Cats Defense Vulnerable?

[wbtfg]

I get that it has been an issue and I feel like the coaches obviously have to see it too.
Why would a coach not make adjustments to shore this up?
Are they not confident in our db's and safeties playing closer to the line of scrimmage or are they just stubborn?

Thats how weve been winning games the last 3+ years. Its been a pretty good recipe for success

[tetoncat]

The 4th down penalties kept 2 drives alive I think. Get up early on a team that feels they can't get a stop and you have to defend 4 downs those 2 penalties not called it is a full on blowout. Or don't get penalties that forced FG it is also.

Yeah both 4th down penalties led to touchdown on those drives. We also missed two picks and a fumble that fell right back into the receivers hands. SFA had a lot of grit to keep fighting but some fans don't realize this game was dangerously close to being like 58 to 14.

Absolutely. Really only drive I was disappointed in was to end 1st half.

[RedClowder]

The 4th down penalties kept 2 drives alive I think. Get up early on a team that feels they can't get a stop and you have to defend 4 downs those 2 penalties not called it is a full on blowout. Or don't get penalties that forced FG it is also.

Yeah both 4th down penalties led to touchdown on those drives. We also missed two picks and a fumble that fell right back into the receivers hands. SFA had a lot of grit to keep fighting but some fans don't realize this game was dangerously close to being like 58 to 14.

Between the three field goals and the interception in the end zone, The team left 12 to 18-ish points on the field just right there. Could've been a big, big win. The team balled out though. I had a blast watching it. Credit to SFA for fighting the whole game. Onto the Semi's.

[4thecats]

I just fear the griz will take advantage of this and they have better receivers.. Plus I don't think you should game plan on takeaways or penalties.
But maybe it's just me being scared of the griz rematch.
They look tough. And their D is fired up

[BobcatBuiltTexan]

Great question. I’d love @BobcatBuiltTexan to explain this.

Well its really an easy thing to dissect.....our safeties don't cover well... I've said this all along. But this is actually pretty normal. If you can actually cover you play cb.

They isolated the safeties and lbs and made them cover and we gave up plays. I mean if we really want to get into it dowler was beat but he's luckier than a 3 peckered dog and got the int.

The sticks routes are a product of coverage. Msu doesn't press in those situations so we end up giving up those plays most times. We'd rather line up and play than give up a big play.

What most people don't see is that about half of the sacks we got were due to the cbs taking away the first read which made the qb hold it and we got the pressure we needed. We cover well and confuse the qb often.

We are fine in coverage, when we are in coverage. Williams, regardless of being an AA, doesn't cover well he's always late and gets beat deep often they just so happen to not catch the ball. Mcmillan is good against everything but the fade ball, they HAVE to work on that. Johnson comes put of his break well on short routes but is iffy at best on deep routes.

All in all they play complementary ball so many of their weaknesses are covered up, which is what a championship level team does. The coaches are done really good coaches because they can plays based off who they got out there ac what they can and can't do well. They put our players in the best position to win, which again is what championship level teams do.

I've said it all along...... we might not win pretty but we'll win and bring a natty back to bozeman... just relax and ride the wave.

[BobcatBuiltTexan]

I just fear the griz will take advantage of this and they have better receivers.. Plus I don't think you should game plan on takeaways or penalties.
But maybe it's just me being scared of the griz rematch.
They look tough. And their D is fired up

We'll be fine.... they'll make some plays but all in all we are more talented and poor coaching is better. In a nip uck game airways take the more talented team and we are that. It won't be pretty but we'll win. Um had the crowd behind them so they played high because of that energy. They get us at home, they won't have that energy. It won't be a blow out but we'll win. Probably have to see uc Davis in the natty and we'll win.

[EastslopeCat]

Great analysis BBT. Always appreciate your input.
We are a solid defense. Not always pretty but it’s been effective. Just keep playing hard and we will be just fine.

[TomCat88]

Every facet of a unit is going to have areas that aren’t as good as others.

Statistically, and overall, teams are not passing the ball well vs MSU’s defense.

Vidlak didn’t have a good game. 43 attempts should get 300 yards. He had 242. 5.6 per attempt.

It’s hard to complete deep passes vs MSU’s defense.

Only two starting QBs have averaged over 7 yards per pass attempt this year. Moore for Oregon and ISU’s Cooke. If you aren’t getting at least 7 yards per pass in the game, you’re going to have a problem winning. Only 5 have been over 6.0. The last to do it is Pinnick (6.5). Bo Kelly (6.3) and Mason (7.0) are the others. Cooke (8.2) had 103 yards on two attempts with a 63-yarder that came off a broken tackle.

Only two QBs have had a passer rating over 140 in a game. Moore and Mason. Moore is the only QB to have a rating better than his season rating. Mason did if you count his overtime stats.

[nanacat]

The Cats defense is far and away better than USDs, yikes!!

[91catAlum]

Every facet of a unit is going to have areas that aren’t as good as others.

Statistically, and overall, teams are not passing the ball well vs MSU’s defense.

Vidlak didn’t have a good game. 43 attempts should get 300 yards. He had 242. 5.6 per attempt.

It’s hard to complete deep passes vs MSU’s defense.

Only two starting QBs have averaged over 7 yards per pass attempt this year. Moore for Oregon and ISU’s Cooke. If you aren’t getting at least 7 yards per pass in the game, you’re going to have a problem winning. Only 5 have been over 6.0. The last to do it is Pinnick (6.5). Bo Kelly (6.3) and Mason (7.0) are the others. Cooke (8.2) had 103 yards on two attempts with a 63-yarder that came off a broken tackle.

