What an odd game considering the way this season has looked. The Grizzly offense, with backup QB Chad Chalich running the show lit it up, while the defense had maybe it's worst showing of the season, possibly.
First off lets focus on the biggest thing, the Griz needed to win all three of their last games and they got that done today, one down and two to go. And while this win probably didn't instill the most confidence in us as fans - it got the team back on track and with one less obstacle in their path.
Before the complaining begins can we just make sure to congratulate Chad Chalich? The single highest amount of TD passes of any Griz QB ever. That's really something, considering he did it as the 2nd string QB and with a young corps of WRs to throw to. Something Dickenson, Ah Yat, and Johnson couldn't match. That's really something. Does this mean we have a QB controversy? I don't know, maybe? What I liked about Chad was his mobility, the way he was able to stretch the field and get the cover to lose their man or turn good coverage into long runs was great. I assume Brady's our guy but man what a great showing from Chad today. 21-27, 388 yards, 7 TDs, 1 INT, 52 rushing yards, 1 rushing TD. That's a hell of a great stat line. His deep passes were great too - the TD to Calhoun was right on the money.
OK so some thoughts as I watched today:
- So I know Curran had a good game but I didn't realize how good. 129 yards and 4 TDs? Wow, and he probably would've had another if not for a slightly under thrown deep pass that he did catch anyways. Curran as a true sophomore is obviously just getting comfortable in his role as our #1 WR but man, what a great show tongiht. I'm excited for his future as a Griz but ideally I want to see that maturity and composure continue as this season goes on.
- JLM doing JLM things. Great deep catch and his cut-back and 14-ish yard gain on what looked like a 4 yard loss originally was great.
- Justin Calhoun, much like Curran, is continuing to make strides. 2 TDs - one was making a great play on a contested pass and the other was an incredible toe-tap catch in the endzone. This kid was expected to be a backup this season but took full advantage of the opportunity given to him and has done a lot with it.
- Let's give some big props to the O-line tonight. Average a 4.4 yard per carry average, and 202 yards rushing. 4 sacks allowed not the greatest but the offense had nearly 600 total yards and Chalich had a very good completion %.
- Help me understand the kicking game now. Semenza does kickoffs, Purdy does PATs? Are we going to use two kickers on our travel roster. I didn't see Purdy's missed PAT - he was 6-7 on the night. Kind of a dilemma there, can Purdy kick off? Will we really use up a travel roster spot for two kickers? Time will tell. On the other side Eric Williams was pretty good on punts tonight.
- Ryan Johnson continues his stellar season while being over-shadowed by other D-linemen and LBs. He finished with 1.5 sacks, 3 TFLs and 1 forced fumble. His 5 sacks this season is just 1/2 behind Kidder, 3rd best in TFLs, and tied for the most amount of forced fumbles.
- Great to see such a solid showing from Brandt Davidson. Maybe even more of an unsung hero than Johnson and apparently over-looked in the stat book, Brandt had 7 tackles credited to him tonight. I've read a few times that the stat book we see vs the stats the team keep, especially for these D-line guys, is very different. Regardless if true or not, it's good to see our big dude in the middle get some recognition he deserves.
- I'm not one to complain much about officiating but two plays, a pass interference call where the ISU player trucks Yamen Sanders on what looked like a pick play. And then ISU's last TD where the RB fumbles, steps out of bounds, recovers it himself, and scores. Come on man.
- TOP continuing to tip in Montana's favor. 34:38 for Montana tongiht
Alright, alright... lets dive into this defensive showing.
- Did you notice at least early on a push for more zone defense? It didn't go the best, obviously.
- I like that the team is trying to force more fumbles, on a few plays though the attempt to rip the ball lead to bigger gains.
- 361 passing yards allowed was not good, especially against a sub-standard ISU. That has to be corrected ASAP as the Griz head to Greeley and face the 4th best scoring offense and 3rd best passing offense int he Big Sky.
- I'm less worried about the rushing defense, a few big gains on some keeper stuff by the QB. Nothing we see steadily.
- A few more plays today when the chance to force a turnover wasn't capitalized upon.
- I was trying to see, going to watch the recording again, it seemed our corners just didn't turn on a lot of thrown passes. They'd let the catch be made or a play on the pass be made and then go after it. Want to watch again though and see if that's a correct assessment.
- I'm a dumb fan who watches the game and doesn't totally understand what's going on, so this could be a bad idea. But I say just go with what works on defense. The first half of the season defense did solid work. The 2nd half so far... not so much. UM has allowed 45, 35, and 44 points in the last 3 games. I'm not sure if teams have figured out the defense or if a change in strategy has lead to it.
------------
OK, 1 down, 2 to go. Up next the 3rd best passing offense and 2nd worse passing defense in the Big Sky in UNC. The Griz will need a far better showing defensively this upcoming week to win the day, which I believe they'll get done.
