UND at USD

[fightingsioux4life]

Next week will be an important measuring stick for this team. It will be on Midco Sports Network, so most of us will be able to watch it. If we can perform in that environment, we'll be the odds on favorite to win the Big Sky Conference again and probably get a top 8 seed in the FCS playoffs. A 2-1 non-conference record will put us in good position to get a playoff spot. A 1-2 record puts us behind the eight ball before the conference schedule even starts. A win next week is huge for our season.

Early Prediction:

UND 28

USD 21

[siouxfan512]

34-24 good guys. Game will look even tighter. Streveler will continue to be impressive but UND defense wins the turnover and time of possession game. Rudolph NEEDS to utilize the passing game!

[SWSiouxMN]

Being that this will return to a long-standing rivalry, and we can't use Sitting Bull anymore, the two schools can come together to create another trophy sometime soon.

Right now, expect this to be high scoring and an intense environment.  UND does enough to get the job done.

[UNDMOORHEAD]

UND 20

USD 17

Looking for the D to carry us to victory in a hard fought game.

[southpaw]

The game can also be streamed on ESPN3.com

[fightingsioux4life]

1 hour ago, siouxfan512 said:

34-24 good guys. Game will look even tighter. Streveler will continue to be impressive but UND defense wins the turnover and time of possession game. Rudolph NEEDS to utilize the passing game!

I thought he utilized it pretty well yesterday. The run-pass yardage was pretty balanced.

[Longtime fan]

1 hour ago, fightingsioux4life said:

I thought he utilized it pretty well yesterday. The run-pass yardage was pretty balanced.

UNDs talent on offense won it. Namely Brady.  Brady literally ran through people yesterday. Unbelievable runs from that young man. That wasn't Rudolph that's all Brady!! If Brady wasn't playing this would of been a closer game then what it was.  Nobody can arm tackle him ....he was a man on a mission! Santiago was sent up the same holes.....he didn't fair well.  JJ had one beautiful run but not much else on his other 9 carries. They stacked the box pretty hard.....hmmmm weird.  Missouri st, with all due respect, is really bad! Bad!  Very likely they will not win a game this year.  When it's apples to apples talent Rudolph will lose. Missouri st isnt an apple  

 

USDs D is getting better but it's the offense that makes them go.  UND should do ok Saturday offensively, even with the massive road block that is Rudolph.  Their is a football buzz going on in vermillion...and they want revenge from last years loss.  Home crowd should be amped!!  NEED TO CONTAIN STREVELER!!! Hell of an athlete and very slippery.  Big boy.  UNDs D will have its hands full  

Ive given up with saying UND needs to use their TEs because that will never happen. Very difficult to fit them in the offensive scheme I guess.  So here's to Santiago up the middle first play. 

Wonder if it would be extremely difficult to send Santiago out wide with MOOSE in the backfield to start a game.  I would assume it would be.  But come out with a three wr set with wanzek on one side and izzy and Santiago on the other side.  USD would sh&$ their pants.  have Keaton stare/look at Santiago for a screen toss only to find wanzek with all green around him on the opposite side. If it worked ...great!!! If it didn't ....well maybe at least USD would have to loosen a tad on stacking the line.  Then MOOSE TIME!!!!

[LeaveNoDoubt]

UND 27

USD 17

Whos all making the trip down? We have a bus of about 12 going! 

[CMSioux]

I asked around at tailgating and there seems to be plenty making the trip. I will be. It appears that the only option for visitor tailgating is to "Tailgate behind your car" which eliminates putting up a canopy. 

 

http://www.goyotes.com/news/2016/9/7/football-game-day-parking-information.aspx

[homer]

47 minutes ago, Longtime fan said:

UNDs talent on offense won it. Namely Brady.  Brady literally ran through people yesterday. Unbelievable runs from that young man. That wasn't Rudolph that's all Brady!! If Brady wasn't playing this would of been a closer game then what it was.  Nobody can arm tackle him ....he was a man on a mission! Santiago was sent up the same holes.....he didn't fair well.  JJ had one beautiful run but not much else on his other 9 carries. They stacked the box pretty hard.....hmmmm weird.  Missouri st, with all due respect, is really bad! Bad!  Very likely they will not win a game this year.  When it's apples to apples talent Rudolph will lose. Missouri st isnt an apple  

 

USDs D is getting better but it's the offense that makes them go.  UND should do ok Saturday offensively, even with the massive road block that is Rudolph.  Their is a football buzz going on in vermillion...and they want revenge from last years loss.  Home crowd should be amped!!  NEED TO CONTAIN STREVELER!!! Hell of an athlete and very slippery.  Big boy.  UNDs D will have its hands full  

Ive given up with saying UND needs to use their TEs because that will never happen. Very difficult to fit them in the offensive scheme I guess.  So here's to Santiago up the middle first play. 

