Here We Go Again...UNI Post-Game reflections

[LDopaPDX]

We don't necessarily need to be great on defense (and we aren't), but we need to be able to get stops when it is required. Our offense should be good enough to score a bunch in most games, but there are going to be teams that can take away our offensive plan A and B, so we need the defense to keep us in the game when that happens.

Montana has shown a strong defense so far... we better be able to keep their offense in check because I doubt we'll be ringing up a lot of points in that one.

 

[wrrolling]

I was encouraged by our defense as well. Last week all we heard about was how amazing the Grizzlies defense was which seemingly always goes with the narrative of how terrible the Eastern defense is.

While their D still is a leg up on the Eags I thought it was worth noting that against the same opponent the numbers were very similar from a yardage standpoint.

Here is the UNI offense against EWU and UM;

Team Totals vs. EWU vs. UM
FIRST DOWNS 17 versus 20
Rushing 9 versus 9
Passing 6 versus 9
Penalty 2 versus 2
NET YARDS RUSHING 179 versus 157
Rushing Attempts 47 versus 44
Average Per Rush 3.8 versus 3.6
Rushing Touchdowns 3 versus 1
Yards Gain Rushing 219 versus 205
Yards Lost Rushing 40 versus 48
NET YARDS PASSING 174 versus 194
Completions-Attempts-Int 13-23-0 versus 16-38-0
Average Per Attempt 7.6 versus 5.1
Average Per Completion 13.4 versus 12.1
Passing Touchdowns 0 versus 1
TOTAL OFFENSE YARDS 353 versus 351
Total offense plays 70 versus 82
Average Gain Per Play 5 versus 4.3
Fumbles: Number-Lost 1-1 versus 3-2
Penalties: Number-Yards 10-86 versus 9-70
Possession Time 31:11 versus 33:06
1st Quarter 12:17 versus 9:23
2nd Quarter 6:07 versus 7:35
3rd Quarter 6:47 versus 9:01
4th Quarter 6:00 versus 7:07
Third-Down Conversions 5 of 17 versus 6 of 19
Fourth-Down Conversions 1 of 1 versus 0 of 3
Red-Zone Scores-Chances 4-5 versus 1-4
PAT Kicks 3-3 versus 2-2
Field Goals 3-5 versus 0-1

Playing wazzu, NDSU and then UNI would make any teams defensive stats look rough. Heck, even #15 IOWA (we'll see if they deserved that high of a rank) gave up 240 yards rushing to NDSU to our 280.

 

[Atomic Eagle]

We don't necessarily need to be great on defense (and we aren't), but we need to be able to get stops when it is required. Our offense should be good enough to score a bunch in most games, but there are going to be teams that can take away our offensive plan A and B, so we need the defense to keep us in the game when that happens.

Montana has shown a strong defense so far... we better be able to keep their offense in check because I doubt we'll be ringing up a lot of points in that one.

When this offense has all its pieces and is clicking, there's few teams in the FCS that can stop it and Montana isn't one of them. They beat us up last year but by that point in the season we were already well into our downward spiral. That's not going to happen this year.

 

[LDopaPDX]

We don't necessarily need to be great on defense (and we aren't), but we need to be able to get stops when it is required. Our offense should be good enough to score a bunch in most games, but there are going to be teams that can take away our offensive plan A and B, so we need the defense to keep us in the game when that happens.

Montana has shown a strong defense so far... we better be able to keep their offense in check because I doubt we'll be ringing up a lot of points in that one.

When this offense has all its pieces and is clicking, there's few teams in the FCS that can stop it and Montana isn't one of them. They beat us up last year but by that point in the season we were already well into our downward spiral. That's not going to happen this year.

Yeah, very true... we were a mess going into that game and even worse coming out of it. But our defense was still really bad last year, so that game wasn't exactly unique. The only unique thing about that Montana game was that our offense played as bad as the D.

I think we'll know a lot more about our D following this Saturday. Against their DI opponents, NAU didn't look all that great offensively. However, their two DI opponents were both quite talented on D. We need to show ourselves to be comparable. And I'm not sure UNI is a good measure for how we'll fare against NAU, because UNI is run first and NAU is throw first. Once we stacked, UNI had no answers because they couldn't beat us over the top. We'll have to show more defensive diversity against NAU; and I think be able to rush 5 and get through consistently will be exceptionally important. If we need to send 6 to get pressure, that's a lot to ask of the secondary and probably means we're in a world of shit.

 

[EWURanger]

I watched a little of the NAU/WIU game, and that's how WIU was able to beat them. Constant pressure on Cookus. If we sit back in a zone the entire game we're toast. We need to mix in some blitzes and hope that some of them can hit home at opportune times.

Another factor that hasn't been mentioned yet...the elevation in the Walkup Sky Dome.

 

[dudeitsaid]

I was encouraged by our defense as well. Last week all we heard about was how amazing the Grizzlies defense was which seemingly always goes with the narrative of how terrible the Eastern defense is.

While their D still is a leg up on the Eags I thought it was worth noting that against the same opponent the numbers were very similar from a yardage standpoint.

Here is the UNI offense against EWU and UM;

Team Totals vs. EWU vs. UM
FIRST DOWNS 17 versus 20
Rushing 9 versus 9
Passing 6 versus 9
Penalty 2 versus 2
NET YARDS RUSHING 179 versus 157
Rushing Attempts 47 versus 44
Average Per Rush 3.8 versus 3.6
Rushing Touchdowns 3 versus 1
Yards Gain Rushing 219 versus 205
Yards Lost Rushing 40 versus 48
NET YARDS PASSING 174 versus 194
Completions-Attempts-Int 13-23-0 versus 16-38-0
Average Per Attempt 7.6 versus 5.1
Average Per Completion 13.4 versus 12.1
Passing Touchdowns 0 versus 1
TOTAL OFFENSE YARDS 353 versus 351
Total offense plays 70 versus 82
Average Gain Per Play 5 versus 4.3
Fumbles: Number-Lost 1-1 versus 3-2
Penalties: Number-Yards 10-86 versus 9-70
Possession Time 31:11 versus 33:06
1st Quarter 12:17 versus 9:23
2nd Quarter 6:07 versus 7:35
3rd Quarter 6:47 versus 9:01
4th Quarter 6:00 versus 7:07
Third-Down Conversions 5 of 17 versus 6 of 19
Fourth-Down Conversions 1 of 1 versus 0 of 3
Red-Zone Scores-Chances 4-5 versus 1-4
PAT Kicks 3-3 versus 2-2
Field Goals 3-5 versus 0-1

Playing wazzu, NDSU and then UNI would make any teams defensive stats look rough. Heck, even #15 IOWA (we'll see if they deserved that high of a rank) gave up 240 yards rushing to NDSU to our 280.

That's a picture of a defense on the rise. It was pretty bad in the first half, and pretty solid in the second. If this D learns to put together a complete game, our team is going to do very well against any opponent we face. They've had flashes of brilliance in all three games, but they way they shut UNI down in the 2nd half on Saturday was awesome to behold!