Is NDSU the 2015 FCS National Champion if Wentz never gets hurt?

[Professor Chaos]

I posed this question on AGS as well but thought I would be an interesting topic to begin the long offseason with. Would we be celebrating a 5th consecutive FCS championship for our Bison football team had Wentz not broke his wrist?

I think that's an extremely difficult question to answer. First off because the answer is pure speculation but secondly because it is obvious that the team that Wentz led in Frisco had transformed itself from the team he led against USD. I firmly believe that every guy on this team stepped their game up when Wentz went down and they became a better team without him than they ever were with him. Would that have happened if Wentz had been able to start the week after the USD game in Terre Haute? I'd lean towards saying no but it's definitely interesting to contemplate.

[Twentysix]

Saying that everyone stepped up in his absence (or because of it) is a great talking point. Thing is, it's probably bullshit. They progressed and got better as the season went on... there is really no empirical evidence that suggests that the team wouldn't have continued to improve with Wentz at the helm every week.

Wentz all season NDSU is the champ.

Wentz hurt at USD comes back in the championship game, NDSU is the champ.

Wentz hurt at USD doesn't come back in the championship game, NDSU is the champ.

No matter how you slice it NDSU is the champ, no evidence exists to prove me wrong.

[Professor Chaos]

Saying that everyone stepped up in his absence (or because of it) is a great talking point. Thing is, it's probably bullshit. They progressed and got better as the season went on... there is really no empirical evidence that suggests that the team wouldn't have continued to improve with Wentz at the helm every week.

Very true. However, what I'd argue is that the transformation this team made, especially on defense, from August/September/October to December/January was as significant as I've ever seen in a college football team. I think there's credence to the notion that Wentz's absence accelerated that.

[gumby013]

Polasek's play calling changed a lot with the QB change...to the benefit of the team. He mostly stuck to that formula in the championship game with Wentz back.

[jeffs]

Polasek's play calling changed a lot with the QB change...to the benefit of the team. He mostly stuck to that formula in the championship game with Wentz back.

I completely agree with this statement. After CW went down the play calling went back to a run 1st mentality. What I find interesting is that opposing teams must have noticed this too, but the Bison were able to establish a solid running attack in every game.

[Vet70]

Who knows---the play calling might have changed anyway. I don't see us losing if Wentz played---who is to say the defense would not have progressed like it did. Don't forget all of the O-line injuries early. The bottom line is that I just believe that this team and coaches would have found a way to adapt and win.

[HerdistheWord]

I think the loss the USD had a bigger impact than Wentz going down. It was sort of that "Oh Shit!" Moment that made the boys kick it in gear and become men.

[ZHerd]

Centralizing the run game certainly helped but the main reason we just won #5 is because of the defense stepping up and playing out of their minds. Defense has been key for the 5-peat (some years more than others). The defense still struggled some after Carson went down and actually put things together pretty stinking late (possibly 2nd half of the YSU game). Therefore I'm going to say yes we win it all regardless. I will say though that if the defense had not put it together we would have had zero shot without Carson. I do think both the USD loss and losing Carson were wakeup calls and rallying points for the team adding motivation that made the improvement more drastic. But the D improvement was still quite a few weeks out from that point. This post is seriously lacking in its organization and I'm glad we aren't being graded

[bisonaudit]

Polasek's play calling changed a lot with the QB change...to the benefit of the team. He mostly stuck to that formula in the championship game with Wentz back.

Disagree. We never went away from the run this season. And last year we saw more QB runs in the playoffs. If Wentz wasn't hurt you still would have seen that as the season wore on.

[pucknut9]

I think the loss the USD had a bigger impact than Wentz going down. It was sort of that "Oh Shit!" Moment that made the boys kick it in gear and become men.

I agree with this. It was the wake up call of all wake up calls.