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NEXT: Montana State. What do we know?

So what we have at MSU is one of the most unique offenses I've seen for a while, BUT that isn't necessarily a good thing. Kind of a single wing, QB power with some read option peppered in. It's pretty weird, and it is getting under the skin of a lot of Cat fans, especially after Tucker Rovig lit up Wagner. Many, myself included, thought finally we have a serviceable QB so now Troy Andersen can move back to where he can produce the most, being a two way player at LB and RB.

Instead we come out against PSU and Andersen has 22 carries for 211 yard and 2 TDs, 7-14 passing for another TD, and he also caught a pass for 32 yards from Rovig. That's a pretty comical stat line.

Troy started at WIU, a game we won but looked ugly offensively. He broke his hand that game, so we started Rovig for his first career start against South Dakota State on the road, it did not go well as you might imagine. He gets his second start against Wagner and looks great (Troy Andersen has a sack in this game by the way with a club on his hand :lol: ). Cast comes off, Troy comes back in at QB.

We have three really good blocking TEs and a "running back" who is 6'1 260 (Tyler Natee) - that's not a typo. We'll run power with a 2 TE set and bring Natee over, and then send a 6'3 230 "quarterback" over there who can run a 10.9 100M. It may never win a national championship but I almost feel sorry for some of the defenders who have to face that front line of blockers. We run QB power, who the hell runs QB power left. We do.

The biggest difference between our offense this year vs last year is ball security, and red zone efficiency. We've only turned the ball over 4 times (3 of those were Rovig actually), and have scored on nearly 93% of our trips to the red zone.

Hard to know where we really stack up with Troy Andersen as QB. We looked awful on offense for 3 quarters against WIU, but special teams and turnovers won us that game. We looked unstoppable in his first game back, on the road against maybe the worst team in the Big Sky, PSU. I'm inclined to think our weird, ugly, indigestible offense is actually going to be hard to stop. Isaiah Ifanse runs as hard as anyone I've seen in the conference for a while and has 2 100 games in his 4 game career so far as a true freshman.
 
Seattle Eagle said:
LDopaPDX said:
luckyintheorder said:
Looking at the ncaa stats it appears EWU and MSU are similar defensively with nearly same total defense stats etc... but offensively the Eags are #3 and Cats are #68. One other stat of note Eags are giving about 3.8 yds/carry and Cats are about 4.5/carry. Feeling good about EWU's ability to run the ball and score. May need to alter my prediction.

https://www.ncaa.com/stats/football/fcs/current/team/24/p2
Click to expand...

In fairness to Montana State, I'd say they've had a little tougher road to hoe than us, but not by a lot.

Wagner > Central
Portland State > Cal Poly (I think...)
Western Illinois > NAU (again, just a hunch...)
South Dakota State < Wazzu (but not by much)
Click to expand...

I don’t think Wagner is better than Central. Take a look at what they’ve done to their opposition since they played us. They’re a really good team.
Click to expand...

Central's league must be garbage. They steamrolled through it last year, too. If I'm not mistaken, they lost their first playoff game. I sure thought they were terrible when they came to Cheney.
 
catbob said:
So what we have at MSU is one of the most unique offenses I've seen for a while, BUT that isn't necessarily a good thing. Kind of a single wing, QB power with some read option peppered in. It's pretty weird, and it is getting under the skin of a lot of Cat fans, especially after Tucker Rovig lit up Wagner. Many, myself included, thought finally we have a serviceable QB so now Troy Andersen can move back to where he can produce the most, being a two way player at LB and RB.

Instead we come out against PSU and Andersen has 22 carries for 211 yard and 2 TDs, 7-14 passing for another TD, and he also caught a pass for 32 yards from Rovig. That's a pretty comical stat line.

Troy started at WIU, a game we won but looked ugly offensively. He broke his hand that game, so we started Rovig for his first career start against South Dakota State on the road, it did not go well as you might imagine. He gets his second start against Wagner and looks great (Troy Andersen has a sack in this game by the way with a club on his hand :lol: ). Cast comes off, Troy comes back in at QB.

