Do you remember???

[clawman1]

Were we the underdog or favored in 2010 playoff run? I don't recall if we were expected to beat the might Bison or Villanova, do you?
Why do so many favor the 19th ranked Redbirds over a 4th ranked, 2 seed? As I look at records, stats, etc. I don't get it other than passionate overzealous delusional fans, mostly of other teams.

 

[Dozy]

Just a guess, but, probably because ISU looks really solid and comes from a really solid conference. I watched a couple of ISU games yesterday and they scare me. I saw great execution, good tackling, and a well rounded offense. Not a lot of mistakes, either. At least while I was awake (I may have napped a little, too. Hey, don't judge me! Back to back games watching an opponent gets tedious)...

 

[EWURanger]

We were favored to beat SEMO and NDSU, but none of the pundits expected us to beat Nova or Delaware.

 

[MLEagle]

I don't think that most of the people around the country know what we know about this team. We have tremendous heart, a very solid defense, and and offense that is capable of putting up a lot of points on anyone in the nation.

What they see are the close games, come from behind victories, and a team that seems beatable. Although I would agree that all of those things are true, what I also know with certainty is that if we finally start clicking and putting complete games together only NDSU would be capable of beating us.

I am nervous about this game too because I'm not 100% sure that we will put it all together on Saturday. But, I know that even if we fall short of our best execution on the field that the heart and winning spirit that those young men have can still be good enough.

If we win the turnover battle and play ok, we win this game close. If we lose the turnover battle and play ok, we lose a close one. If we play a complete game starting in the 1st period, we win by 14. I guess we will just have to wait until Saturday to find out.

 

[LDopaPDX]

I'd say the two big questions for this game are:

1. How does our OL handle a very athletic, aggressive Illinois State DL known for getting into the backfield? We've shown a lack of ability to run on much worse DL, but we've always been strong in pass pro.

2. Can we stop their power running game? They'll get yards in the air, but I don't think they can win with just the air clicking. Everyone we've played has tried misdirection on us, with UC Davis being really the only team who tried to stuff us with power in the middle. They did pretty well with it, and Illinois State plays that game even better.

Like every other game, all the finesse is fun to watch but the game will be decided by who blocks and tackles better.

 

[sunday]

I don't think that most of the people around the country know what we know about this team. We have tremendous heart, a very solid defense, and and offense that is capable of putting up a lot of points on anyone in the nation.

What they see are the close games, come from behind victories, and a team that seems beatable. Although I would agree that all of those things are true, what I also know with certainty is that if we finally start clicking and putting complete games together only NDSU would be capable of beating us.

I am nervous about this game too because I'm not 100% sure that we will put it all together on Saturday. But, I know that even if we fall short of our best execution on the field that the heart and winning spirit that those young men have can still be good enough.

If we win the turnover battle and play ok, we win this game close. If we lose the turnover battle and play ok, we lose a close one. If we play a complete game starting in the 1st period, we win by 14. I guess we will just have to wait until Saturday to find out.

Good insight. Question for all - do you think that we have played a "complete" game this year? And if so, what game and why? Coach B. could be "chumming the water" all year with close games, and we could be getting ready to have an explosion on both sides of the ball! :clap:

 

[marceagfan5]

I don't think that most of the people around the country know what we know about this team. We have tremendous heart, a very solid defense, and and offense that is capable of putting up a lot of points on anyone in the nation.

What they see are the close games, come from behind victories, and a team that seems beatable. Although I would agree that all of those things are true, what I also know with certainty is that if we finally start clicking and putting complete games together only NDSU would be capable of beating us.

I am nervous about this game too because I'm not 100% sure that we will put it all together on Saturday. But, I know that even if we fall short of our best execution on the field that the heart and winning spirit that those young men have can still be good enough.

If we win the turnover battle and play ok, we win this game close. If we lose the turnover battle and play ok, we lose a close one. If we play a complete game starting in the 1st period, we win by 14. I guess we will just have to wait until Saturday to find out.

