GDT: @ Montana State (NCAA FCS Playoffs - Semi-finals)

[JackFan96]

…but the Jacks played 25 games in a calendar year. Geezus uninspired. Love this team, hate what happens 2-3 games a season

This is has been the case, unfortunately, for about 15 consecutive season now. It just has been.

[discoDancinRabbit]

Religiously good. But never great.

[Gojacks2487]

Well another season as jackrabbit fan saying shoulda coulda woulda. Gonna miss this SR class. I think 1st thing we need to improve is our backend pass defense.

[bigticket1]

Well another season as jackrabbit fan saying shoulda coulda woulda. Gonna miss this SR class. I think 1st thing we need to improve is our backend pass defense.

I agree that the secondary was the most disappointing position group. Gave up too many big chunk plays where the corners released receivers and the safeties didn't pick up quick enough. And too many times with LB's caught in single coverage on receivers.

[Prairiehaas]

Lots of wailing and gnashing of teeth on this thread. Loosing sucks, especially when it happens infrequently. It looked to me like the team was a bit tired, worn down, in the second half. We should remember that the players are young men, the coaches are human and the other team has some effect on play.

I'm disappointed the Jackrabbits won't be playing on January. I am happy that the Jackrabbits are a top 5 program. I am assured they have an opportunity to play for a championship next year, and the next, and the next.

[Jackedforlife]

I have no doubt 120 other FCS programs would love to have our “problems”…that said as a fanbase we expect a lot…is it too much? Hard to say but it doesn’t seem to be different issues causing problems every year. To me there is a pattern of issues that as a fan I’d hope would improve at some point. Issues from a coaching standpoint I guess. Game management, lack of adjustments in game. Please, if I’m completely off base someone correct me and I’ll pipe down. I just know in my life if I make the same “mistakes” over and over again there is someone discussing with me and helping me find a solution. Not calling for anyones head here, I love the staff, stand up guys that lead young men extremely well.

[LetsGoRabbits]

First of all i completely disagree with the idea that the SAME mistakes are made over and over.

that said, it seems you are asking for some reasonable explanation or theory. how is this?

I am not going to pretend to know the EXACT timeline of everything and i also am not sure how far back you want to go but i can give you i think at least three theories

when we made the move to D1 we were not on equal footing with the majority of our competition in multiple ways. we did not have the same level of funding as many of the teams we played against. we did not have the same facilities. and we did not have the same number of coaches. finally, even to this day i am not positive, but i am not certain that we pay our assistant coaches at the same level as the other lets say top 20 FCS schools. maybe i am wrong but i suspect that JMU, SHSU, the montana schools and some others pay assistants more than we do and i am not sure more than ndsu also. again maybe i am wrong about the last point but if we are paying assistants equally that is a relatively new circumstance

despite the initial disadvantages compared to the competition, the jacks began getting better and stronger and winning more than ever. basically we were doing more than most of our competiton with significantly less tools. WHO should get credit for that?? seems like maybe the FIGUREHEAD who convinced good coaches to come here and work harder for less pay with less facilities should get some credit

i understand and agree that today our facilities are pretty much the envy of FCS and better than plenty of FBS. dont remember exactly how many years we have had the new offices and facilities, the SJAC, and i think DJD is what about 5 years

point 2. ndsu was ahead of us as a program when we began the D1 journey. and they had some advantages over us in some of the areas listed above. they had a long record of success already and they already had the fargo dome and a tradition of filling it. those were advantages in the early days of recruiting D1 ahtletes. they commonly got good athletes out of SD at that time. the kids they get from SD is way down. the montana schools got good kids from SD. not any more

while i personally LOVE having the rivalry we have with ndsu and i think taking this trip with them from the beginning has been overall a great great plus for both schools, there is ZERO denying that we would have experienced more success earlier in the process if we did not live 3 hours down the road from fargo. we would have gone further sooner in the playoffs if we did not have to play them every year in the reg season and if we did not have to be paired with them in the playoffs

AGAIN i am have never really thought of that as an overall bad and i know that stig has NEVER bemoaned that or wined about it. do you realize how much other coaches moan and whine about having to play against the best competition too often. look how many schools have left the summit and the mvfc at least partially due to the dominance of the dakota schools. LOTS of schools like to play the best school every once in a while but they whine about it being unfair if they have to do it too often. STIG has NEVER done that

he has never taught his kids to make excuses or to be afraid to play the very best. he has always preached it as a positive and challenged his kids OUR KIDS to want to play and beat the best.

