Playoff Time

[Siouxperman8]

2 hours ago, iramurphy said:

No he isn’t. Overall Special teams have been pretty good this year.  Good KO coverage, punt coverage with less than average kicker/punter. 2 big punt blocks for TD. He is well liked and a good recruiter. Has bright upside. 

to add to this - we downed a punt on the 1 or 2 which set up the punt block against Montana State.

Kostich is very dynamic and the players love him.   I for one hope he doesn't go anywhere.

[tnt]

42 minutes ago, siouxfan512 said:

That’s an easy critique to make, when your aren’t the one with anything at stake though.

Especially when so many fans said that we were years away from being competitive  in the MVFC, much less against the Bison.  After losing to the Bison people would have been asking why waste a year of eligibility on a hopeless cause.

[shep]

Nicholls St was shutout 17-0 by Sam Houston. Isn't that worth discussing?

[SkoHawks]

Ok so we're in...now let's make some noise.

[Wilbur]

39 minutes ago, shep said:

Nicholls St was shutout 17-0 by Sam Houston. Isn't that worth discussing?

Hah, we beat them with Touchdown Tommy!!!

I'm very interested to watch some film on the QB for this team.  Are his stats a direct reflection of playing in a poor conference or can the kid play ball?

[Wilbur]

Okay.....Nicholls is an RPO team.  QB Fourcade is a battler.  Beat Kansas in Kansas last year and he scored the game winning TD in OT.  Not great great speed, but looks like teams want to keep him in the pocket and force them to beat them with his arm.  Last game, 9 carries for -5 yards, but did enough with his arm.  It baffles me how Sam could shut them out.....maybe that game was played in a hail storm....I dunno.....

Our offense should move the ball on this defense.  They give up over 28 points per game, and gives up 4.1 yards a pop in the run game.

Upon further review, we win.....37-24.  

 

[darell1976]

Great job in making the playoffs, don’t look ahead to NDSU and focus on the first game. 

[nd1sufan]

4 hours ago, Oxbow6 said:

Holm IMO is our best player in the secondary.  If he's healthy and HE opts out of playing vs NDSU.....in a playoff game......to not use a year of eligiblity that's on him. 

Isn't that the type of game the recruits were sold on in playing in and turning this program around?

NDSU scores at least 40 against UND with or without Holm. You better hope Mr. Freund can find a way to score more than 40 or maybe Holm should keep his redshirt. 

[nd1sufan]

Just now, nd1sufan said:

NDSU scores at least 40 against UND with or without Holm. You better hope Mr. Freund can find a way to score more than 40 or maybe Holm should keep his redshirt. 

And I know any given Saturday is possible. There is always that 2% chance of a huge upset. I just don't think I would risk a year of eligibility of my best player in the secondary, his fifth and probably most productive year, on a 2% chance. 

[SiouxBoys]

6 minutes ago, nd1sufan said:

And I know any given Saturday is possible. There is always that 2% chance of a huge upset. I just don't think I would risk a year of eligibility of my best player in the secondary, his fifth and probably most productive year, on a 2% chance. 

Thanks for your concern. I know we were all waiting for your opinion.

[SiouxFan100]

One game at a time

[VMeister]

18 minutes ago, nd1sufan said:

NDSU scores at least 40 against UND with or without Holm.

They already didn’t score 40 without him. 

[nd1sufan]

1 minute ago, VMeister said:

They already didn’t score 40 without him. 

That NDSU offense wasn't the same as the one playing now. Lance and Watson are playing much better than they were week 2. And they will let Lance run as often as necessary in the playoffs.  And watching the last couple of weeks of the UND defense, it hasn't improved much from the beginning of the year. 

[MoSiouxFan]

4 hours ago, SiouxBoys said:

I said it before and I'll say it again. Special teams have absolutely been a positive for UND this year. This team isn't in the playoffs without how well our special teams have performed.

Agree.  Still have a ways to go, but BIG improvement over last season.

[VMeister]

32 minutes ago, nd1sufan said:

That NDSU offense wasn't the same as the one playing now. Lance and Watson are playing much better than they were week 2. And they will let Lance run as often as necessary in the playoffs.  And watching the last couple of weeks of the UND defense, it hasn't improved much from the beginning of the year. 

NDSU has gotten exponentially better; UND hasn’t improved a bit. 

Got it. 

[UND1983]

37 minutes ago, nd1sufan said:

That NDSU offense wasn't the same as the one playing now. Lance and Watson are playing much better than they were week 2. And they will let Lance run as often as necessary in the playoffs.  And watching the last couple of weeks of the UND defense, it hasn't improved much from the beginning of the year. 

k bye.  

