Worst FCS Coaching Decisions

[Mattymc727]

Idea was born out of two separate coaching decisions in the Nova-UNH thread, Nova's may be an All-Timer...

But lets share. These linger for years due to their infamy. What are some of the worst coaching moves either in-game or outside the game that you can remember?

Stick to FCS.

[Go Green]

The Ivy's nominee is usually the fake punt called by Yale on 4th and 22 in The Game in 2009.

https://www.nytimes.com/2009/11/22/sports/ncaafootball/22yale.html

Everything else is small beer compared to that...

[Reign of Terrier]

Georgia Southern hiring Brian VonGorder and then Chris Hatcher.

[ST_Lawson]

WIU.....just WIU

Apparently coaches get here and then very quickly decide to get out while they still can. The last coach that actually stuck around long enough to get fired never coached football at any level again. He's still in the area, and last I heard, he was in charge of our local Wesley Foundation just off campus (Mark Hendrickson, Robinson Award Runner-up in 2010).

[Mattymc727]

Porting over from the other thread: Nova

1:32 left Nova takes over around midfield after SB onside kick went OB.
SB had 1 time out.

Nova elected to drop back & take a 10 yard loss. Nova TE was flagged for holding. SB declines the penalty, but under 2 minutes SB had the option to stop the clock. Rule changed a few years ago according to our coach.
This made it 2 & 20 with 1:27 or so on the clock.

Now faced with no way to run out the clock with SB retaining their TO, Nova decided to repeat the play. QB dropped back for another 10 yard loss. Smh. Now it’s 3rd & 32 clock running. Nova ran on 3rd down & had to punt on 4th & long.

SB got the ball with 28 seconds & hit 2 pass plays for 19 & 40 yards. Left 4 seconds left to kick a game winning FG.

Traditional thinking would have taken 3 knees. Forced SB to use their TO after 1st down. Clock would have been around or under 10 seconds & the punt would have put SB 20 yards further away.

Classic bonehead coaching. Why they thought after the 1st down debacle to do it again on 2nd down is a real head scratcher.

Dumb....dumb...dumb...

[Mattymc727]

UNH vs Holy Cross 2019:

The UNH defense dominated the game, and it was 10-6 UNH late in the 4th, 1:56 to go. UNH gets the ball on its own 1 yrd line. Now, UNH had also been struggling offensively, even more so running the ball.

Somehow, UNH decided to snap from the deep shotgun and hand off to the RB, who tries to make a cut and gets tackled in the endzone and fumbles, resulting in a HC touchdown, game over 13-10. Why they didn't just try to QB sneak 3 times and punt, Ill never know.

[POD Knows]

UNH vs Holy Cross 2019:

The UNH defense dominated the game, and it was 10-6 UNH late in the 4th, 1:56 to go. UNH gets the ball on its own 1 yrd line. Now, UNH had also been struggling offensively, even more so running the ball.

Somehow, UNH decided to snap from the deep shotgun and hand off to the RB, who tries to make a cut and gets tackled in the endzone and fumbles, resulting in a HC touchdown, game over 13-10. Why they didn't just try to QB sneak 3 times and punt, Ill never know.UNH must have pulled that play from the Ampipe playbook, at least Ampipe put the QB under center. xlolx

[IBleedYellow]

SDSU throwing it on 3rd and 8 within FG range against NDSU in 2019 with 3 minutes left in the game and a tied game....with their 3rd string QB.

INT or Sack were very possible with how the QB was playing. Play ended in an INT.

[Professor Chaos]

Porting over from the other thread: Nova

1:32 left Nova takes over around midfield after SB onside kick went OB.
SB had 1 time out.

Nova elected to drop back & take a 10 yard loss. Nova TE was flagged for holding. SB declines the penalty, but under 2 minutes SB had the option to stop the clock. Rule changed a few years ago according to our coach.
This made it 2 & 20 with 1:27 or so on the clock.

Now faced with no way to run out the clock with SB retaining their TO, Nova decided to repeat the play. QB dropped back for another 10 yard loss. Smh. Now it’s 3rd & 32 clock running. Nova ran on 3rd down & had to punt on 4th & long.

SB got the ball with 28 seconds & hit 2 pass plays for 19 & 40 yards. Left 4 seconds left to kick a game winning FG.

Traditional thinking would have taken 3 knees. Forced SB to use their TO after 1st down. Clock would have been around or under 10 seconds & the punt would have put SB 20 yards further away.

Classic bonehead coaching. Why they thought after the 1st down debacle to do it again on 2nd down is a real head scratcher.

Dumb....dumb...dumb...
Ok… so I get that Ferrante is getting crucified for this but this is another scenario where I think there's plenty of blame to be shared. Committing a holding penalty when you know the ball carrier isn't going to even be trying to move the ball forward and get yards is even more boneheaded IMO. Had they executed the play call and not committed the penalty Stony Brook has 0% chance to win that game (well maybe .001% chance in case of a fumbled exchange on the snap in the last 2 plays). If they take 3 knees and punt it then Stony Brook has a chance for a punt return and possibly even a heave after that.

NDSU had a similar scenario in the '17 natty against JMU. They were up 4 and took over with 58 seconds left on their own 25 and JMU having two timeouts. They ran normal 4 minute offense plays on the first 2 downs getting 2 yards and forcing JMU to burn their final two timeouts. They got 7 yards on 3rd down and were able to run the clock down to 4 seconds before taking a timeout of their own. Then on 4th and 1 rather than punting they just had the QB run around for a few seconds behind the line and slide once the clock hit 0s. Had the players not executed that last play... say the QB slides with 1 second left... the coach would've gotten torn to shreds.

My point is Villanova wins the game without anyone even talking about it if their TE doesn't commit an astronomically dumb penalty.

