The positive from the Montana game

[OrygunBison]

I have now been able to fully watch the game on TV (DVR) and am not nearly overtaken by that sick feeling that I had Saturday evening. The boys actually played pretty well and at most positions. Mistakes, yes. But there is a ton to be happy about and I cannot wait to see what these guys look like with a little bit of more experience. Things that particularly popped out to me:

1.) Defense - To my little brain, and with my limited knowledge, they actually played very well. I believe that once the secondary gets healthy and more experience, this will be a very good defense. There's a ton of speed and the boys like to hit shit.
2.) DeLuca - what a beast! 'nuff said.
3.) Tanguay - see above.
4.) Linebacker group - I think this and the interior defensive line will be the strength of the defensive unit. They are fast ball hawks that can cover the pass and stuff the run. With more experience, these guys are going to be very impressive.
5.) Offense - Obviously some great ability. When the playcalling is solid, there's not much stopping these guys.
6.) CW - duh.
7.) King - I've actually never been a big fan of his previously. I've never been convinced that he's the real deal. Screw that. He's now hitting the hole hard and was getting 5 yards a carry up the middle. I think if he improves his outside game, he'll be a hell of a back. One thing that I'm particularly excited about is the potential return of the quality middle screen. DJ was a master of that 4 years ago and we haven't really had the same back to do it again. (Of course, we have run it successfully since but just not the same.) King did a hell of a job on that play on Saturday and made the most of the opportunity.
8.) #20 - still not sure who that guy is yet but he was all over the field, particularly in the first half. His future seems pretty bright.
9.) Chase - Looks bigger and faster to me. He ran the ball very well when he got the reps.
10.) Eric fucking Perkins!! - Where the hell did that come from?!? Average starting position when returning a kick in the first half was the 38 yard line. I don't know if he's the guy to break one this year but I feel like he's the kinda guy to consistently hit the seam that is given him and make the most out of it. He also had a great catch on offense.
11.) Kickoff return team - Those guys provided some great lanes for Perk to hit on Saturday. That was nice to see, particularly given some of the young guys on that unit.

I gotta get back to work but I wanted to get a few of these thoughts out and encourage you do do the same. The sky is not falling, Bison fans. There is much to be encouraged by...even with what we saw on Saturday.

It is good to be a Bison fan. Please keep this thread positive. (I know, I know...just not the nature of BV but at least I can hope...)

[Bison 4 Life]

I just watch until the first touchdown. The perfect game. :)

[Bisonwinagn]

We are a young team and made a bunch of mistakes, but if not for the holding call/fumble in the 4th we probably win by 10-14 points. Also I don't think we will face a better offense the rest of the regular season. Nobody has better receivers and maybe QB than Montana. I still belive we run the table and get a top seed especially with the early bye weeks to improve and get healthy.

[silkamilkamonico]

Our offense was so good I thought when Carson was healthy. He looked like a man among boys. Running the offense, great arm, rushing with the ball - our offense looked so bad I thought when he went down. I don't believe we scored a point the rest of the way after his ankle went down. What was our offensive production when he hurt his ankle?

So here's a question - is Carson the only thing we have going for our offense? Or was our scheme against Montana so Carson heavy that when he rolled his ankle we had absolutely nothing else? Is it hard to make adjustments throughout the game if you lose the strengths of one of your players?

[CaBisonFan]

Our offense was so good I thought when Carson was healthy. He looked like a man among boys. Running the offense, great arm, rushing with the ball - our offense looked so bad I thought when he went down. I don't believe we scored a point the rest of the way after his ankle went down. What was our offensive production when he hurt his ankle?

So here's a question - is Carson the only thing we have going for our offense? Or was our scheme against Montana so Carson heavy that when he rolled his ankle we had absolutely nothing else? Is it hard to make adjustments throughout the game if you lose the strengths of one of your players?We've been very dependent on Carson's ability to run. It changed everything when he couldn't. And...it affected his passing.

Good original post.

[CAS4127]

Our offense was so good I thought when Carson was healthy. He looked like a man among boys. Running the offense, great arm, rushing with the ball - our offense looked so bad I thought when he went down. I don't believe we scored a point the rest of the way after his ankle went down. What was our offensive production when he hurt his ankle?

