2021 Game Day - NDSU vs UND at Alerus Center

[UND-FB-FAN]

3 hours ago, Tangolou said:

Nick Saban has said, "when you are in a must have situation, think players not plays".

When they went for it on 4th down and 2, it should be in the hands of your best player.

Completely agree with this. Best offense adjusts to the players (put best players in best position) versus making the players adjust to the offense. For the most part I think Freund does a good job, but he needs to lean on his best players a bit more and do it with a *little* less razzle dazzle. 
 

I love Tommy Schuster, but eventually Trey Feeney or someone else needs to step up and take over that spot. Lack of arm strength and running ability from the QB spot holds back this UND offense.

 

Fortunately, for this 2021 UND team, they have three good running backs. Freund needs to scheme up ways to get all 3 of them the ball routinely.

[UND-FB-FAN]

3 hours ago, Sioux94 said:

If we are going to take players not plays into account, their defensive front four is the strength of their defense and our interior OL has been a weakness on short yardage.  Yes Otis is good, but I would not have run it up the gut on 4th and 2.  As much as I love the way Otis runs, not sure I would have slammed it up the middle on that play.  We averaged -1 yard per run on our 2nd and 2's against Utah State. 

Fair point, quick throws to the outside to Belquist, Zavalney, and even Wright are becoming good options if OL doesn’t improve. Maag continues to look less impressive each and every week. 

[BarnWinterSportsEngelstad]

As facebook is shut down, the world will temporarily have their blinders off.

[petey23]

On 10/3/2021 at 12:49 PM, shep said:

After making the catch in the first Q, I don't recall Zavalney being targeted and I'm not sure how many sets he was in. Did he get banged up?

He was very close to breaking that play for big yardage....hard to believe we didn't go back to that matchup a few times let along even once?

[geaux_sioux]

16 minutes ago, UND-FB-FAN said:

Completely agree with this. Best offense adjusts to the players (put best players in best position) versus making the players adjust to the offense. For the most part I think Freund does a good job, but he needs to lean on his best players a bit more and do it with a *little* less razzle dazzle. 
 

I love Tommy Schuster, but eventually Trey Feeney or someone else needs to step up and take over that spot. Lack of arm strength and running ability from the QB spot holds back this UND offense.

 

Fortunately, for this 2021 UND team, they have three good running backs. Freund needs to scheme up ways to get all 3 of them the ball routinely.

How many plays have we had where his arm strength just wasn’t enough? And/or who’s downfield deep threat ability is being squandered if the playbook is reduced for his tiny little arm?

[The Sicatoka]

20 minutes ago, geaux_sioux said:

How many plays have we had where his arm strength just wasn’t enough? And/or who’s downfield deep threat ability is being squandered if the playbook is reduced for his tiny little arm?

Have to agree here.

First the complaint is "no over the top receiver". Then it's "no big arm". 

You don't need a big arm guy if you can't take the top off the defense with a speed receiver. 

[fightingsioux4life]

2 hours ago, geaux_sioux said:

So we all know NDSU has had a filthy defense basically every year since 2011. Every, single, season, since 2011 they’ve held opponent to an avg ppg under 20. Even last year. 2013 they avg 11.3 pot against…… that’s peak filth. For perspective, we haven’t done this a single time as a D1 program. NOT ONCE.

Our best defensive seasons have been 2011 - 20.4, 2016 - 22.0, and 2020(spring) 21.0. So far we are sitting at 19.5 after giving up 48 to Utah st. 10ppg vs FCS at this point. 
 

What I’m getting at is the fact that our defense has straight up sucked for the entirety of our d1 existence. The corner stone of this program needs to be defense. Wanna see a deep playoff run? The defense better start avg way < 20ppg. Win a title? Get that below 16ppg. NDSU never won a title without doing just that. We’ve got a lot of work to do defensively.

The defense played lights out on Saturday. I don't think what happened in the past seven years is relevant this season.

[Dustin]

1 minute ago, fightingsioux4life said:

The defense played lights out on Saturday. I don't think what happened in the past seven years is relevant this season.

