2019 Quarterfinals vs NDSU (Dec 14th, 11am CST)

[CaliRdBrd]

I think if Davis is healthy ISU wins that game. Too bad heck of an effort. Hats off to the defense, amazing performance.

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I couldn’t disagree more. I think the key to winning this game was for Spack to have pulled Davis weeks ago and give Jefferson more of a chance to be a game ready.

 

[Trey_Guidry4three]

What a great effort by the Birds! We had our chances in this game but given the lack of talent on offense/play calling I'm surprised we got 3 on the board. Fun unexpected ride for a few weeks with this group! Ndsu fans are class act and are some of the smartest fans I've ever been around. Downtown Fargo will be popping tonight and I have zero issues hanging around after a loss in this town. Redbird proud !

 

[CaliRdBrd]

Just interested. What should the OC have called that he didn't. He shortened the game.
Seems like he did what he needed to do to keep us in it. Tough to play the best team in the country without a passing game. But he gave us a chance.

Aside from a few questionable calls, I agree.

 

[DaveBird10]

And in spite of all the bad play calling and screw ups we played NDSU closer than anyone else this year in their butt ugly dome.

Raise your hand if you thought we'd make it this far after YSU. My hand is down.

Outstanding job by players and coaches.

Preach!!!

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[Chi-bird]

What a great effort by the Birds! We had our chances in this game but given the lack of talent on offense/play calling I'm surprised we got 3 on the board. Fun unexpected ride for a few weeks with this group! Ndsu fans are class act and are some of the smartest fans I've ever been around. Downtown Fargo will be popping tonight and I have zero issues hanging around after a loss in this town. Redbird proud !

I had a similar experience (for the most part) with NDSU fans in Frisco.

 

[Total Red]

Just interested. What should the OC have called that he didn't. He shortened the game.
Seems like he did what he needed to do to keep us in it. Tough to play the best team in the country without a passing game. But he gave us a chance.

3rd and 2 first drive. Give it to JR 2 times. Tipped pass instead.
4th and 1. Give it to JR. Hurry to the line, penalty instead.
3rd and 2. Give it to JR 2 times. PA pass, drive ends.
Extend these 3 drives and it's a much different game. Bison mentality changes, confidence builds. If they stuff JR on all 3 drives, good for them. But I doubt they would.
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Hmmm all season long we've had fans saying that our offense is too conservative and predictable. Now 2000 wishes we were more conservative and more predictable.

I agree with Timmy. We played conservative on offense and we took only a few chances. It kept us in the game and gave us a chance to win at the end. This team went farther in the playoffs and played NDSU closer than most people expected.

Good season Redbird Football - Thanks

 

[Total Red]

Defense is playing really well. Super proud of this group. Who do we lose next year? Anyone?

Kirk and DeForest will be Big losses, but this unit is pretty young.

Keep an eye on McKnight. He may try to fly the coop. If he stays our defense could be even more awesome. It was definitely awesome today.

 

[ricohill]

Good effort. Never really a threat to win it with our offense. Also, I kept thinking back to the game at ISU and NDSU was running a lot of different plays. Seemed like their plan today was just run it up the middle knowing ISU couldn’t beat them. It felt like they were playing to not give anything away. Will be interesting to see if they open up their offense going forward.

 

[DaveBird10]

Good effort. Never really a threat to win it with our offense. Also, I kept thinking back to the game at ISU and NDSU was running a lot of different plays. Seemed like their plan today was just run it up the middle knowing ISU couldn’t beat them. It felt like they were playing to not give anything away. Will be interesting to see if they open up their offense going forward.

Not really. In game 1 ndsu capitalized on isu turnovers and mistakes. They also ran the ball for like 300 yards. In game 1 ndsu could run off tackle and it was there the entire game. Today isu stopped the run and kept the passing game in front of them. Easy gameplan.

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[StLRedbird]

I think if Davis is healthy ISU wins that game. Too bad heck of an effort. Hats off to the defense, amazing performance.
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I couldn’t disagree more. I think the key to winning this game was for Spack to have pulled Davis weeks ago and give Jefferson more of a chance to be a game ready.

Did Brady Davis kick your dog? Get you fired from a job? WTF

 

[TIMMY]

I think if Davis is healthy ISU wins that game. Too bad heck of an effort. Hats off to the defense, amazing performance.
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I couldn’t disagree more. I think the key to winning this game was for Spack to have pulled Davis weeks ago and give Jefferson more of a chance to be a game ready.

Did Brady Davis kick your dog? Get you fired from a job? WTF

I think pulling Davis a few games earlier would have drastically changed today's game. We wouldn't have been in it after not making the playoffs. Not sayin, just sayin.

