Game Week: Montana State

[CappinHard]

Re: Game Week: Montana State

Here's Zimmer's article on Montana State: https://t.co/mAEaFL0Hn6

One thing that stood out to me is Jordan Brown's quote about how Montana State beat Western Illinois so SDSU needs to be ready to play. I think Montana State beating WIU will ensure that we don't come out flat. If WIU would have beat MSU in their house, which they almost did and probably should have, I would be more worried about our guys not having the urgency that will be needed.

[91jack]

Re: Game Week: Montana State

Here is what worries me, Anderson is listed as a co-starter or at least as an or with another guy who is a QB position guy. We have little to no tape on him, I could see them both in the backfield. I just hope the D adjusts. Knowing we have already prepared for a Big 12 QB makes me a little more comfortable as does our back end D.

I find the "no tape on him" part interesting.
There are two ways to look at it.
1) You play so your coaches can see what they have in a real game and make adjustments. That way the players get some experience if they don't have it.
2) You do NOT play and the other team doesn't know what you have but really do you?
I guess I would rather see what we had last week and take it from there. That would give us more time to figure out who we are before the conference starts.
Of course, that could all could change by injuries.

[Justwin]

Re: Game Week: Montana State

Why not worry about what WE do and do it better than they can so they need to adjust to us? It's a players game. Put them in a position to play to their strengths and be successful.

[mmiller_34]

Re: Game Week: Montana State

Why not worry about what WE do and do it better than they can so they need to adjust to us? It's a players game. Put them in a position to play to their strengths and be successful.

Hard to do this when we haven’t played a game yet.

I mean, I guess we can be better by not giving up a long TD on a bubble screen in the first 5 minutes.

[CelticCat]

Re: Game Week: Montana State

How is your DL this year? Our OL is the strength of our offense.

I think MSU fans are as curious to know what the gameplan will be as SDSU fans are. Right now we aren't the team that says "here's what we do, come stop us". I'm not sure we know what we are on offense just yet, breaking in a new QB, who has literally been a D1 QB for 2 months after not practicing 1 second last year as a true freshman at the position. We do run the ball, that's our DNA, but I'm curious how we do it against SDSU and how much we get our skill players involved outside of Andersen.

[Kemo]

Re: Game Week: Montana State

How is your DL this year? Our OL is the strength of our offense.

With the cancelled game, it's actually hard to say, particularly with our young middle.

Ryan Earith at DE is at least an all conference caliber player, while some believe he's on the cusp of being an All-American type-player.

The other end has a good rotation of players who have shown flashes in their careers, but the likely starter might be out with an injury for the MSU game (wasn't dressed for ISU, either).

Our starting DTs are a true sophomore and a red shirt freshman, who by all reports have preformed well in camp, but need to see them in game action before we can really know what we have. The rotation guys behind them both saw time last season, so there could be some depth at the position.

So in conclusion, I am cautiously optimistic about our DL, but that could change depending on how they perform against the Bobcats.

[RunninRabbit]

Re: Game Week: Montana State

How is your DL this year? Our OL is the strength of our offense.

I think MSU fans are as curious to know what the gameplan will be as SDSU fans are. Right now we aren't the team that says "here's what we do, come stop us". I'm not sure we know what we are on offense just yet, breaking in a new QB, who has literally been a D1 QB for 2 months after not practicing 1 second last year as a true freshman at the position. We do run the ball, that's our DNA, but I'm curious how we do it against SDSU and how much we get our skill players involved outside of Andersen.

"I wish we were a little bigger on the D line" - Me, every season for the past 20 years

[Mr_Tibbs]

Re: Game Week: Montana State

Thought it was interesting listening to the skyline sports podcast out of Montana talking about our D. They said they thought this was a game where the Bobcat O could get into a rythym because the Jacks D "does literally nothing". They weren't implying that we don't have a decent D or that it's ineffective, just that it's extremely predictable and doesn't ever do anything to "frustrate" the opposing O. I thought that was a fair take on our D, and is part of the reason why Chris Murray was able to settle into the game last year and pick us apart. We can't let that happen this year with their new guy...

[jackdaniel]

Re: Game Week: Montana State

"I wish we were a little bigger on the D line" - Me, every season for the past 20 years

Agree, bigger, stronger, faster.

[Theee Catrabbit]

Re: Game Week: Montana State

In my hearts of hearts I believe the key to having a chance to win this game will be to play all 4 qtrs......

[BULLDOG]

Re: Game Week: Montana State

Thought it was interesting listening to the skyline sports podcast out of Montana talking about our D. They said they thought this was a game where the Bobcat O could get into a rythym because the Jacks D "does literally nothing". They weren't implying that we don't have a decent D or that it's ineffective, just that it's extremely predictable and doesn't ever do anything to "frustrate" the opposing O. I thought that was a fair take on our D, and is part of the reason why Chris Murray was able to settle into the game last year and pick us apart. We can't let that happen this year with their new guy...

Coach Choate did not speak that way at all. He had high praise for the SDSU defense and schemes. He commented that w/ the losses on defense and the additions that the Jack "D" would be extremely stout. He singled out the linebacking core, Brown coverage skills, Snyder's physicality and that the def line should be much improved.

[Mr_Tibbs]

Re: Game Week: Montana State

Choate still implied that it was a very straight forward scheme that was well executed. That's mostly "coach speak" in my opinion. The skyline guy's weren't condescending in their analysis either. My point was that I think that's a very fair observation about our lack of disguise on d and very conservative game plans. There's no doubt that we have a very vanilla D scheme. It works (sometimes), but it's no doubt harmed us at times too and allowed some very average passing QBS to gain confidence connecting on 8 yard outs against us.

[Jackedforlife]

Re: Game Week: Montana State

We might very well have enough strength in the CB position to play up on the LOS, which will help. The DTs, while an unproven commodity have the luxury of an excellent LB crew behind them. Maybe this is the year that they actually line up on the ball instead of 1-2 yards off. I'm very confident in Earith in both the run and pass and I think Smenda is good against the run, is this Tolu's chance to prove it rushing the passer? Not saying that MSU won't get yards but I can see this as a game where we clamp down inside the 25 yd line.

[BULLDOG]

Re: Game Week: Montana State

Choate still implied that it was a very straight forward scheme that was well executed. That's mostly "coach speak" in my opinion. The skyline guy's weren't condescending in their analysis either. My point was that I think that's a very fair observation about our lack of disguise on d and very conservative game plans. There's no doubt that we have a very vanilla D scheme. It works (sometimes), but it's no doubt harmed us at times too and allowed some very average passing QBS to gain confidence connecting on 8 yard outs against us.

Disguise is one aspect, but more importantly is execution. I know a lot of vanilla defenses that are very effective. Norm Paker and now Phil Parker at Iowa have a top 25 defense almost every year. They try to limit big plays, limit penalties, execute the fundamentals, and be tougher than their opponent. I know many defensive coordinators who are so complex their own players are thinking rather than playing and often times out of position. I think their is a balance. In my opinion over the years of not being good on 3rd and long is bringing in 3-5 bodies that have bot been in the flow of the game and asking them to execute is very difficult. I saw it last week at Iowa State. We sub package on 3rd and long and bring in guys not in the flow of the game. They get a 1st down and now we scramble to get our base defense back in the game and they run quick huddle with what appeared to be unbalanced, we can't get it communicated and we had guys out of position and the hit a big play.

[JACKGUYII]

Re: Game Week: Montana State

I think this team has more speed than any other Jack's team.