Originally Posted by
tony
Blaming playcalling is just an easy way of ignoring the fact that JMU played a better game. How was YSU's play calling? Did their OC suddenly get terrible between the time they played EWU and the JMU? Or how was SDSU's play calling against NDSU in the second game?
JMU's secondary was outstanding. They stuffed the inside run and NDSU couldn't get to the outside, but somehow calling the jet sweep twice to the short side of the field is what lost the game? Yeah, I didn't like the play because it didn't work, but I don't know what Polasek was seeing.
I also strongly disagree that NDSU should abandon the game plan as soon as something doesn't work. Our problem was that JMU was winning one-on-one matchups. You know who throws out their game plan at the first sign of trouble? SDSU, that's who. That's why we have the Zenner as a unit of measure.
On the other side of the ball, it was taking JMU's offense 4 plays to get to 1 and goal (or the endzone) on all their scoring drives. Their QB broke contain at will and would then throw passes that looked like punts and their WR was still open 4 seconds later when the ball floated down to him. And they certainly found a weakness in our run defense. I'm not sure that their defense had a similar weakness for NDSU to exploit. If they did, nobody all year found it.
If NDSU is going to win a rematch next year, then I don't think changing the play calling is the key. My prescription: kick their asses at the point of attack on both sides of the ball. Keep their QB in the pocket. Intercept some of the ducks he throws. Blow their GD OT backwards into their RB so we don't one LB trying to fill two gaps. That kind of thing.
On a more positive note, I hope Koonce punts like he did in the JMU game all next year. That was outstanding.