Montana State @ Davis: 2024 Big Sky Conf Championship

[Montanabob]

So after the Weber game the gris "fixed" their defense by abandoning that crazy blitzing with man coverage on the back end. The Weber QB said that he knew it would be one-on-one and that his receiver would win and he was right. All he needed to do was stand against the pressure, throw it up and give them a chance. The DB's on the gris are not good in coverage. So they(gris) switched to more zone and blitzed far less. The result was a defense that kept everything in front of them. It allowed teams to move the ball between the 20's unless they made a mistake but as the defense gets compressed, covering the back end gets easier and you get a stop or FG try. This works great against UNC, Cal Poly, or NAU with its 3rd string wildcat QB. It doesn't work against UC Davis when they have Hastings back there picking them apart by finding the soft part in the zone or waiting till it breaks down. Cal Poly had nearly 300 yards of offense but only scored 7 points against the gris. The Cats on the other hand can get pressure without sending extra defenders (especially if 41 can play). So now Hasting won't have receivers running free. If you go back and watch the Davis/gris game with that in mind you can see why A. the gris just aren't a good football team on defense and made Davis look like Natty contenders. B. the Cats are going to give Davis a lot more to deal with in order to move the ball.

good points.
part of the reason i say they don't match up well with PSU and should lose a close game this week.

[BelgradeBobcat]

So after the Weber game the gris "fixed" their defense by abandoning that crazy blitzing with man coverage on the back end. The Weber QB said that he knew it would be one-on-one and that his receiver would win and he was right. All he needed to do was stand against the pressure, throw it up and give them a chance. The DB's on the gris are not good in coverage. So they(gris) switched to more zone and blitzed far less. The result was a defense that kept everything in front of them. It allowed teams to move the ball between the 20's unless they made a mistake but as the defense gets compressed, covering the back end gets easier and you get a stop or FG try. This works great against UNC, Cal Poly, or NAU with its 3rd string wildcat QB. It doesn't work against UC Davis when they have Hastings back there picking them apart by finding the soft part in the zone or waiting till it breaks down. Cal Poly had nearly 300 yards of offense but only scored 7 points against the gris. The Cats on the other hand can get pressure without sending extra defenders (especially if 41 can play). So now Hasting won't have receivers running free. If you go back and watch the Davis/gris game with that in mind you can see why A. the gris just aren't a good football team on defense and made Davis look like Natty contenders. B. the Cats are going to give Davis a lot more to deal with in order to move the ball.

Thank you for this. It all makes more sense. I also observed that UNC and CP moved the ball pretty well until the red zone where they always bogged down. This makes sense as to why since UNC and CP are very bad at running the ball.

[JDoub]

This week starts the final third of our season - it's basically playoff football from here on out. 1-0 mentality is essential - no "we've arrived" thoughts allowed!

This team has to raise it up a notch to make 1984 a glowing past memory

[KIX]

Hoping the Cats D comes out ready to fire on all cylinders with contained aggression. The performance in the first three quarters at EWU was bad and an effort like that won't cut it in Davis this week vs Larison and Hastings.

[seataccat]

Davis is still something of a mystery to me.

They’re certainly a good FCS team. But how good is difficult to say.

The best team they’ve seen at home this season is Idaho with Wagner at QB, and they won by 2.

When you look at common opponents, it would seem MSU is on an entirely differently level. I would suspect we see something like a 38-17 final.

Going way back to the Bob Biggs era Davis always took advantage of running a complex scheme that mixed up the distribution of the ball to some good skill players by a smart QB. It seemed the weakness in those days was the physicality of the players when they went DI and joined the big west with the dakota schools,. However they always held their own. Ron Gould derailed the program for a while but Hawkins had gotten them back to having the advantage with smart players and a QB that can distribute the ball. It seems like Plough has continued that and has upgraded the physicalness of the team. They are legitimately good and building I think plough plans on sticking around.

[Lord Vigo]

Going way back to the Bob Biggs era Davis always took advantage of running a complex scheme that mixed up the distribution of the ball to some good skill players by a smart QB. It seemed the weakness in those days was the physicality of the players when they went DI and joined the big west with the dakota schools,. However they always held their own. Ron Gould derailed the program for a while but Hawkins had gotten them back to having the advantage with smart players and a QB that can distribute the ball. It seems like Plough has continued that and has upgraded the physicalness of the team. They are legitimately good and building I think plough plans on sticking around.

I agree they're good. One of the rare, good teams on the 2nd tier of the FCS. The mystery is how close they are to the Cats. I still think there's a massive gap between them and MSU.

Their three wins against Southern Utah, Idaho, and Portland State came by a combined 6 points. MSU beat Idaho and PSU by 61.

