Next week we're playing for a winning season and to stop the Penguins from qualifying for the playoffs.
SDSU and NDSU are locks and seeds. UND has 7 wins, will lose next week at NDSU, and end up 7 - 4. YSU will have 7 wins if they beat us.
Hope we kick their butt. They have an excellent RB, but I don't think they're that good.
The MVFC may only get 2 or 3 in this year.
I agree with a lot of what you said @Mr_Woogers. I thought Baker had a pretty good game, minus the INT. Threw that too far to the inside, should have been on the sideline. Other than that he did a lot with his legs and made some great throws on that last drive. We really missed not having our change of pace backs. Javon just hasn’t had the same explosiveness in the ground game this year as in years past. He’s excelled in the pass game, so hopefully he can put it all together next year. One thing that has me terrified for next year…all our pass catchers this year are seniors. Cox brothers were obviously big time this year and I thought as Bryce Miller got healthy, he was very good. We should get Hartrup back next year, but aside from that, we are desperately lacking in experience there.
D played really good for most of the game and got gassed there in the 4th. I thought Miller struggled in pass coverage and gave up a lot of their 3rd and longs, sounds like he got shoved on the last one (cameras didn’t show downfield on that play), so I guess you give him a pass there, but I feel like he’s been the weakest corner all year.
Our O-line struggled and obviously still needs improvement going in to next year as they got beat consistently (gave up 5 sacks) and honestly could have been a lot worse if Baker didn’t escape so much.
The most disappointing thing to me is it should have never come down to this game for playoff implications. We should be playing for seeding not pride next week.
Too many explosive weapons on offense to rarely ever have explosive plays. Basically looking at a team barely above .500 the last 3 years. Call me crazy but there’s nothing exciting about that. IMO we need a major overhaul. I knew from game 4 this team will be in trouble when their only offense is screens and quick outs. Can’t compete for a championship at any level when the offense is soooo limited. Case and point….we were running the ball down two scores, 2 minutes to go, and 80 yards to go. HC needs to seriously evaluate the QB room. It’s not by accident 6 passes where knocked down at line of scrimmage and #11 and #15 were open several times. If there’s not a QB on staff then go get one. Baker is a competitive player that lays it on the line…gets the most out of his talents. Zero reasons others didn’t get a shot during this late season disaster. The RB room needs some consistency. OL needs help although I thought they had a good year considering the new faces. Defense can be electric at times, but probably the most undisciplined of any in the conference. Something has got to change.
Spot on!I rarely post on the football team, but I do follow them and watch when I can. I've always liked Nick Hill and he's done a pretty good job, but his teams are consistently undisciplined. Untimely penalties and boneheaded play have been staples throughout his tenure.
This is Nick's Achillies heel and he needs to fix it. Programs that win consistently at any level are also the most disciplined. You can't sustain success at anything in life without it.
This is where I truly appreciate what Bryan Mullins has done. His guys consistently do the right things on and off the basketball court. Perhaps he and Nick should have a conversation.
March on triumphantly!
Too many explosive weapons on offense to rarely ever have explosive plays. Basically looking at a team barely above .500 the last 3 years. Call me crazy but there’s nothing exciting about that. IMO we need a major overhaul. I knew from game 4 this team will be in trouble when their only offense is screens and quick outs. Can’t compete for a championship at any level when the offense is soooo limited. Case and point….we were running the ball down two scores, 2 minutes to go, and 80 yards to go. HC needs to seriously evaluate the QB room. It’s not by accident 6 passes where knocked down at line of scrimmage and #11 and #15 were open several times. If there’s not a QB on staff then go get one. Baker is a competitive player that lays it on the line…gets the most out of his talents. Zero reasons others didn’t get a shot during this late season disaster. The RB room needs some consistency. OL needs help although I thought they had a good year considering the new faces. Defense can be electric at times, but probably the most undisciplined of any in the conference. Something has got to change.
One thing about Jerry Kill - he usually had very good O lines and a good rushing attack. Most of his teams and Lennon's first few Kill-recruit teams averaged well over 200 yards per game. Also had some outstanding backs such as Arkee Whitlock, Brandon Jacobs, Deji Karim, Larry Warner, John Randle, etc.
We have rung up a lot of passing yards this year, but are only averaging a paltry 127 yds rushing per game. And our passing game has not had many big plays at all. Tough to make the playoffs that way. Pop Jones came back today for a couple of 10+ yard passing plays. JWill had a tough go of it without much help from the O line. We had 120 yards rushing, 44 of which was by Baker running for his life.
Really need to up the quality of our lines if we want to compete with the big boys in the Valley.
As far as QB, I agree with you. NB is a tough dude with a big arm, but that lack of height is a liability and possibly why we rarely throw it in the middle.
No question in my mind we are one of the top 24 teams in the country, though, and really blew a playoff chance by losing to USD and UNI.
The bone-headed penalties are an issue too. Cost us the SEMO game.
