Those in attendance, what the hell happened?

[Haldersham]

Re: Those in attendance, what the hell happened?

Well, as I said in another thread, about the best we can hope for now is that La Crosse goes undefeated and wins the Division III championship.

That way this loss will still be embarrassing, but not quite the total debacle it looks like right now.

I think an undefeated season and a D3 National Championship is not out of reach for Wisconsin LaCrosse. Its a senior dominated team who all played here last year and no doubt they were up for this game. I do think despite all our bloopers, we lost to a good football team. Its a team that yu need to play good ball to win.

As the WNAX guys said, a number of these guys playing for LaCrosse guys got D2 offers somewhere else but elected to stay close to home.

I was at the game, and admittedly our guys made a ton of mistakes. Ryan Berry had problems with line of scrimage and making decisions between running and passing. He is young and still learning. Also LaRon Harris did not have his best game either. I guess there is enough blame to to go around to all who got on the field.

I said earlier that from a distance the  field look okay, but when I sat down in my bleacher seat, I could not believe what I saw.  Possiblly it was hard to run the same game plan with field conditions like that.  We missed a starting center Mark Olkers due to illness and Anthony Watson did not play and I was told that he had to sit out one game due to tearm rules. In this mud, his strength might have gotten us some more yards. I know excuses excuses.

If you were listening to Coach Stig, he said this game was the most embarrassing in the 19 years he has been associated with this program.
I believe USD lost to LaCrosse one year. The next year and the first year for Meirkort at USD, they barely beat them. With several years coaching at Wis-Stout, he knew what to expect, but there is no way to avoid the embarrassment.

I ready to move on.

[Coyote_Fan]

Re: Those in attendance, what the hell happened?

I want to add a bit more here. When USD got critisized for the way that LaCross nearly beat them in Vermillion I said that they were the most impressive team that I saw in Vermillion that year (2004). Even Brandon Misner who runs the D2football.com website didn't give credit to LaCross when he was previewing the game that year. He probably took that close win as a reason to reduce the Coyotes as a legitimate team that year. USD had a very good football team that ended up at 9-2 which was the first of back to back 9-2 years. Meierkort was still getting the program back on track during that game. The game was on turf but neither team was having much luck stopping the other. It ended up 45-44 USD if I remember correctly. LaCross impressed me more than St. Cloud and the Huskies made the playoffs that year. Actually the LaCross game was the most USD has been pushed at home for the past 2 years. I know that you probably don't want to hear about USD but I think that game is somewhat relevant in this discussion. Sometimes because a program is classified as D3 people take them lightly but in all honesty LaCross is very similar to a mid to just below mid level NCC team. That team would finish probably somewhere around the middle of all D2 teams. I think D3 is closer to D2 than some want to think and D2 is closer to D1AA as some would like to think. LaCross comes from the best D3 league and are more the caliber of many D2 teams.

[jackrabbit1979]

Re: Those in attendance, what the hell happened?

I want to add a bit more here.  When USD got critisized for the way that LaCross nearly beat them in Vermillion I said that they were the most impressive team that I saw in Vermillion that year (2004).  Even Brandon Misner who runs the D2football.com website didn't give credit to LaCross when he was previewing the game that year.  He probably took that close win as a reason to reduce the Coyotes as a legitimate team that year.  USD had a very good football team that ended up at 9-2 which was the first of back to back 9-2 years.  Meierkort was still getting the program back on track during that game.  The game was on turf but neither team was having much luck stopping the other.  It ended up 45-44 USD if I remember correctly.  LaCross impressed me more than St. Cloud and the Huskies made the playoffs that year.  Actually the LaCross game was the most USD has been pushed at home for the past 2 years.  I know that you probably don't want to hear about USD but I think that game is somewhat relevant in this discussion.  Sometimes because a program is classified as D3 people take them lightly but in all honesty LaCross is very similar to a mid to just below mid level NCC team.  That team would finish probably somewhere around the middle of all D2 teams.  I think D3 is closer to D2 than some want to think and D2 is closer to D1AA as some would like to think.   LaCross comes from the best D3 league and are more the caliber of many D2 teams.  

