UND @ Montana State

[siouxfan512]

There is no doubt this will be a challenging game, especially being on the road. Mt St. is coming off of a win over D2 Western Oregon; though they won 55-0!  Our defense needs to keep doing what they are doing, but our offense needs to help them out a bit. Consistent drives that are longer than a 3 and out. Gotta get some scoring going, and it gotta let the defense get some rest during the game.

I’m not huge on game comparisons, because too often you see team1 beat team 2; team 2 beat team 3, and team 3 beat team 1, because of team style, position matchups etc. However, Montana St. has 1 loss on the year (@ Idaho 17-20). Idaho has in turn gotten smoked by Washington and Washington St (Who lost to E. Wash 45.42)

I see Mt St. as being a capable team this year, but nowhere in the neighborhood of MT or E. Wash. I do have to eat some crow for my thoughts on E. Wash. I really did not expect them to be as good as they appear to be this year; but wins over Wash St. and UNI, and almost beating NDSU; I’d say they’ll be fine (then again, conference play can do some funny things).

Unfortunately, UND goes into this contest with a lot of question marks, just as we did going into the USD game. Yes, we beat USD, but certainly not without a ton of drama. That 2^nd quarter was plain ugly. On a positive note, this team should have learned that they are never out of a game, and are capable of fighting back. Great effort from that aspect.

Studs needs to put together a full game. Rudolph needs to involve the TEs more, when he does this, it generally works well. Not sure why he moves away from it. O-Line still has a lot of work; so all the criticism can’t fall on Studs or even Rudolph for that matter. Santiago is Santiago, but I’m still waiting for him to hit that 60-80 yard home run ball; again it helps when the O-line give you a hole.

Even with the ugly parts of last week’s game, the offense has improved each week. Which does bode well for UND; they just need to keep improving and cleaning some things up. I said it after SBU, I said it after BGSU, and I’ll say it again …. Don’t give up on this team. If we can steal a road win here and come home 2-2 to play Cal-Poly, we will be on our way to righting the ship.

 

Mt St 27, UND 37 Go Sioux!

[homer]

8 minutes ago, siouxfan512 said:

There is no doubt this will be a challenging game, especially being on the road. Mt St. is coming off of a win over D2 Western Oregon; though they won 55-0!  Our defense needs to keep doing what they are doing, but our offense needs to help them out a bit. Consistent drives that are longer than a 3 and out. Gotta get some scoring going, and it gotta let the defense get some rest during the game.

I’m not huge on game comparisons, because too often you see team1 beat team 2; team 2 beat team 3, and team 3 beat team 1, because of team style, position matchups etc. However, Montana St. has 1 loss on the year (@ Idaho 17-20). Idaho has in turn gotten smoked by Washington and Washington St (Who lost to E. Wash 45.42)

I see Mt St. as being a capable team this year, but nowhere in the neighborhood of MT or E. Wash. I do have to eat some crow for my thoughts on E. Wash. I really did not expect them to be as good as they appear to be this year; but wins over Wash St. and UNI, and almost beating NDSU; I’d say they’ll be fine (then again, conference play can do some funny things).

Unfortunately, UND goes into this contest with a lot of question marks, just as we did going into the USD game. Yes, we beat USD, but certainly not without a ton of drama. That 2^nd quarter was plain ugly. On a positive note, this team should have learned that they are never out of a game, and are capable of fighting back. Great effort from that aspect.

Studs needs to put together a full game. Rudolph needs to involve the TEs more, when he does this, it generally works well. Not sure why he moves away from it. O-Line still has a lot of work; so all the criticism can’t fall on Studs or even Rudolph for that matter. Santiago is Santiago, but I’m still waiting for him to hit that 60-80 yard home run ball; again it helps when the O-line give you a hole.

Even with the ugly parts of last week’s game, the offense has improved each week. Which does bode well for UND; they just need to keep improving and cleaning some things up. I said it after SBU, I said it after BGSU, and I’ll say it again …. Don’t give up on this team. If we can steal a road win here and come home 2-2 to play Sacramento St. team, we will be on our way to righting the ship.

