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Post Game: Not the year for low-stress wins

BWahlberg

BWahlberg

Well-known member
DONOR
Alright Griz fans, that was a stressful one, but thankfully the Griz offense came alive in the 2nd half and secured the win. At halftime I think the whole stadium and the team was still hungover from the Weber loss and just trying to figure out what the heck was happening. Fortunately they got it together in the 2nd half on the offensive side of the ball and thanks to a few big plays - put them away late.

I think this is just going to be what 2024 is, this Grizzly team will be in every game and can lose every game too. Thankfully the guys buckled down and got the win on homecoming.

Some quick thoughts:

- I think it's funny if the offense doesn't spot NAU that scoop and score, the Griz win 31-13, and if the Griz offense finds the endzone just once in the first half it's 38-13 and I think generally we're all feeling a little better.

- This was NAU's 3rd string QB and he did play fairly well against the Griz, however they kind of buckled down on him as the game went on, especially in the 2nd half. More concerning stuff where he was faking/juking out our defenders on runs that went for more than the should have though. The NAU offense was a shell of what it normally could be but they hung around all day. But I'll take 306 allowed yards all day long after the last few weeks.

- Solid 4th quarter for Ronald Jackson, hope that type of play can continue. I see he was 2nd best on the stat sheet in stops too!

- Seemed like Gillman was dinged up, didn't totally look like himself tonight.

- The Grizzly defense did much better today, yes it's a 3rd string QB, and yes they gave up 1 big run... but if they can do what they did today down the road that'll bode well for Montana.

- Save the late forced fumble Montana's defense really has an issue creating turnovers.

- Montana defense having issues with a rushing QB doesn't look good for some of their future games

- Great to see so many UM WR's stepping up. White and Fife were dialed early, Bergen a clutch TD, Racanelli leading the group in catches and yards... and Fontes making a game-sealing play late.

- Is it me or does Junior just not have the burst that we're used to seeing on special teams?

- Grizzly defense held the best pass catching TE in the conference to just 8 yards

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I think the timing of this bye is great. The Griz got a much needed win but also seem pretty banged up. Let's hope they can rest up, get healthy and start building for the late season stretch!

Go Griz!
 
While it was ugly at times--especially the first half, this was a must-win to keep our hopes alive, though tenuous, of contending for first having another winning season--still 2 wins away, contending for another Big Sky Championship--I think Riley or Greg on the radio said that no team with 2 losses had won The Big Sky in 18 years, and hopefully making some noise in the playoffs.

I am not saying our defense has been instantly healed--we have a lot of work to do but it was refreshing to see some fresh faces like Lawler playing today as I think we need to rotate our defenders more like we did today, but we had to have this game or we could kiss the chance of winning another Big Sky title this year goodbye !!!

One cautionary note : if my memory serves me right, we're usually not very sharp after a bye week.
 
Sorry but the D was horrible. How many 5 and 6 yard runs did they have? How many of their qb runs would have been monster plays with a qb like TM? I saw one time where our best D player was chewing the D coaches because the D wasn’t called in time. What are our safeties doing? They are clueless and killing the corners. It was nice to see that we went to 4 man fro t on several downs. This is theee-weeks in a row where Bobby’s until has cost the team points. And what the hell on the first O series? Gilliam on the sidelines for rocker jr.
 
HikeGlacier said:
Sorry but the D was horrible. How many 5 and 6 yard runs did they have? How many of their qb runs would have been monster plays with a qb like TM? I saw one time where our best D player was chewing the D coaches because the D wasn’t called in time. What are our safeties doing? They are clueless and killing the corners. It was nice to see that we went to 4 man fro t on several downs. This is theee-weeks in a row where Bobby’s until has cost the team points. And what the hell on the first O series? Gilliam on the sidelines for rocker jr.
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D was horrible but only gave up 1 long TD Makes sense
 
Good write up as always. I believe they commented pregame that Gilman was limited in practice and would be limited in this game. Ostmo got the start, but it’s crazy that this is Gilman on a limited basis. He was still moving and juking and making something out of nothing.

Bergen seemed to have been hampered by something and I was surprised to see Fontes back there returning kicks late in the game with Childs. Why not Deck? Seemed they really were reserving Bergen to 3rd down in the second half when possible.

I don’t know why we are not seeing more X when Bergen isn’t out there. He’s explosive and I don’t recall him doing anything negative to cost him playing time early in the season. He is an explosive playmaker in space.

Play calling at times is still baffling. I think we just need to get comfortable with a few head scratching plays and drives a game from Pease and trust that in the end, his genius will outweigh his madness.

Loud had another good game. Ronald Jackson is great on the run. I would still like to see us get them both on the field and move Jackson back to Safety and keep Loud in at Corner. I think we really need a hitter at safety when running the alley and I just don’t see Lee and sometimes Meyer really delivering blows. Jackson has that ability. I think this would be huge in the run defense and cover for some of Jackson’s deficiencies in the pass defense.

