JMU Post Game Thoughts.

[gotts]

Bismarck has a lot of UND grads, lawyers, doctors, bankers, etc., and their numbers are probably increased with state capitol here. And they like their hockey. However, having a UND player in the NHL is nothing like having an NDSU player in the NFL, i.e. Wentz. Go around town and you now see tons of Bison and Eagles gear. Attend local sporting events and you see the same. Lots of yellow and green. The Fighting Hawks gear isn't near as prominent. If you go to Scheels in Bismarck, you will see a huge Bison display as compared to the school up north. Bison football has taken over and also having a local kid now playing for the Eagles on a national stage (and not in a niche sport) helps tremendously.

I moved to Bismarck in late 2010 and there definitely seemed to be a prominent UND vibe around town. 7 years later, it seems like it's a complete 180 degree turn, like you mention. Amazing to see what a winner does for the general populace.

[wagsabison]

Although we had our field goal block on the second to last drive I liked that drive the best. Everyone knew we were going to run and we burned 5ish min off the clock. Their D was getting tired by that point.

[EC8CH]

Interesting that last defensive play was successful with a 3 man rush. That package got more heat on Schor that game than it's taken on Bisonville over the past two years.

[THEsocalledfan]

I've gotten through rewatching the first half, and here are my thoughts:

1. To echo Ross U., Bruce ran hard. On top of that, it was not like early in the year when he was plowing into piles when he should cut; there were no cut back lanes, and he just pounded it. I loved it.
2. The defensive line, as a whole, was simply outstanding for NDSU. It was little things like keeping the QB in the pocket, not losing contain, closing quickly, knowing their fits and gap control that were just done so well. The blitz calls were also excellent with excellent timing based on snap count. I can't say enough about their play.
3. Shep and RJ struggled with finding the sticks on their routes. And the time RJ runs a perfect route, he is completely mugged with a no call.
4. Stapleton for JMU was the real deal. That catch versus Hayes along the sideline was phenomenal and they needed those extra yards over the PI.
5. Clock management bit Coach K in the rear again. If you have 4th and 1, and you are NOT going to go for it, you need to let the clock run. They had about 18 on the play clock when they took that TO. That gave JMU 3 points later. At least they then tried to draw them off, and it was a believable situation that they were going for it since the took the TO. (I agree kicking was the right play; the time management is my issue.)
6. Conversely, and I was highly critical of the JMU coach during the game for this, when they got that first down with 15 to go, they have to take TO. To make it worse, they subbed making the ref cover the ball, and they ended up wasting about 8 seconds. That likely cost them 4 points as they had NDSU reeling. I am convinced these "tempo" teams think they are so smart and good they can stay in it, when in reality, they need to be is a more traditional 2 minute offense at this point so you can take multiple shots. I consider it the blunder of all coaching blunders in the game. I hope the JMU fans are raking him over the coals on that as they would have had time to take two shots and they could have used the entire field since they still had a TO.

I'll probably have some more thoughts after the second half is reviewed, not that anyone cares!

[Bison 4 Life]

I love the game in retrospect. JMU was good, there's no doubt about it. We never trailed in the game but it also never felt like it. Code Green was as good or better than any defense in the FCS this year.

[NoDak]

Anyone can take individual plays out of any game and say if only...

If you watch this game 100 times and even with everything that went right and wrong for either team there are a couple of absolutes. NDSU dictated the pace of the game. Being out of rhythm favored the Bison and it was intentional. This was not a pretty game. That was intentional. This was more of a 2013 type game than 2017. CK and NDSU made a clear choice to turn this into an ugly game. This was a valley showdown.

NDSU ate time. Jmu ran out of time. The Bison forced jmu to make decisions. It wasn't easy in patterns, it was good coverage with good pressure forcing jmu to think on plays they normally just run.

NDSU played the way they played because they had the lead. Life would have been different if the Bison fell behind at any point of the game.

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Great summary. JMU wants to say, "JMU lost, NDSU didn't win" but that isn't true. NDSU DID win every aspect except punts. And they won because they had more points. Not because JMU dropped the ball, "bad calls," etc.

[westnodak93bison]

Seemed like when I was kid growing up in Killdeer that every time we went to Bismarck that it was more of a UN_ type town??

Well that was a long time ago!

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[Bison 4 Life]

Great summary. JMU wants to say, "JMU lost, NDSU didn't win" but that isn't true. NDSU DID win every aspect except punts. And they won because they had more points. Not because JMU dropped the ball, "bad calls," etc.

Same could be said last year in the semis. Polasek made a lot of play calls that were mistakes, allowing an injured PGT to play was a mistake. I mean, this argument is infinitely regressive, no?

We took the L last year, they can take it this year. We'll see how this shakes out in the future.

[Mayville Bison]

And not giving credit to our guys for the reason for the drops is poor logic. We made schor uncomfortable and throw some balls that were slightly behind the receiver. You also wonder if the receivers were thinking about getting hit as soon as the ball was there and caused the drops. I really think only one drop by all's when he was at the 30 mattered and doesn't mean they score a td. All the other drops were short passes with guys in position to make the tackle right away

The first drop of Alls is the one JMU fans are all saying he would have scored had he not dropped it. They are partially right, if the ball is in the right spot, he walks into the end zone as he had Dempsey beat and Grimsley wasn't close enough to make the tackle. The part they fail to mention is even if Alls catches it, he would have been down at the 3 yard line because the pass was thrown behind him. Why was the pass thrown behind him? The corner blitz made the throw come out almost right away which resulted in the bad pass. But obviously that had nothing to do with NDSU, so NDSU is very "lucky" that he dropped the pass.

[Bison 4 Life]

The first drop of Alls is the one JMU fans are all saying he would have scored had he not dropped it. They are partially right, if the ball is in the right spot, he walks into the end zone as he had Dempsey beat and Grimsley wasn't close enough to make the tackle. The part they fail to mention is even if Alls catches it, he would have been down at the 3 yard line because the pass was thrown behind him. Why was the pass thrown behind him? The corner blitz made the throw come out almost right away which resulted in the bad pass. But obviously that had nothing to do with NDSU, so NDSU is very "lucky" that he dropped the pass.

Wait, I thought Alls was basically a NFL HOF receiver that was just having a little fun at the FCS level, surely he didn't just drop the ball because he wasn't good enough.