Montana @ Tennessee Game Thread

[Mvemjsunpx]

Tennessee just ran it in to make it 28-0.

Griz have forced 4 fumbles, but didn't recover any of them.

[Mvemjsunpx]

Johnson throws an 80-yd. TD to Sambrano on the next play from scrimmage.


28-7 UT

3:49 2Q

[CatBlitz22]

80-yd. TD to Sambrano

He could start for Tennessee.

[D1B]

SMH

[uofmman1122]

The offensive playcalling has been pretty weird.

The run defense has been solid, and I'm excited about it, but, as I had feared, our DBs save for Tru are not doing well at all.

[Willie]

Why go for it on 4th and 5 when McKnight can get 3 pts?

[Willie]

And Jesus these Tennessee announcers are biased

You'd think there is no human life outside of that state by listening to them.

[Mvemjsunpx]

Why go for it on 4th and 5 when McKnight can get 3 pts?

Because it was 35-9. Not much point.

[Willie]

The hell there isn't much point...it's preseason...every phase of the game needs work. Our special teams the last few years has been less than desirable so the work is needed.

[Mvemjsunpx]

The hell there isn't much point...it's preseason...every phase of the game needs work. Our special teams the last few years has been less than desirable so the work is needed.

Last few years? Huh? Last year UM had coverage & punting problems the first half of the season & that was pretty much it (aside from Nguyen's muffs). McKnight was great last year. The special teams were good all around prior to that.

I'm guessing Pflugrad thought the offense needed a lot more work than the FG team.

[Willie]

I didn't say McKnight wasn't great...the blocking was, for lack of a better term, terrible at several points throughout the season.

[Mvemjsunpx]

Griz run all over UT's backups and Jordan Canada somehow scores a 6-yard TD on a totally busted play.


42-16 Tennessee

6:04 4Q

[jmufan]

Welcome to this weeks FBS beat down club, you are welcomed .

[Silenoz]

Stood him up. That's karma for trying to score on 4th with 2 minutes left

[Mvemjsunpx]

The Griz run D has been great tonight. That's a good sign with Cal Poly coming in.

[Mvemjsunpx]

42-16 final.

[Willie]

D looked good minus a few big plays. O showed good signs of life. Seems like Johnson is our guy at QB and they'll find ways to make Kemp look good like they did tonight.

Still some strange play calling at times.

[Mvemjsunpx]

Oh well, there were a lot of positives here. The offense looked a bit more in sync than last year, and the D stuffed the run good. The special teams were good for the most part (particularly the punt team).

The game could have been noticeably closer if not for Tennessee's lucky fumble bounces. They scored on the next play twice after getting their own fumbles back.

[uofmman1122]

Certainly could have been better, but it's nice to finally see this Griz team in action. I guess the best thing is I saw more things I liked than things I didn't like.

Things I didn't like:
- Even though UT's WRs are the best these guys will see all year, our secondary outside of Tru really have a lot of work to do.
- Our WRs really need to block better. It was a problem last year, and so far has continued.
- Stupid mistakes need to stop. I almost threw the remote at the TV when Peter fumbled.
- JJ looked really uncomfortable out there. I know he's Pflu's guy, but he really has no running threat that I saw, and his decisions weren't the best.

Things I liked:
- Our O-Line is LIGHTYEARS ahead of where they were last year. This is the best DL they'll see, and they did a much better job than I expected.
- Kemp running the Zone Read was beautiful. I honestly think Canada is the best RB we have. Both really impressed me on the long TD drive.
- Our Front 7 on D are deep and way good. They got good pressure and held UT's running game in check for most of the game. They had two awesome tough stands, one for the stuff on 4th down, and the other for the safety.
- Special teams, outside of the muffed punt, played really, really well.
- Zero major injuries, which is probably the most important thing.

I'm excited about this team, and I think we'll be a lot better than last year.

[AZGrizFan]

Certainly could have been better, but it's nice to finally see this Griz team in action. I guess the best thing is I saw more things I liked than things I didn't like.

Things I didn't like:
- Even though UT's WRs are the best these guys will see all year, our secondary outside of Tru really have a lot of work to do.
- Our WRs really need to block better. It was a problem last year, and so far has continued.
- Stupid mistakes need to stop. I almost threw the remote at the TV when Peter fumbled.
- JJ looked really uncomfortable out there. I know he's Pflu's guy, but he really has no running threat that I saw, and his decisions weren't the best.

