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Post by yotefbfan on Oct 21, 2019 11:44:46 GMT -6
This is a very interesting discussion regarding Scholarship Athletes and PWO Athletes. I would assume the coaches are smart enough to know that not every Scholarship Athlete pans out and the same is true that some PWO Athletes are better than the athlete you gave a scholarship to and may earn playing time and eventually a scholarship. I assume Greenfield was given a Scholarship at some point? It would be interesting to know how many scholarship athletes we currently have that started as PWOs? Without that information it is hard to judge what may or may not be happening in the program. Can someone ask Coach for that information? It would seem that that should be available?
I have kept some recent data myself and in 2016 we had 47 players join the team. Currently there are 20 players left and 3 have already graduated, Streveler, Brooks & Lewis. In 2017 we had 39 players join the team. There are 18 players left and 1 who graduated, Jennings. In 2018 we had 30 players join the team and currently 23 are still on the team. So what does this tell us about our depth? The USD coaching staff needed to bring in players and it looks like they took a lot of chances trying to find some diamonds in the rough. This means a lot of kids moved on as they either were not what the coaching staff was looking for or they found out that D1 football is more than they wanted. Each year we are bringing in less players which would tell me that our depth is improving. It is hard to compare with either XDSU team or other established teams with a history of success, because that success will bring in players all by itself. The process to build a winning program is difficult and hopefully we are getting closer each year.
It is tough when a good kid like Lincoln Gibbs leaves the program. While we all saw some potential, clearly the coaching staff felt that other players needed to see some playing time and that did not sit well with Lincoln. Are they correct? hard to say, time will tell. I remember that Nate Gunn was on the roster here in 2016 and left and has had a terrific career at D2 Minnesota St., was that a miss on our part or just the right place for Nate? Hopefully Lincoln can find the right place for him, but it would seem that between him and the coaching staff this was not going to happen at USD. The NCAA transfer portal has been a game changer for many kids as they now can move on if they are not happy in a program. I would guess that Gibbs is getting contacts from many schools interested in his service, but I also guess that will most likely be at a D2 school. I hope our coaching staff is pouring through that same transfer portal looking for talent looking move and to help fill areas of need on our roster, increase our talent, and increase our depth.
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Post by yotefbfan on Oct 14, 2019 7:50:13 GMT -6
Long drive but worth it after the great result! I understand that this was a holiday weekend for MSU, but the attendance there was abysmal. The official attendance was listed at over 5000, but my guess is it was closer to 3000 tops. After the rocky start, we looked dominant most of the game. I have been critical of the defense early in the season, but I am turning into a believer. Clearly Coach Johansen has adjusted to the talent level and teams at the D1 level. To be fair, we have not seen a strong passing team with talented receivers since Houston Baptist, but hopefully our adjustments and familiarity with this defence will help us against stronger throwing teams in the future. The front 7 is becoming very formidable and should be a problem for the rest of the MVFC when they face us. Offensively, the Hippos continue to get better and are really opening up the running game. Our balance with the run and the pass stands out with these past two wins and I hope we continue to keep that balance. Just me, but I love when we go to a 2 RB formation. Nothing better that watching a lead RB de-clete an unsuspecting LB!! Like Yotes stated we need a few players to just shut up and let their play speak for them. We also need the coaches to address the poor penalties we continue to get, they could really hurt us against some good teams we might be able to sneak up on and beat. When looking at the rest of the schedule, if we can go 4-2 I think we can get ourselves into the playoffs.
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Post by yotefbfan on Oct 14, 2019 7:13:10 GMT -6
Great question, can you send a link to the article or comment you were referring to? In my opinion, depth is created by great recruiting. Obviously, the SEC recruits some of the best players in college football. The NCAA limited scholarships with the intended purpose of limiting schools from stock pilling or hiding great players from other schools and protecting the players opportunity to actually play. The fact of the matter is still the same, within the limits of the number of scholarships, great teams seem to have talent on their bench that could outplay starters on lesser teams. Look at the top teams in the MVFC and you see teams that continue to "re-load" every year. Kids will come to a great program with the great facilities, coaching and traditions knowing that they may have to sit longer than they would like, but in the end, they might be playing for a championship and greater exposure for NFL scouts. Our challenge at USD is to create that environment. The athletic department is really doing a terrific job of getting our facilities up to that level. I do feel Coach Nielsen and his staff are slowly building that "Depth" that can help this program have a regular high level of success. Look at our current depth at LB, DB & WR. All three of these position groups have quality players throughout and in the case of the DBs and WRs both have sustained significant injuries and the "next up" philosophy seems to be doing great. I know Coach has mentioned many times he likes the current freshman class especially the O-lineman that he feels will develop. That is impressive since we will be returning all of our line (excluding 1) for next year. That is the depth we need at all positions. The long winded answer to the question is that depth can only be measured by the quality of players that replace others either during the season or for the next season. I truly feel we are getting there at USD!
