STATE WEEK

[canislatrans]

Hats off to the Jacks, they earned it and good luck with that playoff thing..

A healthy Bouma and Roberts would have made all the difference, but injuries are a part of the game. Joe Glenn, as it seems he always does, has things in perspective:

"If we improve in year 3 like this year, LOOK OUT. We've got a lot of good football players." True that!

[obc]

Just finished watching the replay of the game.

USDs RBs are just too beat up to play at an acceptable level. They are tough and should be commended for being out there, but they are a shell of themselves at full strength.

Even if the RBs had been 100% the defensive front of SDSU was winning the battle of the trenches against the USD OL. Their penalties again were an anchor on offensive productivity. The pressure SDSU was able to get, especially up the middle, caused Earl to miss on some throws he would normally make.

There were a few bad drops by #6 (he also had some great grabs and runs after the catch to be fair). Two of his three drops were potential 20+ yard gains that would have extended drives.

The USD defense did enough to realistically give the Yotes a shot to get a win. They did however miss a number of tackles when they were in position to make a play. Much of that should be a credit to Zenner - he is exceptional. Zenners vertical acceleration up field when he picks a hole is impressive.

Special teams was a mixed bag yesterday. USD blocked a FG and had a couple nice returns. So did SDSU though. The missed extra point by USD would have been a tough way to lose if it had come down to it (probably would have been a fitting way to lose though considering the various special teams miscues we have witnessed this year).
I am convinced we need one kicker and one punter - not the same person.

Coaching - in watching the play-calling on offense - I really think Wes did what he could considering what he had yesterday. There were several plays that SDSU really backed off into coverage and dared USD to run. They knew as well as anyone in the stadium that UsDs RBs were not a threat to bust a 30+ yard run. They adjusted accordingly keeping 7 in the box.

If I was grading the HC and coordinators, I would have the following grades: Glenn a B-, Wes C+, Petrino B+, Triplett F.

If I am being objective, SDSU is a solid team that looks every bit the part of a playoff caliber team. They were more disciplined when it counted, and were more physical at the point of attack. In order for USD to win a game against a good team like that would have taken an exceptional effort and a more balanced attack on offense. The exceptional effort was there.
Next year is a big year for the program. 2012 was the year of close losses to mediocre to crappy teams. 2013 has been the year of close losses to good teams. 2014 needs to be the year of winning those games.

Tyler Starr is the only player on the USD roster that the team realistically will not be able to replace with similar talent. He is an All American. Other than that though, I believe USDs overall team will take an even larger step forward next year. This year's Yote team has some serious flaws that prevent them from beating top shelf teams (YSU, Montana, SDSU). Special teams play and penalties are the biggest problems. Even with those weaknesses, USD was in all those games in the fourth quarter.

It is a big if, but if they can be more disciplined and just be average on special teams (versus one of the worst in the conference) they have the ability to beat any of the teams in conference. 7-8 wins next year if that happens. My expectation is that USD will head to Brookings next year the last conference game of the year playing for a playoff spot and hopefully a top three MVFC finish.

[wylie]

We need to place more emphasis on special teams, without a doubt. Start by announcing the special teams starters and list them in the program. Seems like almost everybody else does that. I agree it is a lot to expect for someone to both kick and punt. That is an old school approach that has seen its better days. It is that same old school approach that left us without a true long snapper. Even the recruit who was a long snapper that never showed up this Fall didn't have one snap on his highlight film. All it showed was defensive line play. And, word has it we didn't even talk to a long snapper in the region who had preferred offers at NDSU & SDSU. We need three specialists - a kicker, punter, & long snapper. The good news is that Berger is pretty good, so they just need to find 2 more.

[88grad]

Anyone else feel like this was the last game of the year? Anyone else wish this was the last game of the year? To go through what we've gone through the last three weeks and to now have to go up to Fargo... Sheez!

[obc]

Nov 17, 2013 12:40:26 GMT -6 88grad said:

Anyone else feel like this was the last game of the year? Anyone else wish this was the last game of the year? To go through what we've gone through the last three weeks and to now have to go up to Fargo... Sheez!

I certainly understand feeling that way and had the same thoughts last night. The reality however, is all of us only get so many days left on this fine planet doing things we love with people we love and enjoy. Those of us still alive and healthy enough, get to watch our Yotes one final time this year play football against the Bison.

I hope the players look at this game as their chance to square off against the undisputed best FCS has had to offer for the past three years to this point. For the Seniors it will be their last snaps as Coyotes. As we have also learned for some underclassmen, they could also be taking their last snaps as well. Life happens, we have seen it- injuries, grades, new players taking their place, babies born etc. You have to make the most of every chance you are given. We are blessed with one more.

