Some questions for those of you who know more about football than I do

[MHDBisonfan]

Because I obviously don't know the answers. I'm hoping some of you on here can enlighten me.

1. Why is Ryan Smith not returning kickoffs anymore? If we have better returners (??) then why did we pull his redshirt? I thought Smith looks like he has the potential to break one almost every time he catches one, so why isn't he in there ALL THE TIME on returns?! Why are we wasting a year of eligibility for someone who could be a real asset to the program by having him standing on the sidelines?

2. I've heard the comment now from Coach Bohl, announcers, and fans who say we are such a young team. Young teams are going to make mistakes. Young teams look good one game and bad the next. I don't disagree with that, but my question is: WHY are we such a young team? It's not like we're just starting this "DI" thing and our older athletes were recruited to play D2. Good grief, we've been going at this for 7 years now. I thought "young" teams were because of rebuilding, new staff, etc. It's not like we rode the shoulders of our seniors last year to the NC and now we have to rebuild. To me it just sounds like a fill in the blank answer to: The reason we're not good THIS year, but just wait til NEXT year is ______" Let's see if Phil or CB references how young we are on the CBFS this morning.

3. Why does it seem like we are not prepared for the first half of games now? Obviously our coaches watch film, but why isn't that showing up in the first half? Yes, we've made some great adjustments at half, but why do we need to be making major halftime adjustments? Oh, that QB from usd sure is pretty good, maybe we should key on him in the second half. We shot ourselves in the foot numerous times yesterday - not being ready on the first TD pass, giving them numerous first downs by penalty, kicking off out of bounds, fielding a punt on our own 4 yard line, secondary constantly losing track of people, etc, etc. WHY? or is that part of being a "young" team?

[BisonNeil]

2. I've heard the comment now from Coach Bohl, announcers, and fans who say we are such a young team. Young teams are going to make mistakes. Young teams look good one game and bad the next. I don't disagree with that, but my question is: WHY are we such a young team? It's not like we're just starting this "DI" thing and our older athletes were recruited to play D2. Good grief, we've been going at this for 7 years now. I thought "young" teams were because of rebuilding, new staff, etc. It's not like we rode the shoulders of our seniors last year to the NC and now we have to rebuild. To me it just sounds like a fill in the blank answer to: The reason we're not good THIS year, but just wait til NEXT year is ______" Let's see if Phil or CB references how young we are on the CBFS this morning.


You must be new to the board, this has been discussed ad nauseum.

To put succinctly, Bohl's recruiting under Vigen as the recruiting coordinator was poor at best. His first class, 2004, was DI quality. Out of the rest of the years, only 2007 has DI talent. He failed to recruit a QB in 2006 and 2007 which is why we have so many young QBs. His attrition rates have been very high, a sign of poor recruiting because nearly half of every class left after two years. The attrition rate peaked with the 2008 class which is nearly all gone except for Mohler, Evans and Lund. To Bohl's credit, they significantly changed their recruiting philosophy after the 2008 class.

Bohl is 12-15 with his recruits.

I personally think Polasek has turned recruiting around with the 2009 and 2010 classes and the Bison will be terrific the next two years and beyond.

Until then, we all just have to be patient. It's hard to do, but that is reality with the lousy recruiting Bohl did from 2005-2008.

[WYOBISONMAN]

You must be new to the board, this has been discussed ad nauseum.

To put succinctly, Bohl's recruiting under Vigen as the recruiting coordinator was poor at best. His first class, 2004, was DI quality. Out of the rest of the years, only 2007 has DI talent. He failed to recruit a QB in 2006 and 2007 which is why we have so many young QBs. His attrition rates have been very high, a sign of poor recruiting because nearly half of every class left after two years. The attrition rate peaked with the 2008 class which is nearly all gone except for Mohler, Evans and Lund. To Bohl's credit, they significantly changed their recruiting philosophy after the 2008 class.

Bohl is 12-15 with his recruits.

I personally think Polasek has turned recruiting around with the 2009 and 2010 classes and the Bison will be terrific the next two years and beyond.

Until then, we all just have to be patient. It's hard to do, but that is reality with the lousy recruiting Bohl did from 2005-2008.

This ^^^^^^^^^^

[mgbison]

The recruiting coordinator had nothing to do with those poor classes. The recruiting coordinator doesn't do any more actual recruiting than any other coach. The coordinator just simply arranges flights, puts together highlight tapes, etc.

When coaches recruit, they are assigned to certain areas. For example someone is in charge of nd and western MN, another may be the north twin ciiteis metro, another the south metro, another WI, etc. The recruiting coordinator has no more power than any other coach when it comes to recruiting players. If there was a bad class, if you knew which coach was assigned to which area, you would know who recruited them. For example, Nystrom was the MI connection.

When they are going to offer someone, it is Bohl's call. You can rip Vigen for play calling, but the recruiting classes when he was recruiting coordinator have no bearing on who was the recruiting coordinator.

