The official-Unofficial Bobcat-Oregon State gameday thread!

[The Butcher]

This season already seems brutal for injuries.
How many medical redshirts can we get?

[TomCat88]

How do we see/ use Tommy going forward? Do we think he can develop as a qb who is a dynamic run threat, or is he more of a murray/troy hybrid who can hurt you with a favorable matchup in the pass game but is not a full field or maybe even half field passer?

I don't think we know any more than we knew three weeks ago. Is that a failure of the coaching staff, a failure of Tommy or just an unfortunate schedule?

Probably more the schedule than the prior 2, but one thing you could see both against mcneese and tonight, not as much against mhsu, is that he has a tendency to not fully trust himself and aim, or guide the ball a bit instead of letting it rip. He's an elite runner, though, that was clear tonight.

He throws floaters instead of darts, regardless of the distance. That's fine as long as the receiver is in the perfect position. If not, it's an interception.

Yeah i think that's right, actually, hadn't thought of it exactly as a floater but yes i think you're right.

Lance masked this a lot last season...

So did getting hurt early against NDSU. The legend of Touchdown Tommy remained intact because he wasn't exploited by them.

We just gave up 68 points without forcing a punt, and you guys are beating up on the QB...

Tommy threw 3 picks tonight, which is bad. But the offense moved the ball decently well, considering we were playing an FBS school and we had no RBs.
Tommy and the offense are gonna be just fine this year. The defense, on the other hand, certainly has some issues.

I don't mean to come across as beating up on him. Just pointing out that while some people elevated him to god-like status immediately, some knew that he had things to work on that defenses would figure out. I still think he'll become a very good QB, maybe great, but he's not immune to critique just because he led us to Frisco last year.

Well he did have a bad game. I can name a bunch of hall of fame QBs that have had worse games.

[91catAlum]

How do we see/ use Tommy going forward? Do we think he can develop as a qb who is a dynamic run threat, or is he more of a murray/troy hybrid who can hurt you with a favorable matchup in the pass game but is not a full field or maybe even half field passer?

I don't think we know any more than we knew three weeks ago. Is that a failure of the coaching staff, a failure of Tommy or just an unfortunate schedule?

Probably more the schedule than the prior 2, but one thing you could see both against mcneese and tonight, not as much against mhsu, is that he has a tendency to not fully trust himself and aim, or guide the ball a bit instead of letting it rip. He's an elite runner, though, that was clear tonight.

He throws floaters instead of darts, regardless of the distance. That's fine as long as the receiver is in the perfect position. If not, it's an interception.

Yeah i think that's right, actually, hadn't thought of it exactly as a floater but yes i think you're right.

Lance masked this a lot last season...

So did getting hurt early against NDSU. The legend of Touchdown Tommy remained intact because he wasn't exploited by them.

We just gave up 68 points without forcing a punt, and you guys are beating up on the QB...

Tommy threw 3 picks tonight, which is bad. But the offense moved the ball decently well, considering we were playing an FBS school and we had no RBs.
Tommy and the offense are gonna be just fine this year. The defense, on the other hand, certainly has some issues.

This had 0 to do with the offense and everything to do with a defense that looked completely lost most of the game. Definitely some bad passes today though, Tommy will learn.

I wouldn't say 0 to do with offense, I mean it was a 21-14 game when Mellott threw 2 picks in a row to blow the game open...
But it's 90% on the defense, who couldn't get a stop all night long. Really disheartening to see the D get shredded like that.

[technoCat]

How do we see/ use Tommy going forward? Do we think he can develop as a qb who is a dynamic run threat, or is he more of a murray/troy hybrid who can hurt you with a favorable matchup in the pass game but is not a full field or maybe even half field passer?

I don't think we know any more than we knew three weeks ago. Is that a failure of the coaching staff, a failure of Tommy or just an unfortunate schedule?

Probably more the schedule than the prior 2, but one thing you could see both against mcneese and tonight, not as much against mhsu, is that he has a tendency to not fully trust himself and aim, or guide the ball a bit instead of letting it rip. He's an elite runner, though, that was clear tonight.

He throws floaters instead of darts, regardless of the distance. That's fine as long as the receiver is in the perfect position. If not, it's an interception.

Yeah i think that's right, actually, hadn't thought of it exactly as a floater but yes i think you're right.

Lance masked this a lot last season...

So did getting hurt early against NDSU. The legend of Touchdown Tommy remained intact because he wasn't exploited by them.

We just gave up 68 points without forcing a punt, and you guys are beating up on the QB...

Tommy threw 3 picks tonight, which is bad. But the offense moved the ball decently well, considering we were playing an FBS school and we had no RBs.
Tommy and the offense are gonna be just fine this year. The defense, on the other hand, certainly has some issues.

