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Post by Coyote Fan on Oct 3, 2010 22:55:51 GMT -6
#1CF,
I was originally responding to something that usdfbalum brought up regarding UNI being a tough matchup. I was just bringing up some points about how USD matches up with UNI vs some other teams. I am not overlooking UC Davis at all or not particularly focusing on them either. I said in my original message about the UNI game that I was probably 2 weeks early with the post. Just a thought, don't worry.
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Post by usdfbalum on Oct 4, 2010 7:00:30 GMT -6
The good thing about being a fan versus a player or coach is that we can look ahead at games. Talking about UNI will not negatively affect my game prep - I promise.
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Post by Yote 53 on Oct 4, 2010 7:59:02 GMT -6
Thoughts on Saturday's game.
Getting ready for work this morning I watched a bit of the replay on MidcoSports. I did not realize at the time how clutch that TD was at the end of the 1st half. 3rd down with time winding down, what a catch to cap a good half ending drive.
Jeremy Blount is fast, real fast. He totally blew by that UND defender on his way to catching that bomb. Nice accuracy by Dante, Jeremy didn't even break stride.
The D played good. That pick in the endzone was awesome. The DB showed nice closing speed. I hope we can get a better pash rush going. The Opposing QB's are getting to comfortable back there. Do we need to blitz more often? IDK, I didn't notice much blitzing on Saturday.
I would have liked to see more aggressive play calling on offense in the 2nd half. We got conservative and milked the clock. It worked Saturday but has burned us in the past. I'd like to see us keep the hammer down.
The difference between USD and UND is growing. We absolutely have the better team. We have some seriously talented playmakers. I didn't see that out of UND. Either they didn't show up or they don't have as much talent at the skill positions. A poster over on Sioux Sports noted how our receivers rarely drop balls. Yeah, we've pretty much been like that all season. That was no fluke that we just caught everything against the Sioux. It's called talent.
Talking with some guys yesterday we all agreed that game was not as close as the score indicated. I commented that I wasn't even worried about losing once the game started because USD controlled the game and the outcome never seemed in doubt.
It was a good crowd. I was shocked the announced attendance was actuall lower than last season's D-Days game. Seemed like more people there. The demographics at USD football games is interesting. Older fans make up the core USD supporters. They tend to keep quite, sit and just enjoy watching. On the other end of the spectrum are the students who can be rowdy when they want to be. Little disappointed to see so many leave at half, then again they had to sense the game was in hand. One can tell by looking a the demographics in the stands that a whole generation of Coyote fans was lost due to some very bad years from the late 80's to Ed's arrival. There were some good squads sprinkled in there, but generally bad and it shows now. No student involvement during those years means no fans in there late 20's to late 30's coming back for Homecoming and reduced support of athletics now.
Tailgating was great. The place was filled and everyone seemed to be having a good time. Nice to meet some guys on the board here, we'll do it again in two weeks for the UNI game. Over in the student area they have a lime green bus that was surrounded with students. That area was jam packed.
On to UC-Davis. The Coyotes are going to need put there best effort forward to win out in Cali.
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Post by yotefan90 on Oct 4, 2010 10:35:32 GMT -6
It appears that Mussman was upset with the last USD offensive play of the game when Dante was scrambling and then threw out of the endzone in the corner (or out of bounds, my vantage point was not good). I guess as I watched it, he was simply running to take seconds off the clock and when he was about to be tackled, simply threw it out of bounds. I don't remember that ball being near anyone or near catchable. Please correct me if I am wrong on this. If he was actually looking to score on the play, then I would agree that it was a bad judgement, but I believe he was only trying to eat up the last few seconds of the game. Now, whether there is a better way to eat up those seconds is another discussion.
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Post by Yote 53 on Oct 4, 2010 10:48:15 GMT -6
That was my take on it as well. That play unfolded right in front of our seats and he clearly was just trying to eat clock. He then flipped the ball out of the back of the endzone. A receiver was there but it was not close. Dante didn't appear to throw the ball for accuracy, rather he was throwing the ball away.
I have another question, what was Mussman thinking not going for an onside kick? Their D was not able to effectively stop USD all day, at least they were not able to force very many, if any, 3 and outs.
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Post by yoteforever on Oct 4, 2010 10:52:05 GMT -6
In watching the game and then talking with Ed downtown after, there was zero intention of trying to score. In fact, when Dante let the ball go, he threw it like it was a punt. He tossed it very high as if to eat more time.
If Mussman has a problem, then why didn't he take a knee with 1.2 seconds left also? That was a called play. Intention was certainly obvious. I am glad we beat those whiners.
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Post by U Fan on Oct 4, 2010 11:05:27 GMT -6
The refs took the excitement at the end of the game away with all the clock resets. Did we have a new guy running the clock or were the refs just trying to let us know they were there.
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Post by #1CoyoteFan (Admin) on Oct 4, 2010 11:37:44 GMT -6
Yote 53,
In an answer to your blitzing question, USD is blitzing, they just don't have very good blitzers. Ed tried to sell us on Andrew Meier, but he is AWFUL at finishing off the quarterback. He is about the only one who can get a blitz on the QB. The defensive line really has to work on some moves. Pull out some tape on last year's d-line and see the passion they played the game with and the tenacity. Then come out and play. I miss last year's D-Line a lot.
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Post by yoteforever on Oct 4, 2010 11:54:14 GMT -6
The refs took the excitement at the end of the game away with all the clock resets. Did we have a new guy running the clock or were the refs just trying to let us know they were there. I don't know who ran the clock but what is the killer here is that it was hurting US. The refs didn't just stand there to make a show, those are the rules. Unless you move the chains, there are 40 seconds between plays. If we want to ever join a full time league, this is a problem that has to be fixed and fixed now. That was embarrassing to our school and made our program look rinky dink. AD Sayler needs to nip this in the bud.
