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Area college capsules: SDSU faces UNI, USF hosts Briar Cliff
September 16, 2006
South Dakota State (0-2) at Northern Iowa (1-1)
ABOUT SDSU: Thanks to North Dakota's surprising 34-31 win over Northern Iowa last week, SDSU and UNI have something in common: Both have lost home games to opponents from lower NCAA classifications this season.
SDSU will be playing a team that had won 10 consecutive games at the UNI-Dome before getting beat by the Sioux.
So does this mean the Panthers, who lost in the NCAA IAA national title game last year, will be breathing fire? Or that they're not as good as one might think?
"It will definitely affect their preparation this week," Stiegelmeier said of the Panthers. "They'll probably be more surly, more on edge."
At the same time, the stats from the UND-UNI game are not typical upset stats. UNI did not turn the ball over against the Sioux and was outgained by both rushing and passing, so maybe the Panthers are more vulnerable than would appear on the surface. Either that, or UND could be as good as the elite Division IAA teams this year.
The Jacks' trip to Montana was not without some encouragements.
"Our offensive game plan was good and we executed it initially," Stiegelmeier said. "Right now we're playing with six of our top 10 offensive linemen, so we're not going with all our ammunition. Defensively, we played well at times, but we were on the field for 92 plays. If nothing else, now we know we're in shape. But we just couldn't stop them."
Against the Grizzlies, the Jacks "forced" five field goals. It's hard to say whether this is a good thing or a bad thing. SDSU was tougher in the red zone, yes, but the Grizzlies only punted once the entire game.
The Jacks have been dealing with the injury bug since fall camp began. Three defensive ends, for instance, are out with injury.
"If we have 22 guys, we still have enough to play a game," Stiegelmeier said. "I'm never going to use injuries as an excuse. If we have to play a third-string guy, well, we're expecting that player to get the job done."
The Grizzlies were close to punting a second time, but chose to run a fake punt with less than a minute left while leading by 29 points.
"We would never do that," Stiegelmeier told the Missoulian, the Missoula, Mont., daily newspaper. "I'm going to shake a coach's hand, and I'm going to respect his program, but we would never do that. We would probably have been running 'turtle,' trying to run the clock out, and get the heck off the field."
In the Missoulian, Montana coach Bobby Hauck said that the Grizzlies were intending to run out the clock, but decided against it after SDSU called a timeout with 54 seconds left after a Montana holding penalty.
"We were going to run two plays and run it out, but they chose to take a timeout," Hauck said. "So I assumed that they wanted to play a little bit more. So we did."
Hauck was chastised by a Montana columnist for the move, so it wasn't just SDSU folks who were scratching their head a little on that one.
This marks the second leg of the monthlong series of road trips against ranked opponents for the Jacks. It is the first time since the 1985 season that SDSU has started the season 0-2.
ABOUT northern Iowa: It has been a long time since the Panthers faced the Jacks, but it was a annual occurrence when UNI was an NCC school. The Jacks actually have won the past two games played between the two teams. If you want an encouraging stat that means absolutely nothing, the Panthers have not beaten SDSU in Cedar Falls since 1974.
Corey Lewis is the Panthers' top running back. He ran for 114 yards against UND and now has 219 yards in 30 carries. Also in the backfield is Whitney Lewis, a transfer from USC who had 15 rushes for 69 yards against the Sioux. Sophomore wide receiver Johnny Gray had six catches for 103 yards against UND. Quarterback Eric Sanders, a junior, moved into seventh place all-time in passing yardage at UNI last week. He's fifth all-time in touchdown passes with 41.
"He's one of those guys who is almost better when he's making up stuff," Stiegelmeier said. "He scrambles well and makes bad plays into touchdowns. Their tailbacks and wide receives are very skilled, and they have four offensive linemen returning from last season."
O'Gorman grad Josh Mahoney, South Dakota's 2004 Elite 45 captain, has moved up to No. 2 on the depth chart this week for the Panthers at inside linebacker. The redshirt freshman also has been playing on special teams.
- Mick Garry
I like Mick Garry. I hope they keep him assigned to SDSU.
