We are in good hands...

[Bengal Roar]

As I listened to the post game show again, I had a sense of calmness. All is well with Kramer and ISU football. His comments took all the guess work out of what I have been feeling over a long period of time.

This was just a hiccup. We will fall a bit and get back up. We will have scrapes and bruises but get right up again. I believe his thoughts are deeper than wins/losses right now. His thought process and doing what he is doing goes back for years and years of neglect and he is doing things that coaches shouldn't have to do (things that should have been in place years ago)but it is okay. We are a bit rough like a piece of coal and slowly but surely getting smooth and getting polished.

What I do know is we are not on life support anymore. We have an IV in us and the medicine is slowly dripping and this program is making progress everyday. We will be a very solid program, sooner than later.

Hey, how about Sac St. taking down the mighty Grizz? Now lets get ready for a Homecoming game!

 

[clawsout]

totally agree Bengal Roar.....Kramer has the road map and we are taking a step at a time....he will have the pass protection figured out by next saturday and we will take another positive step that day....i think we have to remember that he is doing this with mostly last year's kids....kramer is always positive about who stayed from last year...but i am excited to see what another year looks like after kramer's recruiting...for both O and D lines ....i predicted 4 to 5 wins this season....and NAU was not one of them ..i am still thinking 4 to 5...and here comes Homecoming!!....Pour me another cup of Kramer's Kool-Aid....i'm thirsty!

 

[bengalcub]

I agree with you both.

Offensive and defensive line recruitment will be critical for the future. The skilled kids are going to come on offense because of the number of times that the ball is in the air.

Try to keep everything in perspective. This team lacks depth, practices less than the rest of the BSC and is playing a ton of TR FR, RS FR and walk-ons this season. Three to four wins is where I had this team and it is where I see this team finishing--even if from time to time I think that they are better or worse than they truly are.

This is a process and one year cannot make all things wonderful in ISU football. This season will be full of highs and lows.

 

[4ISUfans]

I agree with much of what's been said here. Kramer makes statements that I believe speak more to the mindset of the team than X and O's. He's not on a 1 year plan, he's thinking future and where he wants the team to be in come November, and 2012 and beyond.

One area I disagreed with him was his post game comments saying the NAU RB was just "ok". Either Kramer has a disdain for RB's or he wasn't watching the same game. NAU's RB ran all over us.. Thankfully our Red Zone defense was solid or the score would have been worse.

No matter how much we want to pass the ball ISU must establish some semblance of a run game to keep the defense honest. The play fakes only work when there is a possibility the RB may actually get the ball. There were times in the game that had the ball actually been handed to the RB the middle of the field was wide open for big yardage. Why? because the D knew the RB wasn't getting the ball, the fake was meaningless so they drop back into coverage and left the middle open. I'm concerned that on 3rd downs and very short yardage we'd rather pass than run the ball to get a yard, foot, or inches and get the 1st down. This is still football and fundamentals still apply. In future I'd like to see confidence in the RB to do his job, get a yard, and move the chains.

I'm all for the throwing the ball as the primary mode of operation as the "Spread" has become a popular and effective offensive system throughout all levels of the game. However I just don't see us being a complete offense until we maximize all weapons on the field to the fullest. If we can establish some sort of a run game it helps keep the heat off Yost and Arias. Against weaker opponents or blow out games this matters less, against mid to top level teams we have to be better balanced, IMO. Actually if you look at the stats we have a run game, it's Yost who has the majority of the carries and that's not the way the offense is designed to execute.

This was a minor blip and I trust this team will get better and improve every week. I already see major improvements from previous years so that is goodness.

I have the cup in hand and I'm contemplating drinking the kool aide.. Just not yet..

Go Bengals!

 

[bengalcub]

You make a great point. Something I did find myself scratching my head over was the sacks that ISU took on play-action fakes. Nobody even pays attention to run fakes when playing Idaho State.

I concur now, seeing the pass rush that all four opponents have generated against Idaho State. This team has to run the ball more.

NAU was not blitzing as much as folks might think. They generated most of their pressure with the front four. At least from what I saw.

 

[bill_idaflls]

Thanks, Roar, for starting this conversation. We were all pretty silent after the game. I know my high-flying plane landed unexpectedly, but at least it wasn't a crash landing as in years past. I have that same sense that the football program will be OK with Coach K. He knows what he's doing and the players believe in him. How about the half-time interview with A.J. Storms? He says that discipline has finally arrived on the Bengal team. One of the things I really like about this team is that it's not wounding itself with a lot of penalties--especially unnecessary roughness penalties. WE're not trying to win with "thuggery".

