Found a way

[Camo_Cat]

A lot of griping going on about how the defense struggled and we didn't win by a bigger margin, and it wasn't over early...blah, blah, blah. In the end, this is exactly the kind of game the Cats needed.

Our boys got punched in the mouth several times today and never gave up. This is a game that in the past, the Cats would have lost. But to pull out this win today showed a lot from this team. On the road, in bad weather, against a team that we have historically struggled against. And we came away with a 2 score win.

I never felt at any point that the Cats were gonna lose this game. And that's saying something for me; just ask my wife!! If anything, I came away from this game more encouraged than ever before. We proved we could pull out a gutsy win in adversity. This win will travel more for us than any blowout victory we will have.

[onceacat]

Well said.

[VimSince03]

Road wins are never easy and the Inferno is a different animal. Much like Idaho State, we had our chances both on offense and defense to pull away in the 2nd and 3rd quarter and just didn't make the plays. Also like Idaho State, we amped up the resolve in the 4th and closed the door. Championship teams do that and the fanbase should be proud. Take care of business against a bad Sac State team and go win our most important road game for the Big Sky title against Davis (who I predict will knock off UM next week). No injuries today either.

[imacat]

Road wins are never easy and the Inferno is a different animal. Much like Idaho State, we had our chances both on offense and defense to pull away in the 2nd and 3rd quarter and just didn't make the plays. Also like Idaho State, we amped up the resolve in the 4th and closed the door. Championship teams do that and the fanbase should be proud. Take care of business against a bad Sac State team and go win our most important road game for the Big Sky title against Davis (who I predict will knock off UM next week). No injuries today either.

I also did not notice any injuries. If so, that is awesome.
All that matters at this point is getting ready for Sac State.

[Cataholic]

I didn’t look at the gameday thread. Can’t stand the entitlement from some fans when things get rough. Terrible look by those specific fans.

[seataccat]

I didn’t look at the gameday thread. Can’t stand the entitlement from some fans when things get rough. Terrible look by those specific fans.

I just find it amusing that so many fans have no idea how hard these games are to win and especially road games. It just seems so disrespectful to call these teams bad. These are all Div I scholarship athletes with professional coaches that live and breathe football. The bobcats are 9-0. There is a reason that undefeated NC runs are so rare in this sport for any team.

[MSU01]

I didn’t look at the gameday thread. Can’t stand the entitlement from some fans when things get rough. Terrible look by those specific fans.

I just laugh at the game thread because it's the same guy every single time who is the first to proclaim the season over because MSU isn't playing well. Not sure I'd call it entitlement but some are definitely better at dealing with their nerves and frustration than others.

[TomCat88]

It was the lowest point total for EWU at home this season.

Second lowest total yards at home.

It was their worst, by points margin, home loss.

They were below their total yards and ppg averages.

Despite it being arguably MSU’s worst defensive performance this season, MSU appeared to have figured out how to stop this type of offense on the fly, which is very impressive. I’m trying to think of other games where teams allow 28 points and 328 yards (47 plays) in less than three quarters, then allow 0 points and 65 yards (22 plays) in the final quarter+. I’m sure I’ve seen
something similar but nothing is popping out to me.

[lutecat]

Eastern put up 288 passing and 263 running while going for 49 against the griz and allowed 701 yds to the griz.

168 and 225 for 28 it's against us. With a running qb we didn't prep for. We went for 498yds.

[BelligerentBobcat]

Eastern put up 288 passing and 263 running while going for 49 against the griz and allowed 701 yds to the griz.

168 and 225 for 28 it's against us. With a running qb we didn't prep for. We went for 498yds.

We’ll never know, but it would’ve been interesting to see how Visperas (sp?) did against us. Certainly we saw some benefit to their passing game not being as good, but their running game was certainly better than usual. We’d still win, maybe by more, maybe by less.

[tetoncat]

Eastern put up 288 passing and 263 running while going for 49 against the griz and allowed 701 yds to the griz.

168 and 225 for 28 it's against us. With a running qb we didn't prep for. We went for 498yds.

Hard to compare. Griz game was a shootout both sides.

[Camo_Cat]

It's foolish to think that a team is never going to face adversity or struggle a time or two during the course of a season. Upsets happen every week in the world of college football. This week Tennessee struggled with 3-6 Kentucky. Unranked 4-4 Florida give #2 Georgia all they wanted. Ranked teams losing to unranked teams yesterday included Texas A&M, Iowa State, Clemson, Kansas State, and Illinois. In the FCS, ranked teams losing to unranked teams were Tarleton, Central Arkansas, North Dakota, Chattanooga, North Carolina Central, and Dartmouth. It happens...