Things I liked:
- Our O-Line is LIGHTYEARS ahead of where they were last year. This is the best DL they'll see, and they did a much better job than I expected.
- Kemp running the Zone Read was beautiful. I honestly think Canada is the best RB we have. Both really impressed me on the long TD drive.
- Our Front 7 on D are deep and way good. They got good pressure and held UT's running game in check for most of the game. They had two awesome tough stands, one for the stuff on 4th down, and the other for the safety.
- Special teams, outside of the muffed punt, played really, really well.
- Zero major injuries, which is probably the most important thing.

I'm excited about this team, and I think we'll be a lot better than last year.

A perfect summary. Our front 7 went nose to nose with an SEC O-line and really outplayed them. Seems like every fumble WE had, THEY recovered, whereas every fumble THEY had, THEY recovered. We couldn't get a break to save our life. Two great interceptions, and BOTH called back because of PI...first one wasn't PI in my opinion, and the second PI (which WAS PI) was totally irrelevant to the play...

With a great defensive stand to start the game, the absolute WORST thing Nguyen could have done was fumble that punt.

That swing pass out of the backfield that JJ got picked on was SOOOO telegraphed it wasn't even funny.

That being said, this game was not as lopsided as the score would indicate. And I'm pretty sure Dooley wasn't planning on having his starters play the entire game. Our boys showed well (except for a few plays early on by the DB's) and I don't think Hunter did ANYTHING after McCord lit him up like a Christmas Tree early in the 4th.

Our run D is going to be SICK....but our DB's better be up to the challenge, because they're going to get thrown at a lot when the running game doesn't work for the opponent.

Final thought: I REALLY like Canada, and I really liked Kemp running the offense. JJ was playing hurt, and that showed in his inability to scramble or run the ball effectively. Give th ball to Kemp until JJ is 100%.

This game was a lot of coulda/shoulda/woulda. Not saying the Griz would have won, but the score was not indicative (in my opinion) of how close the game was actually played between the lines.

[Grizo406]

Not as disappointed as I thought I'd be after watching this game.

But, after watching, it left me thinkin' that some MAJOR changes need to be made in the Griz football program!

[Mvemjsunpx]

A perfect summary. Our front 7 went nose to nose with an SEC O-line and really outplayed them. Seems like every fumble WE had, THEY recovered, whereas every fumble THEY had, THEY recovered. We couldn't get a break to save our life. Two great interceptions, and BOTH called back because of PI...first one wasn't PI in my opinion, and the second PI (which WAS PI) was totally irrelevant to the play...

Irrelevant? The LB knocked down the intended receiver while the ball was in the air.

Agree with everything else.

That swing pass out of the backfield that JJ got picked on was SOOOO telegraphed it wasn't even funny.

That was so bad it was funny. I thought JJ made good decisions for the most part, but his mind must've totally vomited there. It's as if he was like, "There's a defender there so I shouldn't throw it," and then he threw it anyway. I mean, how could he not see the DB standing there.

Our run D is going to be SICK....but our DB's better be up to the challenge, because they're going to get thrown at a lot when the running game doesn't work for the opponent.

The run D looks much improved; that aspect was a bit middling last year. I'm not worried about the pass D yet. They didn't perform well today, but they won't face WRs that fast again this season. The Griz were among the best (if not the best) pass defenses in 2010 & didn't lose a whole lot.

Final thought: I REALLY like Canada, and I really liked Kemp running the offense. JJ was playing hurt, and that showed in his inability to scramble or run the ball effectively. Give th ball to Kemp until JJ is 100%.

I don't agree with this. Johnson looked fairly composed (more than I thought he would) and made some nice passes. We still don't really know what Kemp can do in the passing game, and I'm guessing JJ is better than him there. Kemp's TD drive came against the backups, I'm pretty sure.

[AZGrizFan]

A perfect summary. Our front 7 went nose to nose with an SEC O-line and really outplayed them. Seems like every fumble WE had, THEY recovered, whereas every fumble THEY had, THEY recovered. We couldn't get a break to save our life. Two great interceptions, and BOTH called back because of PI...first one wasn't PI in my opinion, and the second PI (which WAS PI) was totally irrelevant to the play...

Irrelevant? The LB knocked down the intended receiver while the ball was in the air.

Irrelevant because on replay it appeared the ball was going to be overthrown anyways and the receiver wouldn't have gotten to it....JMO, however.

[AZGrizFan]

Two great interceptions, and BOTH called back because of PI...first one wasn't PI in my opinion,

I just got done reading the VolNation game thread, and even THEY agreed they got bailed out on the first PI call in the end zone. Bogus, and another real game-changer that wasn't allowed to happen.

[uofmman1122]

As for the PI calls, the first one was total BS. Our defender outplayed their WR, and nabbed the ball.

The second one was even more disappointing because the DB behind had a clear shot to INT that ball without our other DB pushing their WR down. Their WR wasn't even looking for the ball when it was being thrown. Horrible decision by our guy.