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Post by Coyote Fan on Sept 6, 2021 23:23:14 GMT -6
So here comes the home opener and I have never been in the dome since the remodel but that will change on Saturday. The Lumberjacks lost to the defending national champs (thank you Bearcats for that last second touchdown in the national title game) Sam Houston State 42-16. I don't know what can me made of that other than the fact that NAU is not an elite program.
I think this will be an interesting matchup that absolutely is in the must win category to keep this season on track for it to be a good one. Every now and then the Coyotes really pull out a good game at home and win by 3 touchdowns more than most people think they will win by. For this one I think it will be close. They passed 42 times vs 35 rushes vs SHSU. They were behind all game long and probably had to pass so who knows if we will see a pass heavy team or not on Saturday.
The Yotes will probably feed off the crowd and have another game of high energy. If I were the Coyotes I would try to ram it down their throats and try to use a bigger and more improved offensive line to their benefit. Make the southwestern Jacks have to line up and stop them.
I am going to go with the Coyotes 27-14.
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Post by fightsd on Sept 7, 2021 6:54:43 GMT -6
So here comes the home opener and I have never been in the dome since the remodel but that will change on Saturday. The Lumberjacks lost to the defending national champs (thank you Bearcats for that last second touchdown in the national title game) Sam Houston State 42-16. I don't know what can me made of that other than the fact that NAU is not an elite program. I think this will be an interesting matchup that absolutely is in the must win category to keep this season on track for it to be a good one. Every now and then the Coyotes really pull out a good game at home and win by 3 touchdowns more than most people think they will win by. For this one I think it will be close. They passed 42 times vs 35 rushes vs SHSU. They were behind all game long and probably had to pass so who knows if we will see a pass heavy team or not on Saturday. The Yotes will probably feed off the crowd and have another game of high energy. If I were the Coyotes I would try to ram it down their throats and try to use a bigger and more improved offensive line to their benefit. Make the southwestern Jacks have to line up and stop them. I am going to go with the Coyotes 27-14. Do I sense a little optimism here, CF? What is this, bizzaro-world? |
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Post by yoteforever on Sept 7, 2021 7:03:06 GMT -6
Lol
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Post by Coyote Fan on Sept 7, 2021 18:32:50 GMT -6
So here comes the home opener and I have never been in the dome since the remodel but that will change on Saturday. The Lumberjacks lost to the defending national champs (thank you Bearcats for that last second touchdown in the national title game) Sam Houston State 42-16. I don't know what can me made of that other than the fact that NAU is not an elite program. I think this will be an interesting matchup that absolutely is in the must win category to keep this season on track for it to be a good one. Every now and then the Coyotes really pull out a good game at home and win by 3 touchdowns more than most people think they will win by. For this one I think it will be close. They passed 42 times vs 35 rushes vs SHSU. They were behind all game long and probably had to pass so who knows if we will see a pass heavy team or not on Saturday. The Yotes will probably feed off the crowd and have another game of high energy. If I were the Coyotes I would try to ram it down their throats and try to use a bigger and more improved offensive line to their benefit. Make the southwestern Jacks have to line up and stop them. I am going to go with the Coyotes 27-14. Do I sense a little optimism here, CF? What is this, bizzaro-world? I is more reality based thinking but optimism could be used to describe it as well. I am very realistic. The Coyotes will probably once again have a better first half of the season than second half. The schedule is always so brutal later on because both the Jacks and Bison fall towards the end of the season typically. I was looking at the future schedule and get ready for the first 6 games in 2022. IMHO it is probably the toughest start to a schedule in Coyote history. So after the next few games the schedule is going to be brutal from the end of this season to the beginning of next season. But being in the Valley is something the Coyotes signed up for on their free will so if they want to keep that company they have to suck it up and bear down. I want to leave this alone for awhile but if Nielson is a good coach he should be able to navigate this at .500. I am gonna try to not talk about Nielson and the future at least for a few games. 2021 last 6 games vs UND at UNI vs Illinois State at Western Illinois vs SDSU at NDSU 2021 first 6 games at K-State at Montana (who just beat Washington) vs Cal Poly vs NDSU at SDSU at Illinois State |
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Post by nccyote on Sept 8, 2021 8:58:42 GMT -6
I have confidence that we can get a W this weekend. I'm hoping Schlafke will continue with his 2nd half game plan from KU and run the dadgum ball. If Camp continues to struggle, lets grind it out a little. I was pleasantly surprised to see how the young OL was able to pound out some yards against the KU front. We have to play to our strengths right now now while we let Camp grow up a little bit early in the season. Feed those RBs and let the big guys be aggressive and get after some people! That should help clear up some reads for Camp and make it a little easier for him if teams have to load up to stop the run first.
