To change or not to change

[GoodTimesAllTheTime]

It was pretty evident the first game that the Griz knew they were overmatched with their o-line. They did a nice job of working around it, largely by running a horizontal offense. Sweeps, misdirection, and spitting the ball out to the first read outside. I assume the Cats will be coached up hard about eye discipline this week on the horizontal stuff. I fully expect montana to try to get more explosive vertically in this game, especially early on.
I think the Cats are going to work really hard to create extra gaps in the run game, using multiple TEs and shifts to give them more gaps to defend/ guess on in the run game. And they will certainly be hunting some vertical explosives of their own. Lamson was very efficient in Missoula, surgical almost, but there were 3-4 just huge explosive pass plays that were schemed open and missed, including one on the last drive that would have killed this "3 point game, lucky to win" narrative.
Bottom line is that the Griz are not equipped to win a 4 quarter, back and forth battle with us. Their path to winning is to jump ahead and stay ahead, get us feeling the pressure of a restless home crowd and make us one-dimensional. So i expect shot plays early, trick plays, their best stuff on special teams, etc. Conversely if we can get them down early the opportunity to just boat race them, because of the crowd, starts to get real.

If all this mess about the Griz defense being different with Loud back is true (and I don’t think it is), the Cats should go heavy and neutralize that advantage. I really like your suggestion of multiple TE sets. Run duo off that to get rid of their run blitzes, and the Cats roll, stud CB or not

[iaafan]

It was pretty evident the first game that the Griz knew they were overmatched with their o-line. They did a nice job of working around it, largely by running a horizontal offense. Sweeps, misdirection, and spitting the ball out to the first read outside. I assume the Cats will be coached up hard about eye discipline this week on the horizontal stuff. I fully expect montana to try to get more explosive vertically in this game, especially early on.
I think the Cats are going to work really hard to create extra gaps in the run game, using multiple TEs and shifts to give them more gaps to defend/ guess on in the run game. And they will certainly be hunting some vertical explosives of their own. Lamson was very efficient in Missoula, surgical almost, but there were 3-4 just huge explosive pass plays that were schemed open and missed, including one on the last drive that would have killed this "3 point game, lucky to win" narrative.
Bottom line is that the Griz are not equipped to win a 4 quarter, back and forth battle with us. Their path to winning is to jump ahead and stay ahead, get us feeling the pressure of a restless home crowd and make us one-dimensional. So i expect shot plays early, trick plays, their best stuff on special teams, etc. Conversely if we can get them down early the opportunity to just boat race them, because of the crowd, starts to get real.

If all this mess about the Griz defense being different with Loud back is true (and I don’t think it is), the Cats should go heavy and neutralize that advantage. I really like your suggestion of multiple TE sets. Run duo off that to get rid of their run blitzes, and the Cats roll, stud CB or not

These are the rushing stats by quarter:
First - 11-75 (6.8]
Second - 6-55 (9.2)
Third - 4-10 (2.5; long um drive, only 1 possession)
Fourth - 15-115 (7.7)
Total: 36-255 (7.1)
(Doesn’t include sacks or victory formation)

It’s conceivable that we run (the damn ball) at will all day like 2022. I think we ran it the first 18 plays and without Ifanse. I think it was Elliott, Marquis Johnson, Mellott and Chambers mostly. RJ Fitzgerald scored and Garrett Coon got a few carries.

