Post- Game Thoughts

[91catAlum]

Well, it was an ugly slug fest, as expected.

The MSU defense is really, really good. They seem to give up yards early in games but then lock in. They are championship caliber.

The MSU offense needs to improve. This includes execution and play calling. I understand wanting to be safe when we spent most of the 2nd half deep in our own end. But the "run middle, run middle, short throw, punt" sequence over and over and over just isn't gonna cut it against better teams.

McKay needs to play better. We didn't always have guys open but when we did he often didn't see them or made a bad throw. The one to Pickering that he caught off his shoelaces and fell down might have been a TD if McKay throws a good ball there.

Overall, this was a good, hard fought win. Weber had all the advantages, came out on fire, and absolutely had to have this game - but the Cats found a way to gut out a win, ugly as it may have been.

Game balls:
Daniel Hardy. 4 sacks and a forced fumble. Big hit on Shaheed on kick coverage. This man is having a helluva season. I wondered how we would replace Bryce Sterk's production, well now we know!
Troy Andersen. Tackling machine. How many times does he beat the ball carrier to the line of scrimmage?? So fast.
The whole defense, including Coach Banks. Great job locking it down after that first drive.
Kick coverage teams. Shaheed didn't get much of anything all night.
Blake Glessner. The kid was money tonight. His 2 FGs were the difference in the game and they were not gimmes.

[onceacat]

Well, it was an ugly slug fest, as expected.

The MSU defense is really, really good. They seem to give up yards early in games but then lock in. They are championship caliber.

The MSU offense needs to improve. This includes execution and play calling. I understand wanting to be safe when we spent most of the 2nd half deep in our own end. But the "run middle, run middle, short throw, punt" sequence over and over and over just isn't gonna cut it against better teams.

McKay needs to play better. We didn't always have guys open but when we did he often didn't see them or made a bad throw. The one to Pickering that he caught off his shoelaces and fell down might have been a TD if McKay throws a good ball there.

Overall, this was a good, hard fought win. Weber had all the advantages, came out on fire, and absolutely had to have this game - but the Cats found a way to gut out a win, ugly as it may have been.

Game balls:
Daniel Hardy. 4 sacks and a forced fumble. Big hit on Shaheed on kick coverage. This man is having a helluva season. I wondered how we would replace Bryce Sterk's production, well now we know!
Troy Andersen. Tackling machine. How many times does he beat the ball carrier to the line of scrimmage?? So fast.
The whole defense, including Coach Banks. Great job locking it down after that first drive.
Kick coverage teams. Shaheed didn't get much of anything all night.
Blake Glessner. The kid was money tonight. His 2 FGs were the difference in the game and they were not gimmes.

Agree with all that. I can't figure out if the ineptitude on Offense is a result of bad coaching, or a carefully thought out plan, or just a terrible night for Housewright....or maybe something else entirely.

Its always good to get a win on the road in conference play. But for those of us that thought that the Cats were a Top 5 team, its hard to polish enough turds (on the offensive side) to come out of this feeling alright. I'm going to choose to chalk up the awful offensive showing to a short week & inadequate preparation by the staff & pray that it gets better before we play better teams.

[GoCats18]

Put this win behind you A.S.A.P and get ready for ISU. We have a lot of work to do offensively and our schedule doesn’t get any easier.

[catsrback76]

Well, it was an ugly slug fest, as expected.

The MSU defense is really, really good. They seem to give up yards early in games but then lock in. They are championship caliber.

The MSU offense needs to improve. This includes execution and play calling. I understand wanting to be safe when we spent most of the 2nd half deep in our own end. But the "run middle, run middle, short throw, punt" sequence over and over and over just isn't gonna cut it against better teams.

McKay needs to play better. We didn't always have guys open but when we did he often didn't see them or made a bad throw. The one to Pickering that he caught off his shoelaces and fell down might have been a TD if McKay throws a good ball there.

