"Defense" Big Sky Style

[mtgrizrule]

One thing that seems obvious is The Griz tackling is very sound. :thumb: They're fast and hit hard! Say what you must but Tye has done a great job. Now finish the deal and quit giving up garbage touchdowns. They can and will hold offenses in check but JJ and co. have to start clicking. It starts against davis!

It's been amazing the gradual improvements Ty has made within his own coaching, his staff, and players. I was pretty critical and disappointed of his coaching until last season. At the USD game in Vermillion, I noticed he was experimenting with player utilization (especially Gamboa), and mixing things up in schemes.

At the end of last season, he publicly stated he needed to work on somethings. He took accountability. He has passed that accountability onto his staff and players. The results are noticeable as well. I wish and hope, the offensive staff will learn from his approach. I am sure the NDSU game was difficult for him to coach. He pretty much had to concede field position and focus on red zone defense to keep the GRIZ in the game. God knows, our offense was not capable of moving the ball and keeping the ball from NDSU.

 

[JayLarson]

I for one am very scared that our defense has not played any high powered offenses yet, we still have no idea how the defense is against a passing team, and they have had trouble stopping the pass by the non-passing teams that they have played.

175 ypg allowed is struggling? You just can't help but be a Debbie Downer, can ya?

We have played teams that only pass as a last resort, NDSU and UND both moved the ball with the pass. How many pass plays were actually ran in these 175 yards. I am not trying to be a downer, I just have concerns for when we play a high powered offense, as we have not seen one of them this season so far. UNC was using a 3rd string unprepared QB, and he had a real long TD run, we have yet to play one of the running QB's. I am concerned.

 

[PlayerRep]

I for one am very scared that our defense has not played any high powered offenses yet, we still have no idea how the defense is against a passing team, and they have had trouble stopping the pass by the non-passing teams that they have played.

175 ypg allowed is struggling? You just can't help but be a Debbie Downer, can ya?

We have played teams that only pass as a last resort, NDSU and UND both moved the ball with the pass. How many pass plays were actually ran in these 175 yards. I am not trying to be a downer, I just have concerns for when we play a high powered offense, as we have not seen one of them this season so far. UNC was using a 3rd string unprepared QB, and he had a real long TD run, we have yet to play one of the running QB's. I am concerned.

You said UM has had trouble stopping the pass. That's not accurate. UM is 6th in the nation in giving up the fewest yards per pass. That's a very good stat. Maybe things will change in the future, but there is no argument whatsoever that UM has struggled against the pass so far this year.

 

[marceagfan5]

There are 121 FCS teams in the nation. Here are the Total Defense Rankings for the following teams:

118. So Utah

117. UCD

112: MSU

110: Sac

108: ISU

105: EWU

103: Weber

98: PSU

So the BSC has 3 in the bottom 10, a staggering SEVEN in the bottom 20, with PSU knocking on the door.

We have 3 more (NoCo at 82, Poly at 74, NAU at 63) generously described as "middle of the pack".

Then we have NoDak at 26 and UM at 21.

Those are some ugly assed numbers.

Yet, the Big Sky has 3 teams ranked in the top 9...

Who cares about the stats, the top 3 in the conference are just fine.

 

[grizcountry420]

 

[Htowngriz]

There are 121 FCS teams in the nation. Here are the Total Defense Rankings for the following teams:

118. So Utah

117. UCD

112: MSU

110: Sac

108: ISU

105: EWU

103: Weber

98: PSU

So the BSC has 3 in the bottom 10, a staggering SEVEN in the bottom 20, with PSU knocking on the door.

We have 3 more (NoCo at 82, Poly at 74, NAU at 63) generously described as "middle of the pack".

Then we have NoDak at 26 and UM at 21.

Those are some ugly assed numbers.

Yet, the Big Sky has 3 teams ranked in the top 9...

Who cares about the stats, the top 3 in the conference are just fine.

The words top heavy come to mind. I do think all three of those teams the playoffs and make some noise, assuming we don't draw Coastal and the cats can overcome their penchant for folding like cheap suits.

 

[GrizMusician]

There are 121 FCS teams in the nation. Here are the Total Defense Rankings for the following teams:

118. So Utah

117. UCD

112: MSU

110: Sac

108: ISU

105: EWU

103: Weber

98: PSU

So the BSC has 3 in the bottom 10, a staggering SEVEN in the bottom 20, with PSU knocking on the door.