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Post by usdfbalum on Oct 4, 2010 12:28:11 GMT -6
It appears that Mussman was upset with the last USD offensive play of the game when Dante was scrambling and then threw out of the endzone in the corner (or out of bounds, my vantage point was not good). I guess as I watched it, he was simply running to take seconds off the clock and when he was about to be tackled, simply threw it out of bounds. I don't remember that ball being near anyone or near catchable. Please correct me if I am wrong on this. If he was actually looking to score on the play, then I would agree that it was a bad judgement, but I believe he was only trying to eat up the last few seconds of the game. Now, whether there is a better way to eat up those seconds is another discussion. Does not seem to be Ed's style to run up the score - he could have easily done that against NW Ok St earlier this year, but didn't. Also think if USD had stomped on the pedal in the third quarter USD could have really put up some points. At the end of the day, UND's coach should worry about stopping USD's offense and not whine about USD throwing in the endzone. UND fans may want to get used to USD working them over for a while. There was an obvious talent gap between USD and UND at the skill positions.
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Post by Yote 53 on Oct 4, 2010 12:40:11 GMT -6
According to UND fans they have a young team. They fail to realize that we do as well. So, yeah, I hope this gets to be a regular thing. Jeremy Blount is a junior? Seems like he's been around forever.
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usdlaw
Senior Member
Posts: 930
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Post by usdlaw on Oct 4, 2010 14:44:34 GMT -6
It was a great game and loud crowd for the first half. A little disappointed with the crowd in the second half. Yes, I agree we seemed to control the game, but the score was still a little too close for comfort at times. The students left and the old fogies wouldn't get off their butt and cheer. Maybe the announcer can start reminding the old fogies when they need to stand and cheer because they don't seem to get it. UNDs 500 fans were louder than what was left of the 9,000 USD fans in the late 3rd and 4th quarter.
I completely agree with your generational gap assessment. We have a lot of recent alums who have no idea what the Howling Pack is. I talked to a football player who now lives in Rapid City and played from 1996-2000 and he didn't know what the HP was, and he's a former student athlete. We can't go back in time, but at least now they are making it a point to address this.
It was great to meet Yote 53, thanks for the tailgating accommodations. Look forward to seeing you at the UNI game.
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Post by Coyote Fan on Oct 4, 2010 20:24:00 GMT -6
Adding on in response to some of the above comments in general.
I do agree that USD has better playmakers than UND. It all starts right with the signal caller and spreads out from there. It seemed to me that since Logan was gone that USD's offense was becoming more ordinary and less explosive. That has changed in a hurry. We are back as far as an explosive offense. It's not just that either but we are now making those catches and INT's that were not being made in the past. Pre Meierkort era I didn't see as many clutch plays in 1 or 2 seasons that I saw just during the UND game alone. The butter finger Coyotes of old are not in the building.
One thing that hasn't really been brought up was that USD had the time of possession advantage of 36 and change to 23 and change which is real nice. I guess if the ball control offense is going to keep the D off the field I don't mind that. I do agree that USD could have been more aggressive but at least the D was doing the job.
If Mussman was indeed complaining than why in the heck did he call his last timeout to try to get the ball back. Ya can't have it both ways bud. If you are calling a timeout to try to get the ball back don't cry when a team tries throw it on you. There isn't much more that I despise more than when a coach whines about getting the score run up on them. That is a cop out IMO. If the Yotes were the team losing I would be more upset at the coach for focusing on the score run up than focusing on what his team should have done better.
I would do exactly what UND's actions reflected. I didn't see a white flag come out from the North Dakota sideline did you Mr. Mussman? If I was the coach and UND called their last time out than obviously they didn't think the game was hopelessly over. The next play would have been a play action pass deep over the middle for the TD. If you don't like it send a text to Ed that you were giving up on the game. At least have a player run over to Ed and convey the message. Did that happen, I think not. Play it out, don't whine.
With the scoreboard situation I do agree that it is embarrassing. I have seen similar type clock problems for basketball. As soon as USD takes senile 80 year olds off the responsibility is as soon as we will see the problem improved. I saw some fairly senior operator on the clock last I remember being at a basketball game when there was an issue with it.
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Post by #1CoyoteFan (Admin) on Oct 4, 2010 21:19:31 GMT -6
Coyote Fan,
Really? A less explosive offense? While Logan was a major part of the offense, since he left, Amos Allen exploded the year after him, Brooks Little went on to set the receptions record, Noah Shepard became an NFL prospect, Dan Skelly was a major part of the offense, the offense kept putting up points, and the offense in general was one of the best in the FCS last year. So, i really don't know where you are going with that, but the offense definitely hasn't been ordinary. Yes, sometimes the foot is off on the gas pedal, but the offense has still been there.
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Post by Coyote Fan on Oct 4, 2010 21:50:13 GMT -6
Granted Amos Allen was decent but he wasn't half the runningback that Logan was. IMO USD hasn't been as explosive since 2005 or maybe 2006. Gearman had alot to do with many of the long touchdowns. Brooks Little was a bit more of a possession receiver. Skelly could go deep and was an all around good receiver but he isn't as good as Will Powell is now and wasn't quite as fast as Gearman was. I think the main reason for the explosiveness is Warren and the receivers much more than the running backs.
Maybe it a misperception on my part. It just seems like this offense this year is the most potent of the 3 D1 teams.
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