Special Teams

[DIBISON]

Your confidence in our coaching staff is well placed. Rah! Rah! Rah! We are all there.

However.....our 2017 started with a delay penalty before the opening kickoff. When the ball was kicked, it was returned to our 40, and only an outstanding play Dmitri Williams saved a TD.

The season continued with our defense massacring everything in sight, and our ST's kicking and coverage continuing to be WTH?

This stuff continued through the playoffs and into the championship game.

One might actually take what you said literally and not be that far off. I'm not serious,of course, but you get the point. Right?

We had problems before the season began and they were obviously not dealt with during the season. Northern Iowa was debacle, and we didn't win that game in a wipe-out, it was 30-14, but we did not dominate them and slaughter them, and we could have.

Look, Bison put a big 10 caliber defense on the field last year, and we are going to have a similar quality defense next year. That kind of dominance can mask issues with ST's kicking and coverage; but does that mean we ignore the issue?

Who believes the Bison coaches are ignoring your this issue as you say or who says we are terrible with the issue? There are 3 phases to a team and the Bison are dominant in two, offense and defense, so they can be average in special teams and still win a NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP!! RAH! RAH! RAH!

[Ndsu84]

Good discussion on where we need some serious improvement.

This isn’t the basketball page where criticism is not allowed.

This last team was really great but special teams made us look jv at times and deserves some hell for it.

LeCompte was key to our win more than once and we’ve come to appreciate excellence.

[bisonaudit]

We should also demand this kind of excellence from the coaches making the decision to punt or kick in the first place. As long as they keep making terrible decisions I have a hard time getting too worked up over the execution.

[Mr Meaty]

We should never have to punt. PERIOD!!!!!!

[semobison]

But, ....it's not a problem until we lose a game due to special teams....Riiight!

[td577]

But, ....it's not a problem until we lose a game due to special teams....Riiight!

The defensive effort against JMU can never be understated. The Bison had no business being in that game with the opponent average starting field position being where it was at. That being said, 2017 wasn't a problem until it became a problem after the season already started.

Going into the season, the team was returning a LS, P, and PK. All three had solid 2016 seasons. I know the average fan wanted JK to have a higher gross average in 2016, but all the net averages were very good. We have had a nice run with our coverage teams being filled with skilled position players. This season the Bison took a hit at RB, CB, LB, and WR with injuries and suspensions. Even when we normally have starters on special teams, their backups weren't there for offense or defense. The coaching staff had to pull back some special teams talent to make sure the other parts of the game were covered.

You aren't going to fix some issues in the middle of the season when they are related to who you have personnel-wise. The only egregious mistake, IMHO, the coaching staff might have made is if JK was injured in the NC game, then he should have been replaced. I would give up some accuracy in the punt game for distance when you figuring out your opponent is starting in your territory 2 out of 3 drives.

Otherwise, this was a strange season the way injuries worked out. There were depth issues at a lot of different positions that had a direct effect on special teams. There were some lessons learned and I can't believe there won't be some future changes made so this team isn't caught with its pants down again if they find themselves in a similar position. That means working some other athletes into the special teams rotation to get experience in those situations.

[bruinbison]

When I think of the players lost to injury in the semifinals, that also did not help the special teams performance. Not sure how many actually play on special teams, but some do.

James Hendricks - saw him on the sideline in uniform with a club on one of his hands, don’t remember seeing him play.
Jalen Allison and Jaylen Wimbush, Ty Brooks (any others?).
If there had been another game to adjust to the loss of players, it might have been less noticeable against JMU. With Jackson Koonce’s apparent injury after the 1st punt, well, JMU had a banner day on special teams.

If that new redshirt rule had been in effect this year, this is an example of when NDSU could have used an extra player or two.

[LITTLEGUYSINGREEN]

Good discussion on where we need some serious improvement.

This isn’t the basketball page where criticism is not allowed.

This last team was really great but special teams made us look jv at times and deserves some hell for it.

LeCompte was key to our win more than once and we’ve come to appreciate excellence.

We have a basketball page?