Bobcat Defense

[Cats and Dogs]

Cat Defense has been the question mark for this team since last February. Are they good enough to complement an elite FCS offense to win a National Championship? We're about to find out starting Saturday. Davis is well coached, good offensively and on a hot streak. Should be an epic game for the BSC Championship. Can't wait.
Go Cats!

[MSU01]

Cat Defense has been the question mark for this team since last February. Are they good enough to complement an elite FCS offense to win a National Championship? We're about to find out starting Saturday. Davis is well coached, good offensively and on a hot streak. Should be an epic game for the BSC Championship. Can't wait.
Go Cats!

It's extremely laughable to me that anyone is still questioning whether the Bobcat defense is good enough to win a National Championship. What more exactly do we need to see from them than what they've done so far? Shutout after shutout after shutout against some pretty good offensive teams until the backups come in. It's entirely possible that the Bobcats lose on Saturday or don't win the National Championship, but the starting defense has been absolutely phenomenal this year and is not a "question mark" at all.

[seataccat]

Cat Defense has been the question mark for this team since last February. Are they good enough to complement an elite FCS offense to win a National Championship? We're about to find out starting Saturday. Davis is well coached, good offensively and on a hot streak. Should be an epic game for the BSC Championship. Can't wait.
Go Cats!

It's extremely laughable to me that anyone is still questioning whether the Bobcat defense is good enough to win a National Championship. What more exactly do we need to see from them than what they've done so far? Shutout after shutout after shutout against some pretty good offensive teams until the backups come in. It's entirely possible that the Bobcats lose on Saturday or don't win the National Championship, but the starting defense has been absolutely phenomenal this year and is not a "question mark" at all.

I completely agree here.
I think the bobcats have already faced the best offenses on their schedule. ISU in Pocatello, EWU in Cheney and UNM in New Mexico. UCD in Davis and UM in Bozeman are not better offenses. Of course that doesn't always mean they will win. Also I don't think the DSU's are better offenses than those already faced. It's the defenses that seperate those teams IMHO. The cats seem to make the adjustments. Also it was mentioned how good the 1s have played statisticaly. I would argue that having the depth to rotate the 2s and 3s to keep fresh bodies on the field is a reason our 1s are playing so well. Our depth will show itself in December.

[TomCat88]

Cat Defense has been the question mark for this team since last February. Are they good enough to complement an elite FCS offense to win a National Championship? We're about to find out starting Saturday. Davis is well coached, good offensively and on a hot streak. Should be an epic game for the BSC Championship. Can't wait.
Go Cats!

It's extremely laughable to me that anyone is still questioning whether the Bobcat defense is good enough to win a National Championship. What more exactly do we need to see from them than what they've done so far? Shutout after shutout after shutout against some pretty good offensive teams until the backups come in. It's entirely possible that the Bobcats lose on Saturday or don't win the National Championship, but the starting defense has been absolutely phenomenal this year and is not a "question mark" at all.

I completely agree here.
I think the bobcats have already faced the best offenses on their schedule. ISU in Pocatello, EWU in Cheney and UNM in New Mexico. UCD in Davis and UM in Bozeman are not better offenses. Of course that doesn't always mean they will win. Also I don't think the DSU's are better offenses than those already faced. It's the defenses that seperate those teams IMHO. The cats seem to make the adjustments. Also it was mentioned how good the 1s have played statisticaly. I would argue that having the depth to rotate the 2s and 3s to keep fresh bodies on the field is a reason our 1s are playing so well. Our depth will show itself in December.

On the season Davis is second in scoring and third in total offense. Over their last four games they average over 45 ppg. They’re the second best offense MSU has faced next to UNM. Hastings is the best passer MSU has faced. Larison is the best RB they’ve faced.

[Cats and Dogs]

Cat Defense has been the question mark for this team since last February. Are they good enough to complement an elite FCS offense to win a National Championship? We're about to find out starting Saturday. Davis is well coached, good offensively and on a hot streak. Should be an epic game for the BSC Championship. Can't wait.
Go Cats!

It's extremely laughable to me that anyone is still questioning whether the Bobcat defense is good enough to win a National Championship. What more exactly do we need to see from them than what they've done so far? Shutout after shutout after shutout against some pretty good offensive teams until the backups come in. It's entirely possible that the Bobcats lose on Saturday or don't win the National Championship, but the starting defense has been absolutely phenomenal this year and is not a "question mark" at all.

