Utah State Sept. 10 8 pm

[SIOUXFAN97]

not sure why we stopped being trickey or least using all three qb's....it was working!!!!!!!

and yes...if it's 3rd and 16 and your losing and your playing a fbs team...chuck it downfield (might be better than our punter could do at times)...might get a pi call?

 

[SiouxHawkGuy]

Let’s just be 2-1 before ndsu

[Sioux90]

We lost that game, Utah state didn't win it. To me, that is a good sign for this program. Games are won and lost in the trenches.

[TBR]

Usu won that game. There qb throw precise throws to receivers that routinely got wide open. Usu was better on the line of scrimmage both offensively and defensively. That's how they won.

[Sioux90]

13 minutes ago, TBR said:

Usu won that game. There qb throw precise throws to receivers that routinely got wide open. Usu was better on the line of scrimmage both offensively and defensively. That's how they won.

USu had three big plays resulting in TDs. One could argue that those were miscues by UNDs defense. I agree that Usu controlled the line of scrimmage most of the game. UND went from great in the first quarter to average the rest of the way. That's what I saw.

[Old School Guy]

I was impressed with UND football against Utah State. The offense was imaginative and the defense was active. I think the altitude played a key role late in the game. If UND plays like that the rest of the way, I see a national top-4 finish for sure.

[Old School Guy]

One more note: if you take away the FBS top-10, the talent gap between FBS and FCS is shrinking fast. The difference is depth and belief. Once FCS teams get more depth and start believing they are supposed to win...its game on. Ask Jacksonville State.

[Blackheart]

27 minutes ago, Old School Guy said:

One more note: if you take away the FBS top-10, the talent gap between FBS and FCS is shrinking fast. The difference is depth and belief. Once FCS teams get more depth and start believing they are supposed to win...its game on. Ask Jacksonville State.

Yeah, what’s up with Florida State?  Maybe they thought they could just show up and win.

[AJS]

Feel differently after giving it another day. The final score wasn’t indicative of the game. Two one play 50+ yard touchdowns. The other 4 plays 70 yards. That was 21 of the last 28 points for USU. It was a game for 3 quarters. Disappointing, but the talent is still there. See where they are in the polls and hit the reset button. Huge opportunity in three weeks. 

[zonadub]

31 minutes ago, Old School Guy said:

I was impressed with UND football against Utah State. The offense was imaginative and the defense was active. I think the altitude played a key role late in the game. If UND plays like that the rest of the way, I see a national top-4 finish for sure.

Have not read the whole thread, and apologize if this has been discussed.

 

You cannot overstate the effect of altitude in this game. USU played very up-tempo and the UND defense was totally gassed in the second half. Living at 4600 feet, when we get visitors from lower altitudes, they are snoozing by 8 pm. The games went on until after midnight ND time and the defense had very little time to send in the backups so the defense could get some air. It is part of USU’s game plan and is extremely effective.

the other noticeable thing is that UND got conservative after they got the 21 - 10 lead. Did Freund run out of ideas or did they just play not to lose?

[geaux_sioux]

1 hour ago, zonadub said:

Have not read the whole thread, and apologize if this has been discussed.

 

You cannot overstate the effect of altitude in this game. USU played very up-tempo and the UND defense was totally gassed in the second half. Living at 4600 feet, when we get visitors from lower altitudes, they are snoozing by 8 pm. The games went on until after midnight ND time and the defense had very little time to send in the backups so the defense could get some air. It is part of USU’s game plan and is extremely effective.

the other noticeable thing is that UND got conservative after they got the 21 - 10 lead. Did Freund run out of ideas or did they just play not to lose?

It’s why we needed to stick to the run. Can’t try and do a shootout with a team who is built exactly for that.

[Sioux>Bison]

10 hours ago, Sioux90 said:

USu had three big plays resulting in TDs. One could argue that those were miscues by UNDs defense. I agree that Usu controlled the line of scrimmage most of the game. UND went from great in the first quarter to average the rest of the way. That's what I saw.

