Birds Picked 5th in Preseason Poll

[Redbird28]

Coprich's production boom had EVERYTHING to do with #5 handing him the ball. Tre Roberson might end up going down as the most effective QB in ISU history when all things are said and done. A rocket launcher on his shoulder, a good decision maker, excellent field vision, but then you add the legs. Dude was faster than MOST RB at any level, but also had the ability to cut on a dime without changing stride.

North Dakota State was DOUBLE SPYING him with outside linebackers and he still roasted them with his legs.

It helps that Coprich had excellent vision and a small, easy to miss in a pile of dudes frame, but Tre Roberson was the reason Coprich was an All American and had all those video game numbers.

This is why I was so disappointed to see Broadnax moved to safety. The college game is SO MUCH EASIER to dominate with a read option QB. Even a bad RO QB is difficult to gameplan for. Kolbe can't do it and I dont think anyone else in our QB room can.

Yeah, but the fact he couldn't throw on target meant he was never going to keep defenses honest. Roberson could throw on target, and throw it deep on target. Therein lies the difference between the two. Broadnax hasn't shown that ability and probably never would have.

 

[Adunk33]

Mitchell Brees is the lone Redbird represented on the All-Defense team. He is on the 2nd team.

http://valley-football.org/news/2018/7/31/football-mvfc-preseason-all-conference-defense.aspx

 

[fourthandshort]

Coprich's production boom had EVERYTHING to do with #5 handing him the ball. Tre Roberson might end up going down as the most effective QB in ISU history when all things are said and done. A rocket launcher on his shoulder, a good decision maker, excellent field vision, but then you add the legs. Dude was faster than MOST RB at any level, but also had the ability to cut on a dime without changing stride.

North Dakota State was DOUBLE SPYING him with outside linebackers and he still roasted them with his legs.

It helps that Coprich had excellent vision and a small, easy to miss in a pile of dudes frame, but Tre Roberson was the reason Coprich was an All American and had all those video game numbers.

This is why I was so disappointed to see Broadnax moved to safety. The college game is SO MUCH EASIER to dominate with a read option QB. Even a bad RO QB is difficult to gameplan for. Kolbe can't do it and I dont think anyone else in our QB room can.

good point about # 5 read option .. I was too focused on a different point about OC Beathard's role in our 2014-15 offense. But it wasn't just the RO option that make it work so well in 2014, it was the #5's deep ball that truly kept defenses honest. There are plenty of RO option QBs and offenses out there .. very few succeed unless they can throw the ball some. But it took a while before Roberson settled down in pass game .. he had very weak start in 2014. If you set aside the 2 patsy OOC games we had that year where Roberson piled up some numbers. OC Beathard worked very hard to get Roberson to settle down .. it's easy to forget he had 4 or 5 bad games early in 2014, and then didn't do much at all in 2015 after slow start and then a hand injury.

I feel like OC Beathard made all the right adjustments working with Roberson/Coprich thru Roberson's passing and even pocket ups and down .. especially early in 2014 when things weren't going so well, and then 2015 after losing so much from our offense (at WR, TE, OL). I look at it like this, Roberson had a great 7 game run to finish 2014 and was spectacular in dual threat role those final 7 games. But Coprich was plugging away getting his 150 ypg and 6 ypc for the entire 28 games over 2014-15 .. game stats will bear this out .. so I give Coprich much more credit than Roberson for our offensive production over the entire 2 seasons. The RO certainly helped Coprich break a few .. but I would say Coprich helped Roberson much more in return .. defenses had to defend the handoff to Coprich every time. It was only at next level of tacklers that Coprich would occasionally benefit from RO.

And then there was Roberson's deep ball .. putting aside how below average Roberson was in short-intermediate pass game, he was so good at putting the deep ball over the top .. plus we had great WR/TE group in 2014, then relied heavily on Warrum alone to extend defenses in 2015. Without his deep ball, his RO alone would not have been enough.

And I'm sure if Broadnax had any potential to be a threat to pass the ball (deep or otherwise), they would not have moved him to Safety . OC Beathard is back .. he likely watched a lot of tape and saw enough in spring ball.

 

[Adunk33]

https://twitter.com/RedbirdFB/status/1026512923005464576

21st in STATS FCS Preseason Poll

8 MVFC Teams Ranked/Received Votes:

1-NDSU
3-SDSU
13-UNI
21- ILST
25- YSU

South Dakota, Western, Southern all got votes.

 

[fourthandshort]

5 MVFC teams in top 25 is the rule, in fact a minimium .... not the exception .. many times we have 6 teams, and on occasion 7. Don't forget, playoffs usually include 3 or 4 teams that don't belong in top 20 or even top 25.

Parity could end being the biggest issue MVFC faces this season ... teams 2 thru 8 are all potential playoff teams. So while I would expect some dropoff from teams like SDSU, USD, WIU, and YSU .. they may still all be pretty good and playoff level teams. I think teams like UNI, ISUr, and SIU will all surprise this year. Maybe even USD will surprise as everyone assumes QB Streveler was their only offensive talent ... I think the will sneak up on some teams possibly. Same with SIU .. their defense is not a doormat any more, and their passing offense should be very good this fall is Straub stays healthy.

Biggest surprise in MVFC will be our offense .. I've been touting it on AGS. Some of them like Robinson a lot, but dont realize he is still developing ... as for rest of offense, they think I'm drinking too much koolaid. But they will see it .. hell, they will even feel it from the stands. Going to ground and pound just about everyone .. it will clearly be one the most physical run games they will see other than NDSU .... and Kolbe should be better this year.