I don't mean to come across as beating up on him. Just pointing out that while some people elevated him to god-like status immediately, some knew that he had things to work on that defenses would figure out. I still think he'll become a very good QB, maybe great, but he's not immune to critique just because he led us to Frisco last year.

Well he did have a bad game. I can name a bunch of hall of fame QBs that have had worse games.

I see some people seem hell-bent on running him down simply because he has a good story.

[msuhunter]

Tommy is a great runner but still limited as a passer against very good teams.

Time for Chambers.

TD Beavers

What other very good teams was he a limited passer against?

All of his Wyoming games. If anyone watched any Wyoming football consistently over the last couple years, it’s clear he’s not a viable option as a passing QB

He was talking about Mellott I think. At least I was.

Yeah. Read that wrong. My bad.

But my point stands. Chambers isn’t the answer as a passer. It’s honestly amazing to think the last true passed we had was Prukop. That’s a problem.

[Helcat72]

I was impressed with the OL.
We're done in by team speed defensively (and scored 28 offensively which was pretty good).

[BelligerentBobcat]

I wouldn't be too worried. We're out matched at the skill position level, but we played pretty well imo.

I didn’t watch our listen to the game, but wow, your blue and gold glasses need some cleaning, this was a dismantling of a 4th ranked FCS team by a middle of the road PAC 12 team. This should not have ever happened. Maybe coaching, maybe, scheme, maybe under developed players…but I would lay this at the feet of Garza and Vigen…but mainly Garza!

I'm known for being overly optimistic and unrealistic around here.

If you didn't watch it, I don't see how you can have much of an opinion. The people blaming this all on Garza, quite frankly, are similar to those who thought Housewright was awful last year. Know nothing blowhards without an ounce of football knowledge to them. The game we played tonight, we beat 90% of FCS teams with, at minimum.

[onceacat]

I really think the O hung in tonight. I think the D didn’t.

I like Tommy. He’ll keep improving. He’s our guy.

Honest question though to all of you who follow scouting closer than I do…why do ALL of MSUs QBs seem to be run-first year after year after year. Why can’t we recruit a really good passer?

I don't know for sure, but I think that it has more to do with a lack of development by the coaching staff. I think we are on the 4th OC in 6 years. And Choate himself acknowledged that his biggest miss as a coach was the failure to recruit/develop a legit FCS QB. He tried to recruit pro-style passers in Casey Bauman & Tucker Rovig, but due to a variety of factors, could never turn them into better than average QBs.

Throw in a covid year with the coaching turnover...and given what House wants to run as an offense, it sort of makes sense that things just default to "let the best athlete on the team run power".

[Long Time Cat]

If we get Ifanse or Sumner back having one of them along with what Melott and Chambers are able to do on the ground and we are going to be very formidable offensively. This will make the passing game much easier for Tommy. Even without them I think against Eastern Washington’s defense we will score over 40 points and I think our defense can hold them under 40 so I still feel pretty confident about next weeks game.

[BelligerentBobcat]

How do we see/ use Tommy going forward? Do we think he can develop as a qb who is a dynamic run threat, or is he more of a murray/troy hybrid who can hurt you with a favorable matchup in the pass game but is not a full field or maybe even half field passer?

I don't think we know any more than we knew three weeks ago. Is that a failure of the coaching staff, a failure of Tommy or just an unfortunate schedule?

Probably more the schedule than the prior 2, but one thing you could see both against mcneese and tonight, not as much against mhsu, is that he has a tendency to not fully trust himself and aim, or guide the ball a bit instead of letting it rip. He's an elite runner, though, that was clear tonight.

He throws floaters instead of darts, regardless of the distance. That's fine as long as the receiver is in the perfect position. If not, it's an interception.

Yeah i think that's right, actually, hadn't thought of it exactly as a floater but yes i think you're right.

Lance masked this a lot last season...

So did getting hurt early against NDSU. The legend of Touchdown Tommy remained intact because he wasn't exploited by them.

We just gave up 68 points without forcing a punt, and you guys are beating up on the QB...

Tommy threw 3 picks tonight, which is bad. But the offense moved the ball decently well, considering we were playing an FBS school and we had no RBs.
Tommy and the offense are gonna be just fine this year. The defense, on the other hand, certainly has some issues.

This had 0 to do with the offense and everything to do with a defense that looked completely lost most of the game. Definitely some bad passes today though, Tommy will learn.

I wouldn't say 0 to do with offense, I mean it was a 21-14 game when Mellott threw 2 picks in a row to blow the game open...
But it's 90% on the defense, who couldn't get a stop all night long. Really disheartening to see the D get shredded like that.

