Weber St. Postgame Analysis

bozbobcat · Post by **bozbobcat** » Sat Oct 28, 2006 6:24 pm

Wow. that was some kind of game. Where to start?

First, the offense didn't seem to run very smoothly at all today, except in certain stretches. Rolovich did ok, but missed on a lot of passes. It was nice to see Evin Groves back in the game. They did a great job limiting turnovers and receivers came up with big catches when they were needed. I feel bad for Donnell Wheaton and especially Deion Tolliver for having to go out like they did. (Wheaton was hurt, Tolliver broke his collarbone on the touchdown) But they did enough not to lose the game. A lot of the offense's problems should be credited to Weber's defense. They did a great job today.

The defense had a nice effort, and got pressure to Ian Pizzaro when it really counted. For the most part, it was a good effort and they too held on for a win. This was especially true when the defense was forced to hold a short field in the third quarter. The play of the game, without a doubt, goes to Michael Beach's interception to win the ballgame.

Special teams...ugh. Josh Lewis made some nice returns, especially on the kickoff when the Cats went down 10-18. For the most part, Eric Fisher's kickoffs were great. Bolton had one nice punt for 64 yards. The punting needs to be adressed, and soon. The roll punt is not working. Longsnapping needs some practice, too. The returns and coverages did fairly well, but this unit needs some practice.

Overall, this was a game that is simply put, another day at work for the Bobcats. Weber State came in and played one hell of a game and really neither team deserved to lose that game. The one major mistake they made cost them a chance at a win. But hats off to Weber, they played great today. And they have to feel snakebitten again by the Bobcats. But all in all, this was a great win for the Bobcats on a beautiful day for football and the race is still on.

BigSkyCat · Post by **BigSkyCat** » Sat Oct 28, 2006 6:32 pm

Bad news about Tolliver. I hope Wheaton is okay because he was the man on offense today and we will need him down the stretch.

I have to disagree with your analysis of Weber State. I thought they were basically inept on offense for most of the game. Pizzaro was under quite a bit of pressure in the first half but he flat out missed a ton of throws in the second half. One in particular was the deep ball to a wide open receiver who got by Fuller for what should have been th game sealing TD. If we had faced a more talented team today there is no question it would have been a Bobcat loss.

Special teams continues to be flat out unacceptable for any level of college football. It makes the defense work all that much harder and you see the results in the second half.

Thank God for a couple big plays by Tolliver and Beach in the second half!!!

bozbobcat · Post by **bozbobcat** » Sat Oct 28, 2006 6:39 pm

You're probably right, their offense wasn't spectacular and they missed a lot of throws. Some of that is on their shoulders for offensive ineptitude, and the rest goes to the Bobcat defense.

MSU01 · Post by **MSU01** » Sat Oct 28, 2006 6:43 pm

No.

More

Roll

Punting

PLEASE

Both Hastings and Bolton have good legs on the regular punt...so use them! How many times do we have to #(*@ up a roll punt deep in our own territory before Kramer changes things?

BelgradeBobcat · Post by **BelgradeBobcat** » Sat Oct 28, 2006 7:05 pm

I think Weber is a lot like Portland State-very physical, maybe the most physical team we've played. They're offense is very vanilla, but progressively tougher to stop as the defense gets wore down. Pizzaro got a little hot in the second half and maybe believed a little too much in himself. That interception was a stupid, stupid pass (I'm sure he would agree).

Great play by Beach-epic!

I'm sure if Bailey could do it over again he would just hand it off the whole third quarter and keep the clock moving. The wind was a factor, but it shouldn't have been that much of a factor. It was like there was a brick wall in front of us that whole quarter at the 20 yard line. We never got past our own 20.

Weber has a pretty good team-better than their record indicates. But they just don't know how to win. Good for us.

This winning thing is nice...I like it.

Great day, awesome crowd! We made some noise in that 4th quarter.

Saw the replay on Altitude-their camera work really makes the stadium and crowd look nice. Great shots of the "M". I hope lots of recruits were watching.