In retrospect the better play would've been to just run a normal play or stand for a couple seconds and kneel on 1st and 2nd down and then if there is a few seconds left on 4th down either punt or do the kill time play that NDSU did and run out the clock without having to punt. But you still run the risk of your team committing a penalty in either of those scenarios... in any case it needs to be drilled into the players that you absolutely cannot be flagged for a penalty so don't even do anything closely resembling a foul.

[Nor Eastern]

While at Furman, Bobby Lamb, after scoring a touchdown and going up on Appalachian by 1 point with just seconds left, decided to go for 2pts and well... Lost.

[Sycamore62]

with as far as kickers can kickoff, im surprised nobody I can remember has used a free kick for 3pts to win a game in my memory. Maybe it has happened in high school.

[uni88]

WIU.....just WIU

Apparently coaches get here and then very quickly decide to get out while they still can. The last coach that actually stuck around long enough to get fired never coached football at any level again. He's still in the area, and last I heard, he was in charge of our local Wesley Foundation just off campus (Mark Hendrickson, Robinson Award Runner-up in 2010).

I always wonder if things would have been different had Coach Craddock lived. He seemed to be changing the culture.

Sent from my XT1650 using Tapatalk

[NY Crusader 2010]

I'll wait for HC87, pretty sure we share the same answah to this question....

[Go Green]

Georgia Southern hiring Brian VonGorder and then Chris Hatcher.

Well, there have been off-field "WTF was he thinking?" examples of back coaching decisions in the Ivy.

A Cornell coach had to resign because he was having an affair with the wife of an assistant coach. A Yale coach had to resign because he embellished his resume.

[NY Crusader 2010]

The biggest "fudge the resume" story I recall was George O'Leary at Notre Dame. Put on his resume that he played varsity at a small D-III school in New England. The embarrassing part of the story was that it took a student writing an article for the school paper to expose his lie, completely by accident. The kid was simply trying to do some research on Coach O's collegiate playing days and stumbled into the fact that they indeed never occurred.

O'Leary was succeeded at ND by Ty Willingham.

[Go Green]

The biggest "fudge the resume" story I recall was George O'Leary at Notre Dame. Put on his resume that he played varsity at a small D-III school in New England. The embarrassing part of the story was that it took a student writing an article for the school paper to expose his lie, completely by accident. The kid was simply trying to do some research on Coach O's collegiate playing days and stumbled into the fact that they indeed never occurred.

O'Leary was succeeded at ND by Ty Willingham.

O'Leary actually went to UNH (but never played football). And current Dartmouth coach Buddy Teevens succeeded Ty Willingham at Stanford.

The Yale coach said on his resume that he made the 49ers practice squad (he didn't). But his biggest undoing was telling reporters that he was a finalist for a Rhodes Scholarship (he wasn't).

[Sycamore62]

WIU.....just WIU

Apparently coaches get here and then very quickly decide to get out while they still can. The last coach that actually stuck around long enough to get fired never coached football at any level again. He's still in the area, and last I heard, he was in charge of our local Wesley Foundation just off campus (Mark Hendrickson, Robinson Award Runner-up in 2010).

Dont get me started. They hired Lou West at Indiana State when Jeff Monken wanted the job.

[Mocs123]

Dont get me started. They hired Lou West at Indiana State when Jeff Monken wanted the job.

That was a mistake. Monken can coach.

[Redbird 4th & short]

2017 season, game 10, ISUr at SDSU .. we're 6-3, definitely in playoff hunt but have 2 toughest games remaining ... SDSU on road and NDSU at home.

QB Kolbe is out with unreported injury, Spack doesn't let anyone know we're starting RS FR QB Broadnax .. no one knew. Sowe're in this game down to the wire. Mid Q4, SDSU scored TD to take 24-17 lead. We then answer and march down field, 11 plays 84 yards to tie the game at 24 with 6 mins left in game. We then stop SDSU and get the ball back on our 25 yard line with 1:11 left in game and ALL 3 timeouts left:


Here is play by play on our last drive ... notice our play selection (all runs) with chance to win game, notice who is calling timeouts (SDSU), notice who lets clock run out (ISUr) without calling a 1 of our 3 remaining timeouts. Clock expired after we got 2 rushing 1st downs, despite SDSU using both of their 2 timeouts, even after which we still got 2 first downs to our 44 yard line, and still would not use any of our 3 timeouts .. we just let clock expire with game tied ... all we needed was a FG to win !!!!



Ils
1-10
at Ils17
ILLINOIS STATE drive start at 01:15.


Ils
1-10
at Ils17
SMITH,Markel rush for no gain to the ILS17 (Xavier Ward).


Ils
2-10
at Ils17
Timeout South Dakota State, clock 01:11.


Ils
2-10
at Ils17
BROADNAX,Malach rush for 7 yards to the ILS24 (Dalton Cox).


Ils
3-3
at Ils24
Timeout South Dakota State, clock 01:06.


Ils
3-3
at Ils24
ROBINSON,James rush for 7 yards to the ILS31, 1ST DOWN ILS (Nick Farina).


Ils
1-10
at Ils31
ROBINSON,James rush for 3 yards to the ILS34 (Kellen Soulek).


Ils
2-7
at Ils34
ROBINSON,James rush for 10 yards to the ILS44, 1ST DOWN ILS (Marshon Harris).


Ils
1-10
at Ils44
End of game, clock 00:00.





Drive: 5 plays, 27 yards, TOP 01:15



So overtime we go ... but the stupidity is not over ... SDSU wins toss, so we get ball first on 25 yard line .... game reset, so far we have 44 carries for 251 yards, and have only completed 10 passes for 102 yards all game, mostly careful throws underneath. And now when the clock is not a factor, like it was for our end of regulation game, do we go to our great run game .. uh, no .. we take to the air with a FR dual threat QB not known for his arm ... side note, we moved this FR QB to Safety the following year .. that's how much we thought of him at QB. Here are the plays we ran in OT .. all passes.



