The Unofficial Unofficial Game Day Thread - Cats-Mercyhurst

[KIX]

Ok drama queens. This game, and particularly came down to the second half. The one where there were no points. Vigen has shown time and again that handcuffing the team with a vanilla playbook and calls makes for a better team in the long run. Trust the process.

Today was vanilla defensive calls knowing the opponent didn’t want to bring out their kicker. What really sucks( not for us btw) is that their guys played super gutsy today and are better than their coaches giving up 12 points on field goals that would have made their second half stand in n the goal line epic.

Why? Why would a coaching staff do this? Vanilla calls force a player to become a playmaker. Trust the process. Vigen has not let you down.

Nailed it. Except there are a few here with an axe to grind against Vigen and have even suggested that he's thrown games against NDSU because it's his alma mater. So they've NEVER trusted his process.

Bunch more Karens coming out of the woodwork after this game. @MSU01 throwing Lamson under the bus in multiple posts is NOT ok. Did he short arm/pull the string on the TE drag in the EZ? Absolutely. Did he throw into double coverage on the INT? Darn right. But he still threw the ball, when he could have just run it, and then people would be tickled about how many times he ran the ball! Saying he had a terrible game is inappropriate.

And it was a vanilla game plan. However, they did try to run a trick play with Chance Wilson at WR but someone false started and the element of surprise was gone, so they ran another play.

I swear, some people invest far too much of their personal happiness on the performance of 18-22 year olds in a GAME...

Lamson is consistently missing wide open receivers. Fact.

Lamson is the most accurate passer in the FCS (or he was prior to yesterday, haven’t checked updated stats.). Fact.

Overlooking wide open receivers is vastly different than being accurate. He is not seeing the whole field. His % went down after last week.

[OldGriz]

Sac State’s QB accumulated about 55 more passing yards against Mercyhurst than Lamson did, but the bigger difference was the rushing game. Sac State rushed for 120 more yards than the Cats in putting 49 points on the board against Mercyhurst. Reason? O-Line? Backs? Soft passing game allowed D to key on the run? Playcalling? I didn’t watch the game. Interested in all perspectives.

[onceacat]

Ok drama queens. This game, and particularly came down to the second half. The one where there were no points. Vigen has shown time and again that handcuffing the team with a vanilla playbook and calls makes for a better team in the long run. Trust the process.

Today was vanilla defensive calls knowing the opponent didn’t want to bring out their kicker. What really sucks( not for us btw) is that their guys played super gutsy today and are better than their coaches giving up 12 points on field goals that would have made their second half stand in n the goal line epic.

Why? Why would a coaching staff do this? Vanilla calls force a player to become a playmaker. Trust the process. Vigen has not let you down.

Nailed it. Except there are a few here with an axe to grind against Vigen and have even suggested that he's thrown games against NDSU because it's his alma mater. So they've NEVER trusted his process.

Bunch more Karens coming out of the woodwork after this game. @MSU01 throwing Lamson under the bus in multiple posts is NOT ok. Did he short arm/pull the string on the TE drag in the EZ? Absolutely. Did he throw into double coverage on the INT? Darn right. But he still threw the ball, when he could have just run it, and then people would be tickled about how many times he ran the ball! Saying he had a terrible game is inappropriate.

And it was a vanilla game plan. However, they did try to run a trick play with Chance Wilson at WR but someone false started and the element of surprise was gone, so they ran another play.

I swear, some people invest far too much of their personal happiness on the performance of 18-22 year olds in a GAME...

Lamson is consistently missing wide open receivers. Fact.

Lamson is the most accurate passer in the FCS (or he was prior to yesterday, haven’t checked updated stats.). Fact.

Overlooking wide open receivers is vastly different than being accurate. He is not seeing the whole field. His % went down after last week.

You mean he isn’t seeing wide open receivers? That’s different t. And we don’t know if that’s on Lamson or the OC.

[VimSince03]

Sac State’s QB accumulated about 55 more passing yards against Mercyhurst than Lamson did, but the bigger difference was the rushing game. Sac State rushed for 120 more yards than the Cats in putting 49 points on the board against Mercyhurst. Reason? O-Line? Backs? Soft passing game allowed D to key on the run? Playcalling? I didn’t watch the game. Interested in all perspectives.

Ran the ball just fine. Ran three different oline groups throughout the game as our LG came back from injury. 40 carries for 233 yards for nearly 6 yards a clip. MSU ran 57 total plays and barely had the ball in the 2nd half. The game got weird when we threw a pick on a deep shot early in the 3rd. Then Mercyhurst went on a ball control tear running 30 plays to our 3 over the next 15ish minutes. We then got the ball and ran out the clock.

