Irish
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Posts posted by Irish
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Sorry I was a little harsh about making that comment. I, along with a lot of Sioux football fans, just hope for the best in the rest of this football season. Let's make our stamp on the Great West conference this year!!!!!
I understand - we have all been reacting emotionally to the loss - some of us venting and some expressing faith in the Sioux team. It seems like some of the faithful have had a hard time hearing those of us who are frustrated.
Those of us who have been venting want the Sioux to succeed also. We just hope that the necessaray adjsutments are being made. If we can play a solid game on Saturday, it will go a long way towards getting everyone aboard again. We all want the same thing - some of us were just pretty frustrated at the effort (especially by coaches) on Saturday. Lets try to put it behind us and move on. I appreciate your post.
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Worst loss in Sioux history? This is a joke right?
Sioux Falls had a hell of a team and brought their A game. Their loss to Stephen A Austin was WAY worst than this one. Don't make stupid posts when you don't know what you are talking about.There are many ways to figure what a "worst loss" is - point spread, physical domination, lack of effort, choke value, intangibles lost (such as playoffs or conference championships) . I feel that getting spanked by an NAIA team at home when we are trying to get some DIVISION IAA respect qualifies as a contender. It was as sad a moment in Sioux football as I can remember. It was as poor an effort from top to bottom as I have seen. If you disagaree - fine -make your case. However, I can do without your snide attitude. Keep your insults to yourself. You certainly haven't established youself as our resident expert.
PS My original point was that it was somewhat silly to vote for Mussman as coach of the year after what I called our worst loss ever. Your smart ass rebuttal of me lists another loss during which he was head coach as evidence I am wrong.
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Regarding the play of the defensive line, I have to think the erratic play has in large part been due to injuries. We know Boyle is a very good player. Bellmore has also shown some very good things. But both have struggled with injuries this year. I think Benjamin is going to be really good in time, too. The problem is that all three are probably best suited to play nose guard. Bellmore has also played some end this year, probably as a result of trying to get the best talent on the field at the same time. Brenneman will probably also be good at end in time, but like Benjamin he's just a redshirt freshman. If everybody were healthy, I'd kind of like to see a line of Benjamin at the nose, with Bellmore and Boyle at end. It seems like Boyle is athletic enough to be able to play either position. Ultimately, we need to hope that in the future at least one and hopefully more than one out of Brenneman, and red-shirts Stanchik, Lundeen and Cole can develop into an effective pass rusher from the end position(s). We may also see at least one juco transfer defensive end added before next season, particularly if some of the younger players aren't quite physically ready yet.
My criticism of the defensive line wasn't directed at anyone in particular. I know injuries have been a factor. In addition, at times our outside linebackers play like defensive ends. My point was that you can't play at this level (and after playing Sioux Falls apparently at any level) and let the quarterback stand back and pick you apart without applying any pressure. We don't seem to have the physical size and quickness to beat anyone on the pass rush. This is a huge area of concern as evidenced by our whopping 2 sacks this year. I remember past Sioux defenses who had 2 sacks in the first series. I find this type of game especially frustrating to watch - you can see trouble comming, but can't do a thing about it. This area needs to be one of the top priorities for next year. Maybe a year of health and experience will help.
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Big test to show us how our program responds to adversity. Players need to regain intensity. Coaches need to give the players an offensive and defensive scheme that puts them in a position to compete. Frankly, our line play is a problem on both sides of the ball. On offense, they don't seem to be able to open holes or move anyone for periods at a time. It seems like we go through streaks where we try to establish the run, only to continually put ourselves in a 2nd and 9 or 3rd and 8 situation. I would like to see more of a playcalling mix on first down. Continually putting Landry in a 3rd and long doesn't help him. He has had a pretty good season (with the exception of last week). Strangely, he seems to throw better off the run than in a strait drop-back. He can miss badly at times. Give him a chance to throw when they are not expecting it. Who we have at running back also matters. We need to try keep our opponents off balance more. Bamba can be a huge factor, or he can lose focus if he isn't kept busy.
