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Western Carolina Catamounts scouting report

BWahlberg

BWahlberg

Well-known member
DONOR
The Western Carolina Catamounts are coming to town fresh off beating #22 Elon and coming to Missoula ripe for another upset. Last year WCU went 7-4 on the season and was seemingly on their way to the playoffs when they dropped their last game to VMI and found themselves on the wrong side of the playoff bubble. A common opponent from last season was Furman who we all remember from the playoffs. WCU lost 29-17 mostly due to Furman’s ground game.

WCU lost quite a few starters from last year, they return 5 on offense, and 6 on defense. However, one of their returners on offense is QB Cole Gonzalez, ranked the 3rd best returning FCS QB in the country. He was the SoCon offensive player of the year and a Walter Payton finalist. The Grizzly pass defense is going to be tested like it hasn’t been before.

WCU was voted to finish 3rd in the SoCon, they did get 1 first place vote

Western Carolina Catamounts

21-38 loss @ NC State: WCU was up 7-0 and 14-7 in the first quarter, NC was able to battle back but again found themselves trailing to WCU 21-17 with 4:30 left in the 3rd quarter. From there though it seemed NC State kind of got things going and stretched out the lead. NC State’s offense had big numbers, over 200 rushing, over 300 passing but they lost 1 INT and had two turnovers on downs (one on the WCU 41 and another on the WCU 18). WCU had some equally sloppy issues as well, a lost fumble, a missed field goal, and two turnovers on downs as well. Gonzalez passed for 211 and lead the team in rushing with 75 yards.

16-24 loss vs Campbell: A rather surprising loss, Campbell piled up 17 fast points in the 2nd quarter, 10 of which came off turnovers. WCU’s offense had a hell of a day, Gonzalez tossed 4 picks, had no TDs, and was held to just 18 yards rushing on 10 attempts. Campbell passed for 306 yards, although they did toss 2 picks of their own. WCU had a chance to tie it with 2:15 left in the game, at midfield, but Gonzalez tossed a pick. They held Campbell to a punt, got the ball back with 37 seconds left and actually went from their 31 to the Campbell 27 – but on the last play of the game could not find the endzone.

24-17 win @ #22 Elon: It was a low scoring game early, Elon was up 7-3 at the half, and then 14-3 into the mid 3rd quarter. From there though WCU’s offense found some life scoring 14 points to go up 17-14 and then they blocked a field goal and took it to the house for another TD. Elon would kick a fieldgoal to make it a 1 score game with 14 seconds to go but couldn’t get the onsides kick to attempt a hail mary. Gonzalez had 250 passing but no TDs (also no picks), he did run for a TD though. Elon had 285 passing and actually outgained WCU 425 to 375 in total yards.

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General Stats (from 2023)





Passing yards per game WCU (169 for GRIZ vs 222 for WCU)



Rushing yards per game GRIZ (246 for GRIZ vs 117 for WCU)



Total offense GRIZ (415 for GRIZ vs 339 for WCU)



Passing yards allowed per game GRIZ (138 for GRIZ vs 303 for WCU)



Rushing yards allowed per game GRIZ (109 for GRIZ vs 160 for WCU)



Total defense GRIZ (247 for GRIZ vs 463 for WCU)


Amazing what a blowout win does to flip the stats. Montana picks up 5 while WCU gets just 1.





Offense points scored GRIZ (37.3 for GRIZ vs 20.3 for WCU)



Defense points allowed GRIZ (17.1 for GRIZ vs 26.3 for WCU)



Turnover margin GRIZ (+1 for GRIZ / -1 for WCU)



Fieldgoal % GRIZ (71% for GRIZ vs 57% for WCU)



Punt Returns GRIZ (9.9 yards for GRIZ vs 8.4 yards for WCU)



Kick Returns WCU (21.7 yards for GRIZ vs 25.3 yards for WCU)



T.O.P. GRIZ (27:21 for GRIZ vs 25:05 for WCU)



Red Zone defense (touchdowns) WCU (66% GRIZ / 38.5% WCU)



Red Zone offense (touchdowns) GRIZ (53% GRIZ / 41.6% WCU)



3rd down offense WCU – (32.3% for GRIZ / 35.7% for WCU)



3rd down defense GRIZ – (33.3% allowed for GRIZ vs 36.6% allowed for WCU)



Griz add 8, interestingly also on TOP haha, while WCU gets 3. That puts the total at Griz 13 – WCU 4.
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Western Carolina Players to Watch:

#11 Cole Gonzalez, QB: Cole has not had the start to the season he wants, he’s passing for 212 per game, rushing for 36. He’s got 2 passing TDs, 4 INTs (all one game), and has 1 rushing TD. Last season he passed for about 255 yards per game, had 28 TDs to 8 INTs and a little over 200 rushing yards.

#0 AJ Columbo, WR: Listed at 5-8 170, he’s a 1st team all SoCon WR. He’s a very good punt returner (12.5 per return last year, 8.4 per return this year). He’s also their main target in the passing game. Last year he had 438 receiving yards and 5 TDs. This season already he’s at 207 yards and 1 TD.

