The Bobcat Nation

I'm excited to see what Daly has up his sleeve. Any word on changing from the 4/2/5? Really looking forward to fall of 24.....

Vamos Gatos Vamos wrote: ↑

Tue Jan 09, 2024 6:15 pm

I'm excited to see what Daly has up his sleeve. Any word on changing from the 4/2/5? Really looking forward to fall of 24.....

Need to play faster and more aggressive. The middle was soft all season, whether it was the run or the pass. Not knocking Danny U. or O'Reilly, but we need some help at LB. Pass rush was great early on, but got stagnant as the season wore on. We need someone to step on the ends and cause some havoc. Could Brody be that guy in 24?

MSU has the best returning defensive talent in the BSC. They either need better depth or better luck with injuries at LB and safety. They were the #1 defense through the first half of the season and still ended up in the top three of almost every statistical category in the BSC despite losing Uluilakepa and Polidore for most of the last six games.

No idea what formation they’ll use but I’m sure they’ll use the one that fits their players best. Could stay with the same but blitz more. Hard to think they will change much considering the success they had pressuring the QBs.

2023 Big Sky Defensive Ranks:

Points Per Game: 2nd (21.8 points)
Yards Per Game: 3rd (331.4 - Idaho was actually first which I found odd)
Rushing Defense: 5th (136.9 - UCD, Weber, and UM all held teams to 3.5 ypc
Passing Defense: 2nd (206.2)
Defensive Efficiency: 3rd
Sacks: 1st (41)
Interceptions: 4th (12 - 3 went for touchdowns)
Fumbles Forced: 3rd (8 forced)

Averages out to being a Top 3 defense that made strides in defending the pass. The sack total is great.

2022 Big Sky Defensive Ranks:

Points Per Game: 5th (26.6 points)
Yards Per Game: 4th (359.9)
Rushing Defense: 1st (139.7) - MSU held runners to 4.1 YPC in 2023 but finished 5th in the conference
Passing Defense: 5th (220.2)
Defensive Efficiency: 7th
Sacks: 2nd (32 in 14 games - had 41 in 12 games in 2023)
Interceptions: 3rd (13)
Fumbles Forced: Tie 1st (11)

We obviously improved in 2023 from a lackluster 2022 for MSU standards.

2021 Big Sky Defensive Ranks:

Points Per Game: 1st (15.1 points)
Yards Per Game: 2nd (309.9)
Rushing Defense: 4th (126.1)
Passing Defense: 2nd (183.9)
Defensive Efficiency: 4th
Sacks: 2nd (43 in 15 games)
Interceptions: Tie 1st (18)
Fumbles Forced: 11th (7)

Great defense that couldn't get the job done in the title game when Chase Benson wasn't at full strength.

VimSince03 wrote: ↑

Wed Jan 10, 2024 11:27 am

2023 Big Sky Defensive Ranks:

Points Per Game: 2nd (21.8 points)

I had stated in some pre-season threads that if the D could be seven points better and our offense became more dynamic we would be really dangerous. I think both things happened. So wow, I was really wrong.

CodyCat wrote: ↑

Wed Jan 10, 2024 11:37 am

VimSince03 wrote: ↑

Wed Jan 10, 2024 11:27 am

2023 Big Sky Defensive Ranks:

Points Per Game: 2nd (21.8 points)

I had stated in some pre-season threads that if the D could be seven points better and our offense became more dynamic we would be really dangerous. I think both things happened. So wow, I was really wrong.

No, you were right. Cats were really dangerous, just fell short. We just had bad luck at SDSU, bad 1/2 at Idaho, bad kicking against NDSU. Cat/gris is always an outlier. How many people have you heard say we could be 1-10 and gris 10-1 and it would still be a coin flip. We sucked there this year but that is the nature of a rivalry game.

I’m going to go out on a limb here and I’m going to predict that nexts years defense will have 2 Buck Buchanan Award finalists on it.

GoCats18 wrote: ↑

Wed Jan 10, 2024 12:07 pm

I’m going to go out on a limb here and I’m going to predict that nexts years defense will have 2 Buck Buchanan Award finalists on it.

Brody Grebe will be on the initial list and should be a finalist. Who's the 2nd? Rylan Ortt has a shot.

VimSince03 wrote: ↑

Wed Jan 10, 2024 12:15 pm

GoCats18 wrote: ↑

Wed Jan 10, 2024 12:07 pm

I’m going to go out on a limb here and I’m going to predict that nexts years defense will have 2 Buck Buchanan Award finalists on it.

Brody Grebe will be on the initial list and should be a finalist. Who's the 2nd? Rylan Ortt has a shot.

