Post-game thoughts, EWU-style

[BozoneCat]

From MSU website:

Both teams put on prolific offensive performances. Eastern gained 536 yards of total offense, while the Bobcats posted a school-record 683 yards. Lulay threw for 432 yards, his fifth straight 300-yard game and the fifth-best day in school history. Bobcat tailback Justin Domineck gained 143 yards on the ground, a career-high, and Lulay had his first career 100-yard rushing day, gaining 110. Lulay also scored a touchdown and threw for three. Eddie Sullivan (143 yards) and Rick Gatewood (146) each passed the 100-yard receiving mark.

Each team turned the ball over one time on Saturday. MSU was whistled for 10 penalties and 94 yards, while Eastern Washington was penalized only four times for 45 yards.

I hardly know what to say. 683 yards, are you kidding me? I think I will expand on my thoughts of this game once I cool down a bit... like, maybe Thursday afternoon.

[Eagle_Power04]

A classic Big-Sky shootout.

It's gotta feel good to get two straight wins over your former boss.

[BWahlberg]

I was curious, did the stadium sell out? How was the crowd?

I've seen highlights from cat games earlier this year and there are always a lot of empty seats on the edge of the stadium.

[BozoneCat]

Not quite a sellout, but attendence was 12,9-something. This was definitely the best crowd of the year, we were loud right from the start and kept it up through the whole game (not me, I am always loud!). Nobody left early for this one either. This should give us average attendence of about 12,500 or so for the year - pretty damn good considering. Gotta start somewhere...

I did find it funny that when MSU (or UM) goes over to play at Eastern, we bring thousands of fans, while the Eastern contingent was comprised of about 40 or 50 people - probably all of them parents. I tell you what, it makes you appreciate what we have here in Montana!!!

[BWahlberg]

True.

At EWU a Griz fan has a banner reading, "Welcome to Washington's Grizzly Stadium."

(I'm sure most can fans know, the stadium in Missoula is called Washington Grizzly Stadium)

But you think EWU's attendance is bad, go to Suc St. Ugh...1500 people a game. Ouch.

[BozoneCat]

Yeah, but PAM State fans have nothing to cheer about. You would think that maybe some fans might have wanted to make a cool trip to watch a great football game in a great atmosphere, and see their team play with a chance to clinch their first conference title since 1997. It is a hell of a trip for people to come all the way from Sac-town - it is only a gorgeous 5-hour drive to come over from the SpoCompton area.

Again, it really makes me appreciate the huge followings both of the Montana schools are priveleged enough to have!

[BelgradeBobcat]

I'm just so disappointed and really feel bad for our seniors. We have a good football team-but just it is so frustrating that early in the season our offense lagged, but our defense played well-now the offense is flying and the defense is getting gashed! Why can't we put it all together?

Part of the reason for the collapse-kickoffs. Doroski must have gotten hurt, because Cochrane was trying to kickoff and they were constantly starting near mid-field.

I don't understand why we didn't move Force back to corner. Austin was struggling. Is it a lack of faith in Corky Linday and Toph Grenfell at safeties if we move Force to corner? It seemed to me that our pass defense was better when Force was at corner.

I guess we have to give a lot of credit to EWU's offensive line. Meyer is scrambling all over the place and they somehow manage to only have 1 holding penalty all day? Hmmmmmm? That's pretty impressive.

Meyer is truely amazing. I think he wore our d-line out with his running ability. He makes every play go several seconds longer by running around and our D probably ran out of gas.

We can counteract the above by having a potent running game. But these shootouts lengthen the game, and I believe wear out the defenses even more. By the fourth quarter there's nothing left. The spread offense is great, but when you've got a big lead you've got to have more of a run game. Domineck had a nice day running, but our run plays amounted to almost trick plays as we're throwing so much these days. Hopefully, with a more experienced and more healthy offensive line next year we'll have more balance and maybe not be so prone to these types of collapses.

It sure was a nice day, and a nice big crowd-that stayed the whole way.

I'm betting nobody in the country wants to draw EWU in the first round of the playoffs. That's a pretty dang good team over there. Congrats to them. Maybe we can help them get the auto bid.

[BWahlberg]

the SpoCompton area.

I prefer it as "Spokanistan"

[eastcat]

I take my hat off to the offense and their coaches. Earlier this year i thought it was going to be a long year because of our offense. Almost 700 yards of offense agaisnt one of the big sky's best defensive teams. MSU has to have one of the best offenses in all D1-aa. And the great thing is we lose only two guys. Yeah it would be nice to see us be able to take more time off the clock but being a no huddle spread offense we aren't going to have series where we run the ball 80% of the time. I just doesn't work in our offense.

