Game Thread: University of Northern Iowa

[UTH]

Re: Game Thread: University of Northern Iowa

As much as most would like to, we can't really knock the roof off of the FFD. They have been making some minor improvements, though. The piped-in music is now at an absolute minimum. The Gold Star Band is now significantly bigger and no longer competes for 'playing time'.

The announcer does still try to tell people when they need to cheer / make noise / congratulate 'That Bison Defense!'. Don't wan't to speak for all of BV, but I will anyway. It is insulting to the fans and it's safe to bet that all of BV agrees that this behavior also needs to stop.

[JimmieTuba]

Re: Game Thread: University of Northern Iowa

I made the trip from Peoria, via Iowa City, to the UNI-Dome. Second time I have been there, the first was for HS band day. My overall impression of the game was that it was poorly played by both sides. I was not impressed with either teams ability, and my friend and some UNI students we know felt the same.

The defense needed to get to Grace in the first quarter. The fact that they didn't allowed him to do what he pleased the rest of the game. The offense needs to learn how to snap the ball to catch the defense offside. I am sure all of you there know the play I am talking about. The right UNI DE gave us that first down twice if the center/Berry snaps the ball.

Best part of the game wasn't a play. A little kid no older than 6 (so my friend says) sat right in front of us. All of our Go Jacks/Rabbits/Blue cheers were echoed by his Go Panthers cheer. It was great! A lot of the people around us got a kick out of it. I had to admire his spirit.

[JimmyJack]

Re: Game Thread: University of Northern Iowa

The offense needs to learn how to snap the ball to catch the defense offside.

Stig talked about that when we shot his show last night. There's a gray area in the rules. Sometimes the refs will call offsides when you snap the ball, and sometimes they won't. And sometimes they'll call illegal procedure on you. It's not a certain defensive penalty like it should be. Because of that, the coaches have taught the centers not to snap the ball when the other team jumps. If you snap it and the refs don't call offsides, either your QB is standing there holding the ball with nothing to do with it or you fumble the snap and the other team has a chance to get the ball. So it's a conscious decision by the coaches and not a mistake. Sure you might get a free five yards. Or one of several bad things happen.

[MilwaukeeJacksAlum]

Re: Game Thread: University of Northern Iowa

Stig talked about that when we shot his show last night. There's a gray area in the rules. Sometimes the refs will call offsides when you snap the ball, and sometimes they won't. And sometimes they'll call illegal procedure on you. It's not a certain defensive penalty like it should be. Because of that, the coaches have taught the centers not to snap the ball when the other team jumps. If you snap it and the refs don't call offsides, either your QB is standing there holding the ball with nothing to do with it or you fumble the snap and the other team has a chance to get the ball. So it's a conscious decision by the coaches and not a mistake. Sure you might get a free five yards. Or one of several bad things happen.

The thing that highlighted all of that was that UNI did the same play against us later in the game and it worked. We moved, their center snapped the ball and we get 5 yards against us. I know Stig was mad on the sideline when we didn't snap it there.

[MilwaukeeJacksAlum]

Re: Game Thread: University of Northern Iowa

Couple of things that stood out for me from the game:

1) We have good depth at a lot of positions and a lot of talent at that depth, but the talent is also pretty young/inexperienced. Our inexperience really shows in the secondary. Playing defense is hard enough because it's all reactionary. It's infinitely more difficult to play defense when your head is filled with "what coverage are we in, what formation are they coming out in, what is my read, do I have help over the top, etc..." Our young players looked like that alot Saturday night. Lots of ability, but playing "not to make a mistake" instead of playing to make a play. If that makes any sense. Doubt rears its ugly head and makes even the best players look bad.

2) Our running game has been a non-factor for 6 quarters now. We have the ability to run and we have the horses to block up front. We proved that with the first 2 1/2 games we played. Last year we developed new wrinkles throughout the season to keep the running game fresh. It may be that time again.

3) Mobile QB's kill us. I wish at some point against WIU and UNI we would have spent an entire series just blitzing the crap out of the opposing QB. Arguably, WIU's QB may have been able to make us pay with his arm, but UNI's wouldn't. He killed us with his legs and hitting the occasional WR who sprung open when he was on the move. You have to challenge that guy to beat you with his arm and decision making ability. See if he can find an open reciever or break contain when he has 6-7 guys rushing him. The alternative was sitting back and hoping our D-line could get pressure and our zone would defend all routes. That wasn't working. Blitz, blitz, blitz. I think we tend to get too vanilla on D sometimes. There comes a time when a good blitz just to get it in the QB's head really does wonders. Again, the ugly word "doubt" starts creeping into his head and he may make a mistake to our benefit. You never know if you don't try. As proof, the UNI QB made a couple dumb mistakes early in the game. Both happened when he was faced with pressure.

4) Dropped passes. Man, we drop too many passes. When we run a pass scheme that includes lots of quick hitters and short passing routes, the WR's HAVE to catch the ball so the QB has confidence he can make the tough throw and it won't end up with an OSCI. I think we need to stretch opposing D's more with the long pass, but if we don't want to go that way, then we definitely need to catch the ball.

