Post Game: 3-1

[1972]

Good post Sask, and I think we all agree / understand this defense is structured differently. Nevertheless, they had better get some really good pressure on UCD's quarterback Jake Maier (or he will pick them apart like a surgeon). Maier will not be fooled/confused very often, so UM will have to rush him into his decision/throws.

I think we need to understand the D set up before we get after the lack of D-line pressure. Nobody gets pressure out of a 3 man front. The reason was math 3 v 5. This D is about discipline and humility (if that word works), maintain gap control, eat blocks and watch Dante and Robbie and Gavin get the stats. Add to that our rush ends tend to be light, young or some combination of the two.

100% agree, just saying our pressure comes out of scheme or "games" rather than formation. We can't just "pin our ears back and go".

Finally somebody who understands the 3 man front. I think what is getting overlooked a bunch here and won't be any different this week is how quickly the quarterback gets the ball out of his hands, very quick release. Maier and the quarterback we just played are very smart, understand defenses, they won't be confused. WE aren't going to shut Maier down, he's going to get his yards, look what he did to NDSU and probably not a better defense in the country at this level. Griz have been very good inside the 20's that's where the game is going to be won in my opinion. I watched part of the NDSU game, felt that NDSU was very fortunate to get the win, don't know if they will beat them if they play again. We're going to have our hands full. We need to limit the big plays, make them earn their points.

 

[Proud Griz Man]

In order to beat UCD The Bizon got two fourth quarter interceptions right ?

Finally somebody who understands the 3 man front. I think what is getting overlooked a bunch here and won't be any different this week is how quickly the quarterback gets the ball out of his hands, very quick release. Maier and the quarterback we just played are very smart, understand defenses, they won't be confused. WE aren't going to shut Maier down, he's going to get his yards, look what he did to NDSU and probably not a better defense in the country at this level. Griz have been very good inside the 20's that's where the game is going to be won in my opinion. I watched part of the NDSU game, felt that NDSU was very fortunate to get the win, don't know if they will beat them if they play again. We're going to have our hands full. We need to limit the big plays, make them earn their points.

. . . The Bison defense saved the day, creating two critical turnovers in a game that wasn't decided until the final minutes. The 6-foot-5, 246-pound Tuszka tipped a pass from Davis quarterback Jake Maier, and the deflection fell into the waiting arms of 6-foot-4, 271-pound Karcz at the Aggies 18-yard line. "I was thinking, 'Hold on to the ball,'" Karcz said. "That's going to happen," Maier said of the deflected interception. "You can't always win. That's how life works."

NDSU quarterback Trey Lance scored three plays later on a bruising 10-yard touchdown run that gave the Bison a 27-16 lead with 2 minutes, 50 seconds remaining. "The defense, they won us that game," Lance said. One possession earlier, Davis looked to be on the verge of taking a lead midway through the fourth quarter. The Aggies had a first-and-goal from the Bison 4-yard line, but NDSU defensive lineman Costner Ching sliced through the line of scrimmage and tackled running back Ulonzo Gilliam Jr. for a four-yard loss. On third-and-goal from the 7, Tutsie stepped in front of a Maier pass near the goal line with 6:44 remaining. "I was just reading the quarterback's eyes and being patient," Tutsie said.

 

[1972]

In order to beat UCD The Bizon got two fourth quarter interceptions right ?

Finally somebody who understands the 3 man front. I think what is getting overlooked a bunch here and won't be any different this week is how quickly the quarterback gets the ball out of his hands, very quick release. Maier and the quarterback we just played are very smart, understand defenses, they won't be confused. WE aren't going to shut Maier down, he's going to get his yards, look what he did to NDSU and probably not a better defense in the country at this level. Griz have been very good inside the 20's that's where the game is going to be won in my opinion. I watched part of the NDSU game, felt that NDSU was very fortunate to get the win, don't know if they will beat them if they play again. We're going to have our hands full. We need to limit the big plays, make them earn their points.

