Originally Posted by
Christopher Moen
Here's my assessment of UNI after watching their last three games (yes, in reverse order) against Youngstown State, Weber State and Idaho State:
The good: Their defense. Although not great, they are very disciplined against the run, especially with gap assignment. I didn't see them as a team that stacked the box a lot, but when it came to tackling the ball carrier, they attacked like a pack of dogs after a three-legged cat. They can give up big runs when they lacked focus, but when they're on, like they were against YSU compared to the other two teams, they are stingy on the ground.
The pass defense isn't nearly as good as their run defense as they gave up big throws in all three games, but they do have talenedt DBs that will battle with the Bison WRs.
The bad (somewhat): Their special teams. They have a good FG kicker and decent punter, but their kick return game isn't very good and probably why I would expect a lot of fair catches from them on Saturday. This aspect was a big reason for their issues against Weber State.
The ugly: Their offense. Not the worse we'll see this year, but everything relies on the gutty performances of Will McElvain. He's not a too terrible passer, but gets his yardage after scrambling like Fran Tarkenton. He doesn't have great speed, but has excellent quickness. How he matches up with NDSU's front four will be interesting. In the last game I watched (Idaho State), I noticed a slight nuance of his that might be able to help the Bison defense guess if the play is a pass or run. While in shot-gun formation, if McElvain took a long look at his sideline, the play most likely was a pass. If he stared straight ahead at the lineman, the play usually was a run.
Like the Redbirds from last week, the Panthers have monstrous linemen. However, this didn't translate well into a good run game or pass protection for them in all three games. As mentioned above, this will be interesting with the Bison front four.
I see this game as brawl because it always is due to the two programs history with each other. Conservatively, I say the Bison should win by at least 15. If the Bison can break the Panther's will, this game could be a similar result to last week's game against the Redbirds.