 

Mt St 27, UND 37 Go Sioux!

We come home to play Cal Poly but you're point still stands.  It would be big to get back to .500.  Won't be easy on the road. 

[siouxfan512]

6 minutes ago, homer said:

We come home to play Cal Poly but you're point still stands.  It would be big to get back to .500.  Won't be easy on the road. 

Fixed .... my bad, Sac St. is the next game for Mt St. after they play us. You are correct about Poly, I was looking at the wrong schedule.

Poly is a game I would like to see us replicate from last season. That was a beat down.

[Longtime fan]

Mont st sounds improved on d, Rudolph cannot dig us hole early in this game.  Road game,  big sky opener and a chance  to get to .500, we need to grab the lead and sustain drives. Mont st will be expecting run plays on 1st and 2nd downs and will have 8 men on the line, this is where Rudolph needs to break comfort zone.  If Rudolph calls a different game and the execution is there I really like our chances. The d will be fine if they are given a chance to rest.  Und 24- 17 

[Oxbow6]

Rudolph can't be the anchor around the neck of this offense in the first half anymore.  With that said if he opens up the playbook early on Studs can't make a mess of things when given opportunities either.

[Longtime fan]

25 minutes ago, Oxbow6 said:

Rudolph can't be the anchor around the neck of this offense in the first half anymore.  With that said if he opens up the playbook early on Studs can't make a mess of things when given opportunities either.

I agree to a certain extent. But Rudolph calls the plays so i put 90% on him.   When they stack 8 in the box and continues to send santiago up the middle he deserves the criticism.  If the run was working that would be one thing but for the first 3 games it hasn't.  The new inexperienced line can take blame but Rudolph needs to know how not to make is so predictable.  How about using Studsrud strengths and roll him out, this is where is at his best.  Do that on a first down as well, not only on 3rd. Studsrud is not a pocket qb. And use the damn TEs occasionally.  

[Boogieman]

33 minutes ago, Longtime fan said:

And use the damn TEs occasionally

THIS!

[F'n Hawks]

Use the TEs, also get studs out of the pocket, he throws well on the run.

[bincitysioux]

I sure would  like to see the Hawks curb-stomp these pussycats from Bozo........

[geaux_sioux]

8 minutes ago, bincitysioux said:

I sure would  like to see the Hawks curb-stomp these pussycats from Bozo........

 

[Nodak78]

I believe this will be a close game.  we can't dig a hole with penalties or TO's  or it maybe tough to get back in the game.  The Bobcats have more interceptions than we do.  They also play 2 QB's.  it is possible both may be in the game at the same time.  Just more to keep an eye on.

[geaux_sioux]

Article about not sucking in the first half

http://www.grandforksherald.com/sports/4118558-college-football-und-looking-faster-start

[ericpnelson]

13 hours ago, geaux_sioux said:

Article about not sucking in the first half

http://www.grandforksherald.com/sports/4118558-college-football-und-looking-faster-start

Do you have any ideas for the slow starts? Not opening up the playbook; lack of urgency, etc.. I didn't get to see the game this week, but I commented that I thought it was a huge issue after the first two weeks. 

As far as play calling (& again, I missed USD), I've noticed that our better runs seem to come in between the tackles, which to my recollection is a different than the Santiago home runs last year (particularly against MSU). Does Keaton need a few plays to get on target too? The first few drives in the first 2 games have had less accuracy than I've come to expect of him.

[siouxfan512]

http://skylinesportsmt.com/first-look-north-dakota-comes-to-bozeman-for-big-sky-opener/#more-20084

[homer]

18 minutes ago, ericpnelson said:

Do you have any ideas for the slow starts? Not opening up the playbook; lack of urgency, etc.. I didn't get to see the game this week, but I commented that I thought it was a huge issue after the first two weeks. 

As far as play calling (& again, I missed USD), I've noticed that our better runs seem to come in between the tackles, which to my recollection is a different than the Santiago home runs last year (particularly against MSU). Does Keaton need a few plays to get on target too? The first few drives in the first 2 games have had less accuracy than I've come to expect of him.

