NDSU Game (10/5/19)

[fourthandshort]

I think Davis shows up enough to keep their defense somewhat honest .. numbers like 15 of 25 for 225 yards would suffice to help move chains and spread things out some for run game. Certainly the X factor in this game along with the receivers that will need to step up ... looking at Haley, Rutkiewicz, Blackman, and Nagel to show us something this week.

But the other aspect is RBs Robinson and Proctor .. I must say, neither has been as explosive as I expected to this point. Proctor has shown us some burst here and there and has been contributing some .. just not as much as I thought. Some of that is how much defenses were stacking the box until Davis made them pay for it against NAU.

But also thinking it seemed like Spack protected Robinson much more this offseason compared to prior seasons .. so I'm wondering if he was as game ready this year as he was to start his JR season. he doesn't yet seem to be at full speed & explosiveness. Hoping the 2 week layoff with Bison coming to town will be what get's him back to his peak like we saw last year. Maybe it's just me, but I don't think he is at that level yet this year.

This would be a great week to bust out to show Bison, MVFC, and FCS what our offense is capable of ina big game.

 

[Redbird28]

I think Davis shows up enough to keep their defense somewhat honest .. numbers like 15 of 25 for 225 yards would suffice to help move chains and spread things out some for run game. Certainly the X factor in this game along with the receivers that will need to step up ... looking at Haley, Rutkiewicz, Blackman, and Nagel to show us something this week.

But the other aspect is RBs Robinson and Proctor .. I must say, neither has been as explosive as I expected to this point. Proctor has shown us some burst here and there and has been contributing some .. just not as much as I thought. Some of that is how much defenses were stacking the box until Davis made them pay for it against NAU.

But also thinking it seemed like Spack protected Robinson much more this offseason compared to prior seasons .. so I'm wondering if he was as game ready this year as he was to start his JR season. he doesn't yet seem to be at full speed & explosiveness. Hoping the 2 week layoff with Bison coming to town will be what get's him back to his peak like we saw last year. Maybe it's just me, but I don't think he is at that level yet this year.

This would be a great week to bust out to show Bison, MVFC, and FCS what our offense is capable of ina big game.

Throw some to Proctor, and throw some to the TE, and it should help mitigate the losses of Edgar and Grimes somewhat while also lessening the pressure on the rest of the WR corps to step up.

 

[fourthandshort]

I think there's at least a fair chance our pass rush gives their freshman QB a bad day. This rush has been pretty malicious the past couple games against a couple pretty good OLs. This is what I'll be keying on. Is our pass rush good enough to be a difference maker in this game? Stick needed time to complete some of those daggers. It's time to end this seven game skid against the mighty herd.

Buffaloes 16
Redbirds 20

agree .. our front 7 should punish his run efforts much more than most teams he has seen so far this year. He had lot of yards after contact against UCD .. their LBers range 205-220 lbs .. while ours range from 230 to 250. He weighs 220 lbs so that will make a difference when he leaves the pocket. He's agile and tough, but so was the EIU QB who transfered from Tulane .. and we sacked himn 9 times, not ot mention 4-5 other times he barely slipped away.

 

[JHBird]

I think there's at least a fair chance our pass rush gives their freshman QB a bad day. This rush has been pretty malicious the past couple games against a couple pretty good OLs. This is what I'll be keying on. Is our pass rush good enough to be a difference maker in this game? Stick needed time to complete some of those daggers. It's time to end this seven game skid against the mighty herd.

Buffaloes 16
Redbirds 20

Our pass rush probably is the key to the whole game. We have to hurry him and make him throw a couple INT's.

 

[ISUBU]

NDSU has been extremely consistent over the last decade. I find that to be the most remarkable aspect of their run. They just put continued pressure on the other team, so when ever you make a mistake it is magnified. When we do what we can do, we've gone toe to toe with them. But it is the mistakes that have made all the difference in the world. Last year we played them pretty even up, but a couple of big plays (long passes, a punt return) changed field position and cost the game.

