Bobcast w/ Kramer, Travis, Mac

wbtfg · Post by **wbtfg** » Wed Aug 31, 2005 7:00 pm

Here are the highlights of the bobcast w/ Kramer. Sorry it's so unorganized.

Entire team is VERY healhty (w/ exception of Matakis, Wolf, Cogley). Didn't mention Eddie Smith.

OLine: Jenson is healthy, Decock just beat him out. 6'7 315

TEs: Wants to run some two TE sets so the defense can't overload on one side against the run.

RBs: Domenick has slimmed down and is one of the best players Kramer has been around at picking up the blitz. Bass is FAST and will get some reps...he's not always sure which blitzers to block. No mention of Groves.

QB: Lulay

WRs: Has to catch the ball. We had 19 drops in our first three games last year. In the UM game, we dropped 5 of the first 6 passes. Mike Brown and Rosey will get some time.

DL: We are a lot bigger. Our smaller guys last year (Gluhm/Sebastian..etc) were worn down and couldn't stop the run at the end of the season. We need to stop the run and the secondary will perform. Sounds like Siatoga will start at nose over Saucedo.

Secondary: Play zone behind the blitzes so we don't give up the big play...(ie eastern washington). Force will be able to play safety as he's our best DB. Toph has improved a lot. LeBlanc (Boise state) could play later in the year. Fuller will start the season at corner (but is better @ safety) w/ Hunter. Chris Davis is waiting in the wings...Fans will be surprised. He'll practice next tuesday. Derrick Davis came in w/ Mac and Travis as a frosh. Left, and came back as a walk on. He's bigger stronger faster and quicker. No mention of Eddie Smith.

Corner we are OK, and Safety we are even better.

LBs: Need to put pressure on the quarterback. Mac is one of the best LBs in the history of MSU. He could be the third MSU linebacker to be first team all-conference 3 years in a row (Cooper, Ron Ueland) Epi King, is fastest player on the defense (4.4) special teams ace last year. Marudas...Kramer is very happy to have him back...we missed him a lot last year. Lowe: Long arms (78 in), great hands, great at coming off the edge blitzing...rather than playing with his hand on the ground.

OState: Good program, no all-americans, no superstars....they spend more $$ feeding their players than what we spend in our entire budget. Stadium will be full and LOUD. The stands are on top of the field...very similar to WG stadium. They have a new coach who was the OC at Florida, so we have been watching florida game film. Their DC has never been a DC before so we have no idea what to expect from their defense.

We aren't going to blitz a lot because their QB is a great scrambler and not a great passer. We are going to try to contain him, and let the corners do their job. Basically we want this QB to beat us with his arm...not his legs.

Interview w/ Lulay:

New receivers were here all summer, and Lulay got a lot of work in. Receivers had a great camp.

Looking forward to playing OSU....excited to play in hostile environment. It is going to be a challenge to play w/ 47,000 screaming fans.

We're ready w/ hand signals and silent counts.

Interview w/ Mac:

Stop the run and contain the scrambling quarterback. They have a new OC, and have been studying florida's offense.

Thoughts on 3-4. Loves it, just go out and play. There is a lot of versitility. W/ two guys in the middle we can get to the ball a lot quicker, and have easier reads.

We want to recruit the best athlete possible whether it is a 4 year guy or I-A transfer or JC transfer. We can't ignore any single group....we have to keep improving every day.

Kramer told a story about how he and Rob Christoff commented about how Mac knew more about playing LB than anyone else on the team other than Ecker and Woodbury, by the first practice of his career that was feshman only.

Mac is a very good leader and communicator on the field. He make all the right reads and is able to make sure everyone on the D is in the right position.

Travis was under recruited. He was actually their 2nd or 3rd choice in recruiting class. Travis played sparingly in the first few games of his freshan year and had -13 passing yards. Then started against ISU and the rest is history.

Travis now calls his own plays at the line. The coaches call out different packages, and then Travis can choose which play to run based on defense.

GOKATS · Post by **GOKATS** » Wed Aug 31, 2005 7:12 pm

Thanks WB- great post. I'm ready for some Foootbaaaal!

DriftCat · Post by **DriftCat** » Wed Aug 31, 2005 8:47 pm

Im ready as well.........Cats 34 OK State 21

Hell's Bells · Post by **Hell's Bells** » Thu Sep 01, 2005 10:22 am

MM7CAT wrote:Im ready as well.........Cats 34 OK State 21

Sure and for your next post you are going to say that Lulay is going to win the Heismen

DriftCat · Post by **DriftCat** » Thu Sep 01, 2005 10:28 am

Well probably not.....but maybye the Unitas Golden Arm award.

