Some CW Game Analysis

[mthoopsfan]

It was fine for a first game and there were some good plays and aspects. I thought CW was pretty good. Had a nice running game. The QB was fast, but not a great passer.

The second half was obviously way better and the D shut out CW in the second half. CW had only 120 yards of TO in the second half, compared to 219 in the first.

TO was 567 to 329. The Griz had big return yardage. Griz punted only once.

Too many TO's by the Griz. Need to clean up some penalties (had 8), but the refs screwed the Griz on several. Not many stupid penalties. That was good.

Morrison was great on KO's and his one punt was 51. Kicked all 5 KO's into end zone. 6-6 on EP's.

The Griz need to clean up tackling. Oven led the team with 8 tackles. Only 1 sack by the Griz, and Leonard made a great play on it. Wilkinson, the nickel, had 7 tackles. Detrick got 5 from DE. Otlewski had 5 and 3 TFL's. Backers were fine overall, but I thought they'd show even better. Secondary looked good in coverage, except one goof up on sort of a trick play. Some passes were completed into good coverage. Again, the refs screwed us on several PI calls.

Griz won 21-0 in second half. I almost sent Bobby a text late in the second Q, saying run the ball. Perhaps they were trying to let Ah Yat do more and get him more practice and confidence. He needs to clean up a bunch of stuff, but I thought he looked good and fairly confident. Showed some speed and running ability. A few of his soft passes were off. 14-24 for 250 and 2 TD's. Too many picks. Jensen mostly handed off, but he looked good to me.

Loved seeing all the action for the running backs. Gilman and Rocker looked very good. 15-198 and 3 TD's for Eli, for an average of 13.2. He had a few short yardage small runs later on, which goofed up his awesome average. He showed nice speed, but I wish he had one more gear. Rocker was 5-74 for 14.4 average and 1 TD. They both kept their balance. The young backs showed some speed and quickness.

Worthem was 6-120 on catches. He's explosive and versatile. Bohannon dropped his first one and then had 2 nice catches, one of which was a nice run. A couple of the young receivers need to catch the ball better. There was some good separation compared to prior seasons.

Their QB was only 7-16 for 76, and had 36 on 1 pass. CW picked up 3 first downs on penalties, and got 1 more FD than the Griz.

The dance team looked terrific. It was a nice day for football and tailgating, despite the smoke. The crowd was good. I bet the new transfers loved the stadium and the crowd. 26,309 attendance. There were a lot of fun people on the south upper deck of the Canyon Club in the 2d half. It was very social. Former Griz Tyler Hobbs was there.

Team had a good start, but perhaps showed that they hadn't been live scrimmaging. They need to improve, and improve multiple things. I liked the run game. I think the Griz could have pounded with the run game all day long.

 

[mthoopsfan]

The CW QB led the nation in average per carry last year, Bobby said in his interview.

I think Bobby said he liked the Griz tackling. I think he liked most of the OL play. Liked how Ah Yat played, and how he didn't get rattled and don't get bothered by his mistakes.

Gilman was good vision and good balance, and is obviously a good player, said Bobby.

Loud said Griz likes to play man.

Bobby complimented the CW coach several times.

CW coach said they have to play starters on special teams, and that wears them down.

He said they played well for 2.5 quarters.

Said it was a physical game.

Said he thought there should have been a PI call on our interception in the end zone

Said he/they got lost coming to the interview location.

Said CW didn't have replay on the sidelines, and Griz did.

Gilman is a special special runner. Breaks tackles. He looked better in person than in film from last year. Griz fans are lucky to have him. He's going to have a good year.

 

[mthoopsfan]

Griz attendance was about 3,000 more than Washington State’s attendance.

 

[AZGrizFan]

I don’t want to make any gross generalizations from one game, but here’s a few things I observed:

Bobby needs to rewatch the game if he liked the tackling. To be fair, they ganged to the ball, and hit like freight trains (WILKINSON!!!) but there were a TON of arm tackles and their RB’s and QB ran out of tackles repeatedly, getting a lot of YAC.

I was impressed with the overall team speed, especially on defense. I do think once this D cleans up a few things they’re gonna be lethal.

Guys I really enjoyed watching: Wilkinson, Brady, Cutler, Otlewski, Loud, Gillman, Rocker, Brooks Davis. Cutler is gonna be a force. Granted its a very limited set of evidence, but Wilkinson and Brady remind me of Gavin Robertson a couple years ago the way they hit. Really wish Bobby could have gotten Gillman one more carry to get over 200.

Bridges had two bad drops…he’s gonna struggle to see the field if he doesn’t start hauling those in…he’s starting to get a rep.

