Nothing to worry about

[JustinTyem]

I couldn't help but sit and shake my head as mostly every NDSU fan ripped Brock Jensen, Craig Bohl and Brent Vigen after and during the game http://www.ndsuspectrum.com/sports/nothing-to-worry-about-1.2639997

[CAS4127]

Tough to be a writer on campus/for the Spectrum huh????????

[CaBisonFan]

Once the veer and good quarterbacks left town...the program began to struggle against the 3-4. Let's be clear on this.

We got our first first-down with 5 minutes to go in the 3rd quarter...right? And we have games coming up against other teams that play the 3-4. So we shouldn't be concerned? The offense looked absolutely horrible. I'm tired of watching the inept nature of the Vigen offensive scheme. I'll give Brock a pass. He's an excellent young quarterback. The SIU defense was in our playbook the whole day. Kinda tough to block when the defense knows exactly what's going to happen.

[semobison]

Its easier to be optomistic when you are 5-0! Bottom line is if we dont improve offensively and play better early in games our chances of winning a conference championship are not good! This weekend is a chance to improve in those areas against a team everyone thinks we should beat easily. If we want to be a top MVFC team we need to start playing like one! If we struggle with Missouri State we are going to be lucky to go 6-2 in the conference! A good performance this week is definately needed!

[BisonNeil]

The article makes it appear as though the offensive woes just appeared on Saturday. If the writer had a clue, and paid any attention at all to the Illinois State game, played at HOME, they would have noted that the offense put up exactly 13 points. The offensive line has been clueless for two games now, completely inept in blocking a 3-4 scheme.

Offensive output in the last 3 games have been 336, 331, and 210 total yards. Yards rushing have also steadily gone down in the last three games with 153, 124 and 60 total freaking rushing yards. Are you kidding me?

So, it is fine for that writer or anyone else to say "hey, a win is a win", but please, take off the rose-colored glasses and see what the real situation is here. Last Saturday was not a one game wonder.

As said before, a blow out Saturday does not guarantee the coaches and the players have figured out how to play the 3-4, Missouri State is too lousy for that interpretation. But, another piss poor performance, poor blocking, offensive penalties, low offensive output and low scoring will be an indictment on Vigen, Fuchs and the rest of the coaches to generate offensive schemes worthy of a DI football program.

In my humble opinion of course :)

[X-Factor]

The article makes it appear as though the offensive woes just appeared on Saturday. If the writer had a clue, and paid any attention at all to the Illinois State game, played at HOME, they would have noted that the offense put up exactly 13 points. The offensive line has been clueless for two games now, completely inept in blocking a 3-4 scheme.

Offensive output in the last 3 games have been 336, 331, and 210 total yards. Yards rushing have also steadily gone down in the last three games with 153, 124 and 60 total freaking rushing yards. Are you kidding me?

So, it is fine for that writer or anyone else to say "hey, a win is a win", but please, take off the rose-colored glasses and see what the real situation is here. Last Saturday was not a one game wonder.

As said before, a blow out Saturday does not guarantee the coaches and the players have figured out how to play the 3-4, Missouri State is too lousy for that interpretation. But, another piss poor performance, poor blocking, offensive penalties, low offensive output and low scoring will be an indictment on Vigen, Fuchs and the rest of the coaches to generate offensive schemes worthy of a DI football program.

In my humble opinion of course :)

I agree BN, why should we be paying Vigen and Fuchs salaries if their plays and schemes could be bested by a 5 year old with a purple crayon? I do believe we have good lineman, it is the lack of coaching leadership that scares me. Those two knuckleheads had better be pulling all-nighters in the office until they can actually figure out where to put their men. I am not concerned at all about MSU, however, I am just a weeeee bit concerned about UNI. The Bison program deserves a win at home against those fools, but if we don't get our head out of our ass soon, UNI will be the ones deserving yet another win.

[onbison09]

I'm sorry but expectations should be high. 31 yards of offense (or whatever it was) in the first half shouldn't be acceptable and the one big play we had was a flea flicker.

[Tatanka]

I'm sorry but expectations should be high. 31 yards of offense (or whatever it was) in the first half shouldn't be acceptable and the one big play we had was a flea flicker.
21, with -1 yards rushing.

[westnodak93bison]

Somebody please tell me why we can not seem to make offensive adjustments during the first half and always seem to wait until after half time? Maybe Vigen needs to get down on the field instead of upstairs and make the adjustments in the first or second quarter.

[stevdock]

Somebody please tell me why we can not seem to make offensive adjustments during the first half and always seem to wait until after half time? Maybe Vigen needs to get down on the field instead of upstairs and make the adjustments in the first or second quarter.

Do our QB's get on the phone or headset with Vigen and talk about what both see while the defense is out there?? If they don't then there is your answer to why it doesn't happen until half.

[Gully]

How would you really know if or when they're making adjustments? Maybe we're more effective as the opposing defenses get tired?