[MHDBisonfan]

You must be new to the board, this has been discussed ad nauseum.

To put succinctly, Bohl's recruiting under Vigen as the recruiting coordinator was poor at best. His first class, 2004, was DI quality. Out of the rest of the years, only 2007 has DI talent. He failed to recruit a QB in 2006 and 2007 which is why we have so many young QBs. His attrition rates have been very high, a sign of poor recruiting because nearly half of every class left after two years. The attrition rate peaked with the 2008 class which is nearly all gone except for Mohler, Evans and Lund. To Bohl's credit, they significantly changed their recruiting philosophy after the 2008 class.

Bohl is 12-15 with his recruits.

I personally think Polasek has turned recruiting around with the 2009 and 2010 classes and the Bison will be terrific the next two years and beyond.

Until then, we all just have to be patient. It's hard to do, but that is reality with the lousy recruiting Bohl did from 2005-2008.

And you must be new to sarcasm. Of course we're young because our recruiting sucked. My whole point was I'm tired of "being patient" to have a NC type of team. There is ZERO excuse for what are going thru. You can always find a reason for why THIS year isn't the year but I for one am sick of it. Competing for a NC our first year of eligibility? We are competing to not finish last in our conference. In 3 years we have won exactly 1 quality mv game.

[CaBisonFan]

The recruiting coordinator had nothing to do with those poor classes. The recruiting coordinator doesn't do any more actual recruiting than any other coach. The coordinator just simply arranges flights, puts together highlight tapes, etc.

Not arguing. Adding:

1. Doesn't the team already have people who work with the videos and make travel arrangements?

2. Sounds like plausible deniability...like a president. Don't tell him some things, so that when something goes really wrong, he didn't know.

About the youngness of the team...it is true...but we also have some very strong leaders 'with' experience. It's going to be that way most of the time. As a coach, I would want that scenario to be a 'constant.' Old...young. Then the young ones step up and have the experience to pass it along. That's how you reload instead of rebuild.

Maybe some of the members are right. The recruiting gap became so large that we are in a total rebuild. If that is the case, then someone in high places was negligent...and quite stupid. Not aware of recruiting, the process, the philosophy, the outcomes, the caliber of student/athlete ?? GMAB Sounds like that person should get a 12 million bonus.

[mgbison]

You can blame the whole staff for the bad classes. However, there is a reason some coaches are still here and why some coaches aren't. The ones that weren't pulling their weight have moved on.

[No_Skill]

You can blame the whole staff for the bad classes. However, there is a reason some coaches are still here and why some coaches aren't. The ones that weren't pulling their weight have moved on.

Yeah, I'm sure glad we got rid of that good for nothing Willie Mack Garza.

[MinotBison]

You can blame the whole staff for the bad classes. However, there is a reason some coaches are still here and why some coaches aren't. The ones that weren't pulling their weight have moved on.

So, in your view, who is not pulling their weight this year?

[EndZoneQB]

So, in your view, who is not pulling their weight this year?

Vigen. 10..

[mgbison]

Recruiting wise we are obivously doing fine. The classes the past 2 years seem to be solid. Seems Bohl has figured out what they were doing wrong and has fixed that problem.

It comes down to this. On the first drive, pretty sure it wasn't Vigen that fumbled. Talk about a game changing momentum. Was it Vigen who missed a wide open Holloway on the sideline in the 4th quarter. Was it Vigen who got called for holding on 4th and one? It doesn't matter the sceme you run, sometimes players have to execute. Also, the defense had an off day. We lost and time to move on.

We are still 3-2. We need to take care of business on the road the next two weeks. 8-3 will get us into the playoffs, and possibly 7-4 with the KU win (and a little luck).

[NWNDBison]

Does anyuone know of ANY FCS team with 4 losses who has made the playoffs the last 5 yrs.?

There could be. I'm not saying it hasn't happened. Just seems like my memory banks are conditioned to believe if you have more than 3 losses, the playoffs are out the window.

[NDSUstudent]

Does anyuone know of ANY FCS team with 4 losses who has made the playoffs the last 5 yrs.?

There could be. I'm not saying it hasn't happened. Just seems like my memory banks are conditioned to believe if you have more than 3 losses, the playoffs are out the window.

Montana State did it in 2006, that was with a loss to a DII and a win vs Colorado that the committee loved. BTW they hosted Furman in the first round that year despite being 7-4. If the playoffs would have a 20 team format that year three 7-4 teams would have gotten in.

In 2008 8-4 Maine reached the playoffs in what was a 12 game season.

[BisonNolesFan77]

And you must be new to sarcasm. Of course we're young because our recruiting sucked. My whole point was I'm tired of "being patient" to have a NC type of team. There is ZERO excuse for what are going thru. You can always find a reason for why THIS year isn't the year but I for one am sick of it. Competing for a NC our first year of eligibility? We are competing to not finish last in our conference. In 3 years we have won exactly 1 quality mv game.

