It was one of the most odd games I've seen. It was like they didn't care if they won or not. I suppose for an FCS team these games against FBS opponents don't matter much (do they?) so maybe they were just working on some things vs. taking the chances you have to take to win a game like this.
*** Official North Dakota vs IOWA STATE Game(Day) Thread ***
- Thread starter CycloneRulzzz
- Start date
FBS losses don't count against FCS teams for playoff selection but winning one gives you a huge leg up in the process.
I was pretty confused by what Bubba was doing yesterday.
Those two statements seem incompatible with each other (no offense).
Well, that game would have been exciting anyway.
This game is the 1st game of the season we see from Campbell every yr
It could’ve been worse that that. Could’ve been smoked by UNLV like Houston was.
They bowed up in the red zone for sure. The concerning part to me is that better teams will have more success than a middling FCS team. But I have no doubt stuff will get cleaned up.
The longest completed ball I saw ND throw downfield was 5 yards. They busted a long screen pass and Belquist turned a 5 yard route into an 18 yard reception because of missed tackles. EVERYTHING was underneath our coverage. The only success they had looking further downfield was the QB scrambling after the WRs ran off the defenders. ND had months to prepare for our 3 man front and cover 3. They executed well and made the game boring AF to watch, but they didn’t legitimately threaten our defense in any real way. It was McCarney ball 101. Shorten the game and control the ball.
Iirc he‘s working back from injury.
Well that seems dramatic. Pointing out the defense’s inability to get off the field on 3rd down isn’t suicide watch.
But given the injuries at LB and the poor LB play, it’s ok to be a little concerned. ISU had one of the slimmest margins of victory of an P4 vs FCS team yesterday. I believe only Oregon vs Idaho and Texas Tech vs Abilene Christian were tighter.
For starters, think about how much our safeties were involved with run support last year. Yesterday, they played back and left the front 6 on their own. Until I see otherwise, I believe yesterday was just part of the game plan.
I agree, I just don’t think it happened all that much. Again maybe I am wrong, but from the stands, it just seemed like they put 5 guys on our 3. Our noseguard would get doubled, and our LBs were getting caught in the wash. I don’t think our DL was really getting pushed back several yards very frequently at all.
It looked a lot like last year to me where it's just not that easy to get pressure up front with three guys when one of them isn't Will McDonald commanding a double-team every snap.
As the game wore on, we were able to pressure them a bit more and get in the backfield a bit more. That is typically how it goes with FCS vs. FBS. Starters on FCS are typically pretty good but they can't play the whole game, and they don't have the depth of an FBS roster.
As the game wore on, we were able to pressure them a bit more and get in the backfield a bit more. That is typically how it goes with FCS vs. FBS. Starters on FCS are typically pretty good but they can't play the whole game, and they don't have the depth of an FBS roster.
I think the rotation we’re able to do on the defensive line will mean that we’ll get that same thing against most opponents. Pass rush in the 4th will be better than in the first. Just because we have depth but not all conference starters.
I think they ran the 4 man front a couple times. Snyder got a sack out of that the 1 time I noticed him in there. He looked like a great addition on that play.
That's the NCAA for you. The FCS selection process is broken just like everything else.
Anyway, Ws are Ws and I expect a much better effort in Iowa City next weekend.
The issue now is this is big time football with NIL and there is no room for excuses with the O Line.
Yep. Good point on CU. They didn’t play yesterday but were in a much tighter game than we were.
One last thing, FBS vs FCS isn’t like it used to be. If we beat North Dakota 21-3 ten years ago, I would have been much happier. But, with the transfer portal, FCS teams are much weaker than they used to be, because all their best players transfer up to FBS. North Dakota’s QB last year transferred to Michigan State.
This week’s games show that. Prior to the transfer portal, you would routinely see 1-3 FCS upsets against P4 teams on opening weekend, and a handful of competitive games.
Even upper echelon P4 teams would struggle against them (Michigan lost to App State when they were FCS, Texas A&M, Virginia Tech, Iowa, Kansas State, and others all lost).
Outside of CU vs NDSU, no P4/FCS games were even within 10 points week one.
I’ve seen plenty of people in here declare we won’t win more than 6-7 games and that we should already forfeit the Iowa game.
I haven’t paid much attention- was something up with Sama or we just got other dudes reps? Campbell say anything in presser?
