UND @ Montana

[AZGrizFan]

There was at least three times where he got flushed out and tripped over his own feet. At one point I burst out laughing in the bar....it was embarrassing.

Normally I don't go for this kind of shit but...some ballet lessons may have been in order for him last offseason.

He may be exhibit "A" for a drop down who recruiters "missed" on.

[Ursus A. Horribilis]

Same here I don't get it. I suppose we've been in too many close games to warrant more of a test but when he is in he seems to pretty much just hand it off to Chase anyway. He must not be showing enough to inspire confidence with the staff so far but considering what we're looking at JJ better really improve or we're in trouble next year too.

We really seem to lack discipline all over the place as well. None of this is gonna straighten out this year but I hope there is a big improvement in our weak areas for next year.

I'm not ready to bail on Pflu and his staff just yet, but it is obvious that this team is not as tough or as disciplined as it was under Hauck. I still believe the Griz will beat the cats, and if they play well may even win a playoff game. This is a tough team to get a handle on. They are committing way to many penalties and are way to inconsistent on O this late in the season. They should have all that shit cleaned up after 10 games.

That being said, I STILL BELIEVE!!!!!! GO GRIZ!!!

I'm not bailing on Pflu either. Every new head coach is gonna get their nose bloodied a little in their first season in the BSC. When they have some time to sit back and look at what they did and can make the corrections on how they operate on a day to day basis then I think they'll improve as a staff greatly.

I think there is a little bit of "substitute teacher" syndrome going on this year. If he tightens up and holds guys accountable a little more like Hauck did then it would be a good thing teamwise I think.

I haven't given up on it yet either but I don't hold a lot of swagger in my arsenal right now for predicting good things.

[AZGrizFan]

I'm not ready to bail on Pflu and his staff just yet, but it is obvious that this team is not as tough or as disciplined as it was under Hauck. I still believe the Griz will beat the cats, and if they play well may even win a playoff game. This is a tough team to get a handle on. They are committing way to many penalties and are way to inconsistent on O this late in the season. They should have all that shit cleaned up after 10 games.

That being said, I STILL BELIEVE!!!!!! GO GRIZ!!!

I'm not bailing on Pflu either. Every new head coach is gonna get their nose bloodied a little in their first season in the BSC. When they have some time to sit back and look at what they did and can make the corrections on how they operate on a day to day basis then I think they'll improve as a staff greatly.

I think there is a little bit of "substitute teacher" syndrome going on this year. If he tightens up and holds guys accountable a little more like Hauck did then it would be a good thing teamwise I think.

I haven't given up on it yet either but I don't hold a lot of swagger in my arsenal right now for predicting good things.

The main thing that concerns me (about Pflu AND the team in general) is that they don't seem to be "building" or improving. They don't seem to learn from their mistakes, and continue to repeat the SAME mistakes 10 games in. The OC needs to throw out the playbook and get rid of the trick plays and play some fucking football. They definitely needs Special Teams help. And when someone posted on egriz recently that Roper needed to "work on his footwork" I almost punched my computer screen. Dude is 20+ years old, is a I-A dropdown who's probably been playing QB for at LEAST 10 years, and NOW we find out he has horrible footwork?

[JBB]

As far as UND goes the lack of recruiting is really starting to tell. The QB situation is non existent. Neither of the backups are in a position to lead the team. There is a little speed on defense but really, whey you are turning around to chase guys downfield you are either out of position or slow or both. Its both for a lot of UND players.

High school presentation: untucked jerseys, undisciplined sloppy on field play all point to weak talent, poorly coached with no motivation.

The game and the outcome had little to do with UND. Montana and its mistake prone offense and poor on field organization contributed to their inability to make the score reflect their offensive success.

Neither of those teams were playing top notched football. Both showed some promise though with Montana playing a lot like NDSU. UND is years away. Montana with a win next week would get a playoff spot. It might be a game with NDSU.

[Wedgebuster]

Z, it's pretty rare that a brand new coach is going to get a team that is not his in any way except by title only to show much consistency or glue still in the very first season. New coaches have to be granted a minimum of 3 years to show signs of improvement, no more than 4 or 5 to challenge for the conference title.

[AZGrizFan]

Z, it's pretty rare that a brand new coach is going to get a team that is not his in any way except by title only to show much consistency or glue still in the very first season. New coaches have to be granted a minimum of 3 years to show signs of improvement, no more than 4 or 5 to challenge for the conference title.

Nice theory, except he didnt' inherit Idaho State. He inherited a team that had 13 consecutive Big Sky Titles. 17 consecutive playoff appearances. 2 consecuive TITLE game appearances. "Glue" doesn't cause a team to suddenly start committing stupid penalties. Or turning the ball over. Or miss wide open receivers.

I get that the offense is different, but they aren't even executing the basics.

[Ursus A. Horribilis]

Z, it's pretty rare that a brand new coach is going to get a team that is not his in any way except by title only to show much consistency or glue still in the very first season. New coaches have to be granted a minimum of 3 years to show signs of improvement, no more than 4 or 5 to challenge for the conference title.

Nice theory, except he didnt' inherit Idaho State. He inherited a team that had 13 consecutive Big Sky Titles. 17 consecutive playoff appearances. 2 consecuive TITLE game appearances. "Glue" doesn't cause a team to suddenly start committing stupid penalties. Or turning the ball over. Or miss wide open receivers.

I get that the offense is different, but they aren't even executing the basics.

There are some things that are similar to you taking over the new CU Z. The new guy comes in, changes the way things have been done and there is a little bit of uncertainty in the ranks. They test what can be done and may actually have a little bit of push back to test the new guy. Also they were (mostly) not recruited by Pflu and although that doesn't keep them from wanting to win it could make them think they can do things their own way a little bit. All it takes is a few of them and it can fuck the whole thing up. When you took over I bet you had some guys and gals on staff that didn't buy into your way of doing things.