On defense, our line play has been horrible except for a couple of outstanding goalline stands. We need to find a way to pressure the quarterback or we will give up our usual 10-15 yards a play again. Our corners and d-backs seem to play well, but they can't make up for a lack of rush and poor coverage from linebackers. Again, we need to find a scheme that keeps our opponents off balance and makes use of our talent. Changes need to be made on defense.
Overall, I think we are close in talent - the game will come down to intensity and coaching. We need to win this game to right the ship and get rid of that sour taste in our mouths. We play a good game and hopefully players and fans can move on. If not, it may be the start of a long downhill spiral.
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This guy does this stuff for a living, maybe we should listen to him.... Good Posts
I'm not trying to get into it with you, but I feel a need to explain again why Sioux fans are so upset and feel that this is the worst loss ever. Yes, part of it is losing to an NAIA team and seeing our discussion board turn in to a smack talk between South Dakota schools, with one of them describing how they kicked our butts. However, the way we played on Saturday is a big factor also. After their first drive, I thought "Wow, the Sioux have some work to do and adjustments to make". After the second drive I was still waiting for us to adjust. After the third drive, I was getting impatient and frustrated. When they came out after the half and did the same thing, I couldn't believe it. The people around me in the stands were able to look at their formations and predict trouble. I have never seen a coaching staff who was as consistantly outsmarted. They were always 2 steps ahead of us. It looked like we just sat back and let them dictate the game to us. When they decided to take Bamba out of the kickoff returns, we never tried to make them pay for it. We just decided to fair catch the ball no matter how much running room was available and made no effort to adjust our personnel. Coaches and players were in a completely submissive mode and let an NAIA school take it to us at home. We just didn't show up for the whole game.
Because we don't have direct contact with the coaches, many of us are not sure that the coaching staff "gets it". The light certainly never went on during the game.
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Fans are not supposed to voice opinions on the decisions of a coach of a Division I football program? I must have missed the memo on that one...as did the rest of the college football fans in the country.
For the record, I didn
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If they continue to show up in the numbers that they have the past 2 games then they deserve to lose that prime seating. When the students show up they are a definite presence behind the bench. When they don't they lose their bargaining power. I'm sure that it didn't look good on television to see all of those empty seats at midfield.
The student section is pretty far down the list of things that didn't look good on television yesterday.
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Deep down inside you still love Coach Mussman...go VOTE.
This is a joke, right? Our coaching staff was in way over their heads against Sioux Falls. He's lucky to keep his job. He has presided over perhaps the worst loss in Sioux history.
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Is anyone else stunned at our inability to make adjustments as the game went on? Take the kick-offs. It was soon clear that their strategy was to keep the ball away from Bamba and 'pooch" kick it up in the air to about the 30-35 yard line. Most of the time it went to #35, a linebacker who was in there to block or hit someone. He obviously was instructed to fair catch even with no-one within 10-15 yards of him. Why didn't we put other personnel in that spot - a recieiver or d-back for example and try to make them pay for a short kick? Hats off to the Sioux Falls coaching staff - they were so far ahead of our coaches - talk about a mismatch.
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It's pretty clear we don't have the personnel to successfully run the 3-4. Our linemen get no push, not even against an NAIA school and our linebackers aren't athletic enough. However, I don't know if we have the personnel to successfully run any other defense either. What we need and don't have is the ability to make adjustments during the game. I can't think of another game where I felt we were so outcoached as yesterday. We had absolutely no answer to a couple of their formations and plays, especially when they split 3 out on the same side. Everyone in the stands could see the trouble with that formation - we simply didn't have enough defenders in the area to cover. Even after half-time, we had no answer. When a defense at the University of North Dakota gets positively owned by and NAIA school something needs to change and soon.
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Walrus, you know I love you like a brother but this is beyond a "bad day". An NAIA school with 1/4 of the scholarship money we have didn't just beat us, they kicked the dog out of us. We were never in this game and when they had the ball, we couldn't get it back.