Go Griz!
First off lets focus on the biggest thing, the Griz needed to win all three of their last games and they got that done today, one down and two to go. And while this win probably didn't instill the most confidence in us as fans - it got the team back on track and with one less obstacle in their path.
Before the complaining begins can we just make sure to congratulate Chad Chalich? The single highest amount of TD passes of any Griz QB ever. That's really something, considering he did it as the 2nd string QB and with a young corps of WRs to throw to. Something Dickenson, Ah Yat, and Johnson couldn't match. That's really something. Does this mean we have a QB controversy? I don't know, maybe? What I liked about Chad was his mobility, the way he was able to stretch the field and get the cover to lose their man or turn good coverage into long runs was great. I assume Brady's our guy but man what a great showing from Chad today. 21-27, 388 yards, 7 TDs, 1 INT, 52 rushing yards, 1 rushing TD. That's a hell of a great stat line. His deep passes were great too - the TD to Calhoun was right on the money.
OK so some thoughts as I watched today:
- So I know Curran had a good game but I didn't realize how good. 129 yards and 4 TDs? Wow, and he probably would've had another if not for a slightly under thrown deep pass that he did catch anyways. Curran as a true sophomore is obviously just getting comfortable in his role as our #1 WR but man, what a great show tongiht. I'm excited for his future as a Griz but ideally I want to see that maturity and composure continue as this season goes on.
- JLM doing JLM things. Great deep catch and his cut-back and 14-ish yard gain on what looked like a 4 yard loss originally was great.
- Justin Calhoun, much like Curran, is continuing to make strides. 2 TDs - one was making a great play on a contested pass and the other was an incredible toe-tap catch in the endzone. This kid was expected to be a backup this season but took full advantage of the opportunity given to him and has done a lot with it.
- Let's give some big props to the O-line tonight. Average a 4.4 yard per carry average, and 202 yards rushing. 4 sacks allowed not the greatest but the offense had nearly 600 total yards and Chalich had a very good completion %.
- Help me understand the kicking game now. Semenza does kickoffs, Purdy does PATs? Are we going to use two kickers on our travel roster. I didn't see Purdy's missed PAT - he was 6-7 on the night. Kind of a dilemma there, can Purdy kick off? Will we really use up a travel roster spot for two kickers? Time will tell. On the other side Eric Williams was pretty good on punts tonight.
- Ryan Johnson continues his stellar season while being over-shadowed by other D-linemen and LBs. He finished with 1.5 sacks, 3 TFLs and 1 forced fumble. His 5 sacks this season is just 1/2 behind Kidder, 3rd best in TFLs, and tied for the most amount of forced fumbles.
- Great to see such a solid showing from Brandt Davidson. Maybe even more of an unsung hero than Johnson and apparently over-looked in the stat book, Brandt had 7 tackles credited to him tonight. I've read a few times that the stat book we see vs the stats the team keep, especially for these D-line guys, is very different. Regardless if true or not, it's good to see our big dude in the middle get some recognition he deserves.
- I'm not one to complain much about officiating but two plays, a pass interference call where the ISU player trucks Yamen Sanders on what looked like a pick play. And then ISU's last TD where the RB fumbles, steps out of bounds, recovers it himself, and scores. Come on man.
- TOP continuing to tip in Montana's favor. 34:38 for Montana tongiht
Alright, alright... lets dive into this defensive showing.
- Did you notice at least early on a push for more zone defense? It didn't go the best, obviously.
- I like that the team is trying to force more fumbles, on a few plays though the attempt to rip the ball lead to bigger gains.
- 361 passing yards allowed was not good, especially against a sub-standard ISU. That has to be corrected ASAP as the Griz head to Greeley and face the 4th best scoring offense and 3rd best passing offense int he Big Sky.
- I'm less worried about the rushing defense, a few big gains on some keeper stuff by the QB. Nothing we see steadily.
- A few more plays today when the chance to force a turnover wasn't capitalized upon.
- I was trying to see, going to watch the recording again, it seemed our corners just didn't turn on a lot of thrown passes. They'd let the catch be made or a play on the pass be made and then go after it. Want to watch again though and see if that's a correct assessment.
- I'm a dumb fan who watches the game and doesn't totally understand what's going on, so this could be a bad idea. But I say just go with what works on defense. The first half of the season defense did solid work. The 2nd half so far... not so much. UM has allowed 45, 35, and 44 points in the last 3 games. I'm not sure if teams have figured out the defense or if a change in strategy has lead to it.
------------
OK, 1 down, 2 to go. Up next the 3rd best passing offense and 2nd worse passing defense in the Big Sky in UNC. The Griz will need a far better showing defensively this upcoming week to win the day, which I believe they'll get done.
Go Griz!
