After the game observations

[BleedingBLue]

As I really don’t see another thread to comment about this, am I alone in thinking that we need a true OC. I just think MM is in over his head a bit. Along with that if we need TA to touch the ball on offense next year, we aren’t on the next level. We won 3-4 without him running the ball. Against great competition. Time to let the kid show that he is the best defensive player in the FCS. He won’t get another chance.

I've thought TA should be playing nothing but D since mid-season at least. It was clear offense was making his injuries worse most of the year.

As for Miller, what is a true OC? Everyone started somewhere right?

[LogicFan]

I noticed the NDSU coach wasn't very complementary after the game. Had a lot to say about his team, had a chip on their shoulder, etc. Schwedelson just said on twitter the "make it rain" sack celebration was a response to Choate's comments on NDSU having an advantage from FCOA and their coach said they "took some things personal last week". I thought Choate was very complimentary of NDSU, maybe shouldn't have said the FCOA comments when asked or could have phrased it in a different way focusing on us needing to add it, not them having an advantage. It was very minor though and shouldn't have been a big deal. They were needing motivation apparently.

Two traits that has kept NDSU at the top, in my opinion, are they have remained hungry and humble. They seem to have lost some of both, which could hurt them going forward.

Not hungry. They just went 15-0 with a team full of freshmen and sophomores

Not humble- we’ll keep it within 3 scores

[FTG247365]

As I really don’t see another thread to comment about this, am I alone in thinking that we need a true OC. I just think MM is in over his head a bit. Along with that if we need TA to touch the ball on offense next year, we aren’t on the next level. We won 3-4 without him running the ball. Against great competition. Time to let the kid show that he is the best defensive player in the FCS. He won’t get another chance.

I thought the play calling mid way in the 3rd and all of the 4th was a little conservative. Air it out a little more, take a few more shots down field. IMO we were playing from behind take some shots, get creative, stop running it up the middle or throwing the flat route for no yards. Win or go home, mentality. The offensive play calling got significantly better after the UND game. Like any coach or coordinator they'll get better, I like that he is young, he will get better, every game we have improved. I can't complain, we just played in the Semifinals, how many other FCS teams wished they had?

[Helcat72]

As I really don’t see another thread to comment about this, am I alone in thinking that we need a true OC. I just think MM is in over his head a bit. Along with that if we need TA to touch the ball on offense next year, we aren’t on the next level. We won 3-4 without him running the ball. Against great competition. Time to let the kid show that he is the best defensive player in the FCS. He won’t get another chance.

I thought the play calling mid way in the 3rd and all of the 4th was a little conservative. Air it out a little more, take a few more shots down field. IMO we were playing from behind take some shots, get creative, stop running it up the middle or throwing the flat route for no yards. Win or go home, mentality. The offensive play calling got significantly better after the UND game. Like any coach or coordinator they'll get better, I like that he is young, he will get better, every game we have improved. I can't complain, we just played in the Semifinals, how many other FCS teams wished they had?

Don't fool yourself....we got conservative to keep the score down. Hell, on their last touchdown they went for 2 again. That's a coach who wants to prove a point. No way was Choate gonna let him do that!

Matt Miller is going to be a hot commodity in a year or so...mark my word! And it's not like we offer a 40 -50K job to Kellen Moore!

[BobcatOninetails]

As I really don’t see another thread to comment about this, am I alone in thinking that we need a true OC. I just think MM is in over his head a bit. Along with that if we need TA to touch the ball on offense next year, we aren’t on the next level. We won 3-4 without him running the ball. Against great competition. Time to let the kid show that he is the best defensive player in the FCS. He won’t get another chance.

I thought the play calling mid way in the 3rd and all of the 4th was a little conservative. Air it out a little more, take a few more shots down field. IMO we were playing from behind take some shots, get creative, stop running it up the middle or throwing the flat route for no yards. Win or go home, mentality. The offensive play calling got significantly better after the UND game. Like any coach or coordinator they'll get better, I like that he is young, he will get better, every game we have improved. I can't complain, we just played in the Semifinals, how many other FCS teams wished they had?

