SHSU Post Game Thoughts & Discussion

[BISONBRI53]

We lost a of ton of talent to COVID. Then kept losing lineman and RBs to injuries. Coaches struggled but hard to tell how badly with all of the goofy things going on. Play calling was poor but When Easton started as a redshirt freshman our offense was extremely limited and Cam is no where near the athlete Easton was.

We had an OC and HC that realized that though. They game planned around that. adjusted to what was working and played to his strengths... None of that was done this year with either QB

[MankatoBison]

Stick level is the bar. I think Cole can reach that.

People ripping this comment are thinking of Stick senior year, not frosh-junior.

Stick was NOT A GOOD PASSER his freshman and arguably his sophmore year- when compared to Wentz, Jensen (So Jr Sr), and Lance.

But he was a good enough athlete where he could win only throwing 10x a game, and he was good enough to hit on 6/10 of those throws even as a freshman.

If you cant hit 5/10 of your designed passes, and/or arent athletic enough to cause headaches with your legs, you shouldnt be starting. period.

Looks like both Payton and PAtterson are better at both of these and will make it an exciting Fall season. For real, if QB play yesterday was 5% better at throwing OR running, we win that game. Cam is not the reason we lost that game- we played awful in a lot of aspects except special teams. but to ignore the absolute abyss of production that our QB position has been this year, and specifically in this game, is to ignore reality

[semobison]

One thing that I can't get over with the offense, in particular is the usage of the RBs in the passing game. In the 9 spring games, running backs had 18 receptions for 81 yards, a paltry 2 completions for 9 yards/game.

It's absolutely mind bottling to me that there was not really an attempt to get the RBs involved over the course of the spring, especially with both QBs being limited in the pass game. Would it not be logical to have some higher % passing schemes/plays rather than 15 yard out to the opposite field

Like middle screens, the RB angle routes that both sam & sdsu gashed us with or may be the Morlock Wheel route??

The last drive, when we had the ball around the 50, I am thinking it would be genius to attempt the DJ Middle screen?

You often hear that a coach wants to get a young QB or a QB who is struggling some easy throws to get him settled in. There were no easy throws for our QB’s this spring!

[MankatoBison]

We had an OC and HC that realized that though. They game planned around that. adjusted to what was working and played to his strengths... None of that was done this year with either QB

????? Im really wondering how we should have play called yesterdays game knowing that our QB could not complete a forward pass, and is an average athlete running the ball? The coaches didnt make him throw 2 bad picks, coaches didnt make him fumble. Coaches didnt make our TE fumble on the opening drive. Coaches didnt make us miss that first field goal. Coaches didnt let SH catch that hail mary.

People pretending that the absence of talent at critical positions had nothing to do with our struggles this year have their head in the sand.

[HerdBot]

People ripping this comment are thinking of Stick senior year, not frosh-junior.

Stick was NOT A GOOD PASSER his freshman and arguably his sophmore year- when compared to Wentz, Jensen (So Jr Sr), and Lance.

But he was a good enough athlete where he could win only throwing 10x a game, and he was good enough to hit on 6/10 of those throws even as a freshman.

If you cant hit 5/10 of your designed passes, and/or arent athletic enough to cause headaches with your legs, you shouldnt be starting. period.

Looks like both Payton and PAtterson are better at both of these and will make it an exciting Fall season. For real, if QB play yesterday was 5% better at throwing OR running, we win that game. Cam is not the reason we lost that game- we played awful in a lot of aspects except special teams. but to ignore the absolute abyss of production that our QB position has been this year, and specifically in this game, is to ignore reality

You're missing the point that elite running QBs can overcome that. Cam is not an elite runner. Hes not big or strong. He's not shifty. He's not quick or fast. Stick or Trey would have been our best running back if we put them back there

Cam doesn't have an elite arm or size either. His ceiling is not high. His ceiling is a game manager. But Stick was still a much better passer than Cam as a freshman. Just not as good as Wentz or Jensen

Also Roehl cant adapt an offense to the players

[roadwarrior]

124 days until kickoff

[EC8CH]

People ripping this comment are thinking of Stick senior year, not frosh-junior.

Stick was NOT A GOOD PASSER his freshman and arguably his sophmore year- when compared to Wentz, Jensen (So Jr Sr), and Lance.

But he was a good enough athlete where he could win only throwing 10x a game, and he was good enough to hit on 6/10 of those throws even as a freshman.

If you cant hit 5/10 of your designed passes, and/or arent athletic enough to cause headaches with your legs, you shouldnt be starting. period.

Looks like both Payton and PAtterson are better at both of these and will make it an exciting Fall season. For real, if QB play yesterday was 5% better at throwing OR running, we win that game. Cam is not the reason we lost that game- we played awful in a lot of aspects except special teams. but to ignore the absolute abyss of production that our QB position has been this year, and specifically in this game, is to ignore reality

I'd agree that NDSU doesn't NEED an NFL level QB to be successful, so "bar" probably isn't the best word. I think it's definitely the target though. As in, coaches should be targeting recruits with Stick level talent and ability who have the potential to be a late round draft pick. Occasionally they might exceed that target again with a Wentz or Lance type player but definitely not realistic year to year. I do think it's realistic for them to plan for a continuation of Stick level players which is the trajectory they were on before Lance left 2-3 years early.

From what I've seen this year, I don't think Zeb or Cam have that potential, which is why the coaches picked up Patterson. Cole looks straight out of the Stick mold watching his HS film. Hopefully this odd season was a bump in the road while the staff recovers from being pushed off coarse of this string of Stick level players at QB. I can see the path they're on to get back on track, just need to wait and see if it works out.

[The_Sicatoka]

A couple (thirteen, fourteeen (c) Common Man) pages back folks were saying NDSU recruiting didn't know Belquist was a multigeneration legacy and he ended up at UND. Either I'm missing the joke or that's unacceptable for NDSU fans. But it makes me wonder how Moorhead QB Feeney ended up at UND also.

[EC8CH]

????? Im really wondering how we should have play called yesterdays game knowing that our QB could not complete a forward pass, and is an average athlete running the ball? The coaches didnt make him throw 2 bad picks, coaches didnt make him fumble. Coaches didnt make our TE fumble on the opening drive. Coaches didnt make us miss that first field goal. Coaches didnt let SH catch that hail mary.

People pretending that the absence of talent at critical positions had nothing to do with our struggles this year have their head in the sand.

NDSU definitely had issues at multiple positions yesterday, but the playcalling didn't adjust. Kept trying to make the players fit the scheme and not the other way around. The call that pissed me off the most was the fumble on the read option. Why on that critical play against a penetrating defensive line put the game on the line with a QB has been indecisive all game and was barely a threat to run it himself. Just a bonehead call on multiple levels.

[gizmo]

Step away from the ledge, Bison fans. Our JV is about equal to everybody else’s varsity.