GAME 1: Sept 1- St. Xavier 6:30 p.m.

[crazzymark]

I know coach Sprack is a nice guy but when it comes down to playoff selection if ISU doesn't win the MVFC, ISU needed to be in the mid to high 50's, even 60 point rang for the selection comity to "forgive" ISU for booking this game. Now, other conferences can get away with it without a thought at selection time. But those teams aren't from the conference the NDSU plays in. On other thing that will notify the game would be a win over CSU, and I do believe they will do just that. One thing the commentators said over and over was the size of ISU on both sides of the the ball. Not bad when on both sides your 3rd string are still 6'5" 310 average on the line and 6' 2" 240 lb's. ISU is going to need a 25+ win at home against EIU, then the week off to heal and play aN 0-4 most likely CSU team.. GO REDBIRDS GO!!

 

[TIMMY]

This game is 100 percent on the AD - make not mistake about it.

And it's an absolute epic fail on their parts.

They literally had 2-3 years to fill 2 games. Think about that.

Beyond brutal when you think about everything involved.

Is Spacks daughter involved in scheduling?

Probably not. Certainly not as a decision maker.

 

[crazzymark]

Ive never seen a fan base so angry about a 46-0 win in my life.

Guys, it is cleanly obvious that Spack scheduled this game just to get every player on the roster live reps. Every player we have saw the field. Yes, rhythm was off in the passing game because A) I dont think that was our full playbook on display and B) Coach was throwing different combinations out there to see what worked from Q2 on.

It was the equivalent of an NFL week 2 presason game.

The D gave up 0 points after a muffed punt put the birds on d first and goal from the 9. That's all I need to now.

Also, we might have one of the best overall RB cores in FCS football.

46-0 with no major starting lineup injuries. Who can argue with that being a good thing?

WELL SAID AND AGREE...Coach Spack wasn't going to open up the playbook and give EIU to much tape to watch. Just steak and potatoes this game. Get as many players in before mid season and game 5 roster choices.

 

[crazzymark]

Doesn't look like everyone that lives in Blm/Nrl and comments here was at the game. I know that Sears is closing but you had fireworks at half time..not like here where I see Disney's every night...lol Go to the game kids!!

 

[TIMMY]

I have a hard time believing Dan has a pretty big hand in scheduling and Brock had no idea this game was even a possibility. Hell they only schedule 3 frickin games. You gotta run it by the big guy.

If It was me and I wasn't consulted about scheduling any game I'd be shaking a lot of hands at the AFCA Convention.

 

[Total Red]

Last night was a good night to be 8.

My player of the game on offense was #8 Jordan Birch.
My player of the game on defense was #8 Romeo McKnight

Now supposedly these are two different people but has GoRedbirds ever published separate birth certificates? No, and they won't. Just ask them. Almost as strange as Bryce Jefferson leaving the program last year before his junior season and reappearing as a true freshman this year. Learn not to ask questions and you won't get hurt :shock:

So I won't ask questions about our QB position but I will say this. Our starting QB Brady Davis is a self-confessed gunslinger. That's not a bad thing. In fact it can be very good if you're gunslinger smart. But Davis isn't always so smart. He tries to throw into coverage when it isn't necessary. It doesn't always work in practice against his own defense and he should have had at least 1 int last night. Davis has an enviable skill set with his arms and legs but maybe we need to attach Kolbe's head onto his body. On second thought better not - there's already enough going on inside Kaufman we don't want to know about.

A better idea is to just have Coach Beathard work with him on his decision making. There are times to challenge the coverage and there are times to throw the ball away the way Jake does. This should be something that can be improved upon. Before last night Davis hadn't started a game in years and he wasn't even with the Redbirds for spring ball. He's still in the infancy of his Redbird FB career. If ever a QB could benefit from an exhibition game to start the season this was it. Now it begins to get tougher.

 

[Hamdonger]

Our starting QB Brady Davis is a self-confessed gunslinger. That's not a bad thing. In fact it can be very good if you're gunslinger smart. But Davis isn't always so smart.

Gunslinger smart. Love that term.

 

[fourthandshort]

So I hope Davis can be coached and finds his rhythm with his WRs .. Spack will not tolerate a gun slinger who is careless with ball. We will have a strong run game .. don't need to take as many chances throwing, if we can move chains consistently. We need a game manager who can keep defense honest with his arm .. doesn't need to carry us or take unnecessary risks. No way Spack will put up with that for long.