Their offense is 7.1 PPG worse than MSU despite the fact that they've had their starting offense in for a lot more snaps than MSU.

Their defense is 4.5 PPG worse than MSU, again despite the fact that the majority of points that MSU has allowed this season has been by backups.

That means that by point differential, MSU is 11.6 points better per game, which is a big chasm.

They hang their hat defensively on their run defense, but they haven't seen anything like MSU because there's nothing else in the FCS on the same level as MSU.

[seataccat]

Going way back to the Bob Biggs era Davis always took advantage of running a complex scheme that mixed up the distribution of the ball to some good skill players by a smart QB. It seemed the weakness in those days was the physicality of the players when they went DI and joined the big west with the dakota schools,. However they always held their own. Ron Gould derailed the program for a while but Hawkins had gotten them back to having the advantage with smart players and a QB that can distribute the ball. It seems like Plough has continued that and has upgraded the physicalness of the team. They are legitimately good and building I think plough plans on sticking around.

I agree they're good. One of the rare, good teams on the 2nd tier of the FCS. The mystery is how close they are to the Cats. I still think there's a massive gap between them and MSU.

Their three wins against Southern Utah, Idaho, and Portland State came by a combined 6 points. MSU beat Idaho and PSU by 61.

Their offense is 7.1 PPG worse than MSU despite the fact that they've had their starting offense in for a lot more snaps than MSU.

Their defense is 4.5 PPG worse than MSU, again despite the fact that the majority of points that MSU has allowed this season has been by backups.

That means that by point differential, MSU is 11.6 points better per game, which is a big chasm.

They hang their hat defensively on their run defense, but they haven't seen anything like MSU because there's nothing else in the FCS on the same level as MSU.

Great points and I wholeheartedly agree.
Their run defense may slow down our offense but if so there is probably not an answer for the Tommy roll out RPOs. Involve the TE and some down field throws with Ty one on one and the bobcats will get their points.
The only concern for me is if the offense gets predictable and sputters, will our defense be able to get the stops necessary to keep up with them.
I agree that the cats are the better team. However this will be an inspired Davis team, fresh of a big win and playing with confidence. Bobcats should win but road games in the BSC are never easy.

[Cats92]

Going way back to the Bob Biggs era Davis always took advantage of running a complex scheme that mixed up the distribution of the ball to some good skill players by a smart QB. It seemed the weakness in those days was the physicality of the players when they went DI and joined the big west with the dakota schools,. However they always held their own. Ron Gould derailed the program for a while but Hawkins had gotten them back to having the advantage with smart players and a QB that can distribute the ball. It seems like Plough has continued that and has upgraded the physicalness of the team. They are legitimately good and building I think plough plans on sticking around.

I agree they're good. One of the rare, good teams on the 2nd tier of the FCS. The mystery is how close they are to the Cats. I still think there's a massive gap between them and MSU.

Their three wins against Southern Utah, Idaho, and Portland State came by a combined 6 points. MSU beat Idaho and PSU by 61.

Their offense is 7.1 PPG worse than MSU despite the fact that they've had their starting offense in for a lot more snaps than MSU.

Their defense is 4.5 PPG worse than MSU, again despite the fact that the majority of points that MSU has allowed this season has been by backups.

That means that by point differential, MSU is 11.6 points better per game, which is a big chasm.

They hang their hat defensively on their run defense, but they haven't seen anything like MSU because there's nothing else in the FCS on the same level as MSU.

Great points and I wholeheartedly agree.
Their run defense may slow down our offense but if so there is probably not an answer for the Tommy roll out RPOs. Involve the TE and some down field throws with Ty one on one and the bobcats will get their points.
The only concern for me is if the offense gets predictable and sputters, will our defense be able to get the stops necessary to keep up with them.
I agree that the cats are the better team. However this will be an inspired Davis team, fresh of a big win and playing with confidence. Bobcats should win but road games in the BSC are never easy.

I could see this game going like the W&M game a couple years ago. It started off with a lot of punts then the Cats figured it out offensively and put the game away rapidly. I’ve got a lot of confidence in this team based on the results of the UNM, ISU and EWU games.

[catatac]

Going way back to the Bob Biggs era Davis always took advantage of running a complex scheme that mixed up the distribution of the ball to some good skill players by a smart QB. It seemed the weakness in those days was the physicality of the players when they went DI and joined the big west with the dakota schools,. However they always held their own. Ron Gould derailed the program for a while but Hawkins had gotten them back to having the advantage with smart players and a QB that can distribute the ball. It seems like Plough has continued that and has upgraded the physicalness of the team. They are legitimately good and building I think plough plans on sticking around.