I'm going to pick on you because it's the most recent post, but I've seen a lot of people posting about Tommy and the 3 picks. 2/3 are on the WR's. #16 saw the ball and didn't fight for it at all, Patterson got the read wrong on the 2nd one (there's a chance Tommy got the read wrong there, but I'm pretty doubtful about it).

[onceacat]

How do we see/ use Tommy going forward? Do we think he can develop as a qb who is a dynamic run threat, or is he more of a murray/troy hybrid who can hurt you with a favorable matchup in the pass game but is not a full field or maybe even half field passer?

I don't think we know any more than we knew three weeks ago. Is that a failure of the coaching staff, a failure of Tommy or just an unfortunate schedule?

Probably more the schedule than the prior 2, but one thing you could see both against mcneese and tonight, not as much against mhsu, is that he has a tendency to not fully trust himself and aim, or guide the ball a bit instead of letting it rip. He's an elite runner, though, that was clear tonight.

He throws floaters instead of darts, regardless of the distance. That's fine as long as the receiver is in the perfect position. If not, it's an interception.

Yeah i think that's right, actually, hadn't thought of it exactly as a floater but yes i think you're right.

Lance masked this a lot last season...

So did getting hurt early against NDSU. The legend of Touchdown Tommy remained intact because he wasn't exploited by them.

We just gave up 68 points without forcing a punt, and you guys are beating up on the QB...

Tommy threw 3 picks tonight, which is bad. But the offense moved the ball decently well, considering we were playing an FBS school and we had no RBs.
Tommy and the offense are gonna be just fine this year. The defense, on the other hand, certainly has some issues.

I don't mean to come across as beating up on him. Just pointing out that while some people elevated him to god-like status immediately, some knew that he had things to work on that defenses would figure out. I still think he'll become a very good QB, maybe great, but he's not immune to critique just because he led us to Frisco last year.

Well he did have a bad game. I can name a bunch of hall of fame QBs that have had worse games.

In a large sample size, you are gonna have some bad ones.

Those picks were terrible by little guy football standards, to say nothing of Montana AA or FCS. He threw an equally bad pass to a Morehead State defender last week that was dropped.

Its not unfair to point out that Tommy can't throw a full suite of FCS passes. Obviously, he throws a really nice deep ball (and that shows up in his QBR), but he's barely average as a Big Sky passer (to be clear, he's a great QB, just an average passer)

Hes also young & improving quickly. He has gaps in his game & a decent Pac 12 team exposed it.

[coloradocat]

I don't think we know any more than we knew three weeks ago. Is that a failure of the coaching staff, a failure of Tommy or just an unfortunate schedule?

Probably more the schedule than the prior 2, but one thing you could see both against mcneese and tonight, not as much against mhsu, is that he has a tendency to not fully trust himself and aim, or guide the ball a bit instead of letting it rip. He's an elite runner, though, that was clear tonight.

He throws floaters instead of darts, regardless of the distance. That's fine as long as the receiver is in the perfect position. If not, it's an interception.

Yeah i think that's right, actually, hadn't thought of it exactly as a floater but yes i think you're right.

Lance masked this a lot last season...

So did getting hurt early against NDSU. The legend of Touchdown Tommy remained intact because he wasn't exploited by them.

We just gave up 68 points without forcing a punt, and you guys are beating up on the QB...

Tommy threw 3 picks tonight, which is bad. But the offense moved the ball decently well, considering we were playing an FBS school and we had no RBs.
Tommy and the offense are gonna be just fine this year. The defense, on the other hand, certainly has some issues.

I don't mean to come across as beating up on him. Just pointing out that while some people elevated him to god-like status immediately, some knew that he had things to work on that defenses would figure out. I still think he'll become a very good QB, maybe great, but he's not immune to critique just because he led us to Frisco last year.

Well he did have a bad game. I can name a bunch of hall of fame QBs that have had worse games.

I see some people seem hell-bent on running him down simply because he has a good story.

None of those people are in this comment thread. Pointing out areas he needs to work on and the fact that most people were blinded by the playoff run aren't running him down.

[catsrback76]

I wouldn't be too worried. We're out matched at the skill position level, but we played pretty well imo.

I didn’t watch our listen to the game, but wow, your blue and gold glasses need some cleaning, this was a dismantling of a 4th ranked FCS team by a middle of the road PAC 12 team. This should not have ever happened. Maybe coaching, maybe, scheme, maybe under developed players…but I would lay this at the feet of Garza and Vigen…but mainly Garza!

I'm known for being overly optimistic and unrealistic around here.

