Quarterback

[catsrback76]

It's not a foregone conclusion that Rovig will be unseated, but if McKay is as good as he looked to me at times last season, then I'd have to say it's a strong likelihood. Given that he isn't a rushing threat, Rovig's passing would have to be dramatically better and far more dangerous if this MSU team is going to get to the FCS championship.

And just to head off the inevitable responses, I am not saying that he was the only player that wasn't up to the task on Saturday-- not by a long shot. And I have a lot of respect for how he kept at it this last season. I hope he sticks around regardless.

But a dual threat QB, with the best backfield in the BSC led by Ifanse and Hosey, and a veteran offensive line could mean a big step forward for the offense in 2020.

It''s NOT a foregone conclusion Karnack!
Who recruited Rovig AND Bauman? Yes, it's true the same guy who recruited McKay! Hello, but you are way too new to know what you don't know with all these kinds of predictive assertions. Rovig LED this team from his position. He touched 90% of every ball, didn't turn it over hardly at all, and QB'd a top 4 finish in the FCS.

Not sure you noticed but he beat the record of the guy you were touting all year why? Because the Offense was more balanced and the running game had more teeth in it. His passes though not statistically sexy were enough to stretch the field. Does he need to keep working? Sure, but, then again I'm doubting you're a finished product as well!

I'm too "new?" To what? To a forum? Do I have to have a certain number of posts before I'm allowed an opinion?

I do think Rovig improved as the season progressed. The defense and the rushing offense definitely led the surge, however. I am not just assuming that Rovig is out, but based on what I've been able to see of McKay, it's my opinion that it's a probability. Just an opinion. Nothing to get upset about.

Apologies, I read the post as it "was" a foregone conclusion. My bad. I retract my rant. I would only add that my belief is now as always that Defense wins championships and as nice as the Offense was, it was the Defense that carried the load this season.

[RobertoGato]

It's not a foregone conclusion that Rovig will be unseated, but if McKay is as good as he looked to me at times last season, then I'd have to say it's a strong likelihood. Given that he isn't a rushing threat, Rovig's passing would have to be dramatically better and far more dangerous if this MSU team is going to get to the FCS championship.

And just to head off the inevitable responses, I am not saying that he was the only player that wasn't up to the task on Saturday-- not by a long shot. And I have a lot of respect for how he kept at it this last season. I hope he sticks around regardless.

But a dual threat QB, with the best backfield in the BSC led by Ifanse and Hosey, and a veteran offensive line could mean a big step forward for the offense in 2020.

It''s NOT a foregone conclusion Karnack!
Who recruited Rovig AND Bauman? Yes, it's true the same guy who recruited McKay! Hello, but you are way too new to know what you don't know with all these kinds of predictive assertions. Rovig LED this team from his position. He touched 90% of every ball, didn't turn it over hardly at all, and QB'd a top 4 finish in the FCS.

Not sure you noticed but he beat the record of the guy you were touting all year why? Because the Offense was more balanced and the running game had more teeth in it. His passes though not statistically sexy were enough to stretch the field. Does he need to keep working? Sure, but, then again I'm doubting you're a finished product as well!

I'm too "new?" To what? To a forum? Do I have to have a certain number of posts before I'm allowed an opinion?

I do think Rovig improved as the season progressed. The defense and the rushing offense definitely led the surge, however. I am not just assuming that Rovig is out, but based on what I've been able to see of McKay, it's my opinion that it's a probability. Just an opinion. Nothing to get upset about.

Apologies, I read the post as it "was" a foregone conclusion. My bad. I retract my rant. I would only add that my belief is now as always that Defense wins championships and as nice as the Offense was, it was the Defense that carried the load this season.

This makes infinitely more sense. Thanks for clarifying.

[Clinton T]

I haven't read anything else in here but just have a few things to say about Rovig.

Most posters take offense to others calling out Rovig because several of the posters that call him out act like he is a flaming bag of dog poop instead of a QB. Is he a word beater? Absolutely not. Did he do exactly what was asked of him all year and lead the offense? Absolutely! Did he have bad games? You bet. Did he have good games? Damn right he did. People can say what they want about the opponents he had his best games against, but the fact is he is a BSC QB, and a D1 QB because he literally just played a season at that level, and powerful run game or not he lead his TEAM to the semis.

As lots have pointed out he is probably not the guy who is going to take us to the promised land. There may not be anybody on the roster yet who is that guy. He's never going to throw for 3000 yards in a season, or even run for 100 yards but he is no way a bad QB. I think most would agree that he is average, sometimes good. And that is totally fine because it's reality. It wouldn't have mattered who we had playing QB on Saturday, we wouldn't have won that game. Would it have been a bit closer? Maybe, but any QB would have had a hard time passing with 1 second to throw every pass play.

