Bison offense a little rough, Davis wins 23-14.

[WYOBISONMAN]

Listening to the Davis game as it winds down, the one thought that comes to mind is that our offense still needs work. *We had some silly penalties and I think that Stauss was not getting the protection he needed. *Davis has clearly out played the Bison tonight.

NDSU is a team with huge potential, but it has to find consistency. *We have seen moments of greatness, and then moments of average play. *I do think if this team finds that consistency we will go a long, long ways.

I think that this means we may well have a wide open NCC race with SCSU and SDSU both being handed losses today. *The folks from the MIAA and the NSIC will be taking some pot shots at the NCC this week.

[tony]

Hats of to Davis, they are a really good team. I tell you what, the offense was 100% better than last year, and so was the defense.

I was just holding my breath, with the Bison down, I didn't see another Klabo-like injury. Hopefully Burrell is OK.

Heck, NDSU closed the gap from last year - but UC Davis is going to be improving. NDSU has a ways to go but they are making progress.

[Bisonfan1234]

We could have won.

Issac Snell int when it was 14-20. We were driving when Steffes fumbled which lead to a Davis score. That score was a backbreaker because it meant we couldn't win or tie with just a touchdown. We tried to go for the big play and came up short as they int'ed it to seal the deal.

Why did we beat montana but lose to davis? I don't get it.

[Bisonguy]

UC Davis had a very good team. They obviously were the better team.

Some of those penalties were not penalties at all, and the side judge(?) missed two unsportmanlikes on UC Davis that were right in front of him. He also missed an offsides on UC Davis. It was the worst officiating by an individual I have ever seen. The rest of the officiating crew was pretty good. I watched the calls from my camcorder, so I know I'm right ;D.

UC Davis still would have won if that official didn't have his head up his arse. The biggest difference was the -1 turnover margin, and the blocked punt.

Not a bad performance by the Bison, but there is definitely room for improvement.

[KTF]

I agree with everybody but at least the Sioux lost to team that was not even ranked or D-1AA!!!:)

To all the players, good job tonightthough disappointing. I still believe you in you guys!!:)

[tony]

Penalties shouldn't be the difference. UC Davis just played very, very well. The guys don't have anything to hang their heads about. They do have a lot of stuff to work on. I'm hoping that NCC defenses look like they're moving in slow motion after the three teams NDSU played.

[WYOBISONMAN]

Bisonguy....I too have never missed a call frm the stands. I think they should let us ref..... ;D

Seriously, I think that we have nothing to be dejected about. When one looks at the competition for our first 3 games of the season a the record of 2-1 is great. It is a huge return after last year. I am confident that Bohl will get this team going and we will see the "2nd half of the Montana game" Bison on a more regular basis. I still think the Bison will win the NCC and go to the playoffs.

[Bisonguy]

tony and WYOBISONMAN,

I'm not saying those penalties would have made a difference, just that there was one horrific official on the field.

The Bison had a very good outing, they just ended up on the short end of the scoreboard.

Enos did debut the deep ball tonight ;D ;D

[Bisonguy]

The Aggie band was almost as good as the football team. 8)

[GFBisonFan]

I also thought that the bison looked good tonight, but UC Davis executed a less mistake prone game. The false start in the first drive (was real-I saw the tight end flinch) that negated Bellquist's long gainer, other penalties, the fumble, the blocked punt... Overall I was impressed with both teams and the game was fun to watch (lots of excitement); too bad we came out on the short end. I think we could have beaten them had we played with less mistakes. We certainly played better than last year, when the game wasn't as close as the score indicated. Overall I am still excited about the season and I think this may be the last loss we suffer. Montana and UCD WILL be the toughest teams we play this year, not to take anything away from the NCC. Burrell is okay, a stinger is all and he could have played more is he would have been needed.

[WYOBISONMAN]

Listening to the game it sounded like the Davis back named Swanigan was pretty incredibly. Was he fast or big, or fast and big? It also seemed that despite the size of the Davis line.....they too were fast. Damn, that combo of fast and big is a tough one.

[SDbison]

WYOBISONMAN,
Swanigan is a back of small stature, but he has quick moves. UC-Davis did a better job of mixing up the plays and being successful early in the game so I think that even more so helped loosen up the Bison defense and made it easier for Swanigan late in the game. Davis also won the battle in the trenches as their QB seemed to have too much time to pass. Overall the Bison defense didn't play too bad, but they had to be on the field more than necessary due to the lack of sustained drives by the offense. The Bison running game never really got going and NDSU's passing game was predictable. Also, Stauss was not getting enough time to set up to pass. Wonder why the Bison don't use the shotgun? My thoughts were the Aggies never really worried about the long pass and just worked to shut down the off tackle runs and quick line of scrimmage passes that were so successful for the Bison last week. The West Coast offense looked bland and / or the offense didn't execute it well. One of the first bison passes was over the middle and went for a big gain but was called back due to a penalty. If this play had been good the tone of the game may have been different and we may have lossened the Aggies defense up. I recall before the outcome of the game was obvious that the Bison only passed deep two other times. One was intercepted and the other fell incomplete. A couple other attempts at a longer pass may have been prevented by the Aggie rush.

