The Bobcat Nation

I've rewatched the game, and here are a few things I noticed:

Kevin Retoriano played pretty well when LeBlanc went down. He made improvements since his last game against UC-Davis, and is a pretty good tackler. While his size might keep him from getting a permanent starting spot down the road, he would be a nice addition to nickel and dime formations.

On that same note, we need LeBlanc back. He is an emotional leader and really has been one of the few bright spots all season long. I wish I knew the extent of his injury. If Force can come back against PSU that would be a huge boost to the secondary.

Mason can run. He is fast, agile, and has that "extra gear" that we haven't seen from a Bobcat runner in years (excluding Groves). When Groves returns, I still look for Groves to be the main man, but what a 1-2 punch they would provide. Groves is also very quick and agile, but I think Mason might have just a 1/2 step on him, and Groves is no snail by any means. But Groves runs with a bit more power, though still not a power runner. I believe the Cats are set at running back for the next 4 years. Incidentally, anyone know the record for yards rushed for in the first start as a Bobcat? I would be Mason broke it.

I believe that all the short passes we have seen the previous 4 weeks were due mainly in part to the lack of a sucessful running game. If you can't run the ball, throwing to a playmaking wideout 3-6 yards downfield is about the equivalent. But still the defense can concentrate solely on the pass, especially if they know you aren't going to go deep very often. With the emergance of the running game, we found a lot more defensive schemes designed to stop the run, which really opened up the long passing game. We threw deep at least 5 times against NAU, connecting on most of them. I would've liked to have seen the ball spread more (Lulay and Wheaton combined for 3 catches compared to Jefferson's 12), but then again I'm a proponent of the "stick with what works" philosophy, and the Carpenter to Jefferson duo was certainly working.

And how big is King's return? He had a fire under him all game. I'm not a fan of celebrations and taunting, but I'm not a fan of making a play then quietly running back to the huddle, either. I wana see some fire and emotion out there, and the defense showed plenty, led by Mr. King. We got GREAT pressure on Murietta, and a less agile quarterback would've been sacked at least 3 more times. The whole DL played well, which surprised me with the loss of Aaron Papich last week. Hopefully we can play the same way against a very physical PSU team.

I don't think I need to talk about Jefferson - the kid is a flat-out stud when he wants to be. He has proven inconsistent at this point, but if he can fix that he may finish as one of the best receivers in MSU history. Heres hoping!

And finally, I thought Carpenter made huge strides this week. Although his vision is still a little subpar, he made good decisions and looked very calm and collected in the pocket. Even when forced to scramble (which he did a very good job at), he was cool and made good throws. This is more of what he looked like at Colorado, maybe it is no coincidence that both of these wins had a good running game (we didn't have great rushing stats at CU but they had to respect Groves).

Bottom line - consistency. The defense has played pretty consistent all season, I don't blame them for the Davis disaster. The offense goes when Carpenter and Jefferson go. If Mason has provided the spark I hope he has, this offense has the potential to be the most prolific there has been under Mike Kramers tenure.

Yep, I noticed a lot of what you said above as well. I think this team is starting to polish into some form now. There are a lot of new players on offense especially so it was just going to take some extra time (especially with some of the injuries we have had). We will be the underdogs this week no question and Portland State looks very solid and physical. I think if we play somewhat error free we can win this game. Again, the secondary needs to play physical on EVERY PLAY against their WR. Put some fear into them and I guarantee you there will be some dropped balls and some overthrows (receivers pulling up) that can be picked off. PHYSICAL and ENERGY. Have to bring that every game from here on out! I would also get this team almost playing a controlled scrimmage in warm ups too to get them to come out on the field warmed up and ready for quarter #1. We cannot get behind, but nor should we panick from the running game if we get behind either. We need to come out and JUMP ON PSU right away! Get the lead and never look back while PLAYING PHYSICAL BALL!

I am looking forward to this game. Most people I talk to aren't even giving the Cats a chance in this one (Griz fans) but I think we have more speed/talent on offense to control this game. I also loved the misdirection and half back option pass (keep the defense honest) from the coaches last week as well. Just pushes their LB's and safeties back at least 1 step back or behind the play.


I'll let barechest Cat post the (keys to the game link), but again .. we will need to be able to run the ball to beat PSU. If we don't run the rock we lose this game.

I agree with your assesments. And I would add one other key, and that was scoring first.
After our offsides on the opening kickoff, how many of said, "Oh no, here we go again." We had them down on their 12, and then after the rekick and nice return, they had it on their 40. But they only got one first down, and then we stopped them to force a punt. If I remember right, we then drove down for a TD (HB pass from Taito to Wheaton).
Long story short, stopping them and scoring first not only opened up a lot more options, it gave us a much needed boost of confidence to begin the game.

