Post Game: Humbling loss

[sullivan1212]

Coaches had two weeks to sharpen up their game plan. Seems like we were outplayed most of the time. This game looked like some of the bad playing we saw last year. I hope a very good Portland State is not going to show us more bad coaching for the Griz. Let's make some noise next Saturday. GO GRIZ

 

[bigskyguy]

Good coaching has players and teams playing better, bad coaching makes players and teams look ... We'll you know.

 

[Blgs Griz Fan]

PlayerRep wrote:

"Blgs Griz Fan wrote:The 4th and goal was a bad call because the Jacks were pushing the defense around earlier. Take the 3 point and live to play another day.
Catsrback...great post.


UM had just driven 86 yards in just over 5 minutes. UM had the momentum. NAU's defense was not pushing UM around on that drive. Again, I'm fine with call. Kicking a FG from the 2 at that point in the game would have been a very conservative, and wimpy, call."

AlphaGriz

"Man I fu*king hate agreeing with you and its kinda sick that you of all people are the only one that gets it.............but you are 100% correct.

Its very telling that we lost by 18 points and these guys are complaining about one FG. NAU missed a FG so it evened out. Hell looking back at the game even if we score a TD on that play we still lose because they physically kicked our asses.

It was a great call and still is."

Alpha, that call resulted in beginnings of the avalanche that buried the Griz. The coach did not have to venture out onto that drift.

Kick the fg and take the 3 points and some mo into the locker room at the half.

 

[PlayerRep]

The 4th and goal was a bad call because the Jacks were pushing the defense around earlier. Take the 3 point and live to play another day.
Catsrback...great post.

UM had just driven 86 yards in just over 5 minutes. UM had the momentum. NAU's defense was not pushing UM around on that drive. Again, I'm fine with call. Kicking a FG from the 2 at that point in the game would have been a very conservative, and wimpy, call.

Man I fu*king hate agreeing with you and its kinda sick that you of all people are the only one that gets it.............but you are 100% correct.

Its very telling that we lost by 18 points and these guys are complaining about one FG. NAU missed a FG so it evened out. Hell looking back at the game even if we score a TD on that play we still lose because they physically kicked our asses.

It was a great call and still is.

you and PR are dead wrong on the call. You take the points, its a no brainer. going for it was an act of desparation showing the coaching staff had panicked at NAU's quick start. I'm not sure if it would have any difference in the outcome though, because they in fact kicked our butts all over the field, especially in the 4th quarter.

Nope, you are dead wrong in saying that taking the FG is the clear right call. There is no way to expect that there's going to be a fumble and 98 yard return for TD by the opponent. A FG near the goal line is an admission that UM doesn't have enough confidence to punch it in, and to hold on D and force a punt if it isn't punched in. There were over 2 minutes to go at that point, and UM had timeouts. Could have forced a punt, saved time with timeouts, and gotten ball back in good FB position. Also, NAU could have turned it over, had a punt blocked, or had a bad punt from its endzone.

 

[PlayerRep]

The 4th and goal was a bad call because the Jacks were pushing the defense around earlier. Take the 3 point and live to play another day.
Catsrback...great post.

UM had just driven 86 yards in just over 5 minutes. UM had the momentum. NAU's defense was not pushing UM around on that drive. Again, I'm fine with call. Kicking a FG from the 2 at that point in the game would have been a very conservative, and wimpy, call.

Man I fu*king hate agreeing with you and its kinda sick that you of all people are the only one that gets it.............but you are 100% correct.

Its very telling that we lost by 18 points and these guys are complaining about one FG. NAU missed a FG so it evened out. Hell looking back at the game even if we score a TD on that play we still lose because they physically kicked our asses.

It was a great call and still is.

When someone was pointing out last week that you and I were agreeing on something, I almost posted that we probably agree on alot of things about football, but just don't want to admit that we agree with each other. I also think you're funny--occasionally.

 

[zirge]

The 4th and goal was a bad call because the Jacks were pushing the defense around earlier. Take the 3 point and live to play another day.
Catsrback...great post.

UM had just driven 86 yards in just over 5 minutes. UM had the momentum. NAU's defense was not pushing UM around on that drive. Again, I'm fine with call. Kicking a FG from the 2 at that point in the game would have been a very conservative, and wimpy, call.

YOu had a first and goal from the 5, with "the best OL in the FCS" and couldn't punch it in on the first 3 tries.

Yeah, giving it one more try was not a sound decision

that's right, plus......a missed field goal does not hand your opponent 7 pts or give them the momentum going into the 3rd Qtr, or break you back with a 21 to 3 halftime score......so if you deny the 3 failed attempts, the 7 pts and the momentum, the call actually looks good.