So here's a question - is Carson the only thing we have going for our offense? Or was our scheme against Montana so Carson heavy that when he rolled his ankle we had absolutely nothing else? Is it hard to make adjustments throughout the game if you lose the strengths of one of your players?

CW got hurt on the last play of the 3rd quarter. We did not score a point in the 3rd quarter. So, O production after he was hurt was actually better than before he was hurt.

CW also over-threw two wide open WR in this game that would have been TD's and also was responsible for losing at least one fumble, and involved in another. He has a lot of work to do IMO.

As for the KO returns, well, MT did a horse shit job kicking off, as most KOs were at or inside (meaning toward the middle) of the field. KOs either need to go out of or deep into the endzone, or deep left or right if not in the endzone as described. A KO to deep middle that is not deep in the endzone should result in a very good return.

[Grizzled]

We are a young team and made a bunch of mistakes, but if not for the holding call/fumble in the 4th we probably win by 10-14 points. Also I don't think we will face a better offense the rest of the regular season. Nobody has better receivers and maybe QB than Montana. I still belive we run the table and get a top seed especially with the early bye weeks to improve and get healthy.

If you would have said we won't see better WRs the rest of the season I would agree.

Montana could have a lot of what ifs about this game as well. I also think we will see better overall offenses this season. Besides the tempo and WRs, their offense was nothing spectacular. Their QB missed some easy throws that could have led to points.

[OrygunBison]

We've been very dependent on Carson's ability to run. It changed everything when he couldn't. And...it affected his passing.

Good original post.

Not true. We scored after he got hurt. That was the drive I was particularly thinking about for King. Also, the OL was moving the pile for King to hit 5 up the middle consistently in the second half...we just did not run the play as much as we could have. The only thing that they stopped short on the run was the outside...and we got several of those as well.

[Bison81]

I have now been able to fully watch the game on TV (DVR) and am not nearly overtaken by that sick feeling that I had Saturday evening. The boys actually played pretty well and at most positions. Mistakes, yes. But there is a ton to be happy about and I cannot wait to see what these guys look like with a little bit of more experience. Things that particularly popped out to me:

1.) Defense - To my little brain, and with my limited knowledge, they actually played very well. I believe that once the secondary gets healthy and more experience, this will be a very good defense. There's a ton of speed and the boys like to hit shit.
2.) DeLuca - what a beast! 'nuff said.
3.) Tanguay - see above.
4.) Linebacker group - I think this and the interior defensive line will be the strength of the defensive unit. They are fast ball hawks that can cover the pass and stuff the run. With more experience, these guys are going to be very impressive.
5.) Offense - Obviously some great ability. When the playcalling is solid, there's not much stopping these guys.
6.) CW - duh.
7.) King - I've actually never been a big fan of his previously. I've never been convinced that he's the real deal. Screw that. He's now hitting the hole hard and was getting 5 yards a carry up the middle. I think if he improves his outside game, he'll be a hell of a back. One thing that I'm particularly excited about is the potential return of the quality middle screen. DJ was a master of that 4 years ago and we haven't really had the same back to do it again. (Of course, we have run it successfully since but just not the same.) King did a hell of a job on that play on Saturday and made the most of the opportunity.
8.) #20 - still not sure who that guy is yet but he was all over the field, particularly in the first half. His future seems pretty bright.
9.) Chase - Looks bigger and faster to me. He ran the ball very well when he got the reps.
10.) Eric fucking Perkins!! - Where the hell did that come from?!? Average starting position when returning a kick in the first half was the 38 yard line. I don't know if he's the guy to break one this year but I feel like he's the kinda guy to consistently hit the seam that is given him and make the most out of it. He also had a great catch on offense.
11.) Kickoff return team - Those guys provided some great lanes for Perk to hit on Saturday. That was nice to see, particularly given some of the young guys on that unit.

I gotta get back to work but I wanted to get a few of these thoughts out and encourage you do do the same. The sky is not falling, Bison fans. There is much to be encouraged by...even with what we saw on Saturday.