I agree timely miscues on offense and defense were our demise. You could see the relief on Utah State coach’s face when they scored the TD that put them up by 17. We had them worried and on the ropes but just tired out. Late game or elevation who knows but we could have won that game. Take care of business with Drake and rest up for the big game.

[Irish]

5 hours ago, Old School Guy said:

One more note: if you take away the FBS top-10, the talent gap between FBS and FCS is shrinking fast. The difference is depth and belief. Once FCS teams get more depth and start believing they are supposed to win...its game on. Ask Jacksonville State.

 

5 hours ago, Old School Guy said:

I was impressed with UND football against Utah State. The offense was imaginative and the defense was active. I think the altitude played a key role late in the game. If UND plays like that the rest of the way, I see a national top-4 finish for sure.

That is true about the FCS vs FBS -  Montana beat #20 Washington for example - however Utah State is a Mountain West team that was 1-5 last year and in my opinion we were behind in talent in almost every area.  We could neither cover their receivers or run the ball on them.  Once they adjusted on defense we couldn't do anything.  If by "active" defense you mean continually out of position and running to cover then you are correct.  And for the last 3 quarters I saw exactly zero imagination from our offense - which resulted in a whopping 3 points.  I agree that altitude was a factor but so was playing not to lose.  We have potential but a lot of areas to clean up and improve in order to be close to a top 4 team.  I hope we get there but so far we are not close.  If we learn from this game we could take big steps to get there.

[TBR]

Logan is about the same elevation as Ft. Collins. Grand Forks and Brookings are also at similar a altitude. Jack's must be a better high elevation team than us.

[geaux_sioux]

36 minutes ago, TBR said:

Logan is about the same elevation as Ft. Collins. Grand Forks and Brookings are also at similar a altitude. Jack's must be a better high elevation team than us.

They ran the ball effectively and were dominant in both trenches. That will overcome any altitude. 

[zonadub]

1 hour ago, TBR said:

Logan is about the same elevation as Ft. Collins. Grand Forks and Brookings are also at similar a altitude. Jack's must be a better high elevation team than us.

Didn’t watch the Jacks-Rams game. Did Colorado State run an up-tempo offense? The Aggies seldom huddled, keeping the UND defense from catching their breath in the huddle and/or platooning. 
 

Just saying it’s a great game plan and was well executed.

[Sioux94]

Watching that one long TD again in slow motion tonight, the blocking wide receiver definitely had a big time hold of Siegal and totally pulled him back inside. The first screenshot attached Siegal is set to break out towards out of bounds hashmark to make the tackle, but the defender totally pulls him back inside. In the second screen shot you can see the defender is all of the sudden on the outside, there is no way he could get back to that outside angle without grabbing Siegal and pulling him back in. It looks like Coley takes a super dumb angle to cut up inside. But I can see why he did that because in his mind Siegal was about to break out towards the out of bounds area to make the tackle so Coley cut under in case the WR cut under. However the blocking WR totally held up Siegal and left the sideline completely open. Our guys were in the right spot and that would have been a 5 yard gain without the severe holding

[Old School Guy]

19 minutes ago, Sioux94 said:

Watching that one long TD again in slow motion tonight, the blocking wide receiver definitely had a big time hold of Siegal and totally pulled him back inside. The first screenshot attached Siegal is set to break out towards out of bounds hashmark to make the tackle, but the defender totally pulls him back inside. In the second screen shot you can see the defender is all of the sudden on the outside, there is no way he could get back to that outside angle without grabbing Siegal and pulling him back in. It looks like Coley takes a super dumb angle to cut up inside. But I can see why he did that because in his mind Siegal was about to break out towards the out of bounds area to make the tackle so Coley cut under in case the WR cut under. However the blocking WR totally held up Siegal and left the sideline completely open. Our guys were in the right spot and that would have been a 5 yard gain without the severe holding

Yes, there was holding on that play...there is holding on just about every play in a football. Game #10 goes about 6' 6" and he smothered our DB, which means the unblocked defender has to make that play. He didn't. Gotta tip your hat to #13...kid has wheels and knows how to use them.

