Midwestern Hawk

Why do we have Otis blocking? How dumb is that?

Huge stop by defense

Tommy with a nice scramble and then a bad pick.

They lose this, it will be 3-8.

Defense not good so far.

Good response.

Its very early, but this is not looking good.

We will soon know if the team is still "checked in". Is anyone able to get ESPN feed?

I agree with this. Season changing call.....

I was listening to this weeks podcast and Kelly brought up some of the OTHER 3rd and 4th down calls vs the Bison. Going for it on 4th and 1 at your own 20 with the lead was so bad it had overshadowed the other 3rd and 4th down calls. We use 2 QBs, a maize of sets and motions, many "trick" plays and have scored 10 vs NDSU 13 vs USD 21 vs SIU 28 vs MSU In the MVFC stats, we have the 3rd highest YPC at 5.25 and the 2nd LOWEST total rushes...only Western Illinois has less. Football isn't rocket science. http://www.mvc.org/football/stats/Valley Football Stats.pdf

A great case can be made that coaching was the difference in 4 of the losses.

Hopefully UND is discussing this and planning. Soon P5 will turn into P4 and the gulf between P4 and G5 (G6) will get wider. No question FCS will get watered down substantially as the top 10-15 FCS school make the jump to FBS. IMO, UND can’t make the same mistake it made 20 years ago and wait several years to make the jump to FBS.

I say if Saban and his entire staff is coaching since 1/1, UND is a minimum of 7-1 with the lone loss likely being USU. Saban and staff is worth a minimum 10 points per game. When the "Jimmies and Joes" are in the same ballpark it comes down to coaching. Some of the "Jimmies and Joes" were noticeably different in our games vs USU and Drake. 99% of the staffs in America would have managed the end of the MSU game better and not called for the "razzle/dazzle" with an 11 point lead, ~ 6 minutes remaining, ball at opponent 27, 4th & 2 and averaging 6+ yards per carry.

A decision needs to be made at the very top of the University about the direction and if being the true "flagship" is important. IMO it can be done, but it will take hard work and $$$$.

If UND ever really wants to be the 'Flagship" U of North Dakota, it will be done on the football field. I travel quite a bit and if you talk about the University in ND, 99% of the time NDSU is blurted out by the person. In the US outside of Minnesota and Boston and the Red River Valley of the North, college hockey is on the same level as college lacrosse.

Does anyone think if Nick Saban and his staff had been hired at UND last January 1st, and been working our same personnel we would be 3-5? Drastic example, but hopefully you understand the point.

AND UND GAVE them 3 with the red zone punt fiasco.

10 vs NDSU 13 @ USD 21 @ SIU(7 was recovered fumble in EZ) 28 @ MSU

I disagree, not sure if it was always this way with Danny but our offense is not a championship offense. We can argue as to why that is, but way too many gadget plays all season. 41 carries for 270 yards in the game vs MSU, 6.2 yards per carry. If we were averaging 10 yards a carry would we have just run the ball? Right now we have 14 TD passes on the season... 9 for Tommy 2 for Quincy 2 for Brock 1 for Richter I'll take heat for this, but when has that happened at Alabama under Saban? It's indicative of the entire offense. One of Tommy TD passes was a gadget play too. The 4th and 2 play is at about the 57 second mark....with that play call we deserved to lose. https://missouristatebears.com/watch/?Archive=1772&type=Archive If you watch the play Belquist was going to throw it to Quincy. ......and then maybe Quincy was going to lateral it to Waletzko?

I agree with this for the most part. There is a time and a place for everything and 4th and 2 and 3rd and 1 and 4th and 1 is not the place for "tricks" when we can run the ball very effectively and/or we have the lead. In a much different way, our offense is just as predictable now as it was under Rudolph, just in a completely different way scheme-wise. 2 formation shifts, then a back comes in motion across faking the jet sweep and we throw a 4 yard crosser or hit the motion back in the flat. At some point all the motion just causes motion penalties and the defense no longer cares because we always end up in the same sets.

I agree, just hard because we have likely reached the ceiling under Bubba. Everything goes our way, and we are 8-3 and make the playoffs. Rash of injuries or things don't go our way and its 4-7 to 6-5.

It's all on the coaches. After the play call on 4th and 2, Holinka should have kicked Danny and Bubba in the nuts. Do you realize how few "winning" football teams would make that call with the lead, on the road, averaging 6 yards a carry? NONE. The answer is teams that win consistently don't rely on BS. They had to TRY and lose that game.

Not if NDSU chooses to run a "trick play" on 4th and 2 with a 2 score lead. The more I watch it, the worse it looks. I'm not sure if Otis and Belquist were sure it was a pitch or a handoff. Kind of like going for it on 4th and 1 at your own 20 with the lead in the 3rd qtr or coming out of the half and calling timeout before a play is run.

This is 100% on the coaches. Anyone with a grain of football knowledge, knows it.

The team never got its mojo back after the exposure @NDSU.