Another concern is our secondary. They struggled in the 2nd half against KU and now Harden is going to miss this entire game because of the bogus targeting call. That will be an area to watch on Saturday, to see how our depth holds up in the back end. We'll really have to make NAU 1 dimensional by shutting down the run and then get after the QB to help out our corners.
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Post by easmus on Sept 8, 2021 12:50:30 GMT -6
Harden only misses the 1st half on Saturday.
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Post by Coyote Fan on Sept 8, 2021 16:49:58 GMT -6
I am not sure Northern Arizona is good enough to stop the Yotes running game. If they are able to stop it, that makes for a 50-50 game. I do think that teams are going to stack the box and make Camp beat them. I think the Coyotes can get away with it against the Jacks but when the schedule toughens up and they have a harder time running the ball it is gonna get very tough on the offense. I do think the Coyotes should stop playing the big sky so much. They need to start scheduling difference FCS programs from around the nation. I would like to see more of what the FCS has to offer rather than playing the big sky for about half of the non conference FCS. games.
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Post by fightsd on Sept 8, 2021 21:22:17 GMT -6
I am not sure Northern Arizona is good enough to stop the Yotes running game. If they are able to stop it, that makes for a 50-50 game. I do think that teams are going to stack the box and make Camp beat them. I think the Coyotes can get away with it against the Jacks but when the schedule toughens up and they have a harder time running the ball it is gonna get very tough on the offense. I do think the Coyotes should stop playing the big sky so much. They need to start scheduling difference FCS programs from around the nation. I would like to see more of what the FCS has to offer rather than playing the big sky for about half of the non conference FCS. games. With the exception of a handful of teams (JMU , SHSU and the likes), you don't really want to see what the FCS has to offer. Outside of the Big Sky and MVFC, it's a pretty steep drop-off. I'm going to go out on a limb here and say that, top to bottom, the MVFC is closer to the BIG 12 than the are to most of the other FCS conferences. |
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Post by Yote 53 on Sept 9, 2021 9:20:13 GMT -6
The BSC is pretty solid this year and has, I think, 3 FBS wins on the season. But yeah, huge drop off with the rest of FCS. Honestly though, I'd be fine with scheduling some winnable games. Other schools do it. This weekend SDSU has Lindenwood out of St. Louis, a D2 school. NDSU has Valparaiso, D1 Pioneer non-scholarship. I'm not for scheduling a D2 but a D1 counter out of the Pioneer would be fine with me.
Part of the problem is the only other conferences we could likely schedule from are the OVC or the Southland. I don't see OVC schools scheduling this far west, and the Southland is falling apart. By process of availability we end up with scheduling a lot of BSC schools, which isn't bad because they are pretty solid schools to schedule. But when your schedule is FBS, BSC, BSC, Valley every season it makes wins tough for a program that is trying to build itself up.
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Post by gopheryote on Sept 9, 2021 9:37:13 GMT -6
The BSC is pretty solid this year and has, I think, 3 FBS wins on the season. But yeah, huge drop off with the rest of FCS. Honestly though, I'd be fine with scheduling some winnable games. Other schools do it. This weekend SDSU has Lindenwood out of St. Louis, a D2 school. NDSU has Valparaiso, D1 Pioneer non-scholarship. I'm not for scheduling a D2 but a D1 counter out of the Pioneer would be fine with me. Part of the problem is the only other conferences we could likely schedule from are the OVC or the Southland. I don't see OVC schools scheduling this far west, and the Southland is falling apart. By process of availability we end up with scheduling a lot of BSC schools, which isn't bad because they are pretty solid schools to schedule. But when your schedule is FBS, BSC, BSC, Valley every season it makes wins tough for a program that is trying to build itself up. Completely agree on scheduling. Using SDSU as an example, the past 2 seasons their non-con opponents: Col St. (FBS), Lindenwood (D2), Dixie St., Minnesota (FBS), Long Island U., Drake, and SUU. Their weak non-con schedule has had zero effect on where they have been placed in the playoffs, so I don't see a reason to schedule 50/50 games. (unless it is a necessity to find opponents, of course) |
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Post by fightsd on Sept 9, 2021 9:51:07 GMT -6
The BSC is pretty solid this year and has, I think, 3 FBS wins on the season. But yeah, huge drop off with the rest of FCS. Honestly though, I'd be fine with scheduling some winnable games. Other schools do it. This weekend SDSU has Lindenwood out of St. Louis, a D2 school. NDSU has Valparaiso, D1 Pioneer non-scholarship. I'm not for scheduling a D2 but a D1 counter out of the Pioneer would be fine with me. Part of the problem is the only other conferences we could likely schedule from are the OVC or the Southland. I don't see OVC schools scheduling this far west, and the Southland is falling apart. By process of availability we end up with scheduling a lot of BSC schools, which isn't bad because they are pretty solid schools to schedule. But when your schedule is FBS, BSC, BSC, Valley every season it makes wins tough for a program that is trying to build itself up. Completely agree on scheduling. Using