NDSU

Virginia Redbird

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The interception changed the entire game. Huge mistake, can't emphasize how huge a mistake it was, and the Bison took total and absolute control of the Birds. Very disappointing when ISU played so well in the first half. Annexstad does have a tendency to throw the ball long. He did it a couple of times before the interception but it did not hurt him. I did not anticipate a win against NDSU but still disappointing.
 

Dmills

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We were doing well offensively until we went to the run in the second half. Offensive line not opening up holes for the running game. Without Wright, we were not able to pick up the extra yard after contact.

I think they spotted us a half yard short prior to us going for it on fourth down. I think we would have gone with the run. Not that we necessarily would've gotten it. We have been horrible at 4th and 1 this year.

Disappointing result, but I am still very happy with Annexstad. Just need to ride him offensively from start to finish. Tough game coming up against a solid 5-3 Youngstown State.
 

Cheesehead

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Zeke and 86 liabilities shouldn’t play. 32 chronically injured. White flag from coach punting on fourth and short. Not making playoffs whether you lose by 17 or 24
 

MadBird

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Yeah, I'm mostly always supporting our team, but they really got whooped in the second half today. Looked like little girly men playing the varsity. Bisons were stronger, quicker, more determined. Gotta believe Zeke's injury hurt, he wasn't mentioned much. Tanner Taula, what happened to him today?

Our Dbacks are really inconsistent, sometimes even when they're there, they aren't there.

I'm a Kobe Rios fan, I like what he does.

Will not call him out by name, again, but have mentioned before one of our TE's is not a solid blocker and sometimes you just watch as the RB gets hosed because of a missed block.

I hate the Bisons! :mad:
 

CaliRdBrd

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Redbird football would be best served with Spack as the defensive coordinator, a new head coach and an offensive coordinator who actually knows football.
 

MadBird

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Oh, and two complaints I just thought of:

What is wrong with our defense that we cannot plan for and stop a goddam QB run up the middle? All season. We have some kind of weak spot in our D alignment that hasn't been corrected that allows the QB to run up the middle and kill us.

And likewise, the other team's TE, whether sliding behind the line or just over the line, kills us. They run the TE to the hash marks and hit him with a little pass and we don't have anyone within 20 yards!!

Thanks for listening.
 

cubird

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We have a good offensive coordinator that is massaging the play calling with the talent on the field. Down to ur 3rd and 4th RBs running behind a challenged line. Its not like the Bison don"t have some NFL talent on defense. We will be lucky to keep Peterson here for another year.
 

Virginia Redbird

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Redbird football would be best served with Spack as the defensive coordinator, a new head coach and an offensive coordinator who actually knows football.
Watching last year and comparing it to this year I have no problem at all with this offensive Coordinator. Players have to execute. In the first half, I thought the offense was going well...until the interception. Give the Bison credit for going into halftime and making adjustments and they played very well in the second half. The Bison tackling in the second half was extremely impressive. Their tackling made the Redbird defenders look like Pop Warner players. The Bison defenders time and time again came stampeding to the point of attack and the ISU running backs looked like they hit a brick wall. Once contact was made they stopped cold and went down. Not many wrestling matches to the ground. I don't think we have enough talent on the offensive side of the ball yet. Injuries of course impacted it too. Mueller and Wright maybe could have made a few more yards. The birds need better offensive line talent. Redbird DBs have had some issues but today I thought the linebackers did not play well and the pass rush was not very effective. The Bison QB did not even move his feet in the pocket at times he was so well-protected and he was so comfortable. The Birds got whipped by a better team today. We were hoping but I don't think many of us expected anything much different than what we saw. This team could still make the playoffs but frankly, I think it will be a short run if they do. There are some holes in this team that the Bison clearly showed to everyone.
Spack has now lost 12 straight games to NDSU. Pretty clear they own him regardless of who his offensive coordinator is. Can't dispute that with 12 losses in a row. Some games were close but they are not playing horseshoes. The NDSU players are better, the NDSU coaches are better, and the NDSU program is better than anything ISU has. Time to lick the wounds and move on to the next game.
 

