Soooooo time to move on..... NAU game this week

[geaux_sioux]

Unless Digger or Eric Schmidt suits up next week, expect much of the same.

Schultz would be nice

[Feff]

I think a good chunk of fixing this run defense can be accomplished by fixing the defensive line, particularly the nose. On a consistent basis this year our nose guard is getting demolished and pushed 3-4 yards back at least. This mucks up the linebackers (who need to fill better), and gives the opposing running backs a couple yards before they even get touched or have to make a cut.

Another thing that would help our defense is tackling! Good gods, I'm not sure I've ever seen tackling this atrocious. Even when the defense does make a nice play to get into position, they flail away and make themselves look foolish trying to make a tackle. How many times did we hit the ball-carrier today only to not wrap up and give them an extra 5 yards (minimum)?

[SiouxVolley]

Big Sky Standings are lead by the three FCS teams UND has lost to:

Eastern Washington 4-0 (5-1) Cal Poly 3-0 (5-0) Northern Arizona 3-0 (5-1)

That's the most difficult trifecta in the league right now.

Meanwhile, Portland St and Sac State, both of which UND beat, are in the middle of the standings.

Meanwhile, three teams at or near the bottom of the league do not of the league do not play UND: Weber St, Idaho St, and UC Davis. No one has had a more difficult conference schedule.

SUU and Montana games are very winnable. Beating MSU on the road would be an upset, but MSU is not a consistent team.

Without Bauman for NAU, UND outperformed NAU. Bauman is likely the most dominating player in the Big Sky at any position.

I'm not making excuses for UND's defense, but actually believe the weakness at linebacker is where the biggest weakness lies. In a 3-4 defense, the LB corps has to be versatile both in rushing the QB, TE/RB pass coverage, and run protection. The LB's simply can't tackle sufficiently, so that the secondary is forced to get most of the tackles.

[SWSiouxMN]

I am frustrated.....

Frustrated that our defense cannot stop anyone (my goodness, my high school team could gash this defense, they just ran for 500 yards on Friday!).

Frustrated that we had a 3RD AND 1, Sutton was running good enough to pick that up and you call a deep throw? And after going super aggressive against Cal Poly, Muss goes back to his eh, punt on 4th.

Offense didn't frustrate me, but 2 plays did other than the 3rd and 1 call

1. Golliday dropping that pass, which lead to the pick: That pass was on the money, no excuse for even dropping that one.

2. 3rd down play when we were up 31-24 on our own 4: Hanson just missed Miller, if they connected.... he had sooo much open space, he could have taken it to the house. Boom, 38-24, different atmosphere.

The Hanson fumble, with my viewing angle in the student section and looking at the highlights, there was no question that he not only lead with his helmet, he did connect with Hanson's helmet. That was a big missed call, I don't want to fault the officials but with all this talk of protecting the QB and the fact that UND has gotten called twice for leading with helmet penalties with less contact.

The thing that most frustrates me... despite all of that WE STILL COULD HAVE WON THE GAME!!!!!

I will say a few good things:

-Nice to see Hardin and Jackson have a really good game.

-Hanson was very, very good. Hope he is good to go for Montana

-Sutton had a nice few runs as well

-Nice drive by Hendrickson at the end.

I guess we have to move on, no playoffs... time to play spoiler and end Montana's playoff hopes next week

[bincitysioux]

Yes, what I saw of the secondary was not too stellar.

Unlike the linebackers and lineman.....................

[SloStang]

Bauman is likely the most dominating player in the Big Sky at any position.

He is not even the leading rusher in the Big Sky. That honor goes to Cal Poly's Deonte Williams with over 750 yards in 6 games. Deonte also averages more yards per rush.

[SloStang]

My bad. With a big day today Bauman move into the lead 767 to 757. Although Bauman takes the lead in total yards rushing, Deonte is averaging 7.1 yards per carry vs 6.5 for Bauman. Deonte also has 9 rushing TDs to 8 for Bauman.

[petey23]

My bad. With a big day today Bauman move into the lead 767 to 757. Although takes the lead in total yards rushing, Deonte is averaging 7.1 yards per carry vs 6.5 for Bauman. Deonte also has 9 rushing TDs to 8 for Bauman.

They are both good backs....in the eye test, having seen both I would take Bauman but I will say Poly is the better team.

[fightingsioux4life]

Without Bauman for NAU, UND outperformed NAU. Bauman is likely the most dominating player in the Big Sky at any position.

