The Bobcat Nation

After reading much of the various commentary posted here, I felt it was time to join in & add a new voice to the fray.

First of all, I'm a third generation Cat, graduated in 87, and had the pleasure of watching the 84 championship squad "up-close & personal", as a number of players on that squad were good friends of mine. To say that I bleed Blue & Gold would be a major understatement. That being said....

I'm not about to predict where our current edition of Bobcat Football is going to end up after the rabbits Coach K has pulled out of his hat the last 2 years.

But I do know that improved play in just ONE key area of our team will make all the difference: the offensive (no pun intended) line. That unit has performed miserably thus far and leads to so many other problems on the field. First of all, a solid, aggressive, & MEAN offensive line will always make bad runners mediocre, and mediocre runners become good or even great behind them. I don't honestly know how good our current batch of runners is, but I do know that none of them is good enough to gain consistent yards on their own, which is pretty much what the O-line has made them do in the first 2 games. Tell me that Travis wouldn't benefit from having a split second or two more to throw the football. Next, I watched & listened to the first 2 games and although I know Kramer is stating that his receivers dropped 9 passes in game 1 and 7 in game 2. That may be true, but I do know that as many as HALF of those drops would have been very good to great catches because Travis didn't put the ball on the numbers. If he has time to set up & scan the field, we know that TL can perform. Finally, ask the defense if they wouldn't appreciate a few more first downs each half, or a couple fewer 3 & outs by the offense. I realize that T.O.P. was not an issue against Cal Poly, but the D needs time on the sideline to breakdown what's happening with their coaches, not to mention just the emotional lift you get when your offense is clicking. At this rate, we will have to start worrying about one of those situations where the D & O are at each others throats, and that's bad news for all.

Having played & coached O-line at various levels over the years, I do know one simple fact: To me, a great O-lineman is like a great rebounder in basketball; size & strength are nice to have, but having the HEART to play the position is the one trait I'll take over all others. Just ask the 6' 4 1/2" Charles Barkley what it takes to be a great rebounder. The 49ers and Broncos have both experienced great offensive success over the years with O-lines that are among the smallest in the NFL. They more than made up for it, however, with great techique and great heart.

I'm not saying our current O-lineman don't have heart, but if they do, they need to start showing it if we have any hope of 3-peating both the Griz & the Big Sky.

I apologize for the length of my initial submission; I will aspire to shorter rantings in the future! GO CATS!!!

I actually think the OL is slowly improving. An OL takes time to mesh as a unit and all of these guys pretty much are new or in a new position. OL is about teamwork and chemistry and HEART. However, if one cog in the chain breaks, then it can totally bust the play. I think the OL played very well pass blocking against a very tough Cal Poly flex defense. That type of defense it is very hard to pick up who is coming and who is not and I thought they did a fine job of that. That coupled with our spread offense with the quick drops/passing 'should' be enough to do the job. We are just not in sync in the passing game yet, but there was some improvement last week that I saw.

The run blocking needs to get better though. They need to run more misdirection plays that freeze the LB's and have the option to give it to the RB or the WR coming across in motion. That way, it makes the LB's accountable for the outside AND inside of the field. I know one thing, I bet our OL is looking forward to facing a non-flex defense this week and I know CSU won't have as good of LB for them as that Beck was for Cal Poly. That guy is a definate STUD and is very good for that flex system.

Our receivers/QB just need to relax and go out and play the game to have fun. The rest will come.

Great post El Gato...thanks for chiming in, and welcome aboard.

El_Gato wrote: Next, I watched & listened to the first 2 games and although I know Kramer is stating that his receivers dropped 9 passes in game 1 and 7 in game 2. That may be true, but I do know that as many as HALF of those drops would have been very good to great catches because Travis didn't put the ball on the numbers.

I disagree. Most of the drops hit them in the worst spot - the hands. They didn't get hit right after. It just looks like they are trying to catch the balls with closed fists.

The cats run a lot of misdirection. BACKWARDS.
They try and pull guards and tackles too much in my opinion. These plays take to long and the d-end follows the OL right in to the backfield to make the play. If we are gonna run up the middle, lets make em quick hitters and dives. Our OL is not very big, but we can out quick some guys and let our RBs get to the LBs and go.

We also seem to be able to run outside well too. Lets sweep some more. I am tired of slow plays that get a cloud of dust. Earle Solomonson has been gone for quite a few years, isn't that why Kramer is here?

I think that the RBs that we have, will turn out to be great backs, once things get going. Coming into the season, Kramer only talked about Gathing. Isn't he fourth string now? When things start to gel, the BSC will be in deep ******.

"When things start to gel"..........Maybe the cats should start geling before game 5 in the season?

I think you guys should save your money and get your asses over to ISU for that game......That's the important one. For those cat fans going to CSU and ISU my apology.

El G - good initial post.

I'll point out that I watched the two games and the "officially" dropped passes most certainly hit the receivers in the hands.

There are probably an equal number of other passes that Travis threw 5 feet over the receiver's head or right at the receiver's feet. Neither of which had any hope of being caught.

The official drops are the receiver's issue, the latter passes could be corrected by the OL - as you correctly explained.