It is good to be a Bison fan. Please keep this thread positive. (I know, I know...just not the nature of BV but at least I can hope...)

yes to all above nice post #7 king have not been impressed to date- really nice game #8 #20 true freshman - cool, solid will be true asset.

Upon rewatching the tape- at 6 minutes left ahead by 7 with ball - if CW is healthy good chance no fumble and we score up by 14
- run the ball its over. hats off to the griz!

[Buffalo.Rider]

So here's a question - is Carson the only thing we have going for our offense? Or was our scheme against Montana so Carson heavy that when he rolled his ankle we had absolutely nothing else? Is it hard to make adjustments throughout the game if you lose the strengths of one of your players?

At the end of the first half, the Bison play calling (and perhaps Carson himself when he had option plays) suggested that the offensive leaders (coaches mainly) did not believe in their running backs or their O-line and its ability to create holes. It was Carson, Carson, Carson (or it seemed so) for the last dozen or so plays. At halftime, I commented to the people I was with that NDSU better fix this in the second half because it was a good formula for getting the quarterback injured.

As for positives: the run defense, defense against screen plays, was pretty good. Offense minus the long ball was pretty good. Could have, should have, given Morlock more carries. He was playing well.

[Buffalo.Rider]

We are a young team and made a bunch of mistakes, but if not for the holding call/fumble in the 4th we probably win by 10-14 points. Also I don't think we will face a better offense the rest of the regular season. Nobody has better receivers and maybe QB than Montana. I still belive we run the table and get a top seed especially with the early bye weeks to improve and get healthy.

I felt NDSU's secondary was terrible. Defensive backs were consistently out of position, were not watching for the ball, seldom if ever got bat-downs. Several times Montana receivers were in double-coverage and caught the ball not because the MT quarterback was great or the receivers were great, but b/c the NDSU secondary was out of position. The MT quarterback missed open receivers a lot. Receivers dropped balls a lot. If not for this the Griz's stats would have looked far better. NDSU's secondary made the MT pass offense look good, IMHO.

I assume NDSU's players and coaches saw this and will take steps to fix it. If they don't, or can't, I predict NDSU will lose 2-3 more games this year. A really good passing team (I do not agree that MT was a really good passing team) will then shred NDSU's defense, score a lot of points, and put themselves in a position to win.

I know this is supposed to be a positive thread ... my apologies for being negative.

[SamsRams]

yes to all above nice post #7 king have not been impressed to date- really nice game #8 #20 true freshman - cool, solid will be true asset.

Upon rewatching the tape- at 6 minutes left ahead by 7 with ball - if CW is healthy good chance no fumble and we score up by 14
- run the ball its over. hats off to the griz!

Darius Shepherd is not a true freshman he is a redshirt freshman

[OrygunBison]

I felt NDSU's secondary was terrible. Defensive backs were consistently out of position, were not watching for the ball, seldom if ever got bat-downs. Several times Montana receivers were in double-coverage and caught the ball not because the MT quarterback was great or the receivers were great, but b/c the NDSU secondary was out of position. The MT quarterback missed open receivers a lot. Receivers dropped balls a lot. If not for this the Griz's stats would have looked far better. NDSU's secondary made the MT pass offense look good, IMHO.


I agree that our secondary was out of position but to say that Montana's receivers were less than pretty good is BS in my opinion. As rough as Champ had of a game, there were a few balls that he was in very good position for and the receiver made a hell of a play. Two of those were on the sidelines and one in the end zone. Perhaps there were more. FWIW, my perspective changed from what I saw live in the stadium to when I could watch the replay and rewind it and look again at a few plays.

I have no doubts that the secondary will get much better. Of course, that is the position group that needs the most improvement by far.

[Bisonwinagn]

I felt NDSU's secondary was terrible. Defensive backs were consistently out of position, were not watching for the ball, seldom if ever got bat-downs. Several times Montana receivers were in double-coverage and caught the ball not because the MT quarterback was great or the receivers were great, but b/c the NDSU secondary was out of position. The MT quarterback missed open receivers a lot. Receivers dropped balls a lot. If not for this the Griz's stats would have looked far better. NDSU's secondary made the MT pass offense look good, IMHO.

