Who woulda thought we'd be 3-1 by now??

[TheBisonator]

Even I thought we'd be 2-2 at this point. And I think this team's getting better. Our O-line is improving, our defense is for the most part awesome (minus the frequent mistackling), and we have a QB who is not the best in the nation, but is certainly capable. Folks, I think we're in for a very fun rest of the season!!

3 down, 4 to go for playoff eligibility!!!

[CaBisonFan]

Man...the WIU game looks really big right now.

[sambini]

A game at a time...

[DjKyRo]

This guy thought it - go back and look at the prediction thread. Time to abandon the "let's jump off a cliff as soon as something bad happens" attitude, guys.

[Caves39]

Nice to see McNorton hitting the holes hard tonight and not dancing around waiting for holes to open up.

[Wally]

Gotta get that one next week to get to 4-1 and more importantly get to 1-1 in the conference.

[OrygunBison]

The real question is - Who now believes me that we'll go 9-2 this year?

[Twentysix]

The real question is - Who now believes me that we'll go 9-2 this year?

Its possible, I want to be a believer, give me 2 more games and ill give you an answer.

[DjKyRo]

The real question is - Who now believes me that we'll go 9-2 this year?

In .

[chuckles]

The real question is - Who now believes me that we'll go 9-2 this year?

I don't! After tonights performance 10-1!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[NDSUFan_Sav]

I don't! After tonights performance 10-1!!!!!!!!!!!!!

now that's whats up!!!!!!! f these haters man my boy DJ did his thing finally performed so proud of him.

[ndsubison1]

Even I thought we'd be 2-2 at this point. And I think this team's getting better. Our O-line is improving, our defense is for the most part awesome (minus the frequent mistackling), and we have a QB who is not the best in the nation, but is certainly capable. Folks, I think we're in for a very fun rest of the season!!

3 down, 4 to go for playoff eligibility!!!

A lot of bisonvillers yes, im sure other mvc fans, und and such. nope

[ndsubison1]

Man...the WIU game looks really big right now.

yes indeed. bigger than any other game we've played thus far, except for UNI. 1-1 in conference is such a huge difference compared to 0-2. Gotta win the home games. WIU might be tougher than USD. Good thing we got them at home

[DjKyRo]

I said going in that I wasn't worried about USD - they brought some good things to the table and would be competitive but for me at least victory was never in doubt. Same for WIU - they have three wins over bad teams: Valpo, Sam Houston and Indiana St. (aka the MVFC's Detroit Lions). USD at least had an FBS win, whereas WIU gave up 31 to a bad Purdue team that only put up 20 at home on Toledo.

Offensively they're good as QB Matt Barr is back, rectifying the absolute sh!tstorm that this team went through last year but they're surprisingly similar to USD - strong offensively but suspect defensively and in this case without a victory over a team that shows promise.

Offense wins games, defense wins championships. NDSU has a championship-caliber defense and a rapidly-developing offense, and I wouldn't be surprised if this is another double-digit win for the Bison. Emotion is at an all-time high for the team and the way they play with their hearts on their sleeves you can bet homecoming is going to bring out the best in the team. Can't wait for Saturday.

I've got no life, so here's a team-by-team stat breakdown of all the teams WIU has faced so far.

Valparaiso - 0-4 WIU won 45-0
L Western Illinois 45-0
L Franklin (D-III) 42-7 - wtf
L St. Joseph's (D-II) 50-7
L Drake 21-19

Purdue - 2-2 WIU lost 31-21
L Notre Dame 23-12
W Western Illinois 31-21
W Ball State 24-13
L Toledo 31-20

Sam Houston State - 1-2 WIU won 56-14
L Baylor 34-3
L Western Illinois 56-14
W Gardner-Webb 30-14

Indiana State - 1-2 WIU won 40-7
W St. Joseph's (D-II) 57-7
L Cincinnati 40-7
L Western Illinois 40-7

(additional note against ISUB: The 'necks had 403 yards of total offense, 384 of which was rushing. QB Barr was 4/11 for 14 yards and 1 INT)

.....The general analysis here is that no team WIU has played (not counting Purdue for this part) has been terrible defensively and in the case of Valpo is simply a complete trainwreck. They played Purdue reasonably well but again, that's a bad Purdue team that a team with a truly effective offense should beat. A single player doesn't make a team, and despite Barr's return and the proficiency of wideout Lito Senatus I think the Bison handle WIU.

[ndsubison1]

The real question is - Who now believes me that we'll go 9-2 this year?

As of right now if I had to predict I would say:

WIU- W
@ YSU- W
@ ISU Red- L
ISU Blue- W
SIU- W
SDSU- W
@ MSU- W

Lets do this! Lots of season left though.

[DjKyRo]

WIU- W
@ YSU- W
@ ISU Red- L
ISU Blue- W
SIU- W
SDSU- W
@ MSU- W


A D-II team put up 54 on ISU-red, our offense has two games before then to fine-tune what is becoming a very effective attack. Our defense will keep us in position to win every game left on the schedule - there's no one we can't beat in conference play from here on out. Not saying we'll run the table but if we continue to play like we have the past two games we're going to be a bear-cat to play on Saturdays.

[Twentysix]

As of right now if I had to predict I would say:

WIU- W
@ YSU- W
@ ISU Red- L
ISU Blue- W
SIU- W
SDSU- W
@ MSU- W

Lets do this! Lots of season left though.

I think your wrong about YSU and ISU Red.

Hopefully we win out.

Realisticly decent shot at playoffs!

Anyone else notice the green and gold are the two teams that scored the most on the bison so far? hehe.