Good insight. Question for all - do you think that we have played a "complete" game this year? And if so, what game and why? Coach B. could be "chumming the water" all year with close games, and we could be getting ready to have an explosion on both sides of the ball! :clap:

We played pretty well against Cal Poly and North Dakota, definitely our best games of the year, not sure they were complete games, but pretty close.

I like our matchup against Ill State, we tend to struggle against teams that run the spread option, not the power running game or just chucking it around. I think we will be able to stop their O, and their is no one that can stop ours. I think the red birds are good, but I'm pretty confident about this one...

 

[clawman1]

I'd say the two big questions for this game are:

1. How does our OL handle a very athletic, aggressive Illinois State DL known for getting into the backfield? We've shown a lack of ability to run on much worse DL, but we've always been strong in pass pro.

2. Can we stop their power running game? They'll get yards in the air, but I don't think they can win with just the air clicking. Everyone we've played has tried misdirection on us, with UC Davis being really the only team who tried to stuff us with power in the middle. They did pretty well with it, and Illinois State plays that game even better.

Like every other game, all the finesse is fun to watch but the game will be decided by who blocks and tackles better.

My concern is specifically our rt tackle, Clay Debord. He is only a freshman and I am sure has lots of promise but it seems he gets beat more than I would like to see and too many penalties that cost us. I am afraid he will see a steady stream of #35 and #93 and that will not be good.

 

[FormerEag]

I'd say the two big questions for this game are:

1. How does our OL handle a very athletic, aggressive Illinois State DL known for getting into the backfield? We've shown a lack of ability to run on much worse DL, but we've always been strong in pass pro.

2. Can we stop their power running game? They'll get yards in the air, but I don't think they can win with just the air clicking. Everyone we've played has tried misdirection on us, with UC Davis being really the only team who tried to stuff us with power in the middle. They did pretty well with it, and Illinois State plays that game even better.

Like every other game, all the finesse is fun to watch but the game will be decided by who blocks and tackles better.

My concern is specifically our rt tackle, Clay Debord. He is only a freshman and I am sure has lots of promise but it seems he gets beat more than I would like to see and too many penalties that cost us. I am afraid he will see a steady stream of #35 and #93 and that will not be good.

I thought Posty was at RT. Isn't Debord the LT?

 

[Screamin_Eagle174]

I'd say the two big questions for this game are:

1. How does our OL handle a very athletic, aggressive Illinois State DL known for getting into the backfield? We've shown a lack of ability to run on much worse DL, but we've always been strong in pass pro.

2. Can we stop their power running game? They'll get yards in the air, but I don't think they can win with just the air clicking. Everyone we've played has tried misdirection on us, with UC Davis being really the only team who tried to stuff us with power in the middle. They did pretty well with it, and Illinois State plays that game even better.

Like every other game, all the finesse is fun to watch but the game will be decided by who blocks and tackles better.

My concern is specifically our rt tackle, Clay Debord. He is only a freshman and I am sure has lots of promise but it seems he gets beat more than I would like to see and too many penalties that cost us. I am afraid he will see a steady stream of #35 and #93 and that will not be good.

I thought Posty was at RT. Isn't Debord the LT?

Correct, Post is RT, DeBord is LT.

 

[Rjones61]

We played pretty well against Cal Poly and North Dakota, definitely our best games of the year, not sure they were complete games, but pretty close.

I like our matchup against Ill State, we tend to struggle against teams that run the spread option, not the power running game or just chucking it around. I think we will be able to stop their O, and their is no one that can stop ours. I think the red birds are good, but I'm pretty confident about this one...

I disagree. Our pass defense has seemed a little shaky to me lately. We seem to have stopped Wagner and Cal Poly in their option fairly well. The key to doing well on defense will be stopping the connection between their QB and Tyrone Walker. While watching the Illinois State vs App State, he has some serious wheels! If they start clicking, he has the potential to make huge plays on us.

