Post Game: It's settled

[Grizzlies1982]

We can't set the edge to save our life, every damn time they get sucked in

Our guys were getting burned on the edge early in the season and still are now. Seems like an automatic 7 to 8 yards for the opponents. Can they still be taught? We’ll see in Bozeman

 

[putter]

I am not convinced that he will give the reins to Fife....

 

[BadlandsGrizFan]

We can't set the edge to save our life, every damn time they get sucked in

This weekend is going to look like it did two years ago in Bozeman. Cats hammering the edges. Our safeties and linebackers sucked inside. Similar score I’m afraid.

 

[billingsgriz]

If we see Ah Yat starting next Saturday, that will tell us a lot and it won't be good !!!

I expect Logan to start and as Davis proved yesterday, a good offense can move the ball against State !!!

For us to have any chance of an upset next Saturday, Logan Fife needs to be under center, our receivers have to catch his passes, not drop them, and our defense, especially LB's, need to do their 1/11th, not their 1/6th---if we lose contain, Tommy Mellott, Jones and Davis are going to eat our breakfast, lunch and dinner !!!

Go GRIZ !!!

 

[Griz til I die]

I’m hoping the staff has some secret stuff dialed up that they haven’t used all year.

 

[Griz2k]

The QB situation was "settled" several weeks ago to everyone except the one person that counts. Not sure why there would suddenly be an "a-ha" moment now. However, as much as it pains me to admit it, I'm not sure sure it matters who plays QB this week.

 

[hilinegrizfan]

Yesterday's win cemented a few things for this team. First and foremost Logan Fife is our QB for the rest of 2024, and secondly the Griz have secured a spot in the playoffs. This team's goals were also to win the conference and they'd fallen short of that already after last week's loss, however if they can pull off a major upset road win they will for sure secure a bye and a favorable seed.

Looking back on the Portland game though, it went from pretty dire to a fast turnaround between each half. Maybe the biggest moment of the game didn't really happen on the field, but off it, when after a personal foul on a TD the broadcast picked up a shouting match between Hauck and Fife. At first you see Bobby ripping Logan with what sure looked like some f-bombs, and cut to commercial. Upon return from the TV break we saw Fife return his feelings to Hauck and Coach Green had to separate the two. A few minutes later the TV shows the two hugging and talking and it was addressed post-game by both as well. Could this have been an unplanned/unintended moment where QB leadership finally broke through? The Grizzly offense sure seemed to respond to it. Will it fix all of the Grizzlies issues? Probably not. But it's been a bit of an excruciating season with this QB rotation and that moment, coupled with Fife's play from there on out sure seems to lift one concern a lot of us have had.

The wild thing about it all was on a re-watch. Ah Yat had a few errors you can chart up to inexperience, there was the pick where Fontes was open more in the middle of the field, an RPO that was thrown into the face of a PSU player, and a throw off his back foot that resulted in a breakup. Beyond that though his WR's couldn't hang onto the ball and a few bad drops killed drives. It sounded like / seemed like his injury wasn't bad - that's great to hear. We all know the future is Ah Yat, he'll get there.
A few more observations I had:

- What a game by Jace Klucewich, and I'm not just talking about the 2 INTs. Kluce had a few key stops on 3rd down, one being an open field tackle. He was around the ball a lot too. Casual fan observation but I'd venture this was his best game in his Griz career so far, it's not often one guy gets two RZ turnovers in a single game! Hopefully he got some time off on some ranch work today.

- The Grizzly defense for quite a while was really having issues with PSU's zone read, and that doesn't bode well for the game ahead. A lot of PSU's edge/outside runs, especially on their two second half TD drives the outside contain was totally gone. I'd see it over and over, linebackers and safeties leaving the edge to crash in on the first read and leaving that edge open. This far into the season, can they correct that? They're squaring off against a team that has to be loving what they see on film this weekend.

- Sawyer Racanelli had himself a day with Keelan White out. And Aaron Fontes, another all over the place up/down game, some great catches and plays, some bad drops, and a flag for unsportsmanlike.

- Ryder's targeting call was dumb, I'm just glad it happened in the first half not the 2nd, we'll have him the whole game in Bozeman.

- Griz KR coverage was a little dicey....

- TJ Rausch is an interesting dude for me, he came in for Ryder and finished up 2nd on the team with 10 stops and 1 TFL, good stats. Seemed (to me) that some of the areas PSU was exploiting in the run game and up the middle in the pass game might've also been in his direction - testing the new guy.

- Again, we know this defense is bend, don't break. They held the 2nd leading APY guy in the conference to a net of 194 total yards (passing/rushing). They forced 5 turnovers, 2 in the red zone, and they were on the field for a staggering 38:00 of TOP all while doing it. This defense is doing what it needs to do to to keep the Griz in every game (so far). I think they've generally done what they can to shore up the issues that really popped out during the first portion of the season, it's not perfect and it leads to some frustrations, but they're playing better overall as a unit.

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

Alright, it's cat week, our "rival" Portland State is in the rear view mirror. We're settled on QB and now the guys can focus on protecting the divide trophy and hopefully locking up a top playoff seed! Let's GO GRIZ!

