tnt

I agree, and I guess I can't see every play, so I don't know if some guys were benched for a period after those false starts, but I think if that didn't happen it probably needs to, even if they aren't repeat offenders. If you aren't ready for your own teams' hard counts, how do you expect the defensive line to be ready for the oppositions? I say that, and the sad part is that I doubt that hard counts are any part of the problems.

I think most coaches would like the option to sit guys for lack of discipline, but with the losses on the offensive line, they don't have a lot of options. Perhaps you do it anyway to prove a point, but I don't know what the drop-off looks like. At this point, with how the offense has struggled, you can't afford penalties anyway, so might as well send the message.

But with this offense, they need to step up right away so they aren't playing from behind.

Got one, not sure if they’re interested in the other.

Just curious why we can’t seem to force any turnovers this year. Not sure what our turnover ratio was last year compared to this, but I would guess it made our offense look a little better last year operating from a short field.

I certainly didn’t see any of our freshmen to be instant impact guys, and maybe just role players for a year or so before they contribute consistently. I know it’s early, but Schmaltz looks like he can be a fairly consistent contributor. You just never know, you always get some guy that surprises you. Years ago everyone was looking at Wes Dorey as Canadian Junior Player of the Year to come in and make a huge impact and Jeff Panzer comes in under the radar and makes a huge impact. Here’s to hoping Schmaltz can continue making an impact and that after an adjustment period the other freshmen come along for the ride, and somewhere down the road we can hear Barry Melrose with the refrain, “You’re killing me Schmaltz”!

How about some back shoulder throws when the db doesn’t have his head turned?

Need something to turn momentum again, which means Bubba will be conservative.

When you have an offense that is transparent and they know you are going to throw short of the first down marker, it is pretty hard on the target to beat multiple defenders for a first down. A quarterback that can run at least is another threat the defense has to defend. A game manager means you are relying on your defense to win games. Need to be able to win games on both sides of the ball.

If you are going to be aggressive on first down, stay aggressive on second down, so they can’t pin their ears back on third down.

You only have one chance to make a first impression, and I would guess the first impression they want to give isn't "where is this", "why don't they have this". The same people that complain about something not opening are the ones that call it a complete gong show if it opens and they are minimalist in staffing and merchandise.

They had a young defense with LaCombe and Johnson, and now they are talented veterans along with Koster and Faber. On the positive side, they could stand to have a year like we had last year and lose three of those guys to the professional ranks after this season.

Don’t know how highly rated he is, but he seems to have transitioned well to the USHL as a younger player. I know it’s early but a lot of our younger guys have started out well this year. With Perron, Dylan James, Jackson Blake, and Bowden Singleton in the forward pipeline, I really like the looks of adding to the defensive corp that we always seem strong in recruiting. Singleton is a top scorer in the AJHL as a rookie, although he saw some games before this year.

The talent level has changed quite a bit since then, and they have recruited a bit more grit as well. Hopefully the guys will have had plenty of time to mesh before then, but I certainly wouldn’t be overconfident against them.

How about Michigan winning something like a conference championship or something first before we decide to go down the gloom and doom route.

It has yet to be seen if our defense is elite. I want to see them succeed against a team that is willing to pass the ball and has a good offensive line. We knew UND was going to do everything they could to prevent the fiasco that went down in Fargo last year where they got pushed down the field. NDSU didn't really even try to challenge us in the passing game, so who knows how it plays out against a team like South Dakota State. The defense was great Saturday, so hopefully they continue that against teams that are more balanced between run and pass.

Yeah, I'm kind of torn on that as well. I think for some reason Berry will play Ness Friday and sit a Kunz or Constantini, but I thought both looked o.k., so who knows. In the end, their offensive upside might be higher, but think early this year Berry will want people well versed in our systems because we probably are not going to be a high scoring team, so you can't afford some of the mistakes that Driscoll bailed us out of the other day. Will guess they will all see some time though.

I would think that might be the case, with Johnson and Bast rotating as the extra skater. I think we have seen that Berry will error on the side of giving players extra time coming back from injuries though, so depending on the injuries, we might not see everybody back.

That may be the case, but two chances seems better odds of getting there against a good defense. Against a good tackling team that might not work that often.

On the positive side, Bubba has become more aggressive. Now he just has to pick his spots better. I would like to see them aggressive on key spots that can turn the game. Rather than a short pass over the middle that let time expire before half, how about going a little deeper and hope for pass interference. The wisdom of trying on fourth down when a worse Drake team stuffed you twice on the same play, would lead one to think another play would have been coming. Even if you make that first down, do you keep being aggressive to make it truly pay off in a momentum switch? Hard to know. It seemed if we were aggressive on a trick play on first down that left us behind the chains, we would be conservative on second down and got stuffed. We have already shown that we still throw short of the chains on 3rd and 6 or 7, just like we would on 3rd and 10, so why not have two passes to make that yardage. Next step is not having to rely so heavily on trick plays to move the ball against good teams.

So who are the next targets? Grayden Slipec? Gracyn Sawchyn?

Weatherby with a goal and assist tonight for San Jose.

I’m guessing Rory qualifies for quite a while yet.

Are 1st and 2nd rounders your definition of Blue Chiappas? If, not please reveal your definition.

Which is why you invite big time recruits to that game. If you lose to them, they have the advantage anyways, so why not get them in the heat of the battle, and even if we get nipped, they might like the atmosphere and think they can be a difference maker to help flip the script next time. Maybe they enjoy the campus, the other players, or any number of things that could swing them our way.