CelticCat's thoughts on Saturday.

[CelticCat]

First off, I just want to point out how great the crowd was on Saturday. I remember after we were down with about 5-6 minutes left against
Cal Poly, the stadium basically emptied. Then after Weber was handing us our a** on a platter, I had to literally convince the guys I was with (about 10 of them) to go back into the game, and watch the second half Cats go to work. But this Saturday I had to do no such thing. No one was in despair, although there was still plenty of frustration. The crowd was HUGE in OT, I've never heard it so loud, and it wasn't even sold out! Hardly anyone left, and those that stayed watched a HELL of a comeback.

Now more specific game thoughts:
I've always been rather found of the rolling punting style that Lulay does so well. But after last Saturday, I wouldn't be surprised to see more traditional punts. Is this the end of the rolling punt? (on a side note, I saw EWU do it once, exactly the same way we do it)

Receivers - best game yet. Gatewood stepped up, Sullivan more than stepped up, Wolf had a big game, but Guin seemed to take a step backwards. To me, Guinn seems to be the guy with the most overall talent, and if he can get out of this little slump he's in, I feel our receivers can keep up with any receivers in the Sky. Sullivan is emerging as a playmaker, believe it or not.

QB - Lulay is starting to get more confidence, making quicker and smarter decisions (that one INT was not his fault - he was hit as he threw it), and is starting to wait for routes to develop rather than take off. That was always my biggest criticism of Lulay, I felt he ran/scrambled too quickly when he felt pressure. But he is hanging in there and starting to make some tough throws.

Special teams - Coverage was pretty dismal, every time we kicked off I held my breath, their return man came close to breaking it damn near every time. Punt return coverage was pretty good, even with Cochrane booming punts (I heard 55 yard average?).

Defense - Held a very good running back in check. Only about 104 yards for Fuqua. But the score could have been much worse, the first half they could have burned us almost any time on the deep ball, if they had connected. I don't think we got pressure on their QB ONCE. Our DL was absolutely dominated, and I have never seen that before. But a few catches and this game would've had gotten out of hand real fast. Overall, I liked what I saw, but the CBs (namely Fuller) have to somehow play better. Only way this can happen is through experience. I just hope it happens real fast.

Running Back - I alwasy felt Domineck would be the go to guy, ever since I saw him in scrimmage, but everyone else seemed to think Milton or Gathing should get the start. Well with the way JD is playing (3 more TD's!), I think most of the doubt has been erased as to who our main runner is. Not to mention I love the way he picks up the blitz. The kid can block, and catch.

Overall - I liked what I saw, for the most part. But if the QB/Recieving corp for PSU had been a top-notch one, we would have gotten destroyed. And frankly, I'm worried when we play NAU and EWU, Murietta and Meyer... they key to success in these games is to dominate the line defensively and force quick/bad throws.

Best output offensively all season, and it was against the best overall D in the Sky.

Gameball : Eddie Sullivan. Clutch.

Go Cats!

[velochat]

I enjoyed this week's game a lot more. Like the Cats, I didn't show up until the 2nd half. The receivers deserve a lot of credit. They're learning how to catch Lulay's rather erratic ballistic throws and still run with the ball. It seems like he throws better on the run, because he usually throws too hard when he sets up.

I suspect the Cats will implode if they are ever within 2 scores in 4th quarter.

[BozoneCat]

Good synopsis, Celtic. I'll add my thoughts:

Defense

I am still amazed we only gave up 24 points, especially after throwing them a 14-spot right off the bat. Our defensive line got dominated in a way that I haven't seen in years - Wiser set up camp and had all day to throw. Not only did we not sack him, we hardly ever so much as pressured him. He made some big mistakes on the few occasions we did hit him. I thought Cooper had a pretty off day. PSU game-planned well and stayed away from his side of the field for the most part, but usually it doesn't matter with Roger, because he is everywhere. In order to make a run at the Sky, he will need to be a huge presence in the rest of our games. Fuller struggled mightily again, I am definitely worried right now about playing him against EWU/NAU/UM. If he doesn't make some big improvements in a hurry, those could be really long games. From my admittedly unprofessional viewpoint, it looks to me like he has a problem with his hips. He doesn't make a quick shift from pedaling backwards to run with the receiver, and this is where he loses about 4 steps on every deep route. I think we will need to start moving a safety back to help protect against the bomb, because these are good teams that will eat us up if we don't get this figured out. Thankfully, I like our odds with Kwiatkowski game-planning for our defense.

