Before diving into some of the thoughts on this game itself, lets first look at the big picture. Realistically the best outcome from the OOC schedule was a 3-1 record, and that's where the Griz are. There was a lot of talk that the Griz could really be 1-3 or 2-2 at this point, but they're not. Yes I know that clearly these OOC teams booked appear to not be as good as thought in the pre-season, but the Griz have done what they needed to and are now on to conference play.
As for the game itself, it had some big moments and great plays, it was also sloppy and concerning at times too. I was hoping for a game where the Griz lock it in, instead we saw a suggestion that some points of needed improvement simply aren't happening yet.
My general takeaways:
- As another thread suggests, Marcus Knight is good and clearly RB1. His one run where he bounced off a defender and kept his balance to extend the run is something almost unseen. His pass protection is getting better, and his cuts and decision making seems to be improving too. We have our guy, and he's shining as the starter. Almost 150 rushing and a score today.
- Dalton Sneed keeps showing us what he brings as the starter, his passing game and pass numbers are through the roof, 334 yards and 4 TDs today is just another banner day for the guy passing. His one pick was a tough break, a high bounce off a deflection. His lost fumble was an issue, needed to slide and avoid that full on hit. I know he's a guy that plays at 100% all the time but sometimes being smarter with the ball will not end drives in a turnover. Sneed did that far too much last season, it's really reduced this year so far, but did spring up today. One thing I will say, while he was 30-40 passing, I think 4 or 5 of those incomplete passes were straight up drops. He was on target today. Dalton hit 8 different targets today and looking at the stats he had 3 or more completions to every target except Knight who caught just 1 pass.
- Its probably time to start getting worried about the pass rush. I don't know if the pass defense, the safeties and corners, are overmatched per se, but I think they've having a hell of a time covering as the DL is not getting pressure, and even heavy blitzes are not delivering pressure effectively - or at least it didn't today. The Grizzly pass defense has given up an average of 325 passing yards per game after 4 games and still have to face UCD, EWU, and other strong pass attack teams. This has become one of my largest concerns of this team going forward.
- Awesome design, blocks, and speed on the kick return TD. Flowers is a unique talent and he showed off what he can do with space. Hope there's more to come for him this year. The threat of Flowers and JLM really changed how MU handled kicking the ball.
- I tweeted about it during the game but did anyone else notice Mo Mallory, #77 on the OL? Getting a start today (with Cook as well) this guy was driving the Monmouth DL crazy. He would intentionally find a guy to lay on if he couldn't do it to his own guy he was blocking. He would lay on the dude and put his hands up in the air and slowly attempt to stand up. It was something else, haha. I think Mallory got to rub his belly on almost every defender that was on the field for Monmouth.
- A few injuries of concern, Villanueva looked ok post game, left the field twice with injuries. Braydon Deming appeared to have some sort of arm injury and didn't return.
- Dante Olson once again was a wrecking ball out there. 13 tackles, 2.5 TFLs, 1 sack. Looking at the stats he had 3 tackles that stopped a drive, two forced a punt, one forced a turnover on downs.
- One of those "stats don't tell the whole story" takeaways from the box score. The Griz were 7-11 on 3rd down offensively. Monmouth was just 4-16, however they were also 3-4 on 4th down.
- Hell of a day for the Grizzly TD corps, 4 receiving TDs for Bingham and Deming. Colin Bingham is such a force, when he has the ball and is barreling down the field he's a tough dude to bring down.
- Mitch Roberts showing some hint of what we've got in store in the years ahead. This guy has been one of the fastest risers of the WR corps, you can see why the staff simply can't keep the kid off the field.
- Far too many PI or holding calls on the defensive secondary today. I know some were ticky-tack but come on guys, we're headed into Big Sky play, it's going to be called even more most likely. Hell of a recovery by Nash to effectively end the game with his pick.
- Concerning misses on PATs, again today was a game that felt a lot of play was a little off/sloppy and this was no exception.