If we avoid blown assignments or turnovers, the game will be won or lost by the lines. In the NIU loss, our OLine struggled to block long enough to free our runners. Can our DLine hold up against the push, and get pressure while still containing the QB and screen passes?

This should be the best game in the country this week. Lets make it that!

 

[fourthandshort]

NDSU has been extremely consistent over the last decade. I find that to be the most remarkable aspect of their run. They just put continued pressure on the other team, so when ever you make a mistake it is magnified. When we do what we can do, we've gone toe to toe with them. But it is the mistakes that have made all the difference in the world. Last year we played them pretty even up, but a couple of big plays (long passes, a punt return) changed field position and cost the game.

If we avoid blown assignments or turnovers, the game will be won or lost by the lines. In the NIU loss, our OLine struggled to block long enough to free our runners. Can our DLine hold up against the push, and get pressure while still containing the QB and screen passes?

This should be the best game in the country this week. Lets make it that!

This !!!

It is a good day to make a strong impression in MVFC and FCS !!!!

 

[Redbirds100]

Right now and it keeps changing, rain at 3pm...
That would be cool if it holds off...

 

[tjbison]

24-17 NDSU is my call

Hard fought game, but I think the D does their job, and our O line wears your D line Down


Hey someone had to be the other voice right?

Cheers to a good game though I like hard fought games

 

[fourthandshort]

24-17 NDSU is my call

Hard fought game, but I think the D does their job, and our O line wears your D line Down


Hey someone had to be the other voice right?

Cheers to a good game though I like hard fought games

tjbison .. your name looks familar, so welcome back to Redbird Nation ... like your total score and margin, just flip them around and were in 100% agreement !!

I think there is about equal chance we a) win a close game, b) lose a close game, or c) play tough but let it slip away in 2nd half. But as I've said here and on AGS, a lot depends on if our QB hangs tough in pocket and makes throws like NAU game .. that and our OL has to do their job. if that happens, i expect this is a game we can win. I think your guys will be duly impressed with our defense, especially our front 7 ... similar to last year, we're big and disciplined, and unlike last year when we finished last in MVFC in sacks ... we're #1 in FCS in sacks so far this year. We're also near the top in red znone defense ... we're very tough as field gets smaller.

But what we don't do is win 7 Natty;s in 8 years ... so there's that aspect, I guess.

Going to be fun to watch if you like defense and grinder type games.

 

[lakesbison]

Sorry so quiet on this board recently (3 kids in 4 years will do that to ya)

out of all the Valley teams, Illinois State has the most respect from BisoNation and coaches... Mainly because of that close Title game and Coach Spack has always been funny on the fargo radio when on and you're a hard nosed football program.

uni,sdsu have always been punks.

but I digress.. with your 2 WR's out, NDSU will ratchet up the pressure on the line and move #42 Jabril Cox up to the line of scrimmage alot.

Offensively, Trey Lance has been really good running and controlling the game, I'd like to see him pass it more, but with O-Coord Tyler Roehl he's gonna want to punish on the ground.

 

[MadBird]

24-17 NDSU is my call

Hard fought game, but I think the D does their job, and our O line wears your D line Down


Hey someone had to be the other voice right?

Cheers to a good game though I like hard fought games

As always the Bison are formidable. Hard to predict what might happen based on their two "real" games, Delaware and Davis. Seemed to have had their way with Delaware on the road, but Davis was in the game well into the 4th quarter in Fargo. Do I get it that Davis threw a pick inside the Bizon 10 with 6+ minutes left? Stopped the resulting Bizon drive, got the ball back and then threw another pick on 1st down? They had a couple chances late to take the game.

I would only say that unless the Bizon play more than 5 guys on their O line, our deep D front 7 is prolly not gonna wear out that much, assuming all hands are on deck Saturday. We've got some big boys, some quick guys, pretty solid two deep, and "wild card" Clayton Isbell as a small LB/big S off the bench.

I think we've got a shot here, gonna take our best effort of the season, and the Birds can't give up any freebies. That was what killed us vs. NIU, broke our back.

