bisonfan11
10-02-2010, 11:07 AM
So here we sit at 3-1 and being ranked #13 in the top 25 for FCS teams. Now we face the 3-1 Western Illinois Leathernecks. If memory serves me correct the last time we faced Western Illinois at home they beat us so it can't happen again. Here are 4 keys to victory against WIU.
1. Stop the run-We have a pretty darn good defense. However the last 2 of 3 games has shown that the Bison are average at best against the run. We need to tackle well and not allow Western Illinois to run at will against us. I am not worried about Matt Barr being able to pass against us because we do have a legitimate pass defense.
2. Offensive Line needs to step up again-With us rushing for over 300 yards as a team (McNorton accounting for 250 of those yards), it sure looked like the offensive line has finally arrived for the Bison. However Western Illinois is real good defensively and we need to be more physical than Western Illinois defense. At this time the ground game needs to do well, when the ground game goes then the rest of the offense is fine, when we have no ground game our offense sputters.
3. Brock Jensen needs to have a better completion percentage-The last two games for Brock have been solid, but there is one stat that looks rather poor right now, Brock's 47% completion percentage. In order to beat Western Illinois Brock is going to have the Western Illinois defense honest against the pass. Some things that will help Brock's completion percentage include, more screen passes to D.J., and receivers not dropping as many passes. If Brock can be more successful passing the ball more than likely that will result in a Bison win.
4. The Bison offense and defense better be good right away-Western Illinois is a pretty good team and the Bison cannot afford to take a half of football "off" like they have done against Morgan State and South Dakota. If we don't play well early against Western Illinois we could be behind big early and that will effectively end the game right there. To keep the crowd in the game NDSU has to excel early on both sides of the ball and build an early lead, that will then put the defense in the position to more effectively shut down Western Illinois' offense.
1. Stop the run-We have a pretty darn good defense. However the last 2 of 3 games has shown that the Bison are average at best against the run. We need to tackle well and not allow Western Illinois to run at will against us. I am not worried about Matt Barr being able to pass against us because we do have a legitimate pass defense.
2. Offensive Line needs to step up again-With us rushing for over 300 yards as a team (McNorton accounting for 250 of those yards), it sure looked like the offensive line has finally arrived for the Bison. However Western Illinois is real good defensively and we need to be more physical than Western Illinois defense. At this time the ground game needs to do well, when the ground game goes then the rest of the offense is fine, when we have no ground game our offense sputters.
3. Brock Jensen needs to have a better completion percentage-The last two games for Brock have been solid, but there is one stat that looks rather poor right now, Brock's 47% completion percentage. In order to beat Western Illinois Brock is going to have the Western Illinois defense honest against the pass. Some things that will help Brock's completion percentage include, more screen passes to D.J., and receivers not dropping as many passes. If Brock can be more successful passing the ball more than likely that will result in a Bison win.
4. The Bison offense and defense better be good right away-Western Illinois is a pretty good team and the Bison cannot afford to take a half of football "off" like they have done against Morgan State and South Dakota. If we don't play well early against Western Illinois we could be behind big early and that will effectively end the game right there. To keep the crowd in the game NDSU has to excel early on both sides of the ball and build an early lead, that will then put the defense in the position to more effectively shut down Western Illinois' offense.