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Post by #1CoyoteFan (Admin) on Jun 3, 2011 0:46:42 GMT -6
Sporting News tabbed Eastern Washington as its preseason number 1....so that should be interesting when that team full of red comes to the Dome.
Northern Iowa is sitting at the four spot right now.
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usdlaw
Senior Member
Posts: 930
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Post by usdlaw on Jun 3, 2011 10:44:58 GMT -6
That will make a win even better, beating #1.
Again, how lucky are we to have the defending National Champ and #1 rated team coming to our house. Great job David.
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Post by #1CoyoteFan (Admin) on Jun 3, 2011 18:58:08 GMT -6
Three ranked teams in the Dome this year, gotta love it!
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Post by wineguy on Jun 7, 2011 9:34:20 GMT -6
Not so fast...Be careful what you wish for.
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usdlaw
Senior Member
Posts: 930
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Post by usdlaw on Jun 7, 2011 9:54:28 GMT -6
Wineguy - I assume you are an Eastern Washington fan. Feel free to register and join in the discussion about this game. Thanks for stopping by the site.
Good luck to your team, just not in the Dome.
How many fans do you expect to make the trip?
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Post by ewuranger on Jun 30, 2011 13:04:02 GMT -6
Greetings, EWU fan here. Looking for some friendly conversation on the upcoming game with USD. Most Big Sky fans probably don't know a whole lot about USD, so I am interested to learn what your team is all about and provide any info on EWU.
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Post by GoYotes on Jun 30, 2011 13:11:22 GMT -6
Welcome ranger. 2011 is the last year of transition in the Yotes move to FCS. The biggest struggles the past couple of seasons has been consistency and finishing games. We tend to play much better at home than on the road. The Eagles are likely the best team to visit the Dakota Dome.
Hopefully a good contingent of EWU fans make the road trip. We will roll out the "red carpet" for you.
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Post by ewuranger on Jun 30, 2011 13:11:50 GMT -6
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Post by ewuranger on Jun 30, 2011 13:17:00 GMT -6
Welcome ranger. 2011 is the last year of transition in the Yotes move to FCS. The biggest struggles the past couple of seasons has been consistency and finishing games. We tend to play much better at home than on the road. The Eagles are likely the best team to visit the Dakota Dome. Hopefully a good contingent of EWU fans make the road trip. We will roll out the "red carpet" for you. Thanks for the welcome. As far as how many fans will make this trip, I wouldn't expect more than perhaps a couple hundred at most - just for the simple fact that this game is following the trip to Seattle to play UW, which many EWU fans will be going to, and just the distance involved between the two schools. You mentioned this is USD's last year of transition - so is your program now at the full 63 scholarships, or are you still working towards that? Is USD more of a run first type team which EWU saw against NDSU, or more pass/finesse as we see in the Big Sky?
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Post by GoYotes on Jun 30, 2011 13:25:45 GMT -6
We are at the full 63 scholarships. Were probably at our best last year when we played a little more wide open offense (QB Dante Warren can be pretty explosive both as a runner and passer). Read or heard interview with coach Ed Meierkort that will try to work on establishing the running game more this year.
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Post by GoYotes on Jun 30, 2011 13:31:48 GMT -6
What can we expect from EWU this year. How many of last years national championship team return? (By the way, what an exciting come from behind victory). If memory serves me correct your star RB was drafted in the NFL draft but he was injured before the championship game last year.
