Special teams & handling the ball

[CaBisonFan]

Here's my take:

We surprise the hell out of them with our physical-ness.

It will come down to special teams & turnovers.

Question is...do we have the special teams, and will we control the ball?

Any opinions?

[McBison]

I am wondering how we play from behind. With Walker, if we were down by 14 I was never worried. We knew he was cool, calm, collected. He would get into a rhythm and then attack. I’m excited to HEAR how this game goes… CaBison, are you able to listen to the game at all?
Go Bison!

[tjbison]

I frimly believe you will see a much different Bison team this week. Bohl was testing and tuning the first 2 games, Bison Nation should be much impressed by the end of the day IMO!

[CaBisonFan]

I am wondering how we play from behind. With Walker, if we were down by 14 I was never worried. We knew he was cool, calm, collected. He would get into a rhythm and then attack. I’m excited to HEAR how this game goes… CaBison, are you able to listen to the game at all?
Go Bison!

I agree with your comments. We have to have more balance now. The defense has to be more dominant so that we don't get into catchup football half of our games. Seems like we have more talent, experience, & depth on D...which could be good news.

I think that I'll be able to hear the radio broadcast with Phil Hansen on gobison.com. Looks like it on their website. Hope I'm right.

God...I wish I could be at the game.

[CaBisonFan]

I frimly believe you will see a much different Bison team this week. Bohl was testing and tuning the first 2 games, Bison Nation should be much impressed by the end of the day IMO!

TJ...I agree. The first two games looked like scrimmages...and the emotion wasn't really there. We played down to our opponents...which is pretty hard 'not' to do. No matter what you say to yourself as a player...it's hard to play at top level unless the opposition is great.

[VegasBison]

I am wondering how we play from behind. With Walker, if we were down by 14 I was never worried. We knew he was cool, calm, collected. He would get into a rhythm and then attack. I’m excited to HEAR how this game goes… CaBison, are you able to listen to the game at all?
Go Bison!

I had the same questions entering the season. After watching Mertens in the pocket the first two games I have to say that I've been really impressed. Although he still doesn't have the touch on the long passes he looks calm and composed which in my opinion is half the battle.

But that brings up another concern of mine –*the offensive and defensive lines. I was able to watch Wyoming against Air Force. There lines are big and physical. We need to control the line of scrimmage on both sides of the ball to be productive. If we can establish the run inside we should be able to move the ball effectively with our more balanced offensive attack.

[NDSUFan_Sav]

Well you were right CA, if we control that ball we win the game...I'm not really sure if all those INTs were Mertens fault or if they were WRs bad communication....so yeah if we limit the turnovers i strongly believe we win that game.

[A1pigskin]

It would be nice to see the film because you miss out on the actual event.

[Bisonguy]

Well you were right CA, if we control that ball we win the game...I'm not really sure if all those INTs were Mertens fault or if they were WRs bad communication....so yeah if we limit the turnovers i strongly believe we win that game.

One of the INTs hit the WR right in the numbers. I'd say that one was definitely not Mertens fault.

[silkamilkamonico]

One of the INTs hit the WR right in the numbers. I'd say that one was definitely not Mertens fault.

Yea that one was a bad drop by Heckendorf.

[NDSUFan_Sav]

thats why radio isn't fun couldn't see all the drops or the ints

[CaBisonFan]

thats why radio isn't fun couldn't see all the drops or the ints

Agreed

From the radio broadcast, and some writing here, this doesn't sound like a Nick Mertens loss. Yeah...he threw a few bad ones...but the frustration level has to rise when receivers consistently drop good passes. Then, like a Brett Favre, the tendency is to put too much on your own shoulders...which brings more mistakes.

I was in shock over the number of dropped balls by our main receivers.

[Civil06]

In person, the drops felt like a knife in the back. HUGE third down conversions - and then the ball just falls to the ground. I've never seen anything like it. I had already high-fived somebody when the ball hit the ground on one of the drops.

[TransAmBison]

Why isn't Shamen doing the punt returns? I can't believe this question hasn't come up. Have I missed something?

[BisonNeil]

I agree that special team kick coverage has to improve. Other than that one area I think the special teams are fine. Prevlitz punted the hell out of the ball, Bibeau was great on KO and FG. Punt coverage was fine. I think most of you are overlooking many of the special team areas and concentrating on the one area of concern.

The Bison definitely need to do better in ball management and limit turnovers. Our O gives up the ball more than our D takes it away. We were minus TOs last year and are well on our way this year, so this is a concern.

The real concern has to be how our passing game responds. In two of the first three games the opposing team made the Bison one dimensional by taking away the run. I suspect that YSU and everyone else will try to do the same.

Breske told me that NDSUs running game didn't conern him and as far as the passing game the only thing that "scared him to hell" was our TE. Breske predicted to me that all other teams we face will do the same thing he did and that is make a rookie QB beat the D with is arm. He predicted, and risked his D game plan, on the fact that Mertens wouldn't be able to do that with his first road game as a starter. Next week is his second road game as a starter. If you saw the Ohio State game, YSU did well against their run, although not as well against SDSU. Nonetheless, we will likely see more of the same, and how well Mertens passes and how well the receivers can catch the ball concerns me way more than special teams.

[Bisonguy]

I agree that special team kick coverage has to improve. Other than that one area I think the special teams are fine. Prevlitz punted the hell out of the ball, Bibeau was great on KO and FG. Punt coverage was fine. I think most of you are overlooking many of the special team areas and concentrating on the one area of concern.

The Bison definitely need to do better in ball management and limit turnovers. Our O gives up the ball more than our D takes it away. We were minus TOs last year and are well on our way this year, so this is a concern.

The real concern has to be how our passing game responds. In two of the first three games the opposing team made the Bison one dimensional by taking away the run. I suspect that YSU and everyone else will try to do the same.

Breske told me that NDSUs running game didn't conern him and as far as the passing game the only thing that "scared him to hell" was our TE. Breske predicted to me that all other teams we face will do the same thing he did and that is make a rookie QB beat the D with is arm. He predicted, and risked his D game plan, on the fact that Mertens wouldn't be able to do that with his first road game as a starter. Next week is his second road game as a starter. If you saw the Ohio State game, YSU did well against their run, although not as well against SDSU. Nonetheless, we will likely see more of the same, and how well Mertens passes and how well the receivers can catch the ball concerns me way more than special teams.


I'm not about to go through the numbers, but it seems like the D lost a lot of emphasis on creating turnovers. I believe it was Jimmy Burrow's defenses that specifically practiced stripping the ball, etc to create turnovers. Those were probably the last years NDSU was + on turnovers.