MoWest @ NWMSU Game Thread -- GAME DAY

[TDs&Beer]

Re: MoWest @ NWMSU Game Thread -- GAME DAY

Best way to describe Wright:

[Bearcat1986]

Re: MoWest @ NWMSU Game Thread -- GAME DAY

Poor clock mgt by the Griffs at the half


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

That was "pathetic" clock management...

[Fro-th_and_goal]

Re: MoWest @ NWMSU Game Thread -- GAME DAY

I sat in front of Wright's grandpa during the game and he was nervous every time that kid took off, which is understandable. He took a couple of big hits and kept on going. Seems like a tough kid with lots of potential. I look forward to seeing what he can do this year. There will no doubt be growing pains at some point, but hopefully he can stay healthy. Already looks like an upgrade over QB play from last year.

[Taxman]

Re: MoWest @ NWMSU Game Thread -- GAME DAY

Pretty much a 3rd quarter to forget for NW. Putrid offense.

That is what happens when you don't run the QB in this offense. One designed run resulted in a first down. Was a huge problem last year. Poor field position didn't help either. And a drop/not great pass. Will be a balance all season determining how often Wright gets hit.

[Taxman]

Re: MoWest @ NWMSU Game Thread -- GAME DAY

Final 28-6. Both defenses played well, especially up front. That surprised me a little bit for the Griffons. Both struggled in the secondary, but the Griffons weren't able to take advantage of the opportunities and the Bearcats were.

Griffons converted on 3 of their first 5 third down opportunities, thanks to some positive yardage early in the series. They finish 0 for their last 12, thanks to a lot of negative plays early in the series.

Both teams had a lot of penalties; it felt like the Griffons' flags came at the most inopportune moments.

I thought MW looked respectable. Pretty fast on defense. But NW was only more efficient running the ball in 1 game last year compared to last night and the MW D gave up 7.1 ypp. Marino is a creative, decent runner but his inaccuracy will continue to haunt him going forward. He literally had a dude standing wide open without a guy within 25 yds for a TD. And missed.

NW's DL, especially DT, is tiny. Overall the D is super fast, but get big dudes and run right over them.

[CatFan88]

Re: MoWest @ NWMSU Game Thread -- GAME DAY

NW's DL, especially DT, is tiny. Overall the D is super fast, but get big dudes and run right over them.

Could be a problem for NW moving forward. Not only starters not very big, but 2-deep not very big. Althoff getting hurt last night sucks. Fortunately for NW, LB position is deep.

Gonna be fun watching Strayhorn, Thompson, Wright and Taylor develop this year. Having experienced RB like Caldwell is a huge plus for us this year in the run game.

[GrifFan]

Re: MoWest @ NWMSU Game Thread -- GAME DAY

I thought MW looked respectable. Pretty fast on defense. But NW was only more efficient running the ball in 1 game last year compared to last night and the MW D gave up 7.1 ypp. Marino is a creative, decent runner but his inaccuracy will continue to haunt him going forward. He literally had a dude standing wide open without a guy within 25 yds for a TD. And missed.

NW's DL, especially DT, is tiny. Overall the D is super fast, but get big dudes and run right over them.

Couple of things on the Griffon D

1. They stone cold stopped the Bearcats in the third quarter when the offense could do nothing; 16 plays for 31 yards and one first down in five possessions. Playing that well for an extended period of time against a competent offense is not something we've seen the last couple of years.

2. Northwest ran the ball efficiently, but the running backs were basically a non-factor. Caldwell's long run of 22 came on a non-scoring drive. The rest of the game he had 9 carries for 20 yards. Yes, Strayhorn's long of 20 was a big play that set up a TD, but the Bearcats had to throw it on third down after Caldwell couldn't reach the end zone on first and second down runs from the 5 and the 1. Take away that long run, and Strayhorn had 5 carries for 2 yards. Northwest was efficient with the run primarily because Wright is a very talented running quarterback - even with a couple of sacks, he was by far the leading rusher in terms of yards and ypc. My guess is Northwest is going to have a lot better games on the ground going forward than they did last night, especially if they tailor the offense more to Wright's strength. (He also showed the ability to make plays in the passing game on the move. I was very impressed with him as a RSF.)

3. Related to no. 2, in the last couple of years the Griffon defense couldn't compete physically up front. For most of the game, that was not the case last night.

Northwest won, they're the better team, etc. I'm not unhappy with the way the Griffon defense played last night.

On Marino, I'd have to go back and look, but it felt like missing that wide open guy was the turning point for him. He was relatively accurate in the early going, but once he missed that pass it was a pretty rough night.

[Bearcat97]

Re: MoWest @ NWMSU Game Thread -- GAME DAY

I thought MW looked respectable. Pretty fast on defense. But NW was only more efficient running the ball in 1 game last year compared to last night and the MW D gave up 7.1 ypp. Marino is a creative, decent runner but his inaccuracy will continue to haunt him going forward. He literally had a dude standing wide open without a guy within 25 yds for a TD. And missed.