I agree with the gist of what you say but it seems like something is very fixable and Hauck made tweaks to the way he did things from his first year also.

[AZGrizFan]

Nice theory, except he didnt' inherit Idaho State. He inherited a team that had 13 consecutive Big Sky Titles. 17 consecutive playoff appearances. 2 consecuive TITLE game appearances. "Glue" doesn't cause a team to suddenly start committing stupid penalties. Or turning the ball over. Or miss wide open receivers.

I get that the offense is different, but they aren't even executing the basics.

There are some things that are similar to you taking over the new CU Z. The new guy comes in, changes the way things have been done and there is a little bit of uncertainty in the ranks. They test what can be done and may actually have a little bit of push back to test the new guy. Also they were (mostly) not recruited by Pflu and although that doesn't keep them from wanting to win it could make them think they can do things their own way a little bit. All it takes is a few of them and it can fuck the whole thing up. When you took over I bet you had some guys and gals on staff that didn't buy into your way of doing things.

I agree with the gist of what you say but it seems like something is very fixable and Hauck made tweaks to the way he did things from his first year also.

Let's hope Pflu has some major tweaks in his bag of tricks.

[Ursus A. Horribilis]

There are some things that are similar to you taking over the new CU Z. The new guy comes in, changes the way things have been done and there is a little bit of uncertainty in the ranks. They test what can be done and may actually have a little bit of push back to test the new guy. Also they were (mostly) not recruited by Pflu and although that doesn't keep them from wanting to win it could make them think they can do things their own way a little bit. All it takes is a few of them and it can fuck the whole thing up. When you took over I bet you had some guys and gals on staff that didn't buy into your way of doing things.

I agree with the gist of what you say but it seems like something is very fixable and Hauck made tweaks to the way he did things from his first year also.

Let's hope Pflu has some major tweaks in his bag of tricks.

We need to be one score better in most games so that ain't much. All we need to do is cut out a penalty here, a ST play there, and a catch & run or two and we'd be a much better team. He tightens up the way the coaching staff operates and I can see us being back on the attack. He has probably learned more about being a head coach than he ever imagined he would and just having the experience will hopefully bode well for us next year. Shit we only need to be a TD better in the games we lost and even a FG and we'd be in a real good position right now.

The other thing I bet he has seen that we need to utilize is a powerful RB that is good in short yardage situations like a Josh Brannen type. We have that right now in Chase but I don't think the emphasis on using him when we needed him was there for most of this season. That's gonna take some changes to the O-Line schemes to make them better in those situations. We can get by with a RB that is an up the gut N-S type runner and he doesn't need to be flashy to win games. I think all that stuff can be worked out without major tweaks. I hope it can anyway.

[AZGrizFan]

Let's hope Pflu has some major tweaks in his bag of tricks.

We need to be one score better in most games so that ain't much. All we need to do is cut out a penalty here, a ST play there, and a catch & run or two and we'd be a much better team. He tightens up the way the coaching staff operates and I can see us being back on the attack. He has probably learned more about being a head coach than he ever imagined he would and just having the experience will hopefully bode well for us next year. Shit we only need to be a TD better in the games we lost and even a FG and we'd be in a real good position right now.

The other thing I bet he has seen that we need to utilize is a powerful RB that is good in short yardage situations like a Josh Brannen type. We have that right now in Chase but I don't think the emphasis on using him when we needed him was there for most of this season. That's gonna take some changes to the O-Line schemes to make them better in those situations. We can get by with a RB that is an up the gut N-S type runner and he doesn't need to be flashy to win games. I think all that stuff can be worked out without major tweaks. I hope it can anyway.

Technically speaking, yes we only need about a TD a game more and we'd be 9-1 instead of 7-3. It's the FEELING I get, watching the team bumble through it's offensive possessions, so many 3-outs, so many missed wide open receivers, looking like the receivers and QB are using different playbooks. Undisciplined play...penalties, turnovers, missed assignments, sloppy tackling....poor fundamentals. We're 7-3, but we could just as easily be 2-8.

There used to be a mystique....do you think it's still there?

[Ursus A. Horribilis]

We need to be one score better in most games so that ain't much. All we need to do is cut out a penalty here, a ST play there, and a catch & run or two and we'd be a much better team. He tightens up the way the coaching staff operates and I can see us being back on the attack. He has probably learned more about being a head coach than he ever imagined he would and just having the experience will hopefully bode well for us next year. Shit we only need to be a TD better in the games we lost and even a FG and we'd be in a real good position right now.

The other thing I bet he has seen that we need to utilize is a powerful RB that is good in short yardage situations like a Josh Brannen type. We have that right now in Chase but I don't think the emphasis on using him when we needed him was there for most of this season. That's gonna take some changes to the O-Line schemes to make them better in those situations. We can get by with a RB that is an up the gut N-S type runner and he doesn't need to be flashy to win games. I think all that stuff can be worked out without major tweaks. I hope it can anyway.

Technically speaking, yes we only need about a TD a game more and we'd be 9-1 instead of 7-3. It's the FEELING I get, watching the team bumble through it's offensive possessions, so many 3-outs, so many missed wide open receivers, looking like the receivers and QB are using different playbooks. Undisciplined play...penalties, turnovers, missed assignments, sloppy tackling....poor fundamentals. We're 7-3, but we could just as easily be 2-8.

There used to be a mystique....do you think it's still there?

Have you seen the way teams react when they get that win? I'd say it's not gone yet, nor will it be with one bad season.