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Post by ewuranger on Jun 30, 2011 14:11:05 GMT -6
What can we expect from EWU this year. How many of last years national championship team return? (By the way, what an exciting come from behind victory). If memory serves me correct your star RB was drafted in the NFL draft but he was injured before the championship game last year. The majority of the team returns. The most obvious losses are Taiwan Jones, who went in the 4th round of the draft this year, and JC Sherritt, the 2010 Buchanan Award winner, who will be playing up in Edmonton in the CFL. He'd be playing on Sundays if he were a little bigger. The other big losses were a starting offensive guard, both starting corners, and a defensive tackle. I think the biggest concern right now is the play of those two new starting corners, especially considering we play against teams in our conference that pass a ton. Offensively, EWU didn't really find it's way last season until around the 5th game of the season. Prior to him being knocked out of the Montana State game, I'd say we were a little too one-dimensional with Jones. Not having him for the Weber State game and parts of others really helped us become more balanced, IMO. Jones went down in the 3d quarter of the NDSU game, so we were actually without his services against both Villanova and Delaware. We have a talented running back who was a true Freshman backup to Jones last year in Mario Brown who should be the feature back, although we also have a slightly different style runner in Demetrius Bronson, who is a transfer from the University of Washington. We are fairly deep in the backfield. In terms of receivers, if you watched the championship game you probably saw that this team has some weapons and the ability to score pretty quickly. And not to sound like too much of a homer, but I honestly feel that this is one of the most talented group of WR's in the FCS. A lot of speed and size there, as our main three go 6'5, 6'3, 6'3, and very deep in that position as well. I expect EWU's Senior QB Bo Levi Mitchell to have a very solid season. He made a lot of mistakes early on in the season, but really came on towards the end and into the playoffs (save the NDSU blizzard game) . Defensively, players to watch for will be #98 Renard Williams on the defensive line. He was pretty much unblockable in the playoffs last year. Another impact player will be SS Matt Johnson, who should break the school record for int's this year, and his twin brother Zach, who will transition into the strong-side linebacker spot to replace Sherritt. Lots of depth along the defensive line - another possible standout could be the other Transfer from UW, Andru Pulu who should challenge for the other starting defensive tackle spot alongside Williams. As far as what to expect from this team - I think it is a team that is confident and knows how to win games, but still approaches things with a workman-like attitude. The team dynamic is very good, and you don't have a lot of the problems associated with a lot of teams with comparable talent/success. Most fans of EWU probably don't "expect" to make it back to the NC game, but they probably wouldn't be surprised, either. EWU seems to have surprised a lot of people last year who were unfamiliar with the program (mostly out East)....but it was a team that was ranked #1 in most polls for the final 3 or 4 weeks of the season, even though we still only got the #5 seed going into the playoffs. We definitely benefited from both Montana State and App State losing at home and getting the winners of both of those games at Roos Field. Making it to the NC game was actually a long time coming - although we have only made the playoffs 8 times since the transition in '84, five of those trips have been in the last 6 years (2004,2005,2007,2009,2010) - so it didn't happen overnight. Probably more info than anyone was interested to know, but I get excited talking about this team. ;D
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Post by Yote 53 on Jun 30, 2011 14:40:22 GMT -6
On offense the Coyotes have the ability to play it both ways. Historically, Ed likes to establish the run and pound it down the field. With Warren's athletic ability, the offense can spread it out and open it up as we saw at the Minnesota game last year and in the first half against NDSU.
From your statements about your wide receiver corp and young corners this game is shaping up to be a track meet. USD has not been a defensive stalwart, good enough to get the job done at times, but the team can really put up the points on offense, particularly at home.
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Post by yoteforever on Jun 30, 2011 14:44:30 GMT -6
Thanks for the update ewuranger. The true fans of Coyote football know what kind of challenge this presents to our team. Last season was a dream year for you, and this is our last year of "non-elgibility" and will be fun to see how we stack up against the best in the country.
The DakotaDome is definitely a friendly confine for us. Our team I believe will score alot of points this season, but our question mark has been, and will continue to be, can we stop anyone? I am expecting somewhat of a high scoring shootout. We open with the Air Force Academy, and if we can come out of that game relatively unscathed, I then think we will play you a good game. Confidence will be the key for us.
I hope you can make it out to the plains and watch the game. We'd love to host your fans in our tailgate area.
Yoteforever
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Post by ewuranger on Jun 30, 2011 15:24:41 GMT -6
Thanks for the update ewuranger. The true fans of Coyote football know what kind of challenge this presents to our team. Last season was a dream year for you, and this is our last year of "non-elgibility" and will be fun to see how we stack up against the best in the country. The DakotaDome is definitely a friendly confine for us. Our team I believe will score alot of points this season, but our question mark has been, and will continue to be, can we stop anyone? I am expecting somewhat of a high scoring shootout. We open with the Air Force Academy, and if we can come out of that game relatively unscathed, I then think we will play you a good game. Confidence will be the key for us. I hope you can make it out to the plains and watch the game. We'd love to host your fans in our tailgate area. Yoteforever I understand what it's like to have an awesome team offensively and not be able to make the stops when it counts. We've had some of the more talented teams in the country offensively at various times, but what set 2010 apart was we finally had the defensive talent needed and as equally important the depth.I agree with the comments above, I think this is going to be a nice game and I am sure that most fans won't be overlooking this game. Even though I kinda don't like having to go on the road for this one, it's nice to be playing an all D-I schedule vice having an additional game at home against a D-II that wouldn't count. Scheduling was a challenge this season and I think that's one of the main reasons this game came about: Another D-I game versus D-II, even if it meant going on the road. I will say that I am surprised that this wasn't done as a home and home, but I do think our 2012 schedule is already complete, so perhaps that had something to do with why this was done as a one shot deal.
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