It’s a new season and there’s a lot of new things in front of us;
The coaching staff has brought in a new D-line coach, promoted two analysts, and save RBs and head coach have essentially reshuffled or reassigned every position.
We have two new QBs vying for the starting spot in a battle that’s now going to carry into the season.
We have new players stepping up into the role of 3 all-Americans on our defense.
I don’t know if I’ve recalled a season of late with such unknown for the Grizzlies. I believe that this team is going to be better than many/most think, and my hope is that this weekend they start to show off what the new look Griz can be all about. Coming to town is the Butler Bulldogs from the non-scholarship Pioneer League. Butler is picked to finish 5th in their conference and finished with a respectable 7-4 record. They’ve got some dudes to watch too, mainly their Peyton watch-list QB who was their conference’s offensive MVP last season. This team isn’t some pushover team and it’ll bring some skill to the field this Saturday, it should be a great matchup to open the season!
Butler Bulldogs (7-4 in 2022)
17-45 loss @ South Dakota State – It was never really a close game but worth note that they played the national champs last year. In the game Butler passed for about 210 yards in the game but couldn’t rush for much, while SDSU had 285 passing and 185 rushing. Butler lost 3 turnovers in the game, looks like most were later in the match when the game was well in hand.
56-20 win vs Morehead State – Butler was up 42-7 at the half in a total rout of Morehead. In the game Bushka, Butler’s QB was 8-10 passing and had 195 in the air. As a team they ran for 290 total yards. Morehead did put up about 275 yards in the air but most all of it came when playing from behind. Morehead just 2 weeks before this game got trounced by Montana State 63-13.
13-27 loss vs St. Thomas – Playing the Pioneer league champion on the last weekend of the season, Butler found themselves stuck in a defensive grudge match on a cold and windy day. They had just 231 yards of total offense and lost 2 interceptions on the day. St Thomas generally kept a 2 score lead after taking a blocked field goal to the house near the end of the 1st quarter.
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General Stats (2022 numbers)
Passing yards per game GRIZ (225 for GRIZ vs 217 for BUT)
Rushing yards per game GRIZ (170 for GRIZ vs 162 for BUT)
Total offense GRIZ (395 for GRIZ vs 379 for BUT)
Passing yards allowed per game GRIZ (183 for GRIZ vs 203 for BUT)
Rushing yards allowed per game GRIZ (154 for GRIZ vs 156 for BUT)
Total defense GRIZ (337 for GRIZ vs 359 for BUT)
Clean sweep for Montana, all 6.
Offense points scored GRIZ (36.2 for GRIZ vs 27.3 for BUT)
Defense points allowed GRIZ (21.3 for GRIZ vs 22.2 for BUT)
Turnover margin GRIZ (-1 for GRIZ / -6 for BUT)
Fieldgoal % BUT (69% for GRIZ vs 80% for BUT)
Punt Returns GRIZ (14 yards for GRIZ vs 6 yards for BUT)
Kick Returns GRIZ (29 yards for GRIZ vs 22 yards for BUT)
T.O.P. BUT (28:32 for GRIZ vs 30:25 for BUT)
Red Zone defense (touchdowns) BUT (64% GRIZ / 63% BUT)
Red Zone offense (touchdowns) BUT (64% GRIZ / 70% BUT)
3rd down offense GRIZ – (46% for GRIZ / 42.2% for BUT)
3rd down defense GRIZ – (33% allowed for GRIZ vs 36.7% allowed for BUT)
Save Redzone and TOP the Griz add a lot more, picking up 7 more to Butlers 4. Total is 13 to Montana and 4 to Butler.
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Players to Watch:
#4 Bret Bushka, QB: The reigning Pioneer League MVP, he lead the team in rushing last season with 627 yards and had a team best 5 rushing TDs as well. He passed for an average of 216 yards per game and had 20 TDs to 10 INTs. He’s a true dual threat QB who operates in an RPO-heavy offense. He’ll be a handful for our defense.
#22 Joey Suchy, RB: 2nd on the team in rushing yards, he’s 6 foot and 224 pounds. He had 441 yards and 4 TDs on the ground, plus another 167 receiving yards and 1 more TD there.