 

[GottaluvGriz]

You are wrong but I will give you 6 points even though we probably would have missed that FG anyway.

We still lost by "12" :roll:

A FG doesnt matter when 4 DL men take apart the strength of your team play after play after play. NAU hit us in the mouth and we laid down and took it like NAUchick last night.

Deal with it.

Where do you come up with "probably would have missed that FG anyway"?
Worst has been money so far.
Go Griz!

 

[Griz66]

I think we all likely got a bit ahead of ourselves thinking the first three wins showed we are a fabulous team with BSC championship possibilities. I still think things will go well for the rest of the season but it is not going to be easy and we have a brutal schedule ahead of us. The App State win was likely not nearly as good as it once seemed since they have since lost to NC A and T and Charleston Suthern and barely beat Elon at home. All three of these teams are average at best and in reality less than average. Then the beatdown that the Cow College gave UND shows that UND is really not very good either.. The Griz have a of talent and can still have a very good season but we are not nearly the level of champioship Griz teams of the past. I said last year and will continue to say it--when you have a 70+ year old coach who had a losing record at NAIA Western MT and a President who is doing everything possible to de-empahsize football and lacking in overall leadership you have an uphill climb rightr there. All the talent in the world can not make up for these huge issues and we all need to realize that and be vocal about it. Winning 4 of the next 5 will be a tremendous boost fir everyone. GO GRZ

 

[Chester Cheetah]

UM had just driven 86 yards in just over 5 minutes. UM had the momentum. NAU's defense was not pushing UM around on that drive. Again, I'm fine with call. Kicking a FG from the 2 at that point in the game would have been a very conservative, and wimpy, call.

Man I fu*king hate agreeing with you and its kinda sick that you of all people are the only one that gets it.............but you are 100% correct.

Its very telling that we lost by 18 points and these guys are complaining about one FG. NAU missed a FG so it evened out. Hell looking back at the game even if we score a TD on that play we still lose because they physically kicked our asses.

It was a great call and still is.

you and PR are dead wrong on the call. You take the points, its a no brainer. going for it was an act of desparation showing the coaching staff had panicked at NAU's quick start. I'm not sure if it would have any difference in the outcome though, because they in fact kicked our butts all over the field, especially in the 4th quarter.

Nope, you are dead wrong in saying that taking the FG is the clear right call. There is no way to expect that there's going to be a fumble and 98 yard return for TD by the opponent. A FG near the goal line is an admission that UM doesn't have enough confidence to punch it in, and to hold on D and force a punt if it isn't punched in. There were over 2 minutes to go at that point, and UM had timeouts. Could have forced a punt, saved time with timeouts, and gotten ball back in good FB position. Also, NAU could have turned it over, had a punt blocked, or had a bad punt from its endzone.

You couldn't punch it in with 3 attempts from inside the 5 so I think that the confidence was already gone by 4th down. But go on and keep believing that you know something.

 

[PlayerRep]

The 4th and goal was a bad call because the Jacks were pushing the defense around earlier. Take the 3 point and live to play another day.
Catsrback...great post.

UM had just driven 86 yards in just over 5 minutes. UM had the momentum. NAU's defense was not pushing UM around on that drive. Again, I'm fine with call. Kicking a FG from the 2 at that point in the game would have been a very conservative, and wimpy, call.

YOu had a first and goal from the 5, with "the best OL in the FCS" and couldn't punch it in on the first 3 tries.

Yeah, giving it one more try was not a sound decision

that's right, plus......a missed field goal does not hand your opponent 7 pts or give them the momentum going into the 3rd Qtr, or break you back with a 21 to 3 halftime score......so if you deny the 3 failed attempts, the 7 pts and the momentum, the call actually looks good.

The chances of a blocked FG resulting in a TD for the opponent is greater than the chances that a fumble will result in a TD for your opponent. Much greater chance of a FG being blocked than a fumble occurring.

 

[zirge]

maybe so............but it still comes down to the same thing....it either happens or it doesn't
now it comes down to what you believe.........and i believe that worst and team could have punched it through

 

[GrizFan2011]

Piss poor coaching. That's all there is to it. We have played mediocre to less than mediocre teams so far this season - including, Appy State. We have great players - a team that should be fighting for the National Championship this year. If we had the coaches to match the team, we might have a chance.

 

[rimrockgriz]

I mentioned this on another thread but why are we not running it right at a team like NAU that's smaller up front (other than their massive nose tackle)? That is the strength of this O line. One play stood out when a blitzer who was probably at least 80 pounds lighter stood Poehls up and pushed him straight back. That is not using these guy's best skills.