You're right, in the big picture, we'll be fine. Good coaches, good kids, etc. but this is not acceptable and cannot be swept under the rug. Horrible effort by everyone, just horrible.
Agreed that this effort is totally unacceptable. I'm most disappointed with the lack of adjustments on defense. Why we couldn't cover their trip wide outs is beyond me. Even after halftime, we got burned with the same stuff. I'm not willing to put up with many more of these fiascos. I've been a Sioux fan for over 40 years, and this may be their most disgusating loss ever.
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I'm a Dale Lennon fan, also, and you essentially said what I was thinking, that Coach Mussman has only had one recruiting class. Give the man a chance; this year's team is not his team and, really, next year's won't be, either. Today's debacle notwithstanding, he has done a decent job with the talent that he inherited; let's see if we don't start to see real improvement by the 2011 season, just in time for being playoff eligible in 2012.
If you think he's done a decent job with the talent he has, you must not have watched our defense. We made no adjustments and let an NAIA team kick our a**es. When they split 3 to the same side, we got caught with 1 too few defenders time after time. When they were kicking their kickoffs to our 30 yard line, we kept the same guy there (not a runner) and just had him fair catch. We were totally outcoached today. We didn't execute in any aspect of the game today.
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This was pathetic - one of the worst performances by a Sioux football team ever. I could go on and on because an NAIA team kicked our a**es in every phase of the game. What stands out in this steaming pile, however, is our total inability to make any kind of adjustments on defense. If this is the kind of football Mussman is going to give us, I hope he hits the road real soon.
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I have to keep reminding myself that we are up a level and that we are playing ok for the transition. It's been a long time since I saw both the offensive and defensive lines get absolutely NO push at all. Our running game is non-exhistant. Every series that we open with a run is a series that we have 3rd and long. It's hard for me to get used to getting physically beat. This should show us that we need to recruit our buts off to get to a more competative position. I don't think that this team has the talent of several of our good DII teams. We need to reload. As to the attendence - it's what I thought it would be. What you saw at the game was the Sioux faithful. The less fired up fans and students saw nothing exciting about playing a school no one has heard of. Let's face it - we have an uninspiring schedule and will have for years until we get into a real confernece and develop some rivalrys again. The only other way to pump up attendence is to have an outstanding year or two. I expect even less entheusiam from the students for Sioux Falls. However, I'd sure like to see this officiating crew again.
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Transition year, on the road, playing down south in the heat, playing a fast team - doesn't matter. I don't expect to see too many performances like this by a Sioux team. We were outclassed in every phase of the game, certainly including coaching preparation. We have to figure out how to cover receivers without giving them a 10-15 yard cushion. We need to go in search of some kind of running game. Our offense can't dissapear for an entire quarter. We need to learn how to tackle - the list goes on. We need to get our crap together and finish out the season strong - then hit the recruiting trail. Things weren't as good as we made them out to be after the first two games - hopefully they aren't as bad as Saturday night.
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A few random thoughts:
-the extra week off may have been a mixed blessing--it allowed some players to get healthy, but it may also have resulted in the team not being as sharp as they could have been.
-is the relative lack of size of our o-line part of the problem with the running game? When you consider the size of the linemen in the past two recruiting classes, it certainly appears that the current lack of size will be a temporary issue. Also, I believe one of our o-lineman had three penalties yesterday.
-the tv announcers commented a few times in the second half how predictable our playcalling was--i.e. run on first and second down, and pass on third.
-I'd like to see Davis get more involved in the passing game. It's clear he has some speed, and supposedly the ability to catch the ball is one of his strengths.
-speaking of passing, I'd like to see us attempt to stretch the field once in awhile. Landry has a cannon, but thus far he really hasn't had much of a chance to throw downfield that I can recall.
-any FCS road win is a good FCS road win.
