I had a lengthy post about the SDSU game but it was well covered by Madbird and others and it wasn't a pleasant conversation so I deep sixed it. To borrow a phrase from the Denver Johnson era - FIDO (Forget It Drive On) which is sometimes stated more strongly after a particularly difficult loss. So FIDO SDSU.
In fact you can FIDO every week in the MVFC because last week never means anything anyway. Last week Ind St. won at Youngstown, SIU won at Missouri St. and WIU beat N. Iowa. Will that be momentum that any of those teams can carry into this week? Likely not. Unless you're NDSU every game is up for grabs and last week was last week.
So what's in store for Illinois State this week? Hard to say, I don't even know which QB will start but it sounds like Kolbe. I'm not sure it will make much difference. I think they're both about the same. Whoever starts will need to look for rushing opportunites. Davis had a nice 3-yard TD run against Eastern. I thought we'd be seeing more of that but it hasn't happened. I know Coach Spack wants to be an 11 on 11 rushing offense and we need to be. Maybe Kolbe can do it. He's shown some moves.
We need to start rushing the opposing punter too. I know roughing the punter calls are killers but opposing punters are leisurely kicking the ball due to token pressure giving their cover team time to get downfield. Meanwhile our punter has to kick quickly and opponents are returning them. We can't concede that advantage. Keep training punt rushers on how to block a kick without roughing.
I still hope to be right about this team over the full season but I find it impossible to predict what will happen in any single game. There's nothing to do but take the George Costanza opposite approach. When everything you do is wrong then you need to start doing the opposite of what your instinct tells you to do. My instinct tells me that N. Iowa is very tough to beat in the UNI-Dome. Therefore I'm going with the Redbirds.
Redbirds 21
Garage Dwellers 17
In fact you can FIDO every week in the MVFC because last week never means anything anyway. Last week Ind St. won at Youngstown, SIU won at Missouri St. and WIU beat N. Iowa. Will that be momentum that any of those teams can carry into this week? Likely not. Unless you're NDSU every game is up for grabs and last week was last week.
So what's in store for Illinois State this week? Hard to say, I don't even know which QB will start but it sounds like Kolbe. I'm not sure it will make much difference. I think they're both about the same. Whoever starts will need to look for rushing opportunites. Davis had a nice 3-yard TD run against Eastern. I thought we'd be seeing more of that but it hasn't happened. I know Coach Spack wants to be an 11 on 11 rushing offense and we need to be. Maybe Kolbe can do it. He's shown some moves.
We need to start rushing the opposing punter too. I know roughing the punter calls are killers but opposing punters are leisurely kicking the ball due to token pressure giving their cover team time to get downfield. Meanwhile our punter has to kick quickly and opponents are returning them. We can't concede that advantage. Keep training punt rushers on how to block a kick without roughing.
I still hope to be right about this team over the full season but I find it impossible to predict what will happen in any single game. There's nothing to do but take the George Costanza opposite approach. When everything you do is wrong then you need to start doing the opposite of what your instinct tells you to do. My instinct tells me that N. Iowa is very tough to beat in the UNI-Dome. Therefore I'm going with the Redbirds.
Redbirds 21
Garage Dwellers 17