It was like last year, running east/west stuff when north/south is our forte. You can do some east/west with Van, other than that file 13. Pound it with quick hitters and use play action off of it. It may not be sexy but it works best for this group on offense. It sucked that we hardly used the power set with the fullback and extra TE. Geddes, Charlie and I and also almost choked when the fullback shifted out to the slot. That is not what he does best.

How about we ram it down people's craw, it plays to our Oline's best skills.....working pretty well for Stanford. Let's take it out on PSU next week. I'll be there...

I may be wrong but I think the Griz running game sucked all night except for maybe one or two plays. They tried a couple similar, if not the same runs up the middle to the right on 2nd and 3rd down before that 4th down blunder. Time to take Jordan Tripp's name of the Buck Buchanen watch list too. Bauman completely ran him over to score that one TD. It reminded me of that big muscle head on the movie, The Program, getting ran over after he stopped juicing. The Griz do not have the best front seven in the Big Sky, let alone the FCS, so let's stop that nonsense right now. This team may be good, but thus far are far from great.

I'm drunk so don't take it personally but you say to take Jordan Tripp off the Buchanen Watch List. I'm Drunk but are you High? Seemed like he made several score saving tackles tonight and a INT. Props to JP and Coyle Too. Hope you are not suggesting JT is juicing with your movie reference either.

I was at the game...he had his lunch pail handed to him with a LARGE dent in it... :egriz:

 

[rimrockgriz]

I have no problem with the 4th down play call. An aggressive and confident team probably goes for it most of the time in that situation. Mainly because an incredibly unforeseen play happens, i.e. a fumble and 98 yard fumble return for TD, some of you want to question the call after-the-fact. Many of you have wanted UM to be more aggressive and go for it more often. That was the decision. Had the play worked, most of you would be praising the call. This isn't the NFL where the play-calling is very conservative and formulaic.

I was at the game and told our 5-some kick it... as I watched the fumble returner run in front of me it made me think of the fake punt against SUU last year. :roll: I was shocked Mick didn't stick out his toe and try to trip the NAU kid...as he ran in front of our sideline. The feeling of LOST took over the team. Sometimes you just know when your day is done. While I told my wife this is f.....g... it and I would... F.H.A. my wife said "it won't happen".No one fears us now and the swagger is completely diminished to a trickle. It's going to take a long time to get that confidence back in our mojo...a long time. :egriz:

 

[grizpack]

Was anyone else concerned / amused by the 2 shots of Mick that were on camera in the 4th quarter. He had a look of complete bewilderment on his face. Both times. Just kind of staring, mouth open..... Unfortunately a familiar look. And not one I want to see more of.

 

[hollybear]

I attended the game, and here are my observations.

Our offensive line is vastly over-rated. They are big, slow-footed behemoths, but get schooled routinely by agile quick D-linemen.

Delaney is a disaster as a head coach. He risked the entire season by keeping JJ in the game late in the 4th quarter. JJ was eating carpet on every play, in a game that was clearly over, and could have easily been injured for the season.

How long will it take Delaney to recognize that SSH is not, and never will be, good enough to play QB at this level? Total waste of a valuable scholarship.

The two-O-coordinator system is a ridiculous! What, is Delaney, at 73, trying to start a new trend by having two of them? Kyfence (or whatever his name is, it sure doesn't rhyme with Offense) had the worst play-calling I can ever remember. We should have POUNDED the ball on the ground from the get-go, which would have stifled their pass rush, and opened up the passing game.

Montana's passing game is too slow to develop, with multiple fakes and too much play-action. Hell, by the time JJ FINALLY looked downfield, the defenders were all over him.

We were totally out-coached by Souers in this game.

The Griz team lacked emotion from the opening KO, and acted like they did not want to be there.

Our special teams are undisciplined, and frankly awful, once again this season. Shaw had little time to punt every time, and it was a miracle that he did not get one blocked. Who gets a PF penalty on a kick-off when the ball is kicked beyond the end zone? Oh, I forgot, Montana does.

Part of the problem on defense is that the players spend too much time looking at Greg... trying to figure out what they are supposed to be doing just before the ball is snapped. There were plays in which our secondary was lost out there, because the defensive signal came in only 3-4 seconds before the ball was snapped. This resulted in broken coverages and wide open receivers.

Outside of Coyle and Tripp, most of the other back 7 seven players are very poor tacklers.

Bauman will be playing on Sundays next year.

Canada needs to sit. He has had a fumbling problem his entire career. Counts should be starting, with Van used as a receiver from multiple formations, including reverses.

While Henderson runs great routes, and is our best receiver, his hands are questionable. He had crucial drops against NAU.