[ndsubison1]

A D-II team put up 54 on ISU-red, our offense has two games before then to fine-tune what is becoming a very effective attack. Our defense will keep us in position to win every game left on the schedule - there's no one we can't beat in conference play from here on out. Not saying we'll run the table but if we continue to play like we have the past two games we're going to be a bear-cat to play on Saturdays.

Every game is winnable, yes. That was the first game for Ill St. I still feel they will be one of the better teams in our conference and they will be tough to beat on the road. And should be favored. If we lose one road game it's to them. I dont think we lose to Missouri St. though on the road. Last game, this team will be much improved by then and will be very, very confident

[semobison]

Every saturday is a battle in the MVFC! The only gimme is Indiana St! Lets get ready for the Necks!

[No_Skill]

Nice to see McNorton hitting the holes hard tonight and not dancing around waiting for holes to open up.

At the same time, he did a nice job of being patient and waiting for the blocks to get set up.

[westnodak93bison]

I'm not surprised. When I hear Polasek was taking over special teams I thought ST could be a strong point.

[UncleBuck]

I sure didn't, I predicted the Bison would be 4-0 right now, and everyone thought I was drinking, well, I was.

[CAS4127]

Caution: Slow down! We are still suspect on both offense and defense. 1 game (or 1.5 games) does not make a season nor provide enough to predict major things to happen. I want to see us play well defensively against another physical team like UNI b/4 analysing the true status of our defense, especially the linebacking core that appears small and misses a lot of tackles.

[tony]

Caution: Slow down! We are still suspect on both offense and defense. 1 game (or 1.5 games) does not make a season nor provide enough to predict major things to happen. I want to see us play well defensively against another physical team like UNI b/4 analysing the true status of our defense, especially the linebacking core that appears small and misses a lot of tackles.

Yeah, Western Illinois will be a good test.

[#1BISONFAN ASHLEY]

If you look at the rest of the schedule, our only tough opponents will be Western and Illinois State. Western Ill. we can beat, ISU will be tough, but the others better be wins.

[SportsLover]

If you look at the rest of the schedule, our only tough opponents will be Western and Illinois State. Western Ill. we can beat, ISU will be tough, but the others better be wins.

Southern Illinois will be the toughest game of the season

[OldBison]

If you look at the rest of the schedule, our only tough opponents will be Western and Illinois State. Western Ill. we can beat, ISU will be tough, but the others better be wins.

Never, never underestimate SIU. You were probably among those predicting a huge score over UNI. This will be a very tough game. Anytime you play the perennial top dogs in the MVFC, it is a tough game. You must be what, 18-19 to say such crap :confused:

[tony]

Never, never underestimate SIU. You were probably among those predicting a huge score over UNI. This will be a very tough game. Anytime you play the perennial top dogs in the MVFC, it is a tough game. You must be what, 18-19 to say such crap :confused:

Dude :smh:

[EndZoneQB]

Dude :smh:

Yeah, WTF??

[tjbison]

Never, never underestimate SIU. You were probably among those predicting a huge score over UNI. This will be a very tough game. Anytime you play the perennial top dogs in the MVFC, it is a tough game. You must be what, 18-19 to say such crap :confused:

I have heard OLD people say stupid crap too!!:smh:

[CaBisonFan]

Well...I did once upon a time...but I've also had my moments of doubt...and have put up some negative threads...so that pretty much eliminates me from the 'I told you so' crowd.

I'm firmly in the 'let's just win this weekend' crowd right now. For me, it's too early to be thinking about much else. I really like the progress...but I also want to see the Bison stick it to a strong conference opponent before I go much further with my optimism.

After the thrashing that we took at UNI it looked pretty bleak. Let's hope that game was a lesson learned by this young team.

The sky is the limit for this Bison era.


Every game is a playoff game.

[BisoninNWMN]

IMO, I don't think WIU will be as big of test as USD was. The necks are a in your face, come right after you team. They are going to run right at you and pass off of that. I believe this suits our defense perfectly. We see the spread or a version of it almost every week and now we have a team that is almost a mirror image of us.

It will be a physical game but I believe the Bison will win by 2 scores....or more.

[BlueBisonRock]

I have heard OLD people say stupid crap too!!:smh:

Not from this 'old'guy. :D

But, I am a one game at a time, respect your competition kind of person so my comments may sound like stupid crap to some.

The MVFC is tough. Looking beyond the next game usually ends in disaster. Now, lets go tan the leathernecks!

[EndZoneQB]

Are there any WIU fans?

[Twentysix]

Are there any WIU fans?

No.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y6ljFaKRTrI

[CaBisonFan]

Are there any WIU fans?

This is one of the reasons that I don't like the MVFC. Indiana State, Illinois State, WIU, and maybe one or two others are stuck between the big boys out there in the eastern midwest. I'd hate to be one of those schools frankly.

They're all relatively close to Chicago, Ohio State, Illinois, Wisconsin, Michigan, Notre Dame...etc. It's gotta be really tough. The fan base is small, even in a huge market. It's the worst possible situation. The opposite of a place like Fargo, or Lincoln, Norman, Missoula, etc.

Even when they're good...not enough people care. I used to play in a rock band that toured that area quite a bit...played for college dances...small concerts...opened for some big acts...etc. I didn't like the atmosphere on those campuses...and I didn't like the run-down cities at all. They're thought of as the small towns between the important big ones. They're also known as the drug traffic towns for the bigger cities. It's where the drug runners hang out.

Good people...in a bad situation. They can't win against the big boys.