but there is NO question having to play them so much out of and in the playoffs delayed our advancing to the farthest rounds of the playoffs at least 2 or 3 years. some would argue more. had we advanced sooner then you get all the attention of advancing and the advantages of that sooner

final point i will make. i would guess i could come up with more reasonalbe theories but i will not at this time, so this is the last one

NOW that we have reached the pinacle. the point where we are measuring our satisfaction based on winning in the semis and the finals, i think it is silly not to understand the magnitude of the injuries we have had. YES i know every team has injuries. they are part of sports. you deal with it and you move forward

but do you NOT realize the ridiculous plague of nearly insurmountable injuries the jacks have had the last handful of years. and i really think that history goes further but we will keep it to the last handful

and as long as we are ripping stig, we should definitely fire hendo. he has been coach what 2 years. he has obviously had a team good enough to win the conference both years and he has only won ONE summit tourney game. OH WAIT lost the conf. player of the year to injury right before the tourney. last year had two first team all conf players miss significant time for various reasons. and one of them did not play in the tourney and pretty sure the other was not 100%

and AJ for crying out loud how many ncaa tourney does the guy have to go to before he can advance to more than ONE sweet 16. OH wait best player in team history missed a year bc of injury. and last year conference player of the year misses all tourney games

back to FB. it is pretty simple BOTH 2021 season i am quite confident the jacks are champs if just one kid does not get injured. YEP the QB and conf. MVP and offensive player of year. we all but guarantee win the game in may if he does not go down and bc chris played adequately this year everyone forgets how much we miss Grono and he would probably have been even better with the experience gained. NOT hard to guess we might not lose a single game this fall if we have him, not to mention very key senior LB and DB and stud RB. so you can talk about play calling and adjustments but you gotta admit the coaches were NOT making excuses but they were playing not just a man down but several key men down this fall

and if you go back to 2019 i would say good chance we beat ndsu on gameday day if Gibbs does not go down. and he was progressing very well from the beginning of year. seems if we beat ndsu then we have home field in playoffs and since ndsu win it all that year you have to like our chances to beat anyone else. SOOOOOO minus BIG injuries we could be looking at defending 3 time champs

besides Gibbs in 2019, PSJ was not healthy much of that year and was not healthy against UNI in playoff

you could even wonder about 2017. as i recall we started the jmu game well. then suddenly TC had the worst game of his career, BY FAR. finger injury makes a big difference to the accuracy and if we do not have all the TO in that game.??????? cant make any guarantee but by now i hope you get the point

we had some disadvantage early in the process and the last handful of years we have had some extreme misfortune on the injury front

i will stop with that. but if we should get rid of stig then jmu should definitel fire cignetti all he does is lose in semi and final and this year he did not even make the semi

and lot lot lots of coaches should be fired if ours are not good enough

[jakejc795]

I have no doubt 120 other FCS programs would love to have our “problems”…that said as a fanbase we expect a lot…is it too much? Hard to say but it doesn’t seem to be different issues causing problems every year. To me there is a pattern of issues that as a fan I’d hope would improve at some point. Issues from a coaching standpoint I guess. Game management, lack of adjustments in game. Please, if I’m completely off base someone correct me and I’ll pipe down. I just know in my life if I make the same “mistakes” over and over again there is someone discussing with me and helping me find a solution. Not calling for anyones head here, I love the staff, stand up guys that lead young men extremely well.

In past seasons, Stig was criticized for lacking a killer instinct. One could argue that the SIU outcome was the result of a killer instinct (or an adjustment in recognition that the defense was gassed).

Vigen, a coach being lauded now, attempted a fake FG in the loss to the Grizz that resulted in a Grizz TD and helped seal the loss and a lower seed for them.

[91jack]

First of all i completely disagree with the idea that the SAME mistakes are made over and over.

