UW-La Crosse

[Rabbit_FB_Alum]

Re: UW-La Crosse

I agree that the 2 biggest points of concern are the passing game and the pass defense.  I think the passing game will take care of it's self.  I don't think Kardoes is a great passer, but he is better than he showed last night.  I'm not worried about getting JaRon more involved.  How about we start out with getting the record breaking WR Davis more involved first.

About the D.  Ouch!  I think we might be in trouble here.  After seeing a much improved D-line last year, it looks like it has slid back to where the D-line has been for the last 8 to 9 years, NO PASS RUSH.  I don't care how good you LB's and cover guys are.  If you have no pass rush, you are toast.  I will say that we didn't blitz much so that might help.

All in all, not a bad game.  It really didn't tell us much because of the difference in levels (D3 vs. D1).  So I will just take it as a win and stand behind my Jacks and wait and see where we are in a couple of weeks.

I don't think the scoreboard was too loud.  For those of you who think it was.... have you been to any D1A or pro. games lately?  It's just part of creating the atmosphere of excitement, fun, and intensity a legit program needs to have.  If it wern't for the scoreboard making noise, I would have thought I was snoozing through a Sunday morining sermon at church.  I don't care who it was (sutdents or "old people&quot that wern't making any noise.  Heck, the outnumbered Wisconsin fans whose team was getting whooped were making more noise than us.  The fact is, we have always had one of the quietest crowds around.  It stinks!  We ALL need to work on that.  I can remember back when I played, there were many times the D was on a crucial 3rd down and the stands may as well been empty.... I have just never understood that.   :-/

[OK_Jackrabbit]

Re: UW-La Crosse

I don't think the scoreboard was too loud.  For those of you who think it was.... have you been to any D1A or pro. games lately?

Um... yeah. Iowa, Purdue, Oklahoma.

Lots of games. Season tickets at Iowa. Went to nearly every game in two years at Purdue. Saw 84,000-plus at Oklahoma games. Sure, there was music, but no ear-splitting music there. Maybe they do that at the Metrodome, but not at any good college venue I have visited.

I don't think I'm alone. I would guess that Fred will be hearing from a great many of the 'old people' about the music volume. Noise for the sake of noise isn't 'atmosphere.'

But I don't think this will be a problem much anymore. The music was filling in for the Pride. They'll be there next week and I'll bet we won't hear much "Save a Horse, Ride a Cowboy."

[SDSUFAN]

Re: UW-La Crosse

I think we need to remember too that this was the first Jack Game that used the new technical scoreboard and I suppose sound system. It would appear that with experience, the people running the board will find ways to get the older crowd in the game.  SDSU old folks are known for their silence and I can say I am among that group. I sure don't mind the noise. I think we should have learned a lot from the NDSU crowd last fall when they came to our house and made all kinds of noise that supported the Bison. We need to get all in the game. It takes more than one Jerry Busisk to make noise at a football game. If Jer had his way we would all be on our feet on every D 3RD down and be hooting and hollering and making the opponent on field very nervous.

The scoreboard crew had this cameo spot featuring Christopher Waulken saying, " I have a fever and you know what we need to cure it?  More Cowbells."  Now that is something that did not seem to work last night, but maybe in time we can exploit this ad and put it to its intended use.

Our team is not going to get a free ride from the FargoDome noise this year.  We need to crank it up and this is coming from an old guy.

a

[JackTwice]

Re: UW-La Crosse

Didn't mean to offend you OK. Being in my late 30's myself I don't consider myself "old" just yet. I just think if we want to be big time we have to act like it. I invite anyone here to visit the Fargodome this year and see what it is like there. My guess is Jerry B would be considered an average fan there.

I have been stewing all day about the posts on this board and I guess what has bothered me most has been this:

Read the posts at the beginning of this thread. Everyone admitted this was a no win game. We won it by 29 and people are ready to question the head coach being the right man for the job (Jackmd).

These early games are about a lot of things. One is trying to find what works and what doesn't. I can't believe there are people on this board that are questioning coaching decisions based on a 29 point victory. I guess Frank Solich had it pretty good in Nebraska.