NW's DL, especially DT, is tiny. Overall the D is super fast, but get big dudes and run right over them.

The NW DL did look small but the MoWest OL is fairly massive. #63 was a true freshman for us and the only one along the DL with some girth. A power running game may give us fits, especially if the QB is accurate in the passing game.

I'm impressed with the athletes we have at QB/WR/RB. There's no reason we shouldn't see continuous, explosive plays from this group. The OL was inconsistent last night in the run game. They need to sustain and finish their blocks instead of standing around watching the play.

Overall, a solid first game with far fewer mistakes than I thought their would be. Thomas/Strayhorn/Bane/Taylor/Wright all have elite speed at their positions. I don't know that we've seen that in a long time at NW.

[kccatfan]

Re: MoWest @ NWMSU Game Thread -- GAME DAY

Sorry if I missed it somewhere else in this thread...Did anyone catch the attendance for the game last night?

[Thepeman]

Re: MoWest @ NWMSU Game Thread -- GAME DAY

Sorry if I missed it somewhere else in this thread...Did anyone catch the attendance for the game last night?

8550 was announced on the network coverage.

[IM N GUD H&NZ BEARCAT]

Re: MoWest @ NWMSU Game Thread -- GAME DAY

Sorry if I missed it somewhere else in this thread...Did anyone catch the attendance for the game last night?

Believe box score said 8,750.

[FlyinLion]

Re: MoWest @ NWMSU Game Thread -- GAME DAY

I thought MW looked respectable. Pretty fast on defense. But NW was only more efficient running the ball in 1 game last year compared to last night and the MW D gave up 7.1 ypp. Marino is a creative, decent runner but his inaccuracy will continue to haunt him going forward. He literally had a dude standing wide open without a guy within 25 yds for a TD. And missed.

NW's DL, especially DT, is tiny. Overall the D is super fast, but get big dudes and run right over them.

Per play stats don't measure efficiency as they lack of context. Take Northwest's fourth drive of the 3rd quarter. Four plays, one first down and ended with a punt, but had 3 rushes for 20 yards (6.66 ypc). Only efficient/successful play among them was Wright's 11 yard run on the first play of the drive.

You don't have to be efficient when you're explosive, which Northwest was. Throw in Western's inability to finish drives and the result is about what you would expect.

[Taxman]

Re: MoWest @ NWMSU Game Thread -- GAME DAY

Per play stats don't measure efficiency as they lack of context. Take Northwest's fourth drive of the 3rd quarter. Four plays, one first down and ended with a punt, but had 3 rushes for 20 yards (6.66 ypc). Only efficient/successful play among them was Wright's 11 yard run on the first play of the drive.

You don't have to be efficient when you're explosive, which Northwest was. Throw in Western's inability to finish drives and the result is about what you would expect.

Silly mystikal creature. It's not an either or thing. Both can be true. Just ask WU. MW is off the hook as NW did even better on the ground v. WU.

[GrifFan]

Re: MoWest @ NWMSU Game Thread -- GAME DAY

Silly mystikal creature. It's not an either or thing. Both can be true. Just ask WU. MW is off the hook as NW did even better on the ground v. WU.

Weird. Who could have predicted that?

Couple of things on the Griffon D

1. They stone cold stopped the Bearcats in the third quarter when the offense could do nothing; 16 plays for 31 yards and one first down in five possessions. Playing that well for an extended period of time against a competent offense is not something we've seen the last couple of years.

2. Northwest ran the ball efficiently, but the running backs were basically a non-factor. Caldwell's long run of 22 came on a non-scoring drive. The rest of the game he had 9 carries for 20 yards. Yes, Strayhorn's long of 20 was a big play that set up a TD, but the Bearcats had to throw it on third down after Caldwell couldn't reach the end zone on first and second down runs from the 5 and the 1. Take away that long run, and Strayhorn had 5 carries for 2 yards. Northwest was efficient with the run primarily because Wright is a very talented running quarterback - even with a couple of sacks, he was by far the leading rusher in terms of yards and ypc. My guess is Northwest is going to have a lot better games on the ground going forward than they did last night, especially if they tailor the offense more to Wright's strength. (He also showed the ability to make plays in the passing game on the move. I was very impressed with him as a RSF.)

3. Related to no. 2, in the last couple of years the Griffon defense couldn't compete physically up front. For most of the game, that was not the case last night.

Northwest won, they're the better team, etc. I'm not unhappy with the way the Griffon defense played last night.

On Marino, I'd have to go back and look, but it felt like missing that wide open guy was the turning point for him. He was relatively accurate in the early going, but once he missed that pass it was a pretty rough night.

[Taxman]

Re: MoWest @ NWMSU Game Thread -- GAME DAY

Weird. Who could have predicted that?

:smile-big: