Western showdown Saturday

[Total Red]

Prenoon showdown with Western. When you've fallen down the shaft you have to climb out any way you can. We won't get any sympathy from the Westies because they're down there with us. Areas for improvement - Special teams - hopefully kick coverage will be better. Remember if the other team has an electric KO return man you don't have to kick it deep. You can squibb or pooch kick. Maybe even an on-sides. If there is a danger of the other team returning the ball to midfield or beyond you might as well give yourself a chance to recover the ball. Improvement - blindside protection - I can believe that I'm going to call out our future pro LT but Himmelman didn't have his best game at NDSU. I thought we might get some relief when Bison DE Tuszka joined the NFL but they just reloaded. #71 needs to get back to his dominating self against WIU and the rest of the way.

Even depleted our D-front was impressive. They held the Bison to 3.9 yards per carry rushing. Easily their lowest total of the season. I watched some of the WIU game last Sat. against N. Dakota. Western knows they'll need to pass the ball against us and they aren't shy about going deep. It should be fun to watch. I think our secondary will be up to the challenge. There are signs of life on offense. Thirteen 2nd half points in Fargo. That's 10 more points that we scored up there last visit. Pha'leak Brown or Nigel White - take your pick. They're dead even right now at 4.5 yards per carry but P. Brown has been more of a workhorse. Hopefully both will continue to improve, the offensive line goes smashmouth and sprinkles all around.

 

[MadBird]

Prenoon showdown with Western. When you've fallen down the shaft you have to climb out any way you can. We won't get any sympathy from the Westies because they're down there with us. Areas for improvement - Special teams - hopefully kick coverage will be better. Remember if the other team has an electric KO return man you don't have to kick it deep. You can squibb or pooch kick. Maybe even an on-sides. If there is a danger of the other team returning the ball to midfield or beyond you might as well give yourself a chance to recover the ball. Improvement - blindside protection - I can believe that I'm going to call out our future pro LT but Himmelman didn't have his best game at NDSU. I thought we might get some relief when Bison DE Tuszka joined the NFL but they just reloaded. #71 needs to get back to his dominating self against WIU and the rest of the way.

Even depleted our D-front was impressive. They held the Bison to 3.9 yards per carry rushing. Easily their lowest total of the season. I watched some of the WIU game last Sat. against N. Dakota. Western knows they'll need to pass the ball against us and they aren't shy about going deep. It should be fun to watch. I think our secondary will be up to the challenge. There are signs of life on offense. Thirteen 2nd half points in Fargo. That's 10 more points that we scored up there last visit. Pha'leak Brown or Nigel White - take your pick. They're dead even right now at 4.5 yards per carry but P. Brown has been more of a workhorse. Hopefully both will continue to improve, the offensive line goes smashmouth and sprinkles all around.

And then there's Taula!

 

[cpacmel]

Illinois State -17

 

[Total Red]

And then there's Taula!

Wasn't that a TV sitcom in the 80's?

 

[fourthandshort]

Prenoon showdown with Western ..................................................................

Even depleted our D-front was impressive. They held the Bison to 3.9 yards per carry rushing. Easily their lowest total of the season. I watched some of the WIU game last Sat. against N. Dakota. Western knows they'll need to pass the ball against us and they aren't shy about going deep. It should be fun to watch. I think our secondary will be up to the challenge. There are signs of life on offense. Thirteen 2nd half points in Fargo. That's 10 more points that we scored up there last visit. Pha'leak Brown or Nigel White - take your pick. They're dead even right now at 4.5 yards per carry but P. Brown has been more of a workhorse. Hopefully both will continue to improve, the offensive line goes smashmouth and sprinkles all around.

 

[cpacmel]

Game is scheduled to be on the MARQUEE SPORTS NETWORK. Also listed as being streamed on ESPN+

 

[Total Red]

Game is scheduled to be on the MARQUEE SPORTS NETWORK. Also listed as being streamed on ESPN+

The NCAA tournament doesn't stand a chance.

