Now that Nielson is signed, sealed and delivered we can move on without having to worry about a major upheaval of the program. I was cheering for Bob to stay at USD and he has done an admirable job so far but it is now time to take the next step. There are things the team in general needs to improve on.
I am going to start by detailing on what I think needs to improve and what I think are really good qualities of the program.
The needs improvement category involved alot of "finish what you started" talk.
1. The Coyotes need to be a better 4th quarter team and a team that can line up against the better teams and beat them in crunch time. I don't know if there is a great answer for this question but it is something that I really think Nielson needs to spend time on in the off season figuring out how that is to be accomplished. Don't leave a stone un-turned and if that involves having the staff do some historical research on this than so be it. It might be as simple as just getting more experienced across the board but they also had potentially the Payton award winner at the most important position who will be gone. If I had to put a finger on it I would say it has to do with the style of offense and perhaps having a tired out D at the end of games. It seems like the hurry up is a really good O to be in for the first 3 quarters but once the game gets tight the offense tends to bog down and the play calling get a little more "play not to lose". In the MVFC with how close the teams are the Yotes are going to have to improve here because it's a foregone conclusion that close games will happen multiple times per year. They don't always get outplayed in the 4th but it certainly is much more often than not.
2. The Coyotes have got to be better holding leads which has been a bad trend for much of the past 2 years. There have been some shocking losses because of this trend and other games where things almost got away as well. This factor is closely related to being a better team in the 4th quarter but not totally. I think when the offense give a team a 2 or 3 score lead that the D is 75% of the responsibility of closing out those types of games. The D needs to be careful not to get too far on the side of playing a bend but don't break D because not only does it keep them on the field but can go a long ways to changing momentum. As with option 1 this would be a good issue to do some serious research on in the off season. There are plenty of examples of teams holding onto big leads and what most teams do to hold onto those leads should be studied. Of course looking at film of games that involved big second half comebacks is also valuable.
3. When it comes to the entire season the Coyotes have to finish what they started. It seems like the Coyotes get beat down by the MVFC more than they learn from it. I think if the Yotes would have played Nichols in October I think they would have destroyed them but with players being out and confidence perhaps being low it led to a game that should have never come down to needing a goal line fumble to end it. I realize the schedule is generally tougher down the stretch and that does factor in but they have to be able to sustain their early season success. I have 3 general things that I look at when it comes to how I view a team in general and how well that team is coached. How they play on the road is my #1, How they play in the second half or crunch time in game and how the the teams plays later in the season when they need to be their best. Ironically the football team isn't really checking the boxes here. Look at Craig Smith and hoops. They check all those boxes right now. They are a solid road team and made their hay last year on the road at the end of the season to win the Summit. They are a superb second half team and I don't see any issues with how they play in crunch time but they haven't had many close finishes lately other than UNC which I think was an aboration. Most of all last year they were heads and shoulders better at the end of the season than the beginning.
4. Defense, Defense, Defense. We knew this was an issue last season and we thought it was fixed but it regressed quite a bit towards the end. Obviously we can point to the player losses and that excuse goes a long way this time but I am a no nonsense type guy so I am not totally giving the team a pass on this one. It might just be that the overall talent and experience just needs to be better. Regardless of what happens next year if we don't see a solid improvement here than it is time to start looking at the coaching and strategy on that side of the ball.
Now for the fun part. These are the things I think are really exciting about the program.
1. No doubt the offensive system that Nielson uses is a benefit in many ways. It doesn't try to match what many teams are going but it is an alternative to it. I don't think we are going to beat NDSU by trying to be like them. I think we can beat them by trying to make them stop what we do. I will always believe in the philosophy of a team making others have to game plan for them and have to adjust their strategy for them. Not always worrying about what your opponent is doing. Make them worry about what you are going more than you worry about what they are going. I think Nielson takes this philosophy.
2. Recruiting is a challenge but I like it that the Yotes go outside the area for that southern speed, or that western speed or that "where ever on the planet" speed comes from. I believe in building a program around speed first especially with fewer and fewer grass fields around anymore. Nielson's style of offense is very easy to recruit to. It's not a hard sell to a QB or any receivers knowing that the team is going to take their fair share of opportunities to get the ball down field and to spread the ball around.
3. The Quarterback position is in better hands than it has ever been in at USD. Simmons would be #1 on the depth chart right now but Parks might be lurking. It is my opinion that if all other things are equal and the two QB's are close that I would like to see the Freshman get the nod, simply because he would be able to play or start for 4 straight years instead of having the change every year or two. Our quarterback is by far the most important position on the team. I think either way whoever is the guy next year will be a worthy starter. We can't expect there not to be some drop off from Chris at least at first.
4. The Wide Receiver group is the most under rated position group on this team. It is deep and it is good. Van Roukel was so good this year. People that don't follow this team just don't realize how many times Streveler threw up a 50/50 ball and how often the receiver made the play. I actually can't remember an INT all year that involved one of these types of passes that was picked off. It may have happened but I can't remember it. Our receivers bailed out Chris way more than people may realize.
When I made my prediction for this year I thought the schedule would probably get the best of them as it just didn't seem to setup real well. I thought 2018 would be the breakthrough year but for the first half of it anyway 2017 was a big breakout year. I have a hard time believing that the team will finish less than 6-5 but on the other hand with K-State on the schedule and having to travel to Brookings there will probably be at least a couple of losses in there.