Ils
1-10
at Ils44
ILS ball on SDSU25.


Ils
1-10
at Sdsu25
BROADNAX,Malach pass complete to SCHNELL,Spencer for 3 yards to the SDSU22 (Chris Balster).


Ils
2-7
at Sdsu22
BROADNAX,Malach pass incomplete to FOWLER,Anthony.


Ils
3-7
at Sdsu22
BROADNAX,Malach pass incomplete to FOWLER,Anthony.


Ils
4-7
at Sdsu22
QB hurry by Xavier Ward.


Ils
4-7
at Sdsu22
SLATTERY,Sean field goal attempt from 39 MISSED - wide left, spot at ILS25, clock 15:00.






Drive: 4 plays, 6 yards, TOP 00:54









SDSU wins with FG on their possession.

Chance to beat #4 SDSU on road ... same SDSU who just beat NDSU by 12 the week prior. And we sit on ball to let play clock run out with all 3 timeouts, while SDSU uses their last 2 timeouts .... just off the charts stupid conservative.

[ST_Lawson]

I always wonder if things would have been different had Coach Craddock lived. He seemed to be changing the culture.

Sent from my XT1650 using Tapatalk

It's an interesting thought, although one of his longtime coordinators (Randy Ball) took over and continued the success, which was then followed by a decent number of good years by Don Patterson after Ball left for Missouri State. Patterson went 20-6 combined in his 4th and 5th years (so, none of the Coach Ball recruits left). Really, I think the biggest "hit" the program took was forcing out Coach Patterson, the subsequent lawsuit, and it all happening as the state was significantly reducing funding for the university and enrollment was dropping. Patterson was beloved by many in the community, as well as many of the players who had gone on to the pro level, and the situation there really alienated them for a long time.

If Coach Craddock had lived and continued coaching (he died at the age of 46 in 1990 (https://www.chicagotribune.com/news/ct-xpm-1990-02-23-9001160327-story.html)), and assuming he wasn't poached by a FBS school or something, he might have continued coaching until ~2010 (would have been 66 in 2010). Who knows what would have happened with him at the helm through that entire time. For reference though, he had a .539 record through his 7 years, just behind Patterson's .579 over 11 years and Ball's .608 through 9 years.

[ngineer]

Well, there have been off-field "WTF was he thinking?" examples of back coaching decisions in the Ivy.

A Cornell coach had to resign because he was having an affair with the wife of an assistant coach. A Yale coach had to resign because he embellished his resume.

I assume he was the 'head' coach?

[uofmman1122]

We kicked off to start both halves in a game against Northern Colorado in 2012 because our coach instructed his players to elect to kick if we won the toss instead of deferring.

[Silenoz]

We kicked off to start both halves in a game against Northern Colorado in 2012 because our coach instructed his players to elect to kick if we won the toss instead of deferring.
Haha, beat me to it

Sheer ****ing genius.

[Go Green]

I assume he was the 'head' coach?

Yep. Maxie Baughan at Cornell.

http://spectatorarchive.library.columbia.edu/cgi-bin/columbia?a=d&d=cs19890418-01.2.26&srpos=&dliv=none&st=1&e=-------en-20--1--txt-IN-orientation---

Tom Williams at Yale.

https://www.espn.com/college-football/story/_/id/7375538/yale-bulldogs-coach-tom-williams-resigns-due-rhodes-scholarship-fib



You could do a whole other thread on assistants. For example: https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/early-lead/wp/2017/10/28/dartmouth-assistant-tossed-for-smashing-window-in-coaches-box-during-loss-to-Harvard/

[Sader87]

I'll wait for HC87, pretty sure we share the same answah to this question....

LOL..for my overall mental health, I'm trying to dwell on the positive these days.

Suffice to say, above and beyond Coach Gilmore's tenure, to be a HC football and basketball fan ovah the last 50 years,...we have suffered enough coaching and administrative decisions that should greatly reduce our time in purgatory :)

[Hambone]

Don't have time to run through the details, but for UND the biggest one recently was the double reverse in the second half of the playoff game against Richmond. Really helped turn the tide of that second half fiasco.

Recent one related to actual coaches - not firing the OC a couple years ago. Thinking about what the current OC could have done with some of those weapons infuriates me......

[Puddin Tane]

Anything that Mike Schultz at LU does is bad

[Sycamore62]

We kicked off to start both halves in a game against Northern Colorado in 2012 because our coach instructed his players to elect to kick if we won the toss instead of deferring.

We did this on purpose at ISUr in 1995 due to having a terrible offense and a pretty solid defense because of a pretty harsh wind. by the time we got to the field we no longer had the wind we chose.

Spoiler alert....we lost

[IBleedYellow]

Don't have time to run through the details, but for UND the biggest one recently was the double reverse in the second half of the playoff game against Richmond. Really helped turn the tide of that second half fiasco.

Recent one related to actual coaches - not firing the OC a couple years ago. Thinking about what the current OC could have done with some of those weapons infuriates me......

How about we put this at the administration level?

Because the UxD's not going to D1 until after the xDSU's going was probably the worst decision in the past twenty years.

[Go Lehigh TU Owl]

In 2005 former Lehigh head coach Pete Lembo called a timeout when Lafayette was about to attempt close to a 50 yard field goal on 4th and 15'ish with 20 so seconds left. The timeout allowed Lafayette's head coach Frank Tavani to rethink the FG. He ultimately opted to go for it which would turn out to be the right call. The Leopards would score on a perfectly executed wheel route play to their RB on 4th down. The play is forever known as "The Great Hurt" because 1. it was Johnathan Hurt who caught the pass and scored 2. It gave Lafayette a share of the title and prevented Lehigh from winning the auto-bid into the playoffs. Lehigh also failed to make the playoffs with an 8-3 record. The entered the game ranked right around #10.

