EWU Offense

[Bobcat4Ever]

Here is something to punt. Ticket prices for the game start at 55 dollars with a 14.50 ticket fee added. Seriously!?

Yeah not as bad as the 80 plus 14.50 for the game against the Griz but still absurd. That ticket fee plus a 5 dollar delivery charge makes 2 tickets 155 bucks.

I was planning on taking my family. Heck that was approaching 300! I will now be watching from the comforts of my couch with some buffalo wild wings haha.

Eastern Wash. clearly does not have a functioning Business School. Elasticity of demand, and all that stuff. I think they just snapped the elastic, and got empty seats and lowered gross revenue in the process.

I don't think it's a business decision, I think it's more of a football atmosphere decision. They saw too many times that the Montana schools (especially um) brought so many fans that they outnumbered the home fans. It's an easy drive and a fun little getaway, especially from Western MT. EWU said "we can't outnumber these guys so let's jack up the prices and if they want to outnumber us they can at least pay one of our assistant coaches' salaries, otherwise we'll keep their numbers low".

I thought about that just after I posted. It surely could be the case. They did scale down from the UM price point since Bozeman is just a bit over twice as far. I’m guessing they have a pretty good idea how many fans they don’t want. Sad statement. I refer to my earlier post about including Spokane in their school name. There is a pretty big market between Spokane and Spokane Valley and all the satellites. What would they need to do to fill a mere 10,000 seats that close to a large urban area?

[catatac]

Wow, that was somewhat painful to get through... and there are certainly some strong opinions out there! I'm sticking with my opinion I've had from day one. Limit the amount of time EB3 has the ball in his hands, period. In my simple brain that means keep the Bobcat offense on the field with longer, sustained drives. (pssst, that doesn't mean piling Ifanse straight up the middle three plays in a row. We have a lot of playmakers, his is just one of them). IMO I think that's what the strategy will be. I'll be tickled pink if we get our opening possession and march down the field and take nine minutes to score a touchdown. Ya, I get it - they can score quickly. I bet our defense gets some good stops. Oh, and no turnovers on our end. That's all I got.

[BelligerentBobcat]

Wow, that was somewhat painful to get through... and there are certainly some strong opinions out there! I'm sticking with my opinion I've had from day one. Limit the amount of time EB3 has the ball in his hands, period. In my simple brain that means keep the Bobcat offense on the field with longer, sustained drives. (pssst, that doesn't mean piling Ifanse straight up the middle three plays in a row. We have a lot of playmakers, his is just one of them). IMO I think that's what the strategy will be. I'll be tickled pink if we get our opening possession and march down the field and take nine minutes to score a touchdown. Ya, I get it - they can score quickly. I bet our defense gets some good stops. Oh, and no turnovers on our end. That's all I got.

I cannot believe you want them to punt all game!

[catatac]

Wow, that was somewhat painful to get through... and there are certainly some strong opinions out there! I'm sticking with my opinion I've had from day one. Limit the amount of time EB3 has the ball in his hands, period. In my simple brain that means keep the Bobcat offense on the field with longer, sustained drives. (pssst, that doesn't mean piling Ifanse straight up the middle three plays in a row. We have a lot of playmakers, his is just one of them). IMO I think that's what the strategy will be. I'll be tickled pink if we get our opening possession and march down the field and take nine minutes to score a touchdown. Ya, I get it - they can score quickly. I bet our defense gets some good stops. Oh, and no turnovers on our end. That's all I got.

I cannot believe you want them to punt all game!

[Clinton T]

Their offense is loaded. Our defense is loaded. Best matchup of any Big Sky game this season by far. Rules favor the offense so expect them to get theirs. I suspect "theirs" will be a lot less than many here have predicted.

[coochorama42]

I am in strong disagreement with most everyone here. Again, I think that MSU has a better defense than EWU does an offense. I think the MSU offense is significantly better than the EWU defense.

