GDT: South Dakota (10/26/24)

[jbjack]

I keep waiting for the offense to gel. It is game 8. I am hopeful that the offense gets it together, but I am losing faith. We scored 24 against Augie, their defense must be near the top of the FCS as well.

This. Were 2/3rds of the way through the season. The offense is a minimal downfield threat, seems one dimensional, and the play calling predictable and unimaginative. There doesn't seem to be one glaring issue requiring a tweak but pandemic issues. It's hard to see how, at this point in the season, the offense gets turned around. Sure, NDSU and jSD have excellent defenses, but the issues have been apparent, even against lesser competition. Augie obviously stands out, but frankly each game. Is there a game where it appears that the offense was firing on all cylinders? Really, there's only been relativity. "Offense looked better;" "Gronowski looked better;" etc.

I was chastised early in the season for suggesting that this team doesn't pass the eye test. The view is no different 4 or 5 games later. Fortunately for this team, there isn't an SDSU or NDSU of yore that is head and shoulders better then the rest of the FCS. The top is nowhere near as good as it has been (sorry jSD fans, your team hasn't closed the gap so much as SDSU has fallen back to the pack). It seems like another championship is there for the taking if the offense performs even marginally better but so far it seems like we're going to live or die by doing what hasn't been working and that will end up costing the team another championship.

[Cowbell]

Sure are a lot of people weighing in on the lack of offense. I get it and realize we are/were spoiled. The MVFC 2023 first team offense included Isiah Davis, Jadon Janke, Garret Greenfield and Mason McCormick . All gone. Add to that second team TE Zach Heins and honorable mention Jaxon Janke. Both gone. That was an incredible amount of talent. What did we think was going to happen to our offensive production? Yeah, spoiled.

[OldHare]

The offense seems more like the pre Eck scheme which fell in love with the pass to the WR out in the flat for a gain of 1. The nice holes left behind from the offensive line of 2023 are frustrating not. to see. The running backs should be talented enough to keep defenses in tight & passing possible. The disappearing TE game is also frustrating, but I do not know the talent that well. New players and new coaches may require taming the offense.

[jbjack]

Sure are a lot of people weighing in on the lack of offense. I get it and realize we are/were spoiled. The MVFC 2023 first team offense included Isiah Davis, Jadon Janke, Garret Greenfield and Mason McCormick . All gone. Add to that second team TE Zach Heins and honorable mention Jaxon Janke. Both gone. That was an incredible amount of talent. What did we think was going to happen to our offensive production? Yeah, spoiled.

Nobody expected a 2023 repeat. But it's not as if the cupboard is completely bare and we're starting from scratch. We have a Walter Payton Award winning QB. The nations top center. The Johnson brothers who looked like the best 2 and 3 backs in the nation. Wilde had a ton of PT and big catches in '23 at receiver. I'll ask it again, after 8 games, can we point to one game where we can say that the offense was firing on all cylinders?

I will walk back my thoughts that after 8 games, we shouldn't expect a change. In '22, it seemed like the offense sputtered up to and including the NDSU game, even in victory (although that was after 6 games, I believe). After that, we seemed to find our legs. But that team was loaded with all of the aforementioned all-time Jackrabbits. Can that happen again? It seems less likely but not impossible. I'd like to see some kind of change of course. I'm not sure what that is, though. Give Fruend play calling duties?

[Prairiehaas]

UNI game 390 yds total offense, 139 yds rushing, 4.1 yds/carry, 251 yds passing, 9.7 yds/catch, 41 pts. YSU game 557 yds total offense, 404 yds rushing, 16 yds/carry, 63 points and the team took their foot off the gas in the second quarter. SE LA 417 yds total offense, 341 rushing, 9.5 yds/carry, 41 points. UIW 515 yds total offense, 230 rushing, 5.5 yds/carry,, 285 passing, 8.9 yds/catch, 45 pts.

Certainly the passing game has been slow to develop. The entire starting receiver corp graduated. That said the passing efficiency has improved three of the past 4 games with only 1 INT.

This thread is starting to have the tone of mens basketball threads.