#16 UM @ #3 NDSU Game Thread 1:30 PM

[AZGrizFan]

:thumb:

Cat griz bullshit aside.... you guys are definitely out of your depth here. You guys have been inconsistent at best all year and now it's being exposed

You've gotten all that out of one possession each?

You'll see... you could see this coming from a mile away.

Did you "see" two pick sixes and a kickoff returned for a TD?

 

[cclarkblues]

Did you "see" two pick sixes and a kickoff returned for a TD?

For some reason I have come to expect early 3 and outs and the defense giving up an early, long
TD.

 

[get'em_griz]

Congrats to the Griz on a great season. Gotta say as a Bison fan that I had a great time out in Missoula in August in spite of my team losing, certainly enjoyed interacting with your fans and the atmosphere was electric. For those of you that made it to the game today, how would you say that atmosphere compared to WaGriz?

Not here to gloat or troll like that other Bison "fan" on here, just wanted to offer congratulations on a good season, thanks for a great opening game, and keep your heads up...you are Montana and I have a ton of respect for your program.

Thanks for the good sportsmanship. My fiancée and I made the trip to the game and we were very impressed with the tailgating! Absolutely loved the tailgates and had many Bison fans thank us for coming out and offering us food and beer. We even did a ski shot with one Bison fan which was cool. Overall the experience we had in the tailgates was top notch.

As for overall atmosphere of the dome, while I found it was loud, I didn't think it was quite as loud as WA-Grizzly Stadium. The noise was loud in an annoying kind of way, and I can see how that can give visiting teams problems. After the game, my ears were ringing from the noise bouncing off of the metal. I think you guys have a great atmosphere though. You have a fantastic home field advantage and should be proud of what y'all have. It was cool seeing what you guys do when the Bison get a first down... "Move those chains!". Every school does something different and it's cool to see.

Thank you for the great hospitality in the tailgates. That short time outside definitely changed my opinion of the fan base (most of you guys, anyway). Would love to keep scheduling games between our schools in the future! Our programs have the greatest fans at this level and there is a respect between the two programs that is continuing to grow after each matchup.

 

[Fahque]

Where is Brint's post game analysis?

 

[PlayerRep]

He told me that he looks forward to next season, this was a nice and interesting season, and the flight back from Atlanta is long.

 

[AZGrizFan]

They're just not as good of actors as Lider. Notice that NDSU didn't get any where near the punter this time.

The harsh reality is most people have never read the college definition of holding

The harsh reality is that there were about 4 early blatant holding calls that were not called that would have significantly altered NDSU drives in the first half.

Not to get into the whole holding thing because there is holding on every play, but the one by the NDSU sideline where the guy had two handfuls of stretched jersey and was holding him back right by the play...that was a little obvious. Ray Charles and Stevie Wonder would have both made that call.

Yep. That one was horribly blatant.

 

[AZGrizFan]

Even us diehards didn't expect this win by this margin. Was fun seeing a few Griz fans at tailgate and at old Broadway tonight.

Well, again, nobody foresaw 2 pick-sixes and a KO return for a TD...I mean other than that it was a 16-6 ballgame...

 

[doc3kgt]

:thumb:

You've gotten all that out of one possession each?

You'll see... you could see this coming from a mile away.

Did you "see" two pick sixes and a kickoff returned for a TD?

I saw a griz team completely overmatched in every phase of the game. When the discrepancy between talent level is that gaping, turn overs and TD returns tend to happen. Admittedly, i thought you would only lose by a 2 or 3 touchdowns, but you exceeded my expectations.

 

[PlayerRep]

:thumb:

You'll see... you could see this coming from a mile away.

Did you "see" two pick sixes and a kickoff returned for a TD?

I saw a griz team completely overmatched in every phase of the game. When the discrepancy between talent level is that gaping, turn overs and TD returns tend to happen. Admittedly, i thought you would only lose by a 2 or 3 touchdowns, but you exceeded my expectations.

Is it your view that the "talent level" changed dramatically over the course of the season, or how does your disparate talent level view fit with the Griz win over NDSU this season?

 

[doc3kgt]

:thumb:

Did you "see" two pick sixes and a kickoff returned for a TD?