I think our Dline did a great job today. We were able to get pressure on Meyers and force him to scrammble and move around the pocket, which really benifited us. I think Eastern was the first team to really pick on our weakness, cornerbacks. They found which one of the freshman corners were singled up and just threw the fade. Maybe in a couple years we will be able to run single coverage on the outside and bumb and run, but we saw today that there is no way with two freshman that we can do it yet.

[94VegasCat]

I was really impressed with the offense today. Almost 700 yards total. That's pretty freaking good, especially when you can't get 8 damn yards in 7 plays. I read earlier that JD up the middle four times would have won it. I agree. What about the play with Bolton in the backfield. So what if he played left tackle, move some people around and get the TD!!!!

I wanna scream and bitch all night, but I know that it won't do a bit of good. I feel so disapointed for the seniors that worked so hard to get into this position. All we can do now is put a thumping on the hated griz.

[gocats77]

I am so incredibly impressed with this Bobcat team and I am so incredibly disappointed with those that criticize this group! They truly played inspired football today and continued to earn my respect! I am proud to be a Bobcat fan! They have played through incredible injuries to starting front-line players and played with inspiration and character and my hat's off to them! EWU is a very GOOD football team and probably should have beaten the friz but true to the friz mystique the friz prevailed and are now in control of their own destiny this coming Saturday. I wil continue to support the Bobcats and I can hardly wait til next year!

[farmcats]

Before I mention any thing about the game, I have been a Cat Fan for a long time, longer than some of you are of age, I don’t like the idea that we lost but when you get beat by a good team with a great quarterback you just have to take your hats off to them. And Myer is a great quarter back. He was by far the best we have seen this year if not for several years. He has a great touch, moves real well, seems to know were the rush is coming from and he made some great pass. Plus Kimble made several great catches with defenders all over him.
It was a great game, tough one to loss to a great team. We had to play a mistake free game and so did they, we didn’t and they did.
On the subject about the refs, I too agree there were several no calls that hurt us plus several questionable PI that went against us. One in particular went against Kory Austin in the first quarter that was really questionable. Austin and the receiver were going down the side line with the receiver holding off Austin with his arm fully extended , Austin gets the PI call. Go figure.
In spite of the lack of or poor calls we need to just over come them and go out and win the game regardless.
If you think we got robbed by the refs, should have been watching the Alabama-LSU game. A Alabama receiver was shoved to the ground by a LSU defender who then intercepted the pass in the end zone. From the replay the ref was about 5 yards away looking right at the play, no flag. Unbelievable

[orsalak]

First and goal ball on the 2 and we try and run a sweep and then throw three passes. That was the worst play calling I have ever seen. If you have 4 chances to go two yards and you don't put in a fullback and run up the gut........Ahhhhhhhhhh, that was terrible. If we can't go two yards we shouldn't be in the playoffs. I was going to the griz game but now I'm not, we beat them the last two years so it's not like "ohh man all we have to do is go 1-11, as long as we beat the griz it will be a good year." We need a home playoff game and win some games. I am happy that these crew got us away from that mindset, but if we can't go two yards.

[Helcat72]

First and goal ball on the 2 and we try and run a sweep and then throw three passes. That was the worst play calling I have ever seen. If you have 4 chances to go two yards and you don't put in a fullback and run up the gut........Ahhhhhhhhhh, that was terrible. If we can't go two yards we shouldn't be in the playoffs. I was going to the griz game but now I'm not, we beat them the last two years so it's not like "ohh man all we have to do is go 1-11, as long as we beat the griz it will be a good year." We need a home playoff game and win some games. I am happy that these crew got us away from that mindset, but if we can't go two yards.

The play wasn't a sweep! Dominek started to run the ball off tackle and then bounced it outside....he thought he could outrun the pursuit but he also thinks he might be faster than he is too! after that it's 2nd and four and Dominek is out. What are you going to do?....give it to Jmmy Beal? I also heard that Morris Milton may be done for good. They just can't find what is wrong with his shoulder. I guess he has no feeling in it!

[Bleedinbluengold]

When the HC makes public statements about how our guys need to, more or less, be more agressive and maybe need to take a penalty or 2, then this is what results...10 penalties and several very crucial penalties that resulted in sustaining EWU scoring drives. That's undisciplined football.

EWU is a good team, but face facts. In retrospect it was huge mistake on our part to play anything but zone after we went up 31-10. We would have probably given up just as many yards, but at least Eastern would have had to make long drives, and instead of scoring in a minute, maybe they would have taken 3-5 minutes. We gave up 41 points in about 28 minutes, and that is just a coaching mistake allowing that to happen. That is a "Houston Oiler" type collapse.