Offensively, I believe MSU will show different looks early so that EWU has to defend sideline-to-sideline. Then they will get Ifanse 25+ touches and the offense will look just like it did against everyone else. I am punting on 4th down and forcing the EWU offense to sustain long drives. EWU's defense depends on other offenses to try to beat the EWU offense rather than do what works for them. Vigen has enough experience to avoid falling into that trap.

I do not believe blitzing Barriere is the right decision. Again, I think MSU will invite EWU to run the football. When Barriere throws, he will face coverage that will force him to work through his progressions and ultimately throw into the middle of the field. If the defense works as planned, pressure will be generated from a three- or four-man rush having time to collapse the pocket and perhaps even get a sack. If EWU does run the ball, they are taking the game out of the hands of the presumptive Walter Payton co-favorite to do so. It is a win-win for the MSU defense, especially as their run defense is very good with O'Reilly back. MSU is likely the only BSC school capable of running this particular defense because they have extraordinary depth (when healthy) on the defensive line and in the secondary. Moreover, they have a number of players that can play positionless football in the FCS. I expect Andersen to play a Jamal Adams-like role against EWU (DE, LB, and CB/S). Okada already plays as both a LB and a slot corner. You can make a solid argument as well that Hardy and Grebe can drop into zone coverage if you need it. Grebe already demonstrated that earlier this year and Hardy has lined up at LB in the past. With this personnel, you can force EWU to prepare to defend against a six man blitz but only actually see three coming.

This defense has been used very successfully at the FBS level and in the NFL against QBs with similar skill-sets to that of Barriere. It is a rare defense at the FCS level that has the talent and depth to execute it. I am confident MSU does.

It became clear to me early in looking at this matchup that MSU would look to emulate the defense Tampa ran against KC in the Super Bowl. It worked like a charm!

[BelgradeBobcat]

I am in strong disagreement with most everyone here. Again, I think that MSU has a better defense than EWU does an offense. I think the MSU offense is significantly better than the EWU defense.

Offensively, I believe MSU will show different looks early so that EWU has to defend sideline-to-sideline. Then they will get Ifanse 25+ touches and the offense will look just like it did against everyone else. I am punting on 4th down and forcing the EWU offense to sustain long drives. EWU's defense depends on other offenses to try to beat the EWU offense rather than do what works for them. Vigen has enough experience to avoid falling into that trap.

I do not believe blitzing Barriere is the right decision. Again, I think MSU will invite EWU to run the football. When Barriere throws, he will face coverage that will force him to work through his progressions and ultimately throw into the middle of the field. If the defense works as planned, pressure will be generated from a three- or four-man rush having time to collapse the pocket and perhaps even get a sack. If EWU does run the ball, they are taking the game out of the hands of the presumptive Walter Payton co-favorite to do so. It is a win-win for the MSU defense, especially as their run defense is very good with O'Reilly back. MSU is likely the only BSC school capable of running this particular defense because they have extraordinary depth (when healthy) on the defensive line and in the secondary. Moreover, they have a number of players that can play positionless football in the FCS. I expect Andersen to play a Jamal Adams-like role against EWU (DE, LB, and CB/S). Okada already plays as both a LB and a slot corner. You can make a solid argument as well that Hardy and Grebe can drop into zone coverage if you need it. Grebe already demonstrated that earlier this year and Hardy has lined up at LB in the past. With this personnel, you can force EWU to prepare to defend against a six man blitz but only actually see three coming.

This defense has been used very successfully at the FBS level and in the NFL against QBs with similar skill-sets to that of Barriere. It is a rare defense at the FCS level that has the talent and depth to execute it. I am confident MSU does.

It became clear to me early in looking at this matchup that MSU would look to emulate the defense Tampa ran against KC in the Super Bowl. It worked like a charm!

That is some awesome stuff right there. Great analogy with the KC-Tampa Super Bowl. Kudos!