Cat in NC · Post by **Cat in NC** » Sat Oct 28, 2006 8:43 pm

Unfortunately, I had to miss this one on both TV and online as I was up in Boone (NC) for the App State / Furman game. From the sounds of it, I might be glad I missed it because (A) I would have gone a little more insane with the heart-testing tendencies of these Cats and (B) I would have definitely almost thrown up at yet more horrible special teams play. All that aside, GREAT JOB CATS!!!!!! Getting Ws and staying alive is all it's about at this point. It's also great to hear that there was such an awesome crowd (probably mostly due to barechests t-sticks). No letdown next week and we're all set for the showdown.

For what it's worth, Appalachian is flat out scary this year. Watched them thump James Madison earlier this year and they absolutely destroyed #8 Furman today. It was 40-7 with 8 minutes left when we'd had enough of the cold & wind and bailed. Barring a monumental upset in their last 2 (Citadel & Western Carolina), we have one of the top 4 seeds decided.

MSU Toddler · Post by **MSU Toddler** » Sat Oct 28, 2006 9:02 pm

i would put this under the category of a "win is a win" - even though it was lucky. heck - i'm not proud, i'll take it.

keep in mind that i couldn't coach a pee-wee team off a bus - but i still think half time adjustments are poor. the team comes out flat, they look confused for the first couple of series (the defense was never set/ready for those first few series after half - kept looking towards the sideline --- the offense went backward for the first two series). this goes all the way back to sac st. they go into half time looking like they put together a decent first half and come out like they are stuck in glue.....

anyway, not trying to bash anyone with this - just my observation. i hope it gets better against the griz.

good win guys - you should be proud of it and the streak!

BobCatFan · Post by **BobCatFan** » Sat Oct 28, 2006 9:21 pm

Cat in NC wrote: It's also great to hear that there was such an awesome crowd (probably mostly due to barechests t-sticks).

I was ready to see 6000 thunder sticks but I only saw a few. Where did they all go?

BelgradeBobcat · Post by **BelgradeBobcat** » Sat Oct 28, 2006 9:27 pm

Box score: http://sports.yahoo.com/ncaaf/boxscore?gid=200610280117

They list the attendance at a little over 10,000? There were sure a heck of a lot more people there than homecoming which was listed as a sell out. My guess: they had a buy one get one free promotion for the Pepsi zone-and that section was absolutely packed-but they only count tickets sold so the promotional tickets weren't counted?

Whatever the number it was a nice hunting season crowd. If the weather holds, next week's crowd will be bigger.

MSU01 · Post by **MSU01** » Sat Oct 28, 2006 9:28 pm

There was definitely more than 10,000 people in attendance today...the Pepsi Zone was almost full and there were a ton of people watching from the grassy areas in the corners.

BobCatFan · Post by **BobCatFan** » Sat Oct 28, 2006 9:32 pm

Our special teams suck. It was embarrassing watching our special teams. False starts on kickoffs. A blocked punt for a saftey. Confusion on the field, which caused us to burn a time out. An obvious running/trick play on fourth down. Bad snaps. Two missed fields goals. It was appalling. Does Kramer even practice these plays? Does he show up for practice and teach the kids these plays? I am still saying all this falls on the coaches and Kramer himself. If Kramer wants a Rugby kicker, maybe he should contact the on campus Rugby team and have some tryouts.

94VegasCat · Post by **94VegasCat** » Sat Oct 28, 2006 9:42 pm

Did Bailey stay in the locker room at half time?!? That was absolutely the worst quarter of Bobcat football I have ever seen from an offense. THAT SUCKED. The wind today was not so bad that we couldn't advance the ball 10 freaking yards. Rolo throws a tight spiral with some juice on it. That ball could not have been effected that badly. And why throw anyways!? Groves could have run the ball straight up the middle for first downs all day if we would have given him the ball, on consecutive plays. Not side to side, but straight up the middle. You all know that I am a huge Bailey buster and that just plain sucked. We moved the ball like world beaters in the first quarter. We acted like a team that was on the verge of blowing an opponent off of the field. There was some imagination being used on offense. Seemed like we moved the ball at will in the first quarter (same direction as the inept third quarter). I would really like to see the yardage breakdown by quarter.

Roll punt. I like it, but there has to be some consistency to it. Coach K has promised the past two weeks that problems would be solved. I'm still counting on the coach to get it figured out. The fake was the perfect call, nicely done.