We have 3 more (NoCo at 82, Poly at 74, NAU at 63) generously described as "middle of the pack".

Then we have NoDak at 26 and UM at 21.

Those are some ugly assed numbers.

Yet, the Big Sky has 3 teams ranked in the top 9...

Who cares about the stats, the top 3 in the conference are just fine.

Are the stats of the top three BSC teams a product of playing against a weak BSC?

 

[Pin2Win]

The words top heavy come to mind. I do think all three of those teams the playoffs and make some noise, assuming we don't draw Coastal and the cats can overcome their penchant for folding like cheap suits.

There just totally seems to be a different vibe with the Cats this year, to where I finally have some confidence that they won't fold when the pressure gets put on. Not a "tide is changing" thing or any of the normal troll banter. I'm not blind enough either to predict a deep run until I see something strong through the end of the season, including a win over the Griz.

The 'individual' seems to be gone from the team. The vibe is about the team. It's refreshing. As good as some of the players were the past few seasons (McGhee, Kirk, Bleskin, Akpla, etc.), the game plans lived and died on those guys. They could overcome it over less talented teams in the regular season. Come playoff time, the teams are talented enough to take away the main cogs of the Cats, dooming any playoff run. I'm not sure they can do that to this team. There have been so many different weapons involved. We'll see I guess.

 

[PlayerRep]

There are 121 FCS teams in the nation. Here are the Total Defense Rankings for the following teams:

118. So Utah

117. UCD

112: MSU

110: Sac

108: ISU

105: EWU

103: Weber

98: PSU

So the BSC has 3 in the bottom 10, a staggering SEVEN in the bottom 20, with PSU knocking on the door.

We have 3 more (NoCo at 82, Poly at 74, NAU at 63) generously described as "middle of the pack".

Then we have NoDak at 26 and UM at 21.

Those are some ugly assed numbers.

Yet, the Big Sky has 3 teams ranked in the top 9...

Who cares about the stats, the top 3 in the conference are just fine.

Are the stats of the top three BSC teams a product of playing against a weak BSC?

It's not the stats of the top 3 teams; it's the poll rankings. At this point of the season, the BSC teams have played more non-conference games than conference games. What do you attribute the 3 top 9 rankings to?

I agree that that poll rankings, especially earlier in the season (altho teams are at the mid-point of season now), are not overly meaninful.

 

[PlayerRep]

The words top heavy come to mind. I do think all three of those teams the playoffs and make some noise, assuming we don't draw Coastal and the cats can overcome their penchant for folding like cheap suits.

There just totally seems to be a different vibe with the Cats this year, to where I finally have some confidence that they won't fold when the pressure gets put on. Not a "tide is changing" thing or any of the normal troll banter. I'm not blind enough either to predict a deep run until I see something strong through the end of the season, including a win over the Griz.

The 'individual' seems to be gone from the team. The vibe is about the team. It's refreshing. As good as some of the players were the past few seasons (McGhee, Kirk, Bleskin, Akpla, etc.), the game plans lived and died on those guys. They could overcome it over less talented teams in the regular season. Come playoff time, the teams are talented enough to take away the main cogs of the Cats, dooming any playoff run. I'm not sure they can do that to this team. There have been so many different weapons involved. We'll see I guess.

You seem to be ignoring how weak the Cat defense has been so far this year. Defense is equally as important as offense. In fact, if I had to pick which good unit I'd rather have, I'd pick defense. Don't know how the Cat special teams are this year.

It will be interesting to see how well the Cat offense can perform against a good defense in conference play. Arkansas St appears to have had a pretty good defense, not giving up more than 14 points to any team other than Tennessee and Miami. Cats scored 10 against them. The Cat drive for TD came off a turnover and was 4 plays for 7 yards. Cats had 10 FD's and 228 total yards. Yes, that was the first game of the season, but at least at that point, a good defense stopped the Cats cold. Cats scored only 29 against UND.

 

[Pin2Win]

The words top heavy come to mind. I do think all three of those teams the playoffs and make some noise, assuming we don't draw Coastal and the cats can overcome their penchant for folding like cheap suits.