I completely agree here.
I think the bobcats have already faced the best offenses on their schedule. ISU in Pocatello, EWU in Cheney and UNM in New Mexico. UCD in Davis and UM in Bozeman are not better offenses. Of course that doesn't always mean they will win. Also I don't think the DSU's are better offenses than those already faced. It's the defenses that seperate those teams IMHO. The cats seem to make the adjustments. Also it was mentioned how good the 1s have played statisticaly. I would argue that having the depth to rotate the 2s and 3s to keep fresh bodies on the field is a reason our 1s are playing so well. Our depth will show itself in December.

I hope you're both right! The question mark generated from watching the last 2 games of 2023, both losses, giving up combined 72 points against National Title contenders. Coaching changes seem to have had tremendous positive impact with minimal personnel changes, year older, different year, etc. And the D has been solid so far this season. Not debatable. Are they good enough to get to and win a National Championship, we're about to find out in the next 5 weeks when they will see better teams/offenses than they've seen so far, imo.
Go Cats!
Go Cats!

[RockyBearCat]

Cat Defense has been the question mark for this team since last February. Are they good enough to complement an elite FCS offense to win a National Championship? We're about to find out starting Saturday. Davis is well coached, good offensively and on a hot streak. Should be an epic game for the BSC Championship. Can't wait.
Go Cats!

It's extremely laughable to me that anyone is still questioning whether the Bobcat defense is good enough to win a National Championship. What more exactly do we need to see from them than what they've done so far? Shutout after shutout after shutout against some pretty good offensive teams until the backups come in. It's entirely possible that the Bobcats lose on Saturday or don't win the National Championship, but the starting defense has been absolutely phenomenal this year and is not a "question mark" at all.

[Monymony]

Would be super interesting to take a deep dive on what changed between last year in this year. I would absolutely love to know blitz frequencies as this year we seem to be way more comfortable bringing 5-6+ dudes

[Monymony]

Also curious if Akem was referring to this season. I could see how he could say that after the EW performance as we gave up a lot of points and EW didn’t have their starter.

[tetoncat]

Also curious if Akem was referring to this season. I could see how he could say that after the EW performance as we gave up a lot of points and EW didn’t have their starter.

Gave up 28 which was below their avg.
They had rotated 3 QB all year and ran more qb run okays that vats had to adjust to

[tetoncat]

Cat Defense has been the question mark for this team since last February. Are they good enough to complement an elite FCS offense to win a National Championship? We're about to find out starting Saturday. Davis is well coached, good offensively and on a hot streak. Should be an epic game for the BSC Championship. Can't wait.
Go Cats!

It's extremely laughable to me that anyone is still questioning whether the Bobcat defense is good enough to win a National Championship. What more exactly do we need to see from them than what they've done so far? Shutout after shutout after shutout against some pretty good offensive teams until the backups come in. It's entirely possible that the Bobcats lose on Saturday or don't win the National Championship, but the starting defense has been absolutely phenomenal this year and is not a "question mark" at all.

I completely agree here.
I think the bobcats have already faced the best offenses on their schedule. ISU in Pocatello, EWU in Cheney and UNM in New Mexico. UCD in Davis and UM in Bozeman are not better offenses. Of course that doesn't always mean they will win. Also I don't think the DSU's are better offenses than those already faced. It's the defenses that seperate those teams IMHO. The cats seem to make the adjustments. Also it was mentioned how good the 1s have played statisticaly. I would argue that having the depth to rotate the 2s and 3s to keep fresh bodies on the field is a reason our 1s are playing so well. Our depth will show itself in December.

On the season Davis is second in scoring and third in total offense. Over their last four games they average over 45 ppg. They’re the second best offense MSU has faced next to UNM. Hastings is the best passer MSU has faced. Larison is the best RB they’ve faced.

Points don't tell everything. Is some of that special teams,defensive scores, short field etc. They runa lot of plays to get those points, Hastings seems to get ball out quick and spread field. Larrison gets a lot of touches and in different fashion. Does UCD have a lot of explosive plays?

[BobcatBlood]

We were also down 4 1s last week. Rotating the 2s and 3s has elevated everyone. 1/4 of our 1s who will start Saturday started the season as 2s. The depth, caraderie, and leadership has been so impressive. All the talk is about this QB was out when we played, etc. We just show up and the D keeps rolling against whoever is on the field. Love their fire. 1-0. Let's gooooo!