[OK_Jackrabbit]

Re: UW-La Crosse

The scoreboard crew had this cameo spot featuring Christopher Waulken saying, " I have a fever and you know what we need to cure it?  More Cowbells."  Now that is something that did not seem to work last night, but maybe in time we can exploit this ad and put it to its intended use.

That's a much beloved Saturday Night Live skit where Walken exhorts Will Ferrell and his bandmates in Blue Oyster Cult to give him more cowbell as they record "Don't Fear the Reaper". I think the students will get into that one.

"Guess what? I got a fever! And the only prescription.. is more cowbell!"

[Jacks02]

Re: UW-La Crosse

For those of you who haven't seen it before, here is a link to the SNL skit.

More Cowbell Baby!!

[Jackrabbitfootball]

Re: UW-La Crosse

I loved the christopher walken cowbell thing. It made my wife and I remember the skit and laugh.

I would have to believe the crowd gets into a game more when its against a conference opponent and the game is close until the end. Dont they

[JackTwice]

Re: UW-La Crosse

Have to apologize quickly...Went back through the posts and attributed the calling for Stig's head to Jackmd when it was antikardoes who obbiously has an axe to grind somewhere.

I just think its too early to be worried. I don't care who you are or think you are its hard to get up early for a game against a team you dont think should play at your level (See NW Missouri vs SDSU and TCU vs. Oklahoma). We have all trusted the coaching staff in the past and nothing has changed to take that away. Fact of the matter is we won by 29 and have Valpo this weekend. I am going to be enjoying myself this next weekend again and will try harder to get the fans in my area going.

[SDSUFAN]

Re: UW-La Crosse

antikardoes seems to have disappeared and that is good. I think Stig is doing the best he can. When you have good staff people, the head coach shines, but if they make mistakes, then the head guy has to step up and explain to everyone concerned the decision and why it is made.

Stig was very happy about the rushing yards being put up and he should be. Of course the 189 by Watson does not leave much when its removed by the total.

I think the O line on the left seem to really open the holes for the running backs. You hope this will continue for the remainder of the season. The Griz on Sept 17 will be the big test. Most of the O line are very young and that makes for a 1000 plus yard season for Watson and maybe the other two backs too.

I thought it was interesting that Stig mentioned that Valpo would not exchange game tapes. I suppose after getting racked up in Fargo last year, they are not crazy about that sort of thing. ;D

[sdman]

Re: UW-La Crosse

While I was watching the game and enjoying it I kept thinking that it is a shame we are playing a d3 team when it would be fun to play a couple of ncc teams instead. Probably would be even a better game. Too bad those in power can't put differences behind them and get something scheduled for the good of the teams and the fans. It would be neat to see scsu or und instead of teams like valpo and la crosse. I suspect most of the blame lies with the ncc schools.

[jackmd]

Re: UW-La Crosse

No one should interpert my posts to say anything except that we need to play bette by the time we roll into Montana. Especially the passing game and passing defense. The D-line and secondary were very questionable against a DIII team. Montana ain't no DIII school.

Take a look at last year. Better start this year, hard to say considering the different level of competition.

Perhaps these first 2 games will be enough to work out the kinks. Montana will be ready and so will their fans. They hear this talk about the GWFC as an equal to the BSC and they want to prove that wrong.

Lastly, never called for Stigs head and never will. I will question our coaches, players, fans, etc.. and voice my opinion but I won't call for anyones head. Not my place.

[Mike_H]

Re: UW-La Crosse

I think the biggest revelation on this thread is that SDSUFAN knows who Christopher Walken is! How the hell did THAT happen?

[jackmd]

Re: UW-La Crosse

My wrap on the first game. Wins a win. Is this win more helpful than the 0-52 loss to Davis last year? I guess we'll see. Last year we followed the blowout loss with easy victories against overmatched DII teams and rode that momentum to a win over Southern in LA. I think the Davis asskicking opened some eyes.

This year we start the season with 2 overmatched teams most resembling DIII squads. Benefit, relatively easy wins which may build momentum. Risk, overconfidence, lack of sufficient challenge, complacency, etc...

I don't want to see another slaughter like that at the hands of G. Southern last year.

[jackrabbit1979]

Re: UW-La Crosse

thoughts from the first game:

1.  Hard to tell how talented the team is from this game for a couple reasons, first it was Wisc.-Lacrosse, second it was the first game of the season, third we only saw about 40% of the offensive package.