MSUcantouchus · Post by **MSUcantouchus** » Thu Sep 01, 2005 6:12 pm

Travis now calls his own plays at the line. The coaches call out different packages, and then Travis can choose which play to run based on defense.

Some of you may or may not recognize how great this statement is. "That thing is good. I mean I want to make friends with it." -Ron Burgandy

Now this is the best news i have heard all spring and summer. I for one am still not a big Don Bailey fan. I feel we won in spite of him not because of him. He gets bailed out by Lulay i believe. He is the least imaginative OC i have ever seen, except maybe Kramer in his first year as coach when he called plays, so i think that with travis calling the plays we have a much better shot at starting out games a little better, and not being so predictable. I also wonder if they did this some last year?

[/b]

suckitgriz · Post by **suckitgriz** » Thu Sep 01, 2005 6:18 pm

Peed- I might have agreed with you 2 years ago, but Bailey has made some excellent coaching moves and has really opened up our offense. This year I am really excited to see what he does with so much depth. Let's revisit this in a couple of weeks. Bailey deserves some props!

GOKATS · Post by **GOKATS** » Thu Sep 01, 2005 6:23 pm

peedintunnel wrote:
Travis now calls his own plays at the line. The coaches call out different packages, and then Travis can choose which play to run based on defense.

Some of you may or may not recognize how great this statement is. "That thing is good. I mean I want to make friends with it." -Ron Burgandy

Now this is the best news i have heard all spring and summer. I for one am still not a big Don Bailey fan. I feel we won in spite of him not because of him. He gets bailed out by Lulay i believe. He is the least imaginative OC i have ever seen, except maybe Kramer in his first year as coach when he called plays, so i think that with travis calling the plays we have a much better shot at starting out games a little better, and not being so predictable. I also wonder if they did this some last year?

[/b]

Lulay is so football savvy and has such a good read on the D that I think he's had quite a bit of flexibility the last couple years.

BTW, I don't agree with you on Bailey.

Ponycat · Post by **Ponycat** » Fri Sep 02, 2005 9:11 am

I'm with you 100% on Bailey peed. Never once during a game have I thought "wow, our offense really has there defense guessing and on their heels."

Cat Grad · Post by **Cat Grad** » Fri Sep 02, 2005 9:22 am

Man, I hope we don't turn this into eFizzle

Yeah, we've had a pretty steep learning curve the last few years and I'm not much of a passing fan, but given our success with it in 84, guess I'll acquese (sic) and watch the final season of one of the best players ever in Bozo and something real special with attitude. I think the entire team learned a great deal last year and the staff convinced truly outstanding athletes Bozo is what all of us believe--one of the best places in this country. Guess all our kids have to do is execute during the game what they're taught during the week now

BozoneCat · Post by **BozoneCat** » Fri Sep 02, 2005 9:47 am

Ponycat wrote:I'm with you 100% on Bailey peed. Never once during a game have I thought "wow, our offense really has there defense guessing and on their heels."

I have been one of the most outspoken Bailey critics over the last few years, but I too disagree with this statement. I thought that Bailey made some good changes (along with the whole team) mid-way through last season, and you could see it in the way our offense really took off. A lot of it had to do with players executing better, catching the ball, etc. I also thought a lot had to do with the subtle change in play-calling. Now, some of this I attribute to Lulay, because he did call a lot of plays while running the no-huddle. BUT, you have to give Bailey some credit too, otherwise you are just being blinded to reality.

Two examples of games last year where our offense really had defenses on their heels and guessing were the NAU game (well, the first half when we hung 53 points on them), and he first half of the EWU game. I have never seen an MSU offense confuse a defense like we did that first half against EWU. Against NAU, we just passed the ball and were better than the Jacks. Against EWU, we mixed run and pass very well, and you could just see that the Eagles had no idea what we were going to run next... of course, they figured it out at halftime and the rest is history.

gtapp · Post by **gtapp** » Fri Sep 02, 2005 9:56 am

I hope you all realize that Bailey is also the QB coach and is responsible for scouting and recruiting the QB's. I have never liked his play calling either but I am sure some of those calls the first few years were due to the talent level (or lack thereof) we had. If you like Lulay you have to give Don some props for recruting and coaching him.