Wonder if it would be extremely difficult to send Santiago out wide with MOOSE in the backfield to start a game.  I would assume it would be.  But come out with a three wr set with wanzek on one side and izzy and Santiago on the other side.  USD would sh&$ their pants.  have Keaton stare/look at Santiago for a screen toss only to find wanzek with all green around him on the opposite side. If it worked ...great!!! If it didn't ....well maybe at least USD would have to loosen a tad on stacking the line.  Then MOOSE TIME!!!!

Tough to target the TEs more yesterday when Wanzik was having his at will.  

That said, they threw at them a number of times.  More yesterday than I can remember all of last season. 

[fightingsioux4life]

49 minutes ago, Longtime fan said:

UNDs talent on offense won it. Namely Brady.  Brady literally ran through people yesterday. Unbelievable runs from that young man. That wasn't Rudolph that's all Brady!! If Brady wasn't playing this would of been a closer game then what it was.  Nobody can arm tackle him ....he was a man on a mission! Santiago was sent up the same holes.....he didn't fair well.  JJ had one beautiful run but not much else on his other 9 carries. They stacked the box pretty hard.....hmmmm weird.  Missouri st, with all due respect, is really bad! Bad!  Very likely they will not win a game this year.  When it's apples to apples talent Rudolph will lose. Missouri st isnt an apple

He called some pass plays on first and second down; he didn't do that last year. He has some talent to work with now. When he first got here, there was nothing.

[siouxfan512]

1 hour ago, fightingsioux4life said:

I thought he utilized it pretty well yesterday. The run-pass yardage was pretty balanced.

Wasn't saying he did a poor job yesterday. I'm saying he needs to continue to do it. Should have could have done more against Utah. Has way more time tools this year, need to keep using them.

[Teeder11]

I've been watching this recurring debate for a while now and have been biting my tongue trying not to judge too quickly. Well, here goes: Me thinks more and more that Rudolph is turning into a bit of a scapegoat for Bubba and Schmidt as criticism of the latter two has become somewhat sacrilege because of all that they have legitimately done for the program.  I CAN'T STRESS THIS STRONGLY ENOUGH -- I AM NOT SAYING SOME OF THE CRITICISMS of the OC ARE NOT VALID but I also think nothing is as bad or good as the fan boys make them out to be as we break our ankles jumping on and off the bandwagon in game threads ( Ok, maybe the J.J. run was that good and more! )

 Just spit balling here, but Rudy is the most "outsider" of the three top coaches and has the fewest good ol' boy connections in town and has absolutely no connection to UND's glory years of the 1990s and early 2000s.  So when things click, it's Bubba's doing, when things don't it's Rudy's fault...or the players' talents covered up for any ineptness. My hunch is their are hundreds of programs across the nation where this very same dynamic is playing out on fan message boards.

So my question is what is the deciding factor for coordinators on good teams?  Are they inherently good, or is it their players' talents that make them good coordinators or cover up for them if they are deemed "clueless"? Or is it an arm-chair-you-know-it when-you-see-it-gut-feel kind of thing?  

Some fans seem to focus on the good and dismiss the bad as flukes... others choose to magnify the bad and discount the good when it comes to our offensive series. For the former, it's as if they see what's going on as more of a team effort with more input and dynamics involved than just Rudy. They defer to UND's body of work over the past three years and see gradual improvement with some inevitable hiccups along the way. The latter seems to pin it on one guy -- who can't catch a break with them -- damned if he does and damned if doesn't.

There's just so much we don't know that is happening behind the scenes that lead our coaches to make the decisions they do. What may look like a no-brainer from the cheap seats...may not be so cut and dried when your down on the sideline wearing the head set or in the coaches' booth.

The team is currently 1-1 with games against legit Power 5 member Utah and MVFC cellar dweller Missouri State. UND was respectable against Utah on the road as evidenced by Utes' fans' biased assessments of the Fighting Hawks. UND demolished the lowly Bears of MSU at home.

Last year at this time we were 0-2 with the Yotes coming in. UND lost to Bowling Green last year by 1 point with a legit shot to win it, at a time when UND still was figuring out who they were as a team. The Yotes just beat Bowling Green by 8 points, going in with all the confidence of knowing how UND played against the Falcons last year.  They probably felt how we did going up against WYO in 2015.

Bottom line is that UND has acquitted itself quite well in the first two games of the year, with its full attention on the Yotes for this weekend. No matter how successful the team is this year  -- or not.... none of it should be pinned on one individual, IMHO.  Team game, team effort.