[GoldstoneCat]

It was pretty evident the first game that the Griz knew they were overmatched with their o-line. They did a nice job of working around it, largely by running a horizontal offense. Sweeps, misdirection, and spitting the ball out to the first read outside. I assume the Cats will be coached up hard about eye discipline this week on the horizontal stuff. I fully expect montana to try to get more explosive vertically in this game, especially early on.
I think the Cats are going to work really hard to create extra gaps in the run game, using multiple TEs and shifts to give them more gaps to defend/ guess on in the run game. And they will certainly be hunting some vertical explosives of their own. Lamson was very efficient in Missoula, surgical almost, but there were 3-4 just huge explosive pass plays that were schemed open and missed, including one on the last drive that would have killed this "3 point game, lucky to win" narrative.
Bottom line is that the Griz are not equipped to win a 4 quarter, back and forth battle with us. Their path to winning is to jump ahead and stay ahead, get us feeling the pressure of a restless home crowd and make us one-dimensional. So i expect shot plays early, trick plays, their best stuff on special teams, etc. Conversely if we can get them down early the opportunity to just boat race them, because of the crowd, starts to get real.

If all this mess about the Griz defense being different with Loud back is true (and I don’t think it is), the Cats should go heavy and neutralize that advantage. I really like your suggestion of multiple TE sets. Run duo off that to get rid of their run blitzes, and the Cats roll, stud CB or not

Yes. Essentially create an extra gap on each end of the line. Could even do that with 13 personnel and still run a lead blocker besides. They love to press up vertically into the gaps on defense, so giving them plenty to pick from neutralizes that ability.

[iaafan]

Rushing by game:
SDSU 5.0
San Diego 5.2
Mercyhurst 5.7
EWU 6.7
NAU 6.1
ISU 7.2
Poly 5.8
UNC 5.0
Weber 6.7
Davis 7.3
UM 5.7
Yale 5.9
SFA 5.4

About 5.3 the first three games.
About 6.2 after that. Thats about where we’ve been over the last five years.

[seataccat]

It was pretty evident the first game that the Griz knew they were overmatched with their o-line. They did a nice job of working around it, largely by running a horizontal offense. Sweeps, misdirection, and spitting the ball out to the first read outside. I assume the Cats will be coached up hard about eye discipline this week on the horizontal stuff. I fully expect montana to try to get more explosive vertically in this game, especially early on.
I think the Cats are going to work really hard to create extra gaps in the run game, using multiple TEs and shifts to give them more gaps to defend/ guess on in the run game. And they will certainly be hunting some vertical explosives of their own. Lamson was very efficient in Missoula, surgical almost, but there were 3-4 just huge explosive pass plays that were schemed open and missed, including one on the last drive that would have killed this "3 point game, lucky to win" narrative.
Bottom line is that the Griz are not equipped to win a 4 quarter, back and forth battle with us. Their path to winning is to jump ahead and stay ahead, get us feeling the pressure of a restless home crowd and make us one-dimensional. So i expect shot plays early, trick plays, their best stuff on special teams, etc. Conversely if we can get them down early the opportunity to just boat race them, because of the crowd, starts to get real.

In the first game the bobcats essentially gave the griz the underneath spot routes. Ay Yat showed that he can get the ball out early and execute the underneath without mistakes. I think the cats need to play more press man, do watch out for the griz recievers making double moves.
Since the griz defense plays a scraping style instead of gap responsibility I think the cats will show a lot of plus one option as well as counters to force the griz into commiting in gaps. Yes the cats will most likely run a lot of heavy packages particularly 12 personell. It does force them to defend more gaps but more importantly it leans on them physically where the cats have the advantage. It also helps neutralize the blitzing. It also forced their LBs and nickel to defend the middle of the field where the advantage is with the bobcats.
Do more of the same on offense and a little more press man on defense.

[rfischer94]

It was pretty evident the first game that the Griz knew they were overmatched with their o-line. They did a nice job of working around it, largely by running a horizontal offense. Sweeps, misdirection, and spitting the ball out to the first read outside. I assume the Cats will be coached up hard about eye discipline this week on the horizontal stuff. I fully expect montana to try to get more explosive vertically in this game, especially early on.
I think the Cats are going to work really hard to create extra gaps in the run game, using multiple TEs and shifts to give them more gaps to defend/ guess on in the run game. And they will certainly be hunting some vertical explosives of their own. Lamson was very efficient in Missoula, surgical almost, but there were 3-4 just huge explosive pass plays that were schemed open and missed, including one on the last drive that would have killed this "3 point game, lucky to win" narrative.
Bottom line is that the Griz are not equipped to win a 4 quarter, back and forth battle with us. Their path to winning is to jump ahead and stay ahead, get us feeling the pressure of a restless home crowd and make us one-dimensional. So i expect shot plays early, trick plays, their best stuff on special teams, etc. Conversely if we can get them down early the opportunity to just boat race them, because of the crowd, starts to get real.