[nanacat]

Daly has been exceptional, bottom line. The defense is good. The biggest difference I've noticed is the number of sacks is less than last year. I'm sure that's partially strategy and partially other teams being more prepared for Brody. But the coaching staff this year has been excellent and has these boys playing top notch defense.

Same can be said of the offense. It's just different this year.

[bpcats20]

UCD Davis offense looked extremely dangerous to me in how they attack defenses.

Coach Daly and Howe will have their hands full being able to come up with a game plan to stop it and have the players be disciplined enough to execute it.

My one concern regarding Cat defense is depth along defensive line and linebackers. We have depth but it is still in developmental stage especially up the middle.

I would be a lot more confident if we still had Danny U, Blake Schmidt on the field for this one.

We will have to win the trenches to win this one on both sides of the ball.

[Cledus]

Cat Defense has been the question mark for this team since last February. Are they good enough to complement an elite FCS offense to win a National Championship? We're about to find out starting Saturday. Davis is well coached, good offensively and on a hot streak. Should be an epic game for the BSC Championship. Can't wait.
Go Cats!

It's extremely laughable to me that anyone is still questioning whether the Bobcat defense is good enough to win a National Championship. What more exactly do we need to see from them than what they've done so far? Shutout after shutout after shutout against some pretty good offensive teams until the backups come in. It's entirely possible that the Bobcats lose on Saturday or don't win the National Championship, but the starting defense has been absolutely phenomenal this year and is not a "question mark" at all.

I completely agree here.
I think the bobcats have already faced the best offenses on their schedule. ISU in Pocatello, EWU in Cheney and UNM in New Mexico. UCD in Davis and UM in Bozeman are not better offenses. Of course that doesn't always mean they will win. Also I don't think the DSU's are better offenses than those already faced. It's the defenses that seperate those teams IMHO. The cats seem to make the adjustments. Also it was mentioned how good the 1s have played statisticaly. I would argue that having the depth to rotate the 2s and 3s to keep fresh bodies on the field is a reason our 1s are playing so well. Our depth will show itself in December.

On the season Davis is second in scoring and third in total offense. Over their last four games they average over 45 ppg. They’re the second best offense MSU has faced next to UNM. Hastings is the best passer MSU has faced. Larison is the best RB they’ve faced.

Until this past weekend, their offense was #1 in the BSC for league only games.

The only reason MSU hasn't been scoring 60+ almost every week is because the starters are only playing 55% to 60% of the snaps before turning it over to the 2's and 3's.

[ilovethecats]

Cat Defense has been the question mark for this team since last February. Are they good enough to complement an elite FCS offense to win a National Championship? We're about to find out starting Saturday. Davis is well coached, good offensively and on a hot streak. Should be an epic game for the BSC Championship. Can't wait.
Go Cats!

It's extremely laughable to me that anyone is still questioning whether the Bobcat defense is good enough to win a National Championship. What more exactly do we need to see from them than what they've done so far? Shutout after shutout after shutout against some pretty good offensive teams until the backups come in. It's entirely possible that the Bobcats lose on Saturday or don't win the National Championship, but the starting defense has been absolutely phenomenal this year and is not a "question mark" at all.

I completely agree here.
I think the bobcats have already faced the best offenses on their schedule. ISU in Pocatello, EWU in Cheney and UNM in New Mexico. UCD in Davis and UM in Bozeman are not better offenses. Of course that doesn't always mean they will win. Also I don't think the DSU's are better offenses than those already faced. It's the defenses that seperate those teams IMHO. The cats seem to make the adjustments. Also it was mentioned how good the 1s have played statisticaly. I would argue that having the depth to rotate the 2s and 3s to keep fresh bodies on the field is a reason our 1s are playing so well. Our depth will show itself in December.

On the season Davis is second in scoring and third in total offense. Over their last four games they average over 45 ppg. They’re the second best offense MSU has faced next to UNM. Hastings is the best passer MSU has faced. Larison is the best RB they’ve faced.

They may have an electric offense, I haven't watched them enough. But in their last 5 games they went against the 12th defense in the league, (dead last) the 11th ranked defense, the 10th ranked defense, the 7th ranked defense, and the best is the 5th ranked defense in the Griz that I find astounding. Statistically the Griz are the best defense they have played in the last 5 weeks.

I am aware that what they DID to these defenses play a role in where they are ranked. Though without going back and looking I can't imagine the likes of PSU, UNC, EWU, Poly and the Griz were ever ranked very high defensively.

