Happy Cat-Griz! A Montana Mint Game Preview
It is Cat-Griz weekend! The best spors weekend of the year for Montana sports fans. This week the Superfans dive deep on what to expect in tomorrow game, recap the Griz’s huuuuge victory over Eastern Washington, and look at some painful to watch music videos made by Montana State Bobcat fans.
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To the Superfans!
Bear Tycoon (Griz fan): Happy Cat/Griz everyone! Before we dive into the game, let’s quickly recap what is at stake and how we got here. The Montana State Bobcats are only playing for pride at this point. They took care of business against Idaho State last week, but even with a win over the Griz, it is tough to find a path for them into the FCS playoffs. The Griz, on the other hand, are playing for pride, a (slim) chance at the Big Sky Conference championship, and a likely place in the playoffs.
We wrote the Griz off for dead a couple weeks ago, and since then they won at Idaho State with a finish so crazy it was all over national sports blogs, and then absolutely crushed #10 in the country Eastern Washington. Z-Train, breakdown what you saw against the Eagles.
Z-Train (Griz fan): All in all, it was by far the best performance the Griz have put in all season, and it’s coming at exactly the right time. Brady “Gus” Gustafson returned from a six week injury and looked REAL comfortable directing that offense. Gus looked like a field general out there. Every play he was calling protections and routes, gesticulating wildly like a mad scientist/orchestra conductor. He was clearly in control of the offense.
Coach Stitt said after the game that they were able to do things that they hadn’t been able to do while he was out and I believe it. The Griz finally had Gus and Naccarato back, the O line has gelled, Calhoun is stepping up as the back of the future, and the receiving corps is phenomenal. Jamaal Jones is very nearly the best to ever play at UM. Ellis is almost in the same company, and Roberts and Great Falls kid Josh Horner are big targets in the slot that are increasingly attractive targets over the middle.
And don’t forget that Eastern Washington was the #1 offense in the country! The defense was absolutely ferocious Saturday. We bracketed Cooper Kupp with 2 or 3 defenders, and they weren’t able to exploit that double coverage when it happened. The EWU offense had some good running success going the first couple of drives, but they never really threatened to break a big one, and besides Kupp’s 67 yd catch, he didn’t threaten us all day.
Bear Tycoon (Griz fan): Stopping Kupp isn’t nothing. We covered his dominance last week, but the kid is slated to be drafted in the 3rd/4th round. Had been dominating people all year.
Z-Train (Griz fan): Honestly that’s trouble for the Cats.
Hot Take Nate (Cats Fan): Let’s pump the brakes on what a season-changing, the-machine-is-finally-rolling win that was last week for the Griz. Eastern is not who everyone thought they were. Let’s take a look at their wins this season: MSU by 5, Sac State by 8, Cal Poly by 1, Idaho State by 27, Northern Colorado by 2, Weber State by 1.
I get that in the Big Sky a win is a win, but those wins aren’t very convincing and they were against 6 out of the bottom 7 Big Sky teams! They lost to NAU by 22 and the Griz by 41. Eastern Washington was the beneficiary of the easiest opening conference schedules in the Big Sky. If you take out the Idaho State game the average margin of victory was 3.4 points.
Clarence Toole (Griz fan): Stop. The Griz under Big Game Gus has now slain #1 North Dakota State and #10 Eastern Washington. He looked like an All-American in both games, and when he’s moving the sticks, no one in the nation wants to face UM. (Also, how about us calling the Bill Belichickian QB swap by Coach Stitt last week. All week he was saying McKenna “the dude” Simis was going to start, and the Dude was announced as the starter during the pre-game intros. Eastern was preparing for a run first, green QB, and ended up with Big Gus. Talk about gamesmanship!)
EWU tried to get tricky against a Griz defense they knew would be nasty. They used a perposterous 3-QB rotation that blew up in their face. There’s a saying that goes, ‘if you have 2 quarterbacks, you have no quarterbacks.’ Well, the 3 quarterback route is the shittiest of them all. Many times a QB wouldn’t get an entire series to himself. He would play 1st and 2nd downs, and then get pulled on 3rd down. The 3rd down QB is dropped in a situation where all hell is being unleashed and he doesn’t have a great feel for the game yet.