[Tatanka]

Do our QB's get on the phone or headset with Vigen and talk about what both see while the defense is out there?? If they don't then there is your answer to why it doesn't happen until half.
They do.

[ndsubison1]

with the way our O is playing curently we will lose by double digits to UNI. i still think it will get better.

[mgbison]

it would make no sense at all to have the oc on the field.

[semobison]

I agree BN, why should we be paying Vigen and Fuchs salaries if their plays and schemes could be bested by a 5 year old with a purple crayon? I do believe we have good lineman, it is the lack of coaching leadership that scares me. Those two knuckleheads had better be pulling all-nighters in the office until they can actually figure out where to put their men. I am not concerned at all about MSU, however, I am just a weeeee bit concerned about UNI. The Bison program deserves a win at home against those fools, but if we don't get our head out of our ass soon, UNI will be the ones deserving yet another win.

Coaches coach but players play the game. Some blame for our offensive woes falls on the coaches sure, but the O line has been getting pushed around. They need to man up. Our two stud running backs are not running hard! Both are way too hesitant! I dont think DJ is healthy though in his defense! The players need man up and get their assignments done and play better. Your not worried about MSU? If we dont play better offensively it could be a low scoring struggle! They only lost to SIU by 2 in Carbondale! Turnovers have been their downfall, they are last in the conference in the takeaways at -5! By contrast we are leading the conference in takeaways! If we dont have a big improvement on the offensive side of the ball every game we play the rest of the season will worry me! That said, Im hoping for an offensive breakout this weekend! We need it!

[ndsubison1]

Coaches coach but players play the game. Some blame for our offensive woes falls on the coaches sure, but the O line has been getting pushed around. They need to man up. Our two stud running backs are not running hard! Both are way too hesitant! I dont think DJ is healthy though in his defense! The players need man up and get their assignments done and play better. Your not worried about MSU? If we dont play better offensively it could be a low scoring struggle! They only lost to SIU by 2 in Carbondale! Turnovers have been their downfall, they are last in the conference in the takeaways at -5! By contrast we are leading the conference in takeaways! If we dont have a big improvement on the offensive side of the ball every game we play the rest of the season will worry me! That said, Im hoping for an offensive breakout this weekend! We need it!

some of the blame has to be put on the coaches though. players can only do so much. it's up to the coaches to put them in the best situation possible and make adjustments on the fly

[344Johnson]

How would you really know if or when they're making adjustments? Maybe we're more effective as the opposing defenses get tired?

I seriously doubt SIU's defense got tired...they may have gotten a bit stiff on the sidelines with how little they were on the field though.

[Gully]

I seriously doubt SIU's defense got tired...they may have gotten a bit stiff on the sidelines with how little they were on the field though.

I agree. I meant more in genreral...over the past two years we've generally been more effective running the ball in the 2nd half. But even last week any "half time adjustments" didn't do very much in the 3rd even. In the 4th we seemed to have some success.

[NDSUstudent]

I don't know, last week field position killed us until late in the game. Honestly in the two previous games I thought our offense got worse in the second half.

[semobison]

I tell you this much, if I am coaching MSU I come into the dome with a REAL conservative game plan! Dont turn the ball over! Punting is OK! Try to make it a low scoring affair!

[Gully]

I just have a feeling we're going to explode in this game and score a bunch of points. Last week a lot of people were saying we were going to blow out SIU....now we're a terrible team? Neither was right, the truth is somewhere in the middle. We have way too much for MSU this year.

[semobison]

We are a very good team struggling on offense right now! Last year we would have lost the game at SIU! I know expectations are very high right now and there is nothing I want more than a MVFC title this year! I think most of us on BV realize that a conference title is very possible but we need to improve offensively to make it a reality!

[Strommer10]

We are a very good team struggling on offense right now! Last year we would have lost the game at SIU! I know expectations are very high right now and there is nothing I want more than a MVFC title this year! I think most of us on BV realize that a conference title is very possible but we need to improve offensively to make it a reality!
There are no doubts that we need to improve offensively in order to get where we want to go. But we are WINNING these games with little to no offense. In the past 3 years, we would've lost these conference games. This is a testament to the defense and our maturity as a team.

[CAS4127]

U know what is odd?! We all here on BV have been questioning our offense for the last two years--we even questioned after the EWU GAME. Well, guess what? I don't think our collective intelligence is low. I think we r spot on here my friends--spot on. If not, we r all a bunch of idiots. Think about it.!!!!!

We do not have a MVFC or a NC caliber team right now, so, don't be disappointed if Frisco is not on our travel calendar like all of us would like it to be. We r being held back by coaching!! Any other coaching crew in the country would flat out love to b coaching us right now, in fact, they would b drooling over it instead of laughing if they r one of our opponents!!


DONE!!

[DjKyRo]

Northern Iowa scored 42 on Missouri State on the road. While the comparative score index is obviously not the greatest tool to use when comparing teams, this game might give us an idea of where we're at relative to UNI and the game on the 29th. (Still the biggest game of the season, IMO).