Spack's Guys -- 30
Big Brown Cows -- 27

 

[lakesbison]

Wow were getting 14.5 points at home....o/u 46.5
What do you all think of that?

I wouldn't worry about the points as disrespect. Books/Vegas just took so many ass whoopings over the years on FBS games involving NDSU (iowa, K state, minn) that seriously every game they inflate NDSU by about 7-8 points... I'm not even kidding i gamble alot and see it every week.

NDSU is a legit -7 in this game (plus the -3 home field adv)

so make some money while your team loses


NDSU O Line averages 6 5 310 , and they rotate in 2 guys. Its the NDSU D Line that will wear down teams, I've seen 8-10 guys rotating in consistently, sometimes they'll even do a hockey style line change in a middle of a drive. Most FCS programs just can't match that depth-wise .. that's NDSU success ingredient

 

[fourthandshort]

24-17 NDSU is my call

Hard fought game, but I think the D does their job, and our O line wears your D line Down


Hey someone had to be the other voice right?

Cheers to a good game though I like hard fought games

As always the Bison are formidable. Hard to predict what might happen based on their two "real" games, Delaware and Davis. Seemed to have had their way with Delaware on the road, but Davis was in the game well into the 4th quarter in Fargo. Do I get it that Davis threw a pick inside the Bizon 10 with 6+ minutes left? Stopped the resulting Bizon drive, got the ball back and then threw another pick on 1st down? They had a couple chances late to take the game.

I would only say that unless the Bizon play more than 5 guys on their O line, our deep D front 7 is prolly not gonna wear out that much, assuming all hands are on deck Saturday. We've got some big boys, some quick guys, pretty solid two deep, and "wild card" Clayton Isbell as a small LB/big S off the bench.

I think we've got a shot here, gonna take our best effort of the season, and the Birds can't give up any freebies. That was what killed us vs. NIU, broke our back.

Spack's Guys -- 30
Big Brown Cows -- 27

UCD had big interior just like us ... one was 325 ish, plus 2 guys approachin 290, .. so Bison dealt with that already but struggled more than usual. So I think we'll hold our own in trenches. But UCD LBers were small ... all 215 lbs. except the jack was like 230. Ours are all 235-250 and the jack is also 250. Plus we go 8 deep with quality in our LBer group.

And it's not like NDSU does any hurry up or throws a lot .. so the only way our defense wears down is if our offense doesn't move chains and give our defense a few breaks. And I think our big LBers are going to put serious hits on the NDSU QB ... I saw how easily Lance ran over a couple of the UCD defenders .. as tough as your QB is running for a RS FR, I don't see that happening as much this week.

 

[ChiRedbirdfan]

24-17 NDSU is my call

Hard fought game, but I think the D does their job, and our O line wears your D line Down


Hey someone had to be the other voice right?

Cheers to a good game though I like hard fought games

As always the Bison are formidable. Hard to predict what might happen based on their two "real" games, Delaware and Davis. Seemed to have had their way with Delaware on the road, but Davis was in the game well into the 4th quarter in Fargo. Do I get it that Davis threw a pick inside the Bizon 10 with 6+ minutes left? Stopped the resulting Bizon drive, got the ball back and then threw another pick on 1st down? They had a couple chances late to take the game.

I would only say that unless the Bizon play more than 5 guys on their O line, our deep D front 7 is prolly not gonna wear out that much, assuming all hands are on deck Saturday. We've got some big boys, some quick guys, pretty solid two deep, and "wild card" Clayton Isbell as a small LB/big S off the bench.

I think we've got a shot here, gonna take our best effort of the season, and the Birds can't give up any freebies. That was what killed us vs. NIU, broke our back.

Spack's Guys -- 30
Big Brown Cows -- 27

UCD had big interior just like us ... one was 325 ish, plus 2 guys approachin 290, .. so Bison dealt with that already but struggled more than usual. So I think we'll hold our own in trenches. But UCD LBers were small ... all 215 lbs. except the jack was like 230. Ours are all 235-250 and the jack is also 250. Plus we go 8 deep with quality in our LBer group.