 

[StLRedbird]

I'll be interested in reading reports from those who make the trip. I'm surprised tickets are even available. Is the school given an allotment because it is a playoff game? I'd bet a Bizon fan calls the Redbird ticket office and buys them all. :lol:

Just looked on their site and it looks like the sidelines are completely sold out and there is still some openings one of the endzones. Good luck!

- Flew into Minneapolis Fri afternoon/evening and drove to Fargo, got in around midnight. $124 RT from from STL to MSP. Can take I-94 from MSP to Fargo - easy peasy. Click the cruise on 80 and go for 3 1/2 hrs. Was passing a constable from Otter Tail County doing 80 and he took umbrage with that. Wasn't ticketed, but I've done that with the Illinois State Police a dozen times. Bottom line? If you have sleep in Otter Tail County, MN, at some point in your life, sleep easy. Those boys are on top of it.
- I thought Mizzurah had a lot of left lane bandits. Minnesota has 'em beat.
- I think jon99 mentioned accommodations in Fargo are cheap. 2nd that motion. And hot tub rooms are a thing in The Great White North.
- I like Bison fans. Tried not to in Frisco in 2014, but they wore me down. Very few d-bags in that group.
- Tailgating the Fargodome. lakes is 100% correct - you will be plied with food and liquor by some really pleasant, down to earth people. I'm tellin' ya - we'll be back here sooner rather than later.
- They do a pretty cool thing at the Fargodome. We we're just walking in the concourse near where the visitors block of seats are located when an usher walked up to us and pointed out a stairwell down to the field where the 'birds would exit after the game.
- Inside the Fargodome. Little old ladies will walk up to you and welcome you to Fargo. Circle the concourse and it will happen to you 15-20 times, and that's just those little old ladies. Their fans will stop you and want to talk football, hell, even the women. And these aren't Bradley women. Not a stale cigar or yellow tooth in the bunch. If where we sat is representative, the nearby fans will do the same. Even when you interpret a replay differently. ;-)
- We had to fly back out at 7am Sun, so we left after right the game. Parking? Cheap. Easy in. Nightmare to get out. Park near an exit.
- Redbird presence. Other than parents it was really thin. We sat in stubhub seats so we were in their midst. Had a terrific time. Let's get it goin' with these guys, Redbird Nation. I predict that if you make this trip you'll come back feeling the same way.

 

[DannyCooksey]

Just interested. What should the OC have called that he didn't. He shortened the game.
Seems like he did what he needed to do to keep us in it. Tough to play the best team in the country without a passing game. But he gave us a chance.

:text-+1:

We played the game that gave us the best chance to win

 

[Virginia Redbird]

I can't say I am too disappointed. The Birds played the game hard and gave the Bison all they could handle. I am sure they were surprised to be in a game like this after the game earlier in the season. The Birds held the Bison without a TD. Who among us really expected this team to be at Fargo in the Quarter Finals after the YSU game. They gave us some great playoff football and playing on the road against the Bison missing some key starters...I was pretty proud of that team.
Great season Redbirds! There is some work to do for 2020 but this season was great fun!

 

[fourthandshort]

Just a classic all time game in terms of being competitive and showing up. The coaches and players shoud be very proud they put themselves in a position to win this game against a very good team. I'll say it again .. I was worried when Ridgeway went down (hope he's ok, but it did not look good) but major kudos to Jacob Powell and entire defense for not losing a beat the 2nd half without Ridgeway .. in fact, the defense stiffened up even better 2nd half. You could tell the pressure of losing was getting to Bison .. players and coaches.

Fact remains, if we has any semblance of a pass game, we would have won yesterday. But we weren't ready to suddenly start throwing the ball when we needed to. Can ingore the obvious there.

That doesn't mean we shoudn't feel great about the game .. but we have to face reality. I am convinced more than ever, we would be a top 10 or better program every year if not for our inconsistencies in pass game. We just have to get better there.

Kudos to coaches and players .. classic game. Bison ar e besides themselves talking about how bad they were yesterday ... blaming their OC for horrensoud playcalling .. best offense all year and suddenly he doesnt know how to call plays. How about just give our defense more credit ???

Greatd day for Redbirds .. I thought we could compete in game like this, but wouldn't have bet on it and certainly didn't expect that at all. We had a chance to win on the road against #1 team in country.

Very well done.

 

[Phantom]

I don't really believe in moral victories and I'm never satisfied after ANY loss, but yesterday was as close as either get in my book

Absolutely tremendous effort by our guys. NDSU is the better team, no question, but we showed up and slugged it out with them for 60 minutes harder than any other team has done with them, especially at the dome. Sucks to be on the short end of that when we were one score away from stealing it (I won't go into the missed lateral call..yeah, it was obvious and a horseshit no-call, but what can we do?)

As for the gameplan, I think we executed the only one we could go up there with rather well. We had to shorten the game and pound it out. They knew it was coming too and defended it well. Our D was stellar, especially in the red zone, again and again and again.

