Whether we like it or not, Rhoads will be back, so let's talk ourselves into 2015...

[WastedTalent]

Re: Whether we like it or not, Rhoads will be back, so let's talk ourselves into 2015

Can we stop with the expect to beat UNI stuff already? Mo Valley teams have been beating us for years because of this attitude.

UNI is the only game anyone needs to worry about next year. Lose that and you might as well forfeit the rest.

To be fair, its not our (as in CF posters) attitude that gets us beat. I'd put it on the coaches and players. We as posters, can sit here all day and say we should beat UNI, because we should.

 

[MartyFine]

Re: Whether we like it or not, Rhoads will be back, so let's talk ourselves into 2015

To be fair, its not our (as in CF posters) attitude that gets us beat. I'd put it on the coaches and players. We as posters, can sit here all day and say we should beat UNI, because we should.

Why should we beat UNI? They have more talent and are better coached.

 

[weR138]

Re: Whether we like it or not, Rhoads will be back, so let's talk ourselves into 2015

Two teams we beat with this year's team will get much worse, and regardless of our past performance against FCS schools, we should always expect to beat them.

Again, not predicting results, but saying the schedule is there.

Thanks for trying to answer my questions.

But, this is a 2-10 team already. ISU led by double digits in five of it's losses so, imo the problems are structural...for some reason this program cannot finish, against anyone. I simply don't see how we can use terms like front loaded/back loaded/middle loaded. In Paul's second year I'd totally agree with your schedule assessment. Now, I honestly can't say with confidence that we'll beat UNI or that it's even a favorable game.

 

[Jsievers24]

Re: Whether we like it or not, Rhoads will be back, so let's talk ourselves into 2015

Our players actually have to get better in the offseason and that hasn't happened under CPR yet.

 

[WastedTalent]

Re: Whether we like it or not, Rhoads will be back, so let's talk ourselves into 2015

Why should we beat UNI? They have more talent and are better coached.

Because we are in the Big 12 and they are in the Missouri Valley.

 

[guacamole7]

Re: Whether we like it or not, Rhoads will be back, so let's talk ourselves into 2015

Great article, but the WR comment was a little head scratching. On paper, we actually get better since we trade West for Bundrage, plus return Montgomery, Lazard, Ecby, PJ Harris, Medders, Wesley, and probably a few others I've forgotten. Bundrage, Lazard, Montgomery are PROVEN big 12 quality receivers, not just potential on paper like we've seen the past. We've seem glimpses from the others as well so by far this is the most exciting position group. The key to the season will be the lines. We return some good players on the OL but we'll see how the Center position is filled.

 

[isu81]

Re: Whether we like it or not, Rhoads will be back, so let's talk ourselves into 2015

Iowa loses a ton, too. David, Trinca-Passat, Martin-Manley, Weisman, Powell, Scherff, Bullock, Lowdermilk, and Alston are all gone.

• We beat Iowa this year at Kinnick and they lose a ton.

3) We Really Don't Lose That Much
Major senior losses: Bibbs, Jevohn Miller, Cory Morrisey, Wimberly, Farniok, Gannon, Jensen, and Jarvis West.

Bibbs, Wimberly, and West are the biggest losses here. The emergence of Allen Lazard will certainly help soothe the loss of Bibbs and West. Wimberly, while pretty good, didn't help improve our RB corps in any measurable way. We will still bad at RB with Wimberly, so I don't think it'll get much worse. Nealy and Syria will help provide a good one-two punch going forward.

Jensen, Gannon, Morrisey all played on lines that were pretty much dumpster fires. The line play was so bad on both sides of the ball I don't think it can get a whole lot worse.

Farniok will be missed mostly because it felt like our line play collapsed with him out of the game. But hopefully that was just due to a sudden leadership vacuum on the line, and this loss will be mitigated by grooming a successor throughout spring and fall.

Senior losses will affect WR play the most. We actually had some decent WR play this year, but we also have a superstar in the making with Allen Lazard, so...

RB, OL, DL, and LB were all so terrible that I find it hard to argue losing these seniors will hurt them that much more. They're already bad.

Love the optimism and would never say we can't beat Iowa, especially at home. But to list that group of players on each side and say Iowa loses a ton and we don't lose much is a stretch.

I would say we lose:

Bibbs: Our most legitimate player. Only guy on the team that has a REALLY good shot at the NFL and a guy teams had to prepare for.

Jevohn Miller: Had to be our leading tackler (can't find tackle stats). Once we lost him, our defense has gone to another level of bad. Keep hearing of JC guys, but will believe when I see.

Morrisey: Our best defensive player and a guy that will be mentioned on All-conference teams.

Farniok: Huge loss, IMO. We all saw what happened when he was out. Best OL we have had in at least 3 years.

Jensen: Only good DT we had. Again, promise from juco, but haven't seen it yet and IMO, always a roll of the dice for us.

West: Here's one we actually disagree the other way. You have him listed under toughest losses, I think pretty replaceable given our strength at the position. Will miss a little in the PR area.

Wimberly: Our leading rusher averaged 4.5/carry behind a horrendous OL for the last two years. Also, our leading KR.

Gannon: Not much of a loss, other than plays a position we have been hit hardest at with injuries and lack of depth.

I think we lose a lot from a pretty weak team to start with.

