Sioux vs. Mankato

[SiouxMD]

UND Lacross team at MSU up next!

Up next? Are they broadcasting the UND lacrosse game...where is The Sicatoka?

[dakotadan]

Up next? Are they broadcasting the UND lacrosse game...where is The Sicatoka?

ESPN just showed clips of the LSU and Florida club Rugby teams playing a game before their football game tonight. Not a bad idea for the club teams to try and draw a few fans.

[UND92,96]

For Wayne Nelson, Lefty (UNO fan), sultan and everybody else who predicted Mankato would give UND problems, I'd just like to go on record as saying you're smarter than me. I really thought UND would win going away. I guess it shows how much I know.

[dakotadan]

Also is it just me or is the D2Messageboard down?

I have been trying to get on D2 for a while and haven't been able to either.

[Sodbuster]

Every time in the last few minutes that there was a big play (Chappel's TD, Manke's INT, and I forget the other) the radio would cut out!! Geez! It's like someone (or something) was doing it on purpose!

[UND92,96]

You kind of have to wonder how much Stroup's absence hurt the Sioux defense. I know one player can only make so much of a difference, but you have to think him rushing the passer would have been a big help today. This is the second time this year he's missed a game, and an offense that doesn't seem to score much against anybody else goes crazy against UND.

[Lefty - UNO Fan]

For Wayne Nelson, Lefty (UNO fan), sultan and everybody else who predicted Mankato would give UND problems, I'd just like to go on record as saying you're smarter than me. I really thought UND would win going away. I guess it shows how much I know.

Some styles just don't match up well and I could tell that. UND plays a different style. UNO does not match up well with USD. Both UND and UNO offenses will overmatch the other team's defense. Make sure all the light bulbs in the Alerus scoreboards are replaced.

By the way, the D2football.com site is down. That's why I'm on here pestering you guys. Gotta go watch the Huskers get embarrased in Missouri now.

[BigGame]

I guess I got my wish. I was hoping that they would give us a game because they played a pretty much perfect game, not because our team didn't play at it's best.

Either way, we got the W.

It sounded to me like Mankato had a lot of dropped passes, not as many as UND though.

[BigGame]

everyone seems to be criticizing the defense quite a bit this year... but when the time has come they got the job done. yes, they aren't as dominating as the previous years, but they're still doing a great job for a young defense.

I don't agree, this is a very large drop off in the overall quality of the defense compared to most years. It was expected to a degree, but this isn't the usual Sioux defense.

[UND92,96]

Some styles just don't match up well and I could tell that. UND plays a different style. UNO does not match up well with USD. Both UND and UNO offenses will overmatch the other team's defense. Make sure all the light bulbs in the Alerus scoreboards are replaced.

By the way, the D2football.com site is down. That's why I'm on here pestering you guys. Gotta go watch the Huskers get embarrased in Missouri now.

The strange thing is that before today, the last several times UND had played Mankato, their offense couldn't score much at all. I'm not sure why today was so different. When UND gives up more points and yards against Mankato than Augie did, something doesn't quite add up.

[SiouxMD]

I am still smiling...

I am stoked for next weeks matchup.

GO SIOUX

[Flatland]

Just got back from the game...

The defense in this game had nothing to do with the players performing. I was very frustrated for about 3 qtrs watching the matchup of the UND defense against the Mankato offense. It was like I was watching some sort of prevent defense the whole game. There was no pressure on the quarterback (most of the time only 3 pass rushers) until the coaches finally mixed it up in the 4th quarter (after going down by 10)and went with a different defensive package. For most of the game, King had all the time in the world. Actually, if King would have been a little more patient, it might have resulted in an extra TD. Short passes were open all the time.

Also, it was obvious that Mankato was doing reasonably well stopping the run and I figured that good things might happen when UND came out on the field (down by 10) and started with 5 WRs.

The bottom line is that I feel that UND was lucky to get away with the win, but the total lack of flexibility to adjust to the field conditions and a different team leave me worried that UND will have problems in the future.

[UND92,96]

Just got back from the game...

The defense in this game had nothing to do with the players performing. I was very frustrated for about 3 qtrs watching the matchup of the UND defense against the Mankato offense. It was like I was watching some sort of prevent defense the whole game. There was no pressure on the quarterback (most of the time only 3 pass rushers) until the coaches finally mixed it up in the 4th quarter (after going down by 10)and went with a different defensive package. For most of the game, King had all the time in the world. Actually, if King would have been a little more patient, it might have resulted in an extra TD. Short passes were open all the time.

Also, it was obvious that Mankato was doing reasonably well stopping the run and I figured that good things might happen when UND came out on the field (down by 10) and started with 5 WRs.

The bottom line is that I feel that UND was lucky to get away with the win, but the total lack of flexibility to adjust to the field conditions and a different team leave me worried that UND will have problems in the future.

Considering how successful the UND defense was last week by being more aggressive than they'd been, I'm surprised they would have gone back to an "unaggressive"--for lack of a better word--gameplan this week.

[Irish]

Considering how successful the UND defense was last week by being more aggressive than they'd been, I'm surprised they would have gone back to an "unaggressive"--for lack of a better word--gameplan this week.

