UND @ NDSU 11/19/2022

[Sioux94]

4 minutes ago, Midwestern Hawk said:

Gonna knock us out of this the playoffs if we don’t get it going..  

Yeah we need to put up a fight at least

[geaux_sioux]

1 hour ago, Sioux94 said:

That is what I was thinking after the game.....when I started thinking about next year.....as to what/how would we be any better on defense next year.  Same players next year.....gonna be pretty similar results.  The transfer portal guys we got on D this off season turned out to be kinda blah.  Maybe we can hit on one or two impact transfer players in the portal on defense next year......but not holding my breath.  Red was obviously a home run, but don't think it'll be as easy to get one of those type of impact players on D in the portal.  

You never really know what the fr can turn into but I’d rather have capable soph ready to step in and be the man at important positions. The CB group reminds me of when Dieion Harris was a fr. Not good but could be soon. I’m not sold on any other position group though.

[UND-FB-FAN]

7 hours ago, geaux_sioux said:

You never really know what the fr can turn into but I’d rather have capable soph ready to step in and be the man at important positions. The CB group reminds me of when Dieion Harris was a fr. Not good but could be soon. I’m not sold on any other position group though.

Also not sold on this coaching staff and S/C staff to develop the young players into anything exceptional. They do alright, just not at a championship level.
 

Also, I’m now fully convinced UND with this staff will never have the team mentally prepared to consistently win big games. 7-4 is really the ceiling; can’t expect UND to win big road games, or even top 5 home games, which is necessary to be a top 5 team that’s gets home field advantage in playoffs. That needs to be goal; remember importance of being in Alerus all the way through in 2001? Being in the FD for nearly all the playoffs has been important to NDSU’s championship run.
 

Disappointing. Culture change needs to happen, and after 8 years of this staff, it won’t happen without change to some degree. 

[sioux24/7]

I’m not going to call for Bubba’s head after a 7-4 season but I wouldn’t be devastated if he decided to hang it up and get a cozy job in the athletic department. 

[Midwestern Hawk]

13 minutes ago, sioux24/7 said:

I’m not going to call for Bubba’s head after a 7-4 season but I wouldn’t be devastated if he decided to hang it up and get a cozy job in the athletic department. 

Bubba is a great man, but I think this season represents his ceiling as a head coach.  The bigger the game, the worse we play.  So many big games and opportunities squandered during his era.  The game yesterday was painful to watch and reminded me of so many other big games during this era.  If the team responds like they did yesterday during the entire year, we likely have 1-2 wins.  There was nothing special about that NDSU team, nor the plays which put the game out of reach, we just weren't ready to play.  

The Special teams were bad, can we just kick the ball out of bounds?

The offense was anemic, back to the 4 yard pass on 3rd and 9 and Tommy seemed to be rattled the entire game.  Without the short throw Belquist turned into 63 yards, we averaged about 5 yards per pass attempt and that doesn't include the sacks and scrambles.

The defense was as bad as it has been all year.  Couldn't stop the run at all and made Miller look like he is Lamar Jackson.

[forksandspoons]

Not saying it would have mattered much, but Tom Miller mentioned some players, including Seth Anderson, were sick this week. Anderson’s replacement got off the ball very slow on the first sack of the game that started the snowball. 

[iramurphy]

14 hours ago, The Sicatoka said:

Make the pick and it changes the demeanor of the game. Same for the scoop. 

Don’t and the game stays as it has been.

I agree but I don’t think it would have changed the outcome unless NDSU started making mistakes. Offensively, they were clicking on all cylinders. Defensively, we didn’t have an engine started to click cylinders. That and missed scoop and run on blocked FG changes momentum but then they dropped an interception early so it goes both ways. Not sure if we get in but we need another win to better define this season. I think our guys played hard but we were overmatched. We would need to play our best game of the year to stay with them and then those breaks can be the difference. 

[iramurphy]

13 hours ago, geaux_sioux said:

The only reason he’s still at safety is because we have literally zero safeties. It’s brutal. He’s been a liability in coverage his entire career but he’s starting because we are just that bad at that position.