We sent Kane away to learn to b a DC and he had way more experience than Miller. Yes, every one starts somewhere, but with Cho4ates connections, you would think he could find someone with more experience. I hope MM succeeds, right now i just have some doubts and dont want this to evolve into a Jamie Marshall situation for Cho4tee.
Don't fool yourself....we got conservative to keep the score down. Hell, on their last touchdown they went for 2 again. That's a coach who wants to prove a point. No way was Choate gonna let him do that!

Matt Miller is going to be a hot commodity in a year or so...mark my word! And it's not like we offer a 40 -50K job to Kellen Moore!

[BobcatOninetails]

As I really don’t see another thread to comment about this, am I alone in thinking that we need a true OC. I just think MM is in over his head a bit. Along with that if we need TA to touch the ball on offense next year, we aren’t on the next level. We won 3-4 without him running the ball. Against great competition. Time to let the kid show that he is the best defensive player in the FCS. He won’t get another chance.

I thought the play calling mid way in the 3rd and all of the 4th was a little conservative. Air it out a little more, take a few more shots down field. IMO we were playing from behind take some shots, get creative, stop running it up the middle or throwing the flat route for no yards. Win or go home, mentality. The offensive play calling got significantly better after the UND game. Like any coach or coordinator they'll get better, I like that he is young, he will get better, every game we have improved. I can't complain, we just played in the Semifinals, how many other FCS teams wished they had?

We sent Kane away to learn to b a DC and he had way more experience than Miller. Yes, every one starts somewhere, but with Cho4ates connections, you would think he could find someone with more experience. I hope MM succeeds, right now i just have some doubts and dont want this to evolve into a Jamie Marshall situation for Cho4tee.
Don't fool yourself....we got conservative to keep the score down. Hell, on their last touchdown they went for 2 again. That's a coach who wants to prove a point. No way was Choate gonna let him do that!

Matt Miller is going to be a hot commodity in a year or so...mark my word! And it's not like we offer a 40 -50K job to Kellen Moore!

[BobcatOninetails]

As I really don’t see another thread to comment about this, am I alone in thinking that we need a true OC. I just think MM is in over his head a bit. Along with that if we need TA to touch the ball on offense next year, we aren’t on the next level. We won 3-4 without him running the ball. Against great competition. Time to let the kid show that he is the best defensive player in the FCS. He won’t get another chance.

I thought the play calling mid way in the 3rd and all of the 4th was a little conservative. Air it out a little more, take a few more shots down field. IMO we were playing from behind take some shots, get creative, stop running it up the middle or throwing the flat route for no yards. Win or go home, mentality. The offensive play calling got significantly better after the UND game. Like any coach or coordinator they'll get better, I like that he is young, he will get better, every game we have improved. I can't complain, we just played in the Semifinals, how many other FCS teams wished they had?

We sent Kane away to learn to b a DC and he had way more experience than Miller. Yes, every one starts somewhere, but with Cho4ates connections, you would think he could find someone with more experience. I hope MM succeeds, right now i just have some doubts and dont want this to evolve into a Jamie Marshall situation for Cho4tee.
Don't fool yourself....we got conservative to keep the score down. Hell, on their last touchdown they went for 2 again. That's a coach who wants to prove a point. No way was Choate gonna let him do that!

Matt Miller is going to be a hot commodity in a year or so...mark my word! And it's not like we offer a 40 -50K job to Kellen Moore!

Hmm i dont know what I did there. Let me try again. Choate sent Kane away to learn his job better and he had more experience than MM. i would hope that Choate has enough connections to find someone with more experience. I dont want this to turn into a Jamie Marshall situation for Choate. Maybe MM will be sent to prep with someone in the off season to learn more. Every OC Ash had became a commodity, but they all had The 9 to make them look good.

[FTG247365]

As I really don’t see another thread to comment about this, am I alone in thinking that we need a true OC. I just think MM is in over his head a bit. Along with that if we need TA to touch the ball on offense next year, we aren’t on the next level. We won 3-4 without him running the ball. Against great competition. Time to let the kid show that he is the best defensive player in the FCS. He won’t get another chance.

I thought the play calling mid way in the 3rd and all of the 4th was a little conservative. Air it out a little more, take a few more shots down field. IMO we were playing from behind take some shots, get creative, stop running it up the middle or throwing the flat route for no yards. Win or go home, mentality. The offensive play calling got significantly better after the UND game. Like any coach or coordinator they'll get better, I like that he is young, he will get better, every game we have improved. I can't complain, we just played in the Semifinals, how many other FCS teams wished they had?

