Good, Bad, Ugly, and Post-game Thoughts

[91catAlum]

Running game was solid but otherwise this was a very ugly game for the offense.
Pass pro was not great and neither was Lamson. Two fumbles. Wasn't seeing the open man when he did have time. Passing game has to be better, period. And so does ball security for Lamson.

Cats pass rush was non existent and run D wasn't great. But credit Yale for some of that, their O line and RB are legit grown ass men.

If not for the tipped ball INT inside our 5 yard line, we likely would've been in a tie game mid way through the 3rd quarter, in a game we were favored by 27. After beating UC Davis and winning in missoula, it seemed like the Cats were peaking. But yesterday was a big step back from that. Hopefully just a good wake up call for the team to make a run now.

[GoldstoneCat]

The good: winning in December.
The bad: how it looked.
The ugly: the vibe was off all day and way too much chirping that ultimately probably led to the social media infamy.

[nanacat]

The good: winning in December.
The bad: how it looked.
The ugly: the vibe was off all day and way too much chirping that ultimately probably led to the social media infamy.

[SparkCat]

In a strange way, I think with how young this team is, this was a good game to have. Will definitely make them refocus, much like after Mercyhurst and Cal Poly. I think a little grounding here and there helps these guys.

[cat_stache_fever]

Style points mean nothing in December; just gotta move on.

Good: Defense. Wasn't their greatest game, but they DID keep Yale off the scoreboard for nearly 3 quarters. That was critical because....

Bad: Offense. No tempo, no rhythm, no urgency. Maybe Yale's defense had something to do with this but the offense looked like the unit that clunked along versus SDSU. Throw away the tape on this one.

Ugly: some Yale players and their HC. For such an esteemed institution, a handful of their players seemed like complete punks. Their HC refusing to give a post game? Like school in the summertime: no class. Honorable mention: those "jack pot/500" balls their QB was throwing that we somehow couldn't defend.

Whatever....dub is a dub. Moving on.

[coloradocat]

In a strange way, I think with how young this team is, this was a good game to have. Will definitely make them refocus, much like after Mercyhurst and Cal Poly. I think a little grounding here and there helps these guys.

A championship level team shouldn't need a wake up call in December but if that's what it takes to send us on a run to holding up a trophy in January I guess we'll look back on yesterday as the true turning point.

[SparkCat]

In a strange way, I think with how young this team is, this was a good game to have. Will definitely make them refocus, much like after Mercyhurst and Cal Poly. I think a little grounding here and there helps these guys.

A championship level team shouldn't need a wake up call in December but if that's what it takes to send us on a run to holding up a trophy in January I guess we'll look back on yesterday as the true turning point.

They have needed moments of refocusing through out the year. I agree 100% this shouldn’t be the case, however, it has been a bit of a trend.

[technoCat]

In a strange way, I think with how young this team is, this was a good game to have. Will definitely make them refocus, much like after Mercyhurst and Cal Poly. I think a little grounding here and there helps these guys.

A championship level team shouldn't need a wake up call in December but if that's what it takes to send us on a run to holding up a trophy in January I guess we'll look back on yesterday as the true turning point.

They have needed moments of refocusing through out the year. I agree 100% this shouldn’t be the case, however, it has been a bit of a trend.

Seriously, have you guys never watched SDSU or NDSU during the regular season and playoffs? They lay an egg against an inferior team almost every year but they were good enough to still win and refocus. It's a long season and 18-22 year-olds get distracted. This week will be more "normal" in terms of preparation and I bet they will come out a lot differently next week.

[technoCat]

Bad: Let's just say it, Lamson had a bad game after having one of his best last week. He needs to learn how to see the deep ball faster and give his WR a chance. King had his guy by about 10 yards easy and if Lamson throws that ball in the field of play we either get the catch or get the PI because the DB definitely panicked. He's been good with ball security almost all year so I think yesterday was an anomaly there.

I think Howe needs to take a real look at our defensive gameplan and reevaluate. Teams know how to beat us now, quick passes under the shell. Our dline never gets a chance to get home because the ball is always out under 2 seconds and they get worn out trying. Let our DBs play a little tighter and make the QB think for that extra half-second to get our pass rushers home. I think that will help with those hail-Mary shots too that Reno was floating into an area when we had a free rusher. Oh, and for God's sake, if the opposing team has 1 good WR, put our best corner on him and follow him around. Don't let them scheme him into getting covered by LBs and safeties!

Good: We pretty much always had this game in hand. Sure Yale made some great plays but we were 1 flukish fumble away from putting the game away up 2-3 scores with 6 minutes left just like we did with the Gris. Lots of good film for us to look over and show guys how 1-5 plays a game can make all the difference.