I assume NDSU's players and coaches saw this and will take steps to fix it. If they don't, or can't, I predict NDSU will lose 2-3 more games this year. A really good passing team (I do not agree that MT was a really good passing team) will then shred NDSU's defense, score a lot of points, and put themselves in a position to win.

I know this is supposed to be a positive thread ... my apologies for being negative.

Please name the teams on the schedule you think are better passing teams than Montana?

[Mr Meaty]

I agree that our secondary was out of position but to say that Montana's receivers were less than pretty good is BS in my opinion. As rough as Champ had of a game, there were a few balls that he was in very good position for and the receiver made a hell of a play. Two of those were on the sidelines and one in the end zone. Perhaps there were more. FWIW, my perspective changed from what I saw live in the stadium to when I could watch the replay and rewind it and look again at a few plays.

I have no doubts that the secondary will get much better. Of course, that is the position group that needs the most improvement by far.

I think we were in good position most of the time as well. Their big WR just made great plays on the ball and the ball was thrown in a great spot. Will they have that type of connection all year long, who knows. They did in our game and we lost. If we play them again in Fargo or a neutral field, I will take NDSU. Go Bison.

[bandit218]

Their WR's are really good. I haven't looked but I heard they ran 90+ plays. I'm curious as to how many were run after penalties gave them the first down. They ran 16 plays that last drive. Up to that point in the game we were about even in play numbers but had the ball for 12 more minutes. I think.

[yopaulie]

I thought their WRs were fantastic, minus some bad drops. Their QB had a good game as well. So I think our Defense will improve, and may not see WRs as good in our MVFC schedule.

[missingnumber7]

I thought we played well, it was just one of those games where the mistakes were magnified. Youth improves as the season goes along. But all in all this is a solid base to start with and easy to build upon the issues discovered.

[CaBisonFan]

The Montana crowd was a great 12th man. Great atmosphere for their team...and for TV. We won't run into that kind of crowd again. SDSU will be the closest...unless we're on the road for a playoff game.

Get this young team into a more friendly environment and things might change quite a bit.

Remember...we weren't able to make many changes on defense, in great part because of the noise.

[OrygunBison]

Remember...we weren't able to make many changes on defense, in great part because of the noise. Are you saying it was loud when we were on defense?!? That makes no sense.

Also, and for what it is worth, I thought our guys handled the noise superbly. I can't think of one thing that went wrong because of the volume.

[EC8CH]

Are you saying it was loud when we were on defense?!? That makes no sense.

Also, and for what it is worth, I thought our guys handled the noise superbly. I can't think of one thing that went wrong because of the volume.

Might have prevented CW from milking the play clock to the final tick.

[CaBisonFan]

Are you saying it was loud when we were on defense?!? That makes no sense.

Also, and for what it is worth, I thought our guys handled the noise superbly. I can't think of one thing that went wrong because of the volume.The announcers talked about how loud it was when Montana was on offense. Personally...I think that our offense struggled some with the noise.

[EC8CH]

The announcers talked about how loud it was when Montana was on offense. Personally...I think that our offense struggled some with the noise.

Seemed really loud to me when Montana was on offense. Then again, my ears are pretty close to my scream hole.

[No_Skill]

Are you saying it was loud when we were on defense?!? That makes no sense.

Also, and for what it is worth, I thought our guys handled the noise superbly. I can't think of one thing that went wrong because of the volume.

We had one delay of game but nothing major.

[CAS4127]

I'll straighten this out. It was not loud when MT was on offense, just stadium rumble (which is still kinda loud). It was that same way for most NDSU first downs and progressively got more loud the deeper the downs/longer the drives. At its highest level, much louder than FFD. Crazy loud really.


Sent from my iPhone.

[GetEmGriz]

We had one delay of game but nothing major.

You also had a false start due to the noise. Several times you could see Wentz having to yell at the top of his lungs just to get the play call out to the offense during the huddle.