Overall, this was a good, hard fought win. Weber had all the advantages, came out on fire, and absolutely had to have this game - but the Cats found a way to gut out a win, ugly as it may have been.

Game balls:
Daniel Hardy. 4 sacks and a forced fumble. Big hit on Shaheed on kick coverage. This man is having a helluva season. I wondered how we would replace Bryce Sterk's production, well now we know!
Troy Andersen. Tackling machine. How many times does he beat the ball carrier to the line of scrimmage?? So fast.
The whole defense, including Coach Banks. Great job locking it down after that first drive.
Kick coverage teams. Shaheed didn't get much of anything all night.
Blake Glessner. The kid was money tonight. His 2 FGs were the difference in the game and they were not gimmes.

Agree with all that. I can't figure out if the ineptitude on Offense is a result of bad coaching, or a carefully thought out plan, or just a terrible night for Housewright....or maybe something else entirely.

Its always good to get a win on the road in conference play. But for those of us that thought that the Cats were a Top 5 team, its hard to polish enough turds (on the offensive side) to come out of this feeling alright. I'm going to choose to chalk up the awful offensive showing to a short week & inadequate preparation by the staff & pray that it gets better before we play better teams.

Yes, it will be interesting going forward, but I would guess there are multiple things that happened during the game...one of which is Weber has an excellent D...and we still won!

[AFCAT]

Offensive play calling.



Defense and kicking game.

[bobcatfan123]

I am excited and relieved we won tonight. But we can’t sugar coat how bad our offensive play calling and execution were. Housewright didn’t do us any favors. Weber is better than their record, but we’re 100% the better team and almost lost because of poor game plan and failure to adjust. We will lose to equally talented teams by continuing to play so so conservative on offense. Literally even some differentiating run plays would have helped.

[superbobcat]

We won on the road against atop 2 defense in the conference. Did we hammer the middle of that defense to much, probably, but we still won. I thought the fourth down call was pretty ballsy considering we were getting worked up front. We didn’t try to stretch the field very much, I wonder why? Our punt return with Willie is non existent, but we won. Again, that was a stout d-line, our oline is not what I expected to see this year. But again, we found a way to win on the road. We need to take it and celebrate not complain.

[Helcat72]

Jeez, if we only had Tom Brady...we could have put up 40 on em! I suppose coach has seen his share of defensive struggles. Coaching with Craig Bohl his DNA probably says play tough defense, run the ball, and the clock, if you get ahead. Don't do anything that can turn the ball over when your defense dominates.
When they scored, we answered fairly quickly. When we settled in at 7 to 7 I think his conservative style is to bet that they will be the first to make a mistake...and they were!

[94VegasCat]

Looking at where we started every drive, our play calling had to be conservative. Weber’s Defense is legitimately good. McKay didn’t have much time to pass and if we made an error, it gave weebs a short field. Running side to side against a fast Defense usually doesn’t work either. Quick hitters or power running plays were good enough to get it done. There were a few plays that were suspect but we won on the road against a team that’s calling card is great defense.

Coaches and kids did a great job! Great win!

[allcat]

It's weird for the weebles, they have not won at home yet.

[wbtfg]

Did anyone else notice that the refs didn’t call anything? Taunting/holding, etc.

I’d prefer it that way over too many penalties, but man, lots of obvious penalties missed tonight.

[catscat]

Looking at where we started every drive, our play calling had to be conservative. Weber’s Defense is legitimately good. McKay didn’t have much time to pass and if we made an error, it gave weebs a short field. Running side to side against a fast Defense usually doesn’t work either. Quick hitters or power running plays were good enough to get it done. There were a few plays that were suspect but we won on the road against a team that’s calling card is great defense.

Coaches and kids did a great job! Great win!

Agree. As our season plays out, this was another building/learning opportunity. There probably are more run plays in the play book, but McKay sure didn't have much time to pass. I'm happy with the win.

[PapaG]

I thought McKay did well considering the Weber pass rush. I’d like to see Mellot a bit more on offense but maybe not as QB. Dude is a unique weapon and maybe can be a slot WR or a RB in some two back sets with Ifanse. That’s probably the best defense MSU will see this year.

