Smoggy Posted October 27, 2004 Share Posted October 27, 2004 (edited) Amazing that there has been no talk about this game yet. By far the biggest game of the year to date. Whoever wins this should win the league. My thoughts: Defense is the key. I've always felt that defense wins championships and its time to prove that theory. I believe that if the D can disrupt an offense it throws them off and they then struggle to bounce a comeback. UND will need to score first. Force UNO to throw. They may have some big receivers, but throwing seems to always lead to more turnovers. Time and time again, teams underestimate UND's defense and think their rusher will be the one to have a big game against UND. I can't think of a recent big runner against UND, therefore, I believe we'll do fine against UNO's run. Our offense (no matter who leads it) needs some consistency. I also believe we need three TD's to win. The consistency will help keep UNO's offense off the field. RUN THE BALL! Special teams should go to us, but it is outdoors. Intangibles are the great outdoors and playing at UNO. We always find a way to lose there, plus we struggle outdoors. At least UNO has turf. BTW, the band is making the trip down. Edited October 27, 2004 by cheeringsiouxfromsmoggycali Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tommy Posted October 27, 2004 Share Posted October 27, 2004 Amazing that there has been no talk about this game yet. By far the biggest game of the year to date. Whoever wins this should win the league. My thoughts: Defense is the key. I've always felt that defense wins championships and its time to prove that theory. I believe that if the D can disrupt an offense it throws them off and they then struggle to bounce a comeback. UND will need to score first. Force UNO to throw. They may have some big receivers, but throwing seems to always lead to more turnovers. Time and time again, teams underestimate UND's defense and think their rusher will be the one to have a big game against UND. I can't think of a recent big runner against UND, therefore, I believe we'll do fine against UNO's run. Our offense (no matter who leads it) needs some consistency. I also believe we need three TD's to win. The consistency will help keep UNO's offense off the field. RUN THE BALL! Special teams should go to us, but it is outdoors. Intangibles are the great outdoors and playing at UNO. We always find a way to lose there, plus we struggle outdoors. At least UNO has turf. BTW, the band is making the trip down. <{POST_SNAPBACK}> I agree. RUN THE BALL. Let Roland get some momentum and I beleive he can do great things and get the job done. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
UND92,96 Posted October 27, 2004 Share Posted October 27, 2004 I would echo the sentiment that the Sioux need to run the ball. I just don't like the screen passes and short over-the-middle stuff because it's so predictable and so easy to pick off if the qb makes a poor throw or decision. I'm still irritated by that 2001 game in which the Sioux thoroughly dominated and yet lost due to four picks and a blocked punt. Make UNO earn their points. Even though UNO now has their best receiver back, it really shouldn't be that hard to stop a passing game with a weak-armed quarterback and only one true receiving threat. My only real criticism of Dale Lennon in his otherwise stellar career thus far has been the inability to consistently beat UNO, and the inability to win big road games against playoff-caliber teams. This game is a perfect opportunity to kill two birds with one stone. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
updm002 Posted October 27, 2004 Share Posted October 27, 2004 I am a huge uno fan. Bottom line is if uno has 2 or fewer turnovers we will probably win. IF we have more than that we will probably lose. Other scenario that could get us beat is if we have to depend on our fg kicker. He has lost his confidence. Make no mistake about it though jamar day is clearly a level above matt birkel of scsu. I went to the game at scsu and birkel has neither the speed, power or the cutback ability of day. If day doesn't get between 100-150 yards I would be amazed. Prediction less than 2 turnovers uno wins -20-13. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jimdahl Posted October 27, 2004 Share Posted October 27, 2004 Today's Herald notes that a lot of UNO's success has been the consistent running attack from Day. Omaha.com talks about how their success at running has been opening up the bootleg pass to Ostlund. While I'm not expecting a Ferris St-like running letdown, I think the Sioux can hold that style of game reasonably in check. A couple other interesting quotes from the articles above: The Mavericks lead the NCC in rushing offense, averaging 254 yards per game. The Sioux lead the league in rushing defense, holding teams to 63.2 yards per game.The Sioux have had more big-game experience the past few seasons but will have to win at Al Caniglia Field - where they haven't won since 1995. Hard to disagree with everyone that it could be a grind it out ground game. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