#23 Luke Wooten, WR: A 5-10 slot WR that had 657 yards and 6 TDs on the season
#21 AJ Deinhard, RB: A speedy backer, 3rd in rushing with 312 yards and 1 TD, he also had about 100 receiving yards
#5 Nick Bafia, DB: Nick is a 6-1, 190 safety that was 2nd best on the team in tackle last year. He had 59 and 2 TFLs but forced no turnovers.
#1 Will Mason, DB: At 5-9 and 185 he had 2 picks last season, plus 57 tackles and a team best 7 PBUs
#87 Jacob Cain, DE: Cain had the most sacks on the team with 3.5 and had 4.5 TFLS.
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Keys to a victory
1. Let the strength of this team (the running game) ease in our new 2 QBs. It appears we’ve got an ongoing QB competition and making sure not to place too much pressure on them will help them with some real game moments.
2. Keep Buska in the pocket. Dude is tough to contain, disrupt his reads and don’t let him run wild on us. Also know he’s going to drop a few dunk passes over our blitzing defense so be ready for that – a good tuneup to the amount of mobile QBs we’ll see this season.
3. Flex the ST muscle. If it’s time to announce it’s a new season and our ST is back to it’s ways, lets take one to the house.
4. Control the line of scrimmage. Our OL vastly outsizes Butlers, will they have issues with the agility of their D-line or can they just maul them? Making sure our QBs stay clean and our RBs have lanes is an expected strength of this team.
5. Don’t let the moment take over the execution, we’re going to have lots of new guys out there and a noisy Griz crowd anxious to see this team. Don’t get too lost in the moment and focus on your task.
6. 225+ rushing. Ground and pound.
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Week 1 games tend to be challenging, and I’m expecting some nervous play from our QBs. This could be a slow start, but I think the Grizzly rushing game will pull things away in the 2nd half. As long as Montana doesn’t totally trip all over themselves they should take this game and end it with a solid margin. I’ll say 38-14 Griz!
Go Griz!
The coaching staff has brought in a new D-line coach, promoted two analysts, and save RBs and head coach have essentially reshuffled or reassigned every position.
We have two new QBs vying for the starting spot in a battle that’s now going to carry into the season.
We have new players stepping up into the role of 3 all-Americans on our defense.
I don’t know if I’ve recalled a season of late with such unknown for the Grizzlies. I believe that this team is going to be better than many/most think, and my hope is that this weekend they start to show off what the new look Griz can be all about. Coming to town is the Butler Bulldogs from the non-scholarship Pioneer League. Butler is picked to finish 5th in their conference and finished with a respectable 7-4 record. They’ve got some dudes to watch too, mainly their Peyton watch-list QB who was their conference’s offensive MVP last season. This team isn’t some pushover team and it’ll bring some skill to the field this Saturday, it should be a great matchup to open the season!
Butler Bulldogs (7-4 in 2022)
17-45 loss @ South Dakota State – It was never really a close game but worth note that they played the national champs last year. In the game Butler passed for about 210 yards in the game but couldn’t rush for much, while SDSU had 285 passing and 185 rushing. Butler lost 3 turnovers in the game, looks like most were later in the match when the game was well in hand.
56-20 win vs Morehead State – Butler was up 42-7 at the half in a total rout of Morehead. In the game Bushka, Butler’s QB was 8-10 passing and had 195 in the air. As a team they ran for 290 total yards. Morehead did put up about 275 yards in the air but most all of it came when playing from behind. Morehead just 2 weeks before this game got trounced by Montana State 63-13.
13-27 loss vs St. Thomas – Playing the Pioneer league champion on the last weekend of the season, Butler found themselves stuck in a defensive grudge match on a cold and windy day. They had just 231 yards of total offense and lost 2 interceptions on the day. St Thomas generally kept a 2 score lead after taking a blocked field goal to the house near the end of the 1st quarter.