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Post by yotefbfan on Oct 6, 2019 19:37:49 GMT -6
A few quick comments from the game. First, Kam Cline was a beast, I hope we see more of that the rest of the year. Greenfield was also terrific, with those two playing well the front line looks solid. I also thought Cochrane, Mogensen, Matthew, Hillis, and Starling were exceptionally strong at the LB positions. The DBs played well but were not challenged much. Overall a very nice Defensive performance, I hope to see us repeat that level of play next week. Offensively, what more can I say other than establish the run game and the rest seems to come together. Kai Henry had a very nice game and it was a pleasure to see Simmons take advantage of opportunities and become a runner. My only concern with the offense and so far this year is the only average play of Dakarai Allen, I was expecting a lot more from him, hopefully, he becomes more of a force as the season goes along. The offensive line seems to be getting better each week which is very encouraging. We need to have another dominating performance next week against Missouri St to establish that we could still be a playoff team.
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Post by yotefbfan on Oct 6, 2019 18:57:39 GMT -6
Lot of work went into putting that info together and it contained some really interesting stats. Thanks for doing that. I certainly hope this upward trend continues because, as you said, the 'Yotes really did look good yesterday in all phases. This OGAAT mantra definitely needs to be the byline for the rest of the season. On a side note: it was nice to see Lincoln Gibbs get some carries yesterday. Kid has some explosiveness. He really does. Impressive runs. Personally speaking I’d like to see Klett as well. Maybe something going on in practice or classroom. Who knows. OGAAT On the broadcast, it said Klett was on the injury report
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Montana
Sept 28, 2019 20:53:37 GMT -6
Post by yotefbfan on Sept 28, 2019 20:53:37 GMT -6
Montana is leading @ #4/5 UC Davis 38-14 start of the 4th Remember UC Davis only lost to NDSU on the road by 11. Northern Colorado beat Idaho 27-24
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Post by yotefbfan on Sept 22, 2019 13:22:18 GMT -6
Obviously winning a game makes us all feel gooey inside and of course, gives us hope that all is not lost. The bye week could not come at a better time. we need to get healthy (Falk, Case, Collins, Tisdale, Kramer, and whoever else I forgot) as all these player will be needed to continue the momentum. Looking at the next 4 games it is possible to go 4-0 or 0-4. More likely, we will go 2-2 but we really need to find 3 wins in these 4 games. The trip to Greeley was worthwhile and we showed some improvement, but now we need to duplicate it versus a better team. Great to see us kick touchbacks against the wind at UNC, not sure why we can't do the same in a dome unless there are some strong winds I am unaware of in the dome? Overall, special teams looked good, but I was concerned with the pressure they put on our punt team, definitely something to address. Offensively, what else needs to be said other than KEEP RUNNING THE DAMN BALL! Not only did we get good production from all of the running backs and Simmons, but we also used them for occasional lead blocking and that was very effective. Continued emphasis on a balanced offense could make us a tough opponent. Defensively, I started to worry early as a not so good UNC receiving core was finding space to our edges again, but we did seem to adjust and tighten that coverage. I liked the various blitzes that were dialed up and thought we created solid pressure all game against an average UNC O-line. One issue I noticed at the end of the half was our newest RB clearly arguing with the coaches. My understanding this is not the first time and his history with 3 previous programs would indicate this might be normal behavior. I am having a hard time figuring out how he is benefitting the program? On a positive, I was really impressed to see one of our captains (Greenfield) stepping in showing leadership and trying to calm that player down and keep the focus on the team. It was pointed out often that leadership was missing last year, but it appears that this issue is getting solved. Great to get the W, but realize UNC is a not so good team so we still have work to do, but definitely a good start.