We have three really good blocking TEs and a "running back" who is 6'1 260 (Tyler Natee) - that's not a typo. We'll run power with a 2 TE set and bring Natee over, and then send a 6'3 230 "quarterback" over there who can run a 10.9 100M. It may never win a national championship but I almost feel sorry for some of the defenders who have to face that front line of blockers. We run QB power, who the hell runs QB power left. We do.

The biggest difference between our offense this year vs last year is ball security, and red zone efficiency. We've only turned the ball over 4 times (3 of those were Rovig actually), and have scored on nearly 93% of our trips to the red zone.

Hard to know where we really stack up with Troy Andersen as QB. We looked awful on offense for 3 quarters against WIU, but special teams and turnovers won us that game. We looked unstoppable in his first game back, on the road against maybe the worst team in the Big Sky, PSU. I'm inclined to think our weird, ugly, indigestible offense is actually going to be hard to stop. Isaiah Ifanse runs as hard as anyone I've seen in the conference for a while and has 2 100 games in his 4 game career so far as a true freshman.
Click to expand...

Am sure Eastern will do it's best to stack your offense up and let our LB's and Safeties make plays. Liked what I saw of Infanse and thought Rovig was workable, but Coaches will do what Coaches will do... geniuses. Have believed for a while that the Eag offense is our best defense; get ahead, score fast and make other teams have to keep up. This year, our defense is capable of winning games too. This should be a good contest, MSU is physical but may be one year away from really being able to compete for the conference.
 
luckyintheorder said:
Am sure Eastern will do it's best to stack your offense up and let our LB's and Safeties make plays. Liked what I saw of Infanse and thought Rovig was workable, but Coaches will do what Coaches will do... geniuses. Have believed for a while that the Eag offense is our best defense; get ahead, score fast and make other teams have to keep up. This year, our defense is capable of winning games too. This should be a good contest, MSU is physical but may be one year away from really being able to compete for the conference.
Click to expand...

This is about how I’m feeling about this years team. They’re clearly the best team we’ve had in a couple years now and they have a legitimate shot at the playoffs and I’ll be disappointed if they don’t get there. BUT, they are still a very young team overall and I’m not sure if they’re a team that we’ll see at the top of the Big Sky this year.
My guess before the season was for them to be somewhere around 3rd to 5th in the conference this year, make the playoffs, and maybe win a game when they get there. But that’s as high as my expectations are for this year. I like what Choate is doing with the program and I’m expecting them to continue to improve each year and be more of a force in the conference and in the playoffs next year and beyond.
 
Bobcat Roundtable: Eastern Washington head coach Aaron Best
https://skylinesportsmt.com/bobcat-roundtable-eastern-washington-head-coach-aaron-best/

In this weekly installment of the Bobcat Roundtable aired originally on 105.7 FM The Eagle in Bozeman, Colter Nuanez is joined by Eastern Washington second-year head coach Aaron Best to talk about EWU’s upcoming trip to Bozeman to play Montana State.
 
Big Sky Breakdown: EWU at MSU with Brooks Nuanez, Aaron Best, Antoine Custer, Gage Gubrud
https://skylinesportsmt.com/big-sky-breakdown-ewu-at-msu-with-brooks-nuanez-aaron-best-antoine-custer-gage-gubrud/

In this weekly installment analyzing Montana State football, Colter Nuanez is joined by Brooks Nuanez of Skyline Sports , Eastern Washington head coach Aaron Best, EWU junior running back Antoine Custer and senior quarterback Gage Gubrud as the Bobcats prepare to host the Eagles on Saturday afternoon.
 
Despite recently prolific run game, Gubrud still the engine of EWU offense
https://skylinesportsmt.com/despite-recently-prolific-run-game-gubrud-still-the-engine-of-ewu-offense/
 
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