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Expectations

Da Boyz Mom

Da Boyz Mom

Well-known member
DONOR
Preface: I really don't want cat fans opinions or ridiculousness in this thread please. If any post please ignore them so that the rest of us can have an actual discussion without their trolling.

Also, I'm no Brint Wahlberg so this is not intended to be any kind of exhaustive preview. Just some of my thoughts.

I don't know about the rest of y'all, but I am just not entirely sure what to expect this season. After last year, it would be very easy to assume that this year is going to be exactly the same, ie maybe one regular season loss and then rolling through the playoffs to the natty, but that's probably unrealistic. None of us thought that last year would play out the way it did, and while it certainly went better than most of us thought it would (especially after the NAU game), setting our expectations too high this year could definitely end in a lot of disappointment if and when things don't play out like we hope.

I'm trying to temper my expectations for this year while at the same time remaining optimistic.

I think we would all agree that the offense needs to improve, and having a QB that can throw the ball farther than ~20 yards will be a definite improvement, but losing McDowell's scrambling ability is also a factor. The Griz offense has always been able to hit one or two really big pass plays that can completely change the course of a game, and that was lacking last year. Do Fife or AhYat have that competency? I think they are absolutely better pure passers than McDowell so the opportunity will be there, if the o-line steps it up a notch. Pawlak will hopefully ensure better o-line play and the depth on the line is certainly looking good. Getting Cole Grossman back is definitely going to help in so many ways. Will it take him some time to get back to his previous form?

I think special teams will be very good again. Junior Bergen is the BOSS. Kicking struggled some last year and would have put away some games early that ended up going down to the wire because of missed kicks. We've always had such amazing kickers that last year was definitely frustrating at times. Is that area shored up for this year? I can't imagine that Bobby won't get it figured out.

The strength of the team the last few years has inarguably been the defense and we lost a lot there but also got some promising transfers, along with some good talent coming up. Getting Hank Nuce back from injury is fantastic as well. He made some good contributions in the playoffs last year. Having Tim Hauck in the co D coordinator is a net positive. Losing Gubby is probably the biggest hole, but it seems like the rest of the defensive line is ready to take over. I'm looking forward to seeing how Pat Hayden works out - he took over the #99 jersey from Gub.

Okay, that's a lot of thoughts. What are y'all's expectations of the team this year? How are the respective units going to play? How many games do we win?
 
The way you feel right now is the way I felt coming into last year. For the first time in my life, last year I truly did not know what to expect. As for this year, my expectations are sky high. I personally think this is the best offense we've had in Bobby's second stint. The good news for the qb(s) is they will not have to do that much with the amount of weapons surrounding them. Just don't make any mistakes. If you have to throw tunnel screens to Bergen all day, then so be it. The early reports out of Fall Camp on the OL look very encouraging so far. If we make it out of UND week 2 with a win, then I think we're styling for the rest of the season.
 
Griz til I die said:
The way you feel right now is the way I felt coming into last year. For the first time in my life, last year I truly did not know what to expect. As for this year, my expectations are sky high. I personally think this is the best offense we've had in Bobby's second stint. The good news for the qb(s) is they will not have to do that much with the amount of weapons surrounding them. Just don't make any mistakes. If you have to throw tunnel screens to Bergen all day, then so be it. The early reports out of Fall Camp on the OL look very encouraging so far. If we make it out of UND week 2 with a win, then I think we're styling for the rest of the season.
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I'm afraid of sky high expectations. Almost every time I have them I end up disappointed.
 
Going into 2022, I thought we were going to be world beaters. I thought 2022 was the year. Then we ran into a tough schedule. But even so, I thought we would get the wins we needed. The opposite happened that year. This year I feel similar, I feel like we’ve got what it takes. Which makes me nervous with how 2022 went. But we have a favorable schedule. I think we go 11-1. Maybe 10-2. Should have the opportunity to host into the quarters, if we do things right.
 
I've already stated that I'm worried we won't be able to match our offensive effectiveness from last year unless we can replace the production, especially on 3rd downs, that McDowell brought. That probably needs to be made up by a more traditional running attack from the RBs, which means the OL has to be a lot better than they were last year at that type running plan.

