Now that the game has sunk in for half a day, 7 thoughts on the outcome.
1) Enough of the ifs. IF we don't have two turnovers for scores and IF we kick the FG at the end of the half and IF we don't have all the false starts...we still lose a close game or maybe slip by the 4th or 5th ranked team in the league. They had ifs too...missed FG, long completed pass called incomplete, it works both ways. The problems were deeper than that.
2) Since the FG is a point of contention, despite what some think, the right move is kicking it in that situation, after getting stuffed 3 plays you have to kick it in that situation... on the road, down 11 getting the ball starting the 2nd half. It's smart football, it has nothing to do with announcing your presence and authority, we're not NDSU we have to take points when they're available.
3) The offensive line was terrible all night. When I see 240 DL's making plays in our backfield after blowing by our 300+ all-world line, I know we're in trouble. Johnson never had time to get comfortable, to me this was the the biggest disappointment of the night along with...
4) ...we are a terrible tackling team, got away with it against the bad teams because they are fundamentally poor or don't have the horses, but it showed last night and will continue to show if unchecked. How many yards did Bauman have after first contact? A bunch. This armtackling crap drives me nuts, wrap someone up and wait for your friends, it's not rocket science.
5) UND and NAU both took the opening kickoff and drove it down our throats in a minute to score. Are we that predictable or that unprepared to start the game?
6) Why doesn't Van get more carries? Is it ball control, blocking, health concerns? I really have no clue, but he got a total of 6 carries besides the 2 goal-line carries, seems pretty light considering his upside.
7) Quit scheduling shit OOC games. Nobody knew North Dakota would be that bad, but the OKPSEIEIO game should have never been made. It sounds good to give your starters 10 minutes of work and give your backups a chance for some playing time, what it really does is allow your starters to develop bad habits and get complacent because it's too easy. The team learned very little about itself those 2 weeks except they can beat bad teams on talent alone, and in the long run that does more harm than good.
I don't mean for this to come off as a rant or being negative, but this is objectively what it is, and there needs to be adjustments made. The upside is that the talent is there to make a run at the Big Sky title, but unless we get back to sound, fundamental, smashmouth football we will be a middle-of-the-pack team.
I expect an inspired performance against PSU, if that doesn't happen after the sick feeling everybody must have had in their gut on the plane ride home I will be much more disappointed than last night.
1) Enough of the ifs. IF we don't have two turnovers for scores and IF we kick the FG at the end of the half and IF we don't have all the false starts...we still lose a close game or maybe slip by the 4th or 5th ranked team in the league. They had ifs too...missed FG, long completed pass called incomplete, it works both ways. The problems were deeper than that.
2) Since the FG is a point of contention, despite what some think, the right move is kicking it in that situation, after getting stuffed 3 plays you have to kick it in that situation... on the road, down 11 getting the ball starting the 2nd half. It's smart football, it has nothing to do with announcing your presence and authority, we're not NDSU we have to take points when they're available.
3) The offensive line was terrible all night. When I see 240 DL's making plays in our backfield after blowing by our 300+ all-world line, I know we're in trouble. Johnson never had time to get comfortable, to me this was the the biggest disappointment of the night along with...
4) ...we are a terrible tackling team, got away with it against the bad teams because they are fundamentally poor or don't have the horses, but it showed last night and will continue to show if unchecked. How many yards did Bauman have after first contact? A bunch. This armtackling crap drives me nuts, wrap someone up and wait for your friends, it's not rocket science.
5) UND and NAU both took the opening kickoff and drove it down our throats in a minute to score. Are we that predictable or that unprepared to start the game?
6) Why doesn't Van get more carries? Is it ball control, blocking, health concerns? I really have no clue, but he got a total of 6 carries besides the 2 goal-line carries, seems pretty light considering his upside.
7) Quit scheduling shit OOC games. Nobody knew North Dakota would be that bad, but the OKPSEIEIO game should have never been made. It sounds good to give your starters 10 minutes of work and give your backups a chance for some playing time, what it really does is allow your starters to develop bad habits and get complacent because it's too easy. The team learned very little about itself those 2 weeks except they can beat bad teams on talent alone, and in the long run that does more harm than good.
I don't mean for this to come off as a rant or being negative, but this is objectively what it is, and there needs to be adjustments made. The upside is that the talent is there to make a run at the Big Sky title, but unless we get back to sound, fundamental, smashmouth football we will be a middle-of-the-pack team.
I expect an inspired performance against PSU, if that doesn't happen after the sick feeling everybody must have had in their gut on the plane ride home I will be much more disappointed than last night.
