FCS playoffs week 1: UND @ Weber State

[Oxbow6]

13 hours ago, Nodak78 said:

Weber has a KO returner that has taken 4 to the house this year.  Concerning.

If needed.....

Kick. It. Out. Of. Bounds.

If you can't stick it in the endzone for a touch back why even mess around? 

[Siouxperfan7]

Can someone go back and tell me how many screen passes UND attempted last weekend against the Bison?>  I fell it was lower than usual. Need to get back to that type of game where Tommy dumps it off and lets our playmakers go make a play.  

[siouxfan512]

2 hours ago, Oxbow6 said:

If needed.....

Kick. It. Out. Of. Bounds.

If you can't stick it in the endzone for a touch back why even mess around? 

Does anyone know if Brady is battling an injury or something? He didn't seem to have any issues at the beginning of the season.

[iramurphy]

3 hours ago, Oxbow6 said:

If needed.....

Kick. It. Out. Of. Bounds.

If you can't stick it in the endzone for a touch back why even mess around? 

Because they can choose to make you kick it over 5 yds back. We need to cover KO and can’t afford to miss tackles if we can’t get KO into end zone. 

[geaux_sioux]

25 minutes ago, iramurphy said:

Because they can choose to make you kick it over 5 yds back. We need to cover KO and can’t afford to miss tackles if we can’t get KO into end zone. 

Pooch every kick.

[iramurphy]

7 minutes ago, geaux_sioux said:

Pooch every kick.

That would be better than out of bounds. Still need to cover and make tackles. 

[AJS]

11 minutes ago, geaux_sioux said:

Pooch every kick.

My issue with that is UND is so bad at kickoff return in general, but also deviating away from the norm. If they pooch every kick I'm guessing Weber starts at the 40 every time. Honestly, given the elevation, I'm having UND try to kick it out of the end zone every time. 

Let's circle back though to elevation. Is there any reason UND couldn't drive the ball into the end zone every time? I'd take my chances over trying to get cute and giving them the ball with excellent field position every time.

[Oxbow6]

55 minutes ago, iramurphy said:

Because they can choose to make you kick it over 5 yds back. We need to cover KO and can’t afford to miss tackles if we can’t get KO into end zone. 

Correct but have you seen that done this year in any college game....UND or otherwise? I haven't. Teams will take the field position spot if is goes out of bounds.

[Sioux94]

6 minutes ago, AJS said:

My issue with that is UND is so bad at kickoff return in general, but also deviating away from the norm. If they pooch every kick I'm guessing Weber starts at the 40 every time. Honestly, given the elevation, I'm having UND try to kick it out of the end zone every time.  

If they do those really high shorter kicks, that land about at the 20-25 like Missouri State did to us, seems like often times if that up guy catches it they just fair catch it. Might not be bad to do one of those once or twice, mix it up. Or a hard line drive type down the middle that bounces all over the place. 

[iramurphy]

16 minutes ago, Oxbow6 said:

Correct but have you seen that done this year in any college game....UND or otherwise? I haven't. Teams will take the field position spot if is goes out of bounds.

Normally. If they know that is our strategy, they might force the issue. You are probably correct. 

[gundy1124]

2 hours ago, siouxfan512 said:

Does anyone know if Brady is battling an injury or something? He didn't seem to have any issues at the beginning of the season.

Aikman calls it "The Dress" effect.

[Wright4UND]

It seems like everyone is talking about how great Weber St. is.  The hawk talk with Brian Shaw, everyone saying they should have received a bid, how great the Big Sky is.

They played Northern Arizona last week and only won by 2 points.  We can beat these guys! 

We were missing our right tackle due to illness on Saturday and that really affected what tommy could do looking right.  Looking forward to a better start and get Hoosman/Smith going and then getting the play action going! 

[SiouxFan100]

Looking forward to the game. It is what it is. I would have been heartbroken if we didn’t make the tournament. To hear we were one of the last two to get in makes me nervous and thankful. Could have been much worse.

now we need to prove we belong.

Go UND!! Good luck

[Siouxperfan7]

3 hours ago, Sioux94 said:

If they do those really high shorter kicks, that land about at the 20-25 like Missouri State did to us, seems like often times if that up guy catches it they just fair catch it. Might not be bad to do one of those once or twice, mix it up. Or a hard line drive type down the middle that bounces all over the place. 

Angle it to the sidelines every time.  If it goes out of bound...perfectly fine.  Ball is placed at the 35.  Only 10 yards better than a touchback/fair catch.  Sure beats a return down to our own 15!!

[forksandspoons]

I've seen more than five brackets on Twitter filled out, and every one has picked Weber. Vegas is picking Weber by a wide margin. Get Hoos going early and often. Force an early turnover. Time to prove everyone wrong!

[SIOUXFAN97]

22 hours ago, Nodak78 said:

Weber has a KO returner that has taken 4 to the house this year.  Concerning.

kostitch gonna kostitch...no worries

[geaux_sioux]

If we want to make a run in the playoffs we need to be able to beat good teams on the road. I don’t believe in our defense and I think we’re going to lose but I do think we can compete. I just want to see some anger in our team for once.