One final thought. For those who think he sucks, what would the U Albany game have looked like without his FANTASTIC game? We ran for 203 yards, 50 of which came on 1 Jonsen TD run. Outside of that run we averaged 3.5 ypc, and I would be willing to bet it was under that until the 4th quarter. Ifanse had 16 carries for 39 yards, 2.4 ypc. Did our running game carrying us in that game? Did our running game win that game while Rovig "managed" the game? Don't think so.

For the sake of discussion, do you feel he would be able to unseat any other starting QB in the Big Sky conference? I don't know enough about evaluating the QB position to make a sound judgement, but I would have to objectively say no.

[bobcat99]

I haven't read anything else in here but just have a few things to say about Rovig.

Most posters take offense to others calling out Rovig because several of the posters that call him out act like he is a flaming bag of dog poop instead of a QB. Is he a word beater? Absolutely not. Did he do exactly what was asked of him all year and lead the offense? Absolutely! Did he have bad games? You bet. Did he have good games? Damn right he did. People can say what they want about the opponents he had his best games against, but the fact is he is a BSC QB, and a D1 QB because he literally just played a season at that level, and powerful run game or not he lead his TEAM to the semis.

As lots have pointed out he is probably not the guy who is going to take us to the promised land. There may not be anybody on the roster yet who is that guy. He's never going to throw for 3000 yards in a season, or even run for 100 yards but he is no way a bad QB. I think most would agree that he is average, sometimes good. And that is totally fine because it's reality. It wouldn't have mattered who we had playing QB on Saturday, we wouldn't have won that game. Would it have been a bit closer? Maybe, but any QB would have had a hard time passing with 1 second to throw every pass play.

One final thought. For those who think he sucks, what would the U Albany game have looked like without his FANTASTIC game? We ran for 203 yards, 50 of which came on 1 Jonsen TD run. Outside of that run we averaged 3.5 ypc, and I would be willing to bet it was under that until the 4th quarter. Ifanse had 16 carries for 39 yards, 2.4 ypc. Did our running game carrying us in that game? Did our running game win that game while Rovig "managed" the game? Don't think so.

For the sake of discussion, do you feel he would be able to unseat any other starting QB in the Big Sky conference? I don't know enough about evaluating the QB position to make a sound judgement, but I would have to objectively say no.

There are people here who would take Rovig over Sneed.

I'd have to go through all the teams, but I don't think he would start at the majority of BSC programs.

[BleedingBLue]

I haven't read anything else in here but just have a few things to say about Rovig.

Most posters take offense to others calling out Rovig because several of the posters that call him out act like he is a flaming bag of dog poop instead of a QB. Is he a word beater? Absolutely not. Did he do exactly what was asked of him all year and lead the offense? Absolutely! Did he have bad games? You bet. Did he have good games? Damn right he did. People can say what they want about the opponents he had his best games against, but the fact is he is a BSC QB, and a D1 QB because he literally just played a season at that level, and powerful run game or not he lead his TEAM to the semis.

As lots have pointed out he is probably not the guy who is going to take us to the promised land. There may not be anybody on the roster yet who is that guy. He's never going to throw for 3000 yards in a season, or even run for 100 yards but he is no way a bad QB. I think most would agree that he is average, sometimes good. And that is totally fine because it's reality. It wouldn't have mattered who we had playing QB on Saturday, we wouldn't have won that game. Would it have been a bit closer? Maybe, but any QB would have had a hard time passing with 1 second to throw every pass play.

One final thought. For those who think he sucks, what would the U Albany game have looked like without his FANTASTIC game? We ran for 203 yards, 50 of which came on 1 Jonsen TD run. Outside of that run we averaged 3.5 ypc, and I would be willing to bet it was under that until the 4th quarter. Ifanse had 16 carries for 39 yards, 2.4 ypc. Did our running game carrying us in that game? Did our running game win that game while Rovig "managed" the game? Don't think so.

For the sake of discussion, do you feel he would be able to unseat any other starting QB in the Big Sky conference? I don't know enough about evaluating the QB position to make a sound judgement, but I would have to objectively say no.

Yes. I think he would start at a few other schools given what their QB position was this year. Weber, Idaho state and Idaho for sure. I don't care what accolades Petrino received at Idaho, he isn't good. Depending on how PSU wanted to run their offense I would probably take him over Davis Alexander as well. Alexander is more of a running threat obviously but they had a decent run game outside of him. I would probably take him over Knipp at UNC as well. Knipp is an ok QB, he is turnover happy and doesn't run all that well either. The other thing to keep in mind is the BSC is spoiled in terms of QB play. We have/had what I would consider 4 of the top 15 or so QBs in the country in Maier, Cookus, Thomson and Sneed.

I'd be willing to bet that at least 1/4 of the other FCS programs would take Rovig as their starter.

[Pecos24]

It's not a foregone conclusion that Rovig will be unseated, but if McKay is as good as he looked to me at times last season, then I'd have to say it's a strong likelihood. Given that he isn't a rushing threat, Rovig's passing would have to be dramatically better and far more dangerous if this MSU team is going to get to the FCS championship.