Speaking of NDSU, did you guys catch the news over the NDSU v. Youngstown State game? Looks like NDSU dodged a bullet and Youngstown State coach went crazy on the sideline getting two personal foul flags and costing his team the game.
Bear Tycoon (Griz fan): Eastern Washington had the #1 passing offense going into last week. The Griz held them to 16 points. Oregon held them to 42. Are the Griz better than Oregon? I’m not saying that (the numbers are). Hot Take Nate’s point about EWU winning close games makes it even more impressive that the Griz blew them out. It was their biggest loss of the year. By far. Griz won by 41 points. Next biggest was NAU by 22 points.
Now, a blow out usually means one team broke the others spirit or the losing team independently imploded (see: Manning, Peyton). I was listening on the radio so didn’t get a good feel for what happened in the EWU game. Was the defense that good or was EWU making mistakes?
Z-Train (Griz fan): Defense was insane. One of the best efforts I’ve seen in last couple years. Every drop back was like a game of Russian roulette for those EWU qbs. We were head hunting receivers. Kupp caught one over the middle where our safety violently upended him and slammed him down and he lost the ball. The pressure affected everything EWU tried to do.
Bear Tycoon (Griz fan): Ok. Let’s dive into Saturday’s game. The game is in Bozeman and the game time temp looks to be right at freezing.
Coach (Cats fan): I think it’s great that both the Cats and Griz got wins coming into this week. I’m happy that both teams will have their starting QB’s healthy (compared to last year).
The Cats defense is making small improvements every game and that’s encouraging, but it doesn’t make up for the fact that we were supposed to win the league. They’ve shit down their legs on the defensive side of the ball. How did the guys making the predictions miss this????
On top of our porous defense we might be without three starting offensive linemen. If this is the case, we’re dead in the water. The Grizzly defense will destroy us with a patchwork o-line. Hell, they might do that with a healthy o-line!
The optimist in me says the Cats come out punching Saturday and play with nothing but pride on the line. The realist says our defense is shitty and our offense is dealing with some serious injuries. Once again we’ve limped into November, although this time we limped our way through the season.
Hot Take Nate (Cats fan): The Griz come into Saturday as the better team in my opinion. By how much? Before last week’s game most would agree that the two teams were pretty even. I’m staying even keel and thinking that not much has changed. The Cats have showed they can score on anyone (PSU game). The Cats have shown anyone can score on them (any game of the year). I think it’s a shootout in Bozeman.
Z-Train (Griz fan): The biggest knock on the Griz, in my opinion has been their offensive inconsistency. If Gus brings the offensive dynamism and control to the Cat game that I saw Saturday against the Eagles I say Griz are favorites to win.
Clarence Toole (Griz fan): The Griz are objectively the favorites. Vegas has them favored by 7.
Like an apoplectic child throwing a red-faced tantrum, the Cats go into this weekend’s game pissed they’re Montana’s under achievers once again. The Bobcats are screaming to be the reason the Griz miss the playoffs.
Anything can happen in The Brawl, but trust me, with Big Game Gus back behind center the Bobcats will get their asses kicked. MSU might file a grievance for bullying. Griz 42, Cats 17.
Bear Tycoon (Griz fan): As I’ve said for the past couple weeks, the Griz might be slight favorites but the game is a coin flip. The path for the Cats to win is to pray for a shootout and hope that Big Game Gus shows some flaws (like he did following the NDSU game). This could happen for two reasons. First, unlike EWU, the Cats know Gus is playing and will be preparing for him all week. Second, the Griz defense will be without Derek Crittenden, who will be interviewing for a Rhodes Scholarship, and will miss him a lot.
Z-Train (Griz fan): It will be a long day for MSU if they have problems on O-Line. I think Prukop’s going to see tight coverage while a pocket collapses around him. Holmes is the best pass rusher in the country right now and he’s fired up. I think prukop’s going to need to use his legs, sit tight in the face of Holmes and get balls off while facing pressure, or suffer some coverage sacks. He can hurt us with his legs, but I don’t know if he can beat us by himself if the Griz defense continues this high level of play.
