UND vs. Augustana

[CoteauRinkRat]

Less than 24 hours away until kickoff, any predictions out there.

Newberry's no huddle offense and talented receivers gave our D and our secondary a nice test. Should prove to be key against Auggie.

[jimdahl]

Unfortunately I didn't get to see the Newberry game, but I'm nervous about this one for the same reasons. Everyone says that Newberry has more talented receivers than Augustana, but I'm under the impression that their passing games was significantly simpler (Augustana's has certainly give us fits in the past). The Herald's scouting article mentioned that Augustana specifically trains against our blitz but that their O-line is weaker than past years. A little more pressure on the QB can make all the difference in the world.

On the other side of the ball-- Bowenkamp tore apart the Newberry secondary, but I have no idea how much of a test that was. Big passes over inferior secondaries (Newberry/Crookston) don't prove much. I hate to sound like a cliche, but will the Sioux put out enough of a running threat to keep the pass viable against a stronger defense? Mesa State reported (in the article quoted by star2city) that the Sioux offense was predictable based on personnel and formations -- don't think NCC opponents didn't notice. Fortunately, from what I've read, UND used a lot of different weapons in the Newberry game.

I honestly don't know what to think of this game so you're definitely not getting a prediction out of me

[bisonguy]

If UND plays to their potential, they should win. Augie is very young. I think I saw something about their 2 deep has 20 true or redshirt freshman. If UND doesn't give 100%, Augie can capitalize and walk out with a victory. I think it will come down to which team makes the fewest mistakes.

[UND92,96]

I may very well be overly optimistic, but I see the Sioux winning about 34-17. We have a tendency to remember the poor performances against Augie, i.e. 2000 and 2002, but the Sioux have won 7 of the last 9 against the Vikings, and each of those wins was by 13 or more points. Unless the Sioux get too conservative, which of course has a tendency to happen sometimes, the offense should be able to score points. Defensively, don't give up the big play and hit DeGraff early and often. I think Augie lost a lot off both the offensive and defensive lines from last year's team, and UND's experienced lines should be able to take advantage of that youth.

[RD17]

I may very well be overly optimistic, but I see the Sioux winning about 34-17. We have a tendency to remember the poor performances against Augie, i.e. 2000 and 2002, but the Sioux have won 7 of the last 9 against the Vikings, and each of those wins was by 13 or more points. Unless the Sioux get too conservative, which of course has a tendency to happen sometimes, the offense should be able to score points. Defensively, don't give up the big play and hit DeGraff early and often. I think Augie lost a lot off both the offensive and defensive lines from last year's team, and UND's experienced lines should be able to take advantage of that youth.

This pretty much sums up my feelings on the game, as well. Augie has 4 new starters on the O-line and they lost the 2 guys that were real tough on the D-line.

I also think UND does a better job against the spread offenses than in the past. 3 or 4 years ago Augie was about the only spread team the Sioux faced and now it seems like you see one every other week. We've got some real quick guys at OLB that can drop into coverage or blitz and Bubba was really changing things up against Newberry and causing some problems for them.

[redwing77]

Admittedly, my main sport is hockey, but I'm going to give this a stab.

Historically, Augustana always gives UND a run for their money. This won't be Newberry.

I say this game is going to be an offensive contest. My predicted score will be UND 34. Augustana 32

[jimdahl]

The good:

• Well, we asked for the Sioux to start finishing these close games strongly and put them away, and they heard us. A win is a win.
  
• For the first 3 quarters, Lueck WAS the offense. Great special teams play.
  
• Great defense all game. Defense saved this game.
  
• The offensive line really owned Augie in the 4th. Are we stronger, better conditioned, or was it just a side effect of everything else going our way?
  
• The little bit we were successful passing, we managed to spread the ball around.
  
• No turnovers
  
  • Offense? UND only had one good sustained drive that included grinding the ball down the field over time, at the very end of the game. The TD, which occurred on the drive before that, was really on the back of one big play.
    
  • Penalties, penalties, penalties. We have to get this into the single digits to stand a prayer against SCSU.
    

  The ugly:

  [*]Our bubble screen failed miserably, but we fell for it when Augie pulled it

[bisonguy]

Were there any injury updates on Ahlers and Stratton?