[zonadub]

5 hours ago, geaux_sioux said:

If we want to make a run in the playoffs we need to be able to beat good teams on the road. I don’t believe in our defense and I think we’re going to lose but I do think we can compete. I just want to see some anger in our team for once.

^^^this^^^

 

The playoffs have good teams (or at least that is the rumor).

Until UND gets a top seed, say top 4, they will be traveling for almost all playoff games.

[GoHawks]

Bubba always says in his weekly press conferences "I feel like we are doing a good job with our preparation for this weeks opponent" (says the same thing almost every week) then comes Saturday and you wonder what they did all week long in practice?? Going to be a same s#$% different game I'm afraid. Offense will do what they do and the defense will s#$% the bed. Worst defense under bubba!

[Kab]

You could clone bubbas interviews and insert the team we are playing that week, talks about preparation, what team doesn’t do that

im more worried about how coaches scout the other team and their plan to take advantage of the other team.’does Bubba make a change at defensive coordinator or is he too much of a nice guy?

[wheelsup]

5 minutes ago, GoHawks said:

Bubba always says in his weekly press conferences "I feel like we are doing a good job with our preparation for this weeks opponent" (says the same thing almost every week) then comes Saturday and you wonder what they did all week long in practice?? Going to be a same s#$% different game I'm afraid. Offense will do what they do and the defense will s#$% the bed. Worst defense under bubba!

Im going with a more optimistic view for Saturday..  Kelly green glasses are firmly in place... until at least the 3rd quarter 

• The offense will not make the uncharacteristic mistakes that they made last Saturday.. We will not have a goofy fumble.. the o-line will continue to play well and be improved over the NDSU version.  Hooseman/Smith/Red will be great and Tommy and the WR's will have a good game.  Quincy will dominate the short yardage like normal.
• Special teams will have at least one block.. either FG or punt.. on kickoffs we will either just kick it out of bounds or pooch it every single time
• The Defense is going to have its best game of the year.  After being embarrassed against the Bison they are going to suck it up and have a decent game.. Im settling for mediocre/decent from the defense and that seems optimistic but....

We cant have a first quarter like we had against NDSU or a 3rd quarter like we had against SDSU.  My guess is the crowd wont be much of a factor as I would be surprised if they get 10k attendance and in an outdoor stadium on a holiday weekend with that layout I dont think it will be a factor.  Looks like the weather forecast is decent (40 degrees and little wind).. not quite the friendly confines of the Alerus Center.

[siouxfan512]

Weber can clearly put up some points, but there D has seemed to allow more than earlier this year as well. I know everyone is concerned about the defense (I am as well), but I don't think it can get much worse than this past weekend (knock on wood). I have to believe we will force a few more punts or maybe a turnover or two). Its a longer trip, but its not the Fargo Dome.

I do believe Tommy and company will put some points on the board, and get back to controlling the clock and winning TOP. If we can get back to those long grinding drives, wear out their D and keep our D off the field we will have a good shot.

Last weekend was a huge disappointment. Not so much losing to the Bison in Fargo, but seeing just how unprepared this team was. It was all downhill from the coin toss. I have to believe these guys don't want to be done playing yet, and despite some really disappointing parts, it has been a good season. Danny definitely needs to get a little more creative this week. I've said it before, but it is like the coaches get scared when they play NDSU and they change their whole process. Maybe they think it won't work against the better teams, but neither does switching up your whole philosophy for a week. UND needs to play their game. Looking for a big week out of Hoos and hoping the O-Line get make some room.

Can't wait for Saturday!

[nodak651]

Here is an interesting stat (see total yards below).  If looking at stats for conference games only, Weber State doesn't look so great offensively.  I was originally thinking we were gonna get smoked, but I also watched parts of a few of Weber's games, and I think their QB still kinda sucks - terrible pocket presence and seems to rush everything.  Their DB's though, AMAZING... holy crap.  Never seen so many knocked down passes.  

 

[siouxfan512]

The good news about having such a tough first round draw; if you get a win, you've got to be feeling pretty good about yourselves and building some confidence going into the next game.

[siouxfan512]

2 minutes ago, nodak651 said:

Here is an interesting stat (see total yards below).  If looking at stats for conference games only, Weber State doesn't look so great offensively.  I was originally thinking we were gonna get smoked, but I also watched parts of a few of Weber's games, and I think their QB still kinda sucks - terrible pocket presence and seems to rush everything.  Their DB's though, AMAZING... holy crap.  Never seen so many knocked down passes.  

 

Have to get the run going right out of the gate. If you can pound the rock on that first drive it will really help. I'd love to see Hoos take it up the middle for like 12 on the first play. Then start mixing in some of the misdirection plays to the outside. If it works, I would try to limit the passing in the first half. I'll have to do a little more research, but I'm curious how their run D is, and who they have faced that has a strong rush attack. 

I miss having d backs that play tight on receiver and knock down balls. Must be nice.