The Griz are still in playoff hunt for a reason: we’ve got 3 good wins, we are on an upward trend, and we are healthy. Three things cats can’t say. I say UM 42-Cats 28.
Clarence Toole (Griz fan): They might have problems even with a healthy offensive line. Last week, the Griz dialed up an array of unorthodox blitzes schemes and front line twists and stunts. And Tyrone Holmes was a rabid monster that wreaked havoc by himself. When Holmes is barreling in at Mach 12 and pressure is surging from the other side, a QB’s room for error plummets. Advantage Griz.
Coach (Cats fan): I’m never one to pick against the Bobcats, so put me down for the upset: Cats 24 – um 17.
Bear Tycoon (Griz fan): So the Cats fans think the Cats will win, and the Griz fans think the Griz will win? Got it.
As a Griz fan, I’ve really enjoyed a few Bobcat videos that have popped up on my newsfeed. First is this insufferable Blue Bobcat Cup song.
And that is not as bad as this insane remake of the Y.M.C.A. to the C.A.T.S. It is so hard to watch but I’m obsessed and have watched probably 20 times since Monday.
Hot Take Nate (Cats fan): Both songs suck but at the same time our older fans need something to do with their time.
I loathed—LOATHED— Red Solo Cup when it came out. So when Blue Bobcat Cup came out you can probably guess my reaction.
Bear Tycoon (Griz fan): Ha! Staying on the video theme, earlier this week, Stephen Colbert had on an act called the Acro-Cats – a circus act composed entirely of cats. I bring this up because the Acro-Cat’s performance on the Late Show really tracks well with the 2015 Montana State Bobcats season.
You may want to watch the video to understand what I have to say next. it is well worth the 4 minutes and 30 seconds of your time. (video)
The Montana State Defense is Skateboarding Cat. Skateboard Cat was technically at the performance, but didn’t do what he was supposed to do. Frankly, he didn’t really do anything.
Dakota Prukop is Slalom Cat. Slalom Cat was furiously weaving through poles on the elevated platform. Slalom cat was the only cat doing EXACTLY what he was trained to do, executed flawlessly, obviously giving 100 percent. He also was clearly the most talented cat and I kind felt bad for him being surrounded by such zeroes.
Rob Ash is the woman running the Acrocats. She was in charge of something that was failing spectacularly on a stage too big for her and her team. Her incessant smile/confidence was hypnotizing. I picture Ash smiling like this when he signed his contract extension in August.
Stephen Colbert prancing around with Cat ears on at 1:10 represents every Griz fan in the state. The Acro-Cats were much worse than he probably imagined when he booked them. But Colbert is a professional and knows that trainwreck performances can be entertaining. As a Griz fan, the expression on Colbert’s face as he pranced by is the same face I have on my face when I look up the MSU defensive rankings every week.
Here is what worries me: the Cat jumping through all the rings. Ring Cat did an OK job for most he performance. He jumped through some, but not all of his hoops. He wandered off the stage, but then sauntered back on his own. Pretty forgettable…until he stole the effing show at the very end! At the end of the performance, the Acro-Cats readied for their big finale. The dumb cat that was supposed to do it wouldn’t get out of his cage. So they turned to Ring Cat. After a little prodding Ring Cat leaps 10 feet into the air, grabs a rope, and reveals an “applause” sign to thunderous applause in the Ed Sullivan theater.
Ring Cat saved the AcroCats performance on a trick that wasn’t his own. I think this means Saturday’s game will come down to an average/no name Bobcats player grabbing victory from the jaws of defeat right at the very end of the game. This scares me. And I’m serious.
Coach (Cats fan): You are spot on in every aspect. From Rob Ash, to Prukop, to the missing defense, it’s all there. Even the bit about the final act…that’ll be a one-handed grab by Mitchell Herbert in the back of the end zone as time expires to send the grizzles home with a LOSS.
Bear Tycoon (Griz fan): Probably. And if that happens, I guess I can rest easy because I saw the prophecy in the Acro-Cats, and because some hero on the eGriz.com message boards created this mashup.
God bless this internet.
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