JMU Post Game Thoughts.

[wagsabison]

It's fun to have a challenger. I like that it's a team like JMU where they have a pretty large fan base and have some history to them.

[Bison 4 Life]

I just assumed that was the way he punted.

It is. He's a rugby style punter.

[NoDak]

Congrats Bison, great win for you guys. If we're fortunate, maybe we'll see you in Frisco again next year. Can't really ask for a better FCS atmosphere, and quite frankly better than just more than a handful of FBS post-season as well.

First time I've ever walked out of a big game loss and not been pissed about it. Either I'm getting old, or it was just one of that games where a good team was going to lose no matter what. Let me be very clear when I say that while I do think we got the short-end of a call or 2, it's not why we lost the football game. We had ample opportunity to get it done, and we didn't for the first time in a long time and it's my opinion that the Bison D was responsible for that. Mea culpa, I've been taking every opportunity to make fun of Bison fans for bringing up Tanguay and DeLuca but those guys are maybe even better than advertised. The INT Tanguay had was pretty unreal for a D-lineman, though at the end of the day it may be Cox who is actually the biggest beast.

Thoroughly enjoyed pre and post-game tailgating with the Bison fans. We hosted about 300 Dukes in the Red Lot, sort of down near the Comfort Suites end of the lot. Super people, even the drinking contest between the NDSU and JMU students/fraternities didn't get out of hand. Some idiots did go through our tailgate while we were in the game and smashed every single bottle they could find, we put them in boxes and trash bags in the grassy area but we simply didn't have anywhere to put that much trash. This is 2 years in a row we've had problems with that, I'm not sure why those parking lots don't have large trash receptacles.

Enjoyed the banter with most of you, sadly I think you may even be better next year. I appreciate all of those that shared our tailgates drinks and food, I personally didn't have a negative interaction with any Bison. I gave away several trays of our breakfast burritos to your buses, even traded for a really cool beer can glove ( I don't know how else to describe this thing) that was purple and gold (I really appreciate the Vikings fans for their choice of colors).

Tailg8ter, I believe I saw somewhere in this thread that you had your cornhole boards stolen. I can't swear to it yet, but I feel like someone at our tailgate post-game told me they saw 2 JMU young morons walking with some Bison boards after the game. Problem is I haven't been able to confirm that, and I've reached out to a ton of people. I'll try some more today, I don't have much hope of figuring out who it was but I'm going to post something on the JMU Nation FB page and see if anyone has a clue. I want to verify who told me first, I have to say someone should have called them out for that on the spot. We left a ton of stuff out, other than the bottles being smashed we had no issues. It's bullshit, but I've had stuff stolen from my personal tailgate before and I'd always chalked it up to locals. I don't believe that for a second in Frisco.

First class response, JMUSteeler. This isn't complaining about sour grapes. There was a questionable missed call on a throw to Stapleton (looked like a little extra contact--sometimes they are called, sometimes not) and calling that first pass to Marshall "incomplete" was incomprehensible. But, like you, I don't think they had a serious effect on the game.

This was a game that one team had to lose because that's what the rules say. But I can imagine these two teams playing 10 times likely ending 5-5 or, maybe, 6-4 if something goes tragically wrong for one team. Both defenses were outstanding. Many times I thought a guy had broken out and we would finally get a big play only to see some of the best open-field tackling all year from both teams. Both teams are graduating a lot but both have very talented under-classmen. It is going to be fun to watch for the next couple years.

[Hammerhead]

It's fun to have a challenger. I like that it's a team like JMU where they have a pretty large fan base and have some history to them.

Much more entertaining than games that are over before halftime like the playoff games in the dome.

[KilldeerBison]

In all fairness to the punters, it was not an ideal kicking weather. It was a windy day if you were there or looked at the flags standing straight out. Above the stadium kicking into the wind, the kick would get knocked down making for a short punt. It was like the ball kicked high hit a wall. Noticed the JMU kicker kept kicking the ball low below stadium height to minimize the effects of the wind.

Watching the Bison punters warming up start of 2nd half, it looked like both were getting off some pretty nice punts.

[KNOW IT ALL]

Watching the Bison punters warming up start of 2nd half, it looked like both were getting off some pretty nice punts.

Its always awesome when your punting well at HALFTIME

[KilldeerBison]

Its always awesome when your punting well at HALFTIME

I agree, if the coaches are concerned about things like injury, wind or whatever, it's an awesome opportunity to try and evaluate.

[NoDak]

WOW. Both teams were amazing. Especially the defenses. Neither offense was able to put much together and I credit the defenses more than I blame the offenses.

JMU was the best tackling team NDSU faced this year.

JMU won the field position battle but costly interceptions in the red-zone crippled them. Both times, I think, born by pressure.

The NDSU D-Line was dominant. It was not uncommon for them to rush 3-4 and still get pressure meaning that 7-8 could be dropped into coverage. Most of Schor's "runs" were trying to get away from defenders and make the best of it.

Given the short field the NDSU defense looks even better. I haven't seen the numbers but I would bet that the Bison had 10-20 snaps in JMU territory and JMU had the majority of their snaps in NDSU territory.

NDSU struggled with their punts and punt coverage. Not sure if they played badly or JMU was able to do things other teams haven't done against the Bison this year but I don't recall punt coverage being that big of a problem in the past.

As for the fake punt, someone pointed out that Houston mentioned that NDSU hadn't had a fake punt or field goal in 2 years. That got my attention. Not that it is something to be done every couple games but not doing it for close to 30 game is odd, I think. And didn't the first Natty have an NDSU fake punt as the key play?

NDSU has had a couple of blow outs in national title games. But JMU was a worthy opponent. As I mentioned earlier, if we played them multiple times it would probably be around .500. Not sure who they are losing/returning. We will see if we meet them again next year. I hope that the NCAA puts us on opposite sides of the bracket. If we play them again I want it to be for the national title again.

I like NDSU's chances. Obviously losing guys like Kuhnert, DeLuca, Tangua, Dempsey, Urzendowski, etc. will hurt. But this team will be a real beast next year. Let's see if Stick can break Jensen's record for quarterback wins in a career.

[HerdNugget9000]

One thing that stands out to me about this game that hasn't been touched on much is the fact that Houston benched the lineman who threw the punches. It takes some committment to doing things the right way to bench a player in a championship game because they didn't conduct themselves on the field. I thought of this after watching the Bama Georgia game where #48 for Bama threw punches on the field, then seemed to throw some more on his own sideline (looks like he threw a punch at one of his coaches) and he was back in the game later in the half.

Have a lot of respect for Mike Houston as a coach, it's one thing to talk about culture, another to stick to it when the lights are on.

[EC8CH]

One thing that stands out to me about this game that hasn't been touched on much is the fact that Houston benched the lineman who threw the punches. It takes some committment to doing things the right way to bench a player in a championship game because they didn't conduct themselves on the field. I thought of this after watching the Bama Georgia game where #48 for Bama threw punches on the field, then seemed to throw some more on his own sideline (looks like he threw a punch at one of his coaches) and he was back in the game later in the half.

Have a lot of respect for Mike Houston as a coach, it's one thing to talk about culture, another to stick to it when the lights are on.

I agree with this completely. From what it looked like in the stands the refs should have tossed that JMU player. Their coach deserves a ton of respect and credit if he decided to bench him on his own. Very classy move and probably speaks to the accountability he teaches and expects throughout their team.