I agree with your post but there are two points I want to address.


back to FB. it is pretty simple BOTH 2021 season i am quite confident the jacks are champs if just one kid does not get injured. YEP the QB and conf. MVP and offensive player of year. we all but guarantee win the game in may if he does not go down and bc chris played adequately this year everyone forgets how much we miss Grono and he would probably have been even better with the experience gained. NOT hard to guess we might not lose a single game this fall if we have him, not to mention very key senior LB and DB and stud RB. so you can talk about play calling and adjustments but you gotta admit the coaches were NOT making excuses but they were playing not just a man down but several key men down this fall



you could even wonder about 2017. as i recall we started the jmu game well. then suddenly TC had the worst game of his career, BY FAR. finger injury makes a big difference to the accuracy and if we do not have all the TO in that game.??????? cant make any guarantee but by now i hope you get the point

It is funny that Zimmer thinks that SDSU QB this fall season was better than in the spring season. He did put up better passing numbers but his total yards were less/game. his TD to TO ratio was worse and I THINK that he had the same weapons at last spring so if you think players improve (at all) that would help in the fall season. One QB was the conference player of the year and the other wasn't. He was good but not first team all conference and maybe an all-american.



I still blame TC's finger injury on the coaching staff leaving him in there when the game was out of hand. A defender was called for roughing the passer on him and then during the next play (I think) he was roughed again when he was running out of bounds. That is when he got injured.
There are many coaches that leave starters in too long in my book. They want the players to put up big stats even though it could hurt the team. You don't want to count on injuries but how about getting younger players experince for future seasons and for just in case somebody gets injured.

[jakejc795]

It is funny that Zimmer thinks that SDSU QB this fall season was better than in the spring season. He did put up better passing numbers but his total yards were less/game. his TD to TO ratio was worse and I THINK that he had the same weapons at last spring so if you think players improve (at all) that would help in the fall season. One QB was the conference player of the year and the other wasn't. He was good but not first team all conference and maybe an all-american.



I still blame TC's finger injury on the coaching staff leaving him in there when the game was out of hand. A defender was called for roughing the passer on him and then during the next play (I think) he was roughed again when he was running out of bounds. That is when he got injured.
There are many coaches that leave starters in too long in my book. They want the players to put up big stats even though it could hurt the team. You don't want to count on injuries but how about getting younger players experince for future seasons and for just in case somebody gets injured.

I'm interested in whether Zimmer meant "upgrade" in the sense Oladokun had more experience reading defenses, with progressions, etc.

Kraft's increased production with Oladokun is also a variable to consider, but that's complicated by Spring injury that limited reps with Gronowski

[LetsGoRabbits]

It is funny that Zimmer thinks that SDSU QB this fall season was better than in the spring season. He did put up better passing numbers but his total yards were less/game. his TD to TO ratio was worse and I THINK that he had the same weapons at last spring so if you think players improve (at all) that would help in the fall season. One QB was the conference player of the year and the other wasn't. He was good but not first team all conference and maybe an all-american.



I still blame TC's finger injury on the coaching staff leaving him in there when the game was out of hand. A defender was called for roughing the passer on him and then during the next play (I think) he was roughed again when he was running out of bounds. That is when he got injured.
There are many coaches that leave starters in too long in my book. They want the players to put up big stats even though it could hurt the team. You don't want to count on injuries but how about getting younger players experince for future seasons and for just in case somebody gets injured.

i am not sure if you are trying to counter this or if you are just making an observation/ relaying what zimmer said

i have not looked at the statistics but statistics often do not tell the whole story

Is there anyone who does not agree that Gronowski is a better player and we are a better team with him? maybe there is but i from my perspective, we are definitely better with Mark behind center. maybe if you look at the whole season and stats. the stats equal out because the first game in the spring was the first college game Mark ever played and it took him some time to grow into the job, but he was DEFINITELY a difference maker for us by the end of the year.

i feel like i could say a lot more about this, but i am not going to, at least now anyway. AND i really really do NOT mean to sound like i do not appreciate Chris. i have said it many times we were blessed to have him. he simply was not as good for us as Mark was at the end of the spring.