I think we should continue platooning QBs with Davis getting 60%-65% of reps thru game 4 against MoST, and Kolbe getting the rest. But each game should be fluid depending on how it is going for each. By game 4 or 5, we will see how far Davis progresses ... then make a decision.

But with our RB group and OL, I think we need a game manager not a gun slinger.

 

[MadBird]

Another item from the stat sheet:

5 completions to RB's Saturday night. 26 all last year in 11 games. Welcome back Coach Beathard.

I know it's a small sample size vs. a "lesser" opponent, but hopefully sign of a trend, get the ball to the RB's thru the air.

 

[Total Red]

https://twitter.com/RedbirdFB/status/1036680177718358018?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">September 3,

 

[JHBird]

Stat that jumped out at me - Malachi Broadnax was the leading tackler! Nice debut. Would seem like he embraced the challenge.

Altho no receptions, it seemed like TE Tanner Taula played a fair amount, was listed as a starter (not sure if he actually did start).

I'm sorry this game was scheduled, but I'm not gonna spend any time griping about. It's done and over. At the end of November, if necessary, I'll gripe.

I continue to watch Malachi. Looks like he's a second stringer right now behind Mitchell B. The young man can really hit, moves extremely well and has the size. I'm thinking he'll be something special next year. I didn't think an ex QB could be that physical. To me he's not even a 'project' anymore -- more likely a soon to be a pro prospect.

 

[JHBird]

Another item from the stat sheet:

5 completions to RB's Saturday night. 26 all last year in 11 games. Welcome back Coach Beathard.

I know it's a small sample size vs. a "lesser" opponent, but hopefully sign of a trend, get the ball to the RB's thru the air.

That's a good stat. I didn't realize how little we threw to our RB's last year. It's even odder when you think how Kolbe doesn't really like to challenge the defense with deep throws. Only 26 times! Geez.
I can see us actually doing that more against tougher teams. I think it will be easier when you have a deep threat arm playing QB.

Anybody notice how Davis never kept the ball on the read options? I kinda wanted to see him take off, but I guess there's no need in a game like that. Let Eastern be the first to experience what he can do with his legs.

 

[fourthandshort]

in 2014, Roberson completed 208 passes across 14 games, only 21 were to RBs ... 10.1% to RBs.

In 2017, Kolbe completed 163 passes across 11 games, 25 were to RBs .. 15.3% to Rbs

In 2012, Brown complete 272 passes, across 13 games, 48 were to RBs .. 17.6% to RBs

So Kolbe was on similar track as Brown as far as spreading the ball to his RBS and was actually much better than Roberson. Our passing problems last year were the result of many many problems .. only some of which were the QBs responsibility .. don't forget, we had probelms all over the pass game ... OC, OL, and WRs. Even our run game disappeared a couple games.

 

[rdt99]

I had to laugh when the attendance was posted as 9,157. Are you kidding me! There might have been 4,000 or less. If they are using tickets sold I doubt that too.

 

[Total Red]

Stat that jumped out at me - Malachi Broadnax was the leading tackler! Nice debut. Would seem like he embraced the challenge.

Altho no receptions, it seemed like TE Tanner Taula played a fair amount, was listed as a starter (not sure if he actually did start).

I continue to watch Malachi. Looks like he's a second stringer right now behind Mitchell B. The young man can really hit, moves extremely well and has the size. I'm thinking he'll be something special next year. I didn't think an ex QB could be that physical. To me he's not even a 'project' anymore -- more likely a soon to be a pro prospect.

Broadnax does stand out as athlete - so long, fast, agile and like you say he doesn't hit like an ex-QB. He wouldn't have been a pro prospect as a QB but he has potential as a Safety. Roberson had to learn to be a DB in the NFL and that was too late. Coach Spack did Broadnax a favor by making the change now. We have the right starters with Brees and Kirk but the backups (Broadnax and Uphoff) could be even better with experience. There's also Peyton Jones currently injured. We're deep here. Really looking forward to seeing a lot of Broadnax next season.

We played a lot of two TE's in the opener so Taula did see a fair # of snaps. As JH pointed out we'll see more of the offense in the near future.

 

[Redbirdwarrior]

Ive never seen a fan base so angry about a 46-0 win in my life.