 

[ISUBU]

5 MVFC teams in top 25 is the rule'..... Don't forget, playoffs usually include 3 or 4 teams that don't belong in top 20 or even top 25.

Parity could end being the biggest issue MVFC faces this season ...

Biggest surprise in MVFC will be our offense ..

:text-+1:
Still, as a fairly long-term Redbird football fan, I'm always pleased whenever I see us getting reputation votes in the top 25. That wasn't the case for a lot of years.

But I disagree that the biggest surprise in the league will be our offense. After all, we have a first team all conference running back, receiver, and lineman, as well as other veteran linesmen and a veteran QB. People expect our offense to be good.

I think the expectations of our defense are not very high, and that this will be the surprising group if they develop as the coaches seem to expect they will.

 

[fourthandshort]

5 MVFC teams in top 25 is the rule'..... Don't forget, playoffs usually include 3 or 4 teams that don't belong in top 20 or even top 25.

Parity could end being the biggest issue MVFC faces this season ...

Biggest surprise in MVFC will be our offense ..

:text-+1:
Still, as a fairly long-term Redbird football fan, I'm always pleased whenever I see us getting reputation votes in the top 25. That wasn't the case for a lot of years.

But I disagree that the biggest surprise in the league will be our offense. After all, we have a first team all conference running back, receiver, and lineman, as well as other veteran linesmen and a veteran QB. People expect our offense to be good.

I think the expectations of our defense are not very high, and that this will be the surprising group if they develop as the coaches seem to expect they will.

I'm making general statement when I say that .. mainly referring to outsiders who don't know our roster well. Most folks on AGS are not impressed with our program since 2014-15 seasons .. many cite our 2 straight 6-5 record .. and they only see RB Robinson as a threat on our offense.

In my opinion, AGS has the best subjective poll by far. I've been posting bout our run game and return of OC Beathard ... they are only impressed with Robinson. So they don't see anything special developing yet .. they will soon enough.

 

[JHBird]

5 MVFC teams in top 25 is the rule'..... Don't forget, playoffs usually include 3 or 4 teams that don't belong in top 20 or even top 25.

Parity could end being the biggest issue MVFC faces this season ...

Biggest surprise in MVFC will be our offense ..

:text-+1:
Still, as a fairly long-term Redbird football fan, I'm always pleased whenever I see us getting reputation votes in the top 25. That wasn't the case for a lot of years.

But I disagree that the biggest surprise in the league will be our offense. After all, we have a first team all conference running back, receiver, and lineman, as well as other veteran linesmen and a veteran QB. People expect our offense to be good.

I think the expectations of our defense are not very high, and that this will be the surprising group if they develop as the coaches seem to expect they will.

I'm making general statement when I say that .. mainly referring to outsiders who don't know our roster well. Most folks on AGS are not impressed with our program since 2014-15 seasons .. many cite our 2 straight 6-5 record .. and they only see RB Robinson as a threat on our offense.

In my opinion, AGS has the best subjective poll by far. I've been posting bout our run game and return of OC Beathard ... they are only impressed with Robinson. So they don't see anything special developing yet .. they will soon enough.

Markel Smith is another key guy that people don't talk enough about. Sure Robinson is the lead guy, but Markel is nearly as good imo. Both guys are tough to bring down. I only hope Megginson is as good as we hope he'll be, because having him block next to Himmelman should make running to the left a no brainer.

 

[fourthandshort]

:text-+1:
Still, as a fairly long-term Redbird football fan, I'm always pleased whenever I see us getting reputation votes in the top 25. That wasn't the case for a lot of years.

But I disagree that the biggest surprise in the league will be our offense. After all, we have a first team all conference running back, receiver, and lineman, as well as other veteran linesmen and a veteran QB. People expect our offense to be good.

I think the expectations of our defense are not very high, and that this will be the surprising group if they develop as the coaches seem to expect they will.

I'm making general statement when I say that .. mainly referring to outsiders who don't know our roster well. Most folks on AGS are not impressed with our program since 2014-15 seasons .. many cite our 2 straight 6-5 record .. and they only see RB Robinson as a threat on our offense.

In my opinion, AGS has the best subjective poll by far. I've been posting bout our run game and return of OC Beathard ... they are only impressed with Robinson. So they don't see anything special developing yet .. they will soon enough.

Markel Smith is another key guy that people don't talk enough about. Sure Robinson is the lead guy, but Markel is nearly as good imo. Both guys are tough to bring down. I only hope Megginson is as good as we hope he'll be, because having him block next to Himmelman should make running to the left a no brainer.

Spacks hardest job will be getting defense to find it self by week 5 or sooner.

His 2nd hardest job will be doling out reps to RBs Robinson, Smith, and Birch. Smith would start for most teams in MVFC or get a lot more reps. I really hope they all can embrace a shared role, and get that is big part of why NDSU wins so much .. they almost always have 2 RBs getting 800 to 1100 yards .. even sometimes a 3rd guy getting 400 yards while he waits his turn to become the 1000 yard guy (Birch).

Our offense REALLY needs to embrace all 3 RBs ... 60% Robinson, 30% Smith, 10% Birch .. and I hate that it has to add up to 100% because Smith and Birch both deserve more reps ... hell, Robinson deserves more reps.