In the first game the bobcats essentially gave the griz the underneath spot routes. Ay Yat showed that he can get the ball out early and execute the underneath without mistakes. I think the cats need to play more press man, do watch out for the griz recievers making double moves.
Since the griz defense plays a scraping style instead of gap responsibility I think the cats will show a lot of plus one option as well as counters to force the griz into commiting in gaps. Yes the cats will most likely run a lot of heavy packages particularly 12 personell. It does force them to defend more gaps but more importantly it leans on them physically where the cats have the advantage. It also helps neutralize the blitzing. It also forced their LBs and nickel to defend the middle of the field where the advantage is with the bobcats.
Do more of the same on offense and a little more press man on defense.

Doesn't running press man make us more susceptible to explosives? If so, how do you mitigate that? Or do you run press man selectively?

[wbtfg]

It was pretty evident the first game that the Griz knew they were overmatched with their o-line. They did a nice job of working around it, largely by running a horizontal offense. Sweeps, misdirection, and spitting the ball out to the first read outside. I assume the Cats will be coached up hard about eye discipline this week on the horizontal stuff. I fully expect montana to try to get more explosive vertically in this game, especially early on.
I think the Cats are going to work really hard to create extra gaps in the run game, using multiple TEs and shifts to give them more gaps to defend/ guess on in the run game. And they will certainly be hunting some vertical explosives of their own. Lamson was very efficient in Missoula, surgical almost, but there were 3-4 just huge explosive pass plays that were schemed open and missed, including one on the last drive that would have killed this "3 point game, lucky to win" narrative.
Bottom line is that the Griz are not equipped to win a 4 quarter, back and forth battle with us. Their path to winning is to jump ahead and stay ahead, get us feeling the pressure of a restless home crowd and make us one-dimensional. So i expect shot plays early, trick plays, their best stuff on special teams, etc. Conversely if we can get them down early the opportunity to just boat race them, because of the crowd, starts to get real.

In the first game the bobcats essentially gave the griz the underneath spot routes. Ay Yat showed that he can get the ball out early and execute the underneath without mistakes. I think the cats need to play more press man, do watch out for the griz recievers making double moves.
Since the griz defense plays a scraping style instead of gap responsibility I think the cats will show a lot of plus one option as well as counters to force the griz into commiting in gaps. Yes the cats will most likely run a lot of heavy packages particularly 12 personell. It does force them to defend more gaps but more importantly it leans on them physically where the cats have the advantage. It also helps neutralize the blitzing. It also forced their LBs and nickel to defend the middle of the field where the advantage is with the bobcats.
Do more of the same on offense and a little more press man on defense.

Doesn't running press man make us more susceptible to explosives? If so, how do you mitigate that? Or do you run press man selectively?

correct....I don't anticipate us playing more press man at all. Sure we may mix it in there a little more, but I think we'll also mix in more 2 with corners jumping the flat route with safety help over the top. UM wants to hit the explosive play. That's where they find success on offense and that also fuels their defense. I think our top priority is to stop the run and prevent the explosive.

[BelligerentBobcat]

I don’t think they’ll change a thing on defense. Nor should they.

