2019 Liabilities

[gundy1124]

Liabilites - 

1.)  D-line, missing what we all talked about since Tank/Greer at Nose and Ceilslak at DE graduated.  Engwal didn't help with his early exist from college football, but honestly missing 2-3 guys here.

2.) O-Line, just don't see any push.  A good team has that strong combo of 2 guys that can push for a 2-3 yard gain when needed.

3.) Safety - out of position, not very athletic

4.) 3-4 defense, it looks good a few games each year but it looks like complete trash quite a few times, too.  The #1 pass defense to start the year was an aberration.  We've been hanging the secondary out to dry since the  GW Bush Administration.  The game has evolved and I can't say the same for our pass defense.

5.) RB's - I would take any backfield since Shannon Burnell over this year.

6.) Strength and Conditioning/Win at all Cost........there is no prize for being too honest.  It can't be that big of a secret how other schools get the same size kids into the program, but leaving is a often a different story say between us and Juice U.

7.) Roster Management - Honestly, how do we go from strongest backfield to weakest in a year,  strong D-Line to weak D-Line the same time frame of 1 year, QB position has been JUCO U.  Our biggest get on the O-line quit after a tribal sweat lodge meeting didn't go our way.

8.) Run game - for how all other aspects of the offense have evolved in the right direction, the run game looks like an afterthought.  

9.) Kicker and punter just don't have the leg.

If 1 and 2 were better, that would help across the board, that's why they are 1 & 2. 

Conclusion - Missing about 2-3 'Stud' players and 2-3 solid 'Role' players.    And, some other items need to be looked at in Grand Forks.  I would love to help but family and business dealings of my own have me tied up.

[shep]

On 10/13/2019 at 7:25 PM, bincitysioux said:

So I have been railing on the defense all season for how it has performed in 3rd down situations.  Perusing through the season stats, we are allowing conversions on 3rd down about 36% of the time.  That would place us 6th in the Big Sky in that department if we were still officially members of the league.  Not great, not horrible, but middle of the pack (which it is looking like we would be in a lot of categories in the Big Sky this year).

But out of boredom, I dove a bit deeper into the stat sheets today, game by game.  If you define "3rd and Long" situations as 3rd and 7 or more yards, well then it is pretty ugly if you ask me.

We are now over halfway through the season, and so far North Dakota is allowing a whopping 54% conversion rate in 3rd and Long situations.  To me, that is so demoralizing to the team (and fans!) when the opponent converts in those instances.  At home games especially, the crowd gets pretty amped up and the Alerus gets loud when we stuff the RB on 1st down and then sack the QB on 2nd down.  But then the when they complete a 10 yard pass on 3rd down to reset the sticks, the whole environment just deflates.

To put that number of 54% into perspective, the UND defense is allowing a 50% conversion rate on 3rd and 2 or less!  So really opposing teams are finding themselves in a better situation against North Dakota if it is "3rd and Long" vs. "3rd and Short".  

I believe there have been at least two conversions by the opposition on 3rd and 20 or more.  That is just as bad as a turnover in my book.

The other thing that struck me while pouring over the stats and drive charts was the seemingly high number of possessions that opponents have had against us where UND didn't even force a 3rd down.  

Our defense can be fun to watch at times.  It is high risk, high reward.  Everybody loves interceptions, sacks, and TFL.  But in the end, it isn't getting the job done.  Honestly, it's been a liability since the 2016 season, and has cost North Dakota just as many games as the much maligned "Rudy-Offense".  

Schmidt's defense has given up 28 or more points in the first half of each of the last 3 games.  

Woof.........

Great job on the research.

Sad, sad results.