Faster tempo on offense.  Let's work to get a lead first and than slow the pace of a game.  Our offense has looked decent when moving having a little urgency to it this season. 

[KWCAT]

12 minutes ago, siouxfan512 said:

http://skylinesportsmt.com/first-look-north-dakota-comes-to-bozeman-for-big-sky-opener/#more-20084

Here's another one.

http://skylinesportsmt.com/montana-state-press-conference-und-week-head-coach-jeff-choate/

Jeff Choate talks quite a bit about your players here.

[Oxbow6]

38 minutes ago, homer said:

Faster tempo on offense.  Let's work to get a lead first and than slow the pace of a game.  Our offense has looked decent when moving having a little urgency to it this season. 

This...^^^

To say the game plan to start games is predictable is an understatement.  

[MoSiouxFan]

No notable changes on the two-deep, except that Cieslak and Greer or both back, which is a big help on the DLine.  Looks like Reyes is good to go, too.  Nevermann and Engwall listed as questionable and Seibel still out. 

[geaux_sioux]

2 hours ago, ericpnelson said:

Do you have any ideas for the slow starts? Not opening up the playbook; lack of urgency, etc.. I didn't get to see the game this week, but I commented that I thought it was a huge issue after the first two weeks. 

As far as play calling (& again, I missed USD), I've noticed that our better runs seem to come in between the tackles, which to my recollection is a different than the Santiago home runs last year (particularly against MSU). Does Keaton need a few plays to get on target too? The first few drives in the first 2 games have had less accuracy than I've come to expect of him.

I had a conversation at the game with a parent of a player about the slow starts.  I guesses that it could have something to do with Bubbas demeanor. I'm not sure he's the type of coach, like my HS coach Berg, who could light an absolute inferno under your ass and get your ready to run through a brick wall head first from the first whistle. If that is true that means the coordinators or captains need to fill that void. There is always someone who can get up and command attention and light that fire. Mussman, I know I know, was really good at it some games. Other games not so much. I also think that the tempo/culture of the offense makes the guys a little flat. It's great if we can get 5 yards a pop on the ground and impose our will. That will get the team fired up. But if we're not capable of that this year we need to try something different, kinda like that long pass on the first play against USD. Unfortunately that was a one play deal and that mo died out real quick.  There is no definite answer because multiple things could work for different reasons. 

[Fetch]

Looks to me that Bubba has surrounded himself with pretty good coaches - who are really working hard on the sidelines 

[geaux_sioux]

3 minutes ago, Fetch said:

Looks to me that Bubba has surrounded himself with pretty good coaches - who are really working hard on the sidelines 

Something needs to happen in the locker room before the game to fire them up though. 

[UNDfan2013]

I agree.  I have not seen Bubba firing up the players....unless he is yelling at them (and not in the way to fire them up).  The other coaches though for the most part do a good job of intensity and motivation.  Captains definitely need to fill this role to fire up the players. 

I believe that Freud was one of the first out as the players stormed the field in the OT win jumping into the pile. 

[77iceman]

Coaches, players...watching any interview with any of them could put a person to sleep.  This is just not an energetic bunch (that we ever get to see, anyway).

i could see how this team probably wouldn't liven up until they are punched in the face at least twice.  It seems they kind play that way come game time...they react to pressure instead of causing pressure.

yes?

[Longtime fan]

Alex cloyd should be a massive difference maker from this point forward.  If he brings the same intensity that he brought to practice he will be opening holes and hopefully catching many balls.  Watching Mathewson the first three games he has missed a ton of blocks that resulted in either a sack or negative rush yards. With that massive bandage on his arm his receiving skills simply are not there.  Alex be an upgrade.  Time to use the TEs Rudolph ! He is my sleeper against mont st. 

[Big Green]

I guess I have a different personality.  When I hear Bubba speak, I feel like I could run through a wall for him.  Give me a coach that not speaks with pride and passion every time over a guy the jumps up and down screaming.

Any way’s like said before this is where the other coaches and caption need to pick up the slack.