I agree they're good. One of the rare, good teams on the 2nd tier of the FCS. The mystery is how close they are to the Cats. I still think there's a massive gap between them and MSU.

Their three wins against Southern Utah, Idaho, and Portland State came by a combined 6 points. MSU beat Idaho and PSU by 61.

Their offense is 7.1 PPG worse than MSU despite the fact that they've had their starting offense in for a lot more snaps than MSU.

Their defense is 4.5 PPG worse than MSU, again despite the fact that the majority of points that MSU has allowed this season has been by backups.

That means that by point differential, MSU is 11.6 points better per game, which is a big chasm.

They hang their hat defensively on their run defense, but they haven't seen anything like MSU because there's nothing else in the FCS on the same level as MSU.

Great points and I wholeheartedly agree.
Their run defense may slow down our offense but if so there is probably not an answer for the Tommy roll out RPOs. Involve the TE and some down field throws with Ty one on one and the bobcats will get their points.
The only concern for me is if the offense gets predictable and sputters, will our defense be able to get the stops necessary to keep up with them.
I agree that the cats are the better team. However this will be an inspired Davis team, fresh of a big win and playing with confidence. Bobcats should win but road games in the BSC are never easy.

Kinda, but I'd say Cats AT Utah Tech was pretty easy, AT Idaho State fairly easy, At PSU was really easy. EWU was tougher, but ended up with a comfortable win.

[BleedingBLue]

I'm curious, for the folks that are thinking it could be a high scoring affair, what is it going to take for you to stop underestimating the Cats D? Do we need to hold teams 25 points below their season averages every game instead of 10-15?

[TomCat88]

Going way back to the Bob Biggs era Davis always took advantage of running a complex scheme that mixed up the distribution of the ball to some good skill players by a smart QB. It seemed the weakness in those days was the physicality of the players when they went DI and joined the big west with the dakota schools,. However they always held their own. Ron Gould derailed the program for a while but Hawkins had gotten them back to having the advantage with smart players and a QB that can distribute the ball. It seems like Plough has continued that and has upgraded the physicalness of the team. They are legitimately good and building I think plough plans on sticking around.

I agree they're good. One of the rare, good teams on the 2nd tier of the FCS. The mystery is how close they are to the Cats. I still think there's a massive gap between them and MSU.

Their three wins against Southern Utah, Idaho, and Portland State came by a combined 6 points. MSU beat Idaho and PSU by 61.

Their offense is 7.1 PPG worse than MSU despite the fact that they've had their starting offense in for a lot more snaps than MSU.

Their defense is 4.5 PPG worse than MSU, again despite the fact that the majority of points that MSU has allowed this season has been by backups.

That means that by point differential, MSU is 11.6 points better per game, which is a big chasm.

They hang their hat defensively on their run defense, but they haven't seen anything like MSU because there's nothing else in the FCS on the same level as MSU.

If you’re going to base your opinion on points per game, or any other stat, I wouldn’t use the entire season. UCD is a different team the past four games. Reminds me of UM last year when they got hot after beating Idaho.

[rivercat]

Going way back to the Bob Biggs era Davis always took advantage of running a complex scheme that mixed up the distribution of the ball to some good skill players by a smart QB. It seemed the weakness in those days was the physicality of the players when they went DI and joined the big west with the dakota schools,. However they always held their own. Ron Gould derailed the program for a while but Hawkins had gotten them back to having the advantage with smart players and a QB that can distribute the ball. It seems like Plough has continued that and has upgraded the physicalness of the team. They are legitimately good and building I think plough plans on sticking around.

I agree they're good. One of the rare, good teams on the 2nd tier of the FCS. The mystery is how close they are to the Cats. I still think there's a massive gap between them and MSU.

Their three wins against Southern Utah, Idaho, and Portland State came by a combined 6 points. MSU beat Idaho and PSU by 61.

Their offense is 7.1 PPG worse than MSU despite the fact that they've had their starting offense in for a lot more snaps than MSU.

Their defense is 4.5 PPG worse than MSU, again despite the fact that the majority of points that MSU has allowed this season has been by backups.

That means that by point differential, MSU is 11.6 points better per game, which is a big chasm.

They hang their hat defensively on their run defense, but they haven't seen anything like MSU because there's nothing else in the FCS on the same level as MSU.

If you’re going to base your opinion on points per game, or any other stat, I wouldn’t use the entire season. UCD is a different team the past four games. Reminds me of UM last year when they got hot after beating Idaho.

UC Davis has gotten some if their better players back lately. And this is the first year for this coaching staff and new systems for the players. They are a better team now than early in the season.

[BelligerentBobcat]

It amazes me how so many here still underestimate this team.