This isn't to say they CAN'T be a great offense. They have to play who they have to play and can't control that. I just don't put too much stock into the belief that they are this amazing offense because they looked good the last month against crap defenses.

Can't wait for this one Saturday night!

[TomCat88]

Cat Defense has been the question mark for this team since last February. Are they good enough to complement an elite FCS offense to win a National Championship? We're about to find out starting Saturday. Davis is well coached, good offensively and on a hot streak. Should be an epic game for the BSC Championship. Can't wait.
Go Cats!

It's extremely laughable to me that anyone is still questioning whether the Bobcat defense is good enough to win a National Championship. What more exactly do we need to see from them than what they've done so far? Shutout after shutout after shutout against some pretty good offensive teams until the backups come in. It's entirely possible that the Bobcats lose on Saturday or don't win the National Championship, but the starting defense has been absolutely phenomenal this year and is not a "question mark" at all.

I completely agree here.
I think the bobcats have already faced the best offenses on their schedule. ISU in Pocatello, EWU in Cheney and UNM in New Mexico. UCD in Davis and UM in Bozeman are not better offenses. Of course that doesn't always mean they will win. Also I don't think the DSU's are better offenses than those already faced. It's the defenses that seperate those teams IMHO. The cats seem to make the adjustments. Also it was mentioned how good the 1s have played statisticaly. I would argue that having the depth to rotate the 2s and 3s to keep fresh bodies on the field is a reason our 1s are playing so well. Our depth will show itself in December.

On the season Davis is second in scoring and third in total offense. Over their last four games they average over 45 ppg. They’re the second best offense MSU has faced next to UNM. Hastings is the best passer MSU has faced. Larison is the best RB they’ve faced.

They may have an electric offense, I haven't watched them enough. But in their last 5 games they went against the 12th defense in the league, (dead last) the 11th ranked defense, the 10th ranked defense, the 7th ranked defense, and the best is the 5th ranked defense in the Griz that I find astounding. Statistically the Griz are the best defense they have played in the last 5 weeks.

I am aware that what they DID to these defenses play a role in where they are ranked. Though without going back and looking I can't imagine the likes of PSU, UNC, EWU, Poly and the Griz were ever ranked very high defensively.

This isn't to say they CAN'T be a great offense. They have to play who they have to play and can't control that. I just don't put too much stock into the belief that they are this amazing offense because they looked good the last month against crap defenses.

Can't wait for this one Saturday night!

Good logic but all the other defenses except Cal they played sucked, too. I think we all recognize that EWU and UM are tough places to play. Few teams have won in Missoula by 16 points no matter how bad UM has been. My main point is that Davis is playing its best football right now and they’ve played two common opponents (EW and NC) better or as well as MSU since the PSU game. They are better than any team MSU has played this year with the possible exception of New Mexico and it’s a road game. I think these are all facts. I’m not saying they’ll overwhelm or beat or even make it a game vs MSU.

[autocat]

Stop the worrying about the Davis offense, they might not be on the field much and might have limited possession

How much extra pressure has the defense actually put on opposing quarterbacks at this point? I think that’s about to change

[msuhunter]

I’ve been critical of the defense earlier in the year but there’s no doubt they have been improving significantly over the year. They have been really good, and although they’ll probably give up more than usual to Davis, I’d be shocked if Davis put up more than 27 on this D on their best day.

[GoldstoneCat]

I'm sure they're going to try to scheme ways to get Larison on Neil Daly in space. I'm certain we'll have to play some man on their outside guys and have the safeties available to help on Larison, especially in the pass game. I don't think they'll be able to run it effectively inside the tackles. If we can tackle well and hold up/ get pressure to limit big plays in the pass game i don't think this game will be that close. If they can use their best guys to create mismatches and challenge our lack of depth in certain spots it may be pretty close. We'll give up some yards and points, imo, but i still think we hold them in the 20s, and if we do we are not losing because I think we'll get at least 35.

[GoCats18]

Watching the highlights from the Idaho vs. Davis game. Larrison alone will keep our defense on their feet, he is a stud. Idaho could have won this game by 14+ points but made a lot of mistakes and costly turnovers. Larrison throws a 30+ yard pass in the 3rd that leads to a touchdown. I definitely think our defense can get pressure on the QB. Our DB’s and safeties will be tested as Hastings is a great passer. At this point, the waiting for Saturday evening is the hardest part of this whole thing.