[seataccat]

It was pretty evident the first game that the Griz knew they were overmatched with their o-line. They did a nice job of working around it, largely by running a horizontal offense. Sweeps, misdirection, and spitting the ball out to the first read outside. I assume the Cats will be coached up hard about eye discipline this week on the horizontal stuff. I fully expect montana to try to get more explosive vertically in this game, especially early on.
I think the Cats are going to work really hard to create extra gaps in the run game, using multiple TEs and shifts to give them more gaps to defend/ guess on in the run game. And they will certainly be hunting some vertical explosives of their own. Lamson was very efficient in Missoula, surgical almost, but there were 3-4 just huge explosive pass plays that were schemed open and missed, including one on the last drive that would have killed this "3 point game, lucky to win" narrative.
Bottom line is that the Griz are not equipped to win a 4 quarter, back and forth battle with us. Their path to winning is to jump ahead and stay ahead, get us feeling the pressure of a restless home crowd and make us one-dimensional. So i expect shot plays early, trick plays, their best stuff on special teams, etc. Conversely if we can get them down early the opportunity to just boat race them, because of the crowd, starts to get real.

In the first game the bobcats essentially gave the griz the underneath spot routes. Ay Yat showed that he can get the ball out early and execute the underneath without mistakes. I think the cats need to play more press man, do watch out for the griz recievers making double moves.
Since the griz defense plays a scraping style instead of gap responsibility I think the cats will show a lot of plus one option as well as counters to force the griz into commiting in gaps. Yes the cats will most likely run a lot of heavy packages particularly 12 personell. It does force them to defend more gaps but more importantly it leans on them physically where the cats have the advantage. It also helps neutralize the blitzing. It also forced their LBs and nickel to defend the middle of the field where the advantage is with the bobcats.
Do more of the same on offense and a little more press man on defense.

Doesn't running press man make us more susceptible to explosives? If so, how do you mitigate that? Or do you run press man selectively?

correct....I don't anticipate us playing more press man at all. Sure we may mix it in there a little more, but I think we'll also mix in more 2 with corners jumping the flat route with safety help over the top. UM wants to hit the explosive play. That's where they find success on offense and that also fuels their defense. I think our top priority is to stop the run and prevent the explosive.

Mix in more 2? That seems to be the predominant look? I guess we will see about the press coverage underneath. I'm guessing you'll see more of it than we did the first game.

[wbtfg]

It was pretty evident the first game that the Griz knew they were overmatched with their o-line. They did a nice job of working around it, largely by running a horizontal offense. Sweeps, misdirection, and spitting the ball out to the first read outside. I assume the Cats will be coached up hard about eye discipline this week on the horizontal stuff. I fully expect montana to try to get more explosive vertically in this game, especially early on.
I think the Cats are going to work really hard to create extra gaps in the run game, using multiple TEs and shifts to give them more gaps to defend/ guess on in the run game. And they will certainly be hunting some vertical explosives of their own. Lamson was very efficient in Missoula, surgical almost, but there were 3-4 just huge explosive pass plays that were schemed open and missed, including one on the last drive that would have killed this "3 point game, lucky to win" narrative.
Bottom line is that the Griz are not equipped to win a 4 quarter, back and forth battle with us. Their path to winning is to jump ahead and stay ahead, get us feeling the pressure of a restless home crowd and make us one-dimensional. So i expect shot plays early, trick plays, their best stuff on special teams, etc. Conversely if we can get them down early the opportunity to just boat race them, because of the crowd, starts to get real.

In the first game the bobcats essentially gave the griz the underneath spot routes. Ay Yat showed that he can get the ball out early and execute the underneath without mistakes. I think the cats need to play more press man, do watch out for the griz recievers making double moves.
Since the griz defense plays a scraping style instead of gap responsibility I think the cats will show a lot of plus one option as well as counters to force the griz into commiting in gaps. Yes the cats will most likely run a lot of heavy packages particularly 12 personell. It does force them to defend more gaps but more importantly it leans on them physically where the cats have the advantage. It also helps neutralize the blitzing. It also forced their LBs and nickel to defend the middle of the field where the advantage is with the bobcats.
Do more of the same on offense and a little more press man on defense.