And just to head off the inevitable responses, I am not saying that he was the only player that wasn't up to the task on Saturday-- not by a long shot. And I have a lot of respect for how he kept at it this last season. I hope he sticks around regardless.

But a dual threat QB, with the best backfield in the BSC led by Ifanse and Hosey, and a veteran offensive line could mean a big step forward for the offense in 2020.

Yet lack of offensive production wasn't the reason for the semi loss to NDSU. Maybe it was the three 75 plus yd short drives given up by the defense. Take those out and we have a 1 score game. Many people were forecasting a defensive battle, like a 17-10 game and would have been happy with that. While a QB upgrade could be a welcome addition, some of you are wringing hands over the wrong problem. Aside from those bombs, defense wasn't horrible against #1 in the country.

By your logic Saturday's loss could have been avoided if we'd just been able to out run them on offense, if we had a 48-42 game, like we tried to do through 2015. Or I guess the only thing some parts of fandom would be happy with would be a 50-0 win every time out. Shut down defense and Super Bowl offense.

It's a great point. The loss to Ndsu was much more about the defense than our QB.

Against my better judgment I’m hopping on this thread...in all honesty it came down to line play on Saturday. When Tucker dropped back to pass he had little time to get rid of the ball.(and on the defensive side we couldn’t get to the QB)

[CelticCat]

Even after the sluggish start, Rovig finished 7th in efficiency. That's ahead of Mason Petrino, Chris Helbirg (who is inferring out of SUU), Jacob Knipp, Matt Struck, and Jake Constantine. He was 5th in completion %, but yes he was last in yards per game but he had the fewest attempts by 41. He had the 4th best attempt to INT ratio (and 2nd fewest overall), and threw more TDs per attempt than Chris Helbirg, Jacob Knipp, and Jake Constantine.

Of course we need better play out of the QB spot, but unless we change up our philosophy we aren't going to have a guy throwing for 3k yards in an 11 game season. That's 272 yards a game and only 4 Big Sky QBs averaged over that.

Rovig's biggest weakness IMO is his inability to find an open guy and spread the ball around, but as Choate said in either the pre-NDSU presser or post AP presser that the game is starting to finally slow down for Tucker. It will be interesting to see his progression and if it's enough to keep his starting job.

The Big Sky is an anomaly for QBs, Rovig would start at a lot of good FCS programs.

[BozoneCat]

Rovig's biggest weakness IMO is his inability to find an open guy and spread the ball around, but as Choate said in either the pre-NDSU presser or post AP presser that the game is starting to finally slow down for Tucker. It will be interesting to see his progression and if it's enough to keep his starting job.

The Big Sky is an anomaly for QBs, Rovig would start at a lot of good FCS programs.

Agreed, Rovig has struggled with going through his reads and spreading the ball around - although, he did improve as the season went along. I thought he tended to struggle making the "easy" throws. You have to hit those to gain confidence and get into rhythm, and too many of those fell incomplete or were thrown behind the receivers to the point we didn't get many YAC. When he's given time, he throws a really nice deep ball. I still tend to think that MSU's offense will run best with a guy just like NDSU's, a dual threat QB that favors passing but is good at running. McGhee would have been amazing in this offense.

[WalkOn79]

Rovig's biggest weakness IMO is his inability to find an open guy and spread the ball around, but as Choate said in either the pre-NDSU presser or post AP presser that the game is starting to finally slow down for Tucker. It will be interesting to see his progression and if it's enough to keep his starting job.

The Big Sky is an anomaly for QBs, Rovig would start at a lot of good FCS programs.

Agreed, Rovig has struggled with going through his reads and spreading the ball around - although, he did improve as the season went along. I thought he tended to struggle making the "easy" throws. You have to hit those to gain confidence and get into rhythm, and too many of those fell incomplete or were thrown behind the receivers to the point we didn't get many YAC. When he's given time, he throws a really nice deep ball. I still tend to think that MSU's offense will run best with a guy just like NDSU's, a dual threat QB that favors passing but is good at running. McGhee would have been amazing in this offense.

Or Prukop maybe even more so.

[RobertoGato]

It's not a foregone conclusion that Rovig will be unseated, but if McKay is as good as he looked to me at times last season, then I'd have to say it's a strong likelihood. Given that he isn't a rushing threat, Rovig's passing would have to be dramatically better and far more dangerous if this MSU team is going to get to the FCS championship.

And just to head off the inevitable responses, I am not saying that he was the only player that wasn't up to the task on Saturday-- not by a long shot. And I have a lot of respect for how he kept at it this last season. I hope he sticks around regardless.

But a dual threat QB, with the best backfield in the BSC led by Ifanse and Hosey, and a veteran offensive line could mean a big step forward for the offense in 2020.

Yet lack of offensive production wasn't the reason for the semi loss to NDSU. Maybe it was the three 75 plus yd short drives given up by the defense. Take those out and we have a 1 score game. Many people were forecasting a defensive battle, like a 17-10 game and would have been happy with that. While a QB upgrade could be a welcome addition, some of you are wringing hands over the wrong problem. Aside from those bombs, defense wasn't horrible against #1 in the country.

