2017 MVFC season

[Mr. Burgundy]

Impressions after a week anyone? Let me start with NDSU. Such a tainted win. Body bag game if we ever saw one. Feel sick for these young men. The left tackle was DOMINATING at the point of attack and getting to the linebackers. THe "we got more athletic" at the OL comment was directed at this kid. He is a freak. Get healthy kid. Stay hungry. Losing backup RB and Safety who played a ton on special teams is a killer. It trickles down. We will have some starters on special teams now. Not to mention losing greg a month ago. two kids who were difference makers. Some depth. Nobody will feel sorry for us. Time to use the chip on our shoulder. I expect NDSU to win by 21 in Washington.

USD. They impress me. Streveler should be the starting QB for the Gophers. They never gave him a chance. Now he is better than what they have. THey played a crap team, so like us it is really hard to understand what that week meant to them, but they put up numbers...and kept their starters in to really put up some stats. They will be fun to follow. Mid level team in the valley. Can they defend?

Missouri State. I checked at halftime, and they were scoring at will on Missouri. Two teams that thought they were playing 2 hand touch. Part of me thinks that was impressive, part of me thinks they are still the worst team in the Valley. Time will tell. They always impress me athletically, and recruit from such a hot bed area, they always scare me, then they get punched in the mouth and quit.

Indiana State. #missourivalleytakeover....well, that didn't happen. Same old same old. They are broke. Coaching staff will leave as soon as they can. Tragic school. Should be better than they are.

SDSU. They are good. Still not sure they are tough enough at the DL spot. You typically do not win with kids in there. THey can score on you. They throw more jump balls than I can remember. Plus, they have two kids that win those jump balls. QB is a freak, not as accurate as he needs to be against better teams.

Western Illinois. I still think they are ok. They just play tough. Not enough info on them yet. They will scare people.

Youngstown. Lost to Pitt in Overtime. That is probably as close to a moral victory as you can get. Down 21 rip at half. Get it to overtime. I mean Alex Heinert of Midco would say they hung with Pitt for 60 minutes! They scare me. THey recruit. THey coach. They compete. THey now know what it takes to make a deep run.

UNI. Who cares. THey will win a few games they shouldn't and lose some they shouldn't. Farley has gotten worse, only coaches the team up about once a year. THe rest of the staff is holding meet and greets to simply get to know eachother. They need the big red reset button on their desk. Still a ton of talent. Farley has hatred and nothing to lose, Dad says those people are scary.

Illinois State. Transfer U is good. NOt sure how good, but pretty darn good. Well coached. This team will be interesting to follow.

Overall, the league is deeper than normal. with a couple teams impressing me that typically stink. Big Sky vs Mo Valley this week. some entertaining games. Will be fun to follow.

I think it is a 5 bid league this year.

[ndsubison1]

YSU last year was no fluke, and with Pelini there they will be towards the top in all of Fcs until he leaves

[tjbison]

YSU last year was no fluke, and with Pelini there they will be towards the top in all of Fcs until he leaves

He may not leave getting paid pretty good...

[bruinbison]

Nice write up by Burgundy.
Both South Dakota schools have interesting opportunities this weekend.
With wins on the road they could really solidify Burgundy's 5 MVFC team prediction for the FCS playoffs.

The Jackrabbits play the Montana State Buyouts in Bozeman, Sagarin
has them as 19 point favorites. Saw some of the Bobcats game against
Washington State, their sophomore QB Chris Murray reminded me of
Jackrabbit QB Taryn Christion when he was a freshman. MSU ran some read
option for him and things did not go well. Washington State pitched a
shutout 31-0. The Cougs were overplaying the QB running game, and
making Murray prove he could throw it. Looks like SDSU can use the
same strategy until MSU's passing game forces a change. As a sophomore, Murray needs to show the same improvement that Christion did, or else the Bobcats may have a disappointing season. (well, they can always beat the Griz again!)

South Dakota plays at Bowling Green, yes, that Bowling Green, the same
BG that the Fighting Hawks almost beat last season. Opportunity!
According to the SD board, Sagarin has BG at 114, Coyotes at 125,
with BG 6.5-7.5 point favorites. Here is South Dakota's chance to give
themselves some real breathing room on their playoff prospects, before
they head into conference play. Teams in the MVFC, like the Bison, have
already played QB Chris Streveler before, might help on game planning.
Bowling Green has not, perhaps the 'Yotes can pull off the upset.
SDSU having multiple weapons makes them so tough, do the Coyotes have
enough weapons on offense for Streveler to work with?

[Mayville Bison]

Impressions after a week anyone?

Your takes were pretty spot on. I'll do a quick run through from my perspective.

NDSU - Hard to really gain anything from this game. This was the first Bison game I've EVER left early. Hendricks looked really good especially knowing he was a QB not too long ago. Radunz and Cox looked like upper classmen instead of RFr. I remember seeing #1 around the ball a lot - not sure how many tackles Board ended up getting, but it seemed like he was always right there. Not fair to them due to the opponent, but I kept asking myself when we were going to see a catch by either Engel or Cain. This week will show us much more.

USD - Another game that's hard to determine based off who the opponent was. Going into the game, I expected a ton of points, but from both sides. The fact they only gave up one TD is a good sign for USD. If memory serves, they gave up a ton of points in their first 3 games last year. Yes, those were better opponents, but I think it was over 100 points after the 3 games (maybe even 2 games) which is crazy. @Bowling Green will tell us a little more about them, but the real test is can they beat UND at home. If they can, that's at least a 2-1 start if not 3-0 and they could cause some trouble in the Valley.

