Lets break the recent mold

[dupuyer griz]

We play North Dakota this weekend. They gave the Cats a little more than I thought they would. Sounds like their defense is ok and their offense wasn't so hot. If we can control the ball and not have turnovers it should turn out well for us. Our offense should be able to put up 25-30 pretty easily here and I think the defense gives up less than 15. I'm gonna say 35-10 and we'll see how that goes for us. Just hoping someone wanted to talk football.

 

[Pin2Win]

UM should win this game pretty easily. But the margin is going to depend on how well UM's o-line plays. UND's defense was pretty good, but the weather is Bozeman sucked last week so that helped slow down MSU some too. A break here and a break there and that game couldn't been very ugly in favor of the Cats. But UND did a great job swarming to the ball and playing very physical. Outside of Van breaking a big one (which could very well happen again, the guy's a beast), I think UM will have some trouble running the ball with consistency. So will the line give your QB any time to throw? I think if they have a good day, UM wins 41-10. But if they just play "normal" (average), UM wins more like 27-13 (their defense gives their offense a couple more opportunities). Either way, I don't think this game will be in doubt for long.

 

[grizcountry420]

We've been playing some decent ball in the first half but i would like to see us come out in the second half and kick some ass and sustain some drives and put some points up on the board..

We've scored 136 points this season and 23 points were scored in the second half. Gotta step that up..

 

[get'em_griz]

Honestly, this game should be an easy win for the Griz. I put together some stats to see who North Dakota has faced, and how their "defense" has done against who their opponents were:

North Dakota | Total Defense | Pass Defense | Rush Defense
San Jose State (1-3) | 406 | 256 | 150
Robert Morris (0-4) | 363 | 149 | 214
Missouri State (3-1) | 384 | 149 | 235
Stony Brook (1-3) | 221 | 172 | 49
Montana State (3-2) | 293 | 222 | 71

Now, comparing each of these team's offensive averages compared to their games with North Dakota:

San Jose State (1-3) - Avg offense/game | Avg Pass/Game | Avg Rush/Game
Avg/game - 356 | 223 | 113
vs UND - 406 | 256 | 150

Robert Morris (0-4) - Avg offense/game | Avg Pass/Game | Avg Rush/Game
Avg/game - 245 | 151 | 94
vs UND - 363 | 149 | 214

Missouri State (3-1) - Avg offense/game | Avg Pass/Game | Avg Rush/Game
Avg/game - 439 | 226 | 213
vs UND - 384 | 149 | 235

Montana State (3-2) - Avg offense/game | Avg Pass/Game | Avg Rush/Game
Avg/game - 454 | 245 | 208
vs UND - 329 | 267 | 62

Overall, I'd say that North Dakota has a respectable defense, but I don't see it as overly impressive as some are making it out to be. As long as Montana's offense is able to mix things up and do what they did in the first quarter against Northern Colorado, this should be another smooth sailing to a win.

 

[mcg]

UM should win this game pretty easily. But the margin is going to depend on how well UM's o-line plays. UND's defense was pretty good, but the weather is Bozeman sucked last week so that helped slow down MSU some too. A break here and a break there and that game couldn't been very ugly in favor of the Cats. But UND did a great job swarming to the ball and playing very physical. Outside of Van breaking a big one (which could very well happen again, the guy's a beast), I think UM will have some trouble running the ball with consistency. So will the line give your QB any time to throw? I think if they have a good day, UM wins 41-10. But if they just play "normal" (average), UM wins more like 27-13 (their defense gives their offense a couple more opportunities). Either way, I don't think this game will be in doubt for long.

So you're saying the Cats had a "bad game"?

 

[Pin2Win]

UM should win this game pretty easily. But the margin is going to depend on how well UM's o-line plays. UND's defense was pretty good, but the weather is Bozeman sucked last week so that helped slow down MSU some too. A break here and a break there and that game couldn't been very ugly in favor of the Cats. But UND did a great job swarming to the ball and playing very physical. Outside of Van breaking a big one (which could very well happen again, the guy's a beast), I think UM will have some trouble running the ball with consistency. So will the line give your QB any time to throw? I think if they have a good day, UM wins 41-10. But if they just play "normal" (average), UM wins more like 27-13 (their defense gives their offense a couple more opportunities). Either way, I don't think this game will be in doubt for long.

So you're saying the Cats had a "bad game"?

Where did I say that? I said the weather played a factor in slowing them down. No, I don't think they played their best game, but sometimes a team has to win ugly when that's how the game is going. My point was that UND's defense may not be as good as they seem.

Is there a reason you put "bad game" in quotes? I only did that for the word normal in my post, because (a) how they've been playing is not normal for a UM line, and (b) because that is the general consensus is around here as to what normal is for this o-line. And I was only talking about the o-line for UM, not the rest of the team. The o-line hasn't been great to this point, so normal was just simply implying mediocre. Could they be better and keep getting better? Absolutely. If the UM o-line plays a better than average game, the Griz win this game by a wide margin. All the other pieces are in place for the Griz to be an awesome team this year, if the o-line improves.

 

[Grisly Fan]

Is there a reason you put "bad game" in quotes?

There was one particularly obnoxious NDSU poster that repeated ad nauseum the reason that NDSU didn't win more was because NDSU had a "bad game" and gave the Griz D no credit whatsoever. The arrogance chaffed more than a few here. You are getting the blowback from it.

 

[AZGrizFan]

Is there a reason you put "bad game" in quotes?

There was one particularly obnoxious NDSU poster that repeated ad nauseum the reason that NDSU didn't win more was because NDSU had a "bad game" and gave the Griz D no credit whatsoever. The arrogance chaffed more than a few here. You are getting the blowback from it.

Well, THAT, and the fact that he's a 'scat fan and we hate all 'scat fans here. So there's that.