By your logic Saturday's loss could have been avoided if we'd just been able to out run them on offense, if we had a 48-42 game, like we tried to do through 2015. Or I guess the only thing some parts of fandom would be happy with would be a 50-0 win every time out. Shut down defense and Super Bowl offense.

It's a great point. The loss to Ndsu was much more about the defense than our QB.

Against my better judgment I’m hopping on this thread...in all honesty it came down to line play on Saturday. When Tucker dropped back to pass he had little time to get rid of the ball.(and on the defensive side we couldn’t get to the QB)

That, and we didn't have the horses to hang with Watson's speed.

I'm a little surprised at how many people place the game so roundly on the defense. That unit definitely wasn't good enough, but neither was the offense. You're not going to beat many good teams giving up 42 points, but the same is also true of only scoring 14. Seems like narrative driven analysis to me.

The offense had 10 real chances with the ball. That excludes the possession at the end of the first half with 24 seconds left. Two possessions resulted in touchdowns, five in punts, and three in turnovers (twice on downs and once with an INT).

Similarly, the NDSU offense had 10 chances. They scored six touchdowns, lost two fumbles, missed a field goal, and punted once.

Futility on both sides of the ball. They contained the rushing attack, they got to Rovig, he was mostly poor (more than one INT dropped), they ran the ball with authority, and created big plays in both phases.

[CelticCat]

I will say this - I think no matter what happens at QB next year, we will be better. If Rovig wins the competition it means he has improved markedly. And he played well enough to get us to the final four, so we know we can win the Rovig.

[Catsrgrood]

I will say this - I think no matter what happens at QB next year, we will be better. If Rovig wins the competition it means he has improved markedly. And he played well enough to get us to the final four, so we know we can win the Rovig.

I think that’s my biggest takeaway as well. We saw this year that Rovig is capable of leading a winning team. He only got better as the year went on and I would expect that to continue in the offseason and in to next year.

If Rovig wins the starting job again, good for him, he’ll almost certainly be better than this year. And if McKay wins the job, then he will have earned it and should be exciting to watch.

Either way, I think we’re in a pretty solid spot at the QB position next year.

[BleedingBLue]

It's not a foregone conclusion that Rovig will be unseated, but if McKay is as good as he looked to me at times last season, then I'd have to say it's a strong likelihood. Given that he isn't a rushing threat, Rovig's passing would have to be dramatically better and far more dangerous if this MSU team is going to get to the FCS championship.

And just to head off the inevitable responses, I am not saying that he was the only player that wasn't up to the task on Saturday-- not by a long shot. And I have a lot of respect for how he kept at it this last season. I hope he sticks around regardless.

But a dual threat QB, with the best backfield in the BSC led by Ifanse and Hosey, and a veteran offensive line could mean a big step forward for the offense in 2020.

Yet lack of offensive production wasn't the reason for the semi loss to NDSU. Maybe it was the three 75 plus yd short drives given up by the defense. Take those out and we have a 1 score game. Many people were forecasting a defensive battle, like a 17-10 game and would have been happy with that. While a QB upgrade could be a welcome addition, some of you are wringing hands over the wrong problem. Aside from those bombs, defense wasn't horrible against #1 in the country.

By your logic Saturday's loss could have been avoided if we'd just been able to out run them on offense, if we had a 48-42 game, like we tried to do through 2015. Or I guess the only thing some parts of fandom would be happy with would be a 50-0 win every time out. Shut down defense and Super Bowl offense.

It's a great point. The loss to Ndsu was much more about the defense than our QB.

Against my better judgment I’m hopping on this thread...in all honesty it came down to line play on Saturday. When Tucker dropped back to pass he had little time to get rid of the ball.(and on the defensive side we couldn’t get to the QB)

That, and we didn't have the horses to hang with Watson's speed.

I'm a little surprised at how many people place the game so roundly on the defense. That unit definitely wasn't good enough, but neither was the offense. You're not going to beat many good teams giving up 42 points, but the same is also true of only scoring 14. Seems like narrative driven analysis to me.

The offense had 10 real chances with the ball. That excludes the possession at the end of the first half with 24 seconds left. Two possessions resulted in touchdowns, five in punts, and three in turnovers (twice on downs and once with an INT).

Similarly, the NDSU offense had 10 chances. They scored six touchdowns, lost two fumbles, missed a field goal, and punted once.

Futility on both sides of the ball. They contained the rushing attack, they got to Rovig, he was mostly poor (more than one INT dropped), they ran the ball with authority, and created big plays in both phases.

I would argue they didn't contain the running game as well as people think. Ifanse and Jones had a combined 4.7 ypc. The Wildcat KILLED our running game outside the 1 yard TD run. Estes had 2 carries for 28 yards on the sweeps as well. I personally think the game would have been a lot different offensively had we continued to pound the rock and throw quick slants and hitches.

