[October 23, 2010] Indiana State (4-2) vs. North Dakota State (4-3)

[IndianaState45]

I think Archie may have had a minor bump or bruise he was recovering from last week.

 

[Callmedoc]

This game is a big reason why Brock Lough should be getting the ball more...he can be our big physical back that we need...

 

[BigBlue79]

Ok this is just from what I heard from the game...lough had big runs because they weren't keying on him like they did bell and gates...nds approached this game and said, "we are going to take away their run and hilton"...and they did...when I watch us play...I know most of the time that when lough is in motion we run the power o and that when lough is in the backfield by himself we pass because he is a better blocker in protection...we should have let him have more runs out of that formation so I agree but they didn't key on him the same..when lough and gates were in the backfield..they bring the house and are downhill much faster.....the key was alex jones...he should have had a big big day...lots of play actions would have tore them up and then we wait until they take that away and run our regular stuff....we tried to force things to hilton way too much...we also need to execute our screens much better....lots of bad balls thrown and dropped ones...Our d did good...we gave that game away despite all of that...we had no business losing...when I heard on the radion they were stopping our run like that...I knew their LBs were downhill too fast...jones would run right by them all day...

 

[mgbison]

Bison fan's perspective

1. I wouldn't say you had no business losing. We gave you 12 of those points on penalties. Your offense has to score points to win. 27 rushing yards is gonna have to improve or you'll have no chance against uni or sdsu. We win that game 19 out of 20 times.
2. Your QB is pretty solid. He got hit a lot. If you can develop a running game, he could be really good.
3. ISU's special teams need improvement (but that will improve when you have more depth)
4. NDSU must lead the league in penalties. Not a good stat to have.
5. I like your head coach. He's moving the program in the right direction.


The next couple of years are going to be fun to watch. Most teams in the league are really young. NDSU, UNI, ISUb and r, YSU all have really young teams. Its gonna be a battle in the MVFC. I think 4 of our 6 leading tacklers on sat were freshman. Good luck the rest of the season and hopefully you can knock off SDSU on saturday.

 

[Bally #50]

Welcome aboard. Nice comments and I feel quite accurate. Looks like things are heading in the right direction for both schools and by the way, your stadium looks pretty slick~
(Is it really pronounced BI-ZON)?

 

[Callmedoc]

I don't think our running game needs to be revamped...got to remember the trees before this weekend were the 11th best rushing team in the nation...I don't think we made the best of our oppportunities and we gave you guys the game with our own stupidity (a la possibly the worst special teams blocking in the history of man kind)...

 

[mgbison]

The rushing stat may be a bit misleading. If the 11th in the the nation includes Quincy and St. Joesphs, its gonna be inflated. Also, MSU and ISUr probably have the 2 worst defenses in the conferences/nation.

The one thing NDSU, UNI, and SDSU are really good at is stopping the run. NDSU for example, gave up a ton of rushing yards against ISUr and YSU, but our #70 is the reason. He was hurt and didn't play against those two teams. He was the one guy we couldn't afford to lose due to injury and we had him back against the trees. He went down in the early 3rd against WIU and was out for YSU and ISUr. If he gets hurt again, SDSU will just pound the ball on us and we will be in trouble. He's a senior and his backups are all freshman and a little undersized to be playing all the time against smashmouth teams.

NDSU's biggest problem is we have something like 16 freshman on our 2 deep. We had two terrible recruiting classes back to back after our 10-1 seasons and we only have 5 or 6 kids remaining in our Jr and sr classes.

This is why I find it interesting to look at oppenent's message's boards and see what they have to say after games. Two sides to every story. As NDSU fans we'll say we gave almost gave ISU the game, at the same time your fan base is saying the same thing.

 

[Eleven]

1. 27 rushing yards is gonna have to improve or you'll have no chance against uni or sdsu.
2. Your QB is pretty solid. He got hit a lot. If you can develop a running game, he could be really good.
3. ISU's special teams need improvement (but that will improve when you have more depth)
4. NDSU must lead the league in penalties. Not a good stat to have.
5. I like your head coach. He's moving the program in the right direction.

Can't argue with any of the points quoted above. ESPECIALLY #3.
Our special teams put our defense in a bad spot all game long.

 

[new sycamore fan]

I wasn't able to make the game--what was the issue with the special teams; blocked punts? Short kickoffs? Poor returns? All of the above? If this is the case, combined with the interception return for a TD and the lost fumble in our territory, it must have seemed like a reversion to the last 2 years. They need to bounce back and protect their home field this week.

 

[bent20]

Agree that Lough needs to get the ball more in games like this. We finally got something going in the WIU game when they started giving it to him. If our speed is negated, go with the bruiser.

 

[True Blue]

I wasn't able to make the game--what was the issue with the special teams; blocked punts? Short kickoffs? Poor returns? All of the above? If this is the case, combined with the interception return for a TD and the lost fumble in our territory, it must have seemed like a reversion to the last 2 years. They need to bounce back and protect their home field this week.

No blocks but short kickoffs and no returns. It seems like the last two pieces to this puzzle is depth and improved special teams. They kind of go hand in hand.

 

[JustAskin]

No blocks but short kickoffs and no returns. It seems like the last two pieces to this puzzle is depth and improved special teams. They kind of go hand in hand.

I think Jason said it best Sat. night. In all aspect of our runs to include returns we try to make the big play everytime instead of A PLAY. Lough lowers his shoulder and gets something everytime instead of dancing for the big play.We can not spend so much time in the backfield or looking on returns. The slow motion replays online were great to see some of these things. The OL did not do as bad a job as some might think. Their defense just played to what we gave them.

 

[BigBlue79]

I wasnt at the game but we gave them 14 points....pick six and fumble on our own 19....D was on the field way too much because our o couldn't pick up the blitz or stop their fast flow linebackers...throw it to jones...but..I think we played bad...that is what i meant by no business losing...we didn't capatalize on their mistakes and made lots of our own...but they are a good team...fouch had a couple of overthrown balls...we must learn to pick up the blitz and use our te's more so they won't send them that much...and we do go for the deep ball too much in my opinion...but the bison had a heck of a punter and this is a game of field position..

 

[Eleven]

No blocks but short kickoffs and no returns. It seems like the last two pieces to this puzzle is depth and improved special teams. They kind of go hand in hand.

And we gave them too good of field position on some punts with too-long returns.