. . . The Bison defense saved the day, creating two critical turnovers in a game that wasn't decided until the final minutes. The 6-foot-5, 246-pound Tuszka tipped a pass from Davis quarterback Jake Maier, and the deflection fell into the waiting arms of 6-foot-4, 271-pound Karcz at the Aggies 18-yard line. "I was thinking, 'Hold on to the ball,'" Karcz said. "That's going to happen," Maier said of the deflected interception. "You can't always win. That's how life works."

NDSU quarterback Trey Lance scored three plays later on a bruising 10-yard touchdown run that gave the Bison a 27-16 lead with 2 minutes, 50 seconds remaining. "The defense, they won us that game," Lance said. One possession earlier, Davis looked to be on the verge of taking a lead midway through the fourth quarter. The Aggies had a first-and-goal from the Bison 4-yard line, but NDSU defensive lineman Costner Ching sliced through the line of scrimmage and tackled running back Ulonzo Gilliam Jr. for a four-yard loss. On third-and-goal from the 7, Tutsie stepped in front of a Maier pass near the goal line with 6:44 remaining. "I was just reading the quarterback's eyes and being patient," Tutsie said.

Yep!

 

[kemajic]

If anyone has the time, has there been a game where Dalton Sneed hasn't had a turnover? I feel like he causes at least 2 turnovers a game. It's going to eventually cost us a couple or few games. He needs to clean it up, quickly! I was hoping this year he'd be a bit more careful. I also noticed he throws into some tight coverage to certain players even when there's some guys wide open with daylight for days. Imo if he doesn't get this figured out it might cost us the playoffs or get throttled come playoff time.

He caused one turnover Saturday - the fumble when he should have slid. The int was a deflection that could have been caught by the receiver. You choose to blame Sneed for that? He had 7 ints all of last year; surprisingly low for the poor protection he received and the number of passes thrown. He needs to clean up the fumbles. There is not a problem with ints.

 

[jcu27]

If anyone has the time, has there been a game where Dalton Sneed hasn't had a turnover? I feel like he causes at least 2 turnovers a game. It's going to eventually cost us a couple or few games. He needs to clean it up, quickly! I was hoping this year he'd be a bit more careful. I also noticed he throws into some tight coverage to certain players even when there's some guys wide open with daylight for days. Imo if he doesn't get this figured out it might cost us the playoffs or get throttled come playoff time.

He caused one turnover Saturday - the fumble when he should have slid. The int was a deflection that could have been caught by the receiver. You choose to blame Sneed for that? He had 7 ints all of last year; surprisingly low for the poor protection he received and the number of passes thrown. He needs to clean up the fumbles. There is not a problem with ints.

How many fumbles though?

 

[jcu27]

Just saying he has a knack for giving the ball to the other team. Was an issue last year too. Pretty sure he already has close to 7 ints this year.

 

[daGrizJ]

In order to beat UCD The Bizon got two fourth quarter interceptions right ?

Finally somebody who understands the 3 man front. I think what is getting overlooked a bunch here and won't be any different this week is how quickly the quarterback gets the ball out of his hands, very quick release. Maier and the quarterback we just played are very smart, understand defenses, they won't be confused. WE aren't going to shut Maier down, he's going to get his yards, look what he did to NDSU and probably not a better defense in the country at this level. Griz have been very good inside the 20's that's where the game is going to be won in my opinion. I watched part of the NDSU game, felt that NDSU was very fortunate to get the win, don't know if they will beat them if they play again. We're going to have our hands full. We need to limit the big plays, make them earn their points.

. . . The Bison defense saved the day, creating two critical turnovers in a game that wasn't decided until the final minutes. The 6-foot-5, 246-pound Tuszka tipped a pass from Davis quarterback Jake Maier, and the deflection fell into the waiting arms of 6-foot-4, 271-pound Karcz at the Aggies 18-yard line. "I was thinking, 'Hold on to the ball,'" Karcz said. "That's going to happen," Maier said of the deflected interception. "You can't always win. That's how life works."