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Post by yotefbfan on Sept 14, 2019 21:50:16 GMT -6
Wow, that was disappointing. Our offense looked better at times but failed to finish a few drives. We also gave up way too many sacks and turned the ball over at bad times. Not sure why we can't go under center when it is short and inches? Most teams can always run the QB for at least a yard, or as others have suggested why not use a bigger RB for third an short situations? Defensively, I have no answers other than the positionless D looked more like a playerless D. If the Defense does not get fixed we will be lucky to get any wins this year. At the end of the day statistically, we won almost every category except the aforementioned sacks we gave up and our poor kickoffs and coverage which is the most glaring problem and easiest to fix. How can we get 3 touchbacks at Oklahoma and manage to get only one vs HBU and keep kicking it to the guy racked up 250 yards in kickoff returns? I may not be the smartest guy in the world but I can figure out to STOP KICKING IT TO THAT GUY!!! Everyone mentions the poor coaching on defense and I agree, but let's look at who is coaching special teams. The Definition of crazy is to keep doing what you have always done expecting a different result, try something different or change the personnel on the kicking team because whatever we are doing ain't working!
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Post by yotefbfan on Sept 9, 2019 17:46:49 GMT -6
Does anyone know if there is a way to re-watch this game? It is great to see it live, but considering our seats, it was difficult to view everything. I always enjoy re-watching games just to getter a better idea of how we played. I think it might be on YouTube. Thanks I found it there: Oklahoma vs USD
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Post by yotefbfan on Sept 9, 2019 5:50:15 GMT -6
Does anyone know if there is a way to re-watch this game? It is great to see it live, but considering our seats, it was difficult to view everything. I always enjoy re-watching games just to getter a better idea of how we played.
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Montana
Sept 1, 2019 15:22:27 GMT -6
Post by yotefbfan on Sept 1, 2019 15:22:27 GMT -6
Ok usually I am the eternal optimist, but I will be honest and say that Saturday's performance did not give me that confidence that this was just an opening game blip and everything will be better. I am also confident that whatever happens next week will not be a reflection of our season, so it looks like we will need to wait until Houston Babtist to get a better feel for what we are.
I will start with what I saw on defense which can best be described as a Chinese fire drill. How many times can you come out of a timeout and not have the correct personnel on the field? I cannot remember seeing so much late substitution on defense like we saw yesterday. Our CB play was not good. After Collins went down we only got worse. How many quick passes to the outside does it take before we tighten up the coverage? Yes, they might hit the homerun pass, but is that worse than giving up 5+ yards every play and letting them drive down the field? On a positive note we did put some good pressure on their QB, but let's give him credit as he was a magician in avoiding a sack. Our run defense looked better, but once again not a lot of reason to run the ball when the short passing game was handed to you. I did like the athleticism we saw in our LBs.
On Offence, I did feel our O-line was better than we saw most of last year. They made some mistakes that can be expected with so many young players, but they did open some running lanes and gave Simmons a good amount of time to throw. Simmons, I felt started slow but improved. It looked like we had a running game to use but as usual, we failed to try to establish the run. We went into the season thinking we had great depth in our receivers, but after watching us target only a single receiver I am not sure the coaching staff realizes we have multiple weapons? While Cody Case is something special, what happened to Allen, Baker, Ducker, Falck, or any of our TEs???
Our punter did great, return game was fine, our kick coverage was awful and can we please find someone who can put a kickoff 5 yds deep in the endzone! Considering the athletes we have seen get playing time for the past couple years that barley saw the field or did not see the field, I would think at the very least they could contribute on special teams?
This was a tough loss, but we can recover and still make the playoffs. One thing that must get fixed is the coaching, this group more than any other graded out the worst. Our offense looked like they were stuck in neutral and the much talked about defense looked like we were an NAIA team playing an NCAA D1 team. I will stay optimistic that we can turn this around as I do believe we have talent, but change is needed. See everyone in OKC next week!
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Montana
Aug 27, 2019 7:01:16 GMT -6
Post by yotefbfan on Aug 27, 2019 7:01:16 GMT -6
They haven't posted the game notes with the "2 Deep" for Montana. I thought they used to post that on the Monday before the game or am I not remembering correctly? This always comes out on Tuesday's, typically check the website in the afternoon and it will be there.
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Post by yotefbfan on Aug 18, 2019 9:29:02 GMT -6
OK here is my best guess on the season when looking at the MVFC schedules.