Good teams can have bad days. Some days you won't give your best effort. Other days, your opponent will produce a Herculean effort. It's how you handle yourself in the face of a challenge that matters, and that's what impressed me the Cats yesterday. They could have folded against a team that has had their number. EWU is a good team regardless of what their record says. And they're even tougher at home on the Inferno. Color me blinded by mt blue & gold glasses, but that was a good win yesterday.

[MSU01]

It's foolish to think that a team is never going to face adversity or struggle a time or two during the course of a season. Upsets happen every week in the world of college football. This week Tennessee struggled with 3-6 Kentucky. Unranked 4-4 Florida give #2 Georgia all they wanted. Ranked teams losing to unranked teams yesterday included Texas A&M, Iowa State, Clemson, Kansas State, and Illinois. In the FCS, ranked teams losing to unranked teams were Tarleton, Central Arkansas, North Dakota, Chattanooga, North Carolina Central, and Dartmouth. It happens...

Good teams can have bad days. Some days you won't give your best effort. Other days, your opponent will produce a Herculean effort. It's how you handle yourself in the face of a challenge that matters, and that's what impressed me the Cats yesterday. They could have folded against a team that has had their number. EWU is a good team regardless of what their record says. And they're even tougher at home on the Inferno. Color me blinded by mt blue & gold glasses, but that was a good win yesterday.

EWU is the quintessential "better than its record would indicate" team. The loss to Drake was very bad but other than that they've put up a string of very close losses to ranked teams (4 of their first 5 conference games were UM, Davis, Idaho, MSU...ouch). MSU won by a wider margin than any of the other ranked Big Sky teams did against them. This was a better performance by MSU than they're getting credit for by people who only see EWU's 2-7 record and look no deeper. All that matters is just keep winning, that's what championship teams do even during the inevitable moments during a season when they aren't at their best or face adversity.

[TomCat88]

Eastern put up 288 passing and 263 running while going for 49 against the griz and allowed 701 yds to the griz.

168 and 225 for 28 it's against us. With a running qb we didn't prep for. We went for 498yds.

We’ll never know, but it would’ve been interesting to see how Visperas (sp?) did against us. Certainly we saw some benefit to their passing game not being as good, but their running game was certainly better than usual. We’d still win, maybe by more, maybe by less.

In what way was it “certainly better” than usual?

[BFcatfan]

It's foolish to think that a team is never going to face adversity or struggle a time or two during the course of a season. Upsets happen every week in the world of college football. This week Tennessee struggled with 3-6 Kentucky. Unranked 4-4 Florida give #2 Georgia all they wanted. Ranked teams losing to unranked teams yesterday included Texas A&M, Iowa State, Clemson, Kansas State, and Illinois. In the FCS, ranked teams losing to unranked teams were Tarleton, Central Arkansas, North Dakota, Chattanooga, North Carolina Central, and Dartmouth. It happens...

Good teams can have bad days. Some days you won't give your best effort. Other days, your opponent will produce a Herculean effort. It's how you handle yourself in the face of a challenge that matters, and that's what impressed me the Cats yesterday. They could have folded against a team that has had their number. EWU is a good team regardless of what their record says. And they're even tougher at home on the Inferno. Color me blinded by mt blue & gold glasses, but that was a good win yesterday.

This is spot on. The D stepped up when it was critical. I was at the game. They had not prepared for a QB change at the last moment. I thought they played very well on both sides of the ball under the circumstances they were given. Cheers boys. And as always FTG…

[onceacat]

I didn’t look at the gameday thread. Can’t stand the entitlement from some fans when things get rough. Terrible look by those specific fans.

I just laugh at the game thread because it's the same guy every single time who is the first to proclaim the season over because MSU isn't playing well. Not sure I'd call it entitlement but some are definitely better at dealing with their nerves and frustration than others.

The Eags are a good team that got shafted with a really tough schedule. If they had the Cats' schedule, they'd probably be a 2 loss team and in talks for a playoff berth.

If they could find a good DC willing to live in SpoCompton (and maybe a whale to fund some NIL & facilities), they'd be back to the glory days in a heartbeat.