It would end up being the last game Pete Lembo coached at Lehigh. He was basically run out of town for that loss (and a 2-3 record against Lafayette) despite having a great overall record. Lehigh lost the year, before 2004, when they were ranked #8 (8-1) to Lafayette.

[mvemjsunpx]

Did we really need a second new thread on this subject?

https://www.anygivensaturday.com/showthread.php?238099-COACHIN-BONERS!-BRAWK!

[F'N Hawks]

UND passed on Kaleb Deboer in 2014.

[Daytripper]

Big picture, KC Keeler rotating QBs for the first three games this season and losing two winnable games because of it. Specifically, Ryan Carty calling the swinging gate play at the end of the North Dakota game this year.

[caribbeanhen]

Big picture, KC Keeler rotating QBs for the first three games this season and losing two winnable games because of it. Specifically, Ryan Carty calling the swinging gate play at the end of the North Dakota game this year.

maybe KC should rotate again.... you tell us Day Tripper

[Daytripper]

maybe KC should rotate again.... you tell us Day Tripper

He has had to recently because of injuries. But at the beginning of the season, it was obvious that Schmid was better than Brock and he continued, for whatever reason, to split time. Last year he stuck with Mike Dare too long and it cost us a game against North Dakota, as well. Schmid should be back healthy after our bye this week. So, at least there is that.

[Go Lehigh TU Owl]

In 2005 former Lehigh head coach Pete Lembo called a timeout when Lafayette was about to attempt close to a 50 yard field goal on 4th and 15'ish with 20 so seconds left. The timeout allowed Lafayette's head coach Frank Tavani to rethink the FG. He ultimately opted to go for it which would turn out to be the right call. The Leopards would score on a perfectly executed wheel route play to their RB on 4th down. The play is forever known as "The Great Hurt" because 1. it was Johnathan Hurt who caught the pass and scored 2. It gave Lafayette a share of the title and prevented Lehigh from winning the auto-bid into the playoffs. Lehigh also failed to make the playoffs with an 8-3 record. The entered the game ranked right around #10.

It would end up being the last game Pete Lembo coached at Lehigh. He was basically run out of town for that loss (and a 2-3 record against Lafayette) despite having a great overall record. Lehigh lost the year, before 2004, when they were ranked #8 (8-1) to Lafayette.

This play was literally just shown on ESPN's College Football 150 special "Rivalries"! Lehigh vs Lafayette got some major attention during the first segment of the show. Along with Harvard vs Yale.

Now they're talking about NDSU vs North Dakota!!

[POD Knows]

Don't have time to run through the details, but for UND the biggest one recently was the double reverse in the second half of the playoff game against Richmond. Really helped turn the tide of that second half fiasco.

Recent one related to actual coaches - not firing the OC a couple years ago. Thinking about what the current OC could have done with some of those weapons infuriates me......This play was freaking classic, cost me $100 bucks but it was worth it. :D This play has to be right up at the top of the list.

[ST_Lawson]

Did we really need a second new thread on this subject?

https://www.anygivensaturday.com/showthread.php?238099-COACHIN-BONERS!-BRAWK!

Is that was that thread is about? To me, the word "boner" means something entirely different.

[Silenoz]

Wasn't there another Delaney moment where we punted on 3rd down because the refs and field crew screwed up the downs? Something like that anyways. I tried to forget that season.

[mvemjsunpx]

Wasn't there another Delaney moment where we punted on 3rd down because the refs and field crew screwed up the downs? Something like that anyways. I tried to forget that season.

I don't recall that one. There was the SUU game that year where the Griz were doing some weird **** on punt returns, and SUU ran a fake punt to easily take advantage of it late in the game.

[FUBeAR]

I would nominate JMU’s Mike Houston’s call for a Fake Punt in the 2018 Playoff game vs. Colgate. Tie game @ 20-20 with 4th & 5 @ Colgate’s 41 & 2:36 to play. Just pin ‘em deep & give your D a chance to hold ‘em there & get the ball back in FG range or play for OT. The only reason Colgate was in the game was JMU had thrown 5 interceptions & JMU’s D had just held Colgate to only 7 total yards on their preceding 4 possessions. Instead, Colgate stuffed the fake punt, moved the ball 40 yards, and kicked a last second FG to advance...and to advance Coach Houston’s career on to FBS @ ECU.

I thought this was the worst Coaching decision I would see for quite a while, until later that night in the SEC Championship Game, Georgia’s Kirby Smart, said, “Mike...hold my beer.”

[Derby City Duke]

I would nominate JMU’s Mike Houston’s call for a Fake Punt in the 2018 Playoff game vs. Colgate. Tie game @ 20-20 with 4th & 5 @ Colgate’s 41 & 2:36 to play. Just pin ‘em deep & give your D a chance to hold ‘em there & get the ball back in FG range or play for OT. The only reason Colgate was in the game was JMU had thrown 5 interceptions & JMU’s D had just held Colgate to only 7 total yards on their preceding 4 possessions. Instead, Colgate stuffed the fake punt, moved the ball 40 yards, and kicked a last second FG to advance...and to advance Coach Houston’s career on to FBS @ ECU.

I thought this was the worst Coaching decision I would see for quite a while, until later that night in the SEC Championship Game, Georgia’s Kirby Smart, said, “Mike...hold my beer.”

His mind was already in Greenville. He was just trying to hurry up and get caught up with it.