Guys, it is cleanly obvious that Spack scheduled this game just to get every player on the roster live reps. Every player we have saw the field. Yes, rhythm was off in the passing game because A) I dont think that was our full playbook on display and B) Coach was throwing different combinations out there to see what worked from Q2 on.

It was the equivalent of an NFL week 2 presason game.

The D gave up 0 points after a muffed punt put the birds on d first and goal from the 9. That's all I need to now.

Also, we might have one of the best overall RB cores in FCS football.

46-0 with no major starting lineup injuries. Who can argue with that being a good thing?

But this is our regular season....

Yes. This is your regular season and you won the game that was scheduled. More than that, you beat the spread on the game AND gave up 0 points while getting PT for every single player in uniform.

If you wanted to complain about the schedule (and we all did), the time was 4 months ago. Complaining about it now is useless. What you can do is look at the game itself, see how it was played (I argue as well as anyone could hope), and get ready to play EIU this week.

If ISU had given up 17+ points, I'd be like "We have a problem here", but the goal here was to dominate an inferior opponent. They did that. No new negatives as a result of this game.

 

[fourthandshort]

Ive never seen a fan base so angry about a 46-0 win in my life.

Guys, it is cleanly obvious that Spack scheduled this game just to get every player on the roster live reps. Every player we have saw the field. Yes, rhythm was off in the passing game because A) I dont think that was our full playbook on display and B) Coach was throwing different combinations out there to see what worked from Q2 on.

It was the equivalent of an NFL week 2 presason game.

The D gave up 0 points after a muffed punt put the birds on d first and goal from the 9. That's all I need to now.

Also, we might have one of the best overall RB cores in FCS football.

46-0 with no major starting lineup injuries. Who can argue with that being a good thing?

But this is our regular season....

Yes. This is your regular season and you won the game that was scheduled. More than that, you beat the spread on the game AND gave up 0 points while getting PT for every single player in uniform.

If you wanted to complain about the schedule (and we all did), the time was 4 months ago. Complaining about it now is useless. What you can do is look at the game itself, see how it was played (I argue as well as anyone could hope), and get ready to play EIU this week.

If ISU had given up 17+ points, I'd be like "We have a problem here", but the goal here was to dominate an inferior opponent. They did that. No new negatives as a result of this game.

and when our playoff fate is sitting in hands of FCS selection committee 3 months from now at record of 7-4 .. I'm pretty sure it does not matter one bit that we covered the spread and played everyone against a struggling NAIA team.

Lyons needs to hear this loud and clear ... starting when he scheduled STX, which most of us did ... all the way to now, including the post game comments .. all fair game.

But now we prepare for EIU and agree we need to put it behind us .. until playoff selection time. If we finish 8-3 .. all a moot point, but doesn't change the fact it should NEVER have been scheduled.

 

[bb fan]

9157 is the real, audited, butts in the seats number for our attendance Saturday.

 

[Redbirdwarrior]

You are in the MVFC. If you go 7-4, that means you will likely have beaten either:

- an FBS team and at least 2 T30 ranked FBS teams
- at least 3 T30 ranked teams.

At the end of the year, if ISU is 7-4, they will probably inside the T25 and it will be really hard to keep a T25 team out of the playoffs.

 

[fourthandshort]

Except 7-4 equals 6-4 in eyes of selection committee. With some amount of parity returning to FCS, MVFC will be harder pressed to get 5 teams this year. So they tend to start playoff consideration at 7 wins. Only twice in FCS history as FCS selected an at large with 6 wins .. WIU in 2015 and ISUr in 2016. Note, this was at peak of MVFC dominance in 2014-15, and we needed to beat a good Northwestern team or we would not have gotten that bid at 6-5.

And if we're sitting at 6-4 with a bunch of bubble teams at 7-4, I think our chances are 50/50 at best. In fact, if we go 5-3 conf and 1-1 OOC, with no bad losses, I think we should be in. But I wouldn't want my playoff fate in the committees hands .. odd picks happen every year .. usually 2 or 3 for sure.

So I think w need 4 solid looking losses at 6-4 to have a shot. Losing to NDSU by 14 or less would be solid. Every other loss should be closer to TD margin or less. .. including Colorado St.

CAA is right up there with MVFC again. Big Sky got more competitive last year. Southern getting a little better possibly. Southland even looks better after week 1 .. but jury still way out.

p.s. I do not rule out going 8-3 .. in fact, I changed my pick from 7-4 to 8-3 last week. But I prefer to anticipate all possibilities.