Run Game

[mebisonII]

What's everyone's opinion of our run game this year? Just looking at the stats (haven't made it to any games this year) it is strange to see us only break 200 yds rushing once out of 4 games. Especially after years of getting used to our feature back getting 200 yds/game multiple times a year himself.

Is this just a function of our new-found ability to pass (seeing 200+ yds in the air is just as strange as under 200 rushing)? Or is our o-line just not as powerful as it has been other times?

In other words, say we hit a team with a lock-down secondary....could we still grind out the yards on the ground?

Just curious what those who have seen the team play think.

[NDSUstudent]

Teams are stacking the box and selling out on the run, IMO we could have passed for a lot more yards if we were more aggressive the past few games.

[Gully]

I think they could have hit Warren deep most of the 2nd half with a play action. He was single covered a lot. Safety looked more like a linebacker on many plays.

[SDbison]

Teams are stacking the box and selling out on the run, IMO we could have passed for a lot more yards if we were more aggressive the past few games. Exactly! NDSU should have worked ISU over in the pass game. NDSU needs to start throwing over the middle........it was open all day yesterday.

[tjbison]

I'm just glad we can actually discuss our passing game as a positive!!!!

[Snowgoose]

In yesterdays game I noticed DJ running alot like he did his freshman year. It seemed like we was doing a lot of juking. I am also not sure why Lang is not used a little more especially in short yardage. Last year as a freshman he did really well in this area and even averaged more yards per carry than anyone else on the roster as a freshman. Now I know he had some time in mop up, but he ran quite hard and I personally would like to see him get some carries. Anybody know what is up with him getting zero carries any more.

[stevdock]

Exactly! NDSU should have worked ISU over in the pass game. NDSU needs to start throwing over the middle........it was open all day yesterday.

Also when we ran the stacked receivers on both sides if Brock would have looked left every time he would have seen two WIDE OPEN WR's who both would have scored. He definitely mis-read the defense as they only had one DB to cover 2 WR's, and then one of those times that DB blitzed. I thought we left ALOT of points out on the field yesterday.

As far as the lack of running, teams are still putting at least 8 in the box. I think if we are going to try and run we need to run a bit more out of the 3 WR set when we have their defense more spread out. When we put 10 guys in the box they are going to do the same thing. When we have 3 WR's normally most teams are only going to have 7 in the box.

[stevdock]

In yesterdays game I noticed DJ running alot like he did his freshman year. It seemed like we was doing a lot of juking. I am also not sure why Lang is not used a little more especially in short yardage. Last year as a freshman he did really well in this area and even averaged more yards per carry than anyone else on the roster as a freshman. Now I know he had some time in mop up, but he ran quite hard and I personally would like to see him get some carries. Anybody know what is up with him getting zero carries any more.

My opinion even though he has talent, I think Lang is a distant third right now. Alot of his carries last year came with Ojuri not on the team.

[344Johnson]

Run game has not overly impressed me this year, but you guys are right that teams are definitely stacking up on us, just kind of was under the impression that we would somehow get through them consistently anyway.

[Tatanka]

Biggest difference between this year and last year is that teams are stacking it up and Brock and the receiving corps are making them pay. Sooner or later other teams are going to have to pick their poison. :hungry:

[CaBisonFan]

The short passes are like running plays. They wanna stack the run...we'll do it all day. DJ hasn't had the holes to run through...yet.

[mebisonII]

Good point on the teams stacking up against the run. Exactly what I can't see from box scores and stats. Like others have said, teams are going to start to realize that's not a good idea. I'll take the yards however they come!

[Siouxfallsbison]

I noticed in a picture in the Forum yesterday that Trevor Gebhart is now playing for the Sioux:offtopic:

[Tatanka]

I noticed in a picture in the Forum yesterday that Trevor Gebhart is now playing for the Sioux:offtopic:

This must have been equally surprising and disappointing for you ;)

[moosbah]

The short passes are like running plays. They wanna stack the run...we'll do it all day. DJ hasn't had the holes to run through...yet.

DJ broke out the Dance Mania moves yesterday. They look pretty, but are worthless when you get jammed for a 3 yard loss, instead of a 1-2 yard gain.

[steelbison]

Teams are stacking the box and selling out on the run, IMO we could have passed for a lot more yards if we were more aggressive the past few games.


Totally agree. Also we don't fumble on the opening drive and commit penalty's every other play we score a LOT more then we did.

Once we had the 20-3 lead we went to the four corners offense...Which is OK With our defense, no point in giving them anything easy.