My perspective is there are a lot of knee jerk reactions to this one and it's best to just take it for what it was...a weird game.

I also don't believe in scoreboard and stat comparison in the FCS. If you go down that route, it just turns into a rabbit hole that the person will usually do all things possible to adjust to their narrative...whatever that may be. I've seen great teams play god-awful one week and kick the crap out of a good team the next. Not sure why you don't understand this as your team is infamous for that dance.

[BelligerentBobcat]

Ok drama queens. This game, and particularly came down to the second half. The one where there were no points. Vigen has shown time and again that handcuffing the team with a vanilla playbook and calls makes for a better team in the long run. Trust the process.

Today was vanilla defensive calls knowing the opponent didn’t want to bring out their kicker. What really sucks( not for us btw) is that their guys played super gutsy today and are better than their coaches giving up 12 points on field goals that would have made their second half stand in n the goal line epic.

Why? Why would a coaching staff do this? Vanilla calls force a player to become a playmaker. Trust the process. Vigen has not let you down.

Nailed it. Except there are a few here with an axe to grind against Vigen and have even suggested that he's thrown games against NDSU because it's his alma mater. So they've NEVER trusted his process.

Bunch more Karens coming out of the woodwork after this game. @MSU01 throwing Lamson under the bus in multiple posts is NOT ok. Did he short arm/pull the string on the TE drag in the EZ? Absolutely. Did he throw into double coverage on the INT? Darn right. But he still threw the ball, when he could have just run it, and then people would be tickled about how many times he ran the ball! Saying he had a terrible game is inappropriate.

And it was a vanilla game plan. However, they did try to run a trick play with Chance Wilson at WR but someone false started and the element of surprise was gone, so they ran another play.

I swear, some people invest far too much of their personal happiness on the performance of 18-22 year olds in a GAME...

Lamson is consistently missing wide open receivers. Fact.

Lamson is the most accurate passer in the FCS (or he was prior to yesterday, haven’t checked updated stats.). Fact.

Overlooking wide open receivers is vastly different than being accurate. He is not seeing the whole field. His % went down after last week.

Surely you have some evidence of all of these wide open receivers he’s missing.

Btw, there’s not many college QB’s who see the whole field. I’ll tell you straight up, if you’re not watching the All-22, and you don’t know the routes, and the progressions with them, you don’t know what you’re talking about. Another hint, nobody on this board knows that stuff.

[RickRund]

Ok drama queens. This game, and particularly came down to the second half. The one where there were no points. Vigen has shown time and again that handcuffing the team with a vanilla playbook and calls makes for a better team in the long run. Trust the process.

Today was vanilla defensive calls knowing the opponent didn’t want to bring out their kicker. What really sucks( not for us btw) is that their guys played super gutsy today and are better than their coaches giving up 12 points on field goals that would have made their second half stand in n the goal line epic.

Why? Why would a coaching staff do this? Vanilla calls force a player to become a playmaker. Trust the process. Vigen has not let you down.

Nailed it. Except there are a few here with an axe to grind against Vigen and have even suggested that he's thrown games against NDSU because it's his alma mater. So they've NEVER trusted his process.

Bunch more Karens coming out of the woodwork after this game. @MSU01 throwing Lamson under the bus in multiple posts is NOT ok. Did he short arm/pull the string on the TE drag in the EZ? Absolutely. Did he throw into double coverage on the INT? Darn right. But he still threw the ball, when he could have just run it, and then people would be tickled about how many times he ran the ball! Saying he had a terrible game is inappropriate.

And it was a vanilla game plan. However, they did try to run a trick play with Chance Wilson at WR but someone false started and the element of surprise was gone, so they ran another play.

I swear, some people invest far too much of their personal happiness on the performance of 18-22 year olds in a GAME...

Too many have been spoiled by 50-10 scores. Heck, they threw a shutout, maybe not the prettiest game, but it was a W. Those that are upset, I am ready to tell them, send me your tickets. I would be more than happy to root on the CATS.

[MSU01]

Surely you have some evidence of all of these wide open receivers he’s missing.

Btw, there’s not many college QB’s who see the whole field. I’ll tell you straight up, if you’re not watching the All-22, and you don’t know the routes, and the progressions with them, you don’t know what you’re talking about. Another hint, nobody on this board knows that stuff.

