UND vs ST Cloud State

[SIOUXTX]

Bob(RD17),

I just want to say congrats on telling us who you are. I respect your opinion and sometimes I may not agree with what you say I think you are very knowledgeable. I respect your decision to inform us what you do. Sometimes people come on this board with an axe to grind and if we knew what they really did for a living we would understand why they say what they do. I work in an idustry that requires me to disclose what I do if I make certain comments, so I appreciate the fact you told us what you do.

[BigGame]

Bob,

I think you have done a good job so far. I understand it has to be extremely difficult looking at it with an unbiased oppinion. Keep up the good work!

[RD17]

Wow, I'm glad I didn't say anything along the lines of "Bob Eblen is an idiot."    Seriously, how would you rate St. Cloud's defense?  It would seem that the only legit offense they've played may be Western Washington, who may not really be any better than Central Washington judging by their game last week.  And while the Western Washington-SCSU game wasn't ever close, Western did do some damage offensively.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

I would say that SCSU's defense is very similar to Central Washington in the sense that the defensive line is the strong point. I do think though, that SCSU has more team speed on the rest of their defense, but there are some areas that can be exploited.

SCSU is similar to UND in that they really focus on shutting down the running game. In no way do I think SCSU has a defense the quality of UND's, but with their style of play, it doesn't really need to be. What it looks like to me is that SCSU (especially early in the game) tries to run a bunch of different coverages and blitzes and create turnovers. I think they look at it like- yeah we might give up a big play or two and some points, but we're betting that if we can get you to turn the ball over once or twice early in the game, our offense will go for the throat. Plus, SCSU getting behind by a couple of scores early in a game isn't near as big a risk as it would be for most other teams.

The weakness is the secondary, especially the corners. They are both freshmen and Northern was able to sneak receivers behind them a couple of times, but the QB wasn't able to deliver the pass (it was windy). That is why for this game, I think it's so important to have a healthy Bowenkamp. He would probably be able to pick them apart, but I'm not so sure Belmore can do it consistently enough to win the game. SCSU is also missing All-NCC middle LB Mark Henderson due to an injury, but I was told that his replacement played very well last week.

One thing I totally missed talking about in my column this week is that SCSU has had 3 punts blocked so far this year. UND isn't the most aggressive team around at going after the punter, but I bet the Sioux come after the punter hard, especially if they are pinned deep. If UND could make something big happen on special teams that could totally change the outcome.

[RD17]

SIOUXTX and Big Game,

Thanks for the compliments. It is hard trying to put all biases aside when doing this. I can write something that one person will interpret as being "UND favoritism" and the next person doesn't think I'm giving UND a fair shake. Just comes with the territory, I guess.

[UND92,96]

Not that this really has anything to do with the game, but it really seems that St. Cloud has hit the jackpot with some qb/rb/wr recruits who weren't necessarily highly sought-after. It appears that Birkel was an almost complete unknown coming out of high school in Wisconsin. Keith Heckendorf wasn't necessarily an unknown, but neither was he a huge name, either. I don't think the current quarterback, Kaczor, was recruited by any other NCC schools. What's ironic is that when they did sign a kid who UND and nearly everybody else was after, wide receiver Kyle Gearman from Alexandria, he transferred to St. John's after one year in the SCSU program! Despite their seemingly advantageous location, it really seems like St. Cloud is winning with players who may have been overlooked rather than guys who they were able to sign because of their proximity to the Twin Cities.