[clenz]

2005 sem-finals

#3 Texas State hosting UNI

UNI ties the game with 1:20 left and kicks off

Texas State has time outs left

Texas State takes a knee and goes to OT

Losses in OT to UNI


or


2008 semi-finals

UNI hosting Richmond

UNI has a 6 point lead and the ball with 2 minutes left...Richmond has 3 time outs left.

UNI runs 3 straight dive/off tackle plays.

Richmond burns their time outs and UNI uses 13 seconds of clock and punts

UNI then plays the softest play not to lose zone there is

Richmond scores the winning TD/XP with 13 seconds left in the game

[CockyGeek]

Jack Crowe blew a 28 point lead in the 4th quarter and his assistant coaches were literally getting plates of food out of the pressbox and walking around with them.

Sent from my SM-G960U using Tapatalk

[Grizalltheway]

Hauck/Phenicie deciding not to throw to Mariani in the second half against Villanova.

[Silenoz]

I don't recall that one. There was the SUU game that year where the Griz were doing some weird **** on punt returns, and SUU ran a fake punt to easily take advantage of it late in the game.

Wait, you mean having the whole team run back for the return isn't a sound defensive strategy?

[Redbird 4th & short]

2005 sem-finals

#3 Texas State hosting UNI

UNI ties the game with 1:20 left and kicks off

Texas State has time outs left

Texas State takes a knee and goes to OT

Losses in OT to UNI




almost identical to my 6-3 ISUr at SDSU in 2017 ... with our playoff bid at stake, chance to beat #4 SDSU, who just beat NDSU the week prior ... game tied, start drive at our 25 with 3 timeouts ... we ran all 6 plays, got 2 first downs, made it to our 44 yard line, still had ALL 3 timeouts left ... SDSU used 2 timeouts trying to get ball back. ISUr had the ball and used none .. only needed a FG to win .. clock ran out at our 44 yard line .. so we only needed 20+ yards to get to FG range .. game tied, our kicker had strong leg .. did I mention we sat on all 3 timeouts while running the ball 6 straight plays ... blew my frickin mind. Lost in OT ... we plassed 3 straight plays when clock was not a factor, missed FG, lost game .. missed playoffs after losing close game to NDSU (rain-sleet-snow blizzzard game) in game 11 to finish 6-5.

[Lorne_Malvo]

.. missed playoffs after losing close game to NDSU (rain-sleet-snow blizzzard game) in game 11 to finish 6-5.

NDSU had 15 passing yards total in that ISU game.

[Yote 53]

How about we put this at the administration level?

Because the UxD's not going to D1 until after the xDSU's going was probably the worst decision in the past twenty years.

For football, yes. For every other sport, not really. USD has caught up to or passed both the XDSU's in every sport other than football.

MBB - USD has played for SLT championships and is a favorite along with NDSU to win it this year.
WBB - USD has won a WNIT title, been to the NCAA tournament, has been nationally ranked, and is a favorite to win the conference this year.
Volleyball - USD won the SLT and went to the NCAAs last year and are currently 20-1 on the season having already beaten P5 schools and are undefeated in conference.
T&F and X-Country - fine programs that compete with NDSU for the conference title and have produced All-Americans and we're pretty much pole vault U at this point.
Softball - played for the conference title against NDSU last year, lost, congrats Bison.
Swimming & Diving - Summit League women's diver of the year 4 straight years amongst other accomplishments.
Soccer- eh, they're trying to get better.

Point is every other program has experienced some real success since moving to D1. The football program, outside of one playoff appearance, not so much. University throwing a ton of money and resources that way now too but will be tough to take down NDSU there.

[Lorne_Malvo]

For football, yes. For every other sport, not really. USD has caught up to or passed both the XDSU's in every sport other than football.

MBB - USD has played for SLT championships and is a favorite along with NDSU to win it this year.
WBB - USD has won a WNIT title, been to the NCAA tournament, has been nationally ranked, and is a favorite to win the conference this year.
Volleyball - USD won the SLT and went to the NCAAs last year and are currently 20-1 on the season having already beaten P5 schools and are undefeated in conference.
T&F and X-Country - fine programs that compete with NDSU for the conference title and have produced All-Americans and we're pretty much pole vault U at this point.
Softball - played for the conference title against NDSU last year, lost, congrats Bison.
Swimming & Diving - Summit League women's diver of the year 4 straight years amongst other accomplishments.
Soccer- eh, they're trying to get better.

Point is every other program has experienced some real success since moving to D1. The football program, outside of one playoff appearance, not so much. University throwing a ton of money and resources that way now too but will be tough to take down NDSU there.

But tell me about teh hockies.

[uni88]

For football, yes. For every other sport, not really. USD has caught up to or passed both the XDSU's in every sport other than football.

MBB - USD has played for SLT championships and is a favorite along with NDSU to win it this year.
WBB - USD has won a WNIT title, been to the NCAA tournament, has been nationally ranked, and is a favorite to win the conference this year.
Volleyball - USD won the SLT and went to the NCAAs last year and are currently 20-1 on the season having already beaten P5 schools and are undefeated in conference.
T&F and X-Country - fine programs that compete with NDSU for the conference title and have produced All-Americans and we're pretty much pole vault U at this point.
Softball - played for the conference title against NDSU last year, lost, congrats Bison.
Swimming & Diving - Summit League women's diver of the year 4 straight years amongst other accomplishments.
Soccer- eh, they're trying to get better.

Point is every other program has experienced some real success since moving to D1. The football program, outside of one playoff appearance, not so much. University throwing a ton of money and resources that way now too but will be tough to take down NDSU there.

I didn't know those details 53. Congratulations! Those are some awesome accomplishments.

[Yote 53]

But tell me about teh hockies.

We don't have the hockies but we do have Olympian (hopefuls). Chris Nilsen is the back-to-back NCAA pole vault champion and won gold at the Pan American Games. Should be on the inside track to qualify for Team USA at the next Summer Olympics. He's one of the reasons I referred to USD as Pole Vault U.