74 points allowed in 7 games by the defense is what has me the most excited about this year. The pass rush is top-level and Troy, Daniel, Amandre, and Callahan are playing as well as any defenders in FCS right now.

[VimSince03]

Well, it was an ugly slug fest, as expected.

The MSU defense is really, really good. They seem to give up yards early in games but then lock in. They are championship caliber.

The MSU offense needs to improve. This includes execution and play calling. I understand wanting to be safe when we spent most of the 2nd half deep in our own end. But the "run middle, run middle, short throw, punt" sequence over and over and over just isn't gonna cut it against better teams.

McKay needs to play better. We didn't always have guys open but when we did he often didn't see them or made a bad throw. The one to Pickering that he caught off his shoelaces and fell down might have been a TD if McKay throws a good ball there.

Overall, this was a good, hard fought win. Weber had all the advantages, came out on fire, and absolutely had to have this game - but the Cats found a way to gut out a win, ugly as it may have been.

Game balls:
Daniel Hardy. 4 sacks and a forced fumble. Big hit on Shaheed on kick coverage. This man is having a helluva season. I wondered how we would replace Bryce Sterk's production, well now we know!
Troy Andersen. Tackling machine. How many times does he beat the ball carrier to the line of scrimmage?? So fast.
The whole defense, including Coach Banks. Great job locking it down after that first drive.
Kick coverage teams. Shaheed didn't get much of anything all night.
Blake Glessner. The kid was money tonight. His 2 FGs were the difference in the game and they were not gimmes.

"...beautiful slugfest..."

FIFY

[grizzh8r]

Did anyone else notice that the refs didn’t call anything? Taunting/holding, etc.

I’d prefer it that way over too many penalties, but man, lots of obvious penalties missed tonight.

Yep. I think their second play from scrimmage on that 97 yard drive, Amandre got held plain as day - no call. Then Jaden Smith gets called for a bogus holding penalty on the next drive on the long run by Ifanse...

[ilovethecats]

Did anyone else notice that the refs didn’t call anything? Taunting/holding, etc.

I’d prefer it that way over too many penalties, but man, lots of obvious penalties missed tonight.

Yep after the first couple series I was pissed. Blatant things missed. The late hits after the whistle and standing over our guys while they were on the ground. But after watching more, and realizing that crew just didn’t like to call penalties, I loved it! Great flow to the game that otherwise had none.

[rivercat]

Did anyone else notice that the refs didn’t call anything? Taunting/holding, etc.

I’d prefer it that way over too many penalties, but man, lots of obvious penalties missed tonight.

Yep after the first couple series I was pissed. Blatant things missed. The late hits after the whistle and standing over our guys while they were on the ground. But after watching more, and realizing that crew just didn’t like to call penalties, I loved it! Great flow to the game that otherwise had none.

I thought the same thing to start. Lots of tackles that were "finished" after the play was dead. Then I realized the reffing crew decided these were heavy weights, it's was going to be a slugfest, and they weren't going to be a factor in the outcome. Hats off to them.

[91catAlum]

Did anyone else notice that the refs didn’t call anything? Taunting/holding, etc.

I’d prefer it that way over too many penalties, but man, lots of obvious penalties missed tonight.

Yes. Lots of holding by Weber is what I noticed most. For example, on Weber's scoring drive, their LT had a blatant hold as their QB scrambled left and threw a 28 yard completion.

[RobertCats]

One thing is for sure, our bye week comes at the PERFECT time. Take care of business vs Idaho State at home, then take a hard look at the offense and GET HEALTHY!

[Rich K]

While the scramble to figure out how to watch the game on ESPNU was an annoyance, I thought the actual game production by ESPN was well done. I think this was better exposure than playoff games aired on ESPN. The announcers actually talked about this game and weren't continuously promoting and selling (during playoff games) the upcoming FBS bowl games.