I'm also worried about how we haven't been able to show up in bozeman since Bobby came back.

It's always tricky when you're starting a new QB. I hope Ah Yat or Fife or Huot makes a huge leap and becomes the guy that can win it all for us, but that's probably asking a lot.

I am not worried about our defense or special teams. Clearly they are both good enough to get it done in Frisco, but our offense, especially on the ground, needs to be better if we want to win the Big Sky again, let alone hoist another championship.
 
How this year pans out will be determined by how quickly the figure out who is QB1 (despite Bobby’s protestations to the contrary). If it’s game 4 again, we’ll probably see some early season struggles.
 
You don't want to be Brint Wahlberg. He works too hard. Ha.

"None of us thought that last year would play out the way it did." Speak for yourself. Ha, again.

I agree your main points. Going to the championship also takes some luck and avoiding critical injuries.

The team will be very good, is my view. The offense is deep and is going to be very good. I have confidence that the QB's will step up, hopefully at the beginning of the season, not like last season. Don't know which one, or both. Both are much better passers than McDowell. Receivers will be way better individually and as a group, and deep. Grossman should make a big difference in the pass game. I assume there will be more passes to the TE's, at least him. The offense will be better and hopefully considerably better than last season.

The new offensive analyst is going to help with the offense. He has so much experience and firepower. I can't imagine that he won't be a big help in scheme and game plan. I expect the scheme to evolve a bit from last season, maybe more than a bit.

Bobby says the o-line is deep. I hear good things about the new line coach. He's apparently really into everything and the guys, and comes to every lifting session.

All 3 main backs will play and share time. Maybe 1 or 2 will emerge, but they are all very good.

The offense will carry more of the load for the team.

The defense has a number of strong players to replace, especially Gubner. There are new and younger players at all positions, but it may take some time to get them up to speed and going great as a team. As Bobby said recently, the defense is fairly complicate and takes a while to learn and learn how to react fast. I assume the D scheme will change a bit with new D-coordinators.

The Monmouth kid, at about 285 and with multiple FBS offers, is ready to go at nose tackle. He's a confident kid and not worried at all. We shall see.

The D was so good last season. I wonder if this D can get up to that level of play, or how fast they can do it. It will probably take some time to bring the D into high level form like last year.

ST are always good under Hauck. I assume he's got the kicker side figured out.

The quality of the coaching staff and analysts is very good and unbelievably strong.

I worry about Missouri Valley. I think they will be quite good, and it will be our first game with new QB's.
 
I personally think the offense takes a step and potentially a significant step forward. The Griz played balanced offense last year but still struggled to get playmakers the ball at times. The offensive line also struggled to get a good push for the run game against better defenses.

Cliff could move the ball no doubt at times, but I don’t see a drop off in overall production if if some of those qb runs are short passes, sweeps or jumbo run packages. I also think the right side of our line is elite and we have good athletes with a lot of experience across the line.

Area of uncertainty might surprisingly be LB. So many seniors last year it’s hard to know what we’ve really got there outside Wilson, Tirrell.
 
I used to have ridiculously high expectations...even during the downish years.

2022 broke my friggin spirit.

Now, I just try to enjoy the team and the cycles. Pre-season - in-season - post-season recruiting - spring ball etc.

I think many are under estimating our offense, even with question at QB. Griz will win the games they should...probably lose a head-scratcher along the way...improve all season...and make a run during the playoffs. That's been a predictable template for many, many seasons...
 
I think we will go really far if a QB emerges. I know it's unpopular and he's likely gotten much better, but I wasn't really sold on Ah Yat as a natural passer last season. I know, true freshman and all that, but I think if his name was Bill Smith from Bumsville, Idaho, I don't know if people would be quite as high on him. Just my opinion.

Also, I guess this is as good a thread as any, but does anyone remember Grossman's injury off the top of their head? Like what ligament?
 
SoldierGriz said:
I used to have ridiculously high expectations...even during the downish years.