Fight South Dakota!

[94grad]

Well, it's easy to post after obc because you can pretty much say: "What he said.". And, to that end, "What he said."

The non-existent running game was devastating. The defensive front for sdsu was tough for sure, but we definitely did not have our A game to throw at them as far as the RBs are concerned.

When Earl learns to put some touch on the deep pass, the opposition will be in trouble. I think he missed 2 or 3 deep ones down the middle (maybe all three to Meyer?) that would've been game changers for sure.

We couldn't seem to get off the field on 3rd down. They were 8-13. We were 7-20 on 3rd and 4th down.

Can't trade FGs for TDs like we did in the first half. Just can't do it. I'm not questioning the call at all, but I would not have been surprised if we would've went for that 4th and 4 at the end of the half instead of taking the FG- especially considering our special teams woes. I'm sure the thinking was "it gets you to within one score."

The missed extra point was so much bigger than just the 1 point. We were still behind. That was the net effect. As noted in another post, that took a ton of energy out of the dome.

Factoring in the students (and why wouldn't you?), I'd guess 80/20 on the fan split.

Hopefully it wasn't because this was the state game, but apparently all it took was a random comment from Guest during the weekly chat to get the USD post-game presser on the Argus front page. Had I known that's all it took, I would've asked much earlier in the season. And no, I wasn't Guest. The Argus should keep doing this, I don't know why they weren't in the first place.

I honestly believed we could realistically go 2-1 on this three game homestand. Looks like we didn't. There's some insightful analysis for you.

We need to keep looking forward. On Defense, the loss of Starr will be huge, but hopefully Lage is able to keep up his high level of play. Iddings shows a lot of promise as well. But don't we pretty much lose our entire secondary this year too? This is probably a suicide mission, but would there be any merit in throwing some of the underclassmen into the secondary for the ndsu game? Obviously not burning any redshirts in the process.

Also as noted in earlier posts, special teams needs to be addressed. I don't know if this involves the special teams coach/long snapper/punter/kicker/coverage schemes, or all of the above. I trust that JG knows that this situation cost us 2 or 3 games this year. Definitely need to address the long snapper issue regardless. Looks like we lose O'Neill this year, who's the guy who finally was able to do the long snapping.

I have high hopes for the Offensive side of the ball next year. Honestly, one of my bigger concerns is that we may have too many stud RBs- Bouma, Roberts, Kilgore. I guess that's a good problem to have! It just seems that those timeshares don't always work out for the best. You could argue that Bouma/Roberts shared time, but even in that situation Bouma eventually pulled ahead. Look what JVM has done at WR while learning on the job. Imagine what he could be with a whole off season of practice? Couple that with Donovan and ... didn't we lose a good WR to pre-season injury as well? If Defense kept us in all these games this year, I'm looking for Offense to step it up BIG TIME next year.

GO YOTES!

[teamsd]

Nov 17, 2013 13:00:42 GMT -6 94grad said:

Well, it's easy to post after obc because you can pretty much say: "What he said.". And, to that end, "What he said."

The non-existent running game was devastating. The defensive front for sdsu was tough for sure, but we definitely did not have our A game to throw at them as far as the RBs are concerned.

When Earl learns to put some touch on the deep pass, the opposition will be in trouble. I think he missed 2 or 3 deep ones down the middle (maybe all three to Meyer?) that would've been game changers for sure.

We couldn't seem to get off the field on 3rd down. They were 8-13. We were 7-20 on 3rd and 4th down.

Can't trade FGs for TDs like we did in the first half. Just can't do it. I'm not questioning the call at all, but I would not have been surprised if we would've went for that 4th and 4 at the end of the half instead of taking the FG- especially considering our special teams woes. I'm sure the thinking was "it gets you to within one score."

The missed extra point was so much bigger than just the 1 point. We were still behind. That was the net effect. As noted in another post, that took a ton of energy out of the dome.

Factoring in the students (and why wouldn't you?), I'd guess 80/20 on the fan split.

Hopefully it wasn't because this was the state game, but apparently all it took was a random comment from Guest during the weekly chat to get the USD post-game presser on the Argus front page. Had I known that's all it took, I would've asked much earlier in the season. And no, I wasn't Guest. The Argus should keep doing this, I don't know why they weren't in the first place.

I honestly believed we could realistically go 2-1 on this three game homestand. Looks like we didn't. There's some insightful analysis for you.