This game not only showed us what we need in the player development and recruitment department, but also what our coaches need to do better. Outside of the game against the Griz, Matt Miller has been his own worst enemy. His biggest weakness is finding something that works, whether it be on the season as a whole or within a single game, and going away from it. I know there is a different gameplan for each team but you have to continue to do things that work in order to be successful. Slants were wide open all year long, and they didn't get called enough. Kassis over the middle is about as safe a pass play as a guy could call. The outside run with Jones, where Ifanse was leading the way got us decent yards several times Saturday and we should have kept running it. After it was obvious Rovig was going to get no time to throw we should have been throwing quick hitters a lot more. Just my two cents but you are right it isn't all on the D, although they didn't play so good.

[RobertoGato]

It's not a foregone conclusion that Rovig will be unseated, but if McKay is as good as he looked to me at times last season, then I'd have to say it's a strong likelihood. Given that he isn't a rushing threat, Rovig's passing would have to be dramatically better and far more dangerous if this MSU team is going to get to the FCS championship.

And just to head off the inevitable responses, I am not saying that he was the only player that wasn't up to the task on Saturday-- not by a long shot. And I have a lot of respect for how he kept at it this last season. I hope he sticks around regardless.

But a dual threat QB, with the best backfield in the BSC led by Ifanse and Hosey, and a veteran offensive line could mean a big step forward for the offense in 2020.

Yet lack of offensive production wasn't the reason for the semi loss to NDSU. Maybe it was the three 75 plus yd short drives given up by the defense. Take those out and we have a 1 score game. Many people were forecasting a defensive battle, like a 17-10 game and would have been happy with that. While a QB upgrade could be a welcome addition, some of you are wringing hands over the wrong problem. Aside from those bombs, defense wasn't horrible against #1 in the country.

By your logic Saturday's loss could have been avoided if we'd just been able to out run them on offense, if we had a 48-42 game, like we tried to do through 2015. Or I guess the only thing some parts of fandom would be happy with would be a 50-0 win every time out. Shut down defense and Super Bowl offense.

It's a great point. The loss to Ndsu was much more about the defense than our QB.

Against my better judgment I’m hopping on this thread...in all honesty it came down to line play on Saturday. When Tucker dropped back to pass he had little time to get rid of the ball.(and on the defensive side we couldn’t get to the QB)

That, and we didn't have the horses to hang with Watson's speed.

I'm a little surprised at how many people place the game so roundly on the defense. That unit definitely wasn't good enough, but neither was the offense. You're not going to beat many good teams giving up 42 points, but the same is also true of only scoring 14. Seems like narrative driven analysis to me.

The offense had 10 real chances with the ball. That excludes the possession at the end of the first half with 24 seconds left. Two possessions resulted in touchdowns, five in punts, and three in turnovers (twice on downs and once with an INT).

Similarly, the NDSU offense had 10 chances. They scored six touchdowns, lost two fumbles, missed a field goal, and punted once.

Futility on both sides of the ball. They contained the rushing attack, they got to Rovig, he was mostly poor (more than one INT dropped), they ran the ball with authority, and created big plays in both phases.

I would argue they didn't contain the running game as well as people think. Ifanse and Jones had a combined 4.7 ypc. The Wildcat KILLED our running game outside the 1 yard TD run. Estes had 2 carries for 28 yards on the sweeps as well. I personally think the game would have been a lot different offensively had we continued to pound the rock and throw quick slants and hitches.

This game not only showed us what we need in the player development and recruitment department, but also what our coaches need to do better. Outside of the game against the Griz, Matt Miller has been his own worst enemy. His biggest weakness is finding something that works, whether it be on the season as a whole or within a single game, and going away from it. I know there is a different gameplan for each team but you have to continue to do things that work in order to be successful. Slants were wide open all year long, and they didn't get called enough. Kassis over the middle is about as safe a pass play as a guy could call. The outside run with Jones, where Ifanse was leading the way got us decent yards several times Saturday and we should have kept running it. After it was obvious Rovig was going to get no time to throw we should have been throwing quick hitters a lot more. Just my two cents but you are right it isn't all on the D, although they didn't play so good.

Yeah, that's a good point. Our rushing attack held its own for portions of the game. However, I don't think the coaches misstepped so much as the game script changed. Once they extended the lead, we couldn't just pound the ball.

[TomCat88]

I will say this - I think no matter what happens at QB next year, we will be better. If Rovig wins the competition it means he has improved markedly. And he played well enough to get us to the final four, so we know we can win the Rovig.

I get what you're saying, but I'm not so sure saying what he did got MSU to the semis. I think MSU probably still wins all those games with Bauman at QB. The only close game was the Davis game and MSU won that by wearing them down with the running game and playing great defense.