Don't fool yourself....we got conservative to keep the score down. Hell, on their last touchdown they went for 2 again. That's a coach who wants to prove a point. No way was Choate gonna let him do that!

Matt Miller is going to be a hot commodity in a year or so...mark my word! And it's not like we offer a 40 -50K job to Kellen Moore!

I agree, he'll jump the ranks no doubt. Just like he did here last year. More experience, resume building, stats, proven success and a leader. Then we'll all say some day Matt Miller started @ MSU. Gotta love seeing a Montana guy succeed.
I know what you mean by keeping the score down, but taking a shot, you have nothing to lose. Then adjust the defense to slow them down. I still don't think we win the game, but try and narrow margin.

[91catAlum]

As I really don’t see another thread to comment about this, am I alone in thinking that we need a true OC. I just think MM is in over his head a bit. Along with that if we need TA to touch the ball on offense next year, we aren’t on the next level. We won 3-4 without him running the ball. Against great competition. Time to let the kid show that he is the best defensive player in the FCS. He won’t get another chance.

I thought the play calling mid way in the 3rd and all of the 4th was a little conservative. Air it out a little more, take a few more shots down field. IMO we were playing from behind take some shots, get creative, stop running it up the middle or throwing the flat route for no yards. Win or go home, mentality. The offensive play calling got significantly better after the UND game. Like any coach or coordinator they'll get better, I like that he is young, he will get better, every game we have improved. I can't complain, we just played in the Semifinals, how many other FCS teams wished they had?

Don't fool yourself....we got conservative to keep the score down. Hell, on their last touchdown they went for 2 again. That's a coach who wants to prove a point. No way was Choate gonna let him do that!

Matt Miller is going to be a hot commodity in a year or so...mark my word! And it's not like we offer a 40 -50K job to Kellen Moore!

Ya that's why we faked a punt in our own territory in the second half, cuz we went conservative.
BS.

[TomCat88]

Difficult to gauge where MSU is relative to Ndsu based off this game. The three 70+ TDs were like giving up three pick-6s or three punt return TDs. Ndsu was attempting to run the score up and did some things after getting a big lead that it doesn’t normally do.

MSU had three sustained drives in the game, but only scored on one and even though Ndsu scored on its last drive before the half they needed to convert on fourth down twice and on a third and 6.

MSU played a pretty clean game. No penalties and just one turnover, which is good considering the environment and opponent.

Lance was just 13-19-0 for 75 yards without the two long TDs. Jones/Ifanse combined for 109 yards on 23 carries.

I really liked the last MSU drive despite not scoring and it being against a lot of their reserves. Continued to fight and play MSU football and it worked for the most part.

[bobcat99]

Lance without the long TD's likely either has more passes equaling the yardage, or they run for more.

There wasn't a lot suggesting we were stopping them. I saw that somebody posted they were "only" 5/10 on 3rd downs. That's...a really good number. Exactly what they averaged for the year. For reference, we converted 37% of 3rd downs, and allowed teams to convert 34% of 3rd downs. Allowing a team to convert half of their 3rd downs is a big sign of the defense just not stopping them.

In essence, the big plays are likely TD's or FG's regardless. We weren't stopping that offense.

[TomCat88]

Lance without the long TD's likely either has more passes equaling the yardage, or they run for more.

There wasn't a lot suggesting we were stopping them. I saw that somebody posted they were "only" 5/10 on 3rd downs. That's...a really good number. Exactly what they averaged for the year. For reference, we converted 37% of 3rd downs, and allowed teams to convert 34% of 3rd downs. Allowing a team to convert half of their 3rd downs is a big sign of the defense just not stopping them.

In essence, the big plays are likely TD's or FG's regardless. We weren't stopping that offense.

True, but if they are long TD/FG drives they’re likely time-consuming and less scoring. Which is why it’s difficult to gauge since you don’t really know how those drives end up.

[TomCat88]

Really good athletes, regardless of their sport, go through an evolution. They hit an initial peak and then plateau or regress. It’s during that time where they learn to not overthink things. It can take awhile to get through and some never do, hence why they never become even better. Once they get through that, however, they have an unbreakable belief in themselves. Even when they do slump they ‘know’ it’s only temporary.