I didn't know those details 53. Congratulations! Those are some awesome accomplishments.

This is a football site so I didn't expect people to know much about what happens in basketball and the minor sports. Unless you are a prominent mid-major in MBB or an FCS football power other accomplishments are easily forgotten about or dismissed.

[uofmman1122]

Wait, you mean having the whole team run back for the return isn't a sound defensive strategy?
Is there video of that somewhere? I remember watching it live in such utter disbelief.

Jesus, I just checked, and they took the lead for good because of that gaaaaahhhhhhhhhhhhh.

[IBleedYellow]

For football, yes. For every other sport, not really. USD has caught up to or passed both the XDSU's in every sport other than football.

MBB - USD has played for SLT championships and is a favorite along with NDSU to win it this year.
WBB - USD has won a WNIT title, been to the NCAA tournament, has been nationally ranked, and is a favorite to win the conference this year.
Volleyball - USD won the SLT and went to the NCAAs last year and are currently 20-1 on the season having already beaten P5 schools and are undefeated in conference.
T&F and X-Country - fine programs that compete with NDSU for the conference title and have produced All-Americans and we're pretty much pole vault U at this point.
Softball - played for the conference title against NDSU last year, lost, congrats Bison.
Swimming & Diving - Summit League women's diver of the year 4 straight years amongst other accomplishments.
Soccer- eh, they're trying to get better.

Point is every other program has experienced some real success since moving to D1. The football program, outside of one playoff appearance, not so much. University throwing a ton of money and resources that way now too but will be tough to take down NDSU there.

You're joking.

NDSU is still ahead of USD in damn near everything. SDSU isn't far behind NDSU. To say that you guys ****ed up by not moving earlier is what I said, and my point still stands.

Our women's and men's track teams are the gold standard of The Summit League. I believe they've lost a total of....3 Championships since we joined the league over 12 years ago.
NDSU men's basketball actually has NCAA tournament wins. How's USeD looking? SDSU has the most basketball championships combined between men's and women's and USD isn't even close (****, NDSU barely even registers compared to SDSU.)
Volleyball FINALLY caught up, but this is your first year. Talk to me when it's actually standard.
Softball - NDSU has actually won super regionals in the NCAA tournament. USD?
We don't have swimming or diving.
Soccer - NDSU is 2nd fiddle to SDSU this year.

[SCPALADIN]

Pains me to post this...but my therapist recommends facing these things head-on.


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mAycXbA2ZhE

[JayJ79]

2008 semi-finals

UNI hosting Richmond

UNI has a 6 point lead and the ball with 2 minutes left...Richmond has 3 time outs left.

UNI Farleys away the game.

Richmond scores the winning TD/XP with 13 seconds left in the game
FIFY

[mvemjsunpx]

Wait, you mean having the whole team run back for the return isn't a sound defensive strategy?

What was so bizarre was that they started running back before the snap. They never did that in any other game, before or since.

[Nor Eastern]

Pains me to post this...but my therapist recommends facing these things head-on.


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mAycXbA2ZhE



Yep, that was mine too. Couldn't find the video, glad you did!

[WrenFGun]

UNH vs Holy Cross 2019:

The UNH defense dominated the game, and it was 10-6 UNH late in the 4th, 1:56 to go. UNH gets the ball on its own 1 yrd line. Now, UNH had also been struggling offensively, even more so running the ball.

Somehow, UNH decided to snap from the deep shotgun and hand off to the RB, who tries to make a cut and gets tackled in the endzone and fumbles, resulting in a HC touchdown, game over 13-10. Why they didn't just try to QB sneak 3 times and punt, Ill never know.

I think the poor decision was having a true freshman taking a shotgun snap to a sophomore with poor hands. Not having Evan Gray in the game was the most baffling decision for me, IMO.

I remember game in OT against Northeastern where UNH scored and converted the XP, only to allow Northeastern to score. Northeastern came out to attempt an XP, only for Sean McDonnell to call a timeout to conceivably ice the kicker on an XP; Northeastern thought it out, came out for 2 and converted the 2 point conversion to win the game.

UNH also lost two games to UMass in 2005 or 2006 on the identical play. Believe the first game UNH needed a 2 point conversion to tie the game at home on homecoming, rolled Ricky Santos out and had it knocked down by a LB. UNH tried the EXACT. SAME. PLAY. down 7 late in a playoff game on 11/29 at McGuirk, only for the UMass players to recognize the play, and the same F'ing LB knocked down the pass again.

[Silenoz]

Is there video of that somewhere? I remember watching it live in such utter disbelief.

Jesus, I just checked, and they took the lead for good because of that gaaaaahhhhhhhhhhhhh.

Yeah I was directly behind it in the North End Zone. Assuming my memory is working correctly (big assumption)

Punter - "Okay, I'm totally winding into my punt here for a step or two here and then HAH - a brisk jog down the field behind 8 blockers. For 30 yards"

[Professor Chaos]

You're joking.

NDSU is still ahead of USD in damn near everything. SDSU isn't far behind NDSU. To say that you guys ****ed up by not moving earlier is what I said, and my point still stands.

Our women's and men's track teams are the gold standard of The Summit League. I believe they've lost a total of....3 Championships since we joined the league over 12 years ago.
NDSU men's basketball actually has NCAA tournament wins. How's USeD looking? SDSU has the most basketball championships combined between men's and women's and USD isn't even close (****, NDSU barely even registers compared to SDSU.)
Volleyball FINALLY caught up, but this is your first year. Talk to me when it's actually standard.
Softball - NDSU has actually won super regionals in the NCAA tournament. USD?
We don't have swimming or diving.
Soccer - NDSU is 2nd fiddle to SDSU this year.
Yeah, that comment from Yote53 has preposterous statement tournament title written all over it.