During MSU's second drive there was a play where MSU had a tight end (Provience, I believe) running on his own down the middle of the field, walk-in touchdown if the throw is made but it wasn't. Later in the same drive Lamson couldn't complete a 5-yard pass to Lencioni in the end zone who was also completely alone with no defender anywhere near him. Easy to overreact to these two plays in particular plus the interception where he had all day to see that his receiver was covered but still tried to force the throw. But you're right, none of us have enough knowledge or spend enough time watching film to make blanket statements about the entire game.

[BelligerentBobcat]

Surely you have some evidence of all of these wide open receivers he’s missing.

Btw, there’s not many college QB’s who see the whole field. I’ll tell you straight up, if you’re not watching the All-22, and you don’t know the routes, and the progressions with them, you don’t know what you’re talking about. Another hint, nobody on this board knows that stuff.

During MSU's second drive there was a play where MSU had a tight end (Provience, I believe) running on his own down the middle of the field, walk-in touchdown if the throw is made but it wasn't. Later in the same drive Lamson couldn't complete a 5-yard pass to Lencioni in the end zone who was also completely alone with no defender anywhere near him. Easy to overreact to these two plays in particular plus the interception where he had all day to see that his receiver was covered but still tried to force the throw. But you're right, none of us have enough knowledge or spend enough time watching film to make blanket statements about the entire game.

I watched the entire second drive and don’t see any play where a TE was on his own in the MOF. I’m either missing it, or it isn’t there.

The pass that Lamson dirted to Lencioni wasn’t one where he missed an open receiver, it was just a really bad pass. Those are two different things.

[TomCat88]

Paul Brott's response and demeanor to what to do when things aren't going as expected was pure poetry. He's one cool dude. He can be laid back, yet totally sharp at all times. That's one of the things that separates the superstars from the stars. He's focused and relaxed. It's great to be competitive but it has its bounds.

This is part of it:
“You’re sitting on the bench and you’re thinking ‘next play, honestly, next drive,” MSU senior defensive tackle Paul Brott said. “Constantly playing and keeping your head in the game because as soon as you get mad or angry or start letting your emotions take over…sometimes you can make a play but most of the time it’s going to take you out of a play and you’re going to do something dumb so you have to play smart and focused in those situations.”
(full response is on YouTube)

[catatac]

Aside from the San Diego game, the offense has scored a grand total of 40 points in regulation in the other three games, only 27 against the two FCS teams, and zero points in the 2nd half (the one 2nd half TD against SDSU came off their botched punt attempt, and then of course we got the one TD in OT). And sure, we pitched a shootout on defense today, but that was mostly because of their mistakes in the red zone, penalties and turnovers, and their reluctance to attempt any FG. This is the same team we beat 52-13 last year. You can sugar coat it all you want, but we've got a lot of work to do if we're going to be any better than a one and done playoff team this year. You can say we had a vanilla game plan, but the last few years our O-line and running game would have ground these guys into the turf, and consistently picked up 5-10 yards on virtually every play, with the odd big gainer sprinkled in here and there. We would have scored at least 40 points against a team like Mercyhyurst, even with the most vanilla of game plans. Obviously life is very different this year, without Tommy, and we lost a bunch of other very talented players off last year's team, Griebe, Humphrey, et al. I didn't expect this team to be a legitimate NC contender, with all the talent we had to replace, but from what I've seen so far, the decline from last year has definitely been more than I had expected/hoped for.

I agree with much of what you said, but the bold part isn't accurate. This year's Mercyhurst is way, way better than what they fielded last year.

[CelticCat]

Surely you have some evidence of all of these wide open receivers he’s missing.

Btw, there’s not many college QB’s who see the whole field. I’ll tell you straight up, if you’re not watching the All-22, and you don’t know the routes, and the progressions with them, you don’t know what you’re talking about. Another hint, nobody on this board knows that stuff.

During MSU's second drive there was a play where MSU had a tight end (Provience, I believe) running on his own down the middle of the field, walk-in touchdown if the throw is made but it wasn't. Later in the same drive Lamson couldn't complete a 5-yard pass to Lencioni in the end zone who was also completely alone with no defender anywhere near him. Easy to overreact to these two plays in particular plus the interception where he had all day to see that his receiver was covered but still tried to force the throw. But you're right, none of us have enough knowledge or spend enough time watching film to make blanket statements about the entire game.

Oh man, three bad plays, time for the backups to come in!

Every passer at every level has missed an easy pass, it happens. He has not shown a pattern on that, he's completing 74.51% of his passes.

