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Just Couldn't Resist

hunt-ducks

Well-known member
I read the expert analysis from the regular pretenders about why our Griz are not performing as expected, and just had to bloviate my thoughts on the issue.

The LOS- We were being owned on both the defensive and offensive LOS by both EWU and Sac. State. Anyone who knows sh*t about football understands that games are won by winning the LOS. We lost both games in that area.

Please STOP chirping about how big our O-line is! Size means NOTHING if the lineman has poor footwork, and poor quickness. Any 240 lb. defender can easily school a 320 lb. O-lineman if that lineman lacks those two qualities. And, our O-linemen are slow, with slow feet, and lack any quickness. Do you ever wonder why we never run sweeps, or counter plays, or anything other than zone blocking??? It is because our O-linemen can not MOVE!

Our defensive line is unable to put any pressure on the QB, without blitzing a LB. We have not had the ability to pressure a QB by our D-line in many years, through the Hauck, Stitt, and Delaney regimes.

Our offense- Frankly, our offense looks like a high school offense. No imagination, no trick plays, no creativity of running plays, extremely easy-to-defend passing game.

If you watched the EWU offense, even though we were blitzing on nearly every play, Barierre was able to quickly deliver a pass to an open WR. Yes, we sacked him a few times, but he was still able to torch us for 400 yards of passing offense. Why? Because the EWU coaches know how to coach their O-linemen and running backs to pick-up the blitz. Montana's RBs are terrible blockers (maybe because they are young???).

Both EWU and Cal Poly were able to hit us with quick slant patterns and quick out-patterns, taking about 1 1/2 seconds to make the pass. Our offense never utilizes quick slants, tight-end drags, or regular screen passing plays. WHY??? Every time KB attempted a pass play, it was a slow-developing play which took 3-4 seconds to deliver the pass. Our O-line never gave Kris a pocket to step-up into. He had defenders in his face from virtually moments after he took the snap. Bottom line..... our O-line SUCKS at pass blocking and our RBs are useless in picking-up blitzers!

Kris Brown- The QB position is comprised of several qualities. Kris is excellent in arm strength, and accuracy. As of now, he in NOT good at reading defenses, and often throws into coverage. Kris is also NOT good at looking off his primary receiver to find the open player. Can he achieve that skill? Possibly, with experience. To me, the book is still out on Kris. He is strong in the two most critical areas, arm strength and accuracy. The other skills are teachable. But, do we have a coach with the skills to teach him???

Cam Humphrey would have fared no better against Sac. State. There was zero time to throw, zero running game, and a very poor passing tree because of the ineptness of our offense. A QB has to get some help to excel, and neither Cam, nor Brown is getting any help.

WRs getting open- There is nothing wrong with the speed of our WRs. I do think that their route-running is average at best. However, unlike the EWU WR tree and offense, our offense is not designed to clear areas in the zone by running WRs through areas, thus vacating that area for a secondary receiver. Do you wonder why EWU always seems to have open WRs??? It is partly because they run a very sophisticated NFL-type passing tree, which is designed to clear areas within the defensive secondary for open receivers. We don't do that.

The 3-3-5 Defense- So many of you supported this ridiculous gimmick defense that we run, saying that "it is designed to stop all of the Big Sky spread offenses". Well, how's that workin' out??? EWU sliced-and-diced our vaunted 3-3-5 defense. There is a reason that the top teams in FBS, FCS, and the NFL run either a 3-4 or 3-4 defense. Until we recruit kids who can DICTATE to any opposing offense, like NDSU and SDSU do, then we will always be pretenders among the elite FCS defensive teams. The Bobcats defense is much better than ours. I hear they run a 4-3 base, with some 3-4 thrown in at times.

Recruiting- During Hauck's first tenure here, he was able to get 90% of the top Montana high school players. Now, the Cats are getting 50-60% of the top kids from Montana. Making it worse, is that Hauck and his coaches are doing a poor job of recruiting out-of-state kids, as compared to the Bobcats and EWU. If our out-of-state recruiting doesn't improve, don't expect any big improvement in our quest to Return To Dominance. We have not been an elite Big Sky team for 10 years, and memories of our 20-year dominant run are quickly fading fast. Reality is a hard pill to swallow. But the reality is that Weber, EWU, and even MSU are ahead of us in the dominance game.

Now go ahead, fire away. I'll pop the popcorn.
 
Lol. Brown went from best thing since sliced bread to “the book is still out” in 8 quarters against two mediocre teams.
 
AZGrizFan said:
Lol. Brown went from best thing since sliced bread to “the book is still out” in 8 quarters against two mediocre teams.
SacSt is not a mediocre team.
 
hunt-ducks said:
Recruiting- During Hauck's first tenure here, he was able to get 90% of the top Montana high school players. Now, the Cats are getting 50-60% of the top kids from Montana. Making it worse, is that Hauck and his coaches are doing a poor job of recruiting out-of-state kids, as compared to the Bobcats and EWU. If our out-of-state recruiting doesn't improve, don't expect any big improvement in our quest to Return To Dominance. We have not been an elite Big Sky team for 10 years, and memories of our 20-year dominant run are quickly fading fast. Reality is a hard pill to swallow. But the reality is that Weber, EWU, and even MSU are ahead of us in the dominance game.