I would play Koshiol. He tackles well. I think he is less likely to be out of position or miss an assignment.  Speed may be the factor but I’d rather have a guy who is assignment sharp and can tackle.  Especially against a run team. Just a guess. I’m not at practice so who knows. Gotta do something. 

[iramurphy]

10 hours ago, Sioux04 said:

And his play was just as dirty as his look. Every time I followed him, he was doing something egregious. I know it's complete bias, but the officials always seem to let SU get away with more than other teams. And then throw flags when their bench bitches.

I coached BB at GFC one year under Dick Vinger and Pat Sullivan.  Hall of Fame coach Dick Vinger said “ when you win say little, when you lose, say less”. 

[iramurphy]

1 hour ago, Midwestern Hawk said:

Bubba is a great man, but I think this season represents his ceiling as a head coach.  The bigger the game, the worse we play.  So many big games and opportunities squandered during his era.  The game yesterday was painful to watch and reminded me of so many other big games during this era.  If the team responds like they did yesterday during the entire year, we likely have 1-2 wins.  There was nothing special about that NDSU team, nor the plays which put the game out of reach, we just weren't ready to play.  

The Special teams were bad, can we just kick the ball out of bounds?

The offense was anemic, back to the 4 yard pass on 3rd and 9 and Tommy seemed to be rattled the entire game.  Without the short throw Belquist turned into 63 yards, we averaged about 5 yards per pass attempt and that doesn't include the sacks and scrambles.

The defense was as bad as it has been all year.  Couldn't stop the run at all and made Miller look like he is Lamar Jackson.

That NDSU team is pretty damn good when they play up to their full potential. Miller is a very good QB. He does what they ask him to do. He is a very good running QB and decent passer. Miller made himself look good more than we made him look good. Schuster didn’t have a good game but Bison secondary is very good and their defense was pressing him even when they didn’t get to him. I don’t know why we played so poorly defensively early on but we have struggled to play consistently on defense all year. We were ok offensively and had the defense been more than a speed bump, we would have been ok. 

[nd1sufan]

17 minutes ago, iramurphy said:

That NDSU team is pretty damn good when they play up to their full potential. Miller is a very good QB. He does what they ask him to do. He is a very good running QB and decent passer. Miller made himself look good more than we made him look good. Schuster didn’t have a good game but Bison secondary is very good and their defense was pressing him even when they didn’t get to him. I don’t know why we played so poorly defensively early on but we have struggled to play consistently on defense all year. We were ok offensively and had the defense been more than a speed bump, we would have been ok. 

For some reason Miller gets no credit for being a good QB. He is efficient as a runner and has a strong arm and throws a good ball. Maybe even a better runner and a stronger arm than Tommy. 
 

And btw. Nobody is talking about the sure pick-6 Tommy threw to a Bison LB that was dropped. The game could have gotten even uglier if that wasn’t dropped.

[UND-FB-FAN]

1 hour ago, forksandspoons said:

Not saying it would have mattered much, but Tom Miller mentioned some players, including Seth Anderson, were sick this week. Anderson’s replacement got off the ball very slow on the first sack of the game that started the snowball. 

That’s a good point, but doesn’t account for biggest flaw: the defense. 
 

D looked awful all year and they were both physically and mentally unprepared yesterday for the season’s biggest game to this point. Awful. 

[The Sicatoka]

4 minutes ago, nd1sufan said:

For some reason Miller gets no credit for being a good QB. He is efficient as a runner and has a strong arm and throws a good ball. Maybe even a better runner and a stronger arm than Tommy. 
 

And btw. Nobody is talking about the sure pick-6 Tommy threw to a Bison LB that was dropped. The game could have gotten even uglier if that wasn’t dropped.

Because Miller has three or four tough acts to follow. 

And you’re not wrong about a dropped pick-six each way.

[UND-FB-FAN]

1 hour ago, iramurphy said:

I think our guys played hard but we were overmatched.