I don't have any idea what defenses were called after we went ahead 31-10, so maybe I'm just a complete idiot, and maybe it simply came down to poor execution. BUT, why in the world would you ever let a rookie corner face Kimball in man coverage when your D line was having little to no success in pressuring Meyer. And you do it not once, but 2 more times which result in big scores. Sure, Meyer scrambled from the pocket many times, but heck, it sure seemed like his worst throws occurred when we just had the controlled rush up field and colapsed the pocket.

31-10 with 13 minutes left in the 3rd quarter...I think all the coaches and players thought the game was in the bag, regardless of what they say in the press. You could see how the D, especially, just relaxed mentally. Obviously the O didn't relax because they continued to make good plays and to score, and I could say, "jeez, run the ball more" BUT if you're putting up points, then ya can't criticize the play calling (oh, except for the OT??????).

Face it - our #$%holes puckered and it was too late to do anything about Eastern's comeback. Hopefully, all the coaches and players can use this game as a learning tool to prevent any such collapse in the future. And perhaps the Cats will learn how to maintain mental focus for the whole season, and just not a game here and there.

Anyway - I see a bright future for the Cats. They've come a long way, and I think they are on the verge of being a consistent top 10 team. Obviously not this year, but I'm willing to bet that it will be a very hard offseason, and that all the players and coaches will not be able to wait for next August - they will certainly want to exercise the demons of this season's collapse. The team could be a juggernaut next year with this offense and a more experienced defense.

And one last positive note - IS THERE ANY DOUBT THAT JUNIOR CAN COACH? What he's done with these receivers is remarkable, and he is definitely the most valuable coach.

[Helcat72]

You make some good observations Bleedin.... I just wonder what would have happened if they gave safety help on the outside. For some reason this staff just plays their regular base game and lets the chips fall where they may!

I think that maybe they figured that when you take the safeties out of run support, and without linebackers free to biltz the passer (playing the run), even safety help doesn't cover receivers like Kimble, especially with a smaller D-line that relies on speed and can't bull rush their big offensive linemen.

[HelenaCat]

I really hate second guessing the coaches after a game, but I also had similar thoughts. Same as last week, I wondered what would have happened if a safety just double teamed Kimble all day long. Last week, it was obvious to me that Sac St had NO other receiver that was any threat than Amey. Why not make someone else beat you (at least in the air-Mole is another issue). Yesterday, I thought the same. Although EWU had some other weapons, why not make someone else beat you. Kimble had the ability to make a TD in 10 seconds and he did it. If we could have negated that, at least it would have taken EWU more time to score???

I also thought that we were unfair to our young corners. it was obvious that EWU was trying to get Kimble on Austin's side. But then he had no help. In addition, on both of the long pass plays for TDs, Austin was up tight on Kimble at the line before the snap. Why not the softer coverage we saw earlier in the year? Joey Thomas could do that, but not two freshman corners with no help.

Up 31-10, why not play zone the rest of the day. I know EWU would have scored against a zone, but it would have taken much more time than 10 seconds.

Finally, I guess I still disagree with the small defensive lineman approach. It is fine at D-end, but our tackles just get worn down-late in games and especially late in the season. The last few years our defense has gotten worse as the season went on and I think they just get worn down as the season goes on. Some beef in the middle would help run defense. With our potential on offense next year, gte some beef in there early in the game and then bring in the speed guys in the second half when the other team has to pass to catch up.

Just some thoughts of frustration again on my part. I must say that all the Cats gave 110 percent yesterday against a very good team. It was a heartbreaking loss for us fans, but the kids took it even harder. I saw many of their faces yesterday after the game and they were crushed. I also was proud to be a Bobcat yesterday. These are great kids and they will do well in the future-both those that will be playing next year and those that are moving on in their lives.

[Bleedinbluengold]

You hit the nail on the head - for some reason we went away from the soft cover corners that we saw earlier in the season to the "give up the big play" corners the last 2 weeks. I don't remember who disagreed with me on that type of strategy, but I hate to say that my point was proven beyond any doubt - maybe we just got a little ahead of ourselves in what secondary coverages we decided to feature the last couple of weeks.

I really feel for the players and coaches...they had everything in front of them, and in just 2 short weeks, their whole season came crashing to earth. That's as hard a loss to take as there is. It will stay with them until next year, and it will be an especially bitter pill after they beat the friz next Saturday!!!

[BozoneCat]

After a little sleep to calm down and regain some objectivity, here are some thoughts about the Eastern game:

GOOD

QB: Travis went out and proved he is the best QB in the Big Sky, hands down. Every week, I keep thinking that he can't possibly play better than he did the last week, and he just keeps doing it. Meyer is a very good QB, but I think to everyone in attendence yesterday, it was plainly obvious that Travis is a notch above him.