1. Ill St 11-1 (7-1) (SDSU) - Very good team with a chance to run the table on their non-conference games. Glad we do not have them on the schedule.
2. SDSU 10-2 (7-1) (UNI) - If they can solve the QB question, let's be honest they are going to be very good. If they have some struggles along the way we could upset them at our place at the end of the year.
3. NDSU 10-2 (6-2) (ILL St, SDSU) - Yes they just reload, but they also have a big question at QB and practically a completely new coaching staff. Still, a great team just not what they have been in the past.
4. USD 8-4 (5-3) (SDSU, NDSU, UNI) See below
5. UNI 7-5 (5-3) (ISU, MSU, NDSU) As normal a very good team that finds ways to lose. Might go undefeated at home this year, but could also drop every game on the road.
6. IND St 7-5 (4-4) (SDSU, Ill St, UNI, USD) Let's get real, do not buy into the hype. Ind St. had 4 of their wins last year by 5pts or less, including their 2OT victory over us. They were underrated and surprised teams last year, that will not be the case this year. They have a favorable home schedule this year and I think they will do well in their nonconference schedule, but they could also be 0-4 as well coming into the MVFC schedule. Can't wait to see them in the dome this year, I think the outcome will be much different than last year.
7. SIU 5-7 (3-5) (Ill St, NDSU, IND St,USD, SDSU) This team can always surprise people, they once again have transfers to help build their team, they just can't find consistency. I am glad we get them at home.
8. YSU 4-8 (1-7) (Ill St, NDSU, SDSU, Ind St, UNI, USD, SIU) Really tough home schedule, fairly easy nonconference schedule could give them some good momentum, but just do not see them have a good year.
9. WIU 3-9 (1-7) (Ill St, USD, SIU, Ind St, NDSU, UNI, YSU) No more players left from the Nielson years, a few years of poor recruiting and the loss of some really good players will drop WIU to the bottom of the MVFC.
10. MSU 1-10 (1-7) (Ill St, USD, SDSU, Ind St, NDSU, SIU, WIU) Tough home schedule, Only 3 nonconference games and very well could lose all 3 to start the year. Could be a long season for the Bears.
Keys for USD
1. O-line - We need this group to be better than last year. They do not have to be great, but they do need to be at least average. Their success means keeping Simmons upright and having time to pick apart defenses. Their ability to run block can help improve this part of the game and give us greater balance. All of that means that we improve our time of possession, which gives our defense more rest and makes that unit better. Can't remember ever seeing the success of a team so dependent on a single unit. I think there is some talent in the unit, just young and inexperienced.
2. Limit injuries - Like any year injuries will occur, the question is when do they happen and how many key players do we lose? Last year we lost the starting center prior to game #1 and that had an effect on the entire season for the o-line. Kody Case not at 100% was a big impact. Injuries in the defensive backfield also hurt but did help develop depth for this year. As Nielson continues to improve recruiting, our depth continues to get better where we can overcome injuries, but we still have some areas that are thin if the injury bug hits.
3, New Defensive Coordinator - While we have many good players on this side of the ball and I am confident that we will be a good defensive team, the potential for us to be great defensively depends on how the team responds to Coach Johansen. He has some new approaches that could create issues for the rest of the MVFC.
4. Leadership - If I can be critical of one thing last year it was the hole left by Streveler and the lack of leadership we had. While we had some nice players last year that have graduated, they just were not the leaders we needed to help a young team find success. Other than a few players, this is the first team that is a majority of Nielson recruits.
I feel we are a playoff team that could establish that we belong in the top tier of the MVFC. There should be a lot of optimism based on talent and experience alone. Is it important to get off to a good start with a win over Montana, of course, but we can overcome a loss as well. Coming out of Oklahoma in one pice will also be important. We need to defend the dome and get those wins while finding a few wins on the road.
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Post by yotefbfan on Jun 4, 2019 17:14:20 GMT -6
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Post by yotefbfan on Jun 2, 2019 18:06:41 GMT -6
Not sure about the Juco DB, but a little research and I found Stephen Hillis LB, Harrington NE. Looks like he signed with Air Force out of HS in 2017 but was never on a roster. My guess is he has all 4 years of eligibility left? www.hudl.com/profile/3073634/Stephen-Hillis
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