8 reasons to be optimistic for the 2017 Griz

[Sam A. Blitz]

But again, for me, it all comes down to the QB and OL. If those are still sub-par issues, than all of the above is probably moot.

Agreed. There's lots to be hopeful for at both spots but these players and the coaches are going to have to show it and fast.

Agree with this, especially on the OL. For this offense, I think QB mobility is less important. People keep stressing the threat of the QB to run as an important factor in the offense. I believe that it is more important for us to have a QB who can make the reads and get the ball to play makers. Give me the guy with good feet and pocket presence that works through progressions over the guy who is thinking run as the quick 2nd option. For the offense to flow the OL needs to be solid in both run and pass block. There is some very good, but inexperienced talent on the OL. The ability of the OL to consistently provide protection is crucial for any QB, but especially a new QB. The ability to throw down field and/or allow for longer progressing plays to develop is going to be largely dependent on the guys up front.

 

[PlayerRep]

The realist view.

1. Sorry, can 3 new young starters on o-line be terrific in first season of play? They may eventually be great, but can't imagine 3 new starters are immediately great players. And the returners are only a walk-on TE and a big athletic skinny kid who has taken time to develop. Hopefully, he is finally great.

2. Hope Calhoun and others can improve the overall quality of strong rib's. Remains to be seen.

3. Need a good or very good qb who can run this complicated offense. The key to the offense. Not sure any new qb is going to be able to grasp the offense and run it well, based on prior 2 years.

4. Secondary needs to show big improvement if the coaches are going to put the same amount of big pressure on them. Who will be able to cover like JR? Don't think any of them. A solid core with some talent and experience coming back, but where are the backups and how much can they improve? Different pass defense could help, if coaches do that.

5. Linebackers return and should improve. Buss is terrific. Where are the other all conference guys?

6. Returning tacklers. Looks very good. Note that the backers got most of the tackles, along with a couple safeties.

7. WR's who return should be better by a year. They need to be. Homan is a loss. 2 of the frosh are supposedly very good. In this offense, receivers need to be better and catch more hard balls. Lots of potential, but a bunch of guys needs to step up. And a qb needs to be getting the ball to them.

8. Yes, perhaps a more favorable schedule, in terms of home and away.

9. Coaches? I defer to you experts.

10. I don't think redshirts can magically step in and make everything good. Can fill some holes, but takes more time/years.

11. How about the d-line? Big worry for me.

12. Kickers? ?? Punter? Hopefully, he recovers from being bummed at himself.

13. Long snapper. See one was recruited last year. Don't know anything about him.

14. Heart, tradition, find way to win games and win on road, locker room. Need improvement.

15. Fewer penalties and dumb mistakes. Please. Team isn't good enough for those bonehead plays.

16. Punt and KO coverage. Needs to improve.

17. Returns. Need better blocking. Hopefully, JLM is healthy and the coaches are willing to use him. Otherwise, who are the good returners?

 

[BillingsMafia]

The biggest weakness is the coaching. Stitt's first game was by far his best, the decline has been steady and deep. I want a pro Stitt person to post a single example where Stitt's coaching has improved anything on this team.

 

[brewskis]

The biggest weakness is the coaching. Stitt's first game was by far his best, the decline has been steady and deep. I want a pro Stitt person to post a single example where Stitt's coaching has improved anything on this team.

The coaching staff and recruiting.


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[Ursa Major]

The biggest weakness is the coaching. Stitt's first game was by far his best, the decline has been steady and deep. I want a pro Stitt person to post a single example where Stitt's coaching has improved anything on this team.

Let me guess, you're at the in-laws and you've had a few drinks.

 

[AllWeatherFan]

The only disagreement I have is with the tone of the OP. It's way too positive. No mention of enrollment being down (again) or losing to the Cats or Griz fans who love mediocrity. And no use of the quote function whatsoever. And not once did Wahlberg say, "See how that works?" And my thread title is better.

 

[HookedonGriz]

The biggest weakness is the coaching. Stitt's first game was by far his best, the decline has been steady and deep. I want a pro Stitt person to post a single example where Stitt's coaching has improved anything on this team.

Let me guess, you're at the in-laws and you've had a few drinks.

Early POTY nominee. That was great work there.

 

[HookedonGriz]

The biggest weakness is the coaching. Stitt's first game was by far his best, the decline has been steady and deep. I want a pro Stitt person to post a single example where Stitt's coaching has improved anything on this team.

Grades are up, recruits are smart and bringing in great grades and college exam scores, no Griz football players gracing the front page of papers. There are many things the UM is happy with when it comes to Stitt that go beyond just winning.

Don't get me wrong, I want the team to win along with all those other aforementioned things, but sometimes we all lose sight of other important factors of successful student athletes.

 

[grizfan95]

I remember times during the Pflu and Hauck eras where people said we first needed to clean up the program and they didn't care if it meant being 0-11. Well in two years the worst I can recall was Counts' DUI, which was handled. For two years' worth (100x2 years = 200 players) of 18-22 year old young men to stay positive role models is a heck of an accomplishment.

In that time we've blown out EWU, MSU, UND, SUU and beaten NDSU, UNI, SDSU, NAU.