Doesn't running press man make us more susceptible to explosives? If so, how do you mitigate that? Or do you run press man selectively?

correct....I don't anticipate us playing more press man at all. Sure we may mix it in there a little more, but I think we'll also mix in more 2 with corners jumping the flat route with safety help over the top. UM wants to hit the explosive play. That's where they find success on offense and that also fuels their defense. I think our top priority is to stop the run and prevent the explosive.

Mix in more 2? That seems to be the predominant look? I guess we will see about the press coverage underneath. I'm guessing you'll see more of it than we did the first game.

we play a lot of different coverages and variations of coverages. We do a really good job of mixing up and disguising. I'm just saying we may throw in a few more calls where corners are more aggressive defending the flat, knowing they have a safety over the top. Or we may not.....I'm just guessing here....

[cats2506]

I don’t think they’ll change a thing on defense. Nor should they.

Same here. play 2 high and stop the deep routes and the middle, give up a few in the flats. But first stop the run, they will have a little success running to the edge. I know this sounds like the same gameplan but it is what we have done all season. I expect a few alignment adjustments to some of their formations. Yes we give different looks, but it usually comes down to the same scheme.

[seataccat]

It was pretty evident the first game that the Griz knew they were overmatched with their o-line. They did a nice job of working around it, largely by running a horizontal offense. Sweeps, misdirection, and spitting the ball out to the first read outside. I assume the Cats will be coached up hard about eye discipline this week on the horizontal stuff. I fully expect montana to try to get more explosive vertically in this game, especially early on.
I think the Cats are going to work really hard to create extra gaps in the run game, using multiple TEs and shifts to give them more gaps to defend/ guess on in the run game. And they will certainly be hunting some vertical explosives of their own. Lamson was very efficient in Missoula, surgical almost, but there were 3-4 just huge explosive pass plays that were schemed open and missed, including one on the last drive that would have killed this "3 point game, lucky to win" narrative.
Bottom line is that the Griz are not equipped to win a 4 quarter, back and forth battle with us. Their path to winning is to jump ahead and stay ahead, get us feeling the pressure of a restless home crowd and make us one-dimensional. So i expect shot plays early, trick plays, their best stuff on special teams, etc. Conversely if we can get them down early the opportunity to just boat race them, because of the crowd, starts to get real.

In the first game the bobcats essentially gave the griz the underneath spot routes. Ay Yat showed that he can get the ball out early and execute the underneath without mistakes. I think the cats need to play more press man, do watch out for the griz recievers making double moves.
Since the griz defense plays a scraping style instead of gap responsibility I think the cats will show a lot of plus one option as well as counters to force the griz into commiting in gaps. Yes the cats will most likely run a lot of heavy packages particularly 12 personell. It does force them to defend more gaps but more importantly it leans on them physically where the cats have the advantage. It also helps neutralize the blitzing. It also forced their LBs and nickel to defend the middle of the field where the advantage is with the bobcats.
Do more of the same on offense and a little more press man on defense.

Doesn't running press man make us more susceptible to explosives? If so, how do you mitigate that? Or do you run press man selectively?

correct....I don't anticipate us playing more press man at all. Sure we may mix it in there a little more, but I think we'll also mix in more 2 with corners jumping the flat route with safety help over the top. UM wants to hit the explosive play. That's where they find success on offense and that also fuels their defense. I think our top priority is to stop the run and prevent the explosive.

Mix in more 2? That seems to be the predominant look? I guess we will see about the press coverage underneath. I'm guessing you'll see more of it than we did the first game.

we play a lot of different coverages and variations of coverages. We do a really good job of mixing up and disguising. I'm just saying we may throw in a few more calls where corners are more aggressive defending the flat, knowing they have a safety over the top. Or we may not.....I'm just guessing here....

We're all guessing. I think the idea of sitting in 2 and jumping routes is a really great idea and maybe better than just playing press.

