Tweet
http://www.argusleader.com/apps/pbcs...609070312/1002
SDSU schedule doesn't get any easier
September 7, 2006
The new view of South Dakota State's football schedule is more ominous than it was a week ago, if that's possible.
It had to be assumed that this challenging month would start from a confidence-heavy platform built with a one-sided win over NCAA Division III Wisconsin-La Crosse on Sept 2.
That didn't happen, of course. Instead the Jacks head into a month on the road with a horrifying 17-3 loss to UW-La Crosse in the muck at Coughlin-Alumni as a backdrop.
It's definitely a tough spot. How tough? Well, the Jacks play at No. 6 Montana this Saturday, then go to No. 3 Northern Iowa, then play consecutive Saturdays in Louisiana against No. 24 Nicholls State and No. 16 McNeese State.
Nebraska, because it plays at USC, has it tougher the next month. But that's the only reason. The Cornhuskers get Nicholls State at home.
"It does not have to be devastating to our whole season," SDSU coach John Stiegelmeier said. "We had a wake-up call - or something worse than that - but maybe it was what we needed. What we need now is for our players to play to their potential and for our coaches to coach to their potential. It's a package deal."
.................
"We want to redeem ourselves," Stiegelmeier said. "There's no better way to do that than to face one of the best teams in America and have a chance to do what you think you can do."
So the question SDSU needs to answer for itself as it prepares to play at Montana this week is this: Are the Jacks a bad team, or was the loss to Wisconsin-La Crosse just a bad game?
This is a question the Jacks had to answer once before. Going back to that first game as a provisional Division I-AA program in 2004, there was a widely-held belief that SDSU, because it had struggled against the best of the North Central Conference schools, would be in for some pretty serious whackings in I-AA.
That first week they appeared to confirm this belief when they lost 52-0 at Cal-Davis.
It quickly became apparent, however, that the loss was an aberration. The Jacks were not a bad team in 2004; it was just a bad game.
They finished 6-5 and lost three games to respected I-AA opponents by a touchdown or less.
The circumstances are definitely more humiliating this time, but the situation is essentially the same. In the next month, the Jacks will determine whether a humbling first-game loss was the start of something bad, or the end of it.
Reach Mick Garry at 331-2323 or mgarry@argusleader.com
SDSU schedule doesn't get any easier
September 7, 2006
The new view of South Dakota State's football schedule is more ominous than it was a week ago, if that's possible.
It had to be assumed that this challenging month would start from a confidence-heavy platform built with a one-sided win over NCAA Division III Wisconsin-La Crosse on Sept 2.
That didn't happen, of course. Instead the Jacks head into a month on the road with a horrifying 17-3 loss to UW-La Crosse in the muck at Coughlin-Alumni as a backdrop.
It's definitely a tough spot. How tough? Well, the Jacks play at No. 6 Montana this Saturday, then go to No. 3 Northern Iowa, then play consecutive Saturdays in Louisiana against No. 24 Nicholls State and No. 16 McNeese State.
Nebraska, because it plays at USC, has it tougher the next month. But that's the only reason. The Cornhuskers get Nicholls State at home.
"It does not have to be devastating to our whole season," SDSU coach John Stiegelmeier said. "We had a wake-up call - or something worse than that - but maybe it was what we needed. What we need now is for our players to play to their potential and for our coaches to coach to their potential. It's a package deal."
.................
"We want to redeem ourselves," Stiegelmeier said. "There's no better way to do that than to face one of the best teams in America and have a chance to do what you think you can do."
So the question SDSU needs to answer for itself as it prepares to play at Montana this week is this: Are the Jacks a bad team, or was the loss to Wisconsin-La Crosse just a bad game?
This is a question the Jacks had to answer once before. Going back to that first game as a provisional Division I-AA program in 2004, there was a widely-held belief that SDSU, because it had struggled against the best of the North Central Conference schools, would be in for some pretty serious whackings in I-AA.
That first week they appeared to confirm this belief when they lost 52-0 at Cal-Davis.
It quickly became apparent, however, that the loss was an aberration. The Jacks were not a bad team in 2004; it was just a bad game.
They finished 6-5 and lost three games to respected I-AA opponents by a touchdown or less.
The circumstances are definitely more humiliating this time, but the situation is essentially the same. In the next month, the Jacks will determine whether a humbling first-game loss was the start of something bad, or the end of it.
Reach Mick Garry at 331-2323 or mgarry@argusleader.com
Sorry, professor, had to give you one across the bow there.
Comment