First, I have to say that re-watching the Cal Poly game is more punishment than any man should inflict on himself. I know for a fact that when our coaches and players were watching film this week, they were absolutely sick, because this was a game that we should have won fairly easily. That is not degrading Cal Poly, because you have to give them a lot of credit for coming to Bozeman and doing what they had to do to win, but we made enough mistakes last Saturday to fill an entire season. Watching tape made me realize that, yes, the players are there. We have so much athleticism and talent on this team, it is sick. Now we just have to find a way to work together and develop some chemistry. When (if) that happens, we will be a very, very good team.
I will start off with the good:
Started off with the tailgates and atmosphere. Great again! It is so enjoyable to see what is finally turning into a legitimate event, especially for those of us who have been coming to every game for the last 15+ years. I gotta give huge props to the field crew - Martel Field has never looked better than this year. I think we have one of the most beautiful fields anywhere in the country, and we have the added bonus of playing on a real grass field. Again, the kickoffs looked tremendous. This will help us out in a huge way throughout the year. We came out, got the turnover, and punched it in. Milton made a great TD run, dragging three guys into the endzone. I wish we could have seen that kind of effort all throughout the game by our RB's. On defense, Ray Sebastian (sp?) and Ryan Force played great. I really like what I see with Force. He may not have the strength of Ioane or the speed of Qualls, but he really plays smart, can lay out big hits, and is always in the right place. 3 starts, 3 INT's... not too bad! The receivers all had their moments, which probably makes it even more frustrating because it shows what they are capable of. Finally, I thought the play-calling was much better overall this week. I will elaborate on this later on.
Now, the bad:
I don't know what is wrong every week with the Omega feed, but it gets really annoying when it goes out all the time. If they are going to make this a true endeavor, they need to invest some $$$ in good equipment. Also, they really REALLY need to find some more sponsors - how many times can you watch Manwich, Swiss Miss, and Chef-Boy-ar-Dee commercials? If I was ever going to buy these products beforehand, I won't now, because it feels like I have been eating them every meal for the last year! On the flip side, I really liked having Dean Alexander and Ryan Elliott in the booth. They did a great job.
What was up with Cal Poly and all their "soccer injuries?" They would roll around on the ground like they just got amputated, then they would be back on the field 2 plays later. It really bothered me when this happened to #13, who intercepted Lulay's pass and took it to the house about 5 plays later. Come on, this isn't soccer, act like men!
I hope this isn't going to be a problem again this year, but personal fouls hurt us again this game. Demond Goins had a huge PF that cost us, he just kicked a player when the play was over. DUMB! What is going through these guys' heads? Later in the game, Domineck was whistled for a false start. Has anyone else in here ever seen a RB get a false start?
This week, people seemed to get on Gatewood pretty good. Well, he certainly didn't play great, but I thought Roosevelt had a much worse game. He dropped 2 passes, one which was almost certainly a TD, and also dropped 2 kickoffs. He is definitely fast, and has a lot of talent, but he is killing us with his stupid plays out there. Gatewood dropped 3 passes, but then made a few really nice catches and runs. I don't know, I think the WR's are just thinking WAY too much instead of just playing.
Neither of our RB's looked very good. Domineck just looks slow as molasses. Some of this has to be attributed to our O-line, which did not play very well, especially with run blocking. Why is Gathing not getting a chance? He played great in spring ball, give him a chance to see what he can do!
Finally, the CB's need to be moved up on the line of scrimmage. We are giving the other team 8-10 yard cushions at the line. If I am coach, I will throw a quick 5-yard out all the way down the field. Fuller didn't play very well, but I liked Eddie Smith. I ask again, why is Henderson not playing at all? Maybe he'll have to this week...
Now, on to the review of Lulay:
Travis actually played better than I initially thought, but that isn't saying a whole lot. He made a bunch of nice throws, some of which weren't caught, but he also threw what I counted to be 13 poor passes (out of 38). This is unacceptable. I see him checking off too often, and he needs to get rid of the ball quicker. If Travis would learn a good pump fake, I think we would have guys wide open all the time. Again, Travis showed his inability to throw a fade pass anywhere within 5 yards of a receiver. He missed a wide open Gatewood on a horrible fade, just like he missed a wide open Corey Smith on a fade in just about every game last year. Finally, Travis showed great ability to take off and run when the play breaks down. He must bathe in olive oil, because opposing players just can't seem to get a good hold of him. I would like to see Travis take off and run more often, but I don't like calling more than 2 designed QB-keepers a game - it just puts your QB in a dangerous situation. Also, teams are looking for that when playing MSU.
As to the play-calling:
I liked the end-around calls. I saw early on that we were setting Cal Poly up for it, and we finally ran it twice in the 2nd half. The second call was probably Bailey's best call of the game, because we had just run the same play about 4 plays earlier, and he really caught them off guard. Gatewood ran it well and fought for the TD. I actually thought the screen play worked fairly well. We didn't get huge gains off it, but we did get positive yardage. When you get a team that over-pursues and you have a weak O-line, this should be a great play to run. I only think we need to throw it a little more downfield, we have trouble with it because we run our receivers right into the middle of the scrum. Move them about 3 yards downfield, and I think they will have more room.
I did have some big problems with the play-calling, though. We ran straight up the middle 11 times for no gain. When is Bailey going to get it through his head that this play is not working? There was a situation where it was 2nd-&-1, and we ran the ball. Yes we got a first down, but that is a stupid call. Use a little imagination here, if a play doesn't work, you can get that 1 yard on 3rd down. You have to show your players you have the confidence in them to get that 1 yard by calling a pass on 2nd down. Not a horrible call, but a pretty weak one. My biggest problem was late in the 2nd quarter, we have 3rd-&-Goal from the 7, and Bailey calls a run. Are you kidding me??? He should get fired for that call alone. Then we miss the FG. As a note, I don't think that kick was Bolton's fault - Coppack made a crappy hold on it. I believe Matt McCullough will be holding from now on. I still think Tyler Bolton will do fine this year, he hasn't really gotten a good chance to prove himself yet.
My biggest worry is what happened at the beginning of the game. We got the fumble, and marched right downfield to score the TD. Did anyone notice that we went no-huddle this series? I think we had a series of plays already called, but Travis checked-off on just about every play. Are we going to have to wait until we are in a 2-minute drill before we move the ball again this year? What does that tell you about our OC? I also think our coaches are putting WAY too much emphasis on the "Big Plays" this year. It seems like that is all they want. Sure, big plays (>20 yards) are fun and nice, but I would rather control the ball and the time of possession, and win the game. When you are having trouble with your offense, give them some plays to build their confidence.
Okay, long post, but these are my thoughts. I'll wait for replies before expounding on other things.