I think a lot of fans are holding Lamson to an extremely high standard because of his different play style versus Tommy. We have a "true" QB now and "true" QBs just don't miss passes! It's like the expectation is for him to be perfect because we are all so used to Tommy ball. We also aren't used to seeing interceptions, also a normal thing to see when you are running more passing plays. 2 in 4 games is an acceptable pace, that would be 6 interceptions on the season if we extrapolate that out, going 304 of 408 for 2,940 yards.

I don't mind the occasional interception if we are throwing the ball 25 times a game. But he does need to be more accurate on the deep balls, that is what he is missing right now. He has had guys with a few steps on their defender and he has continually underthrown them, he's probably missed out on 2-3 touchdowns on that alone. And with the style of offense we are running, we need to have the deep ball threat, or we need to concede that he is an accurate short to medium passer and work with that.

[Montanabob]

Surely you have some evidence of all of these wide open receivers he’s missing.

Btw, there’s not many college QB’s who see the whole field. I’ll tell you straight up, if you’re not watching the All-22, and you don’t know the routes, and the progressions with them, you don’t know what you’re talking about. Another hint, nobody on this board knows that stuff.

During MSU's second drive there was a play where MSU had a tight end (Provience, I believe) running on his own down the middle of the field, walk-in touchdown if the throw is made but it wasn't. Later in the same drive Lamson couldn't complete a 5-yard pass to Lencioni in the end zone who was also completely alone with no defender anywhere near him. Easy to overreact to these two plays in particular plus the interception where he had all day to see that his receiver was covered but still tried to force the throw. But you're right, none of us have enough knowledge or spend enough time watching film to make blanket statements about the entire game.

Oh man, three bad plays, time for the backups to come in!

Every passer at every level has missed an easy pass, it happens. He has not shown a pattern on that, he's completing 74.51% of his passes.

I think a lot of fans are holding Lamson to an extremely high standard because of his different play style versus Tommy. We have a "true" QB now and "true" QBs just don't miss passes! It's like the expectation is for him to be perfect because we are all so used to Tommy ball. We also aren't used to seeing interceptions, also a normal thing to see when you are running more passing plays. 2 in 4 games is an acceptable pace, that would be 6 interceptions on the season if we extrapolate that out, going 304 of 408 for 2,940 yards.

I don't mind the occasional interception if we are throwing the ball 25 times a game. But he does need to be more accurate on the deep balls, that is what he is missing right now. He has had guys with a few steps on their defender and he has continually underthrown them, he's probably missed out on 2-3 touchdowns on that alone. And with the style of offense we are running, we need to have the deep ball threat, or we need to concede that he is an accurate short to medium passer and work with that.

i was watching the game on my phone, but the interception looked like Taco was redirected out of the reception with a push to the back. going for the ball? maybe or interference.

move on. next game.

[TomCat88]

Surely you have some evidence of all of these wide open receivers he’s missing.

Btw, there’s not many college QB’s who see the whole field. I’ll tell you straight up, if you’re not watching the All-22, and you don’t know the routes, and the progressions with them, you don’t know what you’re talking about. Another hint, nobody on this board knows that stuff.

During MSU's second drive there was a play where MSU had a tight end (Provience, I believe) running on his own down the middle of the field, walk-in touchdown if the throw is made but it wasn't. Later in the same drive Lamson couldn't complete a 5-yard pass to Lencioni in the end zone who was also completely alone with no defender anywhere near him. Easy to overreact to these two plays in particular plus the interception where he had all day to see that his receiver was covered but still tried to force the throw. But you're right, none of us have enough knowledge or spend enough time watching film to make blanket statements about the entire game.

Oh man, three bad plays, time for the backups to come in!

Every passer at every level has missed an easy pass, it happens. He has not shown a pattern on that, he's completing 74.51% of his passes.

I think a lot of fans are holding Lamson to an extremely high standard because of his different play style versus Tommy. We have a "true" QB now and "true" QBs just don't miss passes! It's like the expectation is for him to be perfect because we are all so used to Tommy ball. We also aren't used to seeing interceptions, also a normal thing to see when you are running more passing plays. 2 in 4 games is an acceptable pace, that would be 6 interceptions on the season if we extrapolate that out, going 304 of 408 for 2,940 yards.

I don't mind the occasional interception if we are throwing the ball 25 times a game. But he does need to be more accurate on the deep balls, that is what he is missing right now. He has had guys with a few steps on their defender and he has continually underthrown them, he's probably missed out on 2-3 touchdowns on that alone. And with the style of offense we are running, we need to have the deep ball threat, or we need to concede that he is an accurate short to medium passer and work with that.

Vigen's reaction was probably harsher toward Lamson than anything MSU01 said.