Seriously Coyote Fan, you haven't posted on our SDSU board for nearly a month, and then as we have a terrible loss you post over here ten times in one night - real classy.  Do you enjoy relishing in other peoples sorrows that much.  I think it's pretty safe to say right now that we could really care less about USD or their football team's success against any opponent.  We have our own problems, as I'm sure you have yours as well, and our's became very evident tonight at Coughlin Alumni.

[JackJD]

Re: Those in attendance, what the hell happened?

I was at the game.  Took my time getting home.  Intentionally did not go to this message board until after midnight.  My observations on the game.

1.  SDSU's play was, at best, uninspired.  Dull and lackluster would be too kind.  
2.  One has to concede that eight out of ten times, a muddy field results in a close, often unpredictable game.  Even so, LaCrosse appeared to want the win and they didn't give a rip about the field conditions.
3.  Lots of brain lapses.
4.  What was Kardoes doing early in the game when he threw the ball at Harris's feet rather than run it into the endzone himself?  Two years ago, Kardoes would have scampered in.  I know you can't look at any one play but a TD at that point and the Jacks would have had an entirely different point of view.
5.  LaCrosse's front lines, defense and offense, tended to be the squatty-type of players and they could hold their place better in the mud.
6.  LaCrosse's lines, defense and offense, won the game.  The O-line's pass protection rarely faltered.  I think we challenged their quarterback seriously on only five or six plays.  He had lots of time.  I am very concerned about our lines facing the likes of Montana, UNI and all the other opponents.
7.  Post-game, Coach Stigelmeier took the blame.  I won't argue.
8.  This is a LaCrosse program that is accustomed to winning.  Last year, they did not win their conference but they had won it the three years before.  Its one of the winningest programs in D-3.  Its league is known for lots of run and gun offense...good passing and decent quickness.  So, did we go into this game thinking we had an easy one?  LaCrosse clearly came into the game knowing that if they played hard, they could win.  They weren't fazed one bit by their opponent. Our team didn't appear to have the right attitude coming into the game (I have no idea what their attitude was but they didn't play like they wanted to win).
9.  I thought we'd win by 40 but when all the rain came down, I shortened my estimate to a margin of 14 to 21 points.  I know nothing.
10.  Very depressing.

[Rabbitlivinginverm]

Re: Those in attendance, what the hell happened?

I'll reserve comment for approx 8 hours from now when I'm sober. I friggen predicted a 43 point win. We can't even get the ball in the end zone? WTF? Sorry Andy, take a seat. Let the QB of the future take the helm. What a sad, sad, day in SDSU athletics....BT#, lost my ass in Deadwood 2 nite on top of all this...good thing i have a good, supportive family in town 2 nite...

[SiouxFallsJack]

Re: Those in attendance, what the hell happened?

Hate to admit it but I was a supporter of Andy last year but the time has come for him to take a seat.  But exactly who is the QB of the future?  The 5 touchdowns Berry had against Georgia Southern last year is a distant memory.  Perhaps the coaches can work with him this week with learning to throw the ball when he is behind the line of scrimmage.  How does a QB not once, but twice make a throw after he has crossed the line of scrimage?  We might as well try the RsFr Ryan Crawford this way we can blame an inexperienced QB as one of the reasons for losing next week.

[WYOBISONMAN]

Re: Those in attendance, what the hell happened?

Damn.......I hope you guys can bounce back from this one......a rough loss.

[thebluehatman]

Re: Those in attendance, what the hell happened?

all i can say is playing the basic sets and basic personal in order to hide things from montana was maybe a mistake. kardoes sucked again. they finally realized that wagner is a good weapon to have. secondary didn't look too tough. bonwell played well put a lot of pressure and got off the line pretty good, gentile looked good too. a bunch of the players complained about footing after the game. there was a lot of conversation at jim's about this and other events at sdsu. berry needs to get put in charge now. i dunno what else to say about that game besides lack of preparedness.