I think Coach K is always looking forward to the next play, the next practice, the next game, and the next opponent. When he says in the post game interview that we WILL NOT RUN the ball, I get a sense that he's playing with the minds of our next opponent. He makes the game fun. As soon as the next team believes "Always Pass"--here comes the RUN. To be honest, none of us knows what he's going to do next. The only thing I know for sure is that I'll be at Homecoming and I'm bringing someone with me. See ya at the Tailgate with some BBQ and in the Dome for some Viking Soup.

Go Bengals! :thumb:

 

[Irwin M. Fletcher]

+1 on what has been said. A frustrating loss to be sure, but no doubt we are headed in the right direction. I loved hearing Kramer say on the postgame show that he wished we could play them again right now and he can't wait to play them in Flagstaff again in 2013. Who else is ready to wager that the streak ends then?

One of the most exciting takeaways is that the right adjustments were made at half to essentially shut down the NAU offence the second half. Haven't seen that in years ... except by our opponents.

Also thrilled with the new level of discipline. I could not handle the regularity of personal fouls and other mindless penalties in past years, so nice to be the beneficiary of those yesterday.

Looking forward to going back over .500 next Saturday! Go Bengals!

 

[EyeOfTheTiger91]

I definately agree with the title of this thread, we are in good hands. However, that doesn't take away the sting of the game yesterday in Flagstaff. I was in the stands, sitting with my fellow Bengals fans. We stirred up a lot of trouble and the small group of ISU fans easily made more noise than the remainder of the stadium. We even had several fans from NAU come up to us and ask us to stop blowing our horns.....get this, that it was interfering with their QB hearing...hahahaha. Anyways, back to the game, it was so frustrating to watch this game because the defense generally did its job......before the game we would have been happy if we were told NAU would be kept to 20 points. Which means, the general area for Kramer this week is to shower praise on his defense and fix the funk the offense was in on Saturday. I really like Yost, he is an exceptional QB, but he just wasn't himself on Saturday....10 sacks are unacceptable, we are so lucky we still have him in a semi-healthy condition. I honestly think we can stop the Portland State Vikings next week, they are predominantly a running team. I could see them being held to 20 or less points too. Plus, they are probably beat up pretty badly after getting destroyed by TCU on Saturday. Let's hold our heads high, the season is not lost, but the NAU game has to be an exception and not the rule for the remainder of the season. We have to learn a lesson from the NAU game and grow offensively.....one last thought, why did we abandon passing to Josh Hill on Saturday? How many passes of less than 5 yards did we complete? We couldn't get a vertical pass completed.....Let's hope there is improvement from the offensive coaches this week. Go Bengals.

 

[baller1]

I agree with this thread for sure. I was lucky enough to make the trip with the team on the charter to Flagstaff. I came away impressed with the coaching staff and the vision that they have for ISU football. They definitely are looking long term and I truly believe that we will get there soon. We need to remember that this roster had a lot of holes when Kramer got here and it's tough to fill that many holes in 1 recruiting season.

I was able to go on the trip because I bought it at the Bengal Foundation auction last April. Here's what we got:
2 tickets on the charter flight (they put my wife and I in first class next to Coach Bailey and his wife. The Tingeys and Kramers were in the row in front of us - It was awesome to talk football with them on both flights)
hotel room at Little America with the team
2 tickets in the visiting Athletic Director's box and 2 sideline passes
Dinner Friday and breakfast Saturday with the Tingeys and Jay McMillin

We bought this package for just $700 which I think is a steal.

I just say this because the auction is every spring and we need more involvement in things like that because any money that is raised is great for the department. I know a lot of people are excited about Bengal football right now and we need to put our financial support behind Kramer.

One more thing. Every Monday during the season, Kramer does dinner with members of the quarterback club at Remo's. He goes through the game film and gives some great insight into what's going on with the team. For example, last week he talked in depth about exactly what was going on with the running back situation, which he wouldn't talk about to the media and many people were speculating about. So if you want the real inside scoop on the team, spend $1000 and join the quarterback club and you'll have awesome access.

 

[tuffgong]

I'm glad you brought that up, cuz I was curious about cost to join the QB club.. I'm going to try and do that next year, and hope more will do it as well.. I'm not even cautiously optimistic anymore. I know this program is going to be a force in a short period of time..

 

[baller1]

Tomorrow night is an open night for those who might possibly want to join the quarterback club. If anyone is interested, send me a message and I'll give you all the details. Come check it out and I'm sure you'll want to join.

 

[boisebengal]

I well remember back in 2000, when Mike Kramer's MSU team went 0-11 for the year, including a 29-13 loss to ISU in Pocatello. And in the next few years MSU finished with records of 5-6, 7-6, and 7-6, and eventually went on to win the Big Sky. The point is that since we've already won two games thus far this season, and I expect us to win at least one of two more before the season's over with, then at least we've done a lot better than Kramer's MSU did back in 2000, and we've got a very bright future ahead! I think that a coach's past performance at a school is a good indication as to how they'll do somewhere else, but not always.