All that said... I love the passion that we fans have and that we try to hold our team accountable!  Go Hawks!

 

 

 

 

[Oxbow6]

Strength vs strength..........UND's D carries the day.

23-16 UND

[Midwestern Hawk]

10 minutes ago, Teeder11 said:

I've been watching this recurring debate for a while now and have been biting my tongue trying not to judge too quickly. Well, here goes: Me thinks more and more that Rudolph is turning into a bit of a scapegoat for Bubba and Schmidt as criticism of the latter two has become somewhat sacrilege because of all that they have legitimately done for the program.  I CAN'T STRESS THIS STRONGLY ENOUGH -- I AM NOT SAYING SOME OF THE CRITICISMS of the OC ARE NOT VALID but I also think nothing is as bad or good as the fan boys make them out to be as we break our ankles jumping on and off the bandwagon in game threads ( Ok, maybe the J.J. run was that good and more! )

 Just spit balling here, but Rudy is the most "outsider" of the three top coaches and has the fewest good ol' boy connections in town and has absolutely no connection to UND's glory years of the 1990s and early 2000s.  So when things click, it's Bubba's doing, when things don't it's Rudy's fault...or the players' talents covered up for any ineptness. My hunch is their are hundreds of programs across the nation where this very same dynamic is playing out on fan message boards.

So my question is what is the deciding factor for coordinators on good teams?  Are they inherently good, or is it their players' talents that make them good coordinators or cover up for them if they are deemed "clueless"? Or is it an arm-chair-you-know-it when-you-see-it-gut-feel kind of thing?  

Some fans seem to focus on the good and dismiss the bad as flukes... others choose to magnify the bad and discount the good when it comes to our offensive series. For the former, it's as if they see what's going on as more of a team effort with more input and dynamics involved than just Rudy. They defer to UND's body of work over the past three years and see gradual improvement with some inevitable hiccups along the way. The latter seems to pin it on one guy -- who can't catch a break with them -- damned if he does and damned if doesn't.

There's just so much we don't know that is happening behind the scenes that lead our coaches to make the decisions they do. What may look like a no-brainer from the cheap seats...may not be so cut and dried when your down on the sideline wearing the head set or in the coaches' booth.

The team is currently 1-1 with games against legit Power 5 member Utah and MVFC cellar dweller Missouri State. UND was respectable against Utah on the road as evidenced by Utes' fans' biased assessments of the Fighting Hawks. UND demolished the lowly Bears of MSU at home.

Last year at this time we were 0-2 with the Yotes coming in. UND lost to Bowling Green last year by 1 point with a legit shot to win it, at a time when UND still was figuring out who they were as a team. The Yotes just beat Bowling Green by 8 points, going in with all the confidence of knowing how UND played against the Falcons last year.  They probably felt how we did going up against WYO in 2015.

Bottom line is that UND has acquitted itself quite well in the first two games of the year, with its full attention on the Yotes for this weekend. No matter how successful the team is this year  -- or not.... none of it should be pinned on one individual, IMHO.  Team game, team effort.

All that said... I love the passion that we fans have and that we try to hold our team accountable!  Go Hawks!

 

 

 

 

Bubba ball is never going to be a 50/50 split.  It is about great defense, running the ball, play action passes and controlling the game.

i agree sometimes a pass can be effective on first down, but some on here envision an offense that Bubba will never run IMO.

This UND team has a chance to be really special.  Obviously they have plenty to work on, but I frankly dont understand all the criticism of the OC.

[fightingsioux4life]

16 minutes ago, Midwestern Hawk said:

Bubba ball is never going to be a 50/50 split.  It is about great defense, running the ball, play action passes and controlling the game.

i agree sometimes a pass can be effective on first down, but some on here envision an offense that Bubba will never run IMO.

Well, we had that 50/50 split yesterday and it worked pretty well. And we will need it even more against better teams if we are going to repeat as Big Sky champions.

If the run game isn't working in a particular game, you don't just stick with it for the sake of sticking with it. We have talent on that side of the ball now and we need to fully utilize it if we want to take that next step as a program. Championship-level programs generally have multifaceted offenses which cannot be stopped by putting 8 or 9 in the box the entire game and daring you to throw it on them. This team has had that problem ever since Bubba and company took over. This year, that is poised to change. I liked the game Rudolph called yesterday and we'll need that even more next week at USD.

[fightingsioux4life]

23 minutes ago, siouxfan512 said:

Wasn't saying he did a poor job yesterday. I'm saying he needs to continue to do it. Should have could have done more against Utah. Has way more time tools this year, need to keep using them.

I agree. It has to happen from now on. The run game works better when you don't have 8 or 9 in the box every single down.