[Jacked_Up]

Re: Those in attendance, what the hell happened?

I attended the game and other than the poor condition of the field, the thing that struck me most was how La Crosse seemed to be able to pass at will, despite the bad conditions, while SDSU struggled mightily with the pass game. La Crosse couldn't run and didn't try to run very often. SDSU -- minus Watson -- ran OK but only a few yards at a time, almost exclusively with Koenig. Kardoes apparently got dinged up a little in the second half and got pulled. He was sitting on the sideline with an ice pack on his leg. Berry fared no better at all. He was penalized at least twice for crossing the line of scrimmage before passing. Crucial mistakes that caused lost downs. As the game progressed, you could see La Crosse gain confidence. The Jacks stayed flat. I hadn't felt so disappointed as a fan since the SDSU mens basketball team was getting slapped around a couple years ago by teams like Southwest Minnesota and Wayne. It was very discouraging. Of course, a couple years ago the SDSU football season started with a beat down of something like 52-0, against one of the California schools, and but the Rabbits went on to be respectable. We can still hope.

[jivebunny]

Re: Those in attendance, what the hell happened?

I'll say just this much. At the end of the first quarter I said, "Montana is going to watch film of this first quarter and laugh its ass off." I didn't think things would remain so bad the whole game. **big sigh**

[thebluehatman]

Re: Those in attendance, what the hell happened?

well in all honesty there is much more offensive sets than that that we have but we are hiding all those for montana and all these other big time teams. things will get better, the jacks are just playing a game of cat and mouse. you can't blame them for doing basic things and limiting personal during the game.

[gojacksgo]

Re: Those in attendance, what the hell happened?

I can understnad hiding sets and plays from our upcoming opponents, but not at the expense of a loss. I'm sure the coaches and players thought they could get by and pick up the W with the limited plays, but it came back to bite them in the butt. I can't see how you don't blame them for that.

[jackrabbit1979]

Re: Those in attendance, what the hell happened?

well in all honesty there is much more offensive sets than that that we have but we are hiding all those for montana and all these other big time teams.  things will get better, the jacks are just playing a game of cat and mouse.  you can't blame them for doing basic things and limiting personal during the game.

You really need to take your yellow and blue glasses off on this one. I don't care if we were running the same play over and over again the first half, at halftime, when we are tied with UWL we need to start to open up whatever we can to win. To say that we can't blame the coaching staff for the loss because they were hiding the playbook for the next four weeks is absolutely BS. With the way we played last night, we could have Montana's, UNI's, McNeese's, and Nichols' playbooks in hand tomorrow and still not sniff a win this coming month.

It's kind of like in baseball, you don't worry about who will pitch tomorrow when you have to win tonight.

[jackrabbit1979]

Re: Those in attendance, what the hell happened?

Beside the frustration with the game last night, the other think that really bothers me is the # of people that tailgate in the backyard and don't even plan to go in to watch the game.  Students, I can understand to a point...actually I don't understand why they wouldn't want to go in.  The other group that thinks it is "trendy" to go tailgate in the backyard with a fancy setup of food, beer, TV, RV, etc, and then sit on their tail and watch ND v. Georgia Tech on their dish versus going in to the stadium and watching live local football just bugs me.  Just stay home and watch that game, if you want to be outside with friends, pitch a tent in your backyard and send out invites.  There is no need to be at the SDSU game if you don't go in to support the team...

Even if we perform like last night, you have to go in to watch. Does this happen at other schools as well?

[gojacksgo]

Re: Those in attendance, what the hell happened?

It happens at Iowa. Probably more than half of the tailgaters stay and tailgate during the game, although most of them will listen on the radio or try to watch it on tv out there.