Game ball on defense goes to Toph Grenfell. He had a monster game, and stepped up huge with Force having to play corner. Led the team in tackles and made a nice interception in the end zone.

Offense

Again, this was like watching two completely different teams play. We just couldn't do anything in the 1st half, and just didn't play with any fire. It really is scary to think how good this team will be when they finally start to put together full games. I think the production we have seen the last couple weeks in the 2nd half gives us a pretty good picture of what this squad is capable of, but we'll need to get going much earlier against the rest of the teams on this schedule, because those games will be out of reach if we start this anemically against them. I too am baffled by Chaz Guinn - he has all but disappeared the last two weeks, although he did make a nice catch on the first play of OT to set up Domineck's run. It is amazing how easier things are when you have a 3rd-and-3 vs. the continual 3rd-and-longs we put ourselves in throughout the first half. As harsh of a critic as I am of Bailey, I really don't know that it is all his fault. Granted, it is his job to have the kids prepared to play and to figure out something else that will work when what he is calling is not working, but the kids have to execute, and they are just not doing it until late. It really isn't his fault when he calls a run and the line continually doesn't open anything up. I still would like to see less focus on going for the big play and more focus on ball control and getting first downs. Lulay has yet to show he can accurately throw the deep ball, and I think his strength is throwing good, crisp passes on a rope 15-20 yards downfield. I also agree that he seems to throw much better when he is moving around, so I say let's start putting him out on some bootlegs and force the situation. Hopefully, Lulay gained a LOT of respect and trust for his receivers this week, because he was forced to stay in the pocket and wait for them to get open... alas, they did! I just continue to think that this team will take what they learned from the previous week and put it to use early on.

Don't know who you give a game ball to here. Lulay obviously played great, and I think his heart has never been more evident. These guys just look up to him like he is Joe Montana, I really don't know that I have seen this kind of leadership and blind faith since watching Dickenson play. Eddie Sullivan really had a breakout game, he made some tough catches and came up huge when we needed him most. Hopefully this game will be a springboard to a great latter half of the season for him, and I don't think the fans could pick a more fun guy! I was also really impressed with Ricky Gatewood. He played very well, and quietly (compared to Eddie ) had himself a monster game. That improvisation between him and Travis on that TD pass was great. Blake Wolf also had a big game, especially in the 1st half when he was the only guy that did anything for us. I too am really glad to see Bailey and Kramer start to come around to utilizing the TE. Domineck didn't have a huge game in rushing yards, but he got us the tough ones when we needed them and made a spectacular run on the game winner. I think he is going to be key if we are to make a title run. Finally, the offensive line seems to play really well when it counts, but I would like to see them come out and dominate the game from the get-go. I wasn't really able to watch and see how Hirst played, anyone else have any immediate input?

The crowd was definitely a big bonus in the 2nd half, although it was pretty quiet in the 1st half. Granted, they didn't give people a lot to cheer about, but... Bobcat Stadium has only once or twice been louder than during the overtime. It was a lot of fun to feel the noise reverbrate throughout the stadium like that. I thought to myself last week that it was going to be a while before we saw a game that topped the Weber win, but they topped it mightily just one week later! Cripes!

[Helcat72]

First of all I think because Portland State played with two tight ends almost the whole game put them into max protection all of the time. (IMO) This means they had two more pass blockers all of the time. It also meant that they had two more blockers for the running game all of the time. We had to match that with exta LB's, so it left the CB's out on an island. Lidsay was taken out in foavor of an extra LB most of the time. This caused us to have to control blitzes, and it caused Cooper to have to play pass defense more and to support the outside running game. When he did rush the paser he had to go the long way around the end and usually got chipped by the tight end and picked up by the back. their O line was "wide" and were well coached in picking up stunts. We couldn't get any "bull rushes" because they were huge. Our speed was counteracted by the formation as listed above.

On offense I agree with all of your obvservations and in addition I have been trying to put my finger on just what the problem is with Guinn. He doesn't seem to separate from the corner. Either he is running patterns too slow or he is playing out of position. Maybe he shouldn't be an outside receiver. Gatewood has enough speed to be out there but I don't think Guinn does. He may be more suited to the slot. This causes problems with Gatewood too though...as he started outside and didn't start getting in the flow unitl he was moved to the slot. to play the outside receiver I think you have to be really fast and quick, or really physical. Guinn is neither. Sullivan is physical and pretty quick if not fast. Guinn seems to be really frustrated that he can't quite shake the DB's and when he is open, he either doesn't catch the ball or it is thrown low. He looks uncomfortable. Maybe they should try putting him in motion so he can run patterns without someone head up on him and thus he could look for seams.

