Kittens vs. Western Illinois Game Thread (Official Troy Anderson Thread)

[PlayerRep]

I too "was pretty happy" with what I saw. The Cats are not as good as I thought they would be, and have way less offense than I assumed they would have. It was a nice win for the Cats. Strong second half and they finished.

Player Rep, I kind of thought it was a typical first game in that play was sloppy on both sides. I have learned over the years that you cannot judge a team by what happens in a first game. I am sure they will clean up that offense this week. My bet is that Anderson turns it completely around.

Will be watching the Griz tonight.

I don't find first games to be "typically" sloppy, but some obviously are. I think you can judge a team a lot by the first game, because it's literally the first time any fan has seen what the new team can do. But, yes, team can change and improve significantly over a season.

The best news for the Cats was the win. Playing hard, coming out tough the second half, finding a way to win, and finishing. Which the Cats had not been doing enough in prior years. It doesn't surprise me that the Cats did that. I had been expecting that would occur this year, as the Cats seemed to be improving with the new coaches and working to get over the hump.

I can see how the defense is good and can improve. I don't know what the O is going to be able to do, tho. Not that I'm saying the O can't improve. Good coaches work to find a way.

 

[PlayerRep]

I too "was pretty happy" with what I saw. The Cats are not as good as I thought they would be, and have way less offense than I assumed they would have. It was a nice win for the Cats. Strong second half and they finished.

Ok, cool... so we're all pretty happy then, works for me. And I'm sure the griz will come out flawless and look like world beaters tomorrow night against UNI. Looking forwards to watching that one and having the griz show us how it's done in an opening game.

I didn't realize that I had said something about the Griz in my post, or something that would deserve your response about the Griz. Me thinks you must be pretty insecure about both the Cats and the Griz.

 

[poorgriz]

I too "was pretty happy" with what I saw. The Cats are not as good as I thought they would be, and have way less offense than I assumed they would have. It was a nice win for the Cats. Strong second half and they finished.

Ok, cool... so we're all pretty happy then, works for me. And I'm sure the griz will come out flawless and look like world beaters tomorrow night against UNI. Looking forwards to watching that one and having the griz show us how it's done in an opening game.

I didn't realize that I had said something about the Griz in my post, or something that would deserve your response about the Griz. Me thinks you must be pretty insecure about both the Cats and the Griz.

No, not at all. Still think Cats end up 7-4 *Possibly 8-3) and griz at 6-5 (possibly 7-4). No, you didn't say anything about the griz in your post but you did comment that after watching one game you now know the Cats aren't as good as you thought they would be and have way less offense than you thought they would have. I'm just throwing out this weird concept that you can't always judge a team and how they're going to perform for the rest of the season, from one game. I'll be interested to hear your post game comments about how the griz fell short, met, or exceeded your expectations for the season after the game tonight.

P.S. I remember watching griz games when they used to be good and I can't even count the number of games I watched where the griz offense looked like complete shit for a good chunk of the game yet they still found ways to win the games.

 

[ABQCat]

I watched the whole thing. WIU should have won the game but for some stupidity, but MSU earned that win with toughness. I was not that impressed with the WIU QB after a good start. Man he had happy feet, and had no idea how to step up into the pocket. Talk about the QB list from a couple days ago...footwork and presence were not there. He had a good arm and could make throws, but his brain sucked.
I will wait to judge the game in a few weeks after I see the product on Saturday night, but I may change to a W on the road. I do think it funny that the cats win "against the team picked 7th in the MV" but how many on here picked the Griz to beat UNI and lose to W Illinois? Quite a few if my memory serves me. Good wins by the Sky tonight...and maybe Weebs isn't as good as thought as well. GO GRIZ!

I agree with your comments on the WIU QB. He threw off his back foot on most every pass, very poor mechanics for a kid who has started for 4 years. Poor decision making too, and not very accurate.

We were bouncing around different games, so we didn't follow all the intro stuff. But as we watched the actual game, the WIU QB looked so inept, I figured he was a newbie. So it came as a bit of a shock to learn that he'd been starting since he was a redshirt freshman. But if Wikipedia has it right, he's playing under his third head coach, so maybe it's no surprise that he looked so bad in his first game under a new coach.

