Dustin

Looks like the Valley is for NDSU to lose. Same old $—t.

Kelly Howe called it after the Drake game. There’s something off with the offense. At that point, they had a bye week to fix it. Now we’re at back to back losses because the offense can’t put together enough drives to rest the defense, who are playing well, but playing tired.

We’ve been winning some recruiting battles. Are we a year or two away? Or is it just not gonna happen under this regime?

I know you were preaching this pretty hard last year, and most, including me, weren’t having it. You may be right though. Is Feeney that program changing QB?

I mean, we still can go 8-3. But the O needs to get it figured out. Sophomore slump, I guess.

So, where do we go from here? Have our coaches lost their players?

Our defense is not bad, but they get gassed by the later stages of the 4th quarter. Happened in all of our losses. But when the offense can’t give you a break…

I waited for a defensive or special teams score to bail out the offense last week and it never came. Hope this week is different.

That one hurts. Glad we got the points, but we might not have a chance to sniff the end zone again.

Probably too much to overcome now.

Didn’t think we would surrender points there. Shoot.

We have a few super seniors. I would think one of them.

Pretty much.

Is something wrong with Stage?

Well, at least we got 3.

As I was typing asking whether Smith had been in the game, he came in, but we didn’t use him.

Sounds like we are all pretty much on the same page - UND wins by about a touchdown +/- a field goal.

Someone else mentioned that as well. I agree.

Yep. Definitely the most important game of our season right now.

Are these good "gets"? I rely totally on other people about how excited I should get for a recruiting commitment.

Is Malachi McNeal playing yet? I can't remember having heard his name called on a broadcast or SS people talking about him.

I keep coming back to this idea that if you run Weah on first down, Smith on second down, how much would there be left to pick up on third down? I think this strategy will only get more effective as the O-line gels later into the season.

I think we may a have a defense you can hang your hat on. Hope to see that continue.

Agree. Leading up to the game, I wrote that I didn't think we could run it down their (or maybe anybody's) throats, as much as the coaches may want that to be our style. Now, I'm not so sure. Smith looked great in his limited use. (He needed to get double digit carries) Otis was close to breaking free many times. Skokna is kind of a Swiss Army Knife, and can be involved in several interesting looks (running, receiving, trick plays, etc.) I think we could have a punishing run game if we rotate our RBs and keep them fresh.

Yes. As long as the hold wasn't in the end zone, it wouldn't be a safety, right? May as well risk that every time. Kind of like jumping the snap on an extra point attempt if you're desperately trying to block it.