We need to keep looking forward. On Defense, the loss of Starr will be huge, but hopefully Lage is able to keep up his high level of play. Iddings shows a lot of promise as well. But don't we pretty much lose our entire secondary this year too? This is probably a suicide mission, but would there be any merit in throwing some of the underclassmen into the secondary for the ndsu game? Obviously not burning any redshirts in the process.

Also as noted in earlier posts, special teams needs to be addressed. I don't know if this involves the special teams coach/long snapper/punter/kicker/coverage schemes, or all of the above. I trust that JG knows that this situation cost us 2 or 3 games this year. Definitely need to address the long snapper issue regardless. Looks like we lose O'Neill this year, who's the guy who finally was able to do the long snapping.

I have high hopes for the Offensive side of the ball next year. Honestly, one of my bigger concerns is that we may have too many stud RBs- Bouma, Roberts, Kilgore. I guess that's a good problem to have! It just seems that those timeshares don't always work out for the best. You could argue that Bouma/Roberts shared time, but even in that situation Bouma eventually pulled ahead. Look what JVM has done at WR while learning on the job. Imagine what he could be with a whole off season of practice? Couple that with Donovan and ... didn't we lose a good WR to pre-season injury as well? If Defense kept us in all these games this year, I'm looking for Offense to step it up BIG TIME next year.

Don't forget about Sanders coming back at RB! Also, I believe the injured wide receiver you are referring may be one of the young men who was dismissed from the team a few weeks ago. I am also very optimistic about our offense next year. I think we have all been impressed by JVM and Donovan's contributions this season, which is encouraging. Also, I think Meyer has had a fine season and will be contributor next year.

The big question is - what will our defensive secondary look like next year?  Losing a lot of seniors in those spots.

[gmandakota]

Not exactly football talk... but the Sound is definitely not the Pride... There is no argument when they say the Pride are truly the Pride of the Dakotas.

[Yotes]

Anthony Williams was the receiver we lost in camp. He transferred here from Troy, was a Senior this year, but sounds to be pursuing a medical redshirt (that he would easily get) for tearing his ACL in camp. Having him join the cast of Terry, Donovan, Meyer, and JVM (who will be even more incredible with a full year of practice at the position) will give us an incredibly potent receiving corp to go with our stacked RB corp of Sanders, Bouma, Roberts, and Kilgore. No way injuries get to us at those positions the next couple years, and this isn't even factoring in whatever recruits may sign on this Spring.

Glenn did spin this frustrating end of the season perfectly. This much improvement in year two, just wait until we improve that much again in year 3. On offense we lose almost nothing, a couple off the O-line and Wilhelm, and I believe we will be able to remain just as potent despite losing Starr and the secondary. Joe Glenn will have us in the playoff hunt very deep into the season, if we aren't in it's because of the over ambitious non conference schedule.

[Deleted]

Nov 17, 2013 14:14:01 GMT -6 gmandakota said:

Not exactly football talk... but the Sound is definitely not the Pride... There is no argument when they say the Pride are truly the Pride of the Dakotas.

Sound seems to be getting smaller and smaller. And they even have a majorette, how neat. Majorettes went out with bath tub gin. I thought it look like the Meckling High School marching band coming down the field, and that was watching CoyoteVISION.

[GoYotes]

Really, band smack in a football thread. You 2 must lead an interesting life.

[Yotes]

This halftime was the first time I'd ever even seen the band perform, usually just go back out to the tailgating area.

[1959coyote]

We need to keep looking for a quarterback who can take us to the next level with better accuracy and who can run the QB draw! KE overthrew a lot of receivers and the one time he tried to throw it away, he threw the pick 6. He is not the answer!

[coyote70]

Nov 17, 2013 12:40:26 GMT -6 88grad said:

Anyone else feel like this was the last game of the year? Anyone else wish this was the last game of the year? To go through what we've gone through the last three weeks and to now have to go up to Fargo... Sheez!

Frankly, I don't feel like the State game should be the last of the year. If you're mentally tough that is. Go for it Coyotes. Punch 'em in the nose. Show your toughness and skills to the NorDakota crowd and give'em a hard time. Go Coyotes!!

[coyote70]

Nov 17, 2013 15:35:55 GMT -6 nidaros said:

Nov 17, 2013 14:14:01 GMT -6 gmandakota said:

Not exactly football talk... but the Sound is definitely not the Pride... There is no argument when they say the Pride are truly the Pride of the Dakotas.

Sound seems to be getting smaller and smaller. And they even have a majorette, how neat. Majorettes went out with bath tub gin. I thought it look like the Meckling High School marching band coming down the field, and that was watching CoyoteVISION.

I've snickered at the "Pride of the Dakotas" for years. Sober up, please!