2.  With that said, i was dissapointed in the effort.  The score turned out all right but we didn't look as if we were extremely more talented than them.  Usually you can tell the differences between the divisions on the lines - we did have an advantage on the offensive line.  We pretty much ran where ever and whenever we wanted.  Watson is a Stud!
Our defensive line didn't show much, maybe because of the injuries they have had.

3.   Pass Defense =   ??? :-[ :'(

4.  Kardoes will be fine.  I didn't think his passing was as bad as everyone has said on this board and at the stadium Sat. night.  He had a lot of ball dropped and we didn't really get into a passing rythym either which may have helped him.  I expected to see a lot more QB runs, options, etc.  I assume these are in the 60%of the offense we didn't see.

5.  The crowd was lackluster, i don't care if it is labor day weekend, wisc.-lacrosse, etc.  OK says 98% of his students weren't going to attend and some didn't know about the game...
                    ---SEE MARKETING THREAD---
...we can't expect everyone to come out on their own.

6.  Scoreboard and sound system were incredible. The intro as the players ran out was sweet. Being able to see replays, animation, etc, made it feel like a big time sporting event. Everybody needs to quit complaining about the sound, music, etc.  I can guarantee none of the student section thought it was too loud and that is the demographic we need to attract.  The old diehards will come no matter what and enjoy the game no matter what.  It is a football game not the library or a tennis match.  I agree that the canned music is a little much, but there was no PRIDE so what did you expect.  It was much better than years past without the band when the stadium sounds like empty gymnasium.  I think a nice mixture of live music from the pride and some music/effects from the production crew will be great.  And the choice of sound/music was the same as at any sporting event.  What music that you normally hear at events isn't corny.  They play the two worst songs in history (YMCA and Cotton Eyed Joe) at every yankees game at yankee stadium and the place goes wild every time.   We are not going to have any grammy award winning music at Coughlin Alumni coming from the scoreboard, we will leave that up to the Pride.  

7.  Finally, so far I am dissapointed in the new tailgaiting setup.  I am all for the move to division 1, more corporate interest, and making a dime off of something good.  But we hurt a good thing.  The 50x50 yard spaces were empty...or maybe three cars and 15 people at each of them.  It didn't seem like anyone was tailgaiting.  In my opinion we should have charged much more (maybe $4000 instead of $400) per spot and made some money if that is what we were after.  I doubt First Bank, First Premiere, or some of the corps would have flinched at paying that much.   It was much more controlled out there but we lost a lot of the atmosphere in my opinion.  it will be interesting when the end of October and beginning of November comes to see if they still are holding people out of the backyard because they don't have a spot reserved.  

[Rabbitlivinginverm]

Re: UW-La Crosse

 

7.  Finally, so far I am dissapointed in the new tailgaiting setup.  I am all for the move to division 1, more corporate interest, and making a dime off of something good.  But we hurt a good thing.  The 50x50 yard spaces were empty...or maybe three cars and 15 people at each of them.  It didn't seem like anyone was tailgaiting.  In my opinion we should have charged much more (maybe $4000 instead of $400) per spot and made some money if that is what we were after.  I doubt First Bank, First Premiere, or some of the corps would have flinched at paying that much.   It was much more controlled out there but we lost a lot of the atmosphere in my opinion.  it will be interesting when the end of October and beginning of November comes to see if they still are holding people out of the backyard because they don't have a spot reserved.  

I have to agree with your post and especially #7.  The prime tailgaiting spot reserved by the SDSU Alumni Association had excatly 0 people tailgaiting in it.  There were several other empty, but reserved, spots as well.  What will happen next year when NDSU comes back to town and there's no place for them to tailgate?

In regards to the offense and Kardoes...did anyone see the 50 yard pass into the endzone that he overthrew?  It was a laser, this kid has an amazing arm.  I imagine after a couple of games he'll get a little more comfortable back there.  Someone earlier mentioned him trying to complete tough passes when he could have ran for 10 yards.  I like seeing that.  I don't want him taking off every time 'cause if he gets hurt, we're screwed.  Like 1979 said, we only saw a limited portion of the offense.  How many times did we run a QB option out of the shotgun?  A bunch.  And Kardoes only kept it a couple of times, which is good.