[CAS4127]

You also had a false start due to the noise. Several times you could see Wentz having to yell at the top of his lungs just to get the play call out to the offense during the huddle.

Agreed. Takes a lot out of players and takes them out of sync a bit. I was there and heard/saw it.


Sent from my iPhone.

[CaBisonFan]

Agreed. Takes a lot out of players and takes them out of sync a bit. I was there and heard/saw it.


Sent from my iPhone.The problem with the noise level was pretty obvious on TV also.

[17>1]

I can get on board with this. My excitement about this season and this new crop of Bison is still there. Go Bison!!

[56BISON73]

I'll straighten this out. It was not loud when MT was on offense, just stadium rumble (which is still kinda loud). It was that same way for most NDSU first downs and progressively got more loud the deeper the downs/longer the drives. At its highest level, much louder than FFD. Crazy loud really.


Sent from my iPhone.

Yes it was. I was on the second deck and it was LOUD up there.

[bajadanny]

The announcers talked about how loud it was when Montana was on offense. Personally...I think that our offense struggled some with the noise.

This Bizon team on Saturday just wasn't sharp. Lots of new players and underperforming offense is a good recipe for the final result

[Bison 4 Life]

This is a direct quote from someone on the Sam Houston message board, I think it's very poignant


I've liked the Griz for a few years now. Yesterday showed me why. :P

I don't think it needs to be mentioned that in order for North Dakota State to lose, they had to be the visiting team, coming back from the offseason, facing a home team that played with everything they had, and still only lost by a field goal.

If that's not sobering, I don't know what is.

[Mr Meaty]

I still look at NDSU, SHSU, Montana, CC and New Hampshire are the teams that could win the title this year.

[BisManBison]

I still look at NDSU, SHSU, Montana, CC and New Hampshire are the teams that could win the title this year.

Don't think much of Illinois State?

[Mr Meaty]

Don't think much of Illinois State?

They have to get through NDSU. They could be a good sleeper pick.

[tolnabison]

They have to get through NDSU. They could be a good sleeper pick.
They made it to the title game last year without having to get through NDSU.

[BYZEN]

Don't think much of Illinois State?


All those Ankle Bracelets are going to slow them down through the Valley....

(kinda purple)

[phxbison]

I re-watched the game yesterday. Some things I took away from it were : Carson had a good game, but his passing was not all that sharp. Montana's # 20 just killed us at times with his quickness (I would like to see us using someone like Perkins in a similar role). Their receivers made some tremendous catches ! Montana's defense played very well as a unit !Any combination of a couple of more stops or a couple of first downs and we win that game !

[EC8CH]

The biggest disadvantage coming into this game was the weakest part or the Bison defense (the young secondary) was matched up against the strongest part of the Griz offense (their talented receivers). Stitt's type of offense was the perfect system to take advantage of that. Add to that the Bison's best corner CJ Smith being held out. With that setup it left it to the Griz to make the plays and they did. Their receivers made some spectacular catches and the biggest surprise to me, their first time starting QB played a solid game getting balls to their receivers and allowing them to makes plays. That's what allowed the Griz to run up the score on the Bison defense.

I think it still took Wentz getting injured in the second half and the coaching staff not adjusting their play calling to account for that to make the wheels come off. Otherwise they were still in a position for the defense to lean on the offense to drive the ball and chew up clock. Without that help the defense was just too much at a disadvantage.

Hopefully if there is a rematch the defense will have outpaced the growth of Montana's new offense and they will be in a better position to hold up on their own without needing to rely on the Bison offense keeping them off the field.

[Mr. Burgundy]

CJ Smith coming back cannot be understated. He is the stud, everyone knows it. Allison and Grimsley are VERY good and both are freshman. (Allison redshirted). They are going to play a million downs for us over the next 4 years. Allison can flat out move and is long. Apparently they both made some mistakes, but also did some good things. My gut feel says that if we can stay healthy, move CHamp to cover the slot in the nickel and these Freshman continue to get better and let the game slow down, that we really improve on the back side....and that has nothing to do with the fact that Montana's passing game was SO quick that we didn't get much of a pass rush.

