The Good, Bad, and the Ugly from Gold Rush

[catsrback76]

So, not being there in person but from watching at distance on computer it sure appeared to me that the entire stadium and atmosphere was electric and loud. The music sounded great (again my take) and the crowd affected SEMO on their 3rd downs. Well done Bobcat Nation!

GOOD :

1. There is a lot to pick here but I would say the play of both LINES was a huge upside and a definite GOOD/GREAT game.

I felt like the O Line was able to assert their will on the D line of SEMO and allowed Casey time to throw and for the runs to develop. We weren't stopped much at all. BUT, the D Line of the Cats is flat out dominate in this game. Barring injury there will be no team that can stop our pass rush and run stops!

2. Fast start!

Getting a great stop on Defense and then scoring on the 3rd play of the game from the O side put us up and we never trailed!

3. Troy Andersen!

We know what he brings offensively but now we are beginning to see a glimpse of what he brings from his LB spot. I saw how he affected SEMO with his speed and coverage. Registering a sack and hurries, and pass breakup etc...he is climbing the ladder and I predict an ALL BSC LB by season end. Oh, and 2 TD's to top it all off!

4.Ifanse!

114 yards on 1 half of game play!!!

5. The Defense!

This Defense is as advertised! I was skeptical after last weeks game not having seen it, but I am no more! We have an elite Defense this year and it feels right!

BAD :

1. Not sustaining the momentum from our first drive and getting a couple of more scores that were there to be had. I wouldn't say Casey had a bad game, but I wouldn't say he had a good game either. He had a managed game and he did not hurt us, but if he can dial in his throws and help his receivers by giving them a little "touch" on the ball, look out. Right now we had some scores left off the board and this is bad moving forward. This will improve with time and more play!

2. The Refs!

3. The personal foul penalties! I know there were some bad calls made and the head scratching ref calls...but we can't get pulled into a tit for tat game and lose our cool. Just gotta clean it up which I know we will because the Ref's are just bad!

4. Giving up a FG before half to tie the game.

UGLY

1. Really the only ugly was the dropped snap on the punt that gave SEMO the ball, and of course the following TD before half. This was ugly and won't repeat itself going forward. It was an anomaly not a trend.


Ok BobcatNation, I left lots of meat on the bone here. What did you all take away from this game???

[Cataholic]

I would add three more to the Good: Matt Miller, Kane Ioane and Second half adjustments.

[utucats]

So, not being there in person but from watching at distance on computer it sure appeared to me that the entire stadium and atmosphere was electric and loud. The music sounded great (again my take) and the crowd affected SEMO on their 3rd downs. Well done Bobcat Nation!

GOOD :

1. There is a lot to pick here but I would say the play of both LINES was a huge upside and a definite GOOD/GREAT game.

I felt like the O Line was able to assert their will on the D line of SEMO and allowed Casey time to throw and for the runs to develop. We weren't stopped much at all. BUT, the D Line of the Cats is flat out dominate in this game. Barring injury there will be no team that can stop our pass rush and run stops!

2. Fast start!

Getting a great stop on Defense and then scoring on the 3rd play of the game from the O side put us up and we never trailed!

3. Troy Andersen!

We know what he brings offensively but now we are beginning to see a glimpse of what he brings from his LB spot. I saw how he affected SEMO with his speed and coverage. Registering a sack and hurries, and pass breakup etc...he is climbing the ladder and I predict an ALL BSC LB by season end. Oh, and 2 TD's to top it all off!

4.Ifanse!

114 yards on 1 half of game play!!!

5. The Defense!

This Defense is as advertised! I was skeptical after last weeks game not having seen it, but I am no more! We have an elite Defense this year and it feels right!

BAD :

1. Not sustaining the momentum from our first drive and getting a couple of more scores that were there to be had. I wouldn't say Casey had a bad game, but I wouldn't say he had a good game either. He had a managed game and he did not hurt us, but if he can dial in his throws and help his receivers by giving them a little "touch" on the ball, look out. Right now we had some scores left off the board and this is bad moving forward. This will improve with time and more play!

2. The Refs!

3. The personal foul penalties! I know there were some bad calls made and the head scratching ref calls...but we can't get pulled into a tit for tat game and lose our cool. Just gotta clean it up which I know we will because the Ref's are just bad!

4. Giving up a FG before half to tie the game.

UGLY

1. Really the only ugly was the dropped snap on the punt that gave SEMO the ball, and of course the following TD before half. This was ugly and won't repeat itself going forward. It was an anomaly not a trend.