It was a good run. One of these days, we're gonna beat those guys :twisted:

 

[Loyl2u]

First time to the Fargo Dome and the hospitality was as expected, great people and good atmosphere. Was outside in T-shirt and shorts Friday morning in central Illinois and looking at a couple of feet of snow on the ground in Fargo on Saturday. A really -7 degree morning meant that tailgate tents were all closed up- making wandering around a little more difficult, will need to go back earlier in the season next time.

Close calls went both ways as they typically do - had a pretty good view from the northwest corner of a couple and they could have went either way, even Bison fans in the area agreed that in real time the non-PI call and the non-lateral looked like they could be called either way. Both teams played conservative for a reason- ISU had no other offensive options left in the MASH unit, NDSU didn’t want to give up a big turnover, which was the way that the ISU defensive has been making a living and scoring points for their team. Expected that the Birds would need to have no turnovers and get a big break. NDSU Played it close to the vest and didn’t give the Redbird defense too many opportunities to make a big play. Don’t think Bison will face a defense as good as the Redbirds moving forward.

Redbirds represented themselves well. Thanks to all the seniors for a really fun Season with plenty of ups and a few downs. ISU and UNI found ways to compete, ugly as it may have been, after beating up on each other all season. Me thinks it was too bad UNI and ISU didn’t get to play the Big Sky teams in the quarters, but we’ll see next weekend. Good luck to the Bison.

 

[fourthandshort]

I'll be interested in reading reports from those who make the trip. I'm surprised tickets are even available. Is the school given an allotment because it is a playoff game? I'd bet a Bizon fan calls the Redbird ticket office and buys them all. :lol:

Just looked on their site and it looks like the sidelines are completely sold out and there is still some openings one of the endzones. Good luck!

- Flew into Minneapolis Fri afternoon/evening and drove to Fargo, got in around midnight. $124 RT from from STL to MSP. Can take I-94 from MSP to Fargo - easy peasy. Click the cruise on 80 and go for 3 1/2 hrs. Was passing a constable from Otter Tail County doing 80 and he took umbrage with that. Wasn't ticketed, but I've done that with the Illinois State Police a dozen times. Bottom line? If you have sleep in Otter Tail County, MN, at some point in your life, sleep easy. Those boys are on top of it.
- I thought Mizzurah had a lot of left lane bandits. Minnesota has 'em beat.
- I think jon99 mentioned accommodations in Fargo are cheap. 2nd that motion. And hot tub rooms are a thing in The Great White North.
- I like Bison fans. Tried not to in Frisco in 2014, but they wore me down. Very few d-bags in that group.
- Tailgating the Fargodome. lakes is 100% correct - you will be plied with food and liquor by some really pleasant, down to earth people. I'm tellin' ya - we'll be back here sooner rather than later.
- They do a pretty cool thing at the Fargodome. We we're just walking in the concourse near where the visitors block of seats are located when an usher walked up to us and pointed out a stairwell down to the field where the 'birds would exit after the game.
- Inside the Fargodome. Little old ladies will walk up to you and welcome you to Fargo. Circle the concourse and it will happen to you 15-20 times, and that's just those little old ladies. Their fans will stop you and want to talk football, hell, even the women. And these aren't Bradley women. Not a stale cigar or yellow tooth in the bunch. If where we sat is representative, the nearby fans will do the same. Even when you interpret a replay differently. ;-)
- We had to fly back out at 7am Sun, so we left after right the game. Parking? Cheap. Easy in. Nightmare to get out. Park near an exit.
- Redbird presence. Other than parents it was really thin. We sat in stubhub seats so we were in their midst. Had a terrific time. Let's get it goin' with these guys, Redbird Nation. I predict that if you make this trip you'll come back feeling the same way.

Nice post and recap ...

 

[Jon99]

A trip to Fargo for a game makes it really obvious why they are so successful, so much excitement around their program which makes it easier to recruit. The are the only game in town, no professional teams to compete with, no U of I 45 minutes away, no Notre Dame.. Them being so far in the middle of nowhere really benefits them..When football season is over, really no idea what the people up there do..

It was super cold which was too bad, kinda wrecked the pregame for us, was expecting a few more ISU fans, but was still a great game, our offense obviously too one dimensional

 

[Birdswin]

I pretty agree with most of the posts here. Defense was outstanding and Powell performed very well in his backup roll. Offense did what they could - in a close game everyone will second guess a few play calls, heck the coaches are probably doing the same thing. If there was one thing I would have liked to see, if Jefferson faking the handoff to Robinson, then rolling out a few times, because that looked open and would have kept the defense a little more honest. Yes, the Birds definitely went further than I expected - no question about.

Cannot be afraid to challenge a call - like that lateral in a Big Game. The 45 yd line made that call on review much easier.