[geaux_sioux]

7 hours ago, Old School Guy said:

Yes, there was holding on that play...there is holding on just about every play in a football. Game #10 goes about 6' 6" and he smothered our DB, which means the unblocked defender has to make that play. He didn't. Gotta tip your hat to #13...kid has wheels and knows how to use them.

Gotta force him back inside where there is help

[Dustin]

12 hours ago, zonadub said:

Didn’t watch the Jacks-Rams game. Did Colorado State run an up-tempo offense? The Aggies seldom huddled, keeping the UND defense from catching their breath in the huddle and/or platooning. 
 

Just saying it’s a great game plan and was well executed.

Colorado St. was also SDSU's first game of the season, not the second away game in six days where the first game was also played at the same altitude.  The delayed start was also a disadvantage to UND, contrary to what the analysts said during pre-game.  Who prepares for a game to start at 9:30 pm internal clock time?

I know some of you on here will chastise these comments as making excuses, but I'm simply pointing out our situation against USU is not the same as SDSU's against CSU so we should not expect the same outcome.

[geaux_sioux]

46 minutes ago, Dustin said:

Colorado St. was also SDSU's first game of the season, not the second away game in six days where the first game was also played at the same altitude.  The delayed start was also a disadvantage to UND, contrary to what the analysts said during pre-game.  Who prepares for a game to start at 9:30 pm internal clock time?

I know some of you on here will chastise these comments as making excuses, but I'm simply pointing out our situation against USU is not the same as SDSU's against CSU so we should not expect the same outcome.

And yet based on the start we should have been able to win the game.

[GoHawks]

On 9/11/2021 at 11:01 AM, Midwestern Hawk said:

Once Danny’s script runs out, we can’t move the ball.  Not sure how the 5 yard crossing routes are going to beat a good team.  Need to be able to challenge vertically 

Do you think its Danny running out of plays or is it bubba getting in his way?

[gundy1124]

9 hours ago, Sioux94 said:

Watching that one long TD again in slow motion tonight, the blocking wide receiver definitely had a big time hold of Siegal and totally pulled him back inside. The first screenshot attached Siegal is set to break out towards out of bounds hashmark to make the tackle, but the defender totally pulls him back inside. In the second screen shot you can see the defender is all of the sudden on the outside, there is no way he could get back to that outside angle without grabbing Siegal and pulling him back in. It looks like Coley takes a super dumb angle to cut up inside. But I can see why he did that because in his mind Siegal was about to break out towards the out of bounds area to make the tackle so Coley cut under in case the WR cut under. However the blocking WR totally held up Siegal and left the sideline completely open. Our guys were in the right spot and that would have been a 5 yard gain without the severe holding

This play was a defensive travesty and bugs me the most.  A close second(s) is Utah St. WRs open by 10 yards.

[BarnWinterSportsEngelstad]

19 minutes ago, GoHawks said:

Do you think its Danny running out of plays or is it bubba getting in his way?

How many trick plays can one utilize in a game before none work? 
If enough were executed during a game, would they open up the normal plays?
What would a game be like if there were one or two trick plays every drive?

[UND-FB-FAN]

2 hours ago, gundy1124 said:

This play was a defensive travesty and bugs me the most.  A close second(s) is Utah St. WRs open by 10 yards.

Honestly I think Brett Holinka and Bubba need to scrap some of their zone blitz packages. There were numerous instances where receivers were running wide open because of defensive miscommunication and blown assignments in the zone. Either play man blitz if you want to pressure, or go to straight up zone or man. The secondary was confusing itself with the zone blitz defense packages. The quick receiver screen that went for a TD due to mispositioning and giving up the sideline (see quote here from Gundy) was just plain poor defense and lack of technique; I think the defense was getting tired and had a major mental lapse. 

I am most concerned with the safety play on this team. It was not good. Will be important to continue to improve defensive play up front also, as it always is. Utah State got timely gashes up the middle via the running game that really hurt as the game went on.