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Post by Yotes on Nov 12, 2023 15:50:02 GMT -6
USD travels to Macomb one last time on Saturday to close out the regular season. On the line is a program high 9 wins at the D1 level, a 7-1 MVFC record, and a first ever seed/bye week in the FCS playoffs. That would mean December football in Vermillion for the first time since 1986.
Western Illinois comes into this one riding a 23-game losing streak. The streak incidentally began with a USD victory in Macomb on 11/6/2021. WIU has lost their conference games this year by an average of 38 points. They average 47.8 rushing yards per game. Last week they were handled pretty well by a previously winless Indiana State team. There is absolutely nothing going right for this program, besides easier competition ahead in the OVC.
We know Bob won't be overlooking his former program. Let's give Western a proper send off.
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dbyote
Senior Member
Posts: 529
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Post by dbyote on Nov 12, 2023 15:52:37 GMT -6
Just take care of business.
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Post by Yotes on Nov 12, 2023 18:17:49 GMT -6
I'm bored and did some digging in the MVFC record books. A shutout would see WIU tie the conference record for least points scored in a MVFC season (54 set by 2012 WIU), and they are only 66 points shy of tying the most points ever given up in a MVFC season (389 by 2015 Missouri State).
66-0. Make it happen.
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Post by teamsd on Nov 12, 2023 20:06:50 GMT -6
Finish the job yotes. Come home and get ready for the playoffs. I don’t care what their record is. Do not overlook this team.
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Yote13
Freshman Member
Posts: 19
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Post by Yote13 on Nov 15, 2023 8:43:25 GMT -6
Looks like the weather in Macomb on Saturday will be great. 60, sunny and little wind. I am hoping this will be a "get right" game for the offense after leaving some points out on the field against UND. Defense continues to impress every week and I expect a dominate performance from them. Give me the Yotes 31-0 in this one.
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Post by nccyote on Nov 15, 2023 9:44:34 GMT -6
Offense hasn't played great for 4 weeks now, dating back to the ISUb game. Time to get back on track against the worst defense in the MVFC. Win this one in dominating fashion and get ready to host a playoff game, hopefully as a top 4 seed.
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Post by Yotes on Nov 15, 2023 9:46:21 GMT -6
Bolstering some confidence in the ground game would be nice heading into the playoffs. For as many capable RBs as we have, you'd think we would be hitting 100+ yards on the ground more often. Only 86 and 84 in the past two games on 35 and 30 attempts.
I thought our early season game against Lamar showed what a confidence building performance can do for a unit. Got nothing against Mizzou in the opener and didn't impress at all against St Thomas (considering they don't have scholarships). Posted 305 rushing yards against Lamar though and then went to Fargo and put up 101 on just 26 attempts. Not sure we have that incredibly efficient performance at NDSU without getting things right against Lamar first.
WIU is giving up 234 rushing yards per game this year. I hope we can eclipse that.
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Post by Yotes on Nov 15, 2023 9:50:38 GMT -6
Offense hasn't played great for 4 weeks now, dating back to the ISUb game. Time to get back on track against the worst defense in the MVFC. Win this one in dominating fashion and get ready to host a playoff game, hopefully as a top 4 seed. The offense did put up 416 total yards on UND, which normally would be everything this team needs to win and then some. Two turnovers in the end zone and two punts at midfield made the score such an anomaly. Put up that yardage again and that's going to be 28+ points basically every time.
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Post by Yote 53 on Nov 15, 2023 10:20:38 GMT -6
Offense hasn't played great for 4 weeks now, dating back to the ISUb game. Time to get back on track against the worst defense in the MVFC. Win this one in dominating fashion and get ready to host a playoff game, hopefully as a top 4 seed. To be fair, the team has had a 3 game stretch of playing Top 10 teams. It's not supposed to be easy sledding against Top 10 teams. Also, ISUb has been resurgent. They are a lot better team the second half of the season than in the first. I think they had several key injuries at the start of the season.
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Post by easmus on Nov 15, 2023 10:49:36 GMT -6
Would be great to see Nate Thomas get on the field and shake off any rust and get back into the flow of things. Let Theis get a lighter load and freshen up his legs. Ground and pound is what I want to see.
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Post by 88grad on Nov 15, 2023 12:28:32 GMT -6
If we are fortunate enough to be in this position - would hanging a 40 or 50 burger on them help us in the seeding?
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Post by Yotes on Nov 15, 2023 13:02:10 GMT -6
If we are fortunate enough to be in this position - would hanging a 40 or 50 burger on them help us in the seeding? The selection committee is human. They may view us differently if we struggle with WIU.
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Post by geoffjellic on Nov 15, 2023 16:01:50 GMT -6
Would be great to see Nate Thomas get on the field and shake off any rust and get back into the flow of things. Let Theis get a lighter load and freshen up his legs. Ground and pound is what I want to see. Agree…. Be also nice to get Martens back to full strength to have another option in the passing game.
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bobo
Sophomore Member
Posts: 239
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Post by bobo on Nov 15, 2023 20:15:00 GMT -6
I have no doubt the running game will get on track again this Saturday. But to say the offense didn’t play well vs UND is ludicrous. Matter of fact they played pretty darn good considering that it was tough sledding running the ball consistently and tough hard earned yards. That game was going to be won throwing the ball and we did that very efficiently. Yes we had 2 turnovers down near the goaline but the first one was a hell of a play to even get it down there and a terrific play by the trail defender after Bell was falling down and the second one was just an under thrown fade ball. Plays were made in the 2nd half and our defense was lights out.
This team is very tight knit and does a great job of being resilient together. Let’s hope that continues to hold true in this last one before the playoffs. I’m pretty sure we will have a highly motivated mature response by them.
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Post by nccyote on Nov 16, 2023 10:16:32 GMT -6
Offense hasn't played great for 4 weeks now, dating back to the ISUb game. Time to get back on track against the worst defense in the MVFC. Win this one in dominating fashion and get ready to host a playoff game, hopefully as a top 4 seed. To be fair, the team has had a 3 game stretch of playing Top 10 teams. It's not supposed to be easy sledding against Top 10 teams. Also, ISUb has been resurgent. They are a lot better team the second half of the season than in the first. I think they had several key injuries at the start of the season. Not expecting total domination against good teams. By saying "hasn't played great" I guess I mean making silly mistakes and shooting ourselves in the foot. I feel like during that stretch, barring the sdsu game, we were clearly the better team each time. Without turnovers and bad penalties by the offense over the course of that stretch, those close wins would've been no doubters. Clean that up and I like our chances against anybody in the FCS.
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