[onceacat]

It's foolish to think that a team is never going to face adversity or struggle a time or two during the course of a season. Upsets happen every week in the world of college football. This week Tennessee struggled with 3-6 Kentucky. Unranked 4-4 Florida give #2 Georgia all they wanted. Ranked teams losing to unranked teams yesterday included Texas A&M, Iowa State, Clemson, Kansas State, and Illinois. In the FCS, ranked teams losing to unranked teams were Tarleton, Central Arkansas, North Dakota, Chattanooga, North Carolina Central, and Dartmouth. It happens...

Good teams can have bad days. Some days you won't give your best effort. Other days, your opponent will produce a Herculean effort. It's how you handle yourself in the face of a challenge that matters, and that's what impressed me the Cats yesterday. They could have folded against a team that has had their number. EWU is a good team regardless of what their record says. And they're even tougher at home on the Inferno. Color me blinded by mt blue & gold glasses, but that was a good win yesterday.

EWU is the quintessential "better than its record would indicate" team. The loss to Drake was very bad but other than that they've put up a string of very close losses to ranked teams (4 of their first 5 conference games were UM, Davis, Idaho, MSU...ouch). MSU won by a wider margin than any of the other ranked Big Sky teams did against them. This was a better performance by MSU than they're getting credit for by people who only see EWU's 2-7 record and look no deeper. All that matters is just keep winning, that's what championship teams do even during the inevitable moments during a season when they aren't at their best or face adversity.

Drake is 6-1. Only loss is to #5 South Dakota. They are carving through the (non-scholarship) Pioneer Conf like a knife through hot butter. Massey has them ranked above a couple BSC teams.

Its obviously never a good thing to lose to a non-scholarship team, but Drake is no Mercyhurst.

[blueandgoldblitz]

We obviously had a weakness against the offense that EWU was running but it appeared that Daly found a way to counter it by the end of the third quarter. Sometimes, you just get outschemed. Sometimes, they make better adjustments than you do. But Daly seemed to have figured it out by the end of the third and into the fourth (as Tom mentioned) and I'm glad it happened now so that we know what to do if/when we come up against an offense like it in the future.

[TomCat88]

We obviously had a weakness against the offense that EWU was running but it appeared that Daly found a way to counter it by the end of the third quarter. Sometimes, you just get outschemed. Sometimes, they make better adjustments than you do. But Daly seemed to have figured it out by the end of the third and into the fourth (as Tom mentioned) and I'm glad it happened now so that we know what to do if/when we come up against an offense like it in the future.

Yeah, it was good for MSU that they appeared to get that solved because I would guess others might use it. Not Davis, but possibly SAC and maybe UM.

Keep in mind that EWU’s rushing numbers are skewed by the 75-yard run. They also lost 16 on the sack at the end. Good run is a good run though. I want to rewatch because it looked like O’Reilly was being held. Not that I know what constitutes holding in this day and age. They still averaged 4+ per carry if you remove those two plays which is still good. But MSU has been keeping most teams below 3.

[BobcatDel]

It's foolish to think that a team is never going to face adversity or struggle a time or two during the course of a season. Upsets happen every week in the world of college football. This week Tennessee struggled with 3-6 Kentucky. Unranked 4-4 Florida give #2 Georgia all they wanted. Ranked teams losing to unranked teams yesterday included Texas A&M, Iowa State, Clemson, Kansas State, and Illinois. In the FCS, ranked teams losing to unranked teams were Tarleton, Central Arkansas, North Dakota, Chattanooga, North Carolina Central, and Dartmouth. It happens...

Good teams can have bad days. Some days you won't give your best effort. Other days, your opponent will produce a Herculean effort. It's how you handle yourself in the face of a challenge that matters, and that's what impressed me the Cats yesterday. They could have folded against a team that has had their number. EWU is a good team regardless of what their record says. And they're even tougher at home on the Inferno. Color me blinded by mt blue & gold glasses, but that was a good win yesterday.

This is spot on. The D stepped up when it was critical. I was at the game. They had not prepared for a QB change at the last moment. I thought they played very well on both sides of the ball under the circumstances they were given. Cheers boys. And as always FTG…

Agreed. Great post! Proud of the way the team rose up in the second half to overcome the EWU challenge.

As a side note I did switch to watch the Kansas State (7-1) vs Houston (3-5) game later that night. Kansas State seemed comfortably in control entering Q4 with a 19-10 lead….terrible weather with intermittent downpours of rain, then just wet and slick….but KSU let Houston hang around to score 14 points and beat KSU. Stuff happens. Bobcats overcame the second half challenge…. the Kansas State Wildcats didn’t.