Run Game

[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!!!!

[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!!!!

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.