[clenz]

Yeah, that comment from Yote53 has preposterous statement tournament title written all over it.
IALTO

[JacksFan40]

You're joking.

NDSU is still ahead of USD in damn near everything. SDSU isn't far behind NDSU. To say that you guys ****ed up by not moving earlier is what I said, and my point still stands.

Our women's and men's track teams are the gold standard of The Summit League. I believe they've lost a total of....3 Championships since we joined the league over 12 years ago.
NDSU men's basketball actually has NCAA tournament wins. How's USeD looking? SDSU has the most basketball championships combined between men's and women's and USD isn't even close (****, NDSU barely even registers compared to SDSU.)
Volleyball FINALLY caught up, but this is your first year. Talk to me when it's actually standard.
Softball - NDSU has actually won super regionals in the NCAA tournament. USD?
We don't have swimming or diving.
Soccer - NDSU is 2nd fiddle to SDSU this year.
At least USD has had some success. What has UND done at the D1 level outside of hockey?

[Yote 53]

Yeah, that comment from Yote53 has preposterous statement tournament title written all over it.

Apparently you guys don't understand the concept of catching up. The XDSU's laid down all those accomplishments while USD was not even D1, in the conference, or on the path behind you guys trying to catch up. Now, at this moment in time, USD is contending in several sports, either currently leading the conference, pre-season favorites, or in contention to compete for the conference championship as I have outlined previously. Hence, we've caught up in most sports except football where we continue to lag behind.

[uni88]

Yeah, that comment from Yote53 has preposterous statement tournament title written all over it.

No need to pee on his cheerios. USD might have a ways to go but I don't have a problem with him being proud of what his school has accomplished.

[F'N Hawks]

At least USD has had some success. What has UND done at the D1 level outside of hockey?

Nothing. Why are you bringing them up?

[POD Knows]

Nothing. Why are you bringing them up?Didn't you guys make the dance in MBB?

[Scooter]

SDSU throwing it on 3rd and 8 within FG range against NDSU in 2019 with 3 minutes left in the game and a tied game....with their 3rd string QB.

INT or Sack were very possible with how the QB was playing. Play ended in an INT.
I think the NDSU halfback pass that resulted in an INT was more egregious. But, your example is also up there in head scratchers.

Like going for 2 with a 10 point lead...that one was weird.

[JMUNJ08]

JMU's 2nd Entry (Colgate was bad but, they got exposed the next week while JMU had flaws that they weren't overcoming for a NC...)

On there way to a 3rd straight NC, App St. got multiple gifts from Mickey Matthews in 2007.

- On 4th & 1 from own 32, got stopped and gave App St. the ball with 2:35 left (Landers was such a bruiser you could see that making the 1st down, the game is essentially over). Armanti Edwards converts a 4th down and they find the end zone for a 1pt lead.

- HOWEVER, JMU still has a chance and gets the ball to the 9 yard line with 22 seconds left. They never really had consistent FG kicking those years but, c'mon, a 26 yarder to knock off the 2-time defending champ at their place in the playoffs? But what do we do? Run up the gut once more and FUMBLE. App St. survives...28-27. Back in the days without great streaming, listening on the radio for that one was just disbelief...

We'd get our revenge at Bridgeforth the next year in an all-time classic of mine but, ouch, I still don't comprehend this one...

[BEAR]

Surprised we haven't had Rev or another SFA fan chirp about hiring Clamp Crank as a bad coaching decision by their school. xlolx lesson learned by both of our schools! xlolx

[Smitty]

I can sum this up pretty quickly

All of them...

[IBleedYellow]

I think the NDSU halfback pass that resulted in an INT was more egregious. But, your example is also up there in head scratchers.

Like going for 2 with a 10 point lead...that one was weird.

NDSU's halfback pass wasn't a bone-headed play call. It was a touchdown if it was executed properly. The players didn't execute.

[Lorne_Malvo]

NDSU's halfback pass wasn't a bone-headed play call. It was a touchdown if it was executed properly. The players didn't execute.

Or SDSU's Defense DID execute. That play got blown the f up.

[Bison Fan in NW MN]

NDSU's halfback pass wasn't a bone-headed play call. It was a touchdown if it was executed properly. The players didn't execute.

Jack's DB made a great play to bust it up when William's threw it.

[Bison Fan in NW MN]

Apparently you guys don't understand the concept of catching up. The XDSU's laid down all those accomplishments while USD was not even D1, in the conference, or on the path behind you guys trying to catch up. Now, at this moment in time, USD is contending in several sports, either currently leading the conference, pre-season favorites, or in contention to compete for the conference championship as I have outlined previously. Hence, we've caught up in most sports except football where we continue to lag behind.


USDs football program will always be mediocre at best. Your lone playoff berth was because Streveler carried the entire team on his back. Ya, you might have a year once in awhile in the upper half but never be a consistent conference contender. Nielsen hasn't done squat in his tenure.

[F'N Hawks]

USDs football program will always be mediocre at best. Your lone playoff berth was because Streveler carried the entire team on his back. Ya, you might have a year once in awhile in the upper half but never be a consistent conference contender. Nielsen hasn't done squat in his tenure.

He just signed a 5 year extension also at 295K per pop. That's gonna work out to about 75K a win.

[Silenoz]

USDs football program will always be mediocre at best. Your lone playoff berth was because Streveler carried the entire team on his back. Ya, you might have a year once in awhile in the upper half but never be a consistent conference contender. Nielsen hasn't done squat in his tenure.

It's FCS. It's not that hard to build a top program. EWU has nothing and managed it. UNI has a barn and did it. Some DII transplant obviously did it in spades.

