Post Game Report | Bwahlberg
It was good to see the most “complete” 4 quarters of football from the Grizzlies this season. We’ve always heard Bobby talk about how he wants the Griz playing their best football in November, and so far against a fairly inferior opponent, it’s looking better.
Let’s be upfront and honest about this win, while the Griz looked damn good today it was against a fairly hapless SUU team that really was unable to muster much of a of a fight. Regardless though, this was needed. We saw more innovation on offense and improved play across the board. From my scouting write up I posted that SUU gives up just about 600 yards per game, and they did it again today, allowing 635 to the Griz, 379 of which came through the air.
Here’s my main observations:
– For the amount of heat Sneed has taken for his passing, he showed today that when given time and not getting destroyed constantly he’s a damn good QB. We all know he can run, he’s passionate (blocking upfield!), and he showed today that with time he’s a sharp passer. His TD passes were dimes, and he continually kept his eyes upfield, even when rolling out, to find the right targets. This was Sneed’s best/total game as a Griz.
– I got worried at the end of the first half. I felt like the team was possibly slipping into what we’ve seen in weeks prior. After allowing a sloppy TD to SUU the Griz had one of their strangest and most disjointed drives of the day. It seemed there was just 1 designed playcall (I know that’s not the truth, but it seemed that way). Contested passes weren’t caught, open targets were missed, and then a fieldgoal goes wide. Up 30-14 I was concerned that this was the tipping point back into the 2nd half slides we’ve seen. Fortunately it wasn’t, and maybe that’s a good sign of growth from these guys. On this drive SUU pressured Sneed well, got in his face, and forced a bunch of rushed throws. They still know how to bring out the more jittery side in Dalton. Pressure/rush/hit the guy and make him rattled. His two misses to Akem and JLM in the endzone were rushed throws to wide open targets that he just missed, a result of the pressure on from that drive.
– No turnovers lost, and 2 forced. That’s more like it.
– 13 of 19 on 3rd down is flat out insane.
– On the individual player side what a great explosive return to being a major contributor by Jerry Louie McGee. The guy had been pretty silent for the last 4 games and just went off today. Additionally it was great to see Keenan Curran have a day out there. I know this will always be the knock on him, big days against crappy teams, lesser days against good ones… but honestly this season felt like such a weird funk for that guy, if today sets him up to finish the season strong in every remaining game then that’s great.
– Defensively there were quite a few guys that had pretty good days. Robby Hauck leading in tackles, and all were solo. Reggie Tilleman batting a pass to get picked. Braydon Deming rushing the QB well. And Gavin Robertson having another good day as a physical force. It’s good to see Robertson finding his stride and I hope that carries over for him moving forward. He’s been pretty good these last two weeks as an enforcer.
– I liked the defensive adjustment to more of a true 3-4 and bringing out Cochran to help against SUU’s offense. Great adjustment and plan by the coaching staff.
– The return of Jeremy Calhoun as the starting feature back and getting 16 touches in this game really helped balance the offense. SUU couldn’t totally key in on Sneed and Calhoun showed that as a senior his skill, strength, and knowledge running the ball is the best on the team. BTW, awesome to see Lee get a TD today.
– I liked how late the Griz were able to get the younger guys some playing time. Welnel and Matthews show that LB depth could be in good hands. Janacaro ran the ball well. Alford and Deming were a little disruptive of the SUU o-line.
– Two missed PATs, one by Semenza and one late by Wilson… ugh.
– ST coverage was good, SUU has one of the better KR/PR guys in the conference and he wasn’t a factor in the return game today.
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All in all it’s good to be able to celebrate a Griz win again. I see that Idaho today beat UND so this next week’s game is presumably going to get tougher than maybe we thought. The Griz will need to be prepared for a tougher team that’s playing their last FCS game of the season and will be fighting like it’s their season closer (Idaho goes to Florida the following week).
Let’s keep this going, I loved what I saw today!
Go Griz!