UND made several mental mistakes. Missed run fits. Missed assignments in the secondary. It wasn’t that they were just physically overmatched. UND failed on aspects they can control themselves with preparation. The moment was too big for them, once again. 
 

Defense wasn’t mentally prepared. Wasn’t just that they were outmatched, which also was the case. NDSU is by far a more physically impressive unit. Kudos to their S/C staff, though I’m not convinced it’s being done all legally as per previous indictments. 
 

Nonetheless, unacceptable outcome. The game wasn’t even close from the get go. Not the effort that’s needed to even attempt to narrow the gap between the two football programs. Very disappointing.

[forksandspoons]

2 minutes ago, UND-FB-FAN said:

That’s a good point, but doesn’t account for biggest flaw: the defense. 
 

D looked awful all year and they were both physically and mentally unprepared yesterday for the season’s biggest game to this point. Awful. 

Agreed, the defense was awful. But the Bison had really good starting field position a few times which isn’t ideal given the defense. Some can be attributed to the offense and some to the special teams. Still confused why we kicked it to the 25 yard line to start the second half. Why not just kick it out of bounds at that point? 

[UND-FB-FAN]

53 minutes ago, iramurphy said:

Gotta do something. 

I completely agree with this. The status quo isn’t working. 

[BarnWinterSportsEngelstad]

9 minutes ago, nd1sufan said:

For some reason Miller gets no credit for being a good QB. He is efficient as a runner and has a strong arm and throws a good ball. Maybe even a better runner and a stronger arm than Tommy. 
 

And btw. Nobody is talking about the sure pick-6 Tommy threw to a Bison LB that was dropped. The game could have gotten even uglier if that wasn’t dropped.

Seriously, we don't need a Bison fan on here bragging up their team.
Go to Bisonville and pat your team players on the back over there.

[UND-FB-FAN]

44 minutes ago, iramurphy said:

That NDSU team is pretty damn good when they play up to their full potential. Miller is a very good QB. He does what they ask him to do. He is a very good running QB and decent passer. Miller made himself look good more than we made him look good. Schuster didn’t have a good game but Bison secondary is very good and their defense was pressing him even when they didn’t get to him. I don’t know why we played so poorly defensively early on but we have struggled to play consistently on defense all year. We were ok offensively and had the defense been more than a speed bump, we would have been ok. 

Yes, Bison are very, very good. We get it. But it’s the instate rival for UND and they aren’t going away. They are the gate keepers to UND being successful. They are the benchmark. In 2013, UND switched coaching staffs and it was cited that the inability to compete with the Big Sky Conference competition was a major reason. So, now UND can’t compete with NDSU. Now what? Keep praising NDSU, or do we control what we can control and better ourselves (UND)?

 

I posed the question yesterday; what’s the goal? UND to ascend (basically become top 5 program because that’s what is takes to top NDSU) or NDSU to descend? We could be waiting a long time for NDSU to descend, and no competitor who’s successful in life should want to choose the latter option. 

[UND-FB-FAN]

10 minutes ago, forksandspoons said:

Agreed, the defense was awful. But the Bison had really good starting field position a few times which isn’t ideal given the defense. Some can be attributed to the offense and some to the special teams. Still confused why we kicked it to the 25 yard line to start the second half. Why not just kick it out of bounds at that point? 

Very early in the game, down only 7 points, UND had NDSU backed up on their own 4 yard line. 96 yard field to go. UND could’ve grabbed back momentum with good field position.  What do they do? Blow a coverage with an awful mental error and give up a 50+ yard catch and run. Culprit was a player who played all year despite being bad all season. Coaches didn’t adjust. 
 

They had field position. The defense just pissed it down their leg. God awful. Killed momentum and the game was an onslaught from there on. Unacceptable.

[Hawkster]

11 minutes ago, UND-FB-FAN said:

Very early in the game, down only 7 points, UND had NDSU backed up on their own 4 yard line. 96 yard field to go. UND could’ve grabbed back momentum with good field position.  What do they do? Blow a coverage with an awful mental error and give up a 50+ yard catch and run. Culprit was a player who played all year despite being bad all season. Coaches didn’t adjust. 
 