NDSU quarterback Trey Lance scored three plays later on a bruising 10-yard touchdown run that gave the Bison a 27-16 lead with 2 minutes, 50 seconds remaining. "The defense, they won us that game," Lance said. One possession earlier, Davis looked to be on the verge of taking a lead midway through the fourth quarter. The Aggies had a first-and-goal from the Bison 4-yard line, but NDSU defensive lineman Costner Ching sliced through the line of scrimmage and tackled running back Ulonzo Gilliam Jr. for a four-yard loss. On third-and-goal from the 7, Tutsie stepped in front of a Maier pass near the goal line with 6:44 remaining. "I was just reading the quarterback's eyes and being patient," Tutsie said.

Yep!

Geez, I have said in several threads, UCD should have won this game. Not only did they have these freaky turnovers on good 4th qrt drives, they also had a scoring drive nullified by a bogus offensive holding call on a receiver who scored a TD. The penalty moved them out of FG range. NDSU was very lucky to get out of this with a win.

 

[IdaGriz01]

Just saying he has a knack for giving the ball to the other team. Was an issue last year too. Pretty sure he already has close to 7 ints this year.

He has four: 2 against South Dakota, none vs North Alabama, one each against Oregon and Monmouth. Balance that versus 8 touchdowns. He's also been sacked 8 times -- thought it was better than that, OL still needs to tighten up.

 

[grizpaws]

He caused one turnover Saturday - the fumble when he should have slid. The int was a deflection that could have been caught by the receiver. You choose to blame Sneed for that? He had 7 ints all of last year; surprisingly low for the poor protection he received and the number of passes thrown. He needs to clean up the fumbles. There is not a problem with ints.
[/quote]

Agreed. I like that he's aggressive and a competitor, but, as you said, he needs to slide instead of charging into tacklers. He finished the game with a 75% completion rate so it is pretty hard to argue that his accuracy is a problem.

 

[kemajic]

Just saying he has a knack for giving the ball to the other team. Was an issue last year too. Pretty sure he already has close to 7 ints this year.

4 is not very close to 7. Two of the four were deflections as were a couple last year. He has more of a problem with passes batted down by the DL than he has with ints. He also has a "knack" of being a gifted and very fast runner, throwing for a lot of yards, a very high completion percentage, first downs and TDs. That seems to have gone right by you.

 

[Missoula223]

Just saying he has a knack for giving the ball to the other team. Was an issue last year too. Pretty sure he already has close to 7 ints this year.

You realize he's 111 for 160 completions this year right? With over 1200 yards and 8 touchdowns? And try 4 interceptions? Those numbers would suggest he has a knack for giving the ball to his receivers.

You're an idiot. Don't talk shit about players when you have no idea what you're talking about. Also try watching the games, and maybe you'll realize his play making is what makes our offense so successful.

 

[get'em_griz]

Just saying he has a knack for giving the ball to the other team. Was an issue last year too. Pretty sure he already has close to 7 ints this year.

You realize he's 111 for 160 completions this year right? With over 1200 yards and 8 touchdowns? And try 4 interceptions? Those numbers would suggest he has a knack for giving the ball to his receivers.

You're an idiot. Don't talk shit about players when you have no idea what you're talking about. Also try watching the games, and maybe you'll realize his play making is what makes our offense so successful.

Vernon Adams at EWU in his final year had 15 interceptions... I guess he too had a "knack" for giving the ball to the other team. Must have been a huge detriment to EWU's offense during those years. How could EWU's offense ever succeed with those interception numbers?

 

[Griz#64]

I think our defensive coaches are in a damned if you do and damned if you don't. I believe the coaches need to co-ordinate their defensive schemes a little better. If you are going to bring the house, you better have tight man coverage on receivers, and hope like hell the attack group get a good push and play tall(hands up). I will give Monmouth's line. They were very good picking up the blitz, and that QB was damn good. Go Griz We are going to face a similar problem this week.