We are in the process of putting both together with a new weight and locker room facility, full arsenal of scholarships back, no group of 40+ new faces after serious turnover and finally, consistency in the coaching staff.

So R-E-L-A-X.

 

[rocklobster]

This is going to be the first year Stitt has a majority of his recruits, so one would hope that things start to build and improve now-especially improvement as the year goes on. Phillips or Hill will start, but Jensen will come in if they aren't consistent. Seems like having an OC would be a good thing to have-especially after last year's debacle. Stitt is in love his own play calling and seems to not adjust to defenses or as the game goes on. Other teams adjusted to his tendencies as the season went on, and they defensively handled the Griz offense. Only my opinion, having coached flag football and 4th grade girls b-ball! But we won dammit...we won.

 

[UMGriz75]

Grades are up, recruits are smart and bringing in great grades and college exam scores, no Griz football players gracing the front page of papers.

But those were mostly "Delaney recruits" right? We don't have the 2016 results yet. Nor the vaunted "Stitt recruits" fully engaged yet. On the field, you'll give credit to Stitt for success, for failure to Delaney. On grades, for success to Stitt, if failure,to Delaney, right?

Isn't that kind of how "bias" shows its dark face?

 

[UMGriz75]

The biggest weakness is the coaching. Stitt's first game was by far his best, the decline has been steady and deep. I want a pro Stitt person to post a single example where Stitt's coaching has improved anything on this team.

The coaching staff and recruiting.

And the Griz-Cat game certainly showed that, right?

 

[brewskis]

The biggest weakness is the coaching. Stitt's first game was by far his best, the decline has been steady and deep. I want a pro Stitt person to post a single example where Stitt's coaching has improved anything on this team.

The coaching staff and recruiting.

And the Griz-Cat game certainly showed that, right?

Fishing is good these days! Right on cue!


You're becoming predictable 74.5! Happy New Years!


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[brewskis]

This is going to be the first year Stitt has a majority of his recruits, so one would hope that things start to build and improve now-especially improvement as the year goes on. Phillips or Hill will start, but Jensen will come in if they aren't consistent. Seems like having an OC would be a good thing to have-especially after last year's debacle. Stitt is in love his own play calling and seems to not adjust to defenses or as the game goes on. Other teams adjusted to his tendencies as the season went on, and they defensively handled the Griz offense. Only my opinion, having coached flag football and 4th grade girls b-ball! But we won dammit...we won.

Stitt approached managing the offense in 2016 different than 2015 (when he was more heavily involved). What you described was similar to what happened, from the sounds of it. Didn't work out all that well.

But it's a young staff, expect improvement this coming year.


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[rocklobster]

This is going to be the first year Stitt has a majority of his recruits, so one would hope that things start to build and improve now-especially improvement as the year goes on. Phillips or Hill will start, but Jensen will come in if they aren't consistent. Seems like having an OC would be a good thing to have-especially after last year's debacle. Stitt is in love his own play calling and seems to not adjust to defenses or as the game goes on. Other teams adjusted to his tendencies as the season went on, and they defensively handled the Griz offense. Only my opinion, having coached flag football and 4th grade girls b-ball! But we won dammit...we won.

Stitt approached managing the offense in 2016 different than 2015 (when he was more heavily involved). What you described was similar to what happened, from the sounds of it. Didn't work out all that well.

But it's a young staff, expect improvement this coming year.


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Thanks for the ray of hope. I'm optimistic there will be improvement, but it was tough to watch at times. Go Griz.

 

[UMGriz75]

The biggest weakness is the coaching. Stitt's first game was by far his best, the decline has been steady and deep. I want a pro Stitt person to post a single example where Stitt's coaching has improved anything on this team.

The coaching staff and recruiting.

And the Griz-Cat game certainly showed that, right?

Fishing is good these days! Right on cue

I enjoyed reading your posts last spring about how this was going to be a terrific season this past Fall, and all of your strongly worded and (in)credible arguments why. In particular, in comparing those comments with what actually happened.

I admire the fact that you are able to pretend nothing happened, that you were wrong all across the board, and that you demonstrated that you don't know anything about any of this, judging by your documented track record. It's good thing you didn't follow Ferguson's lead and place bets in all directions on a "paycheck to paycheck" basis. You'd be in Chapter 7 by now based on your demonstrated incompetence. Ferguson avoided that fate because no one took his challenges seriously. Good thing for him.

I love the idea of optimism; it's a little bit of what sports are all about, "when the breaks are beating the boys," but taking a "cue" from the guys that have been so wrong doesn't suggest any hope just because they say so. It's almost become like a jinx. If you say it, its likely wrong.

What "BillingsMafia" described above was something I noted during the 2015-2016 season. Statistically, through a rotation of quarterbacks, the "trend" of team and QB performance for successive games was negative. This was true through four rotations of three quarterbacks. I'd never seen that before in collegiate sports. On the other hand, never had the example of three quarterbacks in four rotations either, but it seemed remarkable. And it predicted that team performance would decline regardless of QB.

The observation was met with derision, that "football is about Xs and Os, not statistics."