[Irish]

5 hours ago, iramurphy said:

No he isn’t. Overall Special teams have been pretty good this year.  Good KO coverage, punt coverage with less than average kicker/punter. 2 big punt blocks for TD. He is well liked and a good recruiter. Has bright upside. 

You are correct that special teams play has been an asset this year (and a pleasant surprise).  Apparently there is is still some heartburn from watching us get punts stuffed in seasons past.  Hopefully he has the upside that you mention and can continue to grow and contribute.  I would mention, however, that being a good recruiter he should look for some stronger legs for our kicking game.  

[Sioux94]

2 minutes ago, Irish said:

You are correct that special teams play has been an asset this year (and a pleasant surprise).  Apparently there is is still some heartburn from watching us get punts stuffed in seasons past.  Hopefully he has the upside that you mention and can continue to grow and contribute.  I would mention, however, that being a good recruiter he should look for some stronger legs for our kicking game.  

Prior to this year, I definitely wanted Kostich to go.  However Special teams has been better this year, we've been the ones blocking punts this year and I don't think we've had one blocked.

And I never get people who want a coach fired for a player missing a kick, dropping a pass, or making a bad pass.  Our kickers are not great, Kostich I'm sure had a hand in recruiting them but at this point it is what it is as far as their capability.  Every NBA coach that coached Shaq should have been fired since he was poor at shooting free throws apparently.    The special teams.....as a 'team' meaning kick coverage, punt protection and punt rush have been good.  Can't blame coaches for Skokna flubbing that one and Boltmann for that kickoff return.  

[Sioux94]

3 hours ago, SiouxFan100 said:

Let’s win first and then figure it out

No doubt!   And geezes can we try and be positive,  man a lot of negative posts when we should all be in a good mood, we made the playoffs.  

[nd1sufan]

17 minutes ago, VMeister said:

NDSU has gotten exponentially better; UND hasn’t improved a bit. 

Got it. 

Just saying I wouldn’t play Holm unless he wanted to and preserve his year of eligibility. Don’t question his heart if he wanted to play another year. Even if they get by NDSU, the chances of UND winning a national title THIS YEAR, not saying ever, are not very good.

[jdub27]

22 minutes ago, VMeister said:

NDSU has gotten exponentially better; UND hasn’t improved a bit. 

Got it. 

By many magnitudes..... I mean they just got held to half their season average scoring by a non-playoff team...

[iramurphy]

21 minutes ago, Irish said:

You are correct that special teams play has been an asset this year (and a pleasant surprise).  Apparently there is is still some heartburn from watching us get punts stuffed in seasons past.  Hopefully he has the upside that you mention and can continue to grow and contribute.  I would mention, however, that being a good recruiter he should look for some stronger legs for our kicking game.  

You are correct. As you probably know the entire staff evaluates prospects and give input. I’m not sure how we have gotten off track recruiting better punters and kickers but there are camps these guys should be going too in the summer. Few colleges have kicking/punting coaches. Fewer high schools do. Frankly, few NFL teams do. It does highlight the importance of special teams. One specialist that has been good is the long snapper. 

[Hans8891]

No need for negativity at this point.  We are in the playoffs which means all records are 0-0 at this point.  Congratulations Bubba and the boys.  This is what we have wanted the last several years.  Consistency has not always been there but we have shown we can play with some of the better teams in The country.  We may be one of those underdogs you don’t want to play - at times we can look great.  That is what we need for playoffs and will be excited to make that happen!!!

[gfNDfan]

1 hour ago, nd1sufan said:

NDSU scores at least 40 against UND with or without Holm. You better hope Mr. Freund can find a way to score more than 40 or maybe Holm should keep his redshirt. 

of course we have no chance of beating the MIGHTY MIGHTY bison (pronounced bi-SON) if we should ever be so lucky to possibly meet them in the playoffs because USD has never beaten SDSU in the DI era until....

LAST WEEK!!!

Keep JUICIN' Bison!  You just might need it...that's why they play the games! 

VIVA MIKE MOONEY!!!

No one thought that was possible either but look what it wrought!

 

[ND-fan]

I have to agree this happy day for UND football and positive day for everyone involved with the program. I don' t understand how we have to be so negative about the program. The one thing is we need no talk of NDSU game because we first need to win the first one. This will be difficult enough because like everyone knows it hard to win on the road. Even the mighty Bison would not like going on the road in playoffs. Und has made first step in FCS football by making the playoffs and next step is to win a playoff game. In the future we need to get to where we have bye and homefield advantage in the playoffs. Were one top 24 teams in FCS and if we win our first game we will be one of 16 top teams in FCS football. Building a winning program is never easy and we should be happy that things are heading in right direction.