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Alright, we're on to Davis which promises to be a massive test on the road - where the Griz will be underdogs. There's going to be a lot to clean up from this film I'd bet, but also some good stuff to build off of.
Go Griz!
As for the game itself, it had some big moments and great plays, it was also sloppy and concerning at times too. I was hoping for a game where the Griz lock it in, instead we saw a suggestion that some points of needed improvement simply aren't happening yet.
My general takeaways:
- As another thread suggests, Marcus Knight is good and clearly RB1. His one run where he bounced off a defender and kept his balance to extend the run is something almost unseen. His pass protection is getting better, and his cuts and decision making seems to be improving too. We have our guy, and he's shining as the starter. Almost 150 rushing and a score today.
- Dalton Sneed keeps showing us what he brings as the starter, his passing game and pass numbers are through the roof, 334 yards and 4 TDs today is just another banner day for the guy passing. His one pick was a tough break, a high bounce off a deflection. His lost fumble was an issue, needed to slide and avoid that full on hit. I know he's a guy that plays at 100% all the time but sometimes being smarter with the ball will not end drives in a turnover. Sneed did that far too much last season, it's really reduced this year so far, but did spring up today. One thing I will say, while he was 30-40 passing, I think 4 or 5 of those incomplete passes were straight up drops. He was on target today. Dalton hit 8 different targets today and looking at the stats he had 3 or more completions to every target except Knight who caught just 1 pass.
- Its probably time to start getting worried about the pass rush. I don't know if the pass defense, the safeties and corners, are overmatched per se, but I think they've having a hell of a time covering as the DL is not getting pressure, and even heavy blitzes are not delivering pressure effectively - or at least it didn't today. The Grizzly pass defense has given up an average of 325 passing yards per game after 4 games and still have to face UCD, EWU, and other strong pass attack teams. This has become one of my largest concerns of this team going forward.
- Awesome design, blocks, and speed on the kick return TD. Flowers is a unique talent and he showed off what he can do with space. Hope there's more to come for him this year. The threat of Flowers and JLM really changed how MU handled kicking the ball.
- I tweeted about it during the game but did anyone else notice Mo Mallory, #77 on the OL? Getting a start today (with Cook as well) this guy was driving the Monmouth DL crazy. He would intentionally find a guy to lay on if he couldn't do it to his own guy he was blocking. He would lay on the dude and put his hands up in the air and slowly attempt to stand up. It was something else, haha. I think Mallory got to rub his belly on almost every defender that was on the field for Monmouth.
- A few injuries of concern, Villanueva looked ok post game, left the field twice with injuries. Braydon Deming appeared to have some sort of arm injury and didn't return.
- Dante Olson once again was a wrecking ball out there. 13 tackles, 2.5 TFLs, 1 sack. Looking at the stats he had 3 tackles that stopped a drive, two forced a punt, one forced a turnover on downs.
- One of those "stats don't tell the whole story" takeaways from the box score. The Griz were 7-11 on 3rd down offensively. Monmouth was just 4-16, however they were also 3-4 on 4th down.
- Hell of a day for the Grizzly TD corps, 4 receiving TDs for Bingham and Deming. Colin Bingham is such a force, when he has the ball and is barreling down the field he's a tough dude to bring down.
- Mitch Roberts showing some hint of what we've got in store in the years ahead. This guy has been one of the fastest risers of the WR corps, you can see why the staff simply can't keep the kid off the field.
- Far too many PI or holding calls on the defensive secondary today. I know some were ticky-tack but come on guys, we're headed into Big Sky play, it's going to be called even more most likely. Hell of a recovery by Nash to effectively end the game with his pick.
- Concerning misses on PATs, again today was a game that felt a lot of play was a little off/sloppy and this was no exception.
---------------------
Alright, we're on to Davis which promises to be a massive test on the road - where the Griz will be underdogs. There's going to be a lot to clean up from this film I'd bet, but also some good stuff to build off of.
Go Griz!