 

[LDopaPDX]

We played pretty well against Cal Poly and North Dakota, definitely our best games of the year, not sure they were complete games, but pretty close.

I like our matchup against Ill State, we tend to struggle against teams that run the spread option, not the power running game or just chucking it around. I think we will be able to stop their O, and their is no one that can stop ours. I think the red birds are good, but I'm pretty confident about this one...

I disagree. Our pass defense has seemed a little shaky to me lately. We seem to have stopped Wagner and Cal Poly in their option fairly well. The key to doing well on defense will be stopping the connection between their QB and Tyrone Walker. While watching the Illinois State vs App State, he has some serious wheels! If they start clicking, he has the potential to make huge plays on us.

To me, and obviously there are different opinions, it'll come down to our run stop. If we can keep their power game in check, we'll be hard to score a lot of points on. The problem is that I'm not sure we can without pulling safeties up, meaning we're going to struggle to get into a cover 2 look... then they get ample opportunity to throw behind the D. Frankly, I was very disappointed in our safety play last week, there were a lot of missed tackles when they got forced to come upfield.

I think the reason we were able to stop Wagner and Cal Poly relatively effectively- Idaho as well- is because neither really had an alternative to running the football. They weren't teams set up to beat you through the air, so we could just crowd the box without worry.

I think we need great execution on offense, and I suspect they'll be pinning their ears back, because wasted offensive possessions will be key. We've got to get scores whenever we get the ball or we might wind up chasing the game. If we have to play in chase-mode against an offense this good, it might be incredibly difficult to win.

 

[marceagfan5]

We played pretty well against Cal Poly and North Dakota, definitely our best games of the year, not sure they were complete games, but pretty close.

I like our matchup against Ill State, we tend to struggle against teams that run the spread option, not the power running game or just chucking it around. I think we will be able to stop their O, and their is no one that can stop ours. I think the red birds are good, but I'm pretty confident about this one...

I disagree. Our pass defense has seemed a little shaky to me lately. We seem to have stopped Wagner and Cal Poly in their option fairly well. The key to doing well on defense will be stopping the connection between their QB and Tyrone Walker. While watching the Illinois State vs App State, he has some serious wheels! If they start clicking, he has the potential to make huge plays on us.

Cal Poly and Wagner don't run the spread option. We struggle with teams that run the Spread Option, teams like the Griz, PSU, MSU runs it a little, South Dakota ran it a little. When teams run that spread option, we tend to struggle stopping them in the run game. We really don't struggle against heavy passing teams, we bend, but don't break. We struggle when teams spread us out and have a mobile QB and they run it. Wagner ran it a lot, but they didn't run from a spread formation. I have no idea what Ill. State runs, but it appears it may be more pro style drop back and pass with the power run, if that is the case, we do fairly well at stopping those teams...

Ill. State is good, no doubt, but we are damn good, and we are playing at home. A lot of people think this will be close, I don't, I think we roll in this one...

 

[kalm]

I think most people had us favored in the first three games in 2010. There just happens to be a large number of quasi-canadian speaking hicks and CAA fans on the message boards.

Right now, Vegas Insider has us as 5 point favorites which I think is about right. I agree with Dopa though in that we have the potential to lay some wood this Saturday.

 

[LDopaPDX]

I think most people had us favored in the first three games in 2010. There just happens to be a large number of quasi-canadian speaking hicks and CAA fans on the message boards.

Right now, Vegas Insider has us as 5 point favorites which I think is about right. I agree with Dopa though in that we have the potential to lay some wood this Saturday.

Actually, we were fairly substantial underdogs at home vs. Villanova. They had lost a few games early that season when they were extremely beat up, but were in perfect health and on a tear when they came to Cheney. Remember, they had beaten Delaware and Appalachain State in the 4 weeks prior to playing Eastern... and Eastern looked suspect in a lot of people's minds without Taiwan Jones.