This may be the only "chink" in Lennon's armour - it seems that whichever unit is struggling gets more conservative in tight games (think offense in the Omaha game a couple of years ago). We usually have one unit (up until this year it has been the defense) playing balls out and the other unit just trying to hang on. This tendency to tighten up and try to let the other side of the ball carry the day has cost us in the past. i hope we can see this and make the adjustments against Omaha this year. If we go conservative next week, it'll be a long game.

[BigGreyAnt41]

It was a great ending to a mostly depressing game.

It's really not fun watching the defense get destroyed like their offense seemed to do to UND the whole game.

Chappell really looked like he was in horrible, horrible pain when he first came off with his injury. It was pretty amazing to see him fighting through it, but you could still tell he wasn't comfortable. But then watching him just run away from the MSU DBs on his 81 yard pass was incredible.

The heat was nearly unbearable. It was 88 degrees with a 91 degree heat index. Not football weather at all.

I've got some halfway decent pictures of the game that I hope to get up somewhere within the next couple days.

[andtheHomeoftheSIOUX!!]

Nice job on the win Sioux! I didn't get to listen to the game, but it sounds like it was a tight one. But we got the W and thats what counts!

P.S. Notre Dame also won tonight at UCLA! It was a great day!

[Tommiejo]

GOOD JOB SIOUX KEEP IT UP. EVENTHOUGH WE LOST AT LSU IT WAS A GREAT GAME OVERALL.

IN CLOSING GO SIOUX & GO GATORS.

SIOUX FAN (HOCKEY) SINCE 1973

[Sioux_Yeah_Yeah]

I listened to most of the first half and then stopped because I was hanging out with my little brother.... Then I remembered the game was on, and we listened to the last about 8 mins or so.... And ask anyone who was in the vicinity of me, I was definitely amazed that we were losing to MANKATO when I tuned in and was pretty loud when anything happened

But I'm glad that we got the win... So good job boys, and good luck against UNO!

[UND92,96]

Although I'm disappointed in the defensive performances in three of the last four games, there is some recent history to suggest that you don't necessarily need a shut-down defense to achieve some pretty great things. For example, in 2003, UND went undefeated in NCC play, and made it all the way to national championship game despite giving up 31 points to Mesa State, 28 to St. Cloud, 35 to UNO and 29 to Winona State. And that Sioux offense wasn't even remotely as good as this year's. So there's still hope that with some modest improvement by the defense, this team could still make some serious noise in the post season.

[star2city]

Although I'm disappointed in the defensive performances in three of the last four games, there is some recent history to suggest that you don't necessarily need a shut-down defense to achieve some pretty great things. For example, in 2003, UND went undefeated in NCC play, and made it all the way to national championship game despite giving up 31 points to Mesa State, 28 to St. Cloud, 35 to UNO and 29 to Winona State. And that Sioux offense wasn't even remotely as good as this year's. So there's still hope that with some modest improvement by the defense, this team could still make some serious noise in the post season.

What are the roots of the problems with the defense? Poor decision making (coaches/players), poor coaching game adjustments, less linebacker experience, athleticism of linebackers, defensive line pass rush, other? Some posters have commented that the corners and safeties are actually more solid this year.

[Delroy Ten Thumbs]

I was also at the game yesterday and I think people are missing the fact that Mankato has some impressive players on offense. Their offense lacks a quality RB, but their QB and WRs are very impressive. Mankato had a lot of tall and fast athletes at WR. Their top receiver was out of the game. I was also impressed by the quality of their OL, #71 is one of the largest human beings I've ever seen. UND did rush only 3 at times which does make the OL's job a lot easier. I was very proud to see the Sioux battle back and compete. They played like a team/program that is use to winning.

Purple Mavs down Red Mavs next!

[UND92,96]

What are the roots of the problems with the defense? Poor decision making (coaches/players), poor coaching game adjustments, less linebacker experience, athleticism of linebackers, defensive line pass rush, other? Some posters have commented that the corners and safeties are actually more solid this year.

It's hard to say, because I've only seen the home games, and besides the second half against CWU, the defense has been pretty good at home. Based upon the comments from the coaching staff after the Augie game, it seemed as though they made a conscious effort to have a much more aggressive game plan in that game, and clearly it worked well. Yesterday, based upon a few comments from people who were at the game, it sounded like perhaps they went back to being somewhat passive, but whether or not that's true I can't say. I do think Stroup's presence seems to make a big difference. I would expect that he'll play against UNO if at all possible.

I have to admit that I have some questions about the wisdom of having co-defensive coordinators. Does any other program do this?

[GeauxSioux]

I was at a party in Louisiana when the game was on and was only able to get periodic updates on my blackberry. When I saw that the Sioux were down 34-24 and also thought that Mankato had the ball, I thought the game was over and didn't check back in again. I checked the Herald's website this morning and was shocked the Sioux had won. Thanks for all of the game information on this thread to WiSioux and all who posted, as it really helped understand what happened and what I missed. Wow, what a finish. Is this a team of destiny?

GO SIOUX !!!!!!

[BigGame]

I have to admit that I have some questions about the wisdom of having co-defensive coordinators.

To me this just seems like you are stroking someone's ego to keep them happy. It doesn't really make a lot of sense to have 2 d-coordinators. Who actually calls the defense?

[Sioux-cia]

What are the roots of the problems with the defense?

Buning.......