Many positives from this game - A road win is great - The one negative I saw was the play selection. Almost every series began with a 1 -2 yard run. We put Landry in many awkward passing situations - mainly 3rd and longs. If we want to make our mark this year, we have to mix things up. I too would like to stretch the field - third and long is not condusive to a good passing attack. If we play a team that doesn't make so many crucial mistakes, we could get beat unless we try attack them. I hope this will not be our offense this year.
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Defense is great - would it kill us to do something else besides run for 1-2 yards on first down?
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Interesting discussion -
From what I've seen (especially last year) during the first half of the season we almost never carried the puck across - we almost always dumped it. As a result, our players looked for this option first. In fact I had a fan from another team ask me if we ever carried the puck into the zone - he was rather amazed at the amount of dumping we did. As a result of this style, we almost never had odd man rushes the first half and struggled as a team. In the second half, we seemed to open up and play more and our offense became much more potent. We finally started looking for the good pass and the open teammate - the results speak for themselves.
As for Hak being more versitile than Blais, I'm not buying it. Versitile in this context seems to mean taking a full half year to play to potential every year (and having to try some different things because of it). Blais found a system that worked, recruited and coached to make it work, and won his second national championship at the end of his 6th year - he also took over a program in much worse shape. The continual dump/chase/cycle offense drives me nuts - give me Blais style every time.
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Several questions come to mind-
Are we getting beaten to the blue chippers? For now, the answer appears to be yes - We haven't had a first round pick in how long. Other teams seem to be picking them up. We have the facilities and program to compete with anyone. We should be getting our share or more. We used to be the program many sure-fire NHL prospects picked.
Is this by design? Did we get who we want - are we confident that we have some great "under the radar" kids? Hard to say. At this point, coaches are reluctant to admit that we didn't get the players we were after and imply that they are not happy with who we have. Same with many Sioux fans. No one wants to put our class down. We do have some nice players comming in, which brings us to question 3 -
Do we have what it takes to go all the way? I'm not sure - time will tell. Many posters seem very optimistic - however, almost no one else in the hockey community sees what we do. It would be nice to show them. I see some nice things on this team - good competition at goalie, 4 line that can score - and some question marks - defense, another slow start, can we get that hard nosed attitude? We have a lot of underclassmen who need to take that next step up. Regardless of how many posters have made high draft choices sound iffy, we would be a better team with a Parise, Toews, or Oshie or even a Schroeder. For me, the future is now. I would be happier with some blue chippers coming in. It's been long enough.
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I agree that the entire team is responsible for defense, and outside of some glaring mistakes, many defensive lapses are the result of several players. UND has a combination of offensive and stay at home players - however the combinations don't always work. Sometimes one defenseman (many times Finley) is hung out to dry. What strikes me, however, is the total defensive breakdown we have had the last many years during our season ending loss. From goaltending to foreward play to defensemen, we have collectively looked horrible - usually one of our worst games of the season. How we can play so well at the end of the season and look like this is beyond me. I feel that this is the hump we need to get over in order to get # 8. Personally, I would like to return to the hard-hitting defenses of the past. While we have some physical players, top to bottom we don't hit like we used to. I'm getting restless for # 8 - We need put it all together this year.
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They finished 6th and played the Gophers in the first round of the playoffs and there were a lot
of unhappy people up here.
Remember, in 2002 we were only a couple of years removed from an National Championship, which helped dull the frustration. In addition, we expected to reload and challenge for a Championship immediately (in Bais we trusted). The same type of season now would be met with a lot more frustration because another Championship has been a long time comming - we've come tantalizingly close but no cigar. I'm having a hard time deciding what I feel about this season - definately greater highs and lows than others. Although I love the second half surges, these types of seasons are wearing me out. When we rely on this, we need to peak exactly right or we get a finish like this year. The timing seems too fragile to want to continue this pattern. I know that there are different opinions out there, but I feel that we were one blue-chipper away from the big time this year. I like 4 solid lines also, but give me a Toews or Oshie to seal the deal.
The high point for me was watching Duncan end a fantastic college career.