2022 broke my friggin spirit.

Now, I just try to enjoy the team and the cycles. Pre-season - in-season - post-season recruiting - spring ball etc.

I think many are under estimating our offense, even with question at QB. Griz will win the games they should...probably lose a head-scratcher along the way...improve all season...and make a run during the playoffs. That's been a predictable template for many, many seasons...
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Same, but my spirit started to crumble under Delaney and total crashed with Stitt.
 
Honest to God, my expectations are as high as they were around 2009. At this point, we have had a very successful trend line year over year for a number of years, with a blip in 2022 that I think many of us understand the reasons for as we look back. We have every reason to believe the team has been headed in the right direction, and very little reason to believe that will change.

At this point, I just trust our defense and special teams. As long as the offense can stay on the field and keep the defense from getting too blown up, our defense will be as good as ever. I like the emphasis I have heard from multiple coaches that we don't have to replace Gubner at DT. We need to replace his production as a team. The latter is doable, and it seems like we have the guys to do it. I have not felt this good about our DE rotation since Hauck returned.

On offense, I just still don't see why it is such a question other than every year, Bobby believes in competition. Maybe I am wrong, but it is going to be Fife and I'm very comfortable with that. I know I made a previous post about his skillset and his tape, and I am still all in on him. If I'm right and he gets the start, I think he will have all the positives we enjoyed with Sneed, though possibly with a little less fire and intensity.

My only concern previously was our offensive line, and from what I have heard from the people that I trust (because I am no offensive line guru), Pawlak has the team in great hands. The technique is there, the fire is there, and I don't even want to say it..... but the DOLA is actually returning. That has been on my CHristmas wish list since Hauck came back, and while I wasn't going to bitch about it publicly, it seems like we have made a change that needed to be made and will start to reap the benefits. Feel really good about the depth we added, and what I've heard from camp.

I never expect to go to the national championship. Too much happens, and it is an oblong ball that gets slippery and takes weird bounces. But if we don't have a hell of a season, I will be shocked.

Prediction -- One regular season loss. Finally break the spell of playing the Cats at home. And a deep playoff run with home games at The Mecca. I'm also going to drink too much. I may be posting less here, but cannot wait to see all of you yahoos in a few weeks, even if I don't know your egriz name when we run into each other.
 
The quote function is giving me fits today for some reason.

CDA - your take on AhYat is so different from anyone else's that I'm wondering what leads you to that conclusion?
 
Not an expectation but I have this weird feeling that we finally get a cat/Griz playoff game. We have been on the same side of the bracket a few times and only one game away from it but the catz always fucked it up. Last year, the year with McNeese, and I think there was another year too, maybe a undsu year.
If the Griz get the chance, they would not fuck it up like the catz.
I think this is the year and there could be two games in bozo, where we get the last laugh.
It’s going to happen sooner than later, and this could be the year.
With the current rankings, it’s not hard to envision. bubz get the 3 seed. Griz also drop some rando game and get a lower seed, maybe 6 seed. And voila!
 
My expectations are as big as ever as I think they should be

Best offense I've seen in awhile for the Griz with playmakers and o-line we have. A qb will Figure it (fife is my guess) and he will roll. Best thing we have though is depth this year in the offense Side of the ball

Griz have always been deep on defense and can do next man up but offense has always lived and died by people staying healthy, I don't think it's the case this year

I expect a top 4 seed with one loss, I also think wa-Griz is going to be rowdy as ever.

I'm guessing from looking at the seating chart for season tickets we broke the season ticket record again this year

We always talk about the players and who we brought and and have returning but I think more than ever this year we made huge leaps in the coaching staff. Our staff is stacked and if they can all get on the same page watch out
 
Da Boyz Mom said:
The quote function is giving me fits today for some reason.

CDA - your take on AhYat is so different from anyone else's that I'm wondering what leads you to that conclusion?
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I wouldn’t call it a conclusion so much as an intuition. Not a coach, not a scout, and further from an expert. I’m not out on the guy; I’m just hoping he made some strides. I’m hopeful he did.
 
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