Thoughts on NDSU-Ill. St.

[DJKyR0]

Didn't see a game thread, but a few thoughts on NDSU's performance today.

Firstly, way way way too many penalties. 13 for 108 yards when the offense is already having problems? No good. A few very questionably play calls on the part of OC Vigen, but the refs really had me shaking my head on the sidelines. Some stupid penalties were on us, but there were a few that were just unreal.

Illinois State's defense is better than I gave them credit for and their run D will win them some games this year. Kudos on improving that part of your team.

Glad we were able to take advantage of Brown's mistakes despite generating next to zero pass rush for most of the day. Brown had way too much time to sit back and look for an opening, and had some pretty nice numbers on the day. Not too many times a team can give up almost 400 yards of offense and still win.

Defense was lights out, Williams with a huge play in the endzone and backup S Bobby Ollman with the pick-six off the duck pass that shouldn't have been thrown. That kind of depth speaks well of teams that can make playoff runs, and just three more wins and the Bison might just do that. :)

All in all, not the prettiest win but hey, 4-0.

[semobison]

An ugly win, but our defense continues to come up with big stops and game changing plays! Penalties were terrible, that needs to be cleaned up, and we also need to do a better job running the football!

[FargoBison]

Defense played outstanding...offense needs work and penalties were just brutal. At least the tailgating was great as usual....

http://farm7.static.flickr.com/6156/6201805256_148333a793_b.jpg

[Drblankstare]

I was really impressed with Ill st's D. NDSU could not run the ball. But the bison defense looks great. It's going to be a long tough year in the mvfc

[Chi Panther]

I didn't see or know anything about this game other than the score.

My 2 cents:

NDSU won a Farleyball game.

Also, Ill State has great athletes every year. They probably had better talent in this game. But as usual Ill State is not a good team.

[DJOM]

Illinois State has tremendous speed and good athletes year in and year out. NDSU was bound to have a let down this week after last week's big win.

[Professor Chaos]

Two things I took away from the NDSU perspective:

1) Sloppy play on the O-line: Way too many false start penatlies from the OL and TEs in a home game. Not holding blocks long enough to give the backs a chance to make a play. That's got to get cleaned up in order to maintain drives.
2) IlSU's run game ran right through the heart of NSDU's defense. You can say all the "oh this is a MVFC conference game and it's not gonna be easy" crap you want. The DTs for NDSU got pushed around this game and if that happens against UNI/SIU(Yes, I know they lost today)/InSU) the Bison are not gonna win those games.

[clenz]

Two things I took away from the NDSU perspective:

1) Sloppy play on the O-line: Way too many false start penatlies from the OL and TEs in a home game. Not holding blocks long enough to give the backs a chance to make a play. That's got to get cleaned up in order to maintain drives.
2) IlSU's run game ran right through the heart of NSDU's defense. You can say all the "oh this is a MVFC conference game and it's not gonna be easy" crap you want. The DTs for NDSU got pushed around this game and if that happens against UNI/SIU(Yes, I know they lost today)/InSU) the Bison are not gonna win those games.FWIW, for 4 or 5 years I've read that NDSU is "the most physical team in the nation"...yet any game I've watched of their they end up getting pushed around at the LOS. I'm confused by this. I'd think with NDSU's size they shouldn't be pushed around like they are.

[Hammerhead]

Or it could just be that Ill. State is better than Minnesota who laid an egg in Michigan.

[clenz]

Minnesota wouldn't be a top 25 FCS team.

[Professor Chaos]

FWIW, for 4 or 5 years I've read that NDSU is "the most physical team in the nation"...yet any game I've watched of their they end up getting pushed around at the LOS. I'm confused by this. I'd think with NDSU's size they shouldn't be pushed around like they are.
Too say NDSU, or any team for that matter, is the "most physical in the nation" is naive because no one has seen enough of every team to have an objective opinion on that. However, I'd say that NDSU has one of the better O-lines in the country at the FCS level but we sure didn't show it today. More concerning than that is the fact that IlSU was consistently ripping off 5+ yard gains in the 2nd half by running right through the heart of the Bison defense. A win is a win but if I'm at the NDSU practice this week I'm refocused because this game was not as lopsided as the score indicated and we can't count on the two huge INTs we got today to happen every game.

[Mr. C]

Too say NDSU, or any team for that matter, is the "most physical in the nation" is naive because no one has seen enough of every team to have an objective opinion on that. However, I'd say that NDSU has one of the better O-lines in the country at the FCS level but we sure didn't show it today. More concerning than that is the fact that IlSU was consistently ripping off 5+ yard gains in the 2nd half by running right through the heart of the Bison defense. A win is a win but if I'm at the NDSU practice this week I'm refocused because this game was not as lopsided as the score indicated and we can't count on the two huge INTs we got today to happen every game.

Some of us actually DO make it a point to watch everybody, if they manage to have games on TV at some point. I can tell you that Penn is one of the more physical teams you will see (just ask Villanova coach Andy Talley each year) and the Penn staff thought North Dakota State looked pretty physical on film against Lafayette when they studied them. The Bison have had that reputation for physicality since coming into the FCS ranks. Best in the country? I'm not ready to make that statement.

[Bison Fan in NW MN]

Too say NDSU, or any team for that matter, is the "most physical in the nation" is naive because no one has seen enough of every team to have an objective opinion on that. However, I'd say that NDSU has one of the better O-lines in the country at the FCS level but we sure didn't show it today. More concerning than that is the fact that IlSU was consistently ripping off 5+ yard gains in the 2nd half by running right through the heart of the Bison defense. A win is a win but if I'm at the NDSU practice this week I'm refocused because this game was not as lopsided as the score indicated and we can't count on the two huge INTs we got today to happen every game.


Give Illinois State credit. Their 2 DTs were very good yesterday.

Those stupid penalties killed drives for the Bison yesterday. The hail-mary pass that Ill State scored on was totally unacceptable for the Bison secondary, plus our DE was held during the play.....

The defense played well IMO yesterday. Hell, their RB was a transfer from Michigan State....the guy has talent. The defense made plays when they had to. Ill State gained a lot of their yards in the 4th quarter when the Bison went into "prevent" mode....which I do not agree with.

[Gil Dobie]

FWIW, for 4 or 5 years I've read that NDSU is "the most physical team in the nation"...yet any game I've watched of their they end up getting pushed around at the LOS. I'm confused by this. I'd think with NDSU's size they shouldn't be pushed around like they are.

Maybe you should read post that are not by JBB ;)

[Gil Dobie]

Penalties, Penalties, Penalties....................and ISU was a decent team.

[MplsBison]

Minnesota wouldn't be a top 25 FCS team.

Of course they would

[MplsBison]

FWIW, for 4 or 5 years I've read that NDSU is "the most physical team in the nation"...yet any game I've watched of their they end up getting pushed around at the LOS. I'm confused by this. I'd think with NDSU's size they shouldn't be pushed around like they are.

All that means is that NDSU loves to run the ball in the A gap. They've been doing that since Perles was the OC and Vigen has kept it going.

NDSU doesn't hit any hard than any other team - they all hit hard, this is DI football. The linemen are big - but so are everyone else's linemen - this is DI football.

[LakesBison]

i was in the student section row 20, i couldnt believe how loud that dome got. ndsu had that game at 20-3 easy win.