#2 Branson Adams, RB: A 2nd team all SoCon RB, he’s 147 rushing / 2 TDs / 46 receiving this season. Last year he had 539 on the ground, but also had 266 receiving and 7 total TDs. He’s listed at 5-9, 190.

#3 Samaurie Dukes, DB: A 5-10, 185 pound corner, he had 3 picks last season and landed on the 2nd team all conference squad, I believe he also got some love for the all Hero Sports team. This year he’s 2nd on the team in tackles with 18 and has only played 2 games. He’ll be one to watch, he left the Campbell game with an injury and didn’t play against Elon.

CJ Williams, DB: Another 2nd team defensive back, he’s got 14 total tackles and 1 INT this season, last year he had 44 tackles and 1 INT as well

#1 Mateo Sudipo, DB: Transferred in to WCU a few years back from Coastal Carolina. He had a good season 2 years ago, missed most of last season with an injury, but so far this year is back at it and on fire. The 6-1 safety leads the team in tackles with 20, he’s got 1 INT and 1 Forced Fumble as well

#6 Curtis Fann, DL: A 2nd team D-lineman he’s got very few stats this season but is considered to be their biggest wrecking ball on the D-line. Last year he had 2 sacks, 2.5 TFLs, 3 forced fumbles, and 1 fumble recovery.

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Keys to a Grizzly victory


  • Ball control. The best way to not let WCU’s dangerous offense burn the Griz is to keep them off the field. This year WCU has had even bigger issues than Montana with TOP, the Grizzly OL has to grade the road for the running backs. The OL will be facing a 4 man front a lot, I believe this might be their first time seeing a 4 man front this season, right? This front of WCU’s is BIG, all guys between 255 – 290. Going to be a lot of beef to move.
  • Bend, don’t break. I just don’t believe this Grizzly defense is going to be the type of unit that can (yet) be that squad that just shuts an offense down. Don’t get beat deep, force more short plays, tighten up as the field shrinks.
  • I’d like to see if they can pull what worked from Campbell to grab 4 picks, if the defense can even force a few that’ll be such a huge momentum swing.
  • It appears to me the Grizzly WR/TE corps really has a size/height advantage over the WCU secondary. Can they use that to their advantage? A few more sideline routes in single coverage possibly. Need to win those 1 on 1 matchups.
  • I think the team with better RZ efficiency will win the day. Both have been kind of shaky this year, getting field goals plenty but not coming away with many TDs. Hitting paydirt for TDs vs having to kick field goals will obviously be a major advantage.
  • Ah Yat has to have the best game of his young career, he doesn’t need to be perfect but needs to see the field better, get through progressions, and make the right reads.
  • This game cannot turn into a shootout. The Grizzly offense isn’t built for that yet. We cannot put the whole game on the shoulders of our QBs.
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WCU last season had a solid road record (4-2), they’ve played @NC State this year and @Arkansas last year. They’re battle tested and will be well prepared for Wa Griz. Griz fans will need to be on their A game for this because I see a real battle here.

The Grizzly defense is going to be tested like they haven’t been before, I like that they’ll have the home crowd behind them. I do think WCU will have some issues themselves (like we have seen as well) with so many new guys merging in as well. In an absolute nail-biter of game I’m going to say the Griz win this but it’s going to be a wild one. End of the day, it’s the good guys, 38-35.

Go Griz!
 
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They only returned 5 on offense, one being the QB…wonder if the QB’s change in fortune so far this year has to do with the replacement O-line? Any idea how many of them returned?
 
Thought you said you did not want this game to turn into a shoot out? 38-35 sounds like a shoot out to me. I think the Griz will win by 14-21 but not more than that. I say final score 38-20 to close out a decent non-conference schedule.
 
Thank you for the write up Brint. I feel our team accepts the challenge presented this week and finds success to build upon.

I’m going 41-21 good guys.

Need the WA Griz faithful to show up and bring it this week!
 
AZGrizFan said:
They only returned 5 on offense, one being the QB…wonder if the QB’s change in fortune so far this year has to do with the replacement O-line? Any idea how many of them returned?
Click to expand...
I know that the coach's son left for Pittsburgh as the OC and took several players with him including at least one O lineman and their star RB who last year averaged close to 150 a game...
 
AZGrizFan said:
They only returned 5 on offense, one being the QB…wonder if the QB’s change in fortune so far this year has to do with the replacement O-line? Any idea how many of them returned?
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Their RT started the first six games for them last year, but looks like he got benched after that (possibly injured?). RG is a senior transfer standing at 6-5 and weighing 325, who came from Akron where he had some success and played a lot, though only four starts. LG played in 11, started 9. Center started all 11 games at Center for them, and was voted Second Team All Conference by the coaches. Second team All Conference by the coaches last season. LT is a transfer from Valparaiso with some playing experience.

So their current starters are a mix of two returning starters, one guy who has started games for them before, and two transfers from outside. They also have a young guy who wore big hornrimmed glasses in his picture and looked like one of the Hanson Brothers from Slapshot. That kid is my favorite Catamount now.
 