And you are one of those who expect results overnight...

I don't think you will find a single fan who is not sick of it, but you can be sick of it all you want, it isn't going to change the fact that when you have such poor recruiting classes for a few years in a row, it will kill a program until you can get those classes gone. Look at what the NCAA did with the USC/Reggie Bush thing, they take away scholarships, because recruiting is the future of a college program. USC and what will happen at UNC is as close to a SMU like death penalty the NCAA will give. Plain and simple, you cant fix the recruiting F#$K up's overnight, more so when they were just 2 recruiting cycles ago!

And a 7-4 record will get you into the playoffs, remember they expanded this season. Just my opinion but we beat SDSU and Indiana St. at home, take care of Missouri St., and to put things at real ease, win 2 out 3 in the SIU, Ill. St., and Youngstown games...

[gotts]

So does anyone know what the deal is with a lack of Ryan Smith on the kickoff returns?

[KTF]

So does anyone know what the deal is with a lack of Ryan Smith on the kickoff returns?

I am wondering the same thing, although Marcus Williams had a few nice returns. WIU was a hard hitting team and I wonder if Bohl wasn't concerned about physical stamina with Smith...

Ju my $.02, not factual knowledge...

[BisonNeil]

The recruiting coordinator had nothing to do with those poor classes. The recruiting coordinator doesn't do any more actual recruiting than any other coach. The coordinator just simply arranges flights, puts together highlight tapes, etc.

When coaches recruit, they are assigned to certain areas. For example someone is in charge of nd and western MN, another may be the north twin ciiteis metro, another the south metro, another WI, etc. The recruiting coordinator has no more power than any other coach when it comes to recruiting players. If there was a bad class, if you knew which coach was assigned to which area, you would know who recruited them. For example, Nystrom was the MI connection.

When they are going to offer someone, it is Bohl's call. You can rip Vigen for play calling, but the recruiting classes when he was recruiting coordinator have no bearing on who was the recruiting coordinator.

You are severely underestimating the impact of the recruiting coordinator.

The RC is usually the point contact person once the students are on campus. Vigen's droll, flat-line personality did not play well with high school student athletes who found him uninspiring. Polasek is a dynamic, energetic and very engaging personality that does play well with young athletes. I have gotten these comparisons from a number of parents whose kids did and did not come here to play.

But you are probably right, the fantastic classes of 09 and 10 versus the dismal 08 class had nothing to do with the point of attack.

[Bison Dan]

I am wondering the same thing, although Marcus Williams had a few nice returns. WIU was a hard hitting team and I wonder if Bohl wasn't concerned about physical stamina with Smith...

Ju my $.02, not factual knowledge...

My thought was maybe he was going to get some reb's at TB so the coaches saved him for that????

[SDbison]

Vigen. 10..
I agree.......as a recruiter or offensive coordinator Vigen just doesn't get the job done. I don't even know what qualified him to be QB coach.

[THEsocalledfan]

I agree.......as a recruiter or offensive coordinator Vigen just doesn't get the job done. I don't even know what qualified him to be QB coach.

I defended Vigen last week, but felt he was a bit flat on the play calls in the first half again. But as was also stated, he was not the one who fumbled and that was a key play.

Further, I heard numerous folks criticize the offense on the lack of "punching it in" on those 4th quarter drives. I honestly was not that upset about that as it if very hard to do that when:

1. You have to throw every down due to clock considerations which leads to:

2. A defense sitting in a zone coverage in the endzone just making sure everything stays in front of them. It can be done, but it is not easy.

A better strategy is not to find yourself that far down where you need to rally.....

[SDbison]

I defended Vigen last week, but felt he was a bit flat on the play calls in the first half again. But as was also stated, he was not the one who fumbled and that was a key play.

Further, I heard numerous folks criticize the offense on the lack of "punching it in" on those 4th quarter drives. I honestly was not that upset about that as it if very hard to do that when:

1. You have to throw every down due to clock considerations which leads to:

2. A defense sitting in a zone coverage in the endzone just making sure everything stays in front of them. It can be done, but it is not easy.

A better strategy is not to find yourself that far down where you need to rally.....

One turnover in your opponents end of the field early in the game cannot be considered a game changer. The fact that NDSU's simple minded offense can be easily adjusted to and stopped is the problem.

[THEsocalledfan]

One turnover in your opponents end of the field early in the game cannot be considered a game changer. The fact that NDSU's simple minded offense can be easily adjusted to and stopped is the problem.

Never said it was, but that it wasn't Vigen's fault. I am openly criticizing Vigen, so not sure where we disagree.

[bisonfan11]

I agree.......as a recruiter or offensive coordinator Vigen just doesn't get the job done. I don't even know what qualified him to be QB coach.

You want proof of how good Vigen is as a QB coach just look at how well Nicky Mertens and Jose Mohler have panned out for us.