[TomCat88]

In a strange way, I think with how young this team is, this was a good game to have. Will definitely make them refocus, much like after Mercyhurst and Cal Poly. I think a little grounding here and there helps these guys.

From story:
The effort wasn’t good enough in Brott’s eyes.

“That’s just not how we go about our business,” he said. “Not how we play. We gotta get better. It was eye-opening, and it was good to have that because we go into this week’s practices knowing that, ‘hey we got a lot of things to clean up.’ We played a good team in Yale but that really opens up our eyes for when we go up against these good teams in the playoffs. We got stuff to work on, it’s a playoff win, it wasn’t easy, but we got it done.”

[Catsrgrood]

Good:
Cat’s won

Although closer than expected and frustrating, the game never felt in doubt. Yale never had the chance to take a lead after the Cats went up 7-0.

Bad:
Inability to finish drives. We’d have a big play or two followed up by ineffective/bad pass plays, and have to punt. Feels like that happened numerous times.

Losing our 4th LB after already being without our #3. That position was put in a bad spot especially with Yale dominating TOP in the first half.

Run D to an extent, but I’m not too down on that. #7 is probably the best RB they faced all year, he was going to get his. And in the end they didn’t run for some crazy number and they still only scored 13 pts. Still frustrating in real time to watch a team get 3-4 yds minimum seemingly at will.

Ugly:
Overall vibe felt off, as many have said. Maybe we all just thought this game was going to be easier than it was? Fans and team included? Not sure, but it can’t be that way again Friday.

The Davis situation; much has been said about it, so no need to dive deep. But it wasn’t a good look and I trust it’s settled the way it needs to be internally.

[wbtfg]

I agree the vibe felt off.

Student section was sleepy.

[TomCat88]

Good: MSU’s defense. They actually did a good job on Pitsenberger. He’s a tremendous player. Only one play over 20. Only 4.7 per play.

Bad: holding on Fleischmann. Rule change suggestion: if, like how PI is waved off if pass is not catchable, then holding should be waved off on this play. A mercy rule kind of deal. There was no way that defender was going to make that tackle.

Lamson not knowing how to get rid of the ball before sack yet.

Measuring first down knowing it wasn’t.

Yale QB not called for grounding when his pass didn’t make it to the yard marker which was right where the ball went out of bounds.

Lamson fumbles, last possession.

Ugly, yet hilarious: calling your DC the Head Coach of the Defense with a straight face.

Laughing at the Head Coach of the Defense’s excuses for why you lost.

Being told to raise your hand to ask a question at the presser by the Yale SID.

Not granting interviews during the run up to the came. :boo:

[coloradocat]

Good: MSU’s defense. They actually did a good job on Pitsenberger. He’s a tremendous player. Only one play over 20. Only 4.7 per play.

Bad: holding on Fleischmann. Rule change suggestion: if, like how PI is waved off if pass is not catchable, then holding should be waved off on this play. A mercy rule kind of deal. There was no way that defender was going to make that tackle.

Lamson not knowing how to get rid of the ball before sack yet.

Measuring first down knowing it wasn’t.

Yale QB not called for grounding when his pass didn’t make it to the yard marker which was right where the ball went out of bounds.

Lamson fumbles, last possession.

Ugly, yet hilarious: calling your DC the Head Coach of the Defense with a straight face.

Laughing at the Head Coach of the Defense’s excuses for why you lost.

Being told to raise your hand to ask a question at the presser by the Yale SID.

Not granting interviews during the run up to the came. :boo:

I thought the hand raising rule was the best part of their press conference. It's better than the anarchy that happens during just about every Bobcat interview.

[ZebraCat]

Bad: Let's just say it, Lamson had a bad game after having one of his best last week. He needs to learn how to see the deep ball faster and give his WR a chance. King had his guy by about 10 yards easy and if Lamson throws that ball in the field of play we either get the catch or get the PI because the DB definitely panicked. He's been good with ball security almost all year so I think yesterday was an anomaly there.

I think Howe needs to take a real look at our defensive gameplan and reevaluate. Teams know how to beat us now, quick passes under the shell. Our dline never gets a chance to get home because the ball is always out under 2 seconds and they get worn out trying. Let our DBs play a little tighter and make the QB think for that extra half-second to get our pass rushers home. I think that will help with those hail-Mary shots too that Reno was floating into an area when we had a free rusher. Oh, and for God's sake, if the opposing team has 1 good WR, put our best corner on him and follow him around. Don't let them scheme him into getting covered by LBs and safeties!

Good: We pretty much always had this game in hand. Sure Yale made some great plays but we were 1 flukish fumble away from putting the game away up 2-3 scores with 6 minutes left just like we did with the Gris. Lots of good film for us to look over and show guys how 1-5 plays a game can make all the difference.

