Gameday vs USD

[Midwestern Hawk]

Saturday was as bad a game as UND could play even with depleted roster and I think we will find that USD, with very good team, played almost a perfect game.  It happens like this once in awhile.  A good team plays lights out and another good team forgets to show up.  

IMO It happened yesterday with Dallas and Denver and last seasons CFP with Clemson and Ohio State.  One team gets the early mo and the other team never really recovers.

i hope we get a second game this year in Vermillion and Schmidt has the horses to stop up the middle and get pressure home on Streveler.  Would be a different game.

[OgieOgilthorpe]

1 hour ago, geaux_sioux said:

9/10 with our roster from Saturday? Yea. Get all the guys back who have non season ending injuries and I say hell no.

100% healthy UND I say 6-4 USD. 

Their D line were miles above our O line in all aspects. And their O line controlled our D line very handily...which is scary because that is UND's strongest position group IMO. 

[BigGame]

6 hours ago, Midwestern Hawk said:

At USD we came out really flat for some reason, offense was horrible, the defense was horrible, and every time something good happened we would shot ourselves in the foot with a penalty.   Those are all things that can and I am confident will be rectified come Saturday.  I am worried about the injuries at OL and ILB.   USD was able to gash us up the middle seemingly at will on Saturday.  The reality is that Saturday we had a converted 205lb OLB, a 195 lb RFR walk-on, an FBS drop-down running back, and a true walk-on soph in playing ILB.  I  think that is a tall order even for Schmidt to work with in a weeks time.  I have no idea if and when Rodgers or Hunt or Larson will be back. When they are back, neither Hunt nor Larson have ever played a down of college football and a year ago Larson was playing high school football. 

We need to patch together the best run blocking line on Saturday, get an early lead and then control the clock for 35-40 minutes.  If we do that we will win.  If the defense is out on the field more than 30 minutes it will be really tough to win.

I actually agree the deck is stacked against him as far the ILB's are concerned.  For the most part I am completely on board with how Schmidt calls the game with a few exceptions on certain plays but I doubt you could ever be in agreement with a play caller all of the time.  That being said UND is a defensive team first by Bubba's philosophy and it isn't a secret  that is where the bulk of the football talent is.  Generally Schmidt has a good amount of talent to work with and I defense first team can't play like that.  

[geaux_sioux]

1 hour ago, gundy1124 said:

At game speed I thought we knocked Strevler out on the sideline.  But, he got up and didn't miss a beat.  Someone more tech savvy than me can probably find the play.  

Do you know which quarter it was?

[Fry Bread]

Possible four man front? Smaller, speedier defensive ends converted to linebackers positions? Running back converted to linebacker? Would this be possible to make it threw the year?

[77iceman]

43 minutes ago, geaux_sioux said:

Do you know which quarter it was?

I don't know which quarter, but I know that the hit was delivered by an undersized ILB that used to be an OLB . . . that used to be a receiver . . . that used to be a safety.

[geaux_sioux]

2 hours ago, gundy1124 said:

At game speed I thought we knocked Strevler out on the sideline.  But, he got up and didn't miss a beat.  Someone more tech savvy than me can probably find the play.  

Found it

[geaux_sioux]

6 minutes ago, 77iceman said:

I don't know which quarter, but I know that the hit was delivered by an undersized ILB that used to be an OLB . . . that used to be a receiver . . . that used to be a safety.

It was actually by Tamas

[77iceman]

Ah yes!  18!!  That kid likes to lower the shoulder.  He's the guy that leveled that Utah receiver, as well correct?

[SiouxVolley]

UND's shutout over Mo St was a freakish kind of occurrence, as UND seemed to get all the game breaks at the right time.  Mo St fumbling at our 1/2 yard line is one example.

But the opposite dynamic seemed to occur at the Dakota Dome, as any break suddenly did not go UND's way.  The interception called back is merely one example.  It was a freakish game from a probability standpoint as we were totally dominated score wise just like we totally dominated Mo St score wise.  Not saying the results would be any different, but both games should have been closer.

The depth of the OL and ILB are  major concern as well as our mental game.  Not trying to minimize the problems that were exposed.  But the results of a single game are not representative of either teams overall season.  That was true last year also as there was no rabbit feet appeared  against Stony Brook or Bowling Green, but fate was kind to us the rest of the season.

[geaux_sioux]

10 minutes ago, 77iceman said:

Ah yes!  18!!  That kid likes to lower the shoulder.  He's the guy that leveled that Utah receiver, as well correct?

https://twitter.com/BarstoolUND/status/906166796713164800

 

 

[geaux_sioux]

52 minutes ago, Fry Bread said:

Possible four man front? Smaller, speedier defensive ends converted to linebackers positions? Running back converted to linebacker? Would this be possible to make it threw the year?