I don’t believe so firmly the future is Ah Yat. I just don’t get why everyone thinks he is so great. I don’t see what is special about him other than his last name. Average QB with bad instincts IMO.

 

[Grizzlies1982]

I don’t believe so firmly the future is Ah Yat. I just don’t get why everyone thinks he is so great. I don’t see what is special about him other than his last name. Average QB with bad instincts IMO.

Disagree. I definitely like what I see. Though the problem is game speed.

He is just two years out of High School. He is still adapting. Given more experience he could be a gem. Right now he is rushed and still playing fairly well. With time the game should slow down for him and we’ll see him shine. That’s my two bits

 

[MissoulaMarinerFan]

if we lose to the kittens we will get a one of the 9 to16 seeds but play at home for the 1st game. If we win we will get a top 8 and a bye.

And then from there, better seed stays home right?

 

[mthoopsfan]

In all seriousness Hoops, what makes you think after watching this defense this year we can get consistent 3 and outs on the cats? What would your game plan scheme be for the Griz? I know what I would do but it would only delay the inevitable.

I haven't said we'd get 3 and outs against Cats. I expressed my thoughts on why I am positive on the game and the D in another thread. I don't have time to look now. I would do what we did last season, and go from there. I couldn't even tell you what we did last year, but it worked. If we get pushed around on both lines, we'll get thumped. If the d-ends and linebackers, get faked and move the wrong way initially, they will clobber us in the run game on the edge and maybe all over. I don't know what the scheme was in 2022, but I know the backers and ends often started moving the wrong way.

 

[3-7-77]

Limit stupid penalties.
I believe the closed caption option on the TV showed Bobby having that discussion with Fife, but it seems to have been misinterpreted. Family content rules, and all.

 

[Griz Time]

I said before i could see where the cats could roll into rivalry week undefeated. They are, and will soundly finish the regular season undefeated.
Rolling into the playoffs will finally be a true test of who they are. They've proven to be in the discussion as one of the top 2 teams in the nation. That said, ndsu looks to have expanded their offensive identity a bit as well this year. I think the cats can get by an SDSU team but I'm not sure anyone is getting by ndsu.

 

[bigkid]

11-1
9-3
If Bobby lets them…

 

[Griz Addict]

I don’t believe so firmly the future is Ah Yat. I just don’t get why everyone thinks he is so great. I don’t see what is special about him other than his last name. Average QB with bad instincts IMO.

The future is Flowers. Ah Yat is a future back up. He has had plenty of game experience and has shown little to no improvement. Flowers>Yat. Will be a serviceable back up for the years to come though.

 

[CDAGRIZ]

Disagree. I definitely like what I see. Though the problem is game speed.

He is just two years out of High School. He is still adapting. Given more experience he could be a gem. Right now he is rushed and still playing fairly well. With time the game should slow down for him and we’ll see him shine. That’s my two bits

Respectfully, I just don’t see it.

 

[Grizzlies1982]

Respectfully, I just don’t see it.

Damn, there is something you rarely see around here!

Respectfully done CDA.

 

[mthoopsfan]

We can't set the edge to save our life, every damn time they get sucked in

No, every time they don't get sucked in.

 

[WaGriz4life]

Disagree. I definitely like what I see. Though the problem is game speed.

He is just two years out of High School. He is still adapting. Given more experience he could be a gem. Right now he is rushed and still playing fairly well. With time the game should slow down for him and we’ll see him shine. That’s my two bits

Don’t understand what talent you guys think he has. Played for a bad HS program didn’t win any games and didn’t get recruited by anybody but us.

 

[Griz til I die]

Disagree. I definitely like what I see. Though the problem is game speed.

He is just two years out of High School. He is still adapting. Given more experience he could be a gem. Right now he is rushed and still playing fairly well. With time the game should slow down for him and we’ll see him shine. That’s my two bits

I told some people this yesterday, but I actually think he’s regressed as the year has gone on. Prior to his concussion, I actually thought he played pretty well against WCU and the first half of UND. Since he got back though, he was ok against UNC, ok against Poly, bad against Davis, and terrible against PSU who has the statistical worst defense in the conference. Can he get there overtime? Sure. I don’t think the staff is doing him any favors by forcing to stand in the pocket and deliver it. He’s better when he can use his legs to open up the pass game. I think that’s where he’s at his strongest, and the staff needs to let him do that. For now though, we gotta ride with Fife. We can experiment more with Ah Yat next year.

 

[HikeGlacier]

If we see Ah Yat starting next Saturday, that will tell us a lot and it won't be good !!!

I expect Logan to start and as Davis proved yesterday, a good offense can move the ball against State !!!

For us to have any chance of an upset next Saturday, Logan Fife needs to be under center, our receivers have to catch his passes, not drop them, and our defense, especially LB's, need to do their 1/11th, not their 1/6th---if we lose contain, Tommy Mellott, Jones and Davis are going to eat our breakfast, lunch and dinner !!!

Go GRIZ !!!

What are you talking about? Davis was crushed until the final 2 minutes of the game. Fife will be running for his life, and if it's AY, we may see a return to the O-line that showed up at NAU last year.