[tony]

This is NDSU's future in DI-AA ball - in the Big Sky, all the teams are comparable to Davis and Montana - Montana hardly ever blows anybody out. The margin for error is pretty small - smaller even than in the NCC. For NDSU to win consistently, they have to elevate their game each year and play smart ball.

Got to get Stauss some more time back there.

[SDbison]

A couple more things to add / correct from my earlier post. There was one other long pass by Stauss that was completed and nearly run in for a touchdown. It just seemed that Stauss was not as sharp and he had to rush the passes too often. To make the West Coast offense work we have to have teams respect a medium to long pass. Otherwise the linebackers can play tight and the secondary can move up to close in quicker. It didn't help that the Aggies executed well on their tackles and their defensive line made things tough. Even when a hole appeared on the left side that could have been a decent gain #90 from Davis came from the opposite side to tackle the running back from behind. I saw this happen at least three times. The right side of the line failed to seal off the pursuit. I don't remember NDSU passing much to the tight ends during this game. I thought that was an intregal part of the West Coast offense. One other comment on defense, we did not blitz at all so the Aggies were able to slowly wear us down and establish a rhythm. Another problem in this game was the mistakes by NDSU (blocked punt, fumble interceptions, and penalties). Even with these mistakes the Bison could have won the game if the offense would have been more successful. Well at least Bohl, the coaches and the team have two weeks to lick their wounds, make some adjustments, and be better prepared for the NCC race. I think there is reason to be encouraged based on the 2-1 record against non-patsy teams. Many other teams in the NCC predominately took on weak teams in their non-conference schedule. Go Bison! With more focus and some improvement NDSU has a good chance of winning the NCC this year.

[KTF]

I agree Tony that we are going to have to play at a higher level than what we did last night if we are going to win consistently in D-1AA.

We obviously improved between game 1 & 2, but what about between game 2 & 3? I hate say it but I thought we looked like it was our first game of the year or worse last year! It seemed like the players were a bit confused with the plays (point after when a linemen had to run on to the feild). Something just wasn't right last night, it seems like the players lost the edge of showing us that they are out to prove something. Now that they know they can win again, it seems like motivation is down. How come they were able to drive for about 80 yards or so in the second half for a TD but yet not move the ball the rest of the second half?

OK, I know Davis was as good as they come but still we should have been able to play consistently. Stauss has the experience!!!

[GFBisonFan]

I thought that we didn't look as sharp between weeks two and three, but we didn't look bad overall, a few mistakes cost us the game, which we cannot do in big games in order to compete against the big boys. The difference last week is that we were able to overcome the errors (mainly penalties).

On the point after, I believe that was Steffes that was supposed to be in that spot, but he came off the field with a minor injury a couple plays before and a backup had to run on to take his place. I could be wrong about that though.

I did not necessarily see improvement from week 2 to 3 but we weren't worse. We shouldn't take anything away from Davis, they were a really good football club and made the plays when they needed to. I agree with SDbison, they won the battle of the trenches.

[JBB]

I agree, we got beat by UCD but we hung with them all the way. Theres no doubt in my mind that UCD would win the NCC after getting by the BISON and could probably win the DII championship as well. NDSU has come a long way in a year. We have won 2 great games over very good teams. Montana won by a bunch on Saturday. We have a way to go, we need more consitiancy, but its a new season now and we are 0-0. Go BISON.

[Herdsman]

Did I notice a change in the Bison Defense during this game from the Montana game? I don't recall playing a zone defense in the secondary where we allowed a 5-yard halo around both receivers in the Griz contest. UCD sent 2 receivers out into pattern and we sent 6 defenders. We waited for the catch to be made and THEN closed in for the tackle. We rushed 4 90% of the time and gave up big yardage, when we rushed 5 we seemed to stop them.(?)

Also, I would GLADLY pay an extra $5 per ticket to keep the advertisements from being boomed out over the loudspeakers betwixt EACH AND EVERY PLAY! My GOD! I don't know why the band bothers to show up before halftime. I find the advertising, sponsors of this and that and the other thing, and the obnoxious music blaring between and oftentimes OVER plays absolutely disgraceful. That atmosphere may serve the Senior SHowcase events and Monster Truck rallies well, but this is college football; let's keep the noise and the music real.

[BisonMav]

Posted by: Herdsman Posted on: Today at 11:27am
Also, I would GLADLY pay an extra $5 per ticket to keep the advertisements from being boomed out over the loudspeakers betwixt EACH AND EVERY PLAY! My GOD! I don't know why the band bothers to show up before halftime. I find the advertising, sponsors of this and that and the other thing, and the obnoxious music blaring between and oftentimes OVER plays absolutely disgraceful. That atmosphere may serve the Senior SHowcase events and Monster Truck rallies well, but this is college football; let's keep the noise and the music real.

I agree with you Herdsman, the timing of the advertising was probably my only complaint from Saturday. The Bison played hard, just made too many mistakes against a good UCD team.

[Bisonfan1]

The atmosphere did improve, the announcer promps at the crowd helped. I do agree that the timing of the sponser announcements sucks, in fact sucks alltogether.For my information, do the big time colleges have sponser announcements, did they have that at Montana ?? I quess when i watch a big time college football game on TV you only hear the crowd and the band, drums etc. Where do i send the $ to help get rid of that. Cant they scroll sponsership beneath the scoreboard ?? Well lets send some e-mails to NDSU and find out, they are good about answearing.