I think we may a have a defense you can hang your hat on. Hope to see that continue. 

[geaux_sioux]

8 minutes ago, fightingsioux4life said:

The defense played lights out on Saturday. I don't think what happened in the past seven years is relevant this season.

Of course it is. We’re still trying to build our program into an FCS powerhouse. And still have some of the same issues as the past.

[SIOUXFAN97]

49 minutes ago, geaux_sioux said:

How many plays have we had where his arm strength just wasn’t enough? And/or who’s downfield deep threat ability is being squandered if the playbook is reduced for his tiny little arm?

ask danny

[Fry Bread]

1 hour ago, geaux_sioux said:

And millennials are getting sooooo many annoying texts and calls all day about how to fix it.

I am sure you are correct 

[Midwestern Hawk]

1 hour ago, geaux_sioux said:

How many plays have we had where his arm strength just wasn’t enough? And/or who’s downfield deep threat ability is being squandered if the playbook is reduced for his tiny little arm?

Don’t want to beat a dead horse but it’s very obvious Tommy struggles with deep throws and he does not want to run the ball.  He is a game manager who failed to do that Saturday with the late pick.  

90% of his completions are setup to go to the first read.  Not trying to rip on him, it’s just the truth.

[UNDBIZ]

Watching the game replay, it's crazy to me how much after the play taunting and jabbing ndsu gets away with given what I've seen UND flagged for in the past.

[UND1983]

These MVFC teams, man are they cocky and arrogant.  It's unreal, never seen anything like it in FCS that is.  Certainly not Big Sky

[UND-FB-FAN]

2 hours ago, geaux_sioux said:

How many plays have we had where his arm strength just wasn’t enough? And/or who’s downfield deep threat ability is being squandered if the playbook is reduced for his tiny little arm?

Don’t have time to look at all the tape and give you exact number, but the deep pass plays you are referring to aren’t being called  at all! This is partially due to his lack of arm strength.  I definitely agree that there are no downfield threats, which is another issue for sure , but if there was a threat, Schuster would struggle consistently getting it there unless receiver is wide open. 

how can you honestly defend his arm strength with that tone/context? He excels in most other areas other than mobility, but it’s okay to identify and point out weaknesses. Schuster’s lack of running game in the +1 QB run game is certainly one also. UND is 2-2, they definitely have weaknesses. No moral victories if want to win a national championship and put bison in their rightful place as 2nd best team in ND.

 

Also, when your QB doesn't have a lively arm, mistakes like the second half interception vs NDSU are more likely to happen. Balls float more.

 

Schuster is UND’s best QB right now, but call a spade a spade there mr. homer; arm strength and mobility/running are not his strong suits. He is a great decision maker though … most of the time. 

[UND-FB-FAN]

1 hour ago, Midwestern Hawk said:

Don’t want to beat a dead horse but it’s very obvious Tommy struggles with deep throws and he does not want to run the ball.  He is a game manager who failed to do that Saturday with the late pick.  

90% of his completions are setup to go to the first read.  Not trying to rip on him, it’s just the truth.

Thanks for speaking the truth. Sometimes the truth does hurt 

[UND-FB-FAN]

The defense held the opposition to 16 total points and only one touchdown. I think it is very fair to criticize what the offense did on Saturday. That needs to improve. Quite frankly, since the first half out in Utah, the offense has left much to be desired.

 

I for one think the offense needs to rely on their three running backs a bit more in the zone running game and then be sharp with the underneath passing game. All in all, comes down to ongoing progression of the offensive line. 

[Irish]

14 minutes ago, UND-FB-FAN said:

The defense held the opposition to 16 total points and only one touchdown. I think it is very fair to criticize what the offense did on Saturday. That needs to improve. Quite frankly, since the first half out in Utah, the offense has left much to be desired.

 

I for one think the offense needs to rely on their three running backs a bit more in the zone running game and then be sharp with the underneath passing game. All in all, comes down to ongoing progression of the offensive line. 