So without "Superman" (Bauman), we would have won the game? Did you even notice all the big pass plays we gave up? All the 3rd down and long situations where we couldn't get a stop? The soft pass coverage downfield on every single pass play? This defense gets gashed week after week both thru the air and on the ground. The names change, the results do not. Except for the Sac State road game, the defense has done virtually nothing to help us win. I doubt Bauman or Williams would have even 100 yards vs. NDSU's defense; which is what our defense used to look like. When our defense was at its peak, we would shut down opposing offensive stars (either quarterback or running back) and force our opponents to play with one arm tied behind their back. And until we get back to that, nothing that happened on Saturday will change.

[mg2009]

I remember being trolled to death pre-season for thinking this was a 6-5 type of team. Turns out I was being optimistic. Fire Faison.

[jacksdude0109]

He is not even the leading rusher in the Big Sky. That honor goes to Cal Poly's Deonte Williams with over 750 yards in 6 games. Deonte also averages more yards per rush.

Interestingly enough Deonte Williams transferred from NAU after being the big sky offensive newcomer of the year as a freshman

[jacksdude0109]

"As a freshman in 2008, Williams was named Big Sky Conference Newcomer of the Year after rushing for 950 yards (4.3 yards per carry) and 12 touchdowns in 11 games ... also caught 14 passes for 70 yards ... 22 carries for 194 yards and three scores against Idaho ... also had 100-plus games against Northern Colorado, Portland State and Montana ... named runner-up for FCS Freshman of the Year honors ... Lumberjacks were 6-5 overall and 4-4 in Big Sky games."

[jacksdude0109]

My bad. With a big day today Bauman move into the lead 767 to 757. Although Bauman takes the lead in total yards rushing, Deonte is averaging 7.1 yards per carry vs 6.5 for Bauman. Deonte also has 9 rushing TDs to 8 for Bauman.

stephen a smith voice "disrespectful"

[sprig]

My bad. With a big day today Bauman move into the lead 767 to 757. Although Bauman takes the lead in total yards rushing, Deonte is averaging 7.1 yards per carry vs 6.5 for Bauman. Deonte also has 9 rushing TDs to 8 for Bauman.

The difference being, before yesterday only Williams had played against ND; after yesterday, both had, which evens things up.

[Wilbur]

Unless Digger or Eric Schmidt suits up next week, expect much of the same.

Tony Hermes would be nice. Heck, Mike Mooney would be nice. Undersized, but he found a way to get it done.

[Matt]

Big Sky Standings are lead by the three FCS teams UND has lost to:

Eastern Washington 4-0 (5-1) Cal Poly 3-0 (5-0) Northern Arizona 3-0 (5-1)

That's the most difficult trifecta in the league right now.

Meanwhile, Portland St and Sac State, both of which UND beat, are in the middle of the standings.

Meanwhile, three teams at or near the bottom of the league do not of the league do not play UND: Weber St, Idaho St, and UC Davis. No one has had a more difficult conference schedule.

SUU and Montana games are very winnable. Beating MSU on the road would be an upset, but MSU is not a consistent team.

Without Bauman for NAU, UND outperformed NAU. Bauman is likely the most dominating player in the Big Sky at any position.

I'm not making excuses for UND's defense, but actually believe the weakness at linebacker is where the biggest weakness lies. In a 3-4 defense, the LB corps has to be versatile both in rushing the QB, TE/RB pass coverage, and run protection. The LB's simply can't tackle sufficiently, so that the secondary is forced to get most of the tackles.

? How is this even relevant? Is there a losing team in the country that couldn't make that claim? I'm certain we could look at box scores from every game in the nation Saturday and if we take away 1 key person from 1 team, the results could have been different. (I'm sure the ac would like to do that with the ISU corner with 2 pick 6s)

There's trouble if things have fallen so far that we think to ourselves "boy, if only the other team's best player didn't play for them, we might have won".

[WYOBISONMAN]

Unlike the linebackers and lineman.....................

Just checked the stats this morning.......I stand corrected.....issues all across the defense.

[UNDColorado]

You must be referring to the fact UND played with only 9 on D because we go absolutely no CB play today. Mackey got worked over like no UND corner I've seen in yrs.

Yes, Mackey needs to get cozy with the pine because he is just bad. Chris Hall was getting burned as well. We need someone else to step up there but that probably won't happen until next year. We couldn't shut down a pass if our life was depending on it yesterday.

The D line and LB's played decent, or at least better than the last two weeks. We still need to learn how to tackle, aka a basic fundamentals that we learned in junior high football. Although, they deserve the benefit of the doubt because Bauman is the best they will see the entire year, hands down. When he was out the second quarter we owned them.