[UND92,96]

Kudos to the defense. The "d" has been getting better and better since the first half of the Mesa game. Of course, they had to play very well due to the complete futility of the offense for 3 1/2 quarters. Ugh. Finally, the Sioux offense got something going in the last two drives when Augie's defense apparently succumbed to fatigue since I don't think the offense was doing anything differently. The fatigue must have resulted from all that running on and off the field before and after UND's offense went three-and-out umpteen times in a row. Seriously, I'm wondering whether this is a case of poor play-calling, poor execution (penalties in particular), personnel not being utilized properly, or some other reason? I really don't think Augie's defense should have been able to shut out the Sioux offense for 3 1/2 quarters. Any thoughts?

[TheSiouxFan]

I don't know what it was but Bowenkamp did not impress today. He doesn't seem to have a very good "pocket sense" and isn't a good scrambler, and many of his passes were off target. The Sioux also need a good running back to compete for an NCC crown. The defense will have to come up big this year.

[RD17]

The defense was terrific today. The Sioux were all over DeGraff on almost every play. Dahlen and Babington-Johnson were really flying off the corner on some of those blitzes. The main thing that the defense still needs to improve on is causing turnovers. There were a couple of chances at INTs and they couldn't quite hang onto the ball. Hopefully the Sioux will start making those plays against some of the tough teams coming up.

I thought the long run by Roland broke Augie's back. UND pretty much ran all over them after that play. Bowenkamp just doesn't seem to be seeing the whole field right now. To his credit though, at least he didn't turn the ball over and put the defense in a tough spot.

The offense wasn't clicking, but I think the penalties have as much to do with the problems than anything else. It's a lot tougher to throw ball down the field when the defense knows you have to.

I guess the bottom line is it wasn't pretty, but it was win. That was the kind of game the Sioux would have lost last year.

[CoteauRinkRat]

The Defense once again played really well.

Jeff Glas needs to get on track. The missed field goals didn't come back to haunt us, but will against better teams.

Bowenkamp's game was ugly at times. He continues to not only miss open targets, but miss them badly.

Lueck's play on special teams has been tremedous. Why not throw the ball to him more on offense? Why not throw it up for grabs a couple times? He was one on one against a corner who was six inches shorter than him a handful of times during the game, take a chance.

[DamStrait]

Offensive playcalling and offensive penalties are glaring weaknesses. Both point to questionable coaching by the offensive members of the coaching staff.

[UND92,96]

Offensive playcalling and offensive penalties are glaring weaknesses.  Both point to questionable coaching by the offensive members of the coaching staff.

I have a tendency to agree that the playcalling has been rather poor the past two seasons. What is more perplexing is that Mussman did guide UND to being the top-scoring offense in the NCC during his first two years--2000 and 2001. And just so there's no misunderstanding, that was in NCC games only (not including games against UMC and the like). Plus, he did have a lot of success as Mankato St.'s offensive coordinator prior to coming to UND. So I guess my point is that it's not as though Mussman is incapable of calling good games. He just hasn't seem to have been doing it much during the past 15 games or so.

I don't claim to be some sort of offensive genious, but at least he should ditch the stupid bubble screen, and start using some misdirection in the running game instead of just trying to bowl straight ahead between the tackles all the time. There should be at least one end-around or reverse to Travis Lueck every game. He's the best weapon we have right now and he's barely seeing the ball other than as a punt returner. And start using the tight ends once in awhile. The offense is somewhat handicapped by the fact that unlike Klosterman, Bowenkamp is not at all elusive or effective as runner. But that shouldn't mean that the offense can't be somewhat creative.

[sprig]

Drove all the way across the state to watch this defensive battle. Didn't think the Augie D was supposed to be that good, maybe they are (or the Sioux offense isn't in it yet).

I was wishing they'd show a hockey game on the screens behind the goalposts

[OETKB]

Just watched the game on webcast archive. I thought defense was very impressive. Especially given that the most impact is being laid out by young players like Gagner & Anderson.

Offense was out of synch, especially Bowenkamp at times, but other times they looked good. Especially Rolland.

Defensive win. Good job.