Not saying it will happen, but it's not like FBS where you're competing with the Bamas and Oklahomas of the world. ****, Sac State is threatening for the #2 seed and they were one of the worst programs in FCS for over a decade.

[clenz]

It's FCS. It's not that hard to build a top program. EWU has nothing and managed it. UNI has a barn and did it. Some DII transplant obviously did it in spades.

Not saying it will happen, but it's not like FBS where you're competing with the Bamas and Oklahomas of the world. ****, Sac State is threatening for the #2 seed and they were one of the worst programs in FCS for over a decade.I mean, he said consistently and I'm not sure he's wrong.

They are in a bottom 3 city in the Valley. Smallest stadium in the Valley
A bottom 3 population base around them and in that base they are probably third in line of FCS teams... And in an area that doesn't produce D1 talent in large numbers

Honestly I know we had YSU and ISUR and WIU pop up but being that "third or fouth" valley team has been mostly open between 2012 and 2016 with UNI struggling there and they went something like 4-38 in conference at over that stretch.

Other than Strevelers senior season where he single handedly carried them to the second round they have been a bottom 3 valley team while spending as much, more, than most anyone not named NDSU or SDSU. Stadium renovation going on. Stole a coach from a conference rival and paid him more than they've ever laid a coach and locked him in through 2023 and they don't really seem close to being anything other than spots 5-8 with an occasion Streveler type player getting them to 4.

Can they have a pop up season like Sac is having now? Sure. They had something similar in 2017 with a Payton runner up.

To further prove his point - of the schools you listed how many are consistently winning?

Sent from my Pixel 3 using Tapatalk

[ST_Lawson]

I mean, he said consistently and I'm not sure he's wrong.

They are in a bottom 3 city in the Valley. Smallest stadium in the Valley
A bottom 3 population base around them and in that base they are probably third in line of FCS teams... And in an area that doesn't produce D1 talent in large numbers

Honestly I know we had YSU and ISUR and WIU pop up but being that "third or fouth" valley team has been mostly open between 2012 and 2016 with UNI struggling there and they went something like 4-38 in conference at over that stretch.

Other than Strevelers senior season where he single handedly carried them to the second round they have been a bottom 3 valley team while spending as much, more, than most anyone not named NDSU or SDSU. Stadium renovation going on. Stole a coach from a conference rival and paid him more than they've ever laid a coach and locked him in through 2023 and they don't really seem close to being anything other than spots 5-8 with an occasion Streveler type player getting them to 4.

Can they have a pop up season like Sac is having now? Sure. They had something similar in 2017 with a Payton runner up.

To further prove his point - of the schools you listed how many are consistently winning?

Sent from my Pixel 3 using Tapatalk

Further data: at least when I last updated my spreadsheet, in a 20-mile radius around each FCS school, USD has the 2nd smallest population of anyone. They're ahead of only Alcorn State, and only by ~600 people. The bottom 6 schools in terms of population within 20 miles are: Western Illinois, Northwestern State, South Dakota State, Southern Utah, South Dakota, and Alcorn State. All have fewer than 50k people in that range.

It's not easy to build a successful program long-term with that small of a population base around you. WIU has done it for a few stretches every now and then, USD and SUU have had an occasional year or two where they're good. I'm afraid I don't know enough of the overall histories of Northwestern State and Alcorn State to say (although this year Northwestern State only has 1 win, and Alcorn State is 6-2). I'm impressed with what SDSU has been able to do with as small of a town that they're from as well, although being only an hour from Sioux Falls (metro area of around 1/4 million) helps quite a bit.

[Silenoz]

To further prove his point - of the schools you listed how many are consistently winning?


3 out of the 4? I mean UNI, for all it's faults, is something of a traditional FCS power.

I'm not saying the odds favor USD. But it's definitely not some pipe dream. EWU has literally nothing going for it, and is arguably a top 3 FCS program (for actual results on the field). Top 5 for sure. That would never be the case for a Washington State or a Minnesota.

Hell, there's no further proof than SDSU. What did they do prior to 2012? Ever.

[Bison Fan in NW MN]

3 out of the 4? I mean UNI, for all it's faults, is something of a traditional FCS power.

I'm not saying the odds favor USD. But it's definitely not some pipe dream. EWU has literally nothing going for it, and is arguably a top 3 FCS program (for actual results on the field). Top 5 for sure. That would never be the case for a Washington State or a Minnesota.

Hell, there's no further proof than SDSU. What did they do prior to 2012? Ever.


Take a guess what has happened with them?

Yep, a 100 million dollar investment in infrastructure.

Both clenz and ST summed it up pretty well.

[melloware13]

2013 had back to back to close out the season by [Name Redacted]. Richmond had stormed out to multiple 15 point leads, but the Hens came back to frustrate Rocco and take a 43-39 lead with 45 seconds left. Then, [Name Redacted] decided to play prevent-you-from-winning soft coverage, allowing multiple bombs and the Spiders to score to win with 4 seconds left.

A week later, with UD just needing to hold a 24 point lead over a quarter to secure a playoff berth, the same pillow soft defense was called allowing Nova to come within 2 with 1:45 to go. Anyone would see an onside kick was coming, except for [Name Redacted]. Needless to say, that isn't the one game that the Hens have won against the Wildcats between 2006 and now

[Silenoz]

Take a guess what has happened with them?

Yep, a 100 million dollar investment in infrastructure.

Both clenz and ST summed it up pretty well.
Hence the rocket boost up.

All of the current FCS powers of the moment were not powers 10+ years ago. Things change. Will it be USD's turn next? Not likely. But their shot's as good as anyones. This isn't even particular to USD. I could claim Southern Utah will never be a power, but they get two strong coaching hires in a row and start to build something and things change.

I don't even know why I'm fighting for this hill. I don't even really care.