Fall Games ?

Virginia Redbird

Well-known member
Joined
Jul 26, 2017
Messages
2,581
Location
Chesapeake, Virginia
Just my opinion, the Birds had some injury problems last year. Brady of course but also the receiving corps was hit hard. One positive I see in this is extra time for those players to heal fully. Taylor Grimes had the knee injury, Andrew Edgar fought injuries all season and there were more. They missed spring but have time now to put in more work. Playing in the spring causes issues as well but the players usually don't get this much time to heal fully. Is playing a couple of games in the fall worth it? I guess if you can get one of the big boys to play for a big paycheck then player health is sacrificed on the altar of a big paycheck. I have been waiting for the adult in the room to show up through all this and it is obvious there are none involved. Yes, I include Spack and Lyons in that group.
 

fourthandshort

Well-known member
Joined
Jul 17, 2017
Messages
9,700
Just my opinion, the Birds had some injury problems last year. Brady of course but also the receiving corps was hit hard. One positive I see in this is extra time for those players to heal fully. Taylor Grimes had the knee injury, Andrew Edgar fought injuries all season and there were more. They missed spring but have time now to put in more work. Playing in the spring causes issues as well but the players usually don't get this much time to heal fully. Is playing a couple of games in the fall worth it? I guess if you can get one of the big boys to play for a big paycheck then player health is sacrificed on the altar of a big paycheck. I have been waiting for the adult in the room to show up through all this and it is obvious there are none involved. Yes, I include Spack and Lyons in that group.
Agreed, losing Robinson production would have been somewhat offset by just staying healthy on offense this season.

And yes, we lost 2 starting WRs early in season and couple others banged up off bench (Kacper, Rogers), plus QB Davis and RB Proctor late in season and for playoffs. But we also lost our RT early for season, plus our FB McCloyn for middle third of season. Our offense was decimated last year as season progressed. At several points, I think we were down 4 or 5 starters. Then late in season, even with Edgar back, we had no passing game at all at that point, and I believe Kacper was out some too.

This is what makes Robinson playoff performance so amazing .. we had nothing else going on offense, but good field position from our defense. Granted, we were fortunate to face 2 defenses with suspect front 7s .. SEMO was a sieve, UCA was ok, but not by MVFC standards. But still .. he ran 40 times per game the first 2 rounds, and they were stacking the box with zero fear of our pass game .., that was epic performance by our OL and Robinson.
 

MadBird

Well-known member
Joined
Jul 16, 2017
Messages
4,730
Location
Madison, Wisconsin
Bison to play Central Arkansas.

North Dakota State to play one game, and one game only, this fall

The Bison will play one game, and one game only, this fall. It will be a home game against Central Arkansas, to take place at the Fargodome on Oct. 3. (The news was first reported by Yahoo‘s Pete Thamel.)


This is just… a game. A single game. Essentially a televised scrimmage, although it will go up against a full slate of SEC, ACC, Big 12 and other games slated for Oct. 3.

Other than a shrugging “Well, it’s better than zero games,” the only reason to play a single game would be as a showcase for quarterback Trey Lance.

Interesting . . . .
 

Virginia Redbird

Well-known member
Joined
Jul 26, 2017
Messages
2,581
Location
Chesapeake, Virginia
UCA has a full schedule

It is going to be interesting to watch how this works out. Since it appears UCA has a full fall schedule, I assume they are not playing in the spring when there may be a playoff. It would seem to be an unfair advantage to let them play both a fall and spring schedule and participate in the playoffs. I have not seen anything that says if you play in the fall you cant play in the spring. I also don't see why NDSU would play just one game. Such a strange year.
 

MadBird

Well-known member
Joined
Jul 16, 2017
Messages
4,730
Location
Madison, Wisconsin
It is going to be interesting to watch how this works out. Since it appears UCA has a full fall schedule, I assume they are not playing in the spring when there may be a playoff. It would seem to be an unfair advantage to let them play both a fall and spring schedule and participate in the playoffs. I have not seen anything that says if you play in the fall you cant play in the spring. I also don't see why NDSU would play just one game. Such a strange year.

Definitely lots of questions and issues.

But, you surely "couldn't" play fall 2020, spring 2021 and fall 2021. Something like 30 games in one calendar year? I guess the Bison have probably done it going all the way, but geez, that kind of schedule wouldn't give much recovery time between seasons.
 

Adunk33

Well-known member
Joined
Jul 21, 2017
Messages
9,989
Definitely lots of questions and issues.

But, you surely "couldn't" play fall 2020, spring 2021 and fall 2021. Something like 30 games in one calendar year? I guess the Bison have probably done it going all the way, but geez, that kind of schedule wouldn't give much recovery time between seasons.


I was just thinking the same thing. Can they play in the Spring, too? I'd certainly hope not. But then you look at UCA and have to ask what are they playing for? Growing up, I played 8 years of youth football. We played 8 games per year with no playoffs or anything. So at the end of the season it was like, "hey congrats! you finished a season!" Is that what they're going for? No playoffs, no conference championship. I just don't understand why play a full slate. I get what Mo State/NDSU are doing and wouldn't hate if the Birds did the same. It just seems like a waste to play a full schedule with no end goal.

If they do play in the Spring, they will be at an advantage with the time on the field. However, they've got a big old disadvantage as well putting themselves on film for nine games. Doesn't make sense to me.
 

fourthandshort

Well-known member
Joined
Jul 17, 2017
Messages
9,700
there are physical limits to how much you can put the human body thru, particularly in a game like football. NCAA and each school would be putting the players at increased risk of injury if they allowed players to be eligible to play 3 game seasons, all inside of roughly 16 months. None of them want that liability of having allowed players to be subject to this much in/off season grind and injury. While individual schools may make bad decisions, the NCAA would never alllow this to be done on their watch ... no matter how often the P5 threatens to fire the NCAA.

These are unprecendented times, and I get there are also serious econmic concerns associated with football programs, especially P5, not having their seasons ... lost TV, endorsements, and gate revenues .. lot of money at stake, and some schools may not recover from this. Which means they will have to cancel other sports .. it sure as hell won't be football, other than maybe some smaller private schools.

But, it is just football, a great past time, but again,. it's just football ... there are way more important things to worry about.
 
Top Bottom