[grizzh8r]

It amazes me how so many here still underestimate this team.

I'm more worried about them underestimating UCD, but hopefully their win in Missoula commands the attention of the this group of Bobcats. After all, it's something that no one on this current team has done. That fact deserves some consideration. In that regard, I think it's a very good thing UCD won. They are good team, not to be taken lightly. Won't be shocked if it's a tight game throughout. Honestly, the Cats need a tight game, if for no other reason than to get reps in high leverage situations.

[Bocephus]

It amazes me how so many here still underestimate this team.

I'm more worried about them underestimating UCD, but hopefully their win in Missoula commands the attention of the this group of Bobcats. After all, it's something that no one on this current team has done. That fact deserves some consideration. In that regard, I think it's a very good thing UCD won. They are good team, not to be taken lightly. Won't be shocked if it's a tight game throughout. Honestly, the Cats need a tight game, if for no other reason than to get reps in high leverage situations.

This will be a close game, but there is nothing about the 2024 version of Vigen that is underestimating any team.

[Monymony]

This game has similar vibes to brawl last year. Big game for the title, cats on the road, opponent has big time momentum. But this year’s cats team is different. Last year we were slightly stumbling whereas this season we are so grounded and sound. This game will be close for 20 minutes then it will be Bobcat domination from then on.

[TomCat88]

It amazes me how so many here still underestimate this team.

I think most people are just giving UC Davis credit for being good. They’ve been the hottest team in the country the last four weeks imo. They’re playing well in all six phases. Additionally, they’re playing at home.

UC Davis was a BSC title contender last year and pretty good in 2022. I think they would’ve won the BSC a year ago had Larison not been injured.

They’re playing with a huge chip on their shoulder after beating Sacramento State last year soundly and then getting snubbed by the committee.

A lot of very positive things going on with them right now. Their only concern right now might be depth.

[Lord Vigo]

Going way back to the Bob Biggs era Davis always took advantage of running a complex scheme that mixed up the distribution of the ball to some good skill players by a smart QB. It seemed the weakness in those days was the physicality of the players when they went DI and joined the big west with the dakota schools,. However they always held their own. Ron Gould derailed the program for a while but Hawkins had gotten them back to having the advantage with smart players and a QB that can distribute the ball. It seems like Plough has continued that and has upgraded the physicalness of the team. They are legitimately good and building I think plough plans on sticking around.

I agree they're good. One of the rare, good teams on the 2nd tier of the FCS. The mystery is how close they are to the Cats. I still think there's a massive gap between them and MSU.

Their three wins against Southern Utah, Idaho, and Portland State came by a combined 6 points. MSU beat Idaho and PSU by 61.

Their offense is 7.1 PPG worse than MSU despite the fact that they've had their starting offense in for a lot more snaps than MSU.

Their defense is 4.5 PPG worse than MSU, again despite the fact that the majority of points that MSU has allowed this season has been by backups.

That means that by point differential, MSU is 11.6 points better per game, which is a big chasm.

They hang their hat defensively on their run defense, but they haven't seen anything like MSU because there's nothing else in the FCS on the same level as MSU.

If you’re going to base your opinion on points per game, or any other stat, I wouldn’t use the entire season. UCD is a different team the past four games. Reminds me of UM last year when they got hot after beating Idaho.

To the contrary, I would argue that you must use the entire season because in the last four game sample, they’ve been playing the worst defenses that the BSC has to offer. The only unit with any ability at all is Montana and they were ok against them but nothing special.

[Lord Vigo]

It amazes me how so many here still underestimate this team.

I think most people are just giving UC Davis credit for being good. They’ve been the hottest team in the country the last four weeks imo. They’re playing well in all six phases. Additionally, they’re playing at home.

UC Davis was a BSC title contender last year and pretty good in 2022. I think they would’ve won the BSC a year ago had Larison not been injured.

They’re playing with a huge chip on their shoulder after beating Sacramento State last year soundly and then getting snubbed by the committee.

A lot of very positive things going on with them right now. Their only concern right now might be depth.

I would say that their main concern right now is having a face off for the conference with a team that’s better than them in virtually every facet of the game.

[BelligerentBobcat]

It amazes me how so many here still underestimate this team.

I'm more worried about them underestimating UCD, but hopefully their win in Missoula commands the attention of the this group of Bobcats. After all, it's something that no one on this current team has done. That fact deserves some consideration. In that regard, I think it's a very good thing UCD won. They are good team, not to be taken lightly. Won't be shocked if it's a tight game throughout. Honestly, the Cats need a tight game, if for no other reason than to get reps in high leverage situations.

I don’t think you need to worry about this team underestimating anybody.