Delaney needs to be told NOW that he will not be returning, and our AD needs to be covertly starting the search for a new head coach, who should be hired immediately after the season, so that recruiting will not be effected.

There is no assistant coach at UM who should be considered for the head job next year. Go outside to hire the new coach. New blood is needed badly, and has been needed for year.

 

[rimrockgriz]

I attended the game, and here are my observations.

Our offensive line is vastly over-rated. They are big, slow-footed behemoths, but get schooled routinely by agile quick D-linemen.

Delaney is a disaster as a head coach. He risked the entire season by keeping JJ in the game late in the 4th quarter. JJ was eating carpet on every play, in a game that was clearly over, and could have easily been injured for the season.

How long will it take Delaney to recognize that SSH is not, and never will be, good enough to play QB at this level? Total waste of a valuable scholarship.

The two-O-coordinator system is a ridiculous! What, is Delaney, at 73, trying to start a new trend by having two of them? Kyfence (or whatever his name is, it sure doesn't rhyme with Offense) had the worst play-calling I can ever remember. We should have POUNDED the ball on the ground from the get-go, which would have stifled their pass rush, and opened up the passing game.

Montana's passing game is too slow to develop, with multiple fakes and too much play-action. Hell, by the time JJ FINALLY looked downfield, the defenders were all over him.

We were totally out-coached by Souers in this game.

The Griz team lacked emotion from the opening KO, and acted like they did not want to be there.

Our special teams are undisciplined, and frankly awful, once again this season. Shaw had little time to punt every time, and it was a miracle that he did not get one blocked. Who get a PF penalty on a kick-off when the ball is kicked beyond the end zone? Oh, I forgot, Montana does.

Part of the problem on defense is that the players spend too much time looking at Greg... trying to figure out what they are supposed to be doing just before the ball is snapped. There were plays in which our secondary was lost out there, because they defensive signal came in only 3-4 seconds before the ball was snapped. This resulted in broken coverages and wide open receivers.

Outside of Coyle and Tripp, most of the other back 7 seven players are very poor tacklers.

Bauman will be playing on Sundays next year.

Canada needs to sit. He has had a fumbling problem his entire career. Counts should be starting, with Van used as a receiver from multiple formations, including reverses.

While Henderson runs great routes, and is our best receiver, his hands are questionable. He had crucial drops against NAU.

Delaney needs to be told NOW that he will not be returning, and our AD needs to be covertly starting the search for a new head coach, who should be hired immediately after the season, so that recruiting will not be effected.

There is no assistant coach at UM who should be considered for the head job next year. Go outside to hire the new coach. New blood is needed badly, and has been needed for year.

I agree with over 90% of this post and won't bother with my minor differences of opinion...spot on.... :egriz:

 

[Pin2Win]

The fourth down call was not a great call, nor was it a horrible call. On the positive side, Delaney showed confidence in his players that they could get the job done. They just drove the length of the field and were filled with momentum. I thought they were going to score. But there are so many factors that play into that being successful or not. If NAU dials up a different blitz, changes coverage, that may be a TD Griz.

On the negative, the call was a black/white, win/ lose only style of call. Even if there was no fumble, the momentum would have been gone. At least gone enough that the defense would have had a big stop to get it back. With NAU being at home, the place would have still erupted on fully swung momentum away from the Griz.

The call was nothing more than a calculated risk. IMO the risk outweighed the reward, but not so great as to say that one play win/lost the game. The Griz are a good team that had a lousy game. The Cats played a lousy game last week, and then came out and destroyed an opponent that was probably as lousy as the one they lost to the week before. The Griz will bounce back. Simply too many good and experienced players to let it keep rolling like that.

 

[hollybear]

The fourth down call was not a great call, nor was it a horrible call. On the positive side, Delaney showed confidence in his players that they could get the job done. They just drove the length of the field and were filled with momentum. I thought they were going to score. But there are so many factors that play into that being successful or not. If NAU dials up a different blitz, changes coverage, that may be a TD Griz.

On the negative, the call was a black/white, win/ lose only style of call. Even if there was no fumble, the momentum would have been gone. At least gone enough that the defense would have had a big stop to get it back. With NAU being at home, the place would have still erupted on fully swung momentum away from the Griz.

The call was nothing more than a calculated risk. IMO the risk outweighed the reward, but not so great as to say that one play win/lost the game. The Griz are a good team that had a lousy game. The Cats played a lousy game last week, and then came out and destroyed an opponent that was probably as lousy as the one they lost to the week before. The Griz will bounce back. Simply too many good and experienced players to let it keep rolling like that.

Big difference, your Cats have a good coach..... we have the fossil Delaney

 

[ALPHAGRIZ1]

Thanks Growler