Looking Ahead To 2011

[bisonatrix]

Three things to get NDSU maybe over the top:

1. Get seeded. Homefield advantage and a bye would be great.

2. Probably most important-quarterback play must improve. I feel like that's been a broken record the last few years. This year everything but that seemed to improve. We had our moments. This year was more a result of injuries (and I dont think Brock was terrible today imo). I think if Brock doesnt get hurt he goes the whole year and we are a better offense. Whether its Thorton or Jensen, hopefully these guys stay healthy next year.

Either way, I do think that in this FCS playoff setup, you have to, at some point, have a QB who can make plays and win a game. The D2 days I think the field wasn't that deep and you could probably get away with just running all day. FCS is deeper and sooner or later you will run into a team that can expose a one dimensional offense. Better QB play=a potential to finish this run.

3. DON'T GET COCKY NDSU!!! i'm thinking of 2008 here. I think this program got a little to much of itself, read its clippings, whatever you want to call it. yes, we need swagger and confidence. but there's a difference. NDSU won't be the underdog next year. the last time this program had national title contention in its sight they lost sight of what it takes to actually finish this deal. now that they actually have a taste, and combined with the memory of that failure, I think 2011 will be a different story.

[bisonmike2]

Three things to get NDSU maybe over the top:

1. Get seeded. Homefield advantage and a bye would be great.

2. Probably most important-quarterback play must improve. I feel like that's been a broken record the last few years. This year everything but that seemed to improve. We had our moments. This year was more a result of injuries (and I dont think Brock was terrible today imo). I think if Brock doesnt get hurt he goes the whole year and we are a better offense. Whether its Thorton or Jensen, hopefully these guys stay healthy next year.

Either way, I do think that in this FCS playoff setup, you have to, at some point, have a QB who can make plays and win a game. The D2 days I think the field wasn't that deep and you could probably get away with just running all day. FCS is deeper and sooner or later you will run into a team that can expose a one dimensional offense. Better QB play=a potential to finish this run.

3. DON'T GET COCKY NDSU!!! i'm thinking of 2008 here. I think this program got a little to much of itself, read its clippings, whatever you want to call it. yes, we need swagger and confidence. but there's a difference. NDSU won't be the underdog next year. the last time this program had national title contention in its sight they lost sight of what it takes to actually finish this deal. now that they actually have a taste, and combined with the memory of that failure, I think 2011 will be a different story.

great post all around. I'm not too concerned about the QB position. I think Brock will improve over the summer and hopefully he can stay healthy next season. But I agree with your 3rd point. That is huge. First year in the MVFC and everyone was picking us to win, we fell flat on our face. This team returns alot of people and they are going to be getting alot of praise over the offseason. I hope they handle it better.

[No_Skill]

Next season can't come soon enough.

[BisonNeil]

This was a great season and it played out pretty much as I had hoped, although my 8-3 turned out bad I really thought in a 20 team format the Bison could get into the playoffs and win a game or two, it turned out two.

So, in light of this thread, I say there are ten things the Bison need to improve in order to make a deeper run so that they can get seeded in the 2011 tournament.

1) Don't use mouthwash for a year so the bitter taste of yesterday's defeat never leaves their mouth-it will drive them in their workouts and practice.

2) Get bigger, stronger, faster. The true and redshirt freshman were phenomenal, but they can get even better, think Jemison here for what they all need to do.

3) QBs need to develop (a lot!) and get better at ball security which plagued them all year. Jensen had three turnovers yesterday and that it unacceptable (forget the refs and replay call on the last one, if he doesn't fumble it is a nonfactor).

4) We badly need WRs to emerge. Holloway is okay, but we need a Heckendorf or two to emerge. Kole was dynamic from his Soph year on, we need that in more than just Warren.

5) We need to find someone who can replace Prelvitz. We have been fortunate to have 7 years of solid punting and there were a few wins this year that got the Bison yards and field position with his punting. There are no other punters on the roster I know of, so this is a top five need in my book.

6) Develop depth in the offensive and defensive lines, it has become obvious there is still more room for these units to continue to develop and to further dominate/control the line of scrimmage. As pointed out in another thread, we have five returning OL starters, but Turner, Lund, and Hinz all need to get bigger and stronger, and Jacobs, Jerve, Pomerenke, Schueller and Beckius all need to put them in positions to get serious snaps next season. Gratzek will be very difficult to replace, but keeping with #2 above I think they can be solid if Perry, Jirik, Drevlow, Juckem, Luecke and Gimmestad can continue to get better besides getting bigger and stronger.

7) We need even more depth at RB and FB. We have DJ and Sigers, plus two carries a game from Voitlander, but I don't want the Bison to become an EWU where when the stud goes down you have nothing (they will get killed by Villanova). We really do need Ojuri to come back and to develop and I would love to see Crockett become academically eligible as well and become an instant hit like Marcus Williams. At FB we need Bruhn and Grothmann to become more like Jangula so they are a blocking and pass catching threat.

8) Anderson will be missed but this opens an opportunity for Littlejohn and Carter to develop and contribute. We need a lot of depth at LB.

9) We need a tight end to emerge. Smith was a good blocking TE but Veldman has become a no-show after showing so much promise. We need Nelson and Vaadeland to develop and step up to the plate and stay healthy.

10) Coaching consistency on a number of levels. I would like this to be the first year under Bohl in which no coaches leave the program so the players have the same position coach as last year. Perhaps even more importantly, we need Vigen to develop into a dependable play caller. He has shown some ability but then comes into a game like EWU where he calls the same QB end around three or four times, in which the misdirection is created by a pivot move on a slippery carpet, none of which worked all that well. And the definition of insanity would be????

So, there you have my ten areas the Bison need to continue to get better at. The level of talent is there, but the work ethic and the leadership skills will need to carry over from this years team if they want to improve next year.

[bisonmike2]

VRAA and GEBHART. Can't wait to see what they can do.

[BisonNeil]

3. DON'T GET COCKY NDSU!!! i'm thinking of 2008 here. I think this program got a little to much of itself, read its clippings, whatever you want to call it. yes, we need swagger and confidence. but there's a difference. NDSU won't be the underdog next year. the last time this program had national title contention in its sight they lost sight of what it takes to actually finish this deal. now that they actually have a taste, and combined with the memory of that failure, I think 2011 will be a different story.

No question you are right about this. Past performance is no guarantee of future success. UNI had a similar deal in 2009. They got to the semifinals in 2008, lost a heartbreaker to eventual champion Richmond, returned like 19-20 starters in 2009 and didn't make the playoffs. Complacency breeds contempt.

[Herd]

The only goal right now for next year should be to win the Valley.

Let's not be nieve enough to think it's going to be easy to to get back to where we were today. Win the Valley, and a playoff run will be the result.

[NDSUstudent]

Yeah, it's been way too long since we brought home a conference title. Way too long.

[tjbison]

Yeah, it's been way too long since we brought home a conference title. Way too long.


2006 if that counts

[NDSUstudent]

2006 if that counts

Yeah that kind of counts but I want the real deal.

[semobison]

I agree, winning the MVFC should be top priority for next season! We havn't had a winning season since we joined. Myself, I could care less about the Minnesota game next year, but nothing would make me happier than beating UNI!