He was Honorable Mention all MV last year with 24 TDs against 7 INTs with a rating of 154. He's a very good QB that led his team to an 8-3 regular season record and a playoff birth. His new coach is his previous offensive coordinator running the same scheme with the same vocabulary. Thinking he looked "enept" is a compliment to the Cats pressure and coverage, or it could be a combination of an OL with 4 new starters. A grizz fan doesn't like either of those possibilities.

 

[PlayerRep]

I too "was pretty happy" with what I saw. The Cats are not as good as I thought they would be, and have way less offense than I assumed they would have. It was a nice win for the Cats. Strong second half and they finished.

Ok, cool... so we're all pretty happy then, works for me. And I'm sure the griz will come out flawless and look like world beaters tomorrow night against UNI. Looking forwards to watching that one and having the griz show us how it's done in an opening game.

I didn't realize that I had said something about the Griz in my post, or something that would deserve your response about the Griz. Me thinks you must be pretty insecure about both the Cats and the Griz.

No, not at all. Still think Cats end up 7-4 *Possibly 8-3) and griz at 6-5 (possibly 7-4). No, you didn't say anything about the griz in your post but you did comment that after watching one game you now know the Cats aren't as good as you thought they would be and have way less offense than you thought they would have. I'm just throwing out this weird concept that you can't always judge a team and how they're going to perform for the rest of the season, from one game. I'll be interested to hear your post game comments about how the griz fell short, met, or exceeded your expectations for the season after the game tonight.

Are you saying that it's not possible to get a pretty good handle on the strengths and weaknesses of a team from the first game? Do you not think there appears to be a good chance that the Cats have found a good kicker? Do you think the Cats are going to have a strong offense this year with Anderson at QB? Do you not think the Cat D looks like it will probably be at least pretty good? Do you not think that the Cats showed improvement by figuring out how to win a close game against a more than credible opponent?

I thought the Cats would beat WI handily. They didn't. Thus, the Cats are not as good as I thought they would be. Maybe the Cats will be awesome in the next couple games. I doubt that.

 

[PlayerRep]

I too "was pretty happy" with what I saw. The Cats are not as good as I thought they would be, and have way less offense than I assumed they would have. It was a nice win for the Cats. Strong second half and they finished.

Ok, cool... so we're all pretty happy then, works for me. And I'm sure the griz will come out flawless and look like world beaters tomorrow night against UNI. Looking forwards to watching that one and having the griz show us how it's done in an opening game.

I didn't realize that I had said something about the Griz in my post, or something that would deserve your response about the Griz. Me thinks you must be pretty insecure about both the Cats and the Griz.

No, not at all. Still think Cats end up 7-4 *Possibly 8-3) and griz at 6-5 (possibly 7-4). No, you didn't say anything about the griz in your post but you did comment that after watching one game you now know the Cats aren't as good as you thought they would be and have way less offense than you thought they would have. I'm just throwing out this weird concept that you can't always judge a team and how they're going to perform for the rest of the season, from one game. I'll be interested to hear your post game comments about how the griz fell short, met, or exceeded your expectations for the season after the game tonight.

P.S. I remember watching griz games when they used to be good and I can't even count the number of games I watched where the griz offense looked like complete shit for a good chunk of the game yet they still found ways to win the games.

Can you point out the games, when the Griiz were good and had their starting QB, when the Griz offense was as weak as the Cat offense was against WI? 239 yards of TO.

 

[poorgriz]

Ok, cool... so we're all pretty happy then, works for me. And I'm sure the griz will come out flawless and look like world beaters tomorrow night against UNI. Looking forwards to watching that one and having the griz show us how it's done in an opening game.

I didn't realize that I had said something about the Griz in my post, or something that would deserve your response about the Griz. Me thinks you must be pretty insecure about both the Cats and the Griz.

No, not at all. Still think Cats end up 7-4 *Possibly 8-3) and griz at 6-5 (possibly 7-4). No, you didn't say anything about the griz in your post but you did comment that after watching one game you now know the Cats aren't as good as you thought they would be and have way less offense than you thought they would have. I'm just throwing out this weird concept that you can't always judge a team and how they're going to perform for the rest of the season, from one game. I'll be interested to hear your post game comments about how the griz fell short, met, or exceeded your expectations for the season after the game tonight.

P.S. I remember watching griz games when they used to be good and I can't even count the number of games I watched where the griz offense looked like complete shit for a good chunk of the game yet they still found ways to win the games.

Can you point out the games, when the Griiz were good and had their starting QB, when the Griz offense was as weak as the Cat offense was against WI? 239 yards of TO.