Wing is FAST. But whiffed a couple times on tackles that let the RB/QB out of the backfield. Tolbert is good and overall I think we are a good 2-deep across the board at LB with little/no falloff in talent.

I watched the NT’s specifically on a number of plays. Very little pressure from them (or anyone, honestly). God if we had a Gubner in this D we’d be unstoppable…sadly, I don’t think we do…shows what a rare talent he was.

Was really, really cool to see Monte Gillman get a carry right out the gate. And MAN, is that kid fast. Also I thought Jones looked good carrying the rock too.

 

[SoCal Surfer]

I don’t want to make any gross generalizations from one game, but here’s a few things I observed:

Bobby needs to rewatch the game if he liked the tackling. To be fair, they ganged to the ball, and hit like freight trains (WILKINSON!!!) but there were a TON of arm tackles and their RB’s and QB ran out of tackles repeatedly, getting a lot of YAC.

I was impressed with the overall team speed, especially on defense. I do think once this D cleans up a few things they’re gonna be lethal.

Guys I really enjoyed watching: Wilkinson, Brady, Cutler, Otlewski, Loud, Gillman, Rocker, Brooks Davis. Cutler is gonna be a force. Granted its a very limited set of evidence, but Wilkinson and Brady remind me of Gavin Robertson a couple years ago the way they hit. Really wish Bobby could have gotten Gillman one more carry to get over 200.

Bridges had two bad drops…he’s gonna struggle to see the field if he doesn’t start hauling those in…he’s starting to get a rep.

Wing is FAST. But whiffed a couple times on tackles that let the RB/QB out of the backfield. Tolbert is good and overall I think we are a good 2-deep across the board at LB with little/no falloff in talent.

I watched the NT’s specifically on a number of plays. Very little pressure from them (or anyone, honestly). God if we had a Gubner in this D we’d be unstoppable…sadly, I don’t think we do…shows what a rare talent he was.

Was really, really cool to see Monte Gillman get a carry right out the gate. And MAN, is that kid fast. Also I thought Jones looked good carrying the rock too.

I agree with you on tackling. Too many broken arm tackles gave the Wildcats significant field position and additional yardage.

 

[Grizzinator]

Fun game to watch and agree with everything said. It’s great to see Deck be featured like he is and our return game is great hands to probably no one’s surprise.

Defensively we were out of place/over pursued a few times that let them spring runs. Lot of yards to give up and QB seemed to be really skilled in the RPO. I was excited to see Solomon T. and he is a big presence out there but seems to still be finding himself in the defense. Glad to see they really improved in the second half.

 

[Ursa Major]

I don’t want to make any gross generalizations from one game, but here’s a few things I observed:

Bobby needs to rewatch the game if he liked the tackling. To be fair, they ganged to the ball, and hit like freight trains (WILKINSON!!!) but there were a TON of arm tackles and their RB’s and QB ran out of tackles repeatedly, getting a lot of YAC.

I was impressed with the overall team speed, especially on defense. I do think once this D cleans up a few things they’re gonna be lethal.

Guys I really enjoyed watching: Wilkinson, Brady, Cutler, Otlewski, Loud, Gillman, Rocker, Brooks Davis. Cutler is gonna be a force. Granted its a very limited set of evidence, but Wilkinson and Brady remind me of Gavin Robertson a couple years ago the way they hit. Really wish Bobby could have gotten Gillman one more carry to get over 200.

Bridges had two bad drops…he’s gonna struggle to see the field if he doesn’t start hauling those in…he’s starting to get a rep.

Wing is FAST. But whiffed a couple times on tackles that let the RB/QB out of the backfield. Tolbert is good and overall I think we are a good 2-deep across the board at LB with little/no falloff in talent.

I watched the NT’s specifically on a number of plays. Very little pressure from them (or anyone, honestly). God if we had a Gubner in this D we’d be unstoppable…sadly, I don’t think we do…shows what a rare talent he was.

Was really, really cool to see Monte Gillman get a carry right out the gate. And MAN, is that kid fast. Also I thought Jones looked good carrying the rock too.

Good post, AZ!

“To be fair, they ganged to the ball, and hit like freight trains (WILKINSON!!!) but there were a TON of arm tackles and their RB’s and QB ran out of tackles repeatedly, getting a lot of YAC.”

For what it’s worth, the Griz are not alone here. Lots of bad technique on display.

There is always sloppy play in the first couple weeks but man it seems next level this year. I’ve watched both of SDSU’s games and their play is uncharacteristically sloppy. New coaches and lots of new players. I wonder about the role the transfer portal is playing as new guys learn the system.