Once again, the defense shines. There were some miscommunications, but the defense carried the day.

soldier668 · Post by **soldier668** » Sat Oct 28, 2006 9:44 pm

wow, that was an ugly game, but a win is a win. That injury to Wheaton worries me a little bit because it limits our passing attack a little bit just because of the fact that he seems to be the outlet that's always open when Jefferson is not. I think him getting injured was part of the momentum shift over to Weber during the game. Rolovich needs to settle down, I think the pass defense was excellent and that contributed to his problems but still he needs to put the ball on target a little better. Bottom line however is that we won and he made the throws that mattered TD to Toliver and TD to Wheaton, both great plays. Our O line play needs work after playing great the last several weeks we allowed too much pressure on Rolo which was part of why we didn't play quite as well as he has. Need to set up our run blocking a bit better than we did today, and also I think we need to stay with the run a little more. The play calling is sometimes still questionable to me, but what do I know. Also, his run for the two point was big, turned out to be basically useless but I like the effort to get in the endzone. Defense again gives up the middle of the field too easily, our line and run coverage seems to be great but our coverage of the middle of the field slants was bad. Still defense's efforts kept us from losing. We HAVE to fix the special teams situation, that's been killing us. I'm worried that play like that will eventually catch up with us. The biggest problem with terrible plays like that is that it not only costs us points but resulted in a huge surge of momentum from Weber. I'm not sure we would ever have lost the lead at all if we don't get that punt blocked and get that safety. I think we need to keep the roll punt in our arsenal but need to use a normal punt when we get pinned deep. Bolton has plenty of leg to just boot a normal punt and get it across the fifty. I also like the fake punt play calls, we would have had two sucessful if we would not have comitted a penalty on the second one. Still great call on that first TD drive. Overall, I think we played a good team today, as others have said a team that is much better than they show on paper. Ron McBride is a good coach and it was clear that they made good adjustments at halftime to come out and play with us. We need to put our heads down, stomp Northern Colorado next week and take our week off to get healthy. Then it's Brawl of the Wild time, but we need to keep focused, one game at a time. GO CATS!! next week.

083190 · Post by **083190** » Sat Oct 28, 2006 9:58 pm

Cats should make a nice move in the polls. Nine teams ranked higher lost today.

Fat Cat · Post by **Fat Cat** » Sat Oct 28, 2006 11:22 pm

soldier668 wrote:

I think we need to keep the roll punt in our arsenal but need to use a normal punt when we get pinned deep. Bolton has plenty of leg to just boot a normal punt and get it across the fifty. I also like the fake punt play calls, we would have had two sucessful if we would not have comitted a penalty on the second one.

I agree soldier, there is a time and a place for the roll punt. When it does work, part of the reason is because the punter hangs onto the ball longer as he rolls out to let the the punt coverage get down the field. When we are backed up punting out of our own endzone, there is not enough room/time to do the rollout/delay - you would think we could have figured that out by now. I think the team should actually spend some time specifically focusing on how to punt out of our own endzone with a quick conventional punt. Bolton can get some height/distance. I did like the fake punt to Gazerro, nice call.

Regarding the offense, I am not against trying to stretch the field with our recievers - but it seems like we dig ourselves a hole when we burn a down on a low percentage down-the-field play when we are at or inside our own 20. Our punt team has not been good enough to help dig us out of the hole if we don't get up past the 30. I like the long ball a lot better maybe after we are out past our own 35. At least we have a plenty of room for a punt.

It has been pretty surprising how confused the team has looked coming out of a time out. Hoping we can get that straightened out.

D is playing pretty darn good overall. Some of the 1's on the D were starting to look pretty tired (and with good reason, as they spent too much time out there). But I don't see much drop off with some of the two's, thinking maybe a little more/earlier rotation would have helped. Specifically, I really liked the play of Hoff and Klinklaar when they came in. Hoff looked to be getting one hell of a push and Dylan look pretty darn quick to me. I thought they gave a pretty good spark. I think Hoff has already made great strides this year and is going to be dominant in years to come.