[bisonfan11]

What is just a little concerning for me is this. I figure that our O-Line is much more seasoned than last year. So, with that being the case no matter what defense we face we should be able to run the ball at will against our opponent. For our ground game to stuggle tells me that our O-Line is not dominating the way they should. I also hope that DJ's problems on Saturday were not because he is hurt. If our O-Line can do better run blocking against SIU we could end up winning the game rather easily because if our running game is going there would be no way to stop the passing game as well.

[THEsocalledfan]

Couple thoughts after watching the game Saturday, and rewatching the Gopher game again:

1. Brock's timing has been nothing short of remarkable. He is throwing the ball before receivers break and is almost 100% on the money with the throw. I've only seen him misfire a few times all season.
2. During the Gopher game, there were two times due to a last minute heroic defensive act, that Brock did not connect on some killer screens. DJ would still be running. I think that will teams stacking/blitzing NDSU, that play is going to be even more dangerous as time goes on. Remember, what do you do to a QB playing as well as Brock? You blitz him and hope for the best; I am betting we will see way more of that as time goes on.
3. I agree points were left on the field on Saturday. My feeling is I am not yet worried about the run game, as I just think Vigen knows he has more than one option at this point. If teams keep stacking, Brock will keep killing them. My goodness, I have not been so excited about QB play since, dare I say, a certainly guy named Walker played? Only thing we have not yet seen out of Brock is that drive at the end of the game to win. (You could argue he did that in Eastern Washington except for one of the worst offical calls ever.....that was a first down if no fumble ruled.....)

So, I remain pretty positive. I think they did have a let down on Saturday, and they still won!

[moosbah]

Totally agree. Also we don't fumble on the opening drive and commit penalty's every other play we score a LOT more then we did.

Once we had the 20-3 lead we went to the four corners offense...Which is OK With our defense, no point in giving them anything easy.

......Which we promptly did.

[semobison]

Turning point of the game was Williams INT! If they score there, they take the lead! I love how are defense has been making game changing plays, but I would feel more comfortable if our offense had put together some long 2nd half drives!

[bisonhp330]

In yesterdays game I noticed DJ running alot like he did his freshman year. It seemed like we was doing a lot of juking. I am also not sure why Lang is not used a little more especially in short yardage. Last year as a freshman he did really well in this area and even averaged more yards per carry than anyone else on the roster as a freshman. Now I know he had some time in mop up, but he ran quite hard and I personally would like to see him get some carries. Anybody know what is up with him getting zero carries any more.

DJ didnt impress me yesterday- when the hole is thee he is great....if there is nothing there he starts juking and is timid as hell- 3 and 1 in the game - off left tackle- he starts juking and loses 2- if he would have ducked his head and hit the line hard he would have been close if not getting it- i havent seen him take on a tackler head on all year. Ojuri.....different story. oh. and give the damn ball to Grothmann!!!!:biggrin:

[CAS4127]

DJ didnt impress me yesterday- when the hole is thee he is great....if there is nothing there he starts juking and is timid as hell- 3 and 1 in the game - off left tackle- he starts juking and loses 2- if he would have ducked his head and hit the line hard he would have been close if not getting it- i havent seen him take on a tackler head on all year. Ojuri.....different story. oh. and give the damn ball to Grothmann!!!!:biggrin:

I agree hp330. DJ is running now much like he did at the beginning and most of the way through the regular season last year. Get the eff up in there, break an arm tackle or two, and put on the jets. This is what he started doing late last season and into the PO's (btw, where's "old ball coach" these days?). Ojuri runs with his pads a little high IMO, and Grothman should be getting at least 3-6 touches a game, including some run/dive plays--I've been saying that since half way through last season!!

[tcbison]

The running game was disappointing no doubt but I thought the biggest weakness in the OL was the pass protection(and the penalties). Brock Jensen has been very accurate this year when given time. There was one pass to Trevor Gebhart that was overthrown but if Jensen had a half second more to set and throw it would have been a TD. Jensen got leveled right when he threw it. The penalties really hurt as well and put the offense in tough down and distance situations. I think there will be times where team load up to stop the run against the Bison and we will be forced to counter that with passing. At times the Redbirds deepest player was only 7-8 yards off the line of scrimmage. The Redbirds had 3 sacks in the game but Jensen alluded quite a few more. I told the guy next to me that Jensen was our best RB of the day because of the way Illinois State defense was playing us.