94VegasCat · Post by **94VegasCat** » Fri Sep 02, 2005 10:15 am

I am optimistic about how well Coppack and Carpenter will do next year. Do they grasp the system as thouroughly as the "red headed Houdini"? They should have a great grasp of it, they have been in the system for two solid years. They just need some reps. Hopefully this year, we will hang some points on people early and will be able to get those two in for some solid work.

Cat Pride · Post by **Cat Pride** » Fri Sep 02, 2005 10:27 am

A GF Trib article this week said that Lulay is given a couple set formations to work with from the sidelines, and then calls his own plays from the line of scrimmage basically. He is another offensive coordinator on the field - kinda Peyton Manning-esche.

That says a lot about Travis and the kind of head he has on his shoulders (football wise) as well as a lot about Bailey in the way he has taught Travis how to read defenses and react to them. Kudos to both, its a joint effort.

One thing for sure, according to this years media guide, under Bailey, the Cats have had progress, albeit slow and steady... its still progress.

YEAR Total Off. BSC Rank
2004 433.0 2nd
2003 344.9 6th
2002 334.0 7th
2001 360.7 8th

So, like I said, its slow and steady, but its progress. A lot of that progress has to due with players executing as well as players learning the system.

FlatheadLakeCat · Post by **FlatheadLakeCat** » Fri Sep 02, 2005 10:38 am

I can see where you guys are coming from in regards to Bailey, so here is my analysis on it. Take it or leave it.

The one thing I like about this offense is the flexibility. It is able to take advantage of our strengths. Ryan Johnson’s junior year, he ran all over the place. Big yardage. Our strength was RJ and the offensive line.

RJ’s senior year was obvious the defenses were stacking up against him. We had a freshmen QB and they were going to make Lulay beat them with his arm. As Lulay got more comfortable, we were able to open it up a little more (more plays = more flexibility). Granted, we were by no means stellar, but we had a good defense as well.

Lulay’s soph. year, we were breaking in new receivers and RBs. Our O-line was solid, but we just didn’t have the weapons at the skill positions (sorry Turnquist). Thank the good Lord for an excellent return game and a superb defense.

Last year; we were young but talented on offense. Our skill players were upgraded. Lulay was an experienced and a proven winner. Once the inexperienced outside skill players got comfortable, our passing offense exploded. Our O-line was really good, but we were down to one out-of-shape RB and he was not ready to be the man behind Lulay. JD did have some break-away runs, but the yardage wasn’t consistent and we all know Kramer wanted to run the ball really bad. Offense was able to take advantage of our strengths again. Lulay’s arm and legs, pass blocking with JD in the lineup, and the ever improving receiving corp. But the downfall to last year was the lack of depth on defense that forced us to play guys that were not ready for that many reps. Our offense was puttin' up big numbers, but the lack of a consistent RB prevented us from scoring more then the other teams.

Our offense has been great with what it has had to work with. Obviously having Lulay in the lineup will make an OC look good. We have a lot of guys who have been in this system awhile coming into this season. I think all the pieces are in place for a consistent and complete (running game) explosion of the offense. If not this year, then I will start pointing fingers at Bailey.

Just my .02 worth. I hope I did not offend anyone on this board. Please correct anything I may have missed.

grizzh8r · Post by **grizzh8r** » Fri Sep 02, 2005 1:02 pm

FlatheadLakeCat wrote:...but the lack of a consistent RB prevented us from scoring more then the other teams.

And prevented us from running time off the clock. Prime example, EWU game last year.

Hell's Bells · Post by **Hell's Bells** » Fri Sep 02, 2005 1:53 pm

grizzh8r wrote:
FlatheadLakeCat wrote:...but the lack of a consistent RB prevented us from scoring more then the other teams.
And prevented us from running time off the clock. Prime example, EWU game last year.

should have came up with somthing to substatute for a running game

ie WR screens
qb keepers...

MSUcantouchus · Post by **MSUcantouchus** » Fri Sep 02, 2005 6:49 pm

I don't like bailey as i said but i will give him props for last year. How much props is hard to say as Lulay is fantastic. Tough to tell where the credit should go percentage wise. I did not like his play calling in second half of EWU game.

I also have never liked the fact that we can't score playing his regular game plan, but when we need to score we start the no huddle and pass first offense and then score. He seemed to not learn until last year that we should start the game with the no huddle and pass first mentality. We did well when we did that.

There has always seemed to be to many WR screens, draws, and up the gut runs on first down for me. I may be wrong though, and I'm sure if I am someone won't hesitate to tell me.

fire away