 

[Total Red]

The Sun is out. Great Day for Football. Let's GO!

 

[fourthandshort]

Their QB likes to throw it all over the field per our buddy Lawson on AGS, but he also throws into trouble. Oor secondary hasn't really been truly tested yet, other than the USD FR who did ok against our secondary. But he had lots of short fields to work with, so its hard to draw anything from that game in pass defense. The UNI guy likes to throw but is pretty sporadic, and he didn't do well .. so that may be good point of connparison.

And our defense is a little more stout than I expected while many new 2 deep guys are developing. I expected more breakdowns in our secondary given we lost 3 studs from 2019. Its very hard to replace that experience and skill level, and we're doing fairly well now .. though we haven't been seriously tested. Need to pout pressure on the WIU slinger, and force some mistakes .. but he can apparently throw the ball .. hopefully to us a few times.

I like us winning this game .. score like 24 -14

 

[redbirds2000]

Both teams are not good.

 

[JHBird]

Nigel White = Stud

He's 165 lbs? How does he manage to carry tacklers? Just hope he doesn't break.

 

[cubird]

Recipe for remaining games. Run, run ,run! Only 2 turnovers and won field and time of possession. Preserve your only 4 DL.

 

[crazzymark]

Run the field and in the playoffs

 

[crazzymark]

Jefferson is getting better and better at running the offense.. according to coach sprack he didn't really start taking all snaps in practice till Brady Davis decided to go pro

 

[cubird]

WOW! MSU wins at UNI.

 

[Total Red]

Redbird Victory. I expected them to win the line of scrimmage on both sides of the ball and they did. Western was stubborn on defense early but the O-Line wore them down and the holes started to open. Then the RB's starting beating WIU to the outside. Both White and P. Brown looked very good but I thought Kevin Brown had the best run of the day on his TD jaunt. KB did a lateral move to beat a defender and then went zero to 60 in a microsecond. I want to see more of him.

WIU has a very good QB. Sampson isn't a great scrambler but he's still hard to sack because he has a near perfect clock in his head. He knows how long he can hold the ball and then he has a very quick release. Even so the Redbird rush got to him 3 times and also forced several early throws. A couple of drops cost them as well. It's good to see some new names getting in on the action. Kevin Brown and Jalen Carr on offense. Damien Jackson and Jeremiah Jordan on defense. Take the 8 pt. win and move on.

 

[ISUBU]

Kevin Brown ran today like 2018. I agree that he looked good. I was surprised that both White and P. Brown were both over 100 yds...it seemed like White was more effective, but the numbers showed they both were good. Maybe it was just the matchups with WIU, but our RBs seemed more patient as holes opened.

Our guys tipped a few passes at the line of scrimmage. It's nice to have tall DL.

 

[Virginia Redbird]

I am traveling on business and did not get to watch the game. I am going to try to catch the replay on ESPN+. I did look at the stats and both Brown and White over 100 yards. Nice stats for Jefferson and the receivers. Looks like WIU put up some points in the 4th but I am assuming those were garbage time points. Nice win but reality check ... WIU is 0-4. The Redbirds need to keep the offense going against some tougher competition with SDSU, Southern, and North Dakota coming up next. I think running the table is going to be very hard but we will see.

 

[Bird Friend]

I am traveling on business and did not get to watch the game. I am going to try to catch the replay on ESPN+. I did look at the stats and both Brown and White over 100 yards. Nice stats for Jefferson and the receivers. Looks like WIU put up some points in the 4th but I am assuming those were garbage time points. Nice win but reality check ... WIU is 0-4. The Redbirds need to keep the offense going against some tougher competition with SDSU, Southern, and North Dakota coming up next. I think running the table is going to be very hard but we will see.

And it seems realistic that they could have the table run on them.