They had field position. The defense just pissed it down their leg. God awful. Killed momentum and the game was an onslaught from there on. Unacceptable.

There was one good thing about that first long reception, and that's the speed we had to run down that Bison receiver.  That Bison guy looked like someone's grandma going down the field compared to our guys.

[geaux_sioux]

2 hours ago, Midwestern Hawk said:

Bubba is a great man, but I think this season represents his ceiling as a head coach.  The bigger the game, the worse we play.  So many big games and opportunities squandered during his era.  The game yesterday was painful to watch and reminded me of so many other big games during this era.  If the team responds like they did yesterday during the entire year, we likely have 1-2 wins.  There was nothing special about that NDSU team, nor the plays which put the game out of reach, we just weren't ready to play.  

The Special teams were bad, can we just kick the ball out of bounds?

The offense was anemic, back to the 4 yard pass on 3rd and 9 and Tommy seemed to be rattled the entire game.  Without the short throw Belquist turned into 63 yards, we averaged about 5 yards per pass attempt and that doesn't include the sacks and scrambles.

The defense was as bad as it has been all year.  Couldn't stop the run at all and made Miller look like he is Lamar Jackson.

 

3 hours ago, UND-FB-FAN said:

Also not sold on this coaching staff and S/C staff to develop the young players into anything exceptional. They do alright, just not at a championship level.
 

Also, I’m now fully convinced UND with this staff will never have the team mentally prepared to consistently win big games. 7-4 is really the ceiling; can’t expect UND to win big road games, or even top 5 home games, which is necessary to be a top 5 team that’s gets home field advantage in playoffs. That needs to be goal; remember importance of being in Alerus all the way through in 2001? Being in the FD for nearly all the playoffs has been important to NDSU’s championship run.
 

Disappointing. Culture change needs to happen, and after 8 years of this staff, it won’t happen without change to some degree. 

Would his ceiling not be 2016 when we were a seeded team? 9-2 remember is more wins than 7-4.

[geaux_sioux]

1 hour ago, iramurphy said:

I would play Koshiol. He tackles well. I think he is less likely to be out of position or miss an assignment.  Speed may be the factor but I’d rather have a guy who is assignment sharp and can tackle.  Especially against a run team. Just a guess. I’m not at practice so who knows. Gotta do something. 

Koshiol should also be an OLB

[geaux_sioux]

59 minutes ago, iramurphy said:

That NDSU team is pretty damn good when they play up to their full potential. Miller is a very good QB. He does what they ask him to do. He is a very good running QB and decent passer. Miller made himself look good more than we made him look good. Schuster didn’t have a good game but Bison secondary is very good and their defense was pressing him even when they didn’t get to him. I don’t know why we played so poorly defensively early on but we have struggled to play consistently on defense all year. We were ok offensively and had the defense been more than a speed bump, we would have been ok. 

I think our system is too complex on d. There’s no reason an all conference grad transfer from Cal Poly should take most of the year to get comfortable. I’d much prefer a simple system that guys can easily execute at a high level at full speed than one that makes them constantly think and play slow as a result. I prefer the Wade Philips philosophy.

[UND-FB-FAN]

7 minutes ago, geaux_sioux said:

 

Would his ceiling not be 2016 when we were a seeded team? 9-2 remember is more wins than 7-4.

That 9-2 team collapsed at home in playoffs despite a 24-7 lead. Also several close (unnecessarily close) tight victories. I obviously understand 9>7, but that doesn’t make me any more immune to getting slaughtered by top teams (and also unranked teams like SIU) year after year. 

[UND-FB-FAN]

10 minutes ago, Hawkster said:

There was one good thing about that first long reception, and that's the speed we had to run down that Bison receiver.  That Bison guy looked like someone's grandma going down the field compared to our guys.

Yep, caught him from behind. NDSU scored a couple plays later. The huge pass play was a backbreaker from momentum standpoint. In the building, you could feel NDSU easily carrying the game the rest of the way.