HelenaCat95 wrote: I agree with your assesments. And I would add one other key, and that was scoring first.
After our offsides on the opening kickoff, how many of said, "Oh no, here we go again." We had them down on their 12, and then after the rekick and nice return, they had it on their 40. But they only got one first down, and then we stopped them to force a punt. If I remember right, we then drove down for a TD (HB pass from Taito to Wheaton).

Actually it wasn't until around 3 minutes left in the first quarter that we scored first on the HB pass, not right away. Most of the first quarter was a defensive struggle till then. From MSU game notes:

MSU scored the game’s first points on the sixth offensive possession by either team on Saturday, but after that no more than three possessions passed without a score

And while the first score was very nice, it was essentially nullified by NAU getting 7 only two plays later. I'm sure that it was definately an emotional burst to the team though not having to be down to start with.

kmax wrote:

HelenaCat95 wrote: I agree with your assesments. And I would add one other key, and that was scoring first.
After our offsides on the opening kickoff, how many of said, "Oh no, here we go again." We had them down on their 12, and then after the rekick and nice return, they had it on their 40. But they only got one first down, and then we stopped them to force a punt. If I remember right, we then drove down for a TD (HB pass from Taito to Wheaton).

Actually it wasn't until around 3 minutes left in the first quarter that we scored first on the HB pass, not right away. Most of the first quarter was a defensive struggle till then. From MSU game notes:

MSU scored the game’s first points on the sixth offensive possession by either team on Saturday, but after that no more than three possessions passed without a score

And while the first score was very nice, it was essentially nullified by NAU getting 7 only two plays later. I'm sure that it was definately an emotional burst to the team though not having to be down to start with.

Thanks for the correction.
While NAU did score almost immediately after, I think that the burst of confidence that it gave to the Offense was huge.
Now if we can take this and build on it, instead of dropping behind like we did after CU.

ANd if we do drop behind we cannot give up on the run so early. I believe that cost us both the Chadron and EWU games. We got down and then went strictly passing. Mason had great stats but he still got stuffed a few times. Hopefully now we have seen even if they stuff us on 8 runs the 9th might be that 50 yard score.

The thing that drove me crazy was we would great hit in the backfield and the guys would bounce off and gain extra yards. I think they need to wrap-up a little better on defense. They played heck of a game thanks for the win!!

On many of those near sacks, they were not clean hits but great D efforts to hurdle a defender or reach around someone. Murietta is good and we got that initial contact but he would break the tackle before we could completely wrap up.

Heard Bailey loves the PASSING GAME...a friend's son told us that his intentions in the NAU game were to pass...but Mason played great and he couldn't stop using him. Why is he so against the run game?

grizzz wrote:Heard Bailey loves the PASSING GAME...a friend's son told us that his intentions in the NAU game were to pass...but Mason played great and he couldn't stop using him. Why is he so against the run game?

I can think of two reasons in the NAU game.
1) Mason is a true freshman and basically was unproven leading up to that game. I think it was a very tremendous surprise for all of us to see him run that effectively.

2) I think he's still trying to get Cory comfortable in the pocket. So, the more reps he gets in the passing game, hopefully the better he becomes.

That's all I got....

It appears that in his effort to develop Cory...he has let the concept of controlling the clock go......The majority of the Cats games, especially the losses, have been very low in time of possession. This makes it tough on any defense as we all know. I would think more emphasis we be on controlling the clock...but what do I know.

grizzz wrote:It appears that in his effort to develop Cory...he has let the concept of controlling the clock go......The majority of the Cats games, especially the losses, have been very low in time of possession. This makes it tough on any defense as we all know. I would think more emphasis we be on controlling the clock...but what do I know.

It's not that I disagree; in fact I do. But, I don't think it's just a simple one prong answer. I think at least four other factors play into this:
1) With Groves out, and Lane out (our transfer from UTEP) our ground game had no experienced runners.
2) Take into count that the three games we lost had Taito starting. While great things were/and still are expected out of him for this team, his speed in hitting lanes was not there. He just wasn't effective which was evidenced by Kramer saying at one point that even when Taito would gain 7-8 yards on a carry, quicker backs could have had 20-30 yard carries.
3) So, why not start Mason sooner? The coaching staff absolutely hates starting freshman running backs due to the huge number of variables that come into play during pass plays regarding blocking assignments and knowing when and where to release for a pass route. This is evidenced by the fact that last year Groves wasn't allowed to start until the 9th or 10th game of the season.
4) Elliott Barnhart finally came back at tight end. I know this sounds trivial, but it sounds like Barnhart is light years ahead of the other tight ends when it comes to run blocking. So, with him back in the game Saturday night, our off tackle running was having more success because he was successfully walling off the end.

Again, my $.02

Insightful post barechest. I appreciate your football acumen.