Bear Down Wildcats

We actually won the statistical battle tonight, but not finishing drives in the red zone was why we only squeaked it out. Usually, you outgain someone by 100 yards and win the TO battle, you have some breathing room. Need to start punching it in.

This game more than any other game reminds me of the Mike Stoops era.

Conservative play calling (Keola Antolin up the middle, Keola Antolin up the middle..) Going prevent way to early. Can't finish in the red zone.

But a kicker who can actually put the ball through the uprights!

A good QB would have killed UA tonight. Even Carter had a decent game stats wise until that horrible shovel pass.

In the red zone five times today and came away with four field goals and one touchdown, have to capitalize on those. On the positive side, there's finally a decent kicker on the team.

Merkin wrote:This game more than any other game reminds me of the Mike Stoops era.

Conservative play calling (Keola Antolin up the middle, Keola Antolin up the middle..) Going prevent way to early. Can't finish in the red zone.

But a kicker who can actually put the ball through the uprights!

A good QB would have killed UA tonight. Even Carter had a decent game stats wise until that horrible shovel pass.

Solomon just needs to settle down in the red zone.

PieceOfMeat wrote:

Merkin wrote:This game more than any other game reminds me of the Mike Stoops era.

Conservative play calling (Keola Antolin up the middle, Keola Antolin up the middle..) Going prevent way to early. Can't finish in the red zone.

But a kicker who can actually put the ball through the uprights!

A good QB would have killed UA tonight. Even Carter had a decent game stats wise until that horrible shovel pass.

Is that what that dark creepy feeling was watching that game tonight? I thought I'd forgotten......

I feel like the red zone is always going to be difficult to maneuver in for this offense. Without the ability to send guys long and space out the field, you're left with fade routes to the corners on plays between the 5 and 15 yard line and Anu is simply not accurate enough to hit those consistently yet.

Chicat wrote:I feel like the red zone is always going to be difficult to maneuver in for this offense. Without the ability to send guys long and space out the field, you're left with fade routes to the corners on plays between the 5 and 15 yard line and Anu is simply not accurate enough to hit those consistently yet.

That depend on your opponent on how they defend against your offense. You saw how UTSA defended the pass first and second down were two safety, mostly third and long or third and half there were in Three Deep cover with three safety ever time there no way we pass against that set up.

Salty wrote:Solomon just needs to settle down in the red zone.

I wish it were that simple. I think that he just can't make the throws.
Anu looks like a lot of option QB's who have great stats in High School but just can't make
the throws at the college level. His touch passes have, thus far, looked awful. I'm not sure RRod
can fix that but I'm sure he'll give it the old college try.

Merkin wrote:This game more than any other game reminds me of the Mike Stoops era.

Conservative play calling (Keola Antolin up the middle, Keola Antolin up the middle..) Going prevent way to early. Can't finish in the red zone.

But a kicker who can actually put the ball through the uprights!

A good QB would have killed UA tonight. Even Carter had a decent game stats wise until that horrible shovel pass.

A good QB would have killed us indeed.

Unfortunately there a raft of them waiting just down the road.......Mariota, Goff, Halliday, Kessler, Hundley, Taylor Kelly, hell even Travis Wilson looked good for Utah. Unless AS' accuracy goes up quickly we are going to have some really ugly lumps on our head.

dmjcat wrote:

Salty wrote:Solomon just needs to settle down in the red zone.

I wish it were that simple. I think that he just can't make the throws.
Anu looks like a lot of option QB's who have great stats in High School but just can't make
the throws at the college level. His touch passes have, thus far, looked awful. I'm not sure RRod
can fix that but I'm sure he'll give it the old college try.

I completely disagree.

He's on target quite often. He has issues in the red zone and throwing early.

dmjcat wrote:

Salty wrote:Solomon just needs to settle down in the red zone.

I wish it were that simple. I think that he just can't make the throws.
Anu looks like a lot of option QB's who have great stats in High School but just can't make
the throws at the college level. His touch passes have, thus far, looked awful. I'm not sure RRod
can fix that but I'm sure he'll give it the old college try.

I'm going to wait before I write him off as inept. He had a bad game. And even that bad game wasn't as bad a QB performance as we've seen over the past year.

qwertyus wrote:

dmjcat wrote:

Salty wrote:Solomon just needs to settle down in the red zone.

I wish it were that simple. I think that he just can't make the throws.
Anu looks like a lot of option QB's who have great stats in High School but just can't make
the throws at the college level. His touch passes have, thus far, looked awful. I'm not sure RRod
can fix that but I'm sure he'll give it the old college try.

I'm going to wait before I write him off as inept. He had a bad game. And even that bad game wasn't as bad a QB performance as we've seen over the past year.

I agree that he will improve somewhat with time (much like Denker), unfortunately the competition is also going to improve with time......we didn't play USC/Oregon/UCLA etc, etc, last night. The PAC12 defenses AS is going to face have significantly better talent than what we have faced thus far and are going to be far more difficult to throw against.

dmjcat wrote:

Salty wrote:Solomon just needs to settle down in the red zone.

I wish it were that simple. I think that he just can't make the throws.
Anu looks like a lot of option QB's who have great stats in High School but just can't make
the throws at the college level. His touch passes have, thus far, looked awful. I'm not sure RRod
can fix that but I'm sure he'll give it the old college try.

He's two games into his college career. Two. He has a 5-0 TD to INT ratio. Two games in.

Um, Solomon made ALL the throws last week. Each of his 4 TD passes was a different type of throw. A 30 yard laser over the middle to Grant who took it the distance, a perfect touch pass to Neal, a quick throw on the run to Hill, and a 45 yard perfectly thrown pass that Phillips brought in over the shoulder. Now he can't make all the throws??

He got rattled last night, that is all. Another home game may be the perfect fix, and he will be more prepared for the next road game.

We left a ton of points on the field last night, but 4-4 FG's ought to make all Cats' fans smile.

Go Cats!!

This was a game the Cats needed. An away game, loud obnoxious crowd, squeak out a win, not playing that great. It will bring them back down to earth they will be ready for Nev. Better the 2nd game than later on.