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Dumb question: why isn't Montana turning out more high-level OL prospects? It seems like we can develop certain positions for the next level, but why can't we churn out OL like the (N&S)DSU's?
 
TeleGriz406 said:
Dumb question: why isn't Montana turning out more high-level OL prospects? It seems like we can develop certain positions for the next level, but why can't we churn out OL like the (N&S)DSU's?
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Its not a dumb question. I don't really understand either. Its not a population thing, we have more Montanans than either of the Dakotas have people. It isn't a recruiting thing at UM, because like you said, it is kids coming out of high school. We just don't build the beef like they seem to.

Could it be that our football programs and strength programs are lightyears behind them in building their bodies and coaching them up? Do they see a higher level of competition regularly?

I've wondered this, as well.
 
ElrodGrizzly said:
Its not a dumb question. I don't really understand either. Its not a population thing, we have more Montanans than either of the Dakotas have people. It isn't a recruiting thing at UM, because like you said, it is kids coming out of high school. We just don't build the beef like they seem to.

Could it be that our football programs and strength programs are lightyears behind them in building their bodies and coaching them up? Do they see a higher level of competition regularly?

I've wondered this, as well.
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Well, I don't think they really get lineman from the Dakotas. Just for kicks, I looked at the UNDSU roster and I think I counted five out of maybe 25+ (including edge) who came from either Dakota. Mostly Minnesota/Wisconsin. I'll edit when I get a minute to look at the SDSU roster.

EDIT: By my count, SDSU has seven total out of a TON on OL/DL from SD. They look like they go hard recruiting Nebraska, Iowa, and Illinois. I think this could be part of the answer. Keep in mind, before (I think) it was discontinued, Montana dominated ND in the Badlands Bowl.
 
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CDAGRIZ said:
Well, I don't think they really get lineman from the Dakotas. Just for kicks, I looked at the UNDSU roster and I think I counted five out of maybe 25+ (including edge) who came from either Dakota. Mostly Minnesota/Wisconsin. I'll edit when I get a minute to look at the SDSU roster.
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They are getting midwest kids who just missed the cut for FBS Big 10 and Big 12 schools...

Last year a ndsu OL portaled to K-State...starts at LT for them.
 
Very nice write-up. As a WCU fan, some answers to a few of the questions. We lost our OC (Kade Bell - Kerwin Bell's son), our O-line coach, and our WR coach. Dez Reid battled some injuries at WCU, but anybody who saw him healthy knew he was something special. He was leading the country in all-purpose yards at Pitt through the first few games. We also lost our top WR (Censere Lee) to Pitt as well as a long-time starter in the secondary to Temple. So the age of transfers hurt the Cats. We also lost our lone big WR (David White Jr) to graduation - he made the roster for the Jacksonville Jaguars before getting injured in camp.

That being said, we return the QB and Adams got plenty of action at RB last season. We have multiple talented (but small) guys at the WR position. It has been more of a growing pain with Cole and the WRs getting on the same page as anything else. The only game we looked pretty good in was oddly the P4 match-up against NC State. This is also a first year OC, but he played for Bell and coached alongside Kade Bell the last severa years, so he has to get into a groove as well. We also have 6 or 7 O-lineman who have either started or gotten significant playing time along with a couple of transfers. We lost 2 really good ones to graduation. While it says we have only 6 or so starters back, we have 10+ guys who played meaningful snaps.

Our Defense has been downright horrible for the last several years, but we have a new DC and have put some focus in HS recruiting and getting a couple of transfers through the portal, and so far this season we have given up a lot of yards but have been actually better on that side of the ball. We have undersized LBs and DBs, but they can all run and our tackling has been pretty solid so far.

The Campbell game could be a total anomoly. I never would expect our QB to throw 4 INTs in a game, and the Camels also have an extremely tough 6'5" WR who caused our DBs lots of issues. That being said, not sure we could have played or called the game any worse offensively and we still had a chance with the ball to try and tie it at the end.

If we show up as the team who went to Raleigh and pushed the Wolfpack this will be a great game. If we show up as the team who laid an egg against Campbell this will be a laugher for the home team. Last week we played gritty against a ranked Elon team and got a tough win, but we also didn't look great on offense. So your guess is as good as mine as to which Catamount club makes the trip.

We'll have good athletes, lots of team speed, and hopefully a game plan to make it a good and fun game to watch.
 
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CDAGRIZ said:
Well, I don't think they really get lineman from the Dakotas. Just for kicks, I looked at the UNDSU roster and I think I counted five out of maybe 25+ (including edge) who came from either Dakota. Mostly Minnesota/Wisconsin. I'll edit when I get a minute to look at the SDSU roster.

EDIT: By my count, SDSU has seven total out of a TON on OL/DL from SD. They look like they go hard recruiting Nebraska, Iowa, and Illinois. I think this could be part of the answer. Keep in mind, before (I think) it was discontinued, Montana dominated ND in the Badlands Bowl.
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That makes sense. I should have looked at that rather than assuming. And they have the advantage of being right next to those bigger states. A lot easier to go from Minneapolis to Fargo as an 18 year old than it is to go from Minneapolis to Missoula.
 
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