[MrGoodKat]

Playcalling and emphases may shift a little bit, but I think fundamentally the Cats are going to do what they do.

Their offense is set up well to take advantage of what opposing defenses give them. If UM comes out stacking the box, I will expect to see Lamson air it up until things loosen up.

If the defense replicates what they did in Missoula and makes a handful more tackles on first contact, it will be a great day.

[CaturdayClack]

Im no expert but to me the Brawl 1.0 would have been a total different game with just a few key tackles. Do the same thing on D but do the fundamentals better...tackle tackle tackle. Dont let them get that outside shoulder and the sideline, keep them in the middle.

[Bobcat Sig]

The first contact and tackling looked to be a glaring weakness in the first Cat-gris. Clean that up and like MrGoodKat says; it's a much better day.

[coloradocat]

I agree with the last few posts. If our first guy can either get the tackle or stop/slow the griz player enough that he doesn't gain yards before the second guy gets there we should be fine. No more trying to strip the ball out and letting him gain another 5-10 yards, just get the guy to the ground.

As good as the griz are, they aren't as good as the Bobcats. Remind them of that on every play and the game will go our way.

[cats2506]

Tackling is key, but most of the missed tackles are due to alignment and leverage mistakes.

[GoldstoneCat]

It was pretty evident the first game that the Griz knew they were overmatched with their o-line. They did a nice job of working around it, largely by running a horizontal offense. Sweeps, misdirection, and spitting the ball out to the first read outside. I assume the Cats will be coached up hard about eye discipline this week on the horizontal stuff. I fully expect montana to try to get more explosive vertically in this game, especially early on.
I think the Cats are going to work really hard to create extra gaps in the run game, using multiple TEs and shifts to give them more gaps to defend/ guess on in the run game. And they will certainly be hunting some vertical explosives of their own. Lamson was very efficient in Missoula, surgical almost, but there were 3-4 just huge explosive pass plays that were schemed open and missed, including one on the last drive that would have killed this "3 point game, lucky to win" narrative.
Bottom line is that the Griz are not equipped to win a 4 quarter, back and forth battle with us. Their path to winning is to jump ahead and stay ahead, get us feeling the pressure of a restless home crowd and make us one-dimensional. So i expect shot plays early, trick plays, their best stuff on special teams, etc. Conversely if we can get them down early the opportunity to just boat race them, because of the crowd, starts to get real.

In the first game the bobcats essentially gave the griz the underneath spot routes. Ay Yat showed that he can get the ball out early and execute the underneath without mistakes. I think the cats need to play more press man, do watch out for the griz recievers making double moves.
Since the griz defense plays a scraping style instead of gap responsibility I think the cats will show a lot of plus one option as well as counters to force the griz into commiting in gaps. Yes the cats will most likely run a lot of heavy packages particularly 12 personell. It does force them to defend more gaps but more importantly it leans on them physically where the cats have the advantage. It also helps neutralize the blitzing. It also forced their LBs and nickel to defend the middle of the field where the advantage is with the bobcats.
Do more of the same on offense and a little more press man on defense.

I agree to a point on the press coverage, maybe take a shot early and see if we can jump one. But I think the coaches will be comfortable making them prove they can be disciplined again and go the long way again, this time on the road where the crowd can impact all those third downs they converted over west. I still think the way for them is to get some early explosive plays so I'm pretty happy to let them do the checkdown Charlie/fast pass game and go tackle.

[iaafan]

With crowd behind us and distracting their offense we’d be nuts to change anything on defense from the first game.

Without the no call on Gillman they only had about 315 yards. At home.

[ilovethecats]

The first contact and tackling looked to be a glaring weakness in the first Cat-gris. Clean that up and like MrGoodKat says; it's a much better day.

Ya despite what their fanbase tries to claim, that the Cats played flawless to win by 3; it wasn’t a very clean game for the Cats.

I never really felt we’d lose that game and I have no reason to feel any different at home this time.