Lamson didn't have a bad game. He was 10-16, and 4 of those incompletions wete batted at the LOS. King also didn’t have have his guy beat by 10 yards There was separation, but it wasn't huge. Lamson definitely could have made a better throw further up the sideline though.

[ZebraCat]

Running game was solid but otherwise this was a very ugly game for the offense.
Pass pro was not great and neither was Lamson. Two fumbles. Wasn't seeing the open man when he did have time. Passing game has to be better, period. And so does ball security for Lamson.

Cats pass rush was non existent and run D wasn't great. But credit Yale for some of that, their O line and RB are legit grown ass men.

If not for the tipped ball INT inside our 5 yard line, we likely would've been in a tie game mid way through the 3rd quarter, in a game we were favored by 27. After beating UC Davis and winning in missoula, it seemed like the Cats were peaking. But yesterday was a big step back from that. Hopefully just a good wake up call for the team to make a run now.

Did we watch a different game? Pass pro was great. Lamson had a clean pocket most of the game.

Pass rush was fine. If Reno had to move beyond his first read, we got pressure. The Taylor pick was a direct result of Eiden getting to Reno mid throw. He had multiple "oh sh*t" get the ball out shovel passes because of the pressure. Pressure was not an issue.

[nanacat]

Good: a win despite an uninspired performance. The game was always in hand for the Cats but the execution was just off.

Bad: #7 for Yale in defense. Just a jerk the whole game. Playing cheap. Finally got a hold call on him but should have had about 5 more.

Ugly: post game for sure, but just the general vibe the whole game. A very unusual experience.

Post game thought: Cats will have a very productive week of meetings and practice. They all know it was a bad game from coaches to players to support staff. It will get fixed and the next game will be totally different.

[onceacat]

Bad: Let's just say it, Lamson had a bad game after having one of his best last week. He needs to learn how to see the deep ball faster and give his WR a chance. King had his guy by about 10 yards easy and if Lamson throws that ball in the field of play we either get the catch or get the PI because the DB definitely panicked. He's been good with ball security almost all year so I think yesterday was an anomaly there.

I think Howe needs to take a real look at our defensive gameplan and reevaluate. Teams know how to beat us now, quick passes under the shell. Our dline never gets a chance to get home because the ball is always out under 2 seconds and they get worn out trying. Let our DBs play a little tighter and make the QB think for that extra half-second to get our pass rushers home. I think that will help with those hail-Mary shots too that Reno was floating into an area when we had a free rusher. Oh, and for God's sake, if the opposing team has 1 good WR, put our best corner on him and follow him around. Don't let them scheme him into getting covered by LBs and safeties!

Good: We pretty much always had this game in hand. Sure Yale made some great plays but we were 1 flukish fumble away from putting the game away up 2-3 scores with 6 minutes left just like we did with the Gris. Lots of good film for us to look over and show guys how 1-5 plays a game can make all the difference.

Lamson didn't have a bad game. He was 10-16, and 4 of those incompletions wete batted at the LOS. King also didn’t have have his guy beat by 10 yards There was separation, but it wasn't huge. Lamson definitely could have made a better throw further up the sideline though.

For one of the most accurate passers in FCS, 10/16 is pretty bad. Although the 2 uncalled blatant PIs have something to do with that. But the 5.7 yards per attempt is pretty terrible too.

Really the worst thing about Lamson's game yesterday was the 2 fumbles.

[onceacat]

Lots of thoughtful comments here, not a ton to add except:

Not going for it on 4th and inches at the 50 when you are averaging 6 yards per carry.

[91catAlum]

Running game was solid but otherwise this was a very ugly game for the offense.
Pass pro was not great and neither was Lamson. Two fumbles. Wasn't seeing the open man when he did have time. Passing game has to be better, period. And so does ball security for Lamson.

Cats pass rush was non existent and run D wasn't great. But credit Yale for some of that, their O line and RB are legit grown ass men.

If not for the tipped ball INT inside our 5 yard line, we likely would've been in a tie game mid way through the 3rd quarter, in a game we were favored by 27. After beating UC Davis and winning in missoula, it seemed like the Cats were peaking. But yesterday was a big step back from that. Hopefully just a good wake up call for the team to make a run now.

Did we watch a different game? Pass pro was great. Lamson had a clean pocket most of the game.

Pass rush was fine. If Reno had to move beyond his first read, we got pressure. The Taylor pick was a direct result of Eiden getting to Reno mid throw. He had multiple "oh sh*t" get the ball out shovel passes because of the pressure. Pressure was not an issue.

If you think the passing game didn't have any issues yesterday, then yes we did watch a different game