2023 MVFC Pick 'Em, Week 12

[Chalupa Batman]

This weeks games:

Illinois State @ North Dakota
Indiana State @ Southern Illinois
Youngstown State @ Murray State
South Dakota @ Western Illinois
Missouri State @ South Dakota State
North Dakota State @ Northern Iowa


Here are the current standings ranked by total wins:



Chalupa Batman
68
10

87.18%


atthewbon
67
11

85.90%


Gil Dobie

67
11

85.90%


JacksFan40

66
12

84.62%


Bisonator

65
13

83.33%


bonarae

65
13

83.33%


Massey (clenz)
64
14

82.05%


Paladin1aa
64
14

82.05%


Professor Chaos
64
14

82.05%


POD Knows

63
15

80.77%


RahRahRabbits

63
15

80.77%


The Yo Show

61
15

80.26%


SDFS

60
9

86.96%


OSRacer

57
21

73.08%


The Cats

53
13

80.30%


SUPharmacist
26
8

76.47%


mvfcfan

20
6

76.92%


Dewey

15
3

83.33%


DCWIU11

7
4

63.64%


kdniva

6
0

100.00%


Mike296

3
2

60.00%


Bison Fan in NW MN

2
3

40.00%

[bonarae]

UND
SIU
YSU
USD
SDSU
NDSU

[Paladin1aa]

UND
SIU
YSU
USD
SDSU
NDSU

[JacksFan40]

Illinois State @ North Dakota
Indiana State @ Southern Illinois
Youngstown State @ Murray State
South Dakota @ Western Illinois
Missouri State @ South Dakota State
North Dakota State @ Northern Iowa

[Gil Dobie]

Illinois State @ North Dakota
Indiana State @ Southern Illinois
Youngstown State @ Murray State
South Dakota @ Western Illinois
Missouri State @ South Dakota State
North Dakota State @ Northern Iowa

[Chalupa Batman]

Illinois State @ North Dakota
Indiana State @ Southern Illinois
Youngstown State @ Murray State
South Dakota @ Western Illinois
Missouri State @ South Dakota State
North Dakota State @ Northern Iowa

[The Yo Show]

Illinois State @ North Dakota
Indiana State @ Southern Illinois
Youngstown State @ Murray State
South Dakota @ Western Illinois
Missouri State @ South Dakota State
North Dakota State @ Northern Iowa

[Bisonator]

Illinois State @ North Dakota
Indiana State @ Southern Illinois
Youngstown State @ Murray State
South Dakota @ Western Illinois
Missouri State @ South Dakota State
North Dakota State @ Northern Iowa

[POD Knows]

Illinois State @ North Dakota
Indiana State @ Southern Illinois
Youngstown State @ Murray State
South Dakota @ Western Illinois
Missouri State @ South Dakota State
North Dakota State @ Northern Iowa

[RahRahRabbits]

Illinois State @ North Dakota
Indiana State @ Southern Illinois
Youngstown State @ Murray State
South Dakota @ Western Illinois
Missouri State @ South Dakota State
North Dakota State @ Northern Iowa

[Professor Chaos]

Illinois State @ North Dakota
Indiana State @ Southern Illinois
Youngstown State @ Murray State
South Dakota @ Western Illinois
Missouri State @ South Dakota State
North Dakota State @ Northern Iowa

[mvfcfan]

SIU
USD
YSU
UND
SDSU
NDSU

[SDFS]

Illinois State @ North Dakota
Indiana State @ Southern Illinois
Youngstown State @ Murray State
South Dakota @ Western Illinois
Missouri State @ South Dakota State
North Dakota State @ Northern Iowa

[ysubigred]

I'm wondering why everyone is writing off ISU r ? I think they have a good chance in UNDs large gym.. xtwocentsx

Sent from my SM-G990U using Tapatalk

[Professor Chaos]

I'm wondering why everyone is writing off ISU r ? I think they have a good chance in UNDs large gym.. xtwocentsx

Sent from my SM-G990U using Tapatalk
Contrary to how they looked against Indiana St UND is actually pretty tough at home. They've only lost 2 games at home since 2019 - to NDSU in 2021 and to SDSU in 2022 (and both of those teams went on to win the national championship).

[ysubigred]

Contrary to how they looked against Indiana St UND is actually pretty tough at home.Oh yeah, I know, but they have looked bad since they beat the Bizon.. ISU r seems to be peaking.. that's why they play the game [emoji106] YSU has a vested interest in this game.

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[atthewbon]

Illinois State @ North Dakota
Indiana State @ Southern Illinois
Youngstown State @ Murray State
South Dakota @ Western Illinois
Missouri State @ South Dakota State
North Dakota State @ Northern Iowa

[Redbird 4th & short]

Oh yeah, I know, but they have looked bad since they beat the Bizon.. ISU r seems to be peaking.. that's why they play the game [emoji106] YSU has a vested interest in this game.

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Since it has playoff implications, here's my 2 cents

Here is common opponents case:

- ISUb .. we beat them by 37, UND beat them by 3 .. big edge Redbirds
- MuST .. we beat them by 37, UND beat them by 14 .. big edge Redbirds, did this with backup QB last week
- WIU .. we beat them by 16, UND beat the, by 39 .. big edge UND
- UNI .. we lost by 3, they lost by 27 .. big edge Redbirds
- SDSU .. we lost by 19, they lost by 21 .. even

Non-common opponents case .. they beat NDSU by 25 and lost to USD by just 4 ... big edge UND for the NDSU win, and a very competitive loss to a potential top 8 seed. Our SOS will finish year at #41, UNDs will be #15.

Momentum case you said ... in last 4 games, they've played 3 of 4 against common opponents, where we had a big edge per above: UNI, then ISUb, then MuST. I think our defense is slowly coming around.

Key Injuries case ... we lost our stud QB, but got a surprising performance from our backup QB Rittenhouse and a more creative game plan from our OC. So while UND now has some tape on our backup QB Rittenhouse, it is limited and the consensus on Redbird fanbase is we may have our first decent backup QB since, I don't know when. But we'll see if that experience against a weaker team last week (smoked MuST) helped Rittenhouse prepare for a much tougher game this week.

Defensively, we're slowly improving and definitely have playmakers, but still not as stout as a normal Spack defense. But they are young and getting better - next year looks really promising on defense. but I know UND can run the ball well, and pass it well .. we'll see how it goes. All 3 losses against SDSU, YSU, and UNI, we settled down 2nd half on defense after bad 1st halves.

So if not for injury to QB Annexstad at end of MoST 2 weeks ago, i would be taking my Redbirds for sure .. only a little koolaid needed. But with the injury, it is big unknown .. but Rittenhouse was ready to play last week. And as I long time critic of Spack QB handling, I cant overstate enough how long it has been since we had a #2 QB ready to play a game .. psshhh, or a #1 until Annexstad ... but, he is still our #2 with just 1 game experience against MuST .... so we'll see.

Ok, that was at least 4 cents.

[Redbird 4th & short]

Contrary to how they looked against Indiana St UND is actually pretty tough at home. They've only lost 2 games at home since 2019 - to NDSU in 2021 and to SDSU in 2022 (and both of those teams went on to win the national championship).
whoa ... guess I'll be taking another hit of the Redbird koolaid and staying with my pick ... xprayx