[TomCat88]

Surely you have some evidence of all of these wide open receivers he’s missing.

Btw, there’s not many college QB’s who see the whole field. I’ll tell you straight up, if you’re not watching the All-22, and you don’t know the routes, and the progressions with them, you don’t know what you’re talking about. Another hint, nobody on this board knows that stuff.

During MSU's second drive there was a play where MSU had a tight end (Provience, I believe) running on his own down the middle of the field, walk-in touchdown if the throw is made but it wasn't. Later in the same drive Lamson couldn't complete a 5-yard pass to Lencioni in the end zone who was also completely alone with no defender anywhere near him. Easy to overreact to these two plays in particular plus the interception where he had all day to see that his receiver was covered but still tried to force the throw. But you're right, none of us have enough knowledge or spend enough time watching film to make blanket statements about the entire game.

Oh man, three bad plays, time for the backups to come in!

Every passer at every level has missed an easy pass, it happens. He has not shown a pattern on that, he's completing 74.51% of his passes.

I think a lot of fans are holding Lamson to an extremely high standard because of his different play style versus Tommy. We have a "true" QB now and "true" QBs just don't miss passes! It's like the expectation is for him to be perfect because we are all so used to Tommy ball. We also aren't used to seeing interceptions, also a normal thing to see when you are running more passing plays. 2 in 4 games is an acceptable pace, that would be 6 interceptions on the season if we extrapolate that out, going 304 of 408 for 2,940 yards.

I don't mind the occasional interception if we are throwing the ball 25 times a game. But he does need to be more accurate on the deep balls, that is what he is missing right now. He has had guys with a few steps on their defender and he has continually underthrown them, he's probably missed out on 2-3 touchdowns on that alone. And with the style of offense we are running, we need to have the deep ball threat, or we need to concede that he is an accurate short to medium passer and work with that.

i was watching the game on my phone, but the interception looked like Taco was redirected out of the reception with a push to the back. going for the ball? maybe or interference.

move on. next game.

Not that it matters but that was Steel, not Taco.

There was the exact same play by a GB defender in the Green Bay vs Cleveland game yesterday. In the EZ GB defender behind WR and gives probably less of a shove in the back than the MH player did and the GB DB was flagged. The way he used his arm and the positioning was almost a replica of the Steel play. That was a missed call and an easy call. It should've been MSU ball on the MH 25, first and 10. No one can hold that play against Lamson.

If anyone didn't like the throw that's fine but it's worth keeping in mind that sometimes QBs have coaches in their ear encouraging them to "take a shot" "stretch the field" etc.

[BelligerentBobcat]

Surely you have some evidence of all of these wide open receivers he’s missing.

Btw, there’s not many college QB’s who see the whole field. I’ll tell you straight up, if you’re not watching the All-22, and you don’t know the routes, and the progressions with them, you don’t know what you’re talking about. Another hint, nobody on this board knows that stuff.

During MSU's second drive there was a play where MSU had a tight end (Provience, I believe) running on his own down the middle of the field, walk-in touchdown if the throw is made but it wasn't. Later in the same drive Lamson couldn't complete a 5-yard pass to Lencioni in the end zone who was also completely alone with no defender anywhere near him. Easy to overreact to these two plays in particular plus the interception where he had all day to see that his receiver was covered but still tried to force the throw. But you're right, none of us have enough knowledge or spend enough time watching film to make blanket statements about the entire game.

Oh man, three bad plays, time for the backups to come in!

Every passer at every level has missed an easy pass, it happens. He has not shown a pattern on that, he's completing 74.51% of his passes.

I think a lot of fans are holding Lamson to an extremely high standard because of his different play style versus Tommy. We have a "true" QB now and "true" QBs just don't miss passes! It's like the expectation is for him to be perfect because we are all so used to Tommy ball. We also aren't used to seeing interceptions, also a normal thing to see when you are running more passing plays. 2 in 4 games is an acceptable pace, that would be 6 interceptions on the season if we extrapolate that out, going 304 of 408 for 2,940 yards.

I don't mind the occasional interception if we are throwing the ball 25 times a game. But he does need to be more accurate on the deep balls, that is what he is missing right now. He has had guys with a few steps on their defender and he has continually underthrown them, he's probably missed out on 2-3 touchdowns on that alone. And with the style of offense we are running, we need to have the deep ball threat, or we need to concede that he is an accurate short to medium passer and work with that.

i was watching the game on my phone, but the interception looked like Taco was redirected out of the reception with a push to the back. going for the ball? maybe or interference.

move on. next game.

Still a dumb throw. That’s a play that should be drawn up for King.