-------------
General Stats (2022 numbers)
Passing yards per game GRIZ (225 for GRIZ vs 217 for BUT)
Rushing yards per game GRIZ (170 for GRIZ vs 162 for BUT)
Total offense GRIZ (395 for GRIZ vs 379 for BUT)
Passing yards allowed per game GRIZ (183 for GRIZ vs 203 for BUT)
Rushing yards allowed per game GRIZ (154 for GRIZ vs 156 for BUT)
Total defense GRIZ (337 for GRIZ vs 359 for BUT)
Clean sweep for Montana, all 6.
Offense points scored GRIZ (36.2 for GRIZ vs 27.3 for BUT)
Defense points allowed GRIZ (21.3 for GRIZ vs 22.2 for BUT)
Turnover margin GRIZ (-1 for GRIZ / -6 for BUT)
Fieldgoal % BUT (69% for GRIZ vs 80% for BUT)
Punt Returns GRIZ (14 yards for GRIZ vs 6 yards for BUT)
Kick Returns GRIZ (29 yards for GRIZ vs 22 yards for BUT)
T.O.P. BUT (28:32 for GRIZ vs 30:25 for BUT)
Red Zone defense (touchdowns) BUT (64% GRIZ / 63% BUT)
Red Zone offense (touchdowns) BUT (64% GRIZ / 70% BUT)
3rd down offense GRIZ – (46% for GRIZ / 42.2% for BUT)
3rd down defense GRIZ – (33% allowed for GRIZ vs 36.7% allowed for BUT)
Save Redzone and TOP the Griz add a lot more, picking up 7 more to Butlers 4. Total is 13 to Montana and 4 to Butler.
--------------------
Players to Watch:
#4 Bret Bushka, QB: The reigning Pioneer League MVP, he lead the team in rushing last season with 627 yards and had a team best 5 rushing TDs as well. He passed for an average of 216 yards per game and had 20 TDs to 10 INTs. He’s a true dual threat QB who operates in an RPO-heavy offense. He’ll be a handful for our defense.
#22 Joey Suchy, RB: 2nd on the team in rushing yards, he’s 6 foot and 224 pounds. He had 441 yards and 4 TDs on the ground, plus another 167 receiving yards and 1 more TD there.
#23 Luke Wooten, WR: A 5-10 slot WR that had 657 yards and 6 TDs on the season
#21 AJ Deinhard, RB: A speedy backer, 3rd in rushing with 312 yards and 1 TD, he also had about 100 receiving yards
#5 Nick Bafia, DB: Nick is a 6-1, 190 safety that was 2nd best on the team in tackle last year. He had 59 and 2 TFLs but forced no turnovers.
#1 Will Mason, DB: At 5-9 and 185 he had 2 picks last season, plus 57 tackles and a team best 7 PBUs
#87 Jacob Cain, DE: Cain had the most sacks on the team with 3.5 and had 4.5 TFLS.
-------------------------------
Keys to a victory
1. Let the strength of this team (the running game) ease in our new 2 QBs. It appears we’ve got an ongoing QB competition and making sure not to place too much pressure on them will help them with some real game moments.
2. Keep Buska in the pocket. Dude is tough to contain, disrupt his reads and don’t let him run wild on us. Also know he’s going to drop a few dunk passes over our blitzing defense so be ready for that – a good tuneup to the amount of mobile QBs we’ll see this season.
3. Flex the ST muscle. If it’s time to announce it’s a new season and our ST is back to it’s ways, lets take one to the house.
4. Control the line of scrimmage. Our OL vastly outsizes Butlers, will they have issues with the agility of their D-line or can they just maul them? Making sure our QBs stay clean and our RBs have lanes is an expected strength of this team.
5. Don’t let the moment take over the execution, we’re going to have lots of new guys out there and a noisy Griz crowd anxious to see this team. Don’t get too lost in the moment and focus on your task.
6. 225+ rushing. Ground and pound.
--------------
Week 1 games tend to be challenging, and I’m expecting some nervous play from our QBs. This could be a slow start, but I think the Grizzly rushing game will pull things away in the 2nd half. As long as Montana doesn’t totally trip all over themselves they should take this game and end it with a solid margin. I’ll say 38-14 Griz!
Go Griz!