Teams are that way, too. I believe MSU went through that process from late last year through this season. They went from ‘believing they believed’ in themselves to ‘knowing they believe’ in themselves.

[kwcat]

TomCat88
Golden Bobcat
Re: After the game observations
Report Quote
Unread post Fri Dec 27, 2019 8:30 am

Difficult to gauge where MSU is relative to Ndsu based off this game. The three 70+ TDs were like giving up three pick-6s or three punt return TDs. Ndsu was attempting to run the score up and did some things after getting a big lead that it doesn’t normally do.

Entz, in his post game interview ,talked a lot about opening up their playbook wide open.

[thefrank1]

I believe that the second IS game was NDSU's equivalent to our UND game. both coaching squads renewed their belief in their teams and empowered the teams to win. Too bad we had to follow IS.

[catgrad05]

I’ve been reading all the different threads and I don’t remember seeing this thought and figured here’s the best one to put it in......

Some people are making a big deal out of NDSU taking offense to the FCOA comment by Choate it that our fans where saying the Bison where beatable. I personally think that how the Cats got NDSUs full attention was the teams rallying cry of Never Again. NDSU knew the Cats wanted to avenge our defeat last year and would come out with a chip on our shoulders.

Personally I think our slogan for the year fueled NDSU more than anything else that was said or done leading up to the game

[ilovethecats]

I’ve been reading all the different threads and I don’t remember seeing this thought and figured here’s the best one to put it in......

Some people are making a big deal out of NDSU taking offense to the FCOA comment by Choate it that our fans where saying the Bison where beatable. I personally think that how the Cats got NDSUs full attention was the teams rallying cry of Never Again. NDSU knew the Cats wanted to avenge our defeat last year and would come out with a chip on our shoulders.

Personally I think our slogan for the year fueled NDSU more than anything else that was said or done leading up to the game

My opinion is that when you’re as successful as NDSU is, you have to start finding ways to stay motivated. You have to find ways to have that chip on your shoulder. What choate said was not only completely true, but wasn’t even meant as a slight to begin with. If that comment got their attention like their coach said, while I think it’s a joke I can understand it.

Same goes with what fans say and what mantra the team has lived by all season. If they need to rely on these things to “get their attention” or play with a chip on their shoulder so be it. You certainly can’t deny the results.

I was one who thought the NDSU coach came off as whiny in his presser and kind of an ass. Seemed to go out of his way to make sure he didn’t praise the cats. But then I had to remind myself that we have a guy who is so over the top with his praise of an opponent that my view of others is a bit jaded.

[TomCat88]

I’ve been reading all the different threads and I don’t remember seeing this thought and figured here’s the best one to put it in......

Some people are making a big deal out of NDSU taking offense to the FCOA comment by Choate it that our fans where saying the Bison where beatable. I personally think that how the Cats got NDSUs full attention was the teams rallying cry of Never Again. NDSU knew the Cats wanted to avenge our defeat last year and would come out with a chip on our shoulders.

Personally I think our slogan for the year fueled NDSU more than anything else that was said or done leading up to the game

My opinion is that when you’re as successful as NDSU is, you have to start finding ways to stay motivated.

This.

The NDSU coach stayed in character postgame to keep his credibility with his players. If he comes out and says he just made a big deal about it to motivate his team, it wouldn’t be as effective next time.

[iaafan]

I’ve been reading all the different threads and I don’t remember seeing this thought and figured here’s the best one to put it in......

Some people are making a big deal out of NDSU taking offense to the FCOA comment by Choate it that our fans where saying the Bison where beatable. I personally think that how the Cats got NDSUs full attention was the teams rallying cry of Never Again. NDSU knew the Cats wanted to avenge our defeat last year and would come out with a chip on our shoulders.

Personally I think our slogan for the year fueled NDSU more than anything else that was said or done leading up to the game

My opinion is that when you’re as successful as NDSU is, you have to start finding ways to stay motivated.

This.

The NDSU coach stayed in character postgame to keep his credibility with his players. If he comes out and says he just made a big deal about it to motivate his team, it wouldn’t be as effective next time.

Very true, both posts. I’m sure Choate is okay with getting NDSU’s best shot. Personally, I’d rather know where I stand against someone playing their best.