 

[wittk60]

Before diving into some of the thoughts on this game itself, lets first look at the big picture. Realistically the best outcome from the OOC schedule was a 3-1 record, and that's where the Griz are. There was a lot of talk that the Griz could really be 1-3 or 2-2 at this point, but they're not. Yes I know that clearly these OOC teams booked appear to not be as good as thought in the pre-season, but the Griz have done what they needed to and are now on to conference play.

As for the game itself, it had some big moments and great plays, it was also sloppy and concerning at times too. I was hoping for a game where the Griz lock it in, instead we saw a suggestion that some points of needed improvement simply aren't happening yet.

My general takeaways:

- As another thread suggests, Marcus Knight is good and clearly RB1. His one run where he bounced off a defender and kept his balance to extend the run is something almost unseen. His pass protection is getting better, and his cuts and decision making seems to be improving too. We have our guy, and he's shining as the starter. Almost 150 rushing and a score today.

- Dalton Sneed keeps showing us what he brings as the starter, his passing game and pass numbers are through the roof, 334 yards and 4 TDs today is just another banner day for the guy passing. His one pick was a tough break, a high bounce off a deflection. His lost fumble was an issue, needed to slide and avoid that full on hit. I know he's a guy that plays at 100% all the time but sometimes being smarter with the ball will not end drives in a turnover. Sneed did that far too much last season, it's really reduced this year so far, but did spring up today. One thing I will say, while he was 30-40 passing, I think 4 or 5 of those incomplete passes were straight up drops. He was on target today. Dalton hit 8 different targets today and looking at the stats he had 3 or more completions to every target except Knight who caught just 1 pass.

- Its probably time to start getting worried about the pass rush. I don't know if the pass defense, the safeties and corners, are overmatched per se, but I think they've having a hell of a time covering as the DL is not getting pressure, and even heavy blitzes are not delivering pressure effectively - or at least it didn't today. The Grizzly pass defense has given up an average of 325 passing yards per game after 4 games and still have to face UCD, EWU, and other strong pass attack teams. This has become one of my largest concerns of this team going forward.

- Awesome design, blocks, and speed on the kick return TD. Flowers is a unique talent and he showed off what he can do with space. Hope there's more to come for him this year. The threat of Flowers and JLM really changed how MU handled kicking the ball.

- I tweeted about it during the game but did anyone else notice Mo Mallory, #77 on the OL? Getting a start today (with Cook as well) this guy was driving the Monmouth DL crazy. He would intentionally find a guy to lay on if he couldn't do it to his own guy he was blocking. He would lay on the dude and put his hands up in the air and slowly attempt to stand up. It was something else, haha. I think Mallory got to rub his belly on almost every defender that was on the field for Monmouth.

- A few injuries of concern, Villanueva looked ok post game, left the field twice with injuries. Braydon Deming appeared to have some sort of arm injury and didn't return.

- Dante Olson once again was a wrecking ball out there. 13 tackles, 2.5 TFLs, 1 sack. Looking at the stats he had 3 tackles that stopped a drive, two forced a punt, one forced a turnover on downs.

- One of those "stats don't tell the whole story" takeaways from the box score. The Griz were 7-11 on 3rd down offensively. Monmouth was just 4-16, however they were also 3-4 on 4th down.

- Hell of a day for the Grizzly TD corps, 4 receiving TDs for Bingham and Deming. Colin Bingham is such a force, when he has the ball and is barreling down the field he's a tough dude to bring down.

- Mitch Roberts showing some hint of what we've got in store in the years ahead. This guy has been one of the fastest risers of the WR corps, you can see why the staff simply can't keep the kid off the field.

- Far too many PI or holding calls on the defensive secondary today. I know some were ticky-tack but come on guys, we're headed into Big Sky play, it's going to be called even more most likely. Hell of a recovery by Nash to effectively end the game with his pick.

- Concerning misses on PATs, again today was a game that felt a lot of play was a little off/sloppy and this was no exception.

---------------------

Alright, we're on to Davis which promises to be a massive test on the road - where the Griz will be underdogs. There's going to be a lot to clean up from this film I'd bet, but also some good stuff to build off of.

Go Griz!