And it's not like NDSU does any hurry up or throws a lot .. so the only way our defense wears down is if our offense doesn't move chains and give our defense a few breaks. And I think our big LBers are going to put serious hits on the NDSU QB ... I saw how easily Lance ran over a couple of the UCD defenders .. as tough as your QB is running for a RS FR, I don't see that happening as much this week.

Hey Fourth I like the size element but believe it can easily be fool’s gold too. Speed/Athleticism with some grit and iq trumps size big time. Do our bigs have some of the other elements too?

 

[fourthandshort]

As always the Bison are formidable. Hard to predict what might happen based on their two "real" games, Delaware and Davis. Seemed to have had their way with Delaware on the road, but Davis was in the game well into the 4th quarter in Fargo. Do I get it that Davis threw a pick inside the Bizon 10 with 6+ minutes left? Stopped the resulting Bizon drive, got the ball back and then threw another pick on 1st down? They had a couple chances late to take the game.

I would only say that unless the Bizon play more than 5 guys on their O line, our deep D front 7 is prolly not gonna wear out that much, assuming all hands are on deck Saturday. We've got some big boys, some quick guys, pretty solid two deep, and "wild card" Clayton Isbell as a small LB/big S off the bench.

I think we've got a shot here, gonna take our best effort of the season, and the Birds can't give up any freebies. That was what killed us vs. NIU, broke our back.

Spack's Guys -- 30
Big Brown Cows -- 27

UCD had big interior just like us ... one was 325 ish, plus 2 guys approachin 290, .. so Bison dealt with that already but struggled more than usual. So I think we'll hold our own in trenches. But UCD LBers were small ... all 215 lbs. except the jack was like 230. Ours are all 235-250 and the jack is also 250. Plus we go 8 deep with quality in our LBer group.

And it's not like NDSU does any hurry up or throws a lot .. so the only way our defense wears down is if our offense doesn't move chains and give our defense a few breaks. And I think our big LBers are going to put serious hits on the NDSU QB ... I saw how easily Lance ran over a couple of the UCD defenders .. as tough as your QB is running for a RS FR, I don't see that happening as much this week.

Hey Fourth I like the size element but believe it can easily be fool’s gold too. Speed/Athleticism with some grit and iq trumps size big time. Do our bigs have some of the other elements too?

agreed. advantages to both speed and size ... but their QB runs a lot and is 220 bs. Having watched him run on UCD ... he is not afraid of contact, rarely slides, and likes to lower his shoulders into tacklers to get more yards and break tackles. His frame is a little deceiving .. he can hit and take a hit. So I'm glad our LBers are 235 to 250 agianst a guy like this.

 

[redbirdfan04]

NDSU 20
ISU 10

Trying out new WRs against the best team in the country is not a recipe for winning. NDSU has been dominate for years. Our DLine played great two weeks ago but this team is not the same.

 

[lakesbison]

I see the Lawn seats are being offered and soldout for this one.....
Just the visitor section on the west side is available. But We know our Bison friends will be all over the place. Can any of our North Dakota Friends bring down some chocolate from Widman's? Lakebison?

http://www.carolwidmanscandy.com/

I am gonna be stuck in Minneapolis at a Minnesota Twins watch party with clients.. darn it! I wanted to come to Normal. Only 3 places I've haven't gone is Normal, Terra Haute & Macomb.. (the 2 later are understandable right?) :mrgreen:

 

[fourthandshort]

In 2018, we finished at 13th in total yards per game defensively, and 7th in yards per play defensively, and all 6 teams ahead of us played in very weak conferences. NDSU was just behind us, though played 4 add'l playoff games. Note, we finished last in MVFC in sacks last year, and still led MVFC in least yards per play .. that is very hard to do.

So far in 2019 (4 games), we rank 18th in total ypg, and 10th in yards per play with 6 teams from very weak conferences in front of us. And unlike last year, we lead FCS in sacks per game at 5.00 despite getting off to slow start against NIU and Morehead St.