Rovig definitely improved as the year went along and his TD pass to Kassis vs. APSU was a great pass, that Al Groh raved about on air. Saying something to the effect that 'you could watch games all day Saturday and Sunday and not see a more perfect pass at any level.' That was a great compliment. He needs to continue to improve, however, and I think his main flaw is his slow throwing motion. I'm surprised he only threw two INTs over the last seven games. That's impressive, but I think he needs to be able to speed things up if he's going to get any better than he is. So MSU might be a little better at QB next year overall, but I don't think Rovig will improve much unless he makes some mechanical changes.

We'll have to see how McKay looks in a few months. I'm sure he'll be on campus soon and some of the insiders will be reporting on how he looks long before Spring ball starts. I doubt the coaches bring anyone else in, so it'll be Rovig, Bauman, Thelen, Knight (I think he's moving to safety) and McKay. That's a solid group and it could yield improvements in the passing game.

[BleedingBLue]

I will say this - I think no matter what happens at QB next year, we will be better. If Rovig wins the competition it means he has improved markedly. And he played well enough to get us to the final four, so we know we can win the Rovig.

I get what you're saying, but I'm not so sure saying what he did got MSU to the semis. I think MSU probably still wins all those games with Bauman at QB. The only close game was the Davis game and MSU won that by wearing them down with the running game and playing great defense.

Rovig definitely improved as the year went along and his TD pass to Kassis vs. APSU was a great pass, that Al Groh raved about on air. Saying something to the effect that 'you could watch games all day Saturday and Sunday and not see a more perfect pass at any level.' That was a great compliment. He needs to continue to improve, however, and I think his main flaw is his slow throwing motion. I'm surprised he only threw two INTs over the last seven games. That's impressive, but I think he needs to be able to speed things up if he's going to get any better than he is. So MSU might be a little better at QB next year overall, but I don't think Rovig will improve much unless he makes some mechanical changes.

We'll have to see how McKay looks in a few months. I'm sure he'll be on campus soon and some of the insiders will be reporting on how he looks long before Spring ball starts. I doubt the coaches bring anyone else in, so it'll be Rovig, Bauman, Thelen, Knight (I think he's moving to safety) and McKay. That's a solid group and it could yield improvements in the passing game.

You may be right about Bauman winning those games too, but I also think several games would have been very different. Namely Albany and AP.

[TomCat88]

I will say this - I think no matter what happens at QB next year, we will be better. If Rovig wins the competition it means he has improved markedly. And he played well enough to get us to the final four, so we know we can win the Rovig.

I get what you're saying, but I'm not so sure saying what he did got MSU to the semis. I think MSU probably still wins all those games with Bauman at QB. The only close game was the Davis game and MSU won that by wearing them down with the running game and playing great defense.

Rovig definitely improved as the year went along and his TD pass to Kassis vs. APSU was a great pass, that Al Groh raved about on air. Saying something to the effect that 'you could watch games all day Saturday and Sunday and not see a more perfect pass at any level.' That was a great compliment. He needs to continue to improve, however, and I think his main flaw is his slow throwing motion. I'm surprised he only threw two INTs over the last seven games. That's impressive, but I think he needs to be able to speed things up if he's going to get any better than he is. So MSU might be a little better at QB next year overall, but I don't think Rovig will improve much unless he makes some mechanical changes.

We'll have to see how McKay looks in a few months. I'm sure he'll be on campus soon and some of the insiders will be reporting on how he looks long before Spring ball starts. I doubt the coaches bring anyone else in, so it'll be Rovig, Bauman, Thelen, Knight (I think he's moving to safety) and McKay. That's a solid group and it could yield improvements in the passing game.

You may be right about Bauman winning those games too, but I also think several games would have been very different. Namely Albany and AP.

I agree, MSU probably wins all those games with Bauman. Point being MSU needs a QB that will help keep things close when the defense is having a bad day. Neither Rovig nor Bauman seems to have that kind of juice. Maybe if MSU answers a couple of those big TD plays vs. NDSU, it would've had a shot at the end. That's where this is going. Even if MSU doesn't give up three 70+ yard TDs in one game, it still probably loses to NDSU. That needs to not be the case going forward.

[Cataholic]

It's not a foregone conclusion that Rovig will be unseated, but if McKay is as good as he looked to me at times last season, then I'd have to say it's a strong likelihood. Given that he isn't a rushing threat, Rovig's passing would have to be dramatically better and far more dangerous if this MSU team is going to get to the FCS championship.

And just to head off the inevitable responses, I am not saying that he was the only player that wasn't up to the task on Saturday-- not by a long shot. And I have a lot of respect for how he kept at it this last season. I hope he sticks around regardless.

But a dual threat QB, with the best backfield in the BSC led by Ifanse and Hosey, and a veteran offensive line could mean a big step forward for the offense in 2020.

Yet lack of offensive production wasn't the reason for the semi loss to NDSU. Maybe it was the three 75 plus yd short drives given up by the defense. Take those out and we have a 1 score game. Many people were forecasting a defensive battle, like a 17-10 game and would have been happy with that. While a QB upgrade could be a welcome addition, some of you are wringing hands over the wrong problem. Aside from those bombs, defense wasn't horrible against #1 in the country.

