The Bobcat Nation

BAC

In fact, Bailey is quite smart, and if anything, the offense has been way too complex. We saw the results last year when finally the 11 guys on offense figure it out - ESPECIALLY the one guy behind center. Bailey's O is basically Boise's, so it's virtually unstoppable when all 11 guys do what they are supposed to do.

BUT, when a receiver has about 8 routes they can run on any given play, and the tailback has about 6 routes, plus another 4 blocking assignments potentially, or 6-8 holes to attack, then it's pretty easy to see why sometimes the offense looks toally pathetic. That doesn't even come close to what the O line has the optino to do -

Anyway - I don't have any problems with Bailey. He's always been fine to me and the family...I don't think he would be in serious consideration for the HC job if Krames left - not right now anyway.

Bleedinbluengold wrote:In fact, Bailey is quite smart, and if anything, the offense has been way too complex. We saw the results last year when finally the 11 guys on offense figure it out - ESPECIALLY the one guy behind center. Bailey's O is basically Boise's, so it's virtually unstoppable when all 11 guys do what they are supposed to do.

BUT, when a receiver has about 8 routes they can run on any given play, and the tailback has about 6 routes, plus another 4 blocking assignments potentially, or 6-8 holes to attack, then it's pretty easy to see why sometimes the offense looks toally pathetic. That doesn't even come close to what the O line has the optino to do -

Anyway - I don't have any problems with Bailey. He's always been fine to me and the family...I don't think he would be in serious consideration for the HC job if Krames left - not right now anyway.

I agree with BleedinBlueGold. The offense is very complex and when your plugging a lot of new skill players in/out of it it's going to take time to learn the offense. It is very similiar to the West Coast Offense in that respect. I took Steve Young about 3 years before he was comforteable in that offense. Also, it's hard to blame some of the inside running calls on Bailey as the line execution/RB execution timing to the hole was lacking last year. There was just not a hole there when the RB arrived. I think if we couple this offense like we had last year and merge it in with a power running game this offense will be DYNAMITE this year. We now have the ability to go 4-5 wide as well as do the 2 TE power running game. We can dictate anything we want this year to the defense. If our offense struggles this year, then some of the blame can be blamed on Bailey probably, but if it does well he should get a LOT of the credit.

I thought most of this talk would have gone away, especially after last year. MSU had one of the best offenses in I-AA, much less the BSC. You cannot say, "oh it's the assistant coaches that did all this and saved Bailey's butt. You have to give him credit. The players made great plays, but they were put into a position that allowed them to. If anything it was the defense that let the team down last year, not the offense or the offensive scheme.

Most schools would love to have this offense and it's not because Bailey isn't doing his job well. If the team is bad, you blame the coach, if the team does well, give them credit.

I sounds more like a possible personality conflict with some than it is Bailey not doing his job.

With all due respect Preznit Bush I think your cabinet's track record speaks for itself, so consequently Coach Bailey is now destined for greatness unless you and your intelligence people are building a case around him with falsified evidence like you pranksters always do. Anyways, say 'hi' to Laura and the girls for me and remember, 3.5 more years!!!....or are you going to make that 1.5 years?

Until last year, I also had some concerns about Coach Bailey. I now don't have a problem with him except possibly one small one. After watching the team during years past and comparing it to last year, my only complaint about Bailey may have been that he tried to force his offense on some teams that just did not have the personnel to run it well. He did not adapt to the persnnel he was given real well. But I think last year that he showed what was possible when he had the players and they all executed. Certainly expectations are even much higher this year and I believe the personnel is even much improved, either thru experience or some new players at a few positions.

Coach Bailey may not be Mr. Personality, but I think he's doing fine. Let him do his job and let's just get behind these kids this year and fully enjoy Travis Lulay's senior year.

hehehehehe first the griz are running the unviersity of utah O and now the cats are running boise state's O. whats next?!?!

Although I agree that our offense really "got it" late last season, I do have a big beef with the play-calling on the final drive versus EWU.

Trying to send JD wide was a big mistake at that point on the field and I was really disappointed that neither of the final 2 plays rolled Travis out of the pocket where he would have the option of throwing or running...

Nitpicking? Maybe. But I believe we played AGAINST our teams strengths on those final 4 plays rather than using the talents we had available to give our guys the best possible chance to score & keep alive our title hopes...

This is a topc that we seem to has up year after year.