CaliRdBrd

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Watching last year and comparing it to this year I have no problem at all with this offensive Coordinator. Players have to execute. In the first half, I thought the offense was going well...until the interception. Give the Bison credit for going into halftime and making adjustments and they played very well in the second half. The Bison tackling in the second half was extremely impressive. Their tackling made the Redbird defenders look like Pop Warner players. The Bison defenders time and time again came stampeding to the point of attack and the ISU running backs looked like they hit a brick wall. Once contact was made they stopped cold and went down. Not many wrestling matches to the ground. I don't think we have enough talent on the offensive side of the ball yet. Injuries of course impacted it too. Mueller and Wright maybe could have made a few more yards. The birds need better offensive line talent. Redbird DBs have had some issues but today I thought the linebackers did not play well and the pass rush was not very effective. The Bison QB did not even move his feet in the pocket at times he was so well-protected and he was so comfortable. The Birds got whipped by a better team today. We were hoping but I don't think many of us expected anything much different than what we saw. This team could still make the playoffs but frankly, I think it will be a short run if they do. There are some holes in this team that the Bison clearly showed to everyone.
Spack has now lost 12 straight games to NDSU. Pretty clear they own him regardless of who his offensive coordinator is. Can't dispute that with 12 losses in a row. Some games were close but they are not playing horseshoes. The NDSU players are better, the NDSU coaches are better, and the NDSU program is better than anything ISU has. Time to lick the wounds and move on to the next game.
Fair assessment. It just gets a little frustrating year after of year anemic offense.
Curious on your thoughts as to why NDSU was able to make the necessary halftime adjustments, but we struggled to.
 

Redbird222

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Redbirds playing well .. but Zack just threw threw the pick and returned to mid field. Got to hold them here.
In my opinion, this was the big play of the game ... a momentum killer. Could have been up 10 to 7 at halftime. Instead NDSU is up 10 - 7 and got the ball in the second half.
 

Virginia Redbird

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Fair assessment. It just gets a little frustrating year after of year anemic offense.
Curious on your thoughts as to why NDSU was able to make the necessary halftime adjustments, but we struggled to.
I definitely can feel the frustration just like you. Just my opinion but there are several things. First is the Bison overall just have better talent than ISU. Their O linemen were blowing our defense off the line in the second half and the pass protection was impressive. I am biased since I played O-Line but I think good teams start with a dominating O-line not so much the so-called skill players. Overall I think NDSU has a better coaching staff and a proven program/system that just keeps plugging along. They were home too which, especially in the dome is a big advantage. All that being said the biggest factor I think is mental. The Bison have been the big dogs for well over a decade. They have won so many games whether behind or ahead that each and every player on that squad fully believes they can't be beaten. They have found a way to win no matter what. My impression when Annexstad tossed the interception was the air went out of the Redbird offense and the Bison moved right down the field on our defense. The Redbirds looked to be thinking, here we go again. The Bison have the killer instinct. They play to crush their opponents. When a mistake is committed by the opponent they make them pay and pay dearly for the mistake. When the Bison make a mistake they feel they can overcome it. When I commented last week on the Redbirds going into a shell and playing not to lose so early this is exactly what I meant. Championship teams play to win. Middle-of-the-road teams play not to lose. Bad teams just hope not to get embarrassed. Football is so much mental attitude. I recall reading a quote by Vince Lombardi about his Packer teams in the 60s that paraphrasing went like this. We never lost a game, we just ran out of time. If we had more time we would have won the game. My impression is the Bison never feel they were beaten. The Redbirds looked like a beaten team in the second half and they played like it. I don't mean to say they quit, they did not. They just did not play like they expected to get back in the game and win it. The Redbird coaching staff helped to develop that attitude when they called off the dogs last week early and let the Sycamores back into the game. As I said, just my humble opinion.
 