By your logic Saturday's loss could have been avoided if we'd just been able to out run them on offense, if we had a 48-42 game, like we tried to do through 2015. Or I guess the only thing some parts of fandom would be happy with would be a 50-0 win every time out. Shut down defense and Super Bowl offense.

It's a great point. The loss to Ndsu was much more about the defense than our QB.

Against my better judgment I’m hopping on this thread...in all honesty it came down to line play on Saturday. When Tucker dropped back to pass he had little time to get rid of the ball.(and on the defensive side we couldn’t get to the QB)

That, and we didn't have the horses to hang with Watson's speed.

I'm a little surprised at how many people place the game so roundly on the defense. That unit definitely wasn't good enough, but neither was the offense. You're not going to beat many good teams giving up 42 points, but the same is also true of only scoring 14. Seems like narrative driven analysis to me.

The offense had 10 real chances with the ball. That excludes the possession at the end of the first half with 24 seconds left. Two possessions resulted in touchdowns, five in punts, and three in turnovers (twice on downs and once with an INT).

Similarly, the NDSU offense had 10 chances. They scored six touchdowns, lost two fumbles, missed a field goal, and punted once.

Futility on both sides of the ball. They contained the rushing attack, they got to Rovig, he was mostly poor (more than one INT dropped), they ran the ball with authority, and created big plays in both phases.

I would argue they didn't contain the running game as well as people think. Ifanse and Jones had a combined 4.7 ypc. The Wildcat KILLED our running game outside the 1 yard TD run. Estes had 2 carries for 28 yards on the sweeps as well. I personally think the game would have been a lot different offensively had we continued to pound the rock and throw quick slants and hitches.

This game not only showed us what we need in the player development and recruitment department, but also what our coaches need to do better. Outside of the game against the Griz, Matt Miller has been his own worst enemy. His biggest weakness is finding something that works, whether it be on the season as a whole or within a single game, and going away from it. I know there is a different gameplan for each team but you have to continue to do things that work in order to be successful. Slants were wide open all year long, and they didn't get called enough. Kassis over the middle is about as safe a pass play as a guy could call. The outside run with Jones, where Ifanse was leading the way got us decent yards several times Saturday and we should have kept running it. After it was obvious Rovig was going to get no time to throw we should have been throwing quick hitters a lot more. Just my two cents but you are right it isn't all on the D, although they didn't play so good.

You make a really good point. We were effective on the outside run with Jones and Estes, but on paper, NDSU’s defense is so fast that the play should have failed. Maybe Miller was just out thinking himself and expected NDSU would adjust??.. Then when we threw a pass to the flat, the NDSU speed would be evident with 5 NDSU defenders stopping those plays for no gain. It was clear that NDSU was prepared to defend both the pass to the flat and the wildcat. Miller has to better recognize when a play will not work and adjust the game plan accordingly. Also, can’t we see more play action passes? Wasn’t that what Kassis scored with on the long touchdown?

[Cataholic]

It's not a foregone conclusion that Rovig will be unseated, but if McKay is as good as he looked to me at times last season, then I'd have to say it's a strong likelihood. Given that he isn't a rushing threat, Rovig's passing would have to be dramatically better and far more dangerous if this MSU team is going to get to the FCS championship.

And just to head off the inevitable responses, I am not saying that he was the only player that wasn't up to the task on Saturday-- not by a long shot. And I have a lot of respect for how he kept at it this last season. I hope he sticks around regardless.

But a dual threat QB, with the best backfield in the BSC led by Ifanse and Hosey, and a veteran offensive line could mean a big step forward for the offense in 2020.

Yet lack of offensive production wasn't the reason for the semi loss to NDSU. Maybe it was the three 75 plus yd short drives given up by the defense. Take those out and we have a 1 score game. Many people were forecasting a defensive battle, like a 17-10 game and would have been happy with that. While a QB upgrade could be a welcome addition, some of you are wringing hands over the wrong problem. Aside from those bombs, defense wasn't horrible against #1 in the country.

By your logic Saturday's loss could have been avoided if we'd just been able to out run them on offense, if we had a 48-42 game, like we tried to do through 2015. Or I guess the only thing some parts of fandom would be happy with would be a 50-0 win every time out. Shut down defense and Super Bowl offense.

It's a great point. The loss to Ndsu was much more about the defense than our QB.

Against my better judgment I’m hopping on this thread...in all honesty it came down to line play on Saturday. When Tucker dropped back to pass he had little time to get rid of the ball.(and on the defensive side we couldn’t get to the QB)

That, and we didn't have the horses to hang with Watson's speed.

I'm a little surprised at how many people place the game so roundly on the defense. That unit definitely wasn't good enough, but neither was the offense. You're not going to beat many good teams giving up 42 points, but the same is also true of only scoring 14. Seems like narrative driven analysis to me.

The offense had 10 real chances with the ball. That excludes the possession at the end of the first half with 24 seconds left. Two possessions resulted in touchdowns, five in punts, and three in turnovers (twice on downs and once with an INT).