We played the worst team we could have played, to their credit, they made the most of their best position....Wide Receiver. Our weakest spot is the DB's as we played a pair of freshman and had the best DB in the league out. Sort of a perfect storm, but they beat us and now we need to get better and move on. I cannot imagine that Champion, MJ and Lechler won't improve dramatically on their individual performances. I still say I hope we let CW get healthy. I have heard we want to get Easton meaningful reps anyway, why not give him the entire Weber game? I have no idea how bad it is other than it looked awful, he is in a boot, and we have a great pair of backup QB's that are ready to win important games.

[OrygunBison]

The announcers talked about how loud it was when Montana was on offense. Personally...I think that our offense struggled some with the noise.

Your previous point was that our defense was having trouble with the noise, specific to substitutions I believe. If that was true (It was not.), they will have a pretty hard time with home games...

[OrygunBison]

At some point, this January Train to Frisco is going to come to an end. I felt very good about a fourth one when Brock was accepting the MVP trophy after the Towson game. I even got a chant going in the crowd on the field. But knowing the defense was going to be full of newbies in 2015, I felt all last year that it was the last hoorah!...

After Saturday's game, particularly after watching it on TV and not getting caught up so much in the emotion of the situation, I feel pretty good about this team. As someone clipped from the SHSU board, it took a lot of stuff to go right for the Griz and a lot of stuff to go wrong for the Bison for us to BARELY lose the game.

Go Bison! I will see some of you on September 19th!!

[Mr Meaty]

They made it to the title game last year without having to get through NDSU.

but they did not get through us.

[EC8CH]

but they did not get through us.

I'm confused... the Bison don't play Illinois State again this year in the regular season.

[Mr Meaty]

I'm confused... the Bison don't play Illinois State again this year in the regular season.

That is correct.

[Bisonwinagn]

So the positive thread made it to 5 pages....Not to bad. The negative thread made it to 51.....hahhaahahha

[SDbison]

One positive is the Bison Defense looked better than I thought and they have great talent. Just got outplayed and overwhelmed by Stitt's crazy offense. Getting CJ back will be huge. I think the D-line is good but the few times there were stunts and blitzes they were picked up and did little to pressure Montana's QB. This group with some experience will be great. As for the Bison Offense I was a little disappointed. Even though lots of points were scored there are issues with the middle to deep pass game even when Carson is healthy. Without a deep threat defenses can cheat up and play the run. King was the one positive surprise as he did better than I expected. Morlock did very well although I don't understand why the coaches run him outside. Somebody like Dunn is best suited to get to the outside. Even with a bunch of mistakes (fumbles, penalties, play calling) the Bison could have won had our guys made a couple plays on the 50-50 balls up for grabs both on offense and defense.
This loss still sucks a week later. 0-1 just feels crappy. I am sick and tired of hearing all the compliments to Montana. That stuff is for just after the game........now is the time for improvements to be made and to get the Bison swagger back!

[bloodmakesthegrassgrow]

Well, obviously the good thing to take away from that game is that Montana played/executed very well for the first game of the season, plus playing at home, and at altitude (we'll see how they do the rest of the way), while the Bison were relatively lackluster on offense considering the veterans returning on that side of the ball (and hampered by Polisek as OC), and horrible on defense with a bunch of new guys playing, CJ out, and Champion sucking. STILL (as Bill Anderson said), we were one first down or one or two running plays on the last possession, from winning the game and only short a FG (oh yeah, we need a FG kicker). It took everything Montana had, plus every down, and almost every second of the game to beat us on a day when the Bison were nowhere close to hitting on all cylinders.

[westnodak93bison]

One positive, at least I hope is the eye opener to the coaching staff on play calling and clock management at the end of a game with the lead. Hopefully it never happens again

Sent from my XT1254 using Tapatalk

[StL Bison Fan]

One positive, at least I hope is the eye opener to the coaching staff on play calling and clock management at the end of a game with the lead. Hopefully it never happens again

Sent from my XT1254 using Tapatalk

There were some before the half clock management issues last year. Maybe losing because of it will show there is a need to shore that up.