I saw a griz team completely overmatched in every phase of the game. When the discrepancy between talent level is that gaping, turn overs and TD returns tend to happen. Admittedly, i thought you would only lose by a 2 or 3 touchdowns, but you exceeded my expectations.

Is it your view that the "talent level" changed dramatically over the course of the season, or how does your disparate talent level view fit with the Griz win over NDSU this season?

I think that NDSU not having legitimate game film really helped the Griz in game 1. Talent is a tough thing to measure, especially from my living room arm chair. However, NDSU was obviously faster and more physical in ALL positions, that much was blatantly clear without digging into the stats and numbers. In game 1 the Griz had a lot of intangibles on their side --home field, no game film for opponents to study, chip on their shoulder, MUCH less to lose (as opposed to the sky high expectations of NDSU). Put it this way, as of last Saturday both teams had a chance to get into rhythm. Both teams had a chance to study relevant film. Both teams had a chance to showcase their "talent". In game 2 (when the playing field was the most even, imo), the griz got flat out dominated. Yes, there have been times this year when the griz have played great, but you can't argue that the griz are most definitely an inconsistent team, especially on offense. Given the new coach, new quarterback, new system, etc, the griz far exceeded expectations, imo. However, that doesn't change the fact that NDSU is a far superior team at this point in time. I think that beating NDSU in game 1 considerably over-inflated expectations, especially given all the recent changes.

 

[runtheoption]

Just woke up from my sugar induced coma brought on by an over-indulgence of bear claws, bacon and Nutella while celebrating our victory. Couple of observations:

1. As mentioned, your D did not quit the entire game. It's very, very quiet in the Dome when we have the ball, and we could hear some serious pad-cracking from your guys. Your LB's and secondary flow quickly to the ball and gang-tackle pretty well. Just need to get some beefier D-lineman so that an O-line like ours doesn't get such a huge push.

2. Doesn't matter if the F-Dome was quieter than WaGriz. It was loud enough to have a big effect on Stitt's whole offensive game plan. Stitt has commented that part of his offensive philosophy is to snap the ball as quickly as possible so that the D has no chance to catch their breath and get the play count up as high as possible to really tire the opposing D. With the Dome noise, instead of Gus being able to quickly relay his calls and consistently snap the ball with 23+ seconds on the play-clock (and even that may be slow by Griz standards this year), it took him quite a while to go talk to the O-line, talk to the RB, reset, survey the D again and then get the snap. The play clock was often in the low teens. The D had way more time to catch their breath between plays. We were even able to consistently rotate guys in and out on D between plays.

3. Had a Griz fan from Froid sitting by us. Cool mutha-effing dude. It seemed like he had a blast.

 

[Griz Man]

Just woke up from my sugar induced coma brought on by an over-indulgence of bear claws, bacon and Nutella while celebrating our victory. Couple of observations:

1. As mentioned, your D did not quit the entire game. It's very, very quiet in the Dome when we have the ball, and we could hear some serious pad-cracking from your guys. Your LB's and secondary flow quickly to the ball and gang-tackle pretty well. Just need to get some beefier D-lineman so that an O-line like ours doesn't get such a huge push.

2. Doesn't matter if the F-Dome was quieter than WaGriz. It was loud enough to have a big effect on Stitt's whole offensive game plan. Stitt has commented that part of his offensive philosophy is to snap the ball as quickly as possible so that the D has no chance to catch their breath and get the play count up as high as possible to really tire the opposing D. With the Dome noise, instead of Gus being able to quickly relay his calls and consistently snap the ball with 23+ seconds on the play-clock (and even that may be slow by Griz standards this year), it took him quite a while to go talk to the O-line, talk to the RB, reset, survey the D again and then get the snap. The play clock was often in the low teens. The D had way more time to catch their breath between plays. We were even able to consistently rotate guys in and out on D between plays.

3. Had a Griz fan from Froid sitting by us. Cool mutha-effing dude. It seemed like he had a blast.

I agree whole-heartedly with your point 2. Which is why I don't think it's outlandish at all to say that this would have been a good game, had it been played in Missoula. I can see why you guys have a 15 win or thereabouts playoff win streak in the dome. Hopefully we don't meet you guys there next year until later in the playoffs, if at all!