Similarly, the NDSU offense had 10 chances. They scored six touchdowns, lost two fumbles, missed a field goal, and punted once.

Futility on both sides of the ball. They contained the rushing attack, they got to Rovig, he was mostly poor (more than one INT dropped), they ran the ball with authority, and created big plays in both phases.

NDSU scored 21 points on 3 plays greater than 70 yards. Each of those plays involved Watson or Lance or both. If those 3 plays were stopped by the Cats, this game is much closer. NDSU was only 5 of 10 on third down conversions. Watson was a mismatch for our corners and there should never have been a one on one matchup with one of our slower corners covering him. While “stats are for losers”, if you remove those two long TD passes of 70 yards each, Lance would have only passed for 83 yards TOTAL!

What if NDSU did not have Watson and Lance? I think this game would have been much closer if NDSU did not have those two. My point is that we are not as far from being competitive as many think. This years strong incoming class will add more key pieces for the future. Our roster is deeper than it has ever been. I would like to see more speed recruited by the Cats though. Watching Watson take over a game shows just how big an impact speed can have.

[RobertoGato]

It's not a foregone conclusion that Rovig will be unseated, but if McKay is as good as he looked to me at times last season, then I'd have to say it's a strong likelihood. Given that he isn't a rushing threat, Rovig's passing would have to be dramatically better and far more dangerous if this MSU team is going to get to the FCS championship.

And just to head off the inevitable responses, I am not saying that he was the only player that wasn't up to the task on Saturday-- not by a long shot. And I have a lot of respect for how he kept at it this last season. I hope he sticks around regardless.

But a dual threat QB, with the best backfield in the BSC led by Ifanse and Hosey, and a veteran offensive line could mean a big step forward for the offense in 2020.

Yet lack of offensive production wasn't the reason for the semi loss to NDSU. Maybe it was the three 75 plus yd short drives given up by the defense. Take those out and we have a 1 score game. Many people were forecasting a defensive battle, like a 17-10 game and would have been happy with that. While a QB upgrade could be a welcome addition, some of you are wringing hands over the wrong problem. Aside from those bombs, defense wasn't horrible against #1 in the country.

By your logic Saturday's loss could have been avoided if we'd just been able to out run them on offense, if we had a 48-42 game, like we tried to do through 2015. Or I guess the only thing some parts of fandom would be happy with would be a 50-0 win every time out. Shut down defense and Super Bowl offense.

It's a great point. The loss to Ndsu was much more about the defense than our QB.

Against my better judgment I’m hopping on this thread...in all honesty it came down to line play on Saturday. When Tucker dropped back to pass he had little time to get rid of the ball.(and on the defensive side we couldn’t get to the QB)

That, and we didn't have the horses to hang with Watson's speed.

I'm a little surprised at how many people place the game so roundly on the defense. That unit definitely wasn't good enough, but neither was the offense. You're not going to beat many good teams giving up 42 points, but the same is also true of only scoring 14. Seems like narrative driven analysis to me.

The offense had 10 real chances with the ball. That excludes the possession at the end of the first half with 24 seconds left. Two possessions resulted in touchdowns, five in punts, and three in turnovers (twice on downs and once with an INT).

Similarly, the NDSU offense had 10 chances. They scored six touchdowns, lost two fumbles, missed a field goal, and punted once.

Futility on both sides of the ball. They contained the rushing attack, they got to Rovig, he was mostly poor (more than one INT dropped), they ran the ball with authority, and created big plays in both phases.

NDSU scored 21 points on 3 plays greater than 70 yards. Each of those plays involved Watson or Lance or both. If those 3 plays were stopped by the Cats, this game is much closer. NDSU was only 5 of 10 on third down conversions. Watson was a mismatch for our corners and there should never have been a one on one matchup with one of our slower corners covering him. While “stats are for losers”, if you remove those two long TD passes of 70 yards each, Lance would have only passed for 83 yards TOTAL!

What if NDSU did not have Watson and Lance? I think this game would have been much closer if NDSU did not have those two. My point is that we are not as far from being competitive as many think. This years strong incoming class will add more key pieces for the future. Our roster is deeper than it has ever been. I would like to see more speed recruited by the Cats though. Watching Watson take over a game shows just how big an impact speed can have.

Just to play devil's advocate with you, one could remove those huge plays and it's still possible that NDSU goes on a longer, more methodical drive and scores just the same.

Both the Watson touchdowns came on first down. So it's not like a failure to execute on the Bison's part would have meant a punt.

Two drives before the two huge plays, they went for 12 plays, 73 yards and a TD. One drive after, they went on for 15 plays, 75 yards and a TD.

I'm not despairing. I think we closed the gap a little bit and can make up more ground in time. But they are still a lot better than us.

Lastly-- to your question of what if NDSU didn't have Watson or Lance-- that's kind of the whole issue. Their roster is generally peppered with a level of recruit that almost no other FCS programs can land.