I would love to see the replay of this game.

The lack of pressure is concerning. Not with a 3 man front but when we blitz. I do not love the scheme however I am just a fan so who am I to critique the scheme. They do a great job stuffing the run though.


Our secondary could be in trouble against passing teams but then again it goes back to pressure. I felt our safeties and corners largely played good coverage as some of the completions were mind blowing. A touchdown catch that Sandry swatted at and just missed (looked like a low percentage throw to me) and then the interception/catch they had over Sandry again. The ball looked to be Sandrys at first but if they both come down with it the offense gets it. This is one play I want to see again.

Sneeds incomplete pass that was ruled a fumble at first and overturned. Another one to watch again, but in general if the ball goes forward 7-8 yards like it appeared to on that play how in the hell do you call it a fumble? He must have had some grip on it with his arm moving forward to go that far.


Monmouth touchdown reversal I would love to see again since my seat is right on that goal line. I never saw the ball and it was obvious the refs didn't either when it was live. I have a hard time believe it was conclusive evidence to overturn. There is a good chance he did cross the line. My doubt is only that it was conclusive on replay.


Overall I am happy with the win. Some big positives to take away and some things to work on. The ones with the most work to do was the referrees. They had a horribly inconsistent day. I expect things to be bad and I don't necessarily think they had it in for one team or another. The issue being something could be PI on one play and something more egregious would not be on the next play and then back again.

 

[jcu27]

Just saying he has a knack for giving the ball to the other team. Was an issue last year too. Pretty sure he already has close to 7 ints this year.

You realize he's 111 for 160 completions this year right? With over 1200 yards and 8 touchdowns? And try 4 interceptions? Those numbers would suggest he has a knack for giving the ball to his receivers.

You're an idiot. Don't talk shit about players when you have no idea what you're talking about. Also try watching the games, and maybe you'll realize his play making is what makes our offense so successful.

I watch every single game buddy. I'm not talking shit. I'm pointing out hes turned the ball over quite a bit in his career here. And I'm not just talking about interceptions I'm talking about fumbles too. Hes a gamer and I do like how he plays. But causing a turnover or two is going to cost us some games. And it doesnt matter what his stats are other than in the W column. So far this year it's good but we have played some pretty bad teams. Last year we had 6 wins and I guarantee that stat is mainly because of turnovers. I like Sneed though don't get me wrong I just want to see a game where theres not a fumble or interception. I knew when I posted that the heat was going to come. But I can almost guarantee you that Sneed has had more fumbles than all the RBs put together.

 

[jcu27]

If it was a RB fumbling damn near every game everyone would be crying to get the kid benched. Or if it was a PR or KR same thing.

 

[jcu27]

And any QB that can throw a ball would damn near have the same stats if they had our WR corps. Akem is NFL worthy. Toure is up there not quite NFL status though. And then you got JLM, Sulser, and Robert's. Any of those WRs would start over anyone else in the Big Sigh. Also would probably be starters on a lot of FBS teams. They are what I like to call Stat padders. I do like Sneed but I dont think hes a god like most of you.

 

[jcu27]

I'd take a Jordan Johnson over a Dalton Sneed any day of the week. If y'all want to name h I'll m the second coming.

 

[krammer]

I thought it was pretty obvious they found something going to Nash side of the field.....he kinda makes up for it with all or nothing interceptions.....Calhoun was money, Nash needs to be better or the d/line needs to apply a lot more pressure to help him out.

 

[signedbewildered]

And any QB that can throw a ball would damn near have the same stats if they had our WR corps. Akem is NFL worthy. Toure is up there not quite NFL status though. And then you got JLM, Sulser, and Robert's. Any of those WRs would start over anyone else in the Big Sigh. Also would probably be starters on a lot of FBS teams. They are what I like to call Stat padders. I do like Sneed but I dont think hes a god like most of you.

Words out of my mouth (the receiver corps thing) but they do communicate, mesh well with Sneed. They are making some amazing grabs but he isn't making a lot of crappy passes either.

I'm content.