[Helcat72]

First of all I think because Portland State played with two tight ends almost the whole game put them into max protection all of the time. (IMO) This means they had two more pass blockers all of the time. It also meant that they had two more blockers for the running game all of the time. We had to match that with extra LB's, so it left the CB's out on an island. Lindsay was taken out in foavor of an extra LB most of the time. This caused us to have to limit blitzes, and it caused Cooper to have to play pass defense more and to support the outside running game. He's not a Brian Urlacher type of LB. He plays linbacker moe like a free safety. When he did rush the passer he had to go the long way around the end and usually got chipped by the tight end and picked up by the back. Their O line was "wide" and were well coached in picking up stunts. We couldn't get any "bull rushes" because they were huge. Our speed was counteracted by the formation as listed above.

On offense I agree with all of your observations and in addition I have been trying to put my finger on just what the problem is with Guinn. He doesn't seem to separate from the corner. Either he is running weak patterns or he is playing out of position. Maybe he shouldn't be an outside receiver. Gatewood has enough speed to be out there but I don't think Guinn does. He may be more suited to the slot. This causes problems with Gatewood too though...as he started outside and didn't start getting in the flow unitl he was moved to the slot. To play the outside receiver IMO you have to be really fast and quick, or really physical. Guinn is neither. Sullivan is physical and pretty quick if not fast. Guinn seems to be really frustrated that he can't quite shake the DB's and when he is open, he either doesn't catch the ball or it is thrown low. He looks uncomfortable. Maybe they should try putting him in motion so he can run patterns without someone head up on him and thus he could look for seams.

[CARDIAC_CATS]

First of all I think because Portland State played with two tight ends almost the whole game put them into max protection all of the time. (IMO) This means they had two more pass blockers all of the time. It also meant that they had two more blockers for the running game all of the time. We had to match that with exta LB's, so it left the CB's out on an island. Lidsay was taken out in foavor of an extra LB most of the time. This caused us to have to control blitzes, and it caused Cooper to have to play pass defense more and to support the outside running game. When he did rush the paser he had to go the long way around the end and usually got chipped by the tight end and picked up by the back. their O line was "wide" and were well coached in picking up stunts. We couldn't get any "bull rushes" because they were huge. Our speed was counteracted by the formation as listed above.

On offense I agree with all of your obvservations and in addition I have been trying to put my finger on just what the problem is with Guinn. He doesn't seem to separate from the corner. Either he is running patterns too slow or he is playing out of position. Maybe he shouldn't be an outside receiver. Gatewood has enough speed to be out there but I don't think Guinn does. He may be more suited to the slot. This causes problems with Gatewood too though...as he started outside and didn't start getting in the flow unitl he was moved to the slot. to play the outside receiver I think you have to be really fast and quick, or really physical. Guinn is neither. Sullivan is physical and pretty quick if not fast. Guinn seems to be really frustrated that he can't quite shake the DB's and when he is open, he either doesn't catch the ball or it is thrown low. He looks uncomfortable. Maybe they should try putting him in motion so he can run patterns without someone head up on him and thus he could look for seams.

Very good points Helcat, couldn't agree more. A lot of it was formation and the size of their OL. I also agree on Guinn, he gets chugged at the line a lot and then has trouble getting up to speed to gain separation. I think moving him in motion and let him cut up/diagnally etc. will totally help him get into position on his route as well. Some inside cross patterns (almost pick like) can also help keep those CB's off the wide receiver as well. Motion is likely the answer to Guinns problems though as I think that will help him out. Interesting we still haven't seen Alley at this point in time yet. He must not have very good hands or isn't a good precise route runner yet. That guy is a darn good looking physical specimin though .. you think he would have some wheels and power. I just wanna see him in there on a couple plays so I can see him at least, but I think the 3 starters we have need to keep playing together as they are now starting to step it up.

[BobcatLionFan]

Someone asked about Hirst, he didn't play. Probably because in the 2nd half our guys were passing and HAD TO PROTECT Lulay. They didn't want him touched (thus he stayed in the pocket and did no running). The OL did it's job. With Joe's knee, it will take time to be totally back and the PSU line were big and tough. Not a good combination for a bad knee where he can't back peddle for protection well (watching him in pre-game). Maybe next week.

If you didn't notice, Bolton was back with a big game this week, so the worry last week was just a little concern.

Lulay was great, but Eddie was exceptional. He made play after play (especially on 4th down at the end). Just wouldn't give in.