Play calling- I always said give Muss a chance now that he is through the transition...but I cannot see this guy being able to manage a game from kickoff until the final whistle. His judgement is questionable at best. He should be an OC, not HC.

The upside- We finally have an offense. Midcos production of the game was pretty good and Big Sky tv was pretty clear! sad when tv production is an upside

[Let'sGoHawks!]

I just re watched some of the game. I stand by my comment to Fire Mussman, well sort of. Perhaps an assistant or two needs firing, but SOMEONE needs to go, there are some major problems right now.

A few thoughts:

What was with UND calling timeouts at the end of the first half when they were inside the 30 yd line? Run that clock down so NAU doesn't get it back, make THEM use THEIR timeouts at least!

The 3rd and 1 call in the 4th quarter. If you are gonna throw it, you have to be ready to go for it on 4th and 1 and run for the first down, not run the punting team out there! Sutton was getting chunks of yardage, give him the ball and extend the drive. Our best defense was having our offense on the field.

The savage hit on Brayden Hanson was a helmet to helmet shot that should have been flagged, UND would have kept the ball.

I think UND has the talent, or close to the talent that some of these other teams have. I see motivation issues and odd coaching calls. And I am sick of it.

[Let'sGoHawks!]

Yes, Mackey needs to get cozy with the pine because he is just bad. Chris Hall was getting burned as well. We need someone else to step up there but that probably won't happen until next year. We couldn't shut down a pass if our life was depending on it yesterday.

The D line and LB's played decent, or at least better than the last two weeks. We still need to learn how to tackle, aka a basic fundamentals that we learned in junior high football. Although, they deserve the benefit of the doubt because Bauman is the best they will see the entire year, hands down. When he was out the second quarter we owned them.

Play calling- I always said give Muss a chance now that he is through the transition...but I cannot see this guy being able to manage a game from kickoff until the final whistle. His judgement is questionable at best. He should be an OC, not HC.

The upside- We finally have an offense. Midcos production of the game was pretty good and Big Sky tv was pretty clear! sad when tv production is an upside

I think you hit it on the head here. You don't ever feel like he is watching the same game the rest of us are. We need a GAMEDAY coach who can react accordingly. He might have a great plan going into the game, but there isn't any on the fly stuff.

[SiouxVolley]

? How is this even relevant? Is there a losing team in the country that couldn't make that claim? I'm certain we could look at box scores from every game in the nation Saturday and if we take away 1 key person from 1 team, the results could have been different.

Ahem. Perhaps you didn't even notice he Bauman was out with some type of injury in the 2nd quarter. When Bauman was out, the NAU offens was not as versatile, allowing the defense to key more on passing, and consequently, UND madea move up.

The idea of Bauman being out of the game was real, not hypothetical.

[Shawn-O]

So with a healthy Bauman for 60 minutes they would have lit UND up for 50+ pts and six bills of offense? This defense is atrocious, a 99 yard drive given up, at the most important juncture of the game, and they made it look easy.

[fightingsioux4life]

Ahem. Perhaps you didn't even notice he Bauman was out with some type of injury in the 2nd quarter. When Bauman was out, the NAU offens was not as versatile, allowing the defense to key more on passing, and consequently, UND madea move up.

The idea of Bauman being out of the game was real, not hypothetical.

Ahem.....I think NAU would have still won with the passing game without Bauman. Our defense is THAT bad.

[FSSD]

They are both good backs....in the eye test, having seen both I would take Bauman but I will say Poly is the better team.

I agree with this.. Bauman is a very good running back. Everyone is keying on stopping him. Poly might be the better team due to it's defense. Both are very good teams and being in the Big Sky is fun. I do like seeing the Great West teams stepping up and playing well in conference. I do think the traditional Big Sky schools are surprised a bit by the compete level of the Great West teams.

[SiouxVolley]

So with a healthy Bauman for 60 minutes they would have lit UND up for 50+ pts and six bills of offense? This defense is atrocious, a 99 yard drive given up, at the most important juncture of the game, and they made it look easy.

No. With a healthy Bauman for the full game, NAU would have scored at least 60. When he was out, that is when NAU punted and settled for a FG. NAU blasted through Montana too in Missoula.

Not saying the UND defense is good, but it was much better with Bauman out. Still say the LB corps is the primary weakness, so it lacks playmakers. Hendrickson lasy year was the glue that kept the UND defense together - now it has no standup LB.