And regardless of the 3rd string QB, we finally shut down the number 1 passing option for an opposing offense.

Jo Silver had a good day on kickoff minus the first one. I don’t ever want to see Morrison roll out with a kick again when punting. A boneheaded running into the kicker on punt rush. Overall special teams was a net positive, but still making mistakes.

This team reminds me of a rickety old boat. You plug and patch a hole somewhere and think you got her seaworthy and she just springs a leak somewhere else. I think the coaching staff has to be losing some hair this season and feeling a great deal of frustration with themselves and their players. They trust their process and we could easily be 7-0 or 2-5. Luckily we are 5-2 with a bye and a couple cellar dwellers before a Davis home game. Hopefully we can shore up things a bit more and finish the season strong.
 
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billingsgriz said:
While it was ugly at times--especially the first half, this was a must-win to keep our hopes alive, though tenuous, of contending for first having another winning season--still 2 wins away, contending for another Big Sky Championship--I think Riley or Greg on the radio said that no team with 2 losses had won The Big Sky in 18 years, and hopefully making some noise in the playoffs.

I am not saying our defense has been instantly healed--we have a lot of work to do but it was refreshing to see some fresh faces like Lawler playing today as I think we need to rotate our defenders more like we did today, but we had to have this game or we could kiss the chance of winning another Big Sky title this year goodbye !!!

One cautionary note : if my memory serves me right, we're usually not very sharp after a bye week.
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You are correct, the Griz and BH are fairly dreadful after bye weeks, and… on the road, so ya…😬
 
HikeGlacier said:
Sorry but the D was horrible. How many 5 and 6 yard runs did they have? How many of their qb runs would have been monster plays with a qb like TM? I saw one time where our best D player was chewing the D coaches because the D wasn’t called in time. What are our safeties doing? They are clueless and killing the corners. It was nice to see that we went to 4 man fro t on several downs. This is theee-weeks in a row where Bobby’s until has cost the team points. And what the hell on the first O series? Gilliam on the sidelines for rocker jr.
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Clearly you’ve never played the game
 
On kickoffs Bergen seems to have almost always gone his right every time.
The explosive returns last year he always went to his left.
Good to see some excellent half time adjustments done and executed very well by the Griz.
 
I agree. Teams seem to have a guy or two hanging back a little waiting for his decision on the first hole the filling after he gets through. Might cost a few yards but seems like they are basically unblocked and not running past the action being over aggressive trying to get a tackle on the 10. Also not sure blocking is nearly as good as last year. On punts since they have all seemed to be able to force fair catches he is negated. My anger with ST was the roughing penalty. Don’t get near the punter and block for return getting excellent field position even with a fair catch in that particular event. Basically ended up an unforced turnover and led to points for them and next offensive possession was not in as good of field position.
 
Have only seen the extended high light package, so grain of salt. We seemed to have some trouble snapping the ball, lots of low and couple high, throws the timing off of everything. On the other side, lots of over pursue which tends to happen when you lack speed, you want to get to the point and then can't break down as easily on the cut backs. Straight line speed and game speed are not the same thing.
 
SaskGriz said:
Have only seen the extended high light package, so grain of salt. We seemed to have some trouble snapping the ball, lots of low and couple high, throws the timing off of everything. On the other side, lots of over pursue which tends to happen when you lack speed, you want to get to the point and then can't break down as easily on the cut backs. Straight line speed and game speed are not the same thing.
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Lots of bad snaps all day that threw off the timing of the play many times. Lots of low ones and one really high one. Fife did a good job corralling them and not letting it destroy the play or turn into a huge mistake.
 
as always an accurate assessment, brint. i agree that junior looks like something is..off.... a bit. he seems a tad bit more tentative and doesn't seem to exhibit that acceleration that we are used to. even though gilman played great (again), he looked like something was bothering him a little today as well. the defense, in no discernible way, looked "great" today, but it does look like there are some adjustments being made. LB's were pretty MIA in the first half, imo, but shored up a bit in the 2nd half. i liked seeing some new faces get reps in the secondary. hike is right, though, a good running qb would have torched us; this was a pretty unimpressive NAU offense that we contained. either way, i think we should all be relieved that at least something is being done and early looks indicate is it an improvement. sask and wolf both mentioned the snapping issues. whoa, there were some bad ones. best catches made by anyone all day were made by fife over and over. great job not letting a single one go, although there were definitely some stinkers tossed his way. we are lucky to have him. he is a gamer and made some really nice plays today. hopefully your birthday was "above the tits" awesome. p.s. i hope "above the tits" can become as immortal and eternal as such classics like "best in space" have become. it's a gift marty has bestowed upon us all and should not be forsaken.
 
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