Now go ahead, fire away. I'll pop the popcorn.

I will give a few reasons for this trend. 1. The failure in the program since Hauck left until he returned. Those other schools made huge strides while the Griz program faltered and it is silly to think that 3 years of Hauck can completely flip that trend. 2. Academics, at least when compared to MSU. Most Montana kids are good students and are looking for STEM based majors. 3. EWU and Weber have made solid progress in recruiting there own states and then winning makes it easier to reach out to Cali and Az. It takes time and victories to reverse trends like that.
 
kemajic said:
AZGrizFan said:
Lol. Brown went from best thing since sliced bread to “the book is still out” in 8 quarters against two mediocre teams.
SacSt is not a mediocre team.

So when you picked UM to beat them by double digits did you think they were really good but the griz were just elite?
 
HelenaHandBasket said:
hunt-ducks said:
Recruiting- During Hauck's first tenure here, he was able to get 90% of the top Montana high school players. Now, the Cats are getting 50-60% of the top kids from Montana. Making it worse, is that Hauck and his coaches are doing a poor job of recruiting out-of-state kids, as compared to the Bobcats and EWU. If our out-of-state recruiting doesn't improve, don't expect any big improvement in our quest to Return To Dominance. We have not been an elite Big Sky team for 10 years, and memories of our 20-year dominant run are quickly fading fast. Reality is a hard pill to swallow. But the reality is that Weber, EWU, and even MSU are ahead of us in the dominance game.

Now go ahead, fire away. I'll pop the popcorn.

I will give a few reasons for this trend. 1. The failure in the program since Hauck left until he returned. Those other schools made huge strides while the Griz program faltered and it is silly to think that 3 years of Hauck can completely flip that trend. 2. Academics, at least when compared to MSU. Most Montana kids are good students and are looking for STEM based majors. 3. EWU and Weber have made solid progress in recruiting there own states and then winning makes it easier to reach out to Cali and Az. It takes time and victories to reverse trends like that.

These reasons/issues/EXCUSES are new revelations. Just 3 weeks ago many on here were trash talkin EWU about their weak schedule horrible defense and Griz amazing defense. Biggest question then was if the super frosh QB wasn't the guy who was more equipped to get us to a national title than Cam Humphrey. I don't have the time or energy to cite all those posts. How many years/ wins before "Bobbys Back" can level the playing field against those recruiting hotbeds of Cheney and Ogden? I hear the STEM programs are unparalleled in those two cities. Watch out for Dixie State and St. George Utah too!
 
Mousegriz said:
HelenaHandBasket said:
I will give a few reasons for this trend. 1. The failure in the program since Hauck left until he returned. Those other schools made huge strides while the Griz program faltered and it is silly to think that 3 years of Hauck can completely flip that trend. 2. Academics, at least when compared to MSU. Most Montana kids are good students and are looking for STEM based majors. 3. EWU and Weber have made solid progress in recruiting there own states and then winning makes it easier to reach out to Cali and Az. It takes time and victories to reverse trends like that.

These reasons/issues/EXCUSES are new revelations. Just 3 weeks ago many on here were trash talkin EWU about their weak schedule horrible defense and Griz amazing defense. Biggest question then was if the super frosh QB wasn't the guy who was more equipped to get us to a national title than Cam Humphrey. I don't have the time or energy to cite all those posts. How many years/ wins before "Bobbys Back" can level the playing field against those recruiting hotbeds of Cheney and Ogden? I hear the STEM programs are unparalleled in those two cities. Watch out for Dixie State and St. George Utah too!

LOL, mouse, once in awhile you make a valid point, most of the time you utter bullshit...this is not one of the valid points.
 
So no one trash talked ewu? Downplayed their schedule.....and MSUs? Wanted Brown in? Predicted 10 and 1 records after the EWU loss?And EWU and Weber have respected STEM programs? (I really don't have a clue on this myself.....but your STEM excuse is a brand new one!) And Cheney and Ogden have recruiting and stadium advantages over Missoula? Sorry to be "invalid"!
 
Mousegriz said:
So no one trash talked ewu? Downplayed their schedule.....and MSUs? Wanted Brown in? Predicted 10 and 1 records after the EWU loss?And EWU and Weber have respected STEM programs? (I really don't have a clue on this myself.....but your STEM excuse is a brand new one!) And Cheney and Ogden have recruiting and stadium advantages over Missoula? Sorry to be "invalid"!

First, no one stated that EWU and Weber have STEM programs. Second, I said EWU and Weber are doing a better job of recruiting instate, and that winning games has helped elsewhere. Pretty sure I didn't say anything about their stadium. Third, what does anyone trashing EWU and/or MSU about schedules have to do with recruiting? Fourth, what do posts about Brown and predictions of 10 wins have to do with anything more than opinion? Like I said, a lot of bull shit.
 