[bisonhp330]

The running game was disappointing no doubt but I thought the biggest weakness in the OL was the pass protection(and the penalties). Brock Jensen has been very accurate this year when given time. There was one pass to Trevor Gebhart that was overthrown but if Jensen had a half second more to set and throw it would have been a TD. Jensen got leveled right when he threw it. The penalties really hurt as well and put the offense in tough down and distance situations. I think there will be times where team load up to stop the run against the Bison and we will be forced to counter that with passing. At times the Redbirds deepest player was only 7-8 yards off the line of scrimmage. The Redbirds had 3 sacks in the game but Jensen alluded quite a few more. I told the guy next to me that Jensen was our best RB of the day because of the way Illinois State defense was playing us.

i agree with some of this..the O-line needs to work the blitz coverage- but I really think some of it lies with the recievers being able to get open- we need more than one reciever that can consistently get open- on some of that presure Jensen checked off his main reciever and then the secondary ( somethign that is awesome to see he is doing) but no one was open. We have recruited d-backs to match up - we need to get some receivers with speed and height- I realize injuries have hurt, having smith out there helps........the running game will get us wins- but its obvious we need to balance the attack.

[THEsocalledfan]

I agree hp330. DJ is running now much like he did at the beginning and most of the way through the regular season last year. Get the eff up in there, break an arm tackle or two, and put on the jets. This is what he started doing late last season and into the PO's (btw, where's "old ball coach" these days?). Ojuri runs with his pads a little high IMO, and Grothman should be getting at least 3-6 touches a game, including some run/dive plays--I've been saying that since half way through last season!!

CAS, think he is hurt? Isn't that the type of thing you often see when RB's are dinged up?

[CAS4127]

CAS, think he is hurt? Isn't that the type of thing you often see when RB's are dinged up?

Not sure, but I mentioned I thought he seemed a little slow in the Minny game and that he looked about 85% in that game. Could be some lingering issues in his ankly/foot, and you are right about this being what you often see when someone isn't 100%.

Wish we had Sigers to go with DJ and Sam!!

[bisonsupporter]

Seemed on saturday that on any given running play 2 blocks would be missed. Whether it was the fullback on the kick out block or the guard pulling to seal the hole. DJ just needs to try and not hit a homerun every time. It will help with TE's catching the ball in the middle to open more running room.

[bisonhp330]

Seemed on saturday that on any given running play 2 blocks would be missed. Whether it was the fullback on the kick out block or the guard pulling to seal the hole. DJ just needs to try and not hit a homerun every time. It will help with TE's catching the ball in the middle to open more running room.

yes....the TE in being a big part of the game is starting to happen....i am glad that i stand corrected and Veldman has been able to become unpussified.

[1998braves64]

Only this game we've seemed to struggle a little bit running the ball? I didn't get a chance to watch any of Minn game so I don't know how that went but didn't ISU have #4 run defense in fcs coming into this game? Getting 100 yards would be quite an accomplishment and if DJ is still not 100%, if he doesn't hit the hole as fast as he can they probably close pretty too fast to break the long runs? It seemed like the decent runs we got Saturday were with Ojuri. McNorton did do good on the screen play for a TD.

[Bison Dan]

Hard to run successfully against a D designed to stop it. I think ISU was saying for NDSU to win you'll have to pass but you aren't going to run it down our throat. This is what most teams will do against us this year but this year Brock is going to make them pay for it.

[HandoEX]

We aren't running the ball as much as we have the last few years, but we are still averaging 5 yards per carry. I like seeing the balance!

[BisonNeil]

What is just a little concerning for me is this. I figure that our O-Line is much more seasoned than last year. So, with that being the case no matter what defense we face we should be able to run the ball at will against our opponent. For our ground game to stuggle tells me that our O-Line is not dominating the way they should. I also hope that DJ's problems on Saturday were not because he is hurt. If our O-Line can do better run blocking against SIU we could end up winning the game rather easily because if our running game is going there would be no way to stop the passing game as well.

Yes, teams are stacking the box, but no more than last year in my opinion. I think the difference is in the OL.

Turner has struggled at times at LT, especially last Saturday, but he is playing in a different position and there are nuances I am told in stance and footwork between RT and LT, and he is very young, learning the position.

Cornick was at RG last year and is very physical, like Richard is, and I think that physicality in the interior of the line made all the difference last year compared to this year. Gimmestad is a rookie, transitioning from DL, and while he moves well (pulling, getting to the second level), he is still not a physical OG in my opinion.

And another point, the Bison rarely run well or do well offensively against a 3-4 that ISU ran. We face another one when we play SIU this weekend.

But, to be honest, I don't think the OL in its current configuration has jelled yet. I also don't think they were at their peak after four games last year either, so I expect dramatic improvement over the next few games, but I fail to see anymore teams in the box this year than last. We just have to let Fuchs do his magic.

[THEsocalledfan]

Neil, I can understand the concern, but the last two teams were not slouches who were also trying to win the game. Plus, we have time as you pointed out! Have I switched places with Gabe? He has been more negative where I have been more positive. Is the world upside down?