Sure thing PR, here ya go! I honestly was not going to waste my time on this but out of curiosity I want back to 2007 and randomly clicked on one of your lower scoring games to see the stats. WOW. No idea on starting QB or whatever but you ended up with 174 total yards and won. I looked at two other games and one was 290 total yards and the other just over 300.

https://gogriz.com/boxscore.aspx?id=626&path=football

 

[UMcheer2000]

TF is there a 23 page thread about Little Brother?!

FTC!

 

[poorgriz]

Also, I think it would be an interesting comparison to look back through all the season openers where the team was starting a new QB for the first time, against a quality opponent, and see how they did. Both Cats and griz.

 

[uofmman1122]

I didn't realize that I had said something about the Griz in my post, or something that would deserve your response about the Griz. Me thinks you must be pretty insecure about both the Cats and the Griz.

No, not at all. Still think Cats end up 7-4 *Possibly 8-3) and griz at 6-5 (possibly 7-4). No, you didn't say anything about the griz in your post but you did comment that after watching one game you now know the Cats aren't as good as you thought they would be and have way less offense than you thought they would have. I'm just throwing out this weird concept that you can't always judge a team and how they're going to perform for the rest of the season, from one game. I'll be interested to hear your post game comments about how the griz fell short, met, or exceeded your expectations for the season after the game tonight.

P.S. I remember watching griz games when they used to be good and I can't even count the number of games I watched where the griz offense looked like complete shit for a good chunk of the game yet they still found ways to win the games.

Can you point out the games, when the Griiz were good and had their starting QB, when the Griz offense was as weak as the Cat offense was against WI? 239 yards of TO.

Sure thing PR, here ya go! I honestly was not going to waste my time on this but out of curiosity I want back to 2007 and randomly clicked on one of your lower scoring games to see the stats. WOW. No idea on starting QB or whatever but you ended up with 174 total yards and won. I looked at two other games and one was 290 total yards and the other just over 300.

https://gogriz.com/boxscore.aspx?id=626&path=football

Hooo boy. That game was rough. That was the game that sunk us from #1 to #3, and we never climbed higher than that, despite going undefeated.

Although I’d be real hesitant to compare this year’s Cat team to that 2007 Griz team, even with the fact that it was easily the most under-performing Griz team relative to its total amount of talent of my lifetime.

 

[DriscollCat]

Observations on WIU.

Offensively: Lots of fly sweep action that test the eyes of the LB's. They have a big bruising RB who they run up the middle and a couple guys (see mcshane below) who can take it around the edge.

McShane is the real deal. He's fast, quick, shifty, and has great balance. Had an outstanding one handed TD reception. Somewhat similar to a JLM/Matt Sczur type of player. Small in stature, but does it all. Overall he had 3 touchdowns on the night (1 rushing, 2 rec)
OL: terrible pass blockers. The WIU QB hardly ever had a clean pocket to throw from. Decent run blocking, mostly due to misdirection confusion stuff.
QB: He was supposed to be their top player and leader. It was clear his OL sucked and he knew it. he was never really able to set his feet.

Defensively, they are very strong up the middle. Hard to know what their secondary looks like, as we had a linebacker playing QB.
Very active Linebackers
They have a big bruising DT who is a preseason all-american and I think on the Buck Buchanan list, but I'm not sure I heard his name (Saunders) called at all. I'm guess he was seeing double teams all night and is a big reason why the LB's had a majority of the tackles.

What I was most impressed with about their D was team speed. They were very fast.

 

[mcg]

TF is there a 23 page thread about Little Brother?!

FTC!

perfectly put. I couldn't care less about the bozeman team.

 

[Hells bells]

Cats have crappy coaches and frickin' tough effing players.

Agree the players are tough. Don’t agree about Gregorak. He can coach defense quite well. Definitely needs a haircut and new glasses though.

The leathernecks would place players in motion all game long. When the TEs would motion it would be a play action pass to any one number of guys running a flood route. There are these two short wide recievers they have that would go in motion as well, most of the time taking direct handoff from QB while in motion - I was seeing this from the stands during the first quarter. That play would go for 20 yards every time they ran it.

Embarassing

 

[wbtfg]

Regardless both these teams suck.....

This is a fun thread.

 

[Phat Cat]

Looks like the shoe is on the other foot tonight. Well, two nights ago. Love karma.