Damn it feels good to be on the winning side of the Brawl again. It's been a long stretch with some real painful losses and I've got to say - yesterday was incredible right out the gate. For 5 years now we've had to endure Bobcat control of the trophy, fan smack talk, and all the "own the state" stuff - but not anymore for at least the next year, and hopefully longer.
I know we're nearly a day removed from the game and there's plenty of thoughts and comments here already. I had a few things I wanted to share, some which I think have been said here, others I don't believe I've seen.
- I don't know if I've ever seen such a dominant defensive performance as I did yesterday. Save a meaningless garbage-time TD the Grizzly defense put forth a game plan that was incredibly physical and perfectly planned out. The defense was clearly full of confidence that their plan was going to kick the cats ass and MSU would be unable to do anything meaningful when the game mattered. Even when put in a tight spot on a turnover, it didn't matter. There was excellent contributions all over the field. Robby was lighting guys up, even somewhat post-whistle (pissed Ifanse off once). Jace was an unstoppable force and had the lynchpin play on that fake field goal to break the cats will. Pat might've put the final bow on his hopeful DPOY campaign with another 1.5 sacks and a team best 11 tackles. Babros was all over the field with multiple TFLs. Loved when Graves chased down Mellott to prove to the cats their little gimmick offense crap doesn't fly with our badass defense.
- What a story for Junior Bergen. Kid is a cat commit, switches to us after the coaching change, then due to injuries ascends all the way to starter at RB. The plan Rosenbach had on that 2nd play to get Bergen open downfield was genius. Bergen may be our mvp on offense (I can see argument for others too though). Add in, the punt returns now! MSU didn't expect that and he flipped the field 3 times which I think resulted in 9 points.
- Beyond just Bergen I think there were a lot of small things the offense did well that made a difference in this game. The cats defense is very good, we know that, so I didn't expect a big rushing day and there really wasn't. But in the 4th the O-line got the needed push and helped X and Patterson do some good things. Flowers got a good gain on a jet-sweep. Humphrey was sacked 4 times in the first half, just once in the 2nd half. Cam was pretty creative in the pocket overall, extended a few plays and picked up a few key 3rd downs because of it - he also slid wisely haha. It wasn't a perfect day for Cam, 3-4 errant passes, 2 picked - another pick wiped out bc of a cat penalty.
- In true Bobby Hauck fashion, the prime staple of the day was excellent special teams play. Money Macias 5-5 on field goals. Lewis "blocks" a fake and Ford scoops and scores. Buschini a 64 yard average on punts! I've got to say, that Ford TD... I know Wa Griz has seen some wild stuff and there's been bigger games and bigger reactions, but that was up there with one of the most electric game/crowd moments I ever recall. It was probably partially because of the length of the play, the stadium just got louder and louder.
- Great showing from Griz fans yesterday, that was like Wa Griz of old. Didn't see too much "stuff" with Griz or cat fans being jerks to each other either, which is good. I wished a few cat fans well and told them I hope their team does well in the playoffs.
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We now know we're going to get the winner of UNI v EWU - but more importantly we get a week off. It's always a great day to be a Grizzly, and yesterday it was even better. What a day!
Go Griz!
I know we're nearly a day removed from the game and there's plenty of thoughts and comments here already. I had a few things I wanted to share, some which I think have been said here, others I don't believe I've seen.
- I don't know if I've ever seen such a dominant defensive performance as I did yesterday. Save a meaningless garbage-time TD the Grizzly defense put forth a game plan that was incredibly physical and perfectly planned out. The defense was clearly full of confidence that their plan was going to kick the cats ass and MSU would be unable to do anything meaningful when the game mattered. Even when put in a tight spot on a turnover, it didn't matter. There was excellent contributions all over the field. Robby was lighting guys up, even somewhat post-whistle (pissed Ifanse off once). Jace was an unstoppable force and had the lynchpin play on that fake field goal to break the cats will. Pat might've put the final bow on his hopeful DPOY campaign with another 1.5 sacks and a team best 11 tackles. Babros was all over the field with multiple TFLs. Loved when Graves chased down Mellott to prove to the cats their little gimmick offense crap doesn't fly with our badass defense.
- What a story for Junior Bergen. Kid is a cat commit, switches to us after the coaching change, then due to injuries ascends all the way to starter at RB. The plan Rosenbach had on that 2nd play to get Bergen open downfield was genius. Bergen may be our mvp on offense (I can see argument for others too though). Add in, the punt returns now! MSU didn't expect that and he flipped the field 3 times which I think resulted in 9 points.
- Beyond just Bergen I think there were a lot of small things the offense did well that made a difference in this game. The cats defense is very good, we know that, so I didn't expect a big rushing day and there really wasn't. But in the 4th the O-line got the needed push and helped X and Patterson do some good things. Flowers got a good gain on a jet-sweep. Humphrey was sacked 4 times in the first half, just once in the 2nd half. Cam was pretty creative in the pocket overall, extended a few plays and picked up a few key 3rd downs because of it - he also slid wisely haha. It wasn't a perfect day for Cam, 3-4 errant passes, 2 picked - another pick wiped out bc of a cat penalty.
- In true Bobby Hauck fashion, the prime staple of the day was excellent special teams play. Money Macias 5-5 on field goals. Lewis "blocks" a fake and Ford scoops and scores. Buschini a 64 yard average on punts! I've got to say, that Ford TD... I know Wa Griz has seen some wild stuff and there's been bigger games and bigger reactions, but that was up there with one of the most electric game/crowd moments I ever recall. It was probably partially because of the length of the play, the stadium just got louder and louder.
- Great showing from Griz fans yesterday, that was like Wa Griz of old. Didn't see too much "stuff" with Griz or cat fans being jerks to each other either, which is good. I wished a few cat fans well and told them I hope their team does well in the playoffs.
------------
We now know we're going to get the winner of UNI v EWU - but more importantly we get a week off. It's always a great day to be a Grizzly, and yesterday it was even better. What a day!
Go Griz!