Only two QBs have had a passer rating over 140 in a game. Moore and Mason. Moore is the only QB to have a rating better than his season rating. Mason did if you count his overtime stats.

Vidlak looked really good to me yesterday. He was throwing darts most of the game but had at least 4 balls dropped. Sometimes the eye test says more than a stat line.

[lutecat]

Vidlak is a better qb than KAY.

[VimSince03]

I just fear the griz will take advantage of this and they have better receivers.. Plus I don't think you should game plan on takeaways or penalties.
But maybe it's just me being scared of the griz rematch.
They look tough. And their D is fired up

Yeah they play pretty well at home don't they...

[tetoncat]

I just fear the griz will take advantage of this and they have better receivers.. Plus I don't think you should game plan on takeaways or penalties.
But maybe it's just me being scared of the griz rematch.
They look tough. And their D is fired up

Yeah they play pretty well at home don't they...

Well in most of their 10 home games at least

[BOBCATBORN]

USD might have as many false starts as us.

[onceacat]

I have noticed the last 3 games that teams have been finding a lot more success by passing it on our defense deeper into the middle of the field. Have we been exposed and will this continue to be an issue?
Is it a scheme that exposes this or is it poor play?

Those were the 3 best QBs the Cats played since week 2. By a LONG shot.

[TomCat88]

Every facet of a unit is going to have areas that aren’t as good as others.

Statistically, and overall, teams are not passing the ball well vs MSU’s defense.

Vidlak didn’t have a good game. 43 attempts should get 300 yards. He had 242. 5.6 per attempt.

It’s hard to complete deep passes vs MSU’s defense.

Only two starting QBs have averaged over 7 yards per pass attempt this year. Moore for Oregon and ISU’s Cooke. If you aren’t getting at least 7 yards per pass in the game, you’re going to have a problem winning. Only 5 have been over 6.0. The last to do it is Pinnick (6.5). Bo Kelly (6.3) and Mason (7.0) are the others. Cooke (8.2) had 103 yards on two attempts with a 63-yarder that came off a broken tackle.

Only two QBs have had a passer rating over 140 in a game. Moore and Mason. Moore is the only QB to have a rating better than his season rating. Mason did if you count his overtime stats.

Vidlak looked really good to me yesterday. He was throwing darts most of the game but had at least 4 balls dropped. Sometimes the eye test says more than a stat line.

That's why I said, "Statistically,..." Vidlak is a good quarterback. He didn't have a good game statistically.

[BelligerentBobcat]

One other note, and I said it last week but it bears repeating, if a team has a clear number 1 receiver like Harris, Brown or Wortham, they need to find a way to stop letting them move around to get covered by a lb or safety.

Cats did great against wortham and Harris. Brown got loose a little bit, but overall, MSU defense has done great against the opposing #1 WR.

Harris had 11 receptions for almost 100 yards and several first downs. He also had like 4 drops.

11 receptions for 85 yards. 7.7/rec.

Many of which happened when MSU was up by 2 scores and keeping everything in front of them.

He’s one of the best WRs we've faced this year.

I get what you're saying but he probably had like 4-5 first downs on 3rd down catches that extended drives and helped keep our defense on the field much longer. The last, I think, was 3rd and 10 to the 10 yard line before their last score. Defense was shelled up 5 yards off the first down marker and it was a super simple in route for a first.

The defense doesn't want to give up big plays, so they're going to give up some first down plays. It's not super ideal, but it's not awful either. At this point in the season, everybody we're playing is pretty good. It's not going to be like when we were playing UNC or EWU.

[onceacat]

Every facet of a unit is going to have areas that aren’t as good as others.

Statistically, and overall, teams are not passing the ball well vs MSU’s defense.

Vidlak didn’t have a good game. 43 attempts should get 300 yards. He had 242. 5.6 per attempt.

It’s hard to complete deep passes vs MSU’s defense.

Only two starting QBs have averaged over 7 yards per pass attempt this year. Moore for Oregon and ISU’s Cooke. If you aren’t getting at least 7 yards per pass in the game, you’re going to have a problem winning. Only 5 have been over 6.0. The last to do it is Pinnick (6.5). Bo Kelly (6.3) and Mason (7.0) are the others. Cooke (8.2) had 103 yards on two attempts with a 63-yarder that came off a broken tackle.

Only two QBs have had a passer rating over 140 in a game. Moore and Mason. Moore is the only QB to have a rating better than his season rating. Mason did if you count his overtime stats.

Vidlak looked really good to me yesterday. He was throwing darts most of the game but had at least 4 balls dropped. Sometimes the eye test says more than a stat line.

That's why I said, "Statistically,..." Vidlak is a good quarterback. He didn't have a good game statistically.

These are FCS receivers. They are going to drop 3-4 passes per game. If they weren’t going to drop passes, they’d be making bank I. The FBS.

[TomCat88]

One thing that is really starting to gravel my ass is ever since Dowler was modest enough to say, "I don't know how this keeps happening" after the Cat-Griz game, a lot of people have been saying he's just getting lucky. IMO he was a first team All-BSC safety before he got his first pick. In fact, a couple of us were discussing just that before the Weber game. Then he went off on turnovers and hasn't slowed down.

I realize you can't count on getting turnovers every game. They may be random but it's not just luck.

[KIX]

I have noticed the last 3 games that teams have been finding a lot more success by passing it on our defense deeper into the middle of the field. Have we been exposed and will this continue to be an issue?
Is it a scheme that exposes this or is it poor play?

Safeties playing too deep. Allows for those 10-15 yard middle of the field completions. Corners seem to be playing off too much , as well. dUMb will be all over this again-short quick stuff. I will never understand how Grebe, Taylor and Daily get matched up on a WR either. D has alot of work to do this week.