[LetsGoRabbits]

Here is a thought i have had since yesterday. and i guess that the disappointment of losing and all the questioning of coaches and i guess simply OTHER questions have taken more space in the thoughts and the conversation

but does anyone else wonder what the heck was up with Davis yesterday. not trying to lay blame on him or any player. i have no doubt that they all gave everything they had. but WOW i do not think we have ever seen Davis look like that

i guess i do not remember his first action last year maybe it took him a little time to gain his rhythm but basically he has been a total savage since the SIU regular season game in the spring and in the playoffs he has been UNSTOPPABLE. run for something like 950 yards and double digit TD in 7 career playoff games going into yesterday

but he was NOT that guy yesterday. he got stopped 4, 5, 6 times by the first tackler. he almost always finishes his run falling forward gaining at least an additional yard if not 2 or 3, but he was knocked backward several times yesterday

anyway just wondered if anyone was wondering and surprised i had not seen one word anywhere about it!!! again not trying at all to blame the loss on him but tomorrow was sure a bad day for him to have probably by far his worst day as a rabbit

BUMMER for him bummer for the team bummer for the coaches who have to have people calling for their heads. somehow it was the coaches fault that he was not close to himself yesterday i guess. maybe sometimes it really is just not your day and yesterday was a crappy day to have that

[jakejc795]

Here is a thought i have had since yesterday. and i guess that the disappointment of losing and all the questioning of coaches and i guess simply OTHER questions have taken more space in the thoughts and the conversation

but does anyone else wonder what the heck was up with Davis yesterday. not trying to lay blame on him or any player. i have no doubt that they all gave everything they had. but WOW i do not think we have ever seen Davis look like that

i guess i do not remember his first action last year maybe it took him a little time to gain his rhythm but basically he has been a total savage since the SIU regular season game in the spring and in the playoffs he has been UNSTOPPABLE. run for something like 950 yards and double digit TD in 7 career playoff games going into yesterday

but he was NOT that guy yesterday. he got stopped 4, 5, 6 times by the first tackler. he almost always finishes his run falling forward gaining at least an additional yard if not 2 or 3, but he was knocked backward several times yesterday

anyway just wondered if anyone was wondering and surprised i had not seen one word anywhere about it!!! again not trying at all to blame the loss on him but tomorrow was sure a bad day for him to have probably by far his worst day as a rabbit

BUMMER for him bummer for the team bummer for the coaches who have to have people calling for their heads. somehow it was the coaches fault that he was not close to himself yesterday i guess. maybe sometimes it really is just not your day and yesterday was a crappy day to have that

While I think Davis is a vastly superior back, the Bobcats held the Bearkats' Jefferson in check too

[LetsGoRabbits]

AND as long as i am talking about sometimes not your day

do we realize that EVERY single break and bounce went in favor of MSU

i mean was there ONE questionable or borderline or 50/ 50 call that favored the rabbits

not saying that the officials made a bunch of terrible calls. truly it was just every close or tough call favored MSU

several spots. the spot on chris scramble. there is plenty of other conversation about the scramble and it seems by his reaction he somehow did not recognize where the stick was. but the spot was off by at least a yard

the 4th down spot leading to their FG

several other spots

the WR almost being out of bounds on the long first half TD catch and then in the 4th JJ not being able to catch the ball clean and going out instead of scoring a TD with 4 minutes left

MSU QB fumble bouncing back into his stomach as he is laying on the ground

TRULY not trying to complain about officiating or anything else but as the game was going and all that crap kept happening it was tough to not think WOW somebody really needs to do something BIG to shake things up because we are NOT going to get ANY BREAKS today

honestly, i think if we played them again next week with the same players and at thier place again. even with them having the confidence of beating us once. it is very hard to imagine they get all those bounces again. i give them all the credit and congratulations they deserve for winning the game!! they took care of business yesterday

seems a good chance we have to face them some more in the next few years. the QB is and will probably continue to be a problem. but i more than like our chances

seems like three states in the north central part of the country are probably going to be the center of the FCS world for a while. there are going to be some battles between the Dakota and montana schools

[LetsGoRabbits]

While I think Davis is a vastly superior back, the Bobcats held the Bearkats' Jefferson in check too

well i think they have held a lot of good and very good RB in check, but nobody has held our guys in check. i guess UNI held PSJ down this year and i think they need to be recognized as a defense that is probably as good or better than any other in the country

but Davis did not play that game and correct me if i am wrong but i do NOT recall him getting stopped by the first tackler almost ever. and i do not recall him consistently getting knocked backwards

IDK were they somehow geared up for something about his style and not ready for PSJ?????

anyway i do not have an answer, but it was very strange

i mean we have faced LOTS of defenses who were supposed to be very hard or not possible to run on: Deleware, CSU, Sac ST, Nova, and probably others and none of them have stopped him/ us

i give MSU credit for playing well from start to finish and for winning the game, but i am going to stop short of giving them total credit for Davis being so far off his usual game