Another positive, no interceptions for Rolovich. Some of his throws were beautiful, man he throws a nice spiral - and on a rope. I couldn't believe Tolliver caught up with that ball Rolo threw in the endzone. My game ball goes to Tolliver for sacrificing the bod and the rest of his season for that one. That was one hell of a catch! On some of the deeper balls, looks like Rolo could put a little more air under it to let the receiver run under it. But he did complete some cross field throws on a rope that most QBs could just not make without getting a pick. Not his best game, but he really is fun to watch. Need to do some tight man coverage, bump at the line stuff for Jack to work against in practice. With our receivers and running backs, we should be able to figure out a way to make defenses pay when they do that, like Weber did today.

HelenaCat95 · Post by **HelenaCat95** » Sun Oct 29, 2006 8:15 am

BobCatFan wrote:Our special teams suck. It was embarrassing watching our special teams. False starts on kickoffs. A blocked punt for a saftey. Confusion on the field, which caused us to burn a time out. An obvious running/trick play on fourth down. Bad snaps. Two missed fields goals. It was appalling. Does Kramer even practice these plays? Does he show up for practice and teach the kids these plays? I am still saying all this falls on the coaches and Kramer himself. If Kramer wants a Rugby kicker, maybe he should contact the on campus Rugby team and have some tryouts.

I absolutely agree. In my mind, the worst part was after the safety, when we kickoff from the 20, we get a delay of game call. THAT WAS TERRIBLE.

Thank God we won.

HelenaCat95 · Post by **HelenaCat95** » Sun Oct 29, 2006 8:32 am

The crowd was great yesterday. I think that our noise caused them at least one, if not two false starts and time outs that they had to take on Offense.

Defense looked good again. And I think the offense was ok.

Special Teams - HELP....again. But a couple of nice returns by Lewis. He will break one in one of the last few games.

Kramer said on the post-game that Austin, Fuller, Force and Mason were a little dinged up (in addition to Wheaton and Tolliver). Any news??

Blue and Gold · Post by **Blue and Gold** » Sun Oct 29, 2006 9:10 am

Crowd - great student support, but the booster side needs to rev it up. Is there a rule against standing up in the gold seat section. With three minutes left it seems people were still on their seats.

Special Teams - we need to work on our long snapping. The bad snap on Hastings shank could have been very costly. The roll punt is definately exciting to watch...sometimes it is a thing of beauty, sometimes it is just plain ugly. Do you think the Grizzlies are scheming a way to block the roll punt?

Offense - The line is playing better each week, but Rolovich has been a little long in his reads..Also with Rolo's ability to scramble, but hesitancy to run, the line may need to hold their pass blocks longer than usual. With Rolo's abilty to buy time, our tight ends need to find a way to come back to the QB. It seems we can get 3-4 yards confidently with either Mason or Groves.

Defense - This is an impressive unit. They are playing well as a unit and seem to be smarter each week. Not sure what happened to Austin on that TD prior the half....and the wind did us a favor on one of Pizarro's last gasp passes where Fuller was burned. Really impressed with the conditioning of Siataga and Pap. These guys play hard each play.

GavinDonos · Post by **GavinDonos** » Sun Oct 29, 2006 9:19 am

Blue and Gold wrote:Crowd - great student support, but the booster side needs to rev it up. Is there a rule against standing up in the gold seat section. With three minutes left it seems people were still on their seats.

How bout we worry about forcing our senior citizen fans to stand up after we get all the students to fill their end of the stadium? Honestly, every section including the Pepsi Zone was overflowing, except the section and a half of student seats that were empty that the Marching Band had to themselves. Meanwhile there are sizeable mobs of students anchored in the tailgate lot.

In my opinion the student support needs to step it up... tailgating issues or not. Just think how loud the student section would be if they saved the tailgating for the right times (before & after the friggin game).

Blue and Gold · Post by **Blue and Gold** » Sun Oct 29, 2006 9:21 am

GavinDonos wrote:
Blue and Gold wrote:Crowd - great student support, but the booster side needs to rev it up. Is there a rule against standing up in the gold seat section. With three minutes left it seems people were still on their seats.
How bout we worry about forcing our senior citizen fans to stand up after we get all the students to fill their end of the stadium? Honestly, every section including the Pepsi Zone was overflowing, except the section and a half of student seats that were empty that the Marching Band had to themselves. Meanwhile there are sizeable mobs of students anchored in the tailgate lot.

In my opinion the student support needs to step it up... tailgating issues or not. Just think how loud the student section would be if they saved the tailgating for the right times (before & after the friggin game).

Point taken.