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Hakstol is facing more parity in college hockey than Gino and Blais ever did.
The thought of Air Force and BSU making (or almost making) the F4 would have been unheard of back in their days. In the Gino and Blais eras, you could have made a list at the beginning of the seasons of 10 teams, and more than likely all four of the F4 teams would have been on that list. You can't do that anymore.
Am I disappointed that Hakstol hasn't won a NT in his four trips to the F4? Definitely. But I'm not going to compare him to Blais and Gino because the situations are different.
And I like how you are already writing off next year's team, especially being that our current season ended less than 12 hours ago. Nicely done.
Is it unfair to compare this coach to his immediate predecessors and have roughly the same expectations - I don't think so
Is it way harder to win a championship now compared to 10 years ago - I don't know, but since we last won one Minnesota, Boston College, and Denver have each won 2 and Wisconsin has won one.
Am I writing off next year's season because I said I don't see a National Championship at this point - no more than others who are trying to be realistic - Big A HG picks us 4th in the WCHA, Yzerman states we're going to be in a lot of trouble defensively" - etc. I'm stating my opinion and could do without your snide remarks.
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Huh, you're kidding right? We won a MacNaughten Cup. That is a lot better than any of the other teams in the WCHA and only one WCHA team went further in the NCAA playoffs and we could make the arguement that we may have did better than Michigan and Notre Dame because we didn't lose to a 4 seed.
Kidding - no
At this point in their coaching careers, Gino had 2 national titles and Blais 1 with another one coming in his 6th year. We have gone thorugh an incredible run of talent without one. Did we overachieve this year and win a MacNaughten - yes. My point is that we have tried it both ways now - loaded with top end talent and running 4 lines without a star. We still have not found a way to win it all. I don't see a national championship team next year either. I'm frustrated with the drought. Hak knew the expectations coming in. We need to pick it up.
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Conference standings next year:
1) Denver
2) Minnesota
3) Wisconsin
4) North Dakota
5) Duluth
6) CC
7) Anchorage
8) Mankato
9) St. Cloud
10) Mich. Tech
6-10 were all hard to pick. All of them could shuffle within those positions. Tech was bad this year, but very injured. Someone has to be last, so I felt that's where they'd be. St. Cloud doesn't have the guns. UAA has shown improvements big time with Shyiak (sp?). CC is losing a ton, but they still should be good enough to finish ahead of the bottom feeders. Mankato is losing a few good players and will be tough for them to rebound from a promising season.
We don't have anyone that clearly stands out as the best team for next year I don't think depending on who leaves and stays for Denver, but they look the most solid for sure. Minn and Wisc will reload as usual. Duluth will be good, but still not good enough to jump them into the top 3 or 4. North Dakota is just kinda there. Not pushing for a top spot realistically, but staying ahead of the lesser teams.
Does anyone else feel that after all these years of playoff frustration and no championships that this type of year is unacceptable. It's time for us to bring in some studs and become an elite team again. I want the days back when we reloaded in stead of rebuilt. Hak needs to step it up. I'm getting impatient.
Division 1 Transition: Precursor for Perennial Mediocrity?
in Football
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UND over the years has had several coaches who put them on track - Gene Murphy and Roger Thomas for example (I'm not forgetting Lennon, but he took over a team that was over the hump). We need one now. Whether Mussman is that coach remains to be seen. After looking at the roster, I'm stuinned to see the poor classes in our Junior and Senior groups. We have 18 seniors and play like we have 18 true freshmen. Keys - great recruiting, pulling out some tough games, winning a big one. In fairness, he needs a couple more years. I am having a tough internal battle - in my head I know it's too early to give up on Mussman, but after watching the crapfest that was the Sioux Falls game, emotionally, I'm still pissed. Besides recruiting, he must make better game plans and game day adjsutments. We need a much better effort by the coaches and team to salvage this season - Next year remains to be seen. When we start playing better, attendance will take care of itself. We also need a real conference.