SDSU Post Game Thoughts & Discussion

[heffray]

We have won 9 Championships since 2011. Nine. We could have lost a few of those along the way...but we pulled them out. We were in trouble with injuries and lost in the semis to a very good James Madison team. This year, we really had a down year and made it to the championship still. SDSU was loaded. We were missing loads of talent due to injury and transfer. Even with that, I would think SDSU was still better this year. This loss stings about as much as I think it could...but we just can't win it all every single year.

Personally, I think this year showed a lack of focus on fundamentals...mainly defense...wrap up tackling. I don't think the LB core recovered from losing Cox. On offense, we have had two wide receivers in recent history that were difference makers...and we didn't have one this year. Really hoping some of our redshirts pan out. I've always wondered why a really good receiver would ever want to come here anyway. Losing Gindorf again really sucked. I'm really tired of the running back by committee through the season.

This was a down year...feels a lot like 2016. Really sucks...especially since it is to the Jacks...but life will go on. I'll still take our 9 vs their 1.

Pretty much my thoughts exactly.

[heffray]

Great take there!

Thanks.

To elaborate and add to what some others are saying… I don’t think our players aren’t as talented—we don’t have a recruiting problem (at least not yet). We lost roughly half our starters to injuries and transfers. The transfers alone highlight the other point… why are our players leaving in the middle of the season? There’s a bit of a culture issue to go along with scheme issues we also obviously have, especially on D.

I’m not saying the sky is falling but coaches better take note and make some changes or the Hacks will go back to back.

[JMB]

Great take there!

I don't think I agree with it though. Even in the Dakota Marker game I thought it was fairly obvious that SDSU was a bad matchup for us. We were ahead mainly because Stig tried to get too cute. Once he settled down in the second half and realized they could run up the middle on us, it was just a matter of if there was enough time to make up the points differential.

[The_Sicatoka]

Really? Then why are you here all the time?

I guess when there's shit on the ground, the flies come around, since that's what they eat

So you are unfamiliar with Sun Tzu's "The Art of War."

“If you know the enemy and know yourself, you need not fear the result of a hundred battles. If you know yourself but not the enemy, for every victory gained you will also suffer a defeat. If you know neither the enemy nor yourself, you will succumb in every battle.”

I'm here learning from the adversary. Honestly, CAS's posts over the years taught me how to really watch football and the importance of line play. Frankly, CAS warned of this day, and Hanson's concerns about poor tackling, were all exposed by Stig's bunnies.

[AlumniGreen]

I think most of us who have become accustomed to winning national championships, both in the D2 and D1 era, it is such a strange feeling to have lost in a title game. I hardly know what to say. So now I guess I have a little bit of empathy for our former opponents when we beat them in previous title games. Still ticked off just because we did not have to be beat so soundly. Poor coaching. At what point is the COACHING STAFF here going to take a HARD look at themselves? None of us probably know what is going on behind closed doors in the coaching offices but the proof is in the pudding. NDSU football has been going in a downhill trajectory for a few years and it NEEDS TO STOP. Matt Entz makes a damn good salary. The hallmark of a good coach is to be able to admit changes need to be made and not make excuses! And also to have the guts to make changes in OC and DC if need be, and I think we need changes there or else a swift attitude adjustment!

[gumby013]

Made some solid coin betting the bunnies. There's a positive.

[heffray]

I don't think I agree with it though. Even in the Dakota Marker game I thought it was fairly obvious that SDSU was a bad matchup for us. We were ahead mainly because Stig tried to get too cute. Once he settled down in the second half and realized they could run up the middle on us, it was just a matter of if there was enough time to make up the points differential.

But what you also saw in the Marker game was our Offense’s ability to score in creative ways, a lot of it through the air. We saw success against the best we played this year when we flipped our Offensive script on them. D played well that day, too.

[heffray]

Made some solid coin betting the bunnies. There's a positive.

I’ve got a plot of land near Jerusalem you can use those 30 pieces of silver on…

[WhoRepsTheLurker]

Thanks.

To elaborate and add to what some others are saying… I don’t think our players aren’t as talented—we don’t have a recruiting problem (at least not yet). We lost roughly half our starters to injuries and transfers. The transfers alone highlight the other point… why are our players leaving in the middle of the season? There’s a bit of a culture issue to go along with scheme issues we also obviously have, especially on D.

I’m not saying the sky is falling but coaches better take note and make some changes or the Hacks will go back to back.

With respect to that "culture", where’s the fire? What is the source?

As TAB points out, we have 9 of these now in a remarkably short period of time. Suppose we get back to Frisco next year and win it all. Will it be magical? For us as fans? For the team? You already know the answer to that. It will be expected and somewhat routine, which is completely insane. As much as I hate them, you could see the magic of the moment for the jacks and their fans, and this is what they had to strive for. It unified them. That goal has been accomplished several times now here at NDSU.

"If you’re not green and growing, you’re dying"
"NDSU needs to either start losing, or move up"

Random quotes from the internet that hold significant truth in this moment

[AlumniGreen]

I don't think we can sustain the tremendous energy and enthusiasm Bison fans had in the first few years we went to Frisco. I recall the first few years we went to Frisco, the Fargo Forum was FULL of articles on the team, there were even special T-shirts touting that fact. Obviously we gained some new fans, too. Then it became commonplace to go to Frisco and commonplace to win it all. Something happens to the human brain when you keep having success. Winning national championships becomes the norm for us and if we don't win one, it is a disaster! I do agree that the Jacks are now in the stage we were 12 or so years ago, a great deal of enthusiasm and promise for them. it is a novelty to win a national championship. I think Teammaker members and other fans will be watching closely to see what Entz and Company have in their plans to fix this.