[sprig]

1 hour ago, LeaveNoDoubt said:

UND 27

USD 17

Whos all making the trip down? We have a bus of about 12 going! 

The Pearsonbus service has 2 buses going, I believe, not sure of the numbers that signed up. Leaving at 7am from the Ralph, and returning after the game.

 

 

[Midwestern Hawk]

10 minutes ago, fightingsioux4life said:

Well, we had that 50/50 split yesterday and it worked pretty well. And we will need it even more against better teams if we are going to repeat as Big Sky champions.

If the run game isn't working in a particular game, you don't just stick with it for the sake of sticking with it. We have talent on that side of the ball now and we need to fully utilize it if we want to take that next step as a program. Championship-level programs generally have multifaceted offenses which cannot be stopped by putting 8 or 9 in the box the entire game and daring them to throw it on you. This team has had that problem ever since Bubba and company took over. This year, that is poised to change. I like the game Rudolph called yesterday and we'll need that even more next week at USD.

We had 45 rushes and 31 passes yesterday.  Closer than some games, but not a 50/50 split.  I thought the play calling yesterday was great.

Bubba is 10-2 over his last 12 games.

[southpaw]

43 minutes ago, Teeder11 said:

I've been watching this recurring debate for a while now and have been biting my tongue trying not to judge too quickly. Well, here goes: Me thinks more and more that Rudolph is turning into a bit of a scapegoat for Bubba and Schmidt as criticism of the latter two has become somewhat sacrilege because of all that they have legitimately done for the program.  I CAN'T STRESS THIS STRONGLY ENOUGH -- I AM NOT SAYING SOME OF THE CRITICISMS of the OC ARE NOT VALID but I also think nothing is as bad or good as the fan boys make them out to be as we break our ankles jumping on and off the bandwagon in game threads ( Ok, maybe the J.J. run was that good and more! )

 

 

 

 

That's such a great post, Mrs. Rudolph 

[AJS]

Huge early season game for both teams, a win would go a long ways for whoever comes out on top. The keys to last weekends games remain for this weeks.

• Red zone offense / defense: Need TDs & not FGs on offense and the opposite on defense. Missouri State was 5 for 5, USD 4 for 5 in scoring TDs when in the red zone. Need to hold them to FGs. UND picked it up, but you can't have two trips and only 3 points like UND started the game yesterday.
• No big plays

This will be a close one, but I got UND 24-20. 

[Sioux95]

1 hour ago, Midwestern Hawk said:

Bubba ball is never going to be a 50/50 split.  It is about great defense, running the ball, play action passes and controlling the game.

i agree sometimes a pass can be effective on first down, but some on here envision an offense that Bubba will never run IMO.

This UND team has a chance to be really special.  Obviously they have plenty to work on, but I frankly dont understand all the criticism of the OC.

We don't throw play action passes.  At least not enough to call it part of Rudy's game plan.

[southpaw]

8 minutes ago, Sioux95 said:

We don't throw play action passes.  At least not enough to call it part of Bubba's game plan.

FYP. If you don't think Bubba develops the gamelan you don't know football. 

[UNDMOORHEAD]

1 hour ago, fightingsioux4life said:

Well, we had that 50/50 split yesterday and it worked pretty well. And we will need it even more against better teams if we are going to repeat as Big Sky champions.

If the run game isn't working in a particular game, you don't just stick with it for the sake of sticking with it. We have talent on that side of the ball now and we need to fully utilize it if we want to take that next step as a program. Championship-level programs generally have multifaceted offenses which cannot be stopped by putting 8 or 9 in the box the entire game and daring you to throw it on them. This team has had that problem ever since Bubba and company took over. This year, that is poised to change. I liked the game Rudolph called yesterday and we'll need that even more next week at USD.

Yesterday was the way I envisioned the offense coming into the season. A number of different guys had touches in a number of different ways leading to positive yardage and keeping the defense guessing. It's like a pitcher whose best pitch is his plus fastball, but he also has the confidence to throw his curve, change-up, or slider in any count, in any inning, no matter how many base runners might be on. 

[Sioux94]

Keaton is really dialed in this year, he played really well again yesterday....on target with his throws, making good decisions and making plays and buying time with his legs.  I was actually ok running up the middle again on the first play against Missouri St.......setting it up for a big play over the middle on the first play when we are up against a better caliber team, and maybe that is this week. 

I predicted people would love Rudy this week against Missouri St, but then the haters would hate him again after SD (which I hope doesn't happen).   However my prediction this week is that Rudy has now seen how well Keaton is playing and  he uses the pass more at the beginning to set up the run against SD, and also gives Brady the start.  Brady deserves the start.