Ok BobcatNation, I left lots of meat on the bone here. What did you all take away from this game???

Pretty good recap. I’ll throw my two cents on Bauman. I wouldn’t mention him in the bad comments and you did state that you didn’t think he had a bad game.

I think he’s doing exactly what we need. With our run game we just need someone who can throw deep when they start stacking the box. I loved the deep shots we took and we had some really good plays and potential big ones that were just a little off.

As long as CB keeps the defense honest he’s doing his part. If he improves through the season and becomes more than just a QB launching bombs against run defense then watch out. We put up 38 with just the threat that we could complete a deep pass!

As for tonight, he completed enough to keep the d honest and didn’t turn the ball over. That’s exactly what we need from our QB.

[BLACKnBLUEnGOLD]

Good:

- Apparently the Cats have about 8 guys who can run the ball.

- They've got about 18 who can rush the passer.

- When you whup ass along the line of scrimmage for all 60 minutes you tend to #WinBig

- The whole defense was amazing. Only one real scoring drive on them. If this is what they look like against good teams, I wonder what they'll do to Western Illinois.

- Bauman's mentality. Looked like he knew who would be open for the most part. Not afraid to take shots down field. I really liked when he called for quick snaps to catch SEMO in presnap penalties. That's the kind of thing you usually see from guys who are either 6'1" with noodle arms or 32 years old. Crafty! Also the run for the 4th down conversion.

- Did I mention the defense? I really like this defense.


Bad:

- Too many drops.

- Bauman is either not accurate or needs way more 1st team reps to get in rhythm with his receivers. If it's the latter, then that's on the coaches.


Ugly:

- Ifanse and Willie P out with injuries.

- Special teams. SEMO beat us as bad there as we beat them on defense. Good thing ST is not really 1/3 of the game or this one would have been close.

- The refs. I don't like to be the guy who complains about the refs during the game but they were not consistent. SEMO was at it all day after the whistle (as you would expect from a team getting completely molly-whopped at the line of scrimmage) and the only two unsportsmanlike penalties were on MSU? Give me a break.

[superbobcat]

GOOD :
The win!!
Lots of running backs with diversity.
Denver Krone takes no crap from loud mouths! Snell can block.
Jo Jo way to go.
FINALLY the young lady in green who freed the Ta Ta’s a little to much in front of my kids

BAD:
Missed tackles
Little to chippy
To much sweep left sweep right shuttle in new formations in first half. Let CB get into a better rhythm.

UGLY:
Clock mgmt. before half.

Great win, great atmosphere, great to see everyone, great TA, wow the young man is quite special.

[superbobcat]

GOOD :
The win!!
Lots of running backs with diversity.
Denver Krone takes no crap from loud mouths! Snell can block.
Jo Jo way to go.
FINALLY the young lady in green who freed the Ta Ta’s a little to much in front of my kids

BAD:
Missed tackles
Little to chippy
To much sweep left sweep right shuttle in new formations in first half. Let CB get into a better rhythm.

UGLY:
Clock mgmt. before half.

Great win, great atmosphere, great to see everyone, great TA, wow the young man is quite special.

[utucats]

No surprise on the refs making the bad list, the Big Sky has some weak referees and it doesn’t seem to improve year after year.

[Catsrgrood]

Good:
Defense- enough said
Run game- we have a lot of weapons here

Bad:
Inconsistent pass game- I have confidence this will get better each week with Bauman and company playing together more and more and figuring out what works and what doesn’t. There were glimpses of what can be (Kassis’s catch at the 1) but there were some missed opportunities and overgrown balls (another Kassis one comes to mind that could have/should have been about a 50 yd TD but Bauman overthrew him by a few yards)

Special teams- botched snap directly resulted in 7 for SEMO and they had a couple pretty nice returns throughout the game. It wasn’t bad enough to classify as ugly though in my opinion.

Ugly:
Penalties- whether it was bad calls by the refs or MSU earning them, the timelines of penalties in this game were killer, they caused a minimum of a 6 point swing.
The Cats should have at the very least had a chip shot of a FG for Bailey after the Ifanse run, but that penalty knocked them way back and he ends up missing a much tougher kick.
And right before half the defense makes a stop with the INT only to have them come back on the field and hit a hell of a FG from 55 after the roughing the passer call.
They only ended up with 5 penalties for 65 yds in the end, but the timeliness of them is what was killer.