Thought Rylan should have been higher up on the Big Sky awards list.

Take your pick…..I could probably think of 4-5 guys that is used correctly in our defense could have a huge season ahead of them.
I was surprised to see Robbie Hauck is already on the list of top 25 for the 2024 season.

VimSince03 wrote: ↑

Wed Jan 10, 2024 12:15 pm

GoCats18 wrote: ↑

Wed Jan 10, 2024 12:07 pm

I’m going to go out on a limb here and I’m going to predict that nexts years defense will have 2 Buck Buchanan Award finalists on it.

Brody Grebe will be on the initial list and should be a finalist. Who's the 2nd? Rylan Ortt has a shot.

In my opinion, Dru Polidore. Defense looked night and day different when he was in the first half of the year and out the second half of the year.

So statistically we went backwards on run defense and improved on pass defense?

tetoncat wrote: ↑

Wed Jan 10, 2024 6:10 pm

So statistically we went backwards on run defense and improved on pass defense?

Yes...kind of. Run defense was about the same yards wise but ranking went down in 2023. Pass defense and sacks both improved.

blueandgoldblitz wrote: ↑

Wed Jan 10, 2024 3:25 pm

VimSince03 wrote: ↑

Wed Jan 10, 2024 12:15 pm

GoCats18 wrote: ↑

Wed Jan 10, 2024 12:07 pm

I’m going to go out on a limb here and I’m going to predict that nexts years defense will have 2 Buck Buchanan Award finalists on it.

Brody Grebe will be on the initial list and should be a finalist. Who's the 2nd? Rylan Ortt has a shot.

In my opinion, Dru Polidore. Defense looked night and day different when he was in the first half of the year and out the second half of the year.

Hadn’t thought of Dru when trying to figure out the 2nd guy. I really like that pick! Call me crazy but I think Paul Brott might be a guy who could get on that watch list. To me, he really stood out when he got his opportunities.

Level Price Played really well at Nickelback at times. But struggled when he was dinged up.
We need depth and consistency at that position next season

kwcat wrote: ↑

Wed Jan 10, 2024 9:29 pm

Level Price Played really well at Nickelback at times. But struggled when he was dinged up.
We need depth and consistency at that position next season

Pretty tough when your #1 nickel tears his ACL two games in and your #2 wears down by year end. We were cursed at that position last year.

VimSince03 wrote: ↑

Wed Jan 10, 2024 9:37 pm

kwcat wrote: ↑

Wed Jan 10, 2024 9:29 pm

Level Price Played really well at Nickelback at times. But struggled when he was dinged up.
We need depth and consistency at that position next season

Pretty tough when your #1 nickel tears his ACL two games in and your #2 wears down by year end. We were cursed at that position last year.

4shor

VimSince03 wrote: ↑

Wed Jan 10, 2024 7:13 pm

tetoncat wrote: ↑

Wed Jan 10, 2024 6:10 pm

So statistically we went backwards on run defense and improved on pass defense?

Yes...kind of. Run defense was about the same yards wise but ranking went down in 2023. Pass defense and sacks both improved.

2023
4.1 per run
5.2 per play
6.5 per pass
123.7 pass D efficiency

2022
4.3 per run
5.7 per play
7.2 per pass
137.1 pass D efficiency

MSU was better by nearly every statistical metric on defense. The degree of difficulty of the schedule was also significantly greater. Also worth considering that defense early on when it was at full strength was even better.

TomCat88 wrote: ↑

Thu Jan 11, 2024 1:56 am

VimSince03 wrote: ↑

Wed Jan 10, 2024 7:13 pm

tetoncat wrote: ↑

Wed Jan 10, 2024 6:10 pm

So statistically we went backwards on run defense and improved on pass defense?

Yes...kind of. Run defense was about the same yards wise but ranking went down in 2023. Pass defense and sacks both improved.

2023
4.1 per run
5.2 per play
6.5 per pass
123.7 pass D efficiency

2022
4.3 per run
5.7 per play
7.2 per pass
137.1 pass D efficiency

MSU was better by nearly every statistical metric on defense. The degree of difficulty of the schedule was also significantly greater. Also worth considering that defense early on when it was at full strength was even better.

word

I think MSU will be either 1 or 2 in the BSC next season. The loss of Valdez is big but the improvement of other players should offset that. One thing 2023 proved is that no matter how much depth you have injuries will still drag teams down. MSU went from running 1s and 2s everywhere to running 2s and 3s, and sometimes just 3s on defense. It took its toll but MSU still held its own, which is very noteworthy in my view.