Anyway, here is my take. I think Bailey is an above average, if not good offensive mind. My problem with him, and somebody else expressed this, was adapting to his players. You can try and run the offense the Rams had back in 99, but face it, without Warner, Faulk, Bruce and Holt, you would've had an ugly team. I have questioned his playcalling a few times (the EWU game comes to mind), but overall I don't think they are so much bad calls as bad execution. I remember many times last year we kept running the ball on first down, same play, getting maybe a yard. It's fine for a few times, but it obviously wasn't working, so switch out of it. Setting up the playaction, maybe, but it was basically like starting every series on 2nd down.

Since we always have to (or decide to) bring in JC transfers and 1A dropdowns, our guys never have much time to learn Bailey's system. I think this year will be a great guage to see how good his mind and calls really are - he has players that know the system for at least one year, almost every player has played one year or more. If the offense is predictable and doesn't put up pretty damn good numbers, I'm going to have to blame Bailey.

Also, does anybody know how much Kramer is involved with calling plays? We may be putting too much heat on Bailey when it is ultimately Coach K's call.

El_Gato wrote:I do have a big beef with the play-calling on the final drive versus EWU.

Trying to send JD wide was a big mistake at that point on the field and I was really disappointed that neither of the final 2 plays rolled Travis out of the pocket where he would have the option of throwing or running...

It was brought up in the nation, but might not have been seen by all. The call for JD on the play was up the middle (pure and simple). He was tired and decided on his own to pop outside (which was a poor decision as it turns out). Don't put that mistake on Bailey, he called the right play as did Kramer. JD was just the only back and tired (which shouldn't be a problem this year with the good runners behind him).

If that is your only concern, then feel good that there is no concern.

If I'm not mistaken MSU was up 31-10 at halftime vs. EWU. Then lost 51-44. A 31-pt half followed by a 13-point half? Seemed to let up on the gas a bit in a huge game when the coaches all knew the defense was suspect after the debacle in Sacramento. What should bother MSU fans about that SSU game is that the coaches came away saying that Ryan Mole and SSU had some kind of great offense. What a crock. Mole had most of his yards because MSU was late getting on the field and was out of position on several plays. That was an inexcusable loss. So was the EWU game after leading by 21 at home. The UM game was played like the mere formality that it was. It's hard to get into character for playing the spoiler role a week after being taking out of the driver's seat. SSU lost to UM by 31, EW by 35, Cal Poly by 45, PSU by 31, NAU by 26....that was just a collapse by MSU. Then when it looked like they had redeemed (31-10 halftime lead) themselves they collapsed again.

I think, however, that Bailey is improving, but still has a lot to learn. The pressure will be on him this year, because it appears this team will need to score a lot of points or eat up a lot of clock to get wins.

dont blame baily for the loss..whenever any d gives up 44 points, unless in basketball, it did a lousey job

iaafan wrote:If I'm not mistaken MSU was up 31-10 at halftime vs. EWU. Then lost 51-44. A 31-pt half followed by a 13-point half? Seemed to let up on the gas a bit in a huge game when the coaches all knew the defense was suspect after the debacle in Sacramento. What should bother MSU fans about that SSU game is that the coaches came away saying that Ryan Mole and SSU had some kind of great offense. What a crock. Mole had most of his yards because MSU was late getting on the field and was out of position on several plays. That was an inexcusable loss. So was the EWU game after leading by 21 at home. The UM game was played like the mere formality that it was. It's hard to get into character for playing the spoiler role a week after being taking out of the driver's seat. SSU lost to UM by 31, EW by 35, Cal Poly by 45, PSU by 31, NAU by 26....that was just a collapse by MSU. Then when it looked like they had redeemed (31-10 halftime lead) themselves they collapsed again.

I think, however, that Bailey is improving, but still has a lot to learn. The pressure will be on him this year, because it appears this team will need to score a lot of points or eat up a lot of clock to get wins.

Let me get this straight. The EW game your criticizing Bailey for putting up 44 points? Both the SSU and EW games were lost on defense ... plain and simple. When you are giving up more TD's (HUGE BIG PLAYS) easier than you are scoring them your usually going to lose.

Also, does anybody know how much Kramer is involved with calling plays? We may be putting too much heat on Bailey when it is ultimately Coach K's call.

While I was there Kramer did little play calling during the games (special teams was really the only time he called plays). He let the coaches do their jobs. Kramer did have a voice when they watch game film, but he never stepped on any toes during the games.

iaafan wrote:If I'm not mistaken MSU was up 31-10 at halftime vs. EWU. Then lost 51-44. A 31-pt half followed by a 13-point half? Seemed to let up on the gas a bit in a huge game when the coaches all knew the defense was suspect after the debacle in Sacramento. What should bother MSU fans about that SSU game is that the coaches came away saying that Ryan Mole and SSU had some kind of great offense. What a crock. Mole had most of his yards because MSU was late getting on the field and was out of position on several plays. That was an inexcusable loss. So was the EWU game after leading by 21 at home. The UM game was played like the mere formality that it was. It's hard to get into character for playing the spoiler role a week after being taking out of the driver's seat. SSU lost to UM by 31, EW by 35, Cal Poly by 45, PSU by 31, NAU by 26....that was just a collapse by MSU. Then when it looked like they had redeemed (31-10 halftime lead) themselves they collapsed again.

