Kramer Tags Scrimmage 'Beautiful'
8/25/2005 12:00:00 AM | Football
Mike Kramer grants that Montana State's final scrimmage of the fall may have looked a little ragged to most people. To the sixth-year Bobcat head coach, though, it was masterful.
"It may have looked to an unattached observer not so good," Kramer said, citing his team's obvious fatigue as the Bobcats worked through a 66-play scrimmage that officially closed fall training camp. "To me it was beautiful. We wanted the most fatigue possible, and we saw that our great players -- (Lawrence) Figueroa, (Jeff) Bolton, (Rick) Gatewood, (Travis) Lulay, (Mac) Mollohan -- are ready to go. In spite of their fatigue level, their performance was excellent."
Montana State's defense benefited from the leg-weary offensive skill players, limiting the Bobcat offense to 277 yards. The defense also forced three turnovers, all interceptions. "Mac (Mollohan) played really well," Kramer said. "I thought (tackle) Louis Saucedo played a lot better, David Siataga showed a presence at nose tackle, I like the way Aaron Papich is playing (at tackle), and I'm very excited about the ability Clive showed today coming off the edge at Sam linebacker."
MSU's first defensive unit picked off Travis Lulay passes on the offense's first two possessions, one by Mac Mollohan and one by Kory Austin. Both those passes deflected off the hands of Bobcat receivers. "When your legs get tired your hands go, so that was natural a little bit. Those drops came as a result of the fatigue. We are really leg-weary. We've run a lot, we had a hard, hard camp."
MSU's special teams performed well on Thursday. Tyler Bolton secured his spot as MSU's kickoff specialist and conventional punter, hitting six punts for an average of 50.1 yards. Jeff Hastings, MSU's place kicker, hit two of four field goal tries. Michael Bass showed flashes of brilliance as a punter returner, and Tramaine Murray returned kicks well.
Travis Lulay was only four-for-12 passing for 52 yards with two interceptions, but Cory Carpenter was five-for-six for 34 yards. Rick Coppack, in his best scrimmage performance as a Bobcat, was seven-for-13 for 71 yards and an interception. "Those guys haven't done a lot of running during camp, so they threw well."
Still, Kramer cited the way his team dealt with the grind of fall camp as the biggest positive from Thursday's scrimmage. "What we tried to do during the course of camp is fatigue our guys early then make them play through the fatigue like they'll have to next Saturday in Stillwater," he said. "I think we accomplished that. We weren't successful in how we performed (Thursday), but I think we showed them how hard it's going to be, and I think it bodes well for us during the season."
Rushing: Michael Bass 6-16, Evin Groves 8-22, Travis Lulay 3-18, Isaiah Taito 11-63.
Passing: Travis Lulay 12-4-2, 52, 0; Cory Carpenter 6-5-0, 34, 0; Rick Coppack 13-7-1, 71, 0.
Receiving: Michael Bass 1-20, Evin Groves 1-5, Jevon Miller 1-1, Ty McDonald 3-23, Chaz Guinn 1-16, Rick Gatewood 2-16, Derek Green 3-25, Toby Rundle 1-7, Tyler Lulay 1-32.
"It may have looked to an unattached observer not so good," Kramer said, citing his team's obvious fatigue as the Bobcats worked through a 66-play scrimmage that officially closed fall training camp. "To me it was beautiful. We wanted the most fatigue possible, and we saw that our great players -- (Lawrence) Figueroa, (Jeff) Bolton, (Rick) Gatewood, (Travis) Lulay, (Mac) Mollohan -- are ready to go. In spite of their fatigue level, their performance was excellent."
Montana State's defense benefited from the leg-weary offensive skill players, limiting the Bobcat offense to 277 yards. The defense also forced three turnovers, all interceptions. "Mac (Mollohan) played really well," Kramer said. "I thought (tackle) Louis Saucedo played a lot better, David Siataga showed a presence at nose tackle, I like the way Aaron Papich is playing (at tackle), and I'm very excited about the ability Clive showed today coming off the edge at Sam linebacker."
MSU's first defensive unit picked off Travis Lulay passes on the offense's first two possessions, one by Mac Mollohan and one by Kory Austin. Both those passes deflected off the hands of Bobcat receivers. "When your legs get tired your hands go, so that was natural a little bit. Those drops came as a result of the fatigue. We are really leg-weary. We've run a lot, we had a hard, hard camp."
MSU's special teams performed well on Thursday. Tyler Bolton secured his spot as MSU's kickoff specialist and conventional punter, hitting six punts for an average of 50.1 yards. Jeff Hastings, MSU's place kicker, hit two of four field goal tries. Michael Bass showed flashes of brilliance as a punter returner, and Tramaine Murray returned kicks well.
Travis Lulay was only four-for-12 passing for 52 yards with two interceptions, but Cory Carpenter was five-for-six for 34 yards. Rick Coppack, in his best scrimmage performance as a Bobcat, was seven-for-13 for 71 yards and an interception. "Those guys haven't done a lot of running during camp, so they threw well."
Still, Kramer cited the way his team dealt with the grind of fall camp as the biggest positive from Thursday's scrimmage. "What we tried to do during the course of camp is fatigue our guys early then make them play through the fatigue like they'll have to next Saturday in Stillwater," he said. "I think we accomplished that. We weren't successful in how we performed (Thursday), but I think we showed them how hard it's going to be, and I think it bodes well for us during the season."
Rushing: Michael Bass 6-16, Evin Groves 8-22, Travis Lulay 3-18, Isaiah Taito 11-63.
Passing: Travis Lulay 12-4-2, 52, 0; Cory Carpenter 6-5-0, 34, 0; Rick Coppack 13-7-1, 71, 0.
Receiving: Michael Bass 1-20, Evin Groves 1-5, Jevon Miller 1-1, Ty McDonald 3-23, Chaz Guinn 1-16, Rick Gatewood 2-16, Derek Green 3-25, Toby Rundle 1-7, Tyler Lulay 1-32.
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