MadBird

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Couple quick thoughts after reading comments from Virginia and Redbird222 and DMills:

The interception was a momentum killer, BUT we held them to a FG. Only down 3 points at the half. And, altho they got the ball to start the second half, Birds stopped them, 4 play drive. So the "late 1st half score-first 2nd half possession" deal didn't really hurt.

But what did hurt was getting the ball back at our own 9 yard line. Followed by a 1 yard - ONE yard - drive. Then a short punt giving them possession on our 44 yard line. FORTY-FOUR. So, you know, adjustments are a hell of a lot easier to make if you've pinned the other team on their own 10, and if you take over on offense on the other team's 44.

So now we're down 17-7 and we follow with a 3 play, 9 yard drive. Punt it away, and NDSU drives a bit, but the Birds stopped them and forced a punt. We get the ball back, drive to the Bison 48 and go for it on 4th and 1 -- and don't get it. That's where the game really turned, IMHO - come down and put points on the board there, maybe we grab some mo back. Instead, they mount an 11 play 52 yard drive from their own 48 and it's out of reach. Birds take the KO and mount a 3 play 8 yard drive. Punt. Game over.

So field position, failure to take advantage on O after our D stopped them a couple times, and then not being able to hold them on that last drive, killed us. Bummer.

But said this in an earlier post, and others mentioned it too, Spack and Co. have to figger out how to get some powerful guys on the roster, or power up who we have, because the Bisons hit with power and speed, and for the most part Birds aren't there yet. Lots of "small school" midwest guys on their roster too, from the Dakotas and Minnesota and Wisconsin, and Illinois for that matter.

So, you know, lots of work to do, right?
 

Total Red

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It seemed like the Bison defense was playing downhill all afternoon. They weren't afraid that we would go deep on them and they attacked the line of scrimmage. Annexstad didn't have much time for longer passes and the Bison have confidence in their secondary if he does get a deep toss. There weren't a lot of holes for the RB's. I thought the tackles (Asche, Zambrano) blocked fairly well but not so much for the guards. I would have given Mueller more snaps at G.

We have some posters saying that we needed to pass more because we weren't going anywhere on the ground and I get that. But we also have posters saying that the INT was a turning point so I get that too.

We can slice this a lot of different ways but I think the simplest explanations are often the best. They were better, they won.

If the point spread held at 17.5 then we beat the spread. I hope you all put some money on the 'Bird$.
 

Brick

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I freely admit I am a basketball guy. Never played nor coached football. But for all the what if’s it seemed to me that the difference in the game was the difference in the O lines. Ours did a decent job of pass protection. Their line gave the QB all day to pass. Our line couldn’t open any holes for the run game. Their line most certainly did.
 

Humdinger

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Championship teams play to win. Middle-of-the-road teams play not to lose. Bad teams just hope not to get embarrassed. Football is so much mental attitude.
LIFE is so much mental attitude.
"Mental toughness is to physical as 4 is to 1."
-Bob Knight
 

Humdinger

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But you sure can learn a multitude of life lessons when taking the class of competitive athletics.
 

Virginia Redbird

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I took a look at Bisonville, the NDSU fan forum. Mostly positive comments about the Redbirds. Most of the conversation was about the Bison defense playing what many on the board thought to be their best game of the season. That is probably true I think. The Birds caught them at a bad time following a bye week and a loss. They were playing at home as well. It made a steep hill to climb just that much steeper. I would agree the Bison defense in the second half was very solid. As I said most comments were along the lines that the Bison beat a good team on Saturday.
 

Redbirdwarrior

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This is about exactly how I thought this game would go. NDSU is still NDSU and will likely be in the final 4 for the national championship again. ISU isn't there, but it wasn't a blowout. It got away from us as the end, but ISU held their own for the majority of the game.

ISU's arrow is still pointed up. I think 2 more wins still gets you the playoffs and I think those two wins are certainly on the schedule.
 
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