I think, however, that Bailey is improving, but still has a lot to learn. The pressure will be on him this year, because it appears this team will need to score a lot of points or eat up a lot of clock to get wins.

Give me a break!

BAC

G.W.Bush wrote:I look at all the times we got our lunches handed to us on plays that should have never been called. I wish Bailey had got the memo that “screens” don’t work and bouncing it outside on 70% of your run plays will not fool the defense. If you took Lulay out of the equation (diamond in the rough only PSU recruited him in D-I) then Bailey would have no offense. A good coordinator can make an offense click with average players, and with great players (Gatewood, Lulay, Bolton, ect) a coordinator should blow teams out of the water. I think that Bailey should have HIGH expectations to fill, and he has fallen short every year he has been in Bozeman. If fans and boosters keep saying that he is doing an adequate job then we will always finish 7-4. We must demand excellence and we will be a football powerhouse year in and year out! I think Bailey is not the best coach we could have as the Offensive Coordinator or the Assistant Head Coach! Look how great our other coaches have been. Why are we settling for mediocrity with him?

I can't even believe we are having this conversation again this year. Say what you want now. But we will finally have a year where we have a significant portion of our offensive starters back this year. How can you not watch our games towards the end of last year and not think our offense was clicking. Yeah, we struggled in the red zone a little because we could not run the ball effectively like we should/open holes. This will be fixed this year and will OPEN up the offense where we can dictate anything we want to the other team this year. If you can only pass when your down in the red zone (or try to that is) .. then your going to be inconsistent down there at best. Kramer knows that and so does Bailey. They struggled running the ball last year .. plain and simple. The players/line/rb's have to perform though. Bailey can only call the plays.

I think this is the year where our offense finally gets back to clicking/scoring some points on consistent basis. We get that power running game back and all those missed opportunities last year will be 6 points up on the board this year. I bet we average about 7-10 more points a game this year at least.

Bailey has been questionable at best at Bozeman up until last year. But you absolutely have to give the guy credit for installing the no huddle offense last year and really opening up the offense.

I dont think the Cats will have the total offense #s they did last year, but I think the O will be better - more balanced attack better.

Bailey has earned some respect due to his adjustments made in mid season last year. Let up a little!!!

Also, isnt it funny how the offense started to really hit the accelerator once the recievers started catching the ball?!?!!? Bailey can call plays all day long, but if players dont execute, nothing works. Its funny how coaches and QBs are given too much praise when things go right, and consequently given too much blame when things go bad.

Cat Pride wrote:Also, isnt it funny how the offense started to really hit the accelerator once the recievers started catching the ball?!?!!? Bailey can call plays all day long, but if players dont execute, nothing works. Its funny how coaches and QBs are given too much praise when things go right, and consequently given too much blame when things go bad.

I agree we need to stop the Bailey stuff, He's earned respect. For those that saw the NAU game, the Offensive scheme was amazing.

Last year, Lulay was throwing behind receivers in the first several games and receivers were dropping the ball when it did get there. His running was the only thing getting us much.
Then Eddie starting getting the ball and doing things and it became contagious with Wolf then going crazy followed by Gatewood (Gatewood didn't even start the first 3 games or so, Roosevelt did).

The no-huddle, followed by people wanting the ball made a huge difference.

G.W.Bush wrote:Here is something that I would like to see discussed. How does everyone feel about finding a new Offensive Coordinator? I have met Coach Don Bailey on a number of occasions, and I do not like the man. I also do not like his coaching style! I think his plays are predictable and this just kills our drives! I thought that he would have been fired along time ago, but he has some how stuck around. I remember that his head was on the chopping block in 2002, but the Cats saved his ass by turning a gloomy season into a Conference Championship. I have this deep fear that when Kramer leaves Bailey would become the head coach! That would be the worse thing to happen to Bobcat Football since the 40’s. I really don’t understand how this man has hung around for so long. He has been blessed with good assistants, and more importantly good recruiting! He is not a mastermind like you would expect of an Offensive Coordinator, and to be honest the Cats would be better off without him!

If something is amiss in your administration, you can make the necessary changes. Coach Kramer has the same prerogative.

You do your job & let him do his.