They honestly might want to give it a go right now. Our LBs are too small to take on blockers right now. Jake should be our smallest LB and he's one of our biggest right now.

[bang]

2 hours ago, geaux_sioux said:

Found it

Yikes

[siouxfan512]

The USD offense didn't shock me that much. The USD defense, combined with how bad our offense was, surprised the heck out of me.

[RavenousUte]

On 9/16/2017 at 2:28 PM, geaux_sioux said:

Either you're in or you're in the way.

Utah has this motto in their locker room: YOU'RE EITHER ALL IN  OR IN THE WAY

[RavenousUte]

On 9/17/2017 at 9:43 AM, UND-FB-FAN said:

Beyond disappointing. I'm still in utter shock. This is the kind of performance where someone - either player or coach - loses a job, if you want UND football to be taken seriously. To justify yesterday's loss is completely pointless. UND didn't show up (to the point of the coaches and/or players giving up and not caring) and something MUST BE CHANGED. Figure it out Bubba. This was South Dakota - we handled a PAC-12 Utah far better ... 

Lets get to the Montana State game and get this bad taste out of our mouth. This is a desperate must-win and Bubba needs to get his squad right, fast. 

Sounds like a totally flat performance... maybe overconfidence??  Either way that's on the coaches.  I've said you guy gave us a good game.  Your O-line did decent against 3 future NFL draftees.  And though Studs wasn't able to stay in the pocket he extended every passing play and was only sacked once.  No way you guys should have had that bad a game as you had against USD if you played with the same intensity as you did at Utah.  

Lines win games at every level.  Maybe you should be playing a 4-3 defense.  Might have to get creative recruiting.  I know you fans do all you can financially.  Maybe, start a program volunteer tutoring high school kids while wearing UND gear.  i mean you can't actively recruit them, but you can build some loyalty and in the mean time help some kids get into college.

Honestly, North Dakota is a hard state to recruit... same with Montana and Wyoming... harsh winters make it hard to get out of state students. 750,000 for the whole state population and you are competing with NDSU for in state commits.  Trust me,  Utah is probably the third hardest school to recruit to in the Pac-12... only Oregon State and Washington State have it worse.

[Longtime fan]

19 hours ago, OgieOgilthorpe said:

You have to give them a lot of credit because they're obviously a solid team all around and they were far better prepared on Saturday than UND was. But keep in mind, that when a game snowballs like that the team on top usually appears to be far superior to what they actually are. It would be deceiving to compare their scores from here on out.

I see USD with a playoff spot, but they'll drop a game or two in their conference. I dread the day when NDSU plays them because I think a team like NDSU will match up well with them and will probably beat them at their own game. But with their style I also can see them beating teams like SDSU and JMU. And along those lines I see a team like NDSU losing to teams like SDSU and JMU this season. That's what makes football so fun.

We saw USD at their best, and we saw UND at their worst. If UND and USD played 10 times I still have USD winning 9 times, but the worst score of the 9 would be 45-7. 

Any team can definitely be beat on any given day but jmu is a machine right now.  Imo, it would take jmu to completely fail on all levels and the opposing team to be at the top of their game to beat them. Barring injury/injuries jmu breezes to their second consecutive championship. USD can compete with any other team. 

[fightingsioux4life]

18 hours ago, dlsiouxfan said:

This game and the season so far reminds me a lot of the 2002 team unfortunately.   That team came in with extremely high expectations, had key injuries early that made us extremely young at LB and DB, and also to be frank had an unfocused offseason after the national championship, and approached too many games with an attitude that we just had to show up to win.  We were beat down at home by Central Washington early in the season, didn't beat anyone who was any good (UNC, UNO) but did beat NDSU, SDSU, and USD who were all terrible that season.  We also lost games to Mankato and Augustana who were far less talented than us. We finished at 5-6 and the upcoming offseason the coaches pushed us as hard as any offseason during my career there.  It was the type of offseason that could have made or broken the program.  Fortunately, it re-focused the team and we were playing for a national championship again in 2003.  

I hope I'm wrong on this but there are just too many similarities right now.

Very good analysis and comparison.

I think one of the silver linings of having so many injuries is that your younger guys get a lot of valuable game experience, which is something you cannot replicate in practice. That could bode well for us in the next couple of years. Not that I am giving up on this season yet.

[OgieOgilthorpe]

1 minute ago, fightingsioux4life said:

Very good analysis and comparison.

I think one of the silver linings of having so many injuries is that your younger guys get a lot of valuable game experience, which is something you cannot replicate in practice. That could bode well for us in the next couple of years. Not that I am giving up on this season yet.

