FightingHawkSioux

Not just last week. EVERY week.

I almost fell out of my chair when I read “Kudos, once again, to OC Paul Rudolph on using his assets appropriately. The wrinkles and evolution offensively are apparent....” That is laughable. Bubba’s loyalty is apparently going to be the demise of him, this staff, and the team. We were playing a top 10 team in the ENTIRE country and we did not take ONE shot. Not one. No trick plays - nothing. Are you kidding me? We were in a “David vs Goliath” type game and we didn’t even attempt to throw the ball down field. Bubba’s decision to punt at midfield on the 4th and 1 play was completely gutless. We were moving the ball well that drive and at that point it is only 10-0. I would LOVE to hear what the conversation was during the timeout. What do you have to lose????????? How do you not have 5 plays ready to go in that situation? Gutless. The next time we are in that situation they finally did decide to go for it but they decide to leave OUR BEST PLAYER on the sideline. I’m sorry, but John would have gotten that 1st down. He literally is a top 5 offensive threat in the whole (FCS) country, and we think its a good time to have him on the sideline. How many playactions did we run? How about taking a shot after a turnover? Maybe mix in a play action on 1st down!!!! Every team stacks the box and flies to #22. Luckily he is that freakin unbelievable he can make things out of nothing. We need to be able to show the threat of throwing it deep. We NEED to mix in play action early. No one is going to be scared of getting beat deep by our 6’4 wideouts. We need to find ways to loosen up opposing defenses. Rudy’s idea of being creative is figuring out how many different looks we can run freakin pitch stretch out of. I love Bubba as a person, love his passion, but some real change needs to take place.

Alright - I am as loyal to the football program as you can be. I absolute bleed green and it’s probably a little embarrassing how engulfed with this program I am. I have always read the message boards but have never taken the time to create an account or else just have decided to bite my tongue. I’ve finally had enough.... Rudy has to go plain and simple. It is embarrassing how predictable we are with not even a hint of creativity. Clearly he is unable to tailor his offense to the personnel he has or adjust mid game. Here are my top thoughts: The fact that he continues to try and develop Brad Heidlebaugh tells me all I need to know on his gauge of talent. Nothing against Brad - but he’s not a division 1 quarterback. I don’t even know if he’s a division III qb. Clearly Rudy didn’t adjust his talent measuring stick after leaving Minot. (Side note - we need to bring in a scholarship quarterback every single year. The sole reason we missed the playoffs 2 years ago was the fact we didn’t have even a pulse as a backup qb and the coaching staff didn’t address the issue. If Ketteringham didn’t fall in our lap - do you guys realize what we would be dealing with next year? QB is the most important position on the team. Start acting like it. We are getting beat by teams with their backups and even 4th string. Our backups can hardly even take a snap). The fact that he hasn’t made Grand Forks his home tells me all I need to know about commitment to the community. We have the best runningback/offensive threat in the conference and legitimately a top 10 offensive player in the ENTIRE COUNTY and he sits on the sideline for at least half of our offensive snaps. ARE YOU KIDDING ME? John Santiago is that special of a talent and we are completely wasting it. The kid should NEVER leave the field. If you want to run Olivera and Johannason that is fine - but stick John out wide or have him run the jet motion. TEAMS WILL HAVE TO HONOR HIM. If he needs a rest - split him out wide and tell him to just stand there. TEAMS WILL HAVE TO HONOR HIM. I can’t even begin to fathom the stupidity of having our best player and one of the COUNTRY’S best player standing on the sideline. You can’t even make that up. How can we not have a package at this point with both John and Brady out there at the same time? Are you kidding me? Literally the 2 best running backs in the league and they both are on the sideline every other series, and now even more with JJ starting to get some reps. Do people remember when McCaffery was at Stanford? The kid touched the ball every way possible. The only way Rudy can figure out how to give him the ball is pitch left and pitch right. Embarrassing. Can we please mix in a play action on first down and/or throw it deep early????? Not too many bad things happen when you throw it deep. Incomplete? Whoop-dee-doo. Very rarely does it get picked off. We shout it from the mountain tops that we are going to run first - which is fine - but when the opposing team has 9 in the box and both corners are standing on their tip toes coming down hill at the snap - even if we had a good offensive line - that’s nearly an impossible task. You have to be able to show it to at least put a SMALL thought in the defense’s mind. This is getting longer then it needs to and I could go on for days. I didn’t even scratch the surface but said enough to at least make me feel a little better. My last thought is that a healthy Keaton is still twice the QB then Zimmerman guys. It was great to see a backup come in and look like he’s held a football before - don’t get me wrong - but Keaton is twice the athlete and QB. We have to realize how bad the play calling is for Keaton and how much it sets him up to fail. He’s asked to hand it off 2 straight times into a brick wall and then on 3rd and long try to throw it (that is if we don’t decide to run draw). It is tough to get any qb in rhythm with those cards dealt. Alright - I think my heart rate has come down a little. Thanks for listening to my venting session.....