Well, the stats won. The "Xs" and "Os" didn't show up.

"BillingsMafia" posed a question you avoided with a generic answer that didn't answer anything.

You predicted great things this past season. Every single reason you offered for those predictions was wrong. But, his question is a good one. Why not do some self-reflection on why you were so wrong, and attempt to offer him an answer as to 1) why you were so wrong, and 2) based on your experience of error, what analysis would you offer that accounts for your errors and yet explains the improvements you believe occurred during that time? What "improved?"

As I have noted, you can't fix what you don't measure. If you can't identify the problems of the past year, and honestly find the source of those problems, then how can you suggest that any change will fix them?

 

[NativeGriz]

The biggest weakness is the coaching. Stitt's first game was by far his best, the decline has been steady and deep. I want a pro Stitt person to post a single example where Stitt's coaching has improved anything on this team.

This past weekend, while I was out conquering powder in the fog at Big Mtn, my wimpy ski partner sat with Dereck Crittenden in upper lodge for lunch. Per my friend, Derek felt Stitt is a good coach, very smart and could make the Griz great. Only negative, near the end of practice the D would always go up against the O and it sounds like the D won the battle most of the time because Ty figured out exactly what Stitt was going to run about 90% of the time, based on alignment, personnel and situation. Thus it was easy to see why cats had our number this year. DC also mentioned something about play calling, but overall liked Stitt very much. He was also bummed he didn’t get to play in cat game and he didn’t feel it was right the way the Rhodes Scholar things played out with the two guys from Yale. Finally he said he has been to PRs cabin and that he enjoyed a night of good Whiskey at PRs home in Missoula. There was probably more, but second hand news gets filtered down and you only have so much time to talk on a high speed quad.

 

[griz5700]

The realist view.

1. Sorry, can 3 new young starters on o-line be terrific in first season of play? They may eventually be great, but can't imagine 3 new starters are immediately great players. And the returners are only a walk-on TE and a big athletic skinny kid who has taken time to develop. Hopefully, he is finally great.

2. Hope Calhoun and others can improve the overall quality of strong rib's. Remains to be seen.

3. Need a good or very good qb who can run this complicated offense. The key to the offense. Not sure any new qb is going to be able to grasp the offense and run it well, based on prior 2 years.

4. Secondary needs to show big improvement if the coaches are going to put the same amount of big pressure on them. Who will be able to cover like JR? Don't think any of them. A solid core with some talent and experience coming back, but where are the backups and how much can they improve? Different pass defense could help, if coaches do that.

5. Linebackers return and should improve. Buss is terrific. Where are the other all conference guys?

6. Returning tacklers. Looks very good. Note that the backers got most of the tackles, along with a couple safeties.

7. WR's who return should be better by a year. They need to be. Homan is a loss. 2 of the frosh are supposedly very good. In this offense, receivers need to be better and catch more hard balls. Lots of potential, but a bunch of guys needs to step up. And a qb needs to be getting the ball to them.

8. Yes, perhaps a more favorable schedule, in terms of home and away.

9. Coaches? I defer to you experts.

10. I don't think redshirts can magically step in and make everything good. Can fill some holes, but takes more time/years.

11. How about the d-line? Big worry for me.

12. Kickers? ?? Punter? Hopefully, he recovers from being bummed at himself.

13. Long snapper. See one was recruited last year. Don't know anything about him.

14. Heart, tradition, find way to win games and win on road, locker room. Need improvement.

15. Fewer penalties and dumb mistakes. Please. Team isn't good enough for those bonehead plays.

16. Punt and KO coverage. Needs to improve.

17. Returns. Need better blocking. Hopefully, JLM is healthy and the coaches are willing to use him. Otherwise, who are the good returners?

Well said, PR. O-line and QB are major unknowns. Which is a major problem in this offense. Overall talent when compared to other BSC teams is questionable. A lot of guys need to step up in a big way.

 

[AZDoc]

The biggest weakness is the coaching. Stitt's first game was by far his best, the decline has been steady and deep. I want a pro Stitt person to post a single example where Stitt's coaching has improved anything on this team.

This past weekend, while I was out conquering powder in the fog at Big Mtn, my wimpy ski partner sat with Dereck Crittenden in upper lodge for lunch. Per my friend, Derek felt Stitt is a good coach, very smart and could make the Griz great. Only negative, near the end of practice the D would always go up against the O and it sounds like the D won the battle most of the time because Ty figured out exactly what Stitt was going to run about 90% of the time, based on alignment, personnel and situation. Thus it was easy to see why cats had our number this year. DC also mentioned something about play calling, but overall liked Stitt very much. He was also bummed he didn’t get to play in cat game and he didn’t feel it was right the way the Rhodes Scholar things played out with the two guys from Yale. Finally he said he has been to PRs cabin and that he enjoyed a night of good Whiskey at PRs home in Missoula. There was probably more, but second hand news gets filtered down and you only have so much time to talk on a high speed quad.

So you're saying this is from a non-reliable source?

 

[nzone]

After watching a total end of the season melt down I'm not holding my breathe for some miraculous turn around. Offensive line and defensive back field needs an entire rebuild imo.