We need to get some guys healthy. Along with that, I expect the team to have the right mind set for every game the rest of the season after getting embarrassed like that. If both of those happen sooner than later, I expect to never see that same type of game from UND the rest of the season. At least on the losing end of it! 

[Yote 53]

15 hours ago, geaux_sioux said:

Found it

You realize that's a penalty.  Should have been 15 yards and a game ejection for making contact with the head.  Strev was sliding and gave himself up on the play.  Jeez.  But like the Energizer Bunny Strev popped up and kept going & going.

Austin Simmons is the backup and last year I thought he was actually better than Strev.  So I think the team would be in good hands if Strev went down.

[tnt]

18 hours ago, dlsiouxfan said:

This game and the season so far reminds me a lot of the 2002 team unfortunately.   That team came in with extremely high expectations, had key injuries early that made us extremely young at LB and DB, and also to be frank had an unfocused offseason after the national championship, and approached too many games with an attitude that we just had to show up to win.  We were beat down at home by Central Washington early in the season, didn't beat anyone who was any good (UNC, UNO) but did beat NDSU, SDSU, and USD who were all terrible that season.  We also lost games to Mankato and Augustana who were far less talented than us. We finished at 5-6 and the upcoming offseason the coaches pushed us as hard as any offseason during my career there.  It was the type of offseason that could have made or broken the program.  Fortunately, it re-focused the team and we were playing for a national championship again in 2003.  

I hope I'm wrong on this but there are just too many similarities right now.

The way the players talked after the game about maybe that is what they needed, has me wonder if they have that drive necessary to capture the ultimate prize.  They were back talking about National Championships yesterday.  Championships?  Championships?    While I like the confidence, the bluster needs to be backed up.  They have seen the path to winning championships for many years by the Bison, and that goes through home field advantage.  In order to get that home field advantage, you can't have weeks like last week.   If anything, this goes to show how impressive the Bison run has been.  If anyone should have been overconfident and eventually lose to some very good opponents, it is the Bison.  Having to play those schools year after year and seldom missing a beat is crazy, especially when you look at the mind of a college student.  Let's get back on track and have the mindset of a champion every week from here on out. 

[UNDBIZ]

9 minutes ago, Yote 53 said:

You realize that's a penalty.  Should have been 15 yards and a game ejection for making contact with the head.  Strev was sliding and gave himself up on the play.  Jeez.  But like the Energizer Bunny Strev popped up and kept going & going.

Austin Simmons is the backup and last year I thought he was actually better than Strev.  So I think the team would be in good hands if Strev went down.

Could that have been called?  Yes.

Could Stewart have pulled up after seeing Streveler slide?  Probably not, he had already launched and would've hit him on the hip and Strev not gone down.

[geaux_sioux]

11 minutes ago, Yote 53 said:

You realize that's a penalty.  Should have been 15 yards and a game ejection for making contact with the head.  Strev was sliding and gave himself up on the play.  Jeez.  But like the Energizer Bunny Strev popped up and kept going & going.

Austin Simmons is the backup and last year I thought he was actually better than Strev.  So I think the team would be in good hands if Strev went down.

The level of his head changes right before impact. At full speed there is only so much you can ask a defender to do. Hit to the head? Obviously. Defenseless player? Nope. Penalty? Depends on the ref. Sliding? He hadn't even touched the ground yet. It's easy to nitpick replays but at full speed there is no way they could claim intent and kick Tamas out for this hit. I don't like hits to the head at all but this one is just as much on Streveler as it is on the defender. 

[gundy1124]

15 minutes ago, Yote 53 said:

You realize that's a penalty.  Should have been 15 yards and a game ejection for making contact with the head.  Strev was sliding and gave himself up on the play.  Jeez.  But like the Energizer Bunny Strev popped up and kept going & going.

Austin Simmons is the backup and last year I thought he was actually better than Strev.  So I think the team would be in good hands if Strev went down.

Wrong, slide was too late, good non-call.  Strev, tough as nails.  I like the kid for his toughness and feel for the game.

[geaux_sioux]

18 minutes ago, Yote 53 said:

You realize that's a penalty.  Should have been 15 yards and a game ejection for making contact with the head.  Strev was sliding and gave himself up on the play.  Jeez.  But like the Energizer Bunny Strev popped up and kept going & going.

Austin Simmons is the backup and last year I thought he was actually better than Strev.  So I think the team would be in good hands if Strev went down.

Did they even perform concussion protocol on him? Kinda like that hit from the UNI guy which was a legit plain as day targeting they kept him in the game after getting smoked in the head. I have an issue with that. He was knocked out briefly on both plays and they kept him in there. That's a problem. Check on him and if he's fine put him back in.