NDSU vs. Leathernecks

[Bisonwinagn]

4 legged hooved mascots are a lot tougher to beat.

[ST_Lawson]

4 legged hooved mascots are a lot tougher to beat.

A fact that most teams you've played are very well aware of (roughly 95% of them in the previous 4 years, anyway)

[17>1]

Great post ST_Lawson!! Very thorough run down of your squad. Will you be making the trip to Fargo for the game?

[ST_Lawson]

Great post ST_Lawson!! Very thorough run down of your squad. Will you be making the trip to Fargo for the game?

I wish I could, and someday I hope to, but with two young kids, it's hard enough for me to get out of the house for home games. I've been lucky enough to be able to get to two of our away games this year that were fairly close (@Illinois 3 hours away and @ISUr 2 hours away), but making the 10-hour trek up to Fargo is a bit beyond what I can do at this point. Maybe when my kids are a bit older we'll be able to do it.

[Professor Chaos]

Overall, we're one of the better teams for turnover ratio...we don't give up a ton, but we're pretty good at getting them to go our way when the opportunity presents itself.

This is a great point because it's an area where NDSU has been less than spectacular in. The Bison are -4 on the year in turnover margin while WIU is +6. The Bison need to take care of the football and not give WIU any extra opportunities or short fields.

I'm also excited to see Stick throw the ball without the elements to contend with. The weather at both ISUb and SIU was pretty crappy for throwing the ball and he has a tendency to "flutter" his throws so hopefully his accuracy improves in the dome and he's able to throw downfield a time or two to keep the defense honest.

[ZHerd]

This is a great point because it's an area where NDSU has been less than spectacular in. The Bison are -4 on the year in turnover margin while WIU is +6. The Bison need to take care of the football and not give WIU any extra opportunities or short fields.

I'm also excited to see Stick throw the ball without the elements to contend with. The weather at both ISUb and SIU was pretty crappy for throwing the ball and he has a tendency to "flutter" his throws so hopefully his accuracy improves in the dome and he's able to throw downfield a time or two to keep the defense honest.

Yes but when we go +2 in a game we lose (see USD) so I say bring on the turnovers. Let's keep on fumbling boys! Purple

[HerdBot]

I expect some sacks...

Twss....
.

[bruinbison]

Kolpack's article today:

Includes an interesting concept - WIU likes to spread out its O,
have a single RB, all 250+ of him, and try and get him into
one on one match-ups in the running game. Limit the gang-tackling chances.

(Was going to include a link, but can't find article on the inforum site,
it is there in today's newspaper.)

[ST_Lawson]

Another thing you'll see with our team is that if your d-line is having a good day stopping Nikko, we'll usually turn more to our other RBs...Jr. Devon Moore and Fr. Steve McShane...each of which have very different RB styles.
Nikko Watson is the boulder...6'0" and every bit of his listed 250lbs (if not a bit more) with VERY strong legs. If he's got his legs under him, it takes a lot to take him down. He's not fast....at all...but he's very good at getting you 3-5 yards when you really need it.
Devon Moore is more of your "standard" RB...6'2" but "only" 210 lbs. A little faster than Nikko, but not quite as consistent usually.
Steve McShane is a smaller, quicker RB...5'8" and 185 lbs and can slip through the cracks a bit better than the other two guys. He's very similar in size and style to our leading rusher from the last couple of years...J.C. Baker (the guy who ran for 175 yards and a TD against you guys last year). McShane doesn't quite have the abilities that Baker did...not yet, anyway, but he is a true freshman.

Also...not really applicable to this week, but in the future. We don't have many seniors in starting positions.
O-line - Soph, Soph, Soph, Sr, Jr
QB Norvell, WR Lenoir, WR Borsellino, and WR J'Vaughn Williams....all Juniors
RB Watson is a Senior, so he'll be gone, but as I said, Moore is a Junior and McShane is a true freshman
Our TE's are seniors, but we don't really utilize them much (personally, I think we should use them more, but I'm not a coach with national championships like ours are)
Kicker and Punter - Jr and Soph, respectively

On defense, we do have 3 seniors on the line so that could be an issue next year, but the earlier mentioned LBs Brett Taylor and Adam Brott are both Sophomores.
Our starting DBs and Safeties...nobody older than a sophomore.

So, outside of the d-line, I think we'll be better next year than we are this year.

[gumby013]

Is WIU flying in? I've been looking for their flight as I normally do with visiting teams; and have come up blank.