 

[jdoggivjc]

Re: Whether we like it or not, Rhoads will be back, so let's talk ourselves into 2015

All I can think of after reading OP:

[video=youtube;nv5fYWy3H9Q]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nv5fYWy3H9Q[/video]

Normally I'm the eternal optimist, but sorry, I just don't see it. After 5 games next year I just don't see us being any better than 2-3, with 0-5 being a real possibility. There will be no real improvement on either offense or defense until the lines are addressed, and the lines were so bad this year that even with JUCOs I just don't see it being fixed over one offseason. I'd say injuries took a toll, bt NDSU manhandled us on both lines to open the year. That's just bad and doesn't get corrected overnight.

 

[dualthreat]

Re: Whether we like it or not, Rhoads will be back, so let's talk ourselves into 2015

Great post OP.

Don't worry about those comically superstitious posters talking about injury jinx.

This may be the first time I'm on board with new uniforms. I think working in some white would be great. The ketchup and mustard look is played out. Texas tech looked really sharp when we played them.

And i think tom farniok will be our biggest individual loss. The d line and front 7 need some big help too.

 

[klamath632]

Re: Whether we like it or not, Rhoads will be back, so let's talk ourselves into 2015

• We should always expect to beat FCS schools like UNI, and they'll be down next year.

Stopped reading right there. ^^

Two FCS losses in a row (should be three, got lucky as hell three years ago.) means the only people who should be expecting a win over an FCS team are sunshine pumpers.

 

[norcalcy]

Re: Whether we like it or not, Rhoads will be back, so let's talk ourselves into 2015

Ah yes, the off season. The place where non existent coaching and player development suddenly appear and build a steadily durable foundation of hype until the ball is kicked on a late August Saturday to another stronger FCS opponent.

 

[NickTheGreat]

Re: Whether we like it or not, Rhoads will be back, so let's talk ourselves into 2015

I think Tom Farniok is literally the best player on our team, either side of the ball.

You could make a case that Bibbs is the most talented, but the team w/o Farniok is worse than the team w/o Bibbs.

Everybody else? Replaceable, hopefully.

 

[cycloneworld]

Re: Whether we like it or not, Rhoads will be back, so let's talk ourselves into 2015

My optimism for next year:

We had 2 wins plus 3 near wins/late blown leads. If we could have held on against K-State, Texas, and Tech, we would have had 5 wins. That doesn't count the losses to the two worst teams on our schedule: NDSU and KU.

 

[oldman]

Re: Whether we like it or not, Rhoads will be back, so let's talk ourselves into 2015

I just want Bundrage to get back to being healthy Bundrage again. Probably the biggest disappointment of the season for me was his injury; I was looking forward to seeing his development pay off this year.

Totally agree with this. Any chance he would get a medical redshirt?

 

[cycloneworld]

Re: Whether we like it or not, Rhoads will be back, so let's talk ourselves into 2015

[/LIST]

Stopped reading right there. ^^

Two FCS losses in a row (should be three, got lucky as hell three years ago.) means the only people who should be expecting a win over an FCS team are sunshine pumpers.

We won at Iowa and nearly won against K-State in the following weeks. I don't think people expecting a win vs. FCS are "sunshine pumpers" at all. If the coaching staff can get prepared for Week 1 like they did Week 2 and Week 3, we will win against UNI.

 

[TheJackWePack5]

Re: Whether we like it or not, Rhoads will be back, so let's talk ourselves into 2015

A few things.

1. Say what you want about the RBs, but I think Tyler Brown will be our best RB next year. Every time he has gotten a chance this year I have wondered why he doesn't get more touches. Also have Michael Warren coming off of a RS. He will be a stud.

2. I'm no so sure that Lazard is/will be better than Mongomery. Since not catching a pass the first few games, Montgomery has put up good numbers. Nonetheless, having two 6'5 guys with significant experience will be scary for opposing defenses. Also, Wesley will replace Jarvis just fine.

3. Our lines should both be better, assuming (hoping) we can replace Farniok decently.

 

[FanatiClone]

Re: Whether we like it or not, Rhoads will be back, so let's talk ourselves into 2015

Thanks for trying to answer my questions.

But, this is a 2-10 team already. ISU led by double digits in five of it's losses so, imo the problems are structural...for some reason this program cannot finish, against anyone. I simply don't see how we can use terms like front loaded/back loaded/middle loaded. In Paul's second year I'd totally agree with your schedule assessment. Now, I honestly can't say with confidence that we'll beat UNI or that it's even a favorable game.

The OP isn't saying with confidence that we'll beat UNI either. Put another way, who on our schedule are we MORE likely to beat than UNI, Iowa, Toledo, Kansas and TT? It may not be likely that we beat any of them, but they are the weakest teams on our schedule and we happen to play all of them our first 5 games. Would you agree that going into the remainder of the season at 3-2 or maybe 4-1 just might breed a little more confidence than going into it at 1-4 or 0-5? A team that has a winning record usually feels like they've got more to play for and perhaps that would be a necessity to squeeze out another W or two. From that perspective, some see the schedule lining up as favorably as can be.

 

[Pharmacy99]

Re: Whether we like it or not, Rhoads will be back, so let's talk ourselves into 2015

We could have also lost to Iowa and Toledo. Sunshine pumpers only bring up close losses. With few breaks going other way, we could easily be 0-11 now.

 

[DesertClone1]

Re: Whether we like it or not, Rhoads will be back, so let's talk ourselves into 2015

6 wins? Are you people freaking nuts? No way we win more than 3 next year.
5-0 start? HAH we're gonna get killed by UNI.

 

[DesertClone1]

Re: Whether we like it or not, Rhoads will be back, so let's talk ourselves into 2015

2) The Extremely Favorable Schedule


UNI loses a ton off this year's team,.... Iowa loses a ton, too.....


And Toledo loses a ton as well-- their entire offensive line.

NDSU says hello...