Missouri State - The transfer QB looked good against a P5 team. Definitely not the MSU team of 2-3 years ago. This team is fast on offense and slow on defense. How will that translate into Valley play? We'll find out more this week when they take on a run first/run stopping UND this week.

ISUb - Booker is the real deal, but no one else to help him. Seemed to stop the run pretty well. Last drive of the game defined how their season will go. Stop them on 3rd and 1 only to give up the 4th and 1 first down. Let them march down the field. Get a sack to force a 3rd and 13 only to give up a pass for 18 yards. Next play is the game winning TD.

SDSU - Lesser opponent, but saw what I needed to. This team reminds me of the Culpepper/Moss Vikings. QB can throw the ball up and let his big guy(s) go get it, isn't the moss accurate, and can take off when needed. Will put absolutely everything into the beating the Packers only to lose to a team they shouldn't in the playoffs right before the Super Bowl. This may be the first year in a long time they finish with a 1-0 record against the Bison (I don't think they will meet in the playoffs).

WIU - Another game where we learned nothing due to the opponent. Every year I expect them to come back to reality and realize they are in the lower half of the Valley. Every year I am proven wrong again and again. Not sure how they keep doing it especially after losing their coach before last year.

YSU - Is Pitt that bad or is YSU better than we all thought? Kind of a weird day as I'm not used to a Pelini-led team throwing the ball that much, but I suppose when you are down 21, you have to do what's working. Looked better than I thought, but I still have them in the teens in my poll rather than a top-10 team like others. Need to see more.

UNI - I should just copy your two lines because they are spot on. I'm getting tired of hearing how great they are simply because they play up to NDSU's level once/year.

ISUr - Another game we didn't learn a whole lot. They did keep the mighty bulldogs off the scoreboard though which is impressive regardless of the opponent.

Overall, Too early to tell since there were only two games vs FCS full scholarship teams. Sweeping all 5 Big Sky games this week would be a huge statement for the league, but pulling in 4 of the 5 would also be great because that means some combination of EWU, UND, NAU, CP, and MSU would have early losses on their resume leaving more seeds for other teams. Expecting 2 wins for sure and 3 toss ups.

[bruinbison]

Youngstown State QB Hunter Wells left the Robert Morris game early with an injury. YSU won the game 30-0.

The starting quarterback exited the game during the team’s first drive because of a shoulder injury. He spent the rest of the game on the sideline out of uniform in a sling, but should be OK going forward, head coach Bo Pelini said.

“He’ll be all right. It was a slight shoulder separation,” Pelini said. “The x-rays were negative, so Hunter will be fine.”

http://www.vindy.com/news/2017/sep/1...wswatch&mobile

[bruinbison]

STATS honors for the week

NATIONAL OFFENSIVE PLAYER OF THE WEEK

Chris Streveler, South Dakota, QB, R-Sr., 6-3, 215, Crystal Lake, Illinois
Streveler might have heard that South Dakota's only FBS win before Saturday had come against his former program, Minnesota, so the second-year transfer orchestrated one himself - the Coyotes' 35-27 victory at Bowling Green. He passed for 306 yards, including a 72-yard bomb in the first quarter, and rushed for a game-high 119 yards and three touchdowns. He has accounted for 10 touchdowns in two games this season, moving his Missouri Valley Football Conference team into the Top 25 for the first time since 2011.

NATIONAL SPECIAL TEAMS PLAYER OF THE WEEK
Chase Vinatieri, South Dakota State, PK, R-So., 6-1, 210, Sioux Falls, South Dakota
Vinatieri kicked a career-long 47-yard field goal in the first quarter and lined up for a 48-yarder late in the fourth quarter with the Jackrabbits ahead 24-21. Instead, Vinatieri, who practiced at wide receiver during a redshirt season in 2015, took a pitch from holder Brady Hale and raced around right end for a 31-yard touchdown run with 4:26 left. It was pivotal because Montana State scored another touchdown before the fourth-ranked visitors from the Missouri Valley held on to win 31-27. Vinatieri also recorded touchbacks on five of his six kickoffs to limit Montana State's returners.

Vinateri's fake field goal:

https://mobile.twitter.com/i/web/sta...08118843457536

http://www.fcs.football/cfb/story.as...tm=311&src=CFB

[bruinbison]

Bison not only team somewhat "mysterious" about a players' injury - whatever Soulek's status is......

Jackrabbits senior DT Kellen Soulek - 6' 5" 315 - preseason all-conference

Matt Zimmer
Matt Zimmer @argusmattz
Sounds like Kellen Soulek will be out awhile. But Jacks host Drake next week then have a bye. He might be ready after that.
11:34 PM · Sep 9, 2017 from Bozeman, MT

[Mr. Burgundy]

Thoughts on the Valley after they flexed their arms a bit last weekend. I think the Valley went 7-2 last week. I think their losses were on the road, against ranked teams, they embarrassed the once powerful Big Sky and had a dominating performance over a crappy FBS team. Big weekend for the best conference in FCS. Adding UND only will strengthen the league, and make the Big Sky even more pathetic than it is.

NDSU was dominating. Best win in the FCS last weekend. Absolutely domination. USD looked solid, Youngstown is better than people thought, and continue to play great defense. SDSU was not impressive, needed a lot of things to go right in order to win. They scored with 4 minutes left on a fake field goal. MSU had I believe some missed FG's and a TD called back. They were lucky to escape after a poor performance. UND just embarrassed the worst team in the valley. I still have no idea how that team cannot improve in that recruiting area.

[HerdBoy]

Leathernecks playing well so far. It will be interesting to see how they do against the Conway beach chickens.