And discipline and play calling - false start on the first play - come on.  And we can't seem to keep any defense off balance or guessing.  The word is out on our offense.  

[SiouxFan100]

We may be piling on a little 

lots of good

some things aren’t where we would like but we are headed in the right direction IMO 

I thought we were going to be beat by 25 or so

I was wrong with thinking the fourth down try deep in our territory was ok

getting high caliber players in all positions isn’t easy. I am sure if we could our coaches would take them

 

 

[Sioux94]

2 hours ago, geaux_sioux said:

Of course it is. We’re still trying to build our program into an FCS powerhouse. And still have some of the same issues as the past.

To be fair, NDSU would have never averaged 11.3 points a game if they were in the Big Sky.  EWU put up 40 against them in the Dome that one year and should have won that game, and SU was pretty good that year if I recall.  Kupp was out the entire second half that game also.  

I agree though, their super stout Defense, and a superior OL has been the key to their success in my opinion.  Although they also had a run of crazy good QB's which will likely never happen again, which last year came to an end and they were still almost good enough to overcome it with crappy QB play.  

We are headed in the right direction on D.  I'd guess 16 points will likely be the lowest score they have the rest of the year and we spoon fed them 3 of those.  

[geaux_sioux]

49 minutes ago, UND-FB-FAN said:

Don’t have time to look at all the tape and give you exact number, but the deep pass plays you are referring to aren’t being called  at all! This is partially due to his lack of arm strength.  I definitely agree that there are no downfield threats, which is another issue for sure , but if there was a threat, Schuster would struggle consistently getting it there unless receiver is wide open. 

how can you honestly defend his arm strength with that tone/context? He excels in most other areas other than mobility, but it’s okay to identify and point out weaknesses. Schuster’s lack of running game in the +1 QB run game is certainly one also. UND is 2-2, they definitely have weaknesses. No moral victories if want to win a national championship and put bison in their rightful place as 2nd best team in ND.

 

Also, when your QB doesn't have a lively arm, mistakes like the second half interception vs NDSU are more likely to happen. Balls float more.

 

Schuster is UND’s best QB right now, but call a spade a spade there mr. homer; arm strength and mobility/running are not his strong suits. He is a great decision maker though … most of the time. 

Mr homer, lol. I’ve offered many a critique on this program.

[SiouxFan100]

going into the game:

Tommy = very adequate 

freund = innovative 

in bubba we trust

after the game:

Tommy = can’t win with him 

freund = play calls are very iffy

bubba = stupid

??????????

[UND-FB-FAN]

25 minutes ago, SiouxFan100 said:

We may be piling on a little 

lots of good

some things aren’t where we would like but we are headed in the right direction IMO 

I thought we were going to be beat by 25 or so

I was wrong with thinking the fourth down try deep in our territory was ok

getting high caliber players in all positions isn’t easy. I am sure if we could our coaches would take them

 

 

Things are definitely heading in the right direction. The gap is closing, but ultimately we need to desire to have it closed. Certainly concerning that some thought the differential was 25 points. If nothing else, Saturday’s game will give hope to UND supporters that the program is very close and ndsu is not head and shoulder above und like the Fargo media propaganda machine wants all to falsely think 

[UND-FB-FAN]

6 minutes ago, SiouxFan100 said:

going into the game:

Tommy = very adequate 

freund = innovative 

in bubba we trust

after the game:

Tommy = can’t win with him 

freund = play calls are very iffy

bubba = stupid

??????????

Let’s not split and be extremists. Tommy, Freund, and Bubba can improve and be better, but they certainly aren’t failures. That trio is very capable still. Continue to improve, that needs to be the name of the game. Don’t bail on this program.

[Irish]

23 minutes ago, SiouxFan100 said:

going into the game:

Tommy = very adequate 

freund = innovative 

in bubba we trust

after the game:

Tommy = can’t win with him 

freund = play calls are very iffy

bubba = stupid

??????????

To be fair, most of us that came to those conclusions watched the game on Saturday - Bubba - stupid seems like a pretty logical conclusion.