RB: Justin Domineck had a huge game yesterday, and would have had over 200 yards had 2 long runs not been called back on unnecessary holding/block in the back penalties. He ran hard all day long, and held onto the ball like a mother holds onto her baby. The coaches challenged Justin this week, and he responded marvelously. Considering Eastern had given up all of -24 yards (yes, that is NEGATIVE 24 yards) combined the last two weeks against Sac State and Cal Poly, I think that it shows how good our team is to be able to rush for over 200 yards against them. Justin, we'll need you to have another game like yesterday against the frizzlies, so keep your head up!!!

OL: Our offensive line simply dominated the football game yesterday. Travis hardly got touched when he threw the ball, and I don't recall him being sacked once. The only time Travis got hit was when he ran the ball, or when he was out of bounds. The line finally came together and made holes for Domineck to run through. Simply a wonderful group performance. Coach McEndoo is a great coach, we are very blessed to have him. I heard that Swaggert said he learned more from McEndoo in one season than he learned in his previous years combined. This group of O-linemen will be a force next year.

WR: What can you say? These guys are proving to be the best collective group of receivers Montana State has ever seen. The progress they have made since the beginning of the year is remarkable. Junior Adams has done a tremendous job with these young men. They did have a few drops yesterday, but they usually came right back and made a big play to make up for it. Eddie Sullivan in particular had a great Senior Day, he will be sorely missed next year, both on and off the field.

K: Everyone has got to give huge props to E.J. Cochrane, he played probably the game of his life. 4-for-4 on FG attempts, and hit all the extra points. I thought he did a good job kicking off once Doroski went out, I didn't like the coaching that told him to half-pooch it. Our kickoff coverage was horrible yesterday, I think the worst field position Eastern had all day was when E.J. kicked it out of bounds! The kick coverage has to improve by leaps and bounds this week, or UM will torch us in this area. And we all know that we are going to be kicking off a LOT next week!

1st half D: Our defense came out ready to play at the start of the game. They played with fire and with a mission. Eastern fans may say they played terrible, but I would argue that our defense had a lot to do with that.

BAD

2nd half D: As good as the defense played in the first half, they played equally as bad in the 2nd half. I don't want to single anyone out here, because I think it was a collective effort. I also think that this was more a result of poor coaching than anything else. Eastern went into halftime and made good adjustments, and we never seemed to catch up. When you have two freshman corners, it just is not fair to put them on an island against the best player in the conference. When you do, you see what happens. The loss of Daryl Rogers had to hurt, because he has been playing great - hope he is okay and can play this week, we need him in there to stop the run. It was at his spot that Washington broke through the line on his 50-something yard run that started the avalanche for Eastern.

Coaching: I am torn here, because I know we have good coaches. I think they did a great job having the kids ready to play, and I think they had a good gameplan. Somewhere, though, our defensive coaches are just not getting the job done right now. I always thought that our defensive coaches were the best in the league at making adjustments to counter the offense, and we haven't been able to do that the last two weeks. Eastern adjusted to our pass rush by putting Meyer into quick 3 step drops and firing, so we didn't have time to get a rush there. They also realized that it was their best option to throw the ball around Kimble and let him make plays against single coverage freshman DB's. All year long, I have been saying that we would need to figure out some kind of system to give help to the DB's when we play against top receivers, and we haven't figured it out yet. Hopefully, a lightbulb goes on this week, because UM has a bunch of them. If we don't get a rush on Ochs consistently, he will pick us apart. Heidelberger and Segars are a threat to take it home every time they touch the ball, and Talmage will be a handful with his size. I think Force will have to guard Talmage, and our corners will have to nut up and play well against the other two. We may have to play quite a bit of dime against these guys, putting Grenfell out deep as a safety net for our corners, and using Lindsay to help play the run or the pass. Whatever we do, we have to do it better, because we haven't been getting the job done.

The refs can go to hell.

So can Doug Fullerton.

OTHER

Finally, congrats to Eastern. They played a hell of a game. We did everything I thought we needed to do to win, and still lost. They are going to be a crappy draw for whatever team pulls them in the playoffs. I hope they do the Big Sky proud!

I also thought it was plainly obvious that yesterday's game was an epic battle between the two BY FAR superior teams in the conference. If Eastern hadn't laid an egg against the griz and had played like that against them, they would have beaten the griz by 30. If we play like that next week, we will win by probably at least 20. That is a tough order, though - how can these guys bounce back from a loss like that? Our coaches have their hands full getting our guys ready this week, I hope they are up to the task! Somehow, I think they will...[/b]

[jagur1]

BozoneCat: i I think Myers proved who the best QB was and it wasn't Lulay. Why? This isn't smack either. The Best QB in the BSC would score from the 2 with 7 plays to get it done.