If you didn't watch it, I don't see how you can have much of an opinion. The people blaming this all on Garza, quite frankly, are similar to those who thought Housewright was awful last year. Know nothing blowhards without an ounce of football knowledge to them. The game we played tonight, we beat 90% of FCS teams with, at minimum.

Haha, “68 says Carnack”! If you ever played the game you’d understand my consternation. One thing is clear without ever watching the game, our D was smoked…why? Anyway…continue on.

[msuhunter]

I’m hoping this is hyperbole in the future, but I think this defensive collapse is going to signal a major step back for this program to the regression of the Ash era. We were supposed to win this game? No. Of course not. But getting some stops on defense against any FBS should be more than a reasonable outcome. Yes we lost some talent from last year no doubt, but this was an epic collapse and a defensive staff in over their heads. We have talent on defense, but tonight was a coaching issue IMO.

Time will tell, but if the Cats get to 8 wins this year, let’s hope things start to click for the team and defense and they get hot at the right time.

[TomCat88]

Tommy is a great runner but still limited as a passer against very good teams.

Time for Chambers.

TD Beavers

What other very good teams was he a limited passer against?

All of his Wyoming games. If anyone watched any Wyoming football consistently over the last couple years, it’s clear he’s not a viable option as a passing QB

He was talking about Mellott I think. At least I was.

Yeah. Read that wrong. My bad.

But my point stands. Chambers isn’t the answer as a passer. It’s honestly amazing to think the last true passed we had was Prukop. That’s a problem.

Prukop wasn’t a better passer than Mellott. Mellott is a good passer and great all around QB.

[bobcatbob]

I think the team learned a lot tonight. Tommy Mellot especially learned a lot. He is a gutsy young man and he is going to do really well this season. We are fortunate to have him. The team was humbled tonight but they will be back next week ready for EWU!

[PHAT CAT]

Cash the check. Get healthy. Move on. This game means nothing, for the rest of he season.

[Long Time Cat]

I think the team learned a lot tonight. Tommy Mellot especially learned a lot. He is a gutsy young man and he is going to do really well this season. We are fortunate to have him. The team was humbled tonight but they will be back next week ready for EWU!

He learned a lot and he didn’t get hurt.

[TomCat88]

I don't think we know any more than we knew three weeks ago. Is that a failure of the coaching staff, a failure of Tommy or just an unfortunate schedule?

Probably more the schedule than the prior 2, but one thing you could see both against mcneese and tonight, not as much against mhsu, is that he has a tendency to not fully trust himself and aim, or guide the ball a bit instead of letting it rip. He's an elite runner, though, that was clear tonight.

He throws floaters instead of darts, regardless of the distance. That's fine as long as the receiver is in the perfect position. If not, it's an interception.

Yeah i think that's right, actually, hadn't thought of it exactly as a floater but yes i think you're right.

Lance masked this a lot last season...

So did getting hurt early against NDSU. The legend of Touchdown Tommy remained intact because he wasn't exploited by them.

We just gave up 68 points without forcing a punt, and you guys are beating up on the QB...

Tommy threw 3 picks tonight, which is bad. But the offense moved the ball decently well, considering we were playing an FBS school and we had no RBs.
Tommy and the offense are gonna be just fine this year. The defense, on the other hand, certainly has some issues.

I don't mean to come across as beating up on him. Just pointing out that while some people elevated him to god-like status immediately, some knew that he had things to work on that defenses would figure out. I still think he'll become a very good QB, maybe great, but he's not immune to critique just because he led us to Frisco last year.

Well he did have a bad game. I can name a bunch of hall of fame QBs that have had worse games.

In a large sample size, you are gonna have some bad ones.

Those picks were terrible by little guy football standards, to say nothing of Montana AA or FCS. He threw an equally bad pass to a Morehead State defender last week that was dropped.

Its not unfair to point out that Tommy can't throw a full suite of FCS passes. Obviously, he throws a really nice deep ball (and that shows up in his QBR), but he's barely average as a Big Sky passer (to be clear, he's a great QB, just an average passer)

Hes also young & improving quickly. He has gaps in his game & a decent Pac 12 team exposed it.

Just gonna have to agree to disagree.

I can’t think of any QBs that have had the start to their careers that measure up to Mellott’s. I can think of a lot that had worse games in their first seven than he just had.

He’ll get back on track next week.

[technoCat]

I think the team learned a lot tonight. Tommy Mellot especially learned a lot. He is a gutsy young man and he is going to do really well this season. We are fortunate to have him. The team was humbled tonight but they will be back next week ready for EWU!

He learned a lot and he didn’t get hurt.

I didn't see anyone hurt. Did we make it unscathed?