My point ... This is going to be an epic FCS battle in the trenches on both sides of ball. It won't look pretty most of the time, but that doesnt necessarily mean it is poorly played game. Watch our field position this game .. that will tell us a lot about how things are going. We got killed in field position in our 4 late losses last year .. especially in 2nd qtr ... that keyed on turnovers and the offense going into conservative funk. Got to keep them honest with our play calling or field will get real small on offense. This is a faster defense (Back 7) than the usual Bison defense ... lot of new young parts this year, but they play fast and smart.

2018 Total Defensive - FCS Rankings - yards per play

Rank Team G W-L Plays YDS Yds/Play Off TDs Opp TDs YPG
1 Colgate (Patriot) 12 10-2 740 2,852 3.85 14 14 237.7
4 Dartmouth (Ivy League) 10 9-1 676 2,804 4.15 14 15 280.4
9 Drake (Pioneer) 11 7-4 785 3,256 4.15 26 28 296.0
11 Georgetown (Patriot) 11 5-6 788 3,278 4.16 24 27 298.0
3 N.C. A&T (MEAC) 12 10-2 762 3,248 4.26 14 17 270.7
2 Kennesaw St. (Big South) 13 11-2 772 3,428 4.44 23 24 263.7
13 Illinois St. (MVFC) 11 6-5 756 3,408 4.51 26 27 309.8
8 Alcorn (SWAC) 13 9-4 835 3,788 4.54 29 34 291.4
6 James Madison (CAA) 13 9-4 824 3,763 4.57 20 22 289.5
17 Maine (CAA) 14 10-4 960 4,383 4.57 38 40 313.1
7 Saint Francis (PA) (NEC) 11 4-7 690 3,193 4.63 24 27 290.3
18 Stony Brook (CAA) 12 7-5 818 3,784 4.63 30 32 315.3
10 Princeton (Ivy League) 10 10-0 636 2,973 4.67 17 17 297.3
23 Western Ill. (MVFC) 11 5-6 766 3,607 4.71 28 33 327.9
20 Weber St. (Big Sky) 13 10-3 871 4,130 4.74 28 35 317.7
49 Prairie View (SWAC) 11 5-6 861 4,084 4.74 35 36 371.3
14 New Hampshire (CAA) 11 4-7 718 3,410 4.75 27 32 310.0
5 North Dakota St. (MVFC) 15 15-0 911 4,339 4.76 22 24 289.3


2019 total defensive yards per play - after 4 games

Rank Team G W-L Plays YDS Yds/Play Off TDs Opp TDs YPG
4 Georgetown (Patriot) 4 3-1 256 1,021 3.99 5 5 255.3
1 Davidson (Pioneer) 4 3-1 222 892 4.02 8 8 223.0
3 Columbia (Ivy League) 2 1-1 125 503 4.02 5 5 251.5
12 UNI (MVFC) 4 2-2 292 1,178 4.03 8 8 294.5
2 Kennesaw St. (Big South) 5 4-1 284 1,152 4.06 7 7 230.4
6 South Dakota St. (MVFC) 4 3-1 258 1,076 4.17 5 6 269.0
14 North Dakota (FCS Independent) 4 2-2 288 1,214 4.22 14 14 303.5
16 Austin Peay (OVC) 5 3-2 358 1,524 4.26 15 15 304.8
11 N.C. A&T (MEAC) 4 3-1 269 1,176 4.37 12 12 294.0
18 Illinois St. (MVFC) 4 3-1 283 1,239 4.38 8 9 309.8
5 James Madison (CAA) 5 4-1 290 1,278 4.41 7 7 255.6
7 Cornell (Ivy League) 2 1-1 124 547 4.41 2 4 273.5
8 North Dakota St. (MVFC) 4 4-0 252 1,111 4.41 4 5 277.8

 

[lakesbison]

NDSU Wheels up at 3pm!

https://flightaware.com/live/flight/DAL8901/history/20191004/2010Z/KFAR/KBMI

 

[StLRedbird]

I’m just really looking forward to reading the meltdown on bisonville Sunday morning. Why don’t you post over there, lakes? Please share your side of that story w us