Overall it was a great win and there is a lot to be excited about. There is a lot to be cleaned up still offensively and on special teams and they still beat the #12 team in the nation by 21. Excited for next week!

[UpperBlue]

I would add second half adjustments to the good. Seems to be a trait of the bobcats, making proper adjustments in the locker room that the other team didn't expect or can't figure out on the field. Very key to having a dominant team.

[MSU01]

I'll throw in a shout-out to Coach Choate for making the bold decision to go for it on 4th and 2 from just inside midfield on MSU's second drive of the third quarter. Many coaches would have punted there with the lead and a very strong defense, but that conversion and subsequent touchdown allowed MSU to keep the momentum going and run up the score a bit.

[KittieKop]

The botched punt was a mess from the start. One player running on three field late with under 10 sec on the play clock, too many players in motion on the play, a rushed snap that bounced to Padmos, the fumble and the muff when trying to pick it back up. Whole unit was unprepared that play. Good time for a TO, get your crap together. Wasn't just the Padmos drop.

[91catAlum]

Really like how Bauman continues to look downfield when he gets in trouble. That's a good sign for his future. I also like that when he missed on the deep balls in the first half that he missed long rather than short. A little too juiced maybe, but those throws are either caught by the WR or incomplete. Defender has no play on the ball. I think Bauman could be very good, but he's not quite there yet. Probably just needs more games under his belt.

The only bad thing I would add is - how are we not ready for an onside kick when semo is down by 21 in the 4th quarter? That was a coaching mistake.

[1984champ]

Ugly: No clue or defense of the onside kick. It worked out as our defense got the stop but we gave up an offensive possession with the chance to score points and run time off the clock.

[91catAlum]

The botched punt was a mess from the start. One player running on three field late with under 10 sec on the play clock, too many players in motion on the play, a rushed snap that bounced to Padmos, the fumble and the muff when trying to pick it back up. Whole unit was unprepared that play. Good time for a TO, get your crap together. Wasn't just the Padmos drop.

I don't remember the snap bouncing off the ground. I think it hit Padmos in the hands and he dropped it. Might have been a low snap, though.

[lutecat]

GOOD :

FINALLY the young lady in green who freed the Ta Ta’s a little to much in front of my kids

Where do you sit, and can I sit with you the next game?

At the very least you owe us an explanation of what happened here. Was it on purpose or were they just falling out?

[rivercat]

The botched punt was a mess from the start. One player running on three field late with under 10 sec on the play clock, too many players in motion on the play, a rushed snap that bounced to Padmos, the fumble and the muff when trying to pick it back up. Whole unit was unprepared that play. Good time for a TO, get your crap together. Wasn't just the Padmos drop.

I don't remember the snap bouncing off the ground. I think it hit Padmos in the hands and he dropped it. Might have been a low snap, though.

It was a mess from the start as KK pointed out. Timing and cadence are critical for punters. Either simplify the punt game or get the correct personnel out there on time. And that is my only ugly.

[91catAlum]

The botched punt was a mess from the start. One player running on three field late with under 10 sec on the play clock, too many players in motion on the play, a rushed snap that bounced to Padmos, the fumble and the muff when trying to pick it back up. Whole unit was unprepared that play. Good time for a TO, get your crap together. Wasn't just the Padmos drop.

I don't remember the snap bouncing off the ground. I think it hit Padmos in the hands and he dropped it. Might have been a low snap, though.

It was a mess from the start as KK pointed out. Timing and cadence are critical for punters. Either simplify the punt game or get the correct personnel out there on time. And that is my only ugly.

Agreed. But as I said, I don't think the snap hit the turf.

[WeedKillinCat]

The good-Karl Tucker Scoring his first TD...That guy has is a senior and has toughed it out.

[84CatGrad]

The Good: Lots of energy. TA. No offensive turnovers. Sanatacantarinaminapina (a veteran QB) was reduced to a nervous freshman because of our pass rush. RJ Fitzgerald blocking the hell out of somebody on every play. Bauman was not great but also never looked bad. I'm encouraged.

The Bad: Special teams (dropped punt snap, missed FG, surrendered onside kick).

The Ugly: Foolish penalties costing us scoring opportunities.

[TomCat88]

The beautiful: the first seven possessions of the second half saw MSU outgain SEMO 240 to -8.

The raunchy: botched punt in first half.

The nasty: nothing open but fast food after I got off work.