UND92,96 Posted October 27, 2004 Share Posted October 27, 2004 This series in recent years has been very difficult to figure out. On the one hand, you have a team like UNO that is very predictable and wants to establish a power running game. That would appear to play right into the UND defensive strength, and yet the Sioux have not been able to consistently shut down the running game against UNO the way they have against nearly every other primarily running team. From the UNO perspective, it's kind of baffling that they've had a running game effective enough to actually move the ball on UND and win fairly often (5-3 since 1996), and yet they've had practically no playoff success. It just doesn't seem to add up. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Sicatoka Posted October 27, 2004 Share Posted October 27, 2004 The Saturday Omaha forecast also says run: Breezy. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
THE UND Posted October 27, 2004 Share Posted October 27, 2004 Last ime I attended a game in Omaha Wisthoff dropped the winning touchdown pass. I guarantee it won't happen again. The O does "enough" and the D takes care of business. UNO has some good 'backers but nothing compared to the front 7-11 that play for UND. Another factor that has been overlooked so far is the hogs leaning on that defensive front for three quarters then dominating in the fourth. Conditioning rears its head and we all know that UND is the BEST conditioned team! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SiouxFan48 Posted October 28, 2004 Share Posted October 28, 2004 UND 28- UNO 14 Bowenkamp will play and throw for at least 2 touchdowns....200 yards passing.....Roland will rush for around 70-80-90 yards...........UNO wont score much on UND defense.........Will be a great game to watch and i will be there:) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DamStrait Posted October 28, 2004 Share Posted October 28, 2004 I agree. RUN THE BALL. Let Roland get some momentum and I beleive he can do great things and get the job done. <{POST_SNAPBACK}> Ditto. I think Mussman has forced the young QBs to do too much. Take some of the pressure off of them by running the ball more. Nothing wrong with Roland and Strouth (who has been much more impressive this year than last). And if they need to be spelled, Beatty, Dressler and even getting Wisthoff involved are good options. Even if they don't score any more, running the ball has the great benefits of taking time off the clock and minimizing opportunities for turnovers. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
legend334 Posted October 28, 2004 Share Posted October 28, 2004 GF Herald says Manke will start.....UNO has field turf now...little different surface..but UND has played on it twice this year...another University that has gone to this surface....UND will win this game but it will be a slobber knocker...UNO will not march up and down the field on our defense....will not happen.....it will be a field position game which is what UND likes to play..wait for their chance and take it.....UND 17 UNO 7 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BigGame Posted October 28, 2004 Share Posted October 28, 2004 Ditto. I think Mussman has forced the young QBs to do to much. Take some of the pressure off of them by running the ball more. Nothing wrong with Roland and Strouth (who has been much more impressive this year than last). And if they need to be spelled, Beatty, Dressler and even getting Wisthoff involved are good options. Even if they don't score any more, running the ball has the great benefits of taking time off the clock and minimizing opportunities for turnovers. <{POST_SNAPBACK}> Manke is a good athlete and so is Belmore, why do they not have a few or at least a few more running plays for the QB? Like UND used to do with Klosterman. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nucleus Posted October 28, 2004 Share Posted October 28, 2004 I agree completely in that we should have more designed QB plays, we have the athletes to execute and they keep the defense guessing. I think Manke will see the field this week, but according to a source close to Bowenkamp (his roommate) he is ready to go and will probably see some action this weekend (besides PAT). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Let'sGoHawks! Posted October 28, 2004 Share Posted October 28, 2004 I think it is good the surface is fieldturf. This is similar to natural grass, but not the same. The sioux have seemed to have problems on the road on grass in the past few years. I hope the defense can hold the Mavs, I don't know how many points we will be scoring, especially if we play like we did in the second half against Mankato. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
star2city Posted October 29, 2004 Share Posted October 29, 2004 Omaha World-Herald: Mavs 'old men' want victory party "It's one of the biggest games - if not the biggest - of each year," senior defensive tackle Corey Petersen said. "When I think of North Dakota, I think of a big offensive line that wants to play smashmouth football. You've got to get excited about playing that type of team." Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
iramurphy Posted October 29, 2004 Share Posted October 29, 2004 Bowencamp will start. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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