and 4 yard lines?

Anyway - like I said...second guessing is easy to do. I'm willing to bet that all the coaches wish they had those last 4 plays to do over, too.

[El_Gato]

But on first down, I'm sure I saw a guard pull which means the play was CALLED to go outside. I'm sorry, but that's not a "spur-of-the-moment" excuseable mistake. As the OC, I'm going into EVERY game knowing how I'm going to handle a situation like that, and with JD's lack of quickness, the LAST thing I'm going to call in that situation is a sweep.

Maybe I'm demanding too much of our coaches, but that's the kind of stuff that I think coaches should be thinking about and developing while they're eating dinner or going to sleep at night or whatever; they become your "rules" and guidelines of how you're going to call a game. If Bailey just made that first and goal call "by the seat of his pants" in OT, then he isn't doing the job I would expect of him.

I realize that you can't account for EVERY possible situation in a game, but I can't envision ANYTIME I would call for JD to run wide in a short yardage situation. That one play 'set the tone' for the next 3, and we all know how it ended...