 

[MadBird]

I am traveling on business and did not get to watch the game. I am going to try to catch the replay on ESPN+. I did look at the stats and both Brown and White over 100 yards. Nice stats for Jefferson and the receivers. Looks like WIU put up some points in the 4th but I am assuming those were garbage time points. Nice win but reality check ... WIU is 0-4. The Redbirds need to keep the offense going against some tougher competition with SDSU, Southern, and North Dakota coming up next. I think running the table is going to be very hard but we will see.

I had a few thoughts Virginia, and I need some distraction right now from the Illini-Rambler game. Can't stand that effin' Moser prowling the sidelines.

First, let me say, it was great to sit outside at a ball game. Sunny and 50 degrees (got warmer but the game was over).

The running game was sharp, for the most part. Spack said in the paper today they planned to do more on the perimeter and they did. Nice to see the boys get outside some. I have a hard time believing White is only 165 pounds, he brings it and runs with strength. Jefferson looked much much better. For the most part. The front seven on D are tough as nails. I'm worried still that our DB's haven't quite got it figgered out.

You mention garbage time points - let me run down a few things that happened down the stretch that left me with a bad taste in my mouth after the game. First, you know, we weren't pounding them in the first half, had a 14-3 lead at the break, but I said to Mrs. MadBird at the time, well, you know, if we left here with a 28-6 win, I'd feel pretty good.

So, we get the second half KO, put together a 5 minute drive, but only come away with a FG. We had the ball 1st and 10 at their 20, ran for 5 yards, then two incomplete passes set up the FG. Missed opportunity for 4 more points. First problem I have.

We hold them to a three and out, minute and a half off the clock, get the ball back, but can't get much going and punt it away from their 48 yard line after 5 minutes or so. We stop them after a 5 play, 56 second drive, get the ball back on a punt. 2:44 left in the 3rd Q. We mount a 2 minute drive and score a TD, which should be close to putting it away - but, we missed the XP. So, 23-3 instead of 24-3. Second problem, tho not a major one really, missed XP.

They take over on their own 25, drive 75 yards in just under 3 minutes for a TD. Making it 23-10. Not sure if you'd say we were in "prevent" at that point, more like they were finally getting their act together. Third problem, can't stop them when we could have gone a long ways to sealing the game.

We take over with 12:44 left in the game, 13 point lead. White has gone out of the game due to a leg injury. We need to drive down and put it away. And so ISU looks like they're getting it done. Drive down to the WIU 29 yard line. Kevin Brown runs for 6 yards. Then - to me inexplicably - we send in 4th string true freshman (who I'm glad is on our team) for 2 rushes totaling 1 yard. 4th down, we kick the FG, making it 26-10, after a nearly 8 minute drive. So, worked the clock just fine, but only came away with 3. Fourth problem, sending out a freshman to try to pound it for a TD and settling for a FG.

With 5:29 left, we kick off, and when you'd hope to keep them deep in their territory, we kick the ball out bounds. So they get a 10 yard gift. They drive 65 yards in just under 3 minutes, score the TD and the 2 point conversion. Bringing the deficit to 8 points. What happened during the drive was another sticking point to me - after stopping them on 2nd and 9 at our 32, so they would have been facing 3rd and 9, Clayton Isbell is called for a personal foul (he mouthed off either to an official or a WIU player or both) giving WIU the ball at our 17 with fresh down. Next play, WIU TD. and 2 point conversion.

We then did a good job running out the clock (aided by a dumb face mask call against them).

In the end, none of those bitch points mattered and we won. But that series of bad events down the stretch - settling for a FG (IMHO due to bad play calling when driving down), missed XP, failure to stop them in opening 4th Q drive, settling for a FG again in the 4th Q (after sending in a freshman instead of using Pha'Leak or Kevin Brown to keep the drive going), out of bounds kick off at an inopportune moment in 4th Q, key personal foul call on their final TD drive - just left me thinking we've got some problems beyond the usual "young guys" and so forth. I think there are better things ahead, hopefully better yet this year.

So now the Illini have lost and I can turn my attention to the Badgers facing Baylor, which I fear will be ugly in the end.

Have a nice day! And thanks for listening!