There just totally seems to be a different vibe with the Cats this year, to where I finally have some confidence that they won't fold when the pressure gets put on. Not a "tide is changing" thing or any of the normal troll banter. I'm not blind enough either to predict a deep run until I see something strong through the end of the season, including a win over the Griz.

The 'individual' seems to be gone from the team. The vibe is about the team. It's refreshing. As good as some of the players were the past few seasons (McGhee, Kirk, Bleskin, Akpla, etc.), the game plans lived and died on those guys. They could overcome it over less talented teams in the regular season. Come playoff time, the teams are talented enough to take away the main cogs of the Cats, dooming any playoff run. I'm not sure they can do that to this team. There have been so many different weapons involved. We'll see I guess.

You seem to be ignoring how weak the Cat defense has been so far this year. Defense is equally as important as offense. In fact, if I had to pick which good unit I'd rather have, I'd pick defense. Don't know how the Cat special teams are this year.

It will be interesting to see how well the Cat offense can perform against a good defense in conference play. Arkansas St appears to have had a pretty good defense, not giving up more than 14 points to any team other than Tennessee and Miami. Cats scored 10 against them. The Cat drive for TD came off a turnover and was 4 plays for 7 yards. Cats had 10 FD's and 228 total yards. Yes, that was the first game of the season, but at least at that point, a good defense stopped the Cats cold. Cats scored only 29 against UND.

I'm not forgetting about the defense. Just because I didn't address it in that post doesn't mean I forgot. Heck, I was a defensive end. My mind always thinks of the D first. But like I indicated, I think a Cat win in Cat/Griz is critical. That will mean they have come out and beat a great defense. They can win a track meet, we've seen that already. Can they win against another good defense? I'm not gushing over with confidence. My point was there is a different vibe with this year's team that I like.
Special teams this year have been very good. Much, much better than previous years. Both ends of kickoff game have been good. Punt coverage has been good. FG's very solid. Punt returns have been mediocre.

 

[PlayerRep]

The words top heavy come to mind. I do think all three of those teams the playoffs and make some noise, assuming we don't draw Coastal and the cats can overcome their penchant for folding like cheap suits.

There just totally seems to be a different vibe with the Cats this year, to where I finally have some confidence that they won't fold when the pressure gets put on. Not a "tide is changing" thing or any of the normal troll banter. I'm not blind enough either to predict a deep run until I see something strong through the end of the season, including a win over the Griz.

The 'individual' seems to be gone from the team. The vibe is about the team. It's refreshing. As good as some of the players were the past few seasons (McGhee, Kirk, Bleskin, Akpla, etc.), the game plans lived and died on those guys. They could overcome it over less talented teams in the regular season. Come playoff time, the teams are talented enough to take away the main cogs of the Cats, dooming any playoff run. I'm not sure they can do that to this team. There have been so many different weapons involved. We'll see I guess.

You seem to be ignoring how weak the Cat defense has been so far this year. Defense is equally as important as offense. In fact, if I had to pick which good unit I'd rather have, I'd pick defense. Don't know how the Cat special teams are this year.

It will be interesting to see how well the Cat offense can perform against a good defense in conference play. Arkansas St appears to have had a pretty good defense, not giving up more than 14 points to any team other than Tennessee and Miami. Cats scored 10 against them. The Cat drive for TD came off a turnover and was 4 plays for 7 yards. Cats had 10 FD's and 228 total yards. Yes, that was the first game of the season, but at least at that point, a good defense stopped the Cats cold. Cats scored only 29 against UND.

I'm not forgetting about the defense. Just because I didn't address it in that post doesn't mean I forgot. Heck, I was a defensive end. My mind always thinks of the D first. But like I indicated, I think a Cat win in Cat/Griz is critical. That will mean they have come out and beat a great defense. They can win a track meet, we've seen that already. Can they win against another good defense? I'm not gushing over with confidence. My point was there is a different vibe with this year's team that I like.
Special teams this year have been very good. Much, much better than previous years. Both ends of kickoff game have been good. Punt coverage has been good. FG's very solid. Punt returns have been mediocre.

Cats have also shown that they can lose a track meet too, i.e. EWU. Thanks for the special teams report. Yes, a Cat win over the Griz is critical. However, I don't think the Cats will get that win.