Area college capsules: SDSU faces UNI, USF hosts Briar Cliff
September 16, 2006
South Dakota State (0-2) at Northern Iowa (1-1)
ABOUT SDSU: Thanks to North Dakota's surprising 34-31 win over Northern Iowa last week, SDSU and UNI have something in common: Both have lost home games to opponents from lower NCAA classifications this season.
SDSU will be playing a team that had won 10 consecutive games at the UNI-Dome before getting beat by the Sioux.
So does this mean the Panthers, who lost in the NCAA IAA national title game last year, will be breathing fire? Or that they're not as good as one might think?
"It will definitely affect their preparation this week," Stiegelmeier said of the Panthers. "They'll probably be more surly, more on edge."
At the same time, the stats from the UND-UNI game are not typical upset stats. UNI did not turn the ball over against the Sioux and was outgained by both rushing and passing, so maybe the Panthers are more vulnerable than would appear on the surface. Either that, or UND could be as good as the elite Division IAA teams this year.
The Jacks' trip to Montana was not without some encouragements.
"Our offensive game plan was good and we executed it initially," Stiegelmeier said. "Right now we're playing with six of our top 10 offensive linemen, so we're not going with all our ammunition. Defensively, we played well at times, but we were on the field for 92 plays. If nothing else, now we know we're in shape. But we just couldn't stop them."
Against the Grizzlies, the Jacks "forced" five field goals. It's hard to say whether this is a good thing or a bad thing. SDSU was tougher in the red zone, yes, but the Grizzlies only punted once the entire game.
The Jacks have been dealing with the injury bug since fall camp began. Three defensive ends, for instance, are out with injury.
"If we have 22 guys, we still have enough to play a game," Stiegelmeier said. "I'm never going to use injuries as an excuse. If we have to play a third-string guy, well, we're expecting that player to get the job done."
The Grizzlies were close to punting a second time, but chose to run a fake punt with less than a minute left while leading by 29 points.
"We would never do that," Stiegelmeier told the Missoulian, the Missoula, Mont., daily newspaper. "I'm going to shake a coach's hand, and I'm going to respect his program, but we would never do that. We would probably have been running 'turtle,' trying to run the clock out, and get the heck off the field."
In the Missoulian, Montana coach Bobby Hauck said that the Grizzlies were intending to run out the clock, but decided against it after SDSU called a timeout with 54 seconds left after a Montana holding penalty.
"We were going to run two plays and run it out, but they chose to take a timeout," Hauck said. "So I assumed that they wanted to play a little bit more. So we did."
Hauck was chastised by a Montana columnist for the move, so it wasn't just SDSU folks who were scratching their head a little on that one.
This marks the second leg of the monthlong series of road trips against ranked opponents for the Jacks. It is the first time since the 1985 season that SDSU has started the season 0-2.
ABOUT northern Iowa: It has been a long time since the Panthers faced the Jacks, but it was a annual occurrence when UNI was an NCC school. The Jacks actually have won the past two games played between the two teams. If you want an encouraging stat that means absolutely nothing, the Panthers have not beaten SDSU in Cedar Falls since 1974.
Corey Lewis is the Panthers' top running back. He ran for 114 yards against UND and now has 219 yards in 30 carries. Also in the backfield is Whitney Lewis, a transfer from USC who had 15 rushes for 69 yards against the Sioux. Sophomore wide receiver Johnny Gray had six catches for 103 yards against UND. Quarterback Eric Sanders, a junior, moved into seventh place all-time in passing yardage at UNI last week. He's fifth all-time in touchdown passes with 41.
"He's one of those guys who is almost better when he's making up stuff," Stiegelmeier said. "He scrambles well and makes bad plays into touchdowns. Their tailbacks and wide receives are very skilled, and they have four offensive linemen returning from last season."
O'Gorman grad Josh Mahoney, South Dakota's 2004 Elite 45 captain, has moved up to No. 2 on the depth chart this week for the Panthers at inside linebacker. The redshirt freshman also has been playing on special teams.
- Mick Garry
I like Mick Garry. I hope they keep him assigned to SDSU.
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