SDSU as an example, the past 2 seasons their non-con opponents: Col St. (FBS), Lindenwood (D2), Dixie St., Minnesota (FBS), Long Island U., Drake, and SUU. Their weak non-con schedule has had zero effect on where they have been placed in the playoffs, so I don't see a reason to schedule 50/50 games. (unless it is a necessity to find opponents, of course) I get wanting to put some easy wins on the schedule, but I don't think we really get much out of beating those type of programs. Yeah, we can put up 50 on some non-scholly team from a league nobody's ever heard of, but that doesn't make us any better. To me, a winning season loses a lot of its luster when half of the teams on there don't belong on the same field. It reminds me of the early D1 transition days, when we'd bring in schools like William Penn or Culver-Stockton. It's fun to watch, but it doesn't ultimately bring us any closer to the upper tier of the MVFC. I'd much rather see us look at these Big Sky games as should-wins rather instead of complaining about the strength of our non-conference schedule. |
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Post by nccyote on Sept 9, 2021 11:38:35 GMT -6
Completely agree on scheduling. Using SDSU as an example, the past 2 seasons their non-con opponents: Col St. (FBS), Lindenwood (D2), Dixie St., Minnesota (FBS), Long Island U., Drake, and SUU. Their weak non-con schedule has had zero effect on where they have been placed in the playoffs, so I don't see a reason to schedule 50/50 games. (unless it is a necessity to find opponents, of course) I get wanting to put some easy wins on the schedule, but I don't think we really get much out of beating those type of programs. Yeah, we can put up 50 on some non-scholly team from a league nobody's ever heard of, but that doesn't make us any better. To me, a winning season loses a lot of its luster when half of the teams on there don't belong on the same field. It reminds me of the early D1 transition days, when we'd bring in schools like William Penn or Culver-Stockton. It's fun to watch, but it doesn't ultimately bring us any closer to the upper tier of the MVFC. I'd much rather see us look at these Big Sky games as should-wins rather instead of complaining about the strength of our non-conference schedule. At this point in time, a win is a win. But its tough to compare our scheduling to sdsu's for 1 reason. They take care of business in the conference season. It doesn't matter who they play in non-conference because they are winning their most difficult games in the Valley. When you do that, it doesn't matter who you play out of conference. If you are a top 2-3 team in the Valley, you will get a top seed in the playoff bracket every year. For us, we need to stack up some wins in non-conference to give us some wiggle room when it comes to our valley schedule. 7-4 with a .500 Valley record will probably get us in the post-season most years. But scheduling more difficult non-con games puts us at risk of being 6-5 or 5-6 coming out of the Valley schedule and that's not going to get us into the post-season. After 2-3 years of post-season football, the playoff committee might start giving you the benefit of the doubt more often with a 7-4 record. Right now, in our situation, it's just smarter to schedule winnable games in the non-con. I believe this year's schedule is pretty advantageous for us, with KU, NAU, & Cal Poly all very winnable. But I wouldn't be mad to see Drake or Lindenwood or fill in the blank school form the Pioneer league on the schedule because we need wins more than anything right now. But we also have to understand that scheduling is a 2-way street, and it can be tough as a MVFC school. Sometimes we have to take what we can get in a lot of ways. Which leaves us and the Big Sky as partners quite often. |
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Post by yoteforever on Sept 9, 2021 15:23:31 GMT -6
If you’re going to the game Saturday and don’t have a firm place to tailgate, come join us on the northeast corner of the Dome parking lot where the BIG RED BUS will be parked. Have a bar setup, food, and TV plus just plenty of good people. In addition, this is the game that former Coyote players from all over the country descend upon Vermillion as part of the Coyote Brotherhood.
That group has done some amazing things since they started a few years ago. They bought the women’s basketball championship rings, raised money for Sara Hill, the wife of Weber State coach Jay Hill ( who by the way is now cancer free…take some pride in that Coyote fans ). Now they have pledged $350,000’for the new locker rooms inside the DakotaDome. Great guys from all generations that never forgot where they came from.
Come mingle. It’s time to get pumped for Saturday’s 1pm kickoff. GO YOTES!!!
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Post by GoYotes on Sept 9, 2021 16:18:01 GMT -6
Parking information for the game per the USD Twitter account:
"Due to road construction at the intersection of S.D. HWY 50 and University Street this weekend, fans are encouraged to access the athletics parking lots via Dakota Street or by taking Cherry Street (Business Highway 50) to University Street."
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Post by easmus on Sept 9, 2021 17:17:32 GMT -6
Obviously we have strayed from the game thread a bit. I would argue some weaker non-con scheduling makes sense so you can gain momentum by going 6-5 or 7-4 and looking more attractive to recruits. “We’re this close and you can help get us over the top” has to be a better pitch than “we’re trying to get out of the cellar.” Ut I caution everyone, remember Houston Baptist?
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