You're right. Recruiting is real tough and Griz have a lot of ground to make up and three (maybe four?) years isn't enough to make up that ground. Bobby's been low key with us all along and the fans have not been unrealistic in their expectations for the results this year or any other year. Let's all be patient....maybe by 2024 or 2025. Better tear down that worthless Champions Center nix the practice bubble and move back to Dornblaser because facilities are just one more spot where UMs fallen behind EWU and Weber.
 
Mousegriz said:
You're right. Recruiting is real tough and Griz have a lot of ground to make up and three (maybe four?) years isn't enough to make up that ground. Bobby's been low key with us all along and the fans have not been unrealistic in their expectations for the results this year or any other year. Let's all be patient....maybe by 2024 or 2025. Better tear down that worthless Champions Center nix the practice bubble and move back to Dornblaser because facilities are just one more spot where UMs fallen behind EWU and Weber.

Oh if we have all the goodies we will win and recruiting will go through the roof, well ?

Hell if we have to wait that long, what are we on now 4 years. Four years should get you your guys, unless their not coming.
 
As much as it hurts I have to agree with hunt-ducks not because he hits the nail on the head but because it hurts to admit there are definitely deficiencies in our system. We have all the ingredients to be a year on year powerhouse in the FCS. Stadium, tradition, campions center, soon hopefully an indoor practice facility and a rabid fan base. These are not built overnight and if something isn’t addressed soon we stand to lose the most important element, our fan base who supports with butts in the seats and their pocketbooks.
This is not an indictment of Bobby and I’m not versed enough in the X’s and O’s to cast dispersions on any of his staff but somethings not right in River city. It’s easy to blame it on injuries, desertions or youth but the reality is there are changes needing to be made. Maybe we can right the ship by Griz/cat game but the issues run deeper than finishing with a positive record.
 
fanofzoo said:
Mousegriz said:
You're right. Recruiting is real tough and Griz have a lot of ground to make up and three (maybe four?) years isn't enough to make up that ground. Bobby's been low key with us all along and the fans have not been unrealistic in their expectations for the results this year or any other year. Let's all be patient....maybe by 2024 or 2025. Better tear down that worthless Champions Center nix the practice bubble and move back to Dornblaser because facilities are just one more spot where UMs fallen behind EWU and Weber.

Oh if we have all the goodies we will win and recruiting will go through the roof, well ?

Hell if we have to wait that long, what are we on now 4 years. Four years should get you your guys, unless their not coming.

Does kind if make you scratch your head. But HHBs done extensive research and it comes down to Stitt and Delaney, MSUs STEM programs and Weber and EWU getting all the best players from their states instead of BYU,UTAH ,UTAH STATE, UW and WSU.
 
Another item addressed by Hunt-ducks, Dixie State U. St. George, Utah is one of the fastest growing small cities in the US. Dixie St. has a student population equal to UM. The metro population is almost 200,000. I predict within the next few years they will break through to challenge for a championship.
 
Mousegriz said:
fanofzoo said:
Oh if we have all the goodies we will win and recruiting will go through the roof, well ?

Hell if we have to wait that long, what are we on now 4 years. Four years should get you your guys, unless their not coming.

Does kind if make you scratch your head. But HHBs done extensive research and it comes down to Stitt and Delaney, MSUs STEM programs and Weber and EWU getting all the best players from their states instead of BYU,UTAH ,UTAH STATE, UW and WSU.

Yeah, your right. Griz coaches just can't recruit, even with the enticement of a big stadium and all the luxuries of Missoula Montana. Guess it is time to get rid of them and hire a guy that can get'r dun. Wonder if Choate is looking for a head job again.
 
HelenaHandBasket said:
hunt-ducks said:
Recruiting- During Hauck's first tenure here, he was able to get 90% of the top Montana high school players. Now, the Cats are getting 50-60% of the top kids from Montana. Making it worse, is that Hauck and his coaches are doing a poor job of recruiting out-of-state kids, as compared to the Bobcats and EWU. If our out-of-state recruiting doesn't improve, don't expect any big improvement in our quest to Return To Dominance. We have not been an elite Big Sky team for 10 years, and memories of our 20-year dominant run are quickly fading fast. Reality is a hard pill to swallow. But the reality is that Weber, EWU, and even MSU are ahead of us in the dominance game.

Now go ahead, fire away. I'll pop the popcorn.

I will give a few reasons for this trend. 1. The failure in the program since Hauck left until he returned. Those other schools made huge strides while the Griz program faltered and it is silly to think that 3 years of Hauck can completely flip that trend. 2. Academics, at least when compared to MSU. Most Montana kids are good students and are looking for STEM based majors. 3. EWU and Weber have made solid progress in recruiting there own states and then winning makes it easier to reach out to Cali and Az. It takes time and victories to reverse trends like that.
With regards to STEM, the only piece Montana doesn’t offer is engineering and it looks like there are 18 players on the cat roster with engineering listed the field of study…..including 2 listed under “financial engineering”.

Cat fans love to tout STEM and bash Montana for its liberal arts, meanwhile Troy Andersen and a couple others on the roster are pursuing liberal studies degrees.
 
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