5) We have a really good/talented team. One loss or one win does not a season make. We have a ton of talent and hard-nosed football players. We are well coached and who are putting the players in the position to win the vast majority of the time (understanding even coaches make mistakes). Our main concern at this point is to get everyone healthy. A nice dominating victory against SFA sure would be nice, too. Man, if we could have just fit Culver into our schedule...

[Nidaros]

Re: Game Thread: University of Northern Iowa

Couple of things that stood out for me from the game:

1) We have good depth at a lot of positions and a lot of talent at that depth, but the talent is also pretty young/inexperienced. Our inexperience really shows in the secondary. Playing defense is hard enough because it's all reactionary. It's infinitely more difficult to play defense when your head is filled with "what coverage are we in, what formation are they coming out in, what is my read, do I have help over the top, etc..." Our young players looked like that alot Saturday night. Lots of ability, but playing "not to make a mistake" instead of playing to make a play. If that makes any sense. Doubt rears its ugly head and makes even the best players look bad.

2) Our running game has been a non-factor for 6 quarters now. We have the ability to run and we have the horses to block up front. We proved that with the first 2 1/2 games we played. Last year we developed new wrinkles throughout the season to keep the running game fresh. It may be that time again.

3) Mobile QB's kill us. I wish at some point against WIU and UNI we would have spent an entire series just blitzing the crap out of the opposing QB. Arguably, WIU's QB may have been able to make us pay with his arm, but UNI's wouldn't. He killed us with his legs and hitting the occasional WR who sprung open when he was on the move. You have to challenge that guy to beat you with his arm and decision making ability. See if he can find an open reciever or break contain when he has 6-7 guys rushing him. The alternative was sitting back and hoping our D-line could get pressure and our zone would defend all routes. That wasn't working. Blitz, blitz, blitz. I think we tend to get too vanilla on D sometimes. There comes a time when a good blitz just to get it in the QB's head really does wonders. Again, the ugly word "doubt" starts creeping into his head and he may make a mistake to our benefit. You never know if you don't try. As proof, the UNI QB made a couple dumb mistakes early in the game. Both happened when he was faced with pressure.

4) Dropped passes. Man, we drop too many passes. When we run a pass scheme that includes lots of quick hitters and short passing routes, the WR's HAVE to catch the ball so the QB has confidence he can make the tough throw and it won't end up with an OSCI. I think we need to stretch opposing D's more with the long pass, but if we don't want to go that way, then we definitely need to catch the ball.

5) We have a really good/talented team. One loss or one win does not a season make. We have a ton of talent and hard-nosed football players. We are well coached and who are putting the players in the position to win the vast majority of the time (understanding even coaches make mistakes). Our main concern at this point is to get everyone healthy. A nice dominating victory against SFA sure would be nice, too. Man, if we could have just fit Culver into our schedule...

A very excellent analysis coming from a recent player. Rep points torwards another green square.

[JimmieTuba]

Re: Game Thread: University of Northern Iowa

Stig talked about that when we shot his show last night. There's a gray area in the rules. Sometimes the refs will call offsides when you snap the ball, and sometimes they won't. And sometimes they'll call illegal procedure on you. It's not a certain defensive penalty like it should be. Because of that, the coaches have taught the centers not to snap the ball when the other team jumps. If you snap it and the refs don't call offsides, either your QB is standing there holding the ball with nothing to do with it or you fumble the snap and the other team has a chance to get the ball. So it's a conscious decision by the coaches and not a mistake. Sure you might get a free five yards. Or one of several bad things happen.

If everyone is on the same page on the offensive line, there is no question. The guy was offsides if the ball was snapped. Berry was obviously trying to get them to jump and he was successful. They just didn't make contact, so you have to snap the ball. Couldn't be any simpler.

[CapnCat]

Re: Game Thread: University of Northern Iowa

Disappointing defense there. Anybody else already sick of the sirens and other piped in noise at the UNI-Dome? I'm also tired of the Panthers tendency to celebrate after every play like they just won the Super Bowl.

Figure out something here and get a score back. Need to figure out how to rush the ball. -10 yards so far.

[CapnCat]

Re: Game Thread: University of Northern Iowa

Piss off. They used base sets and played it as conservative as they could to not show anything for the conference season. You were the warm up. Go play on your board with the other 5 people that post there and leave us to the big boy football.

LMFatAO!!!!!

[CapnCat]

Re: Game Thread: University of Northern Iowa

Guys,
Cap'n Cat observations:
The Jacks are a solid team.
Someone said above that the MVCF is a bigtime conference. Damned right.
New teams sometimes have to sit at the kid's table for a couple seasons.
The noise in the Dome some of you were complaining about is no worse than in the previous 30 years. Writing letters to the commish about it when your administration has more restrictions at your home is just sour grapes. Take the loss and move on. The really good teams overcome that crap, as has Southern Illinois and the occasional lucky win by Western Illinois and close callsby others.
Be proud of your team and be wary of the overconfidence that ran rampant here last week. UNI is, and has been for years, a terrific team.

Go Jacks!

[Nidaros]

Re: Game Thread: University of Northern Iowa

Guys,
Cap'n Cat observations:
The Jacks are a solid team.
Someone said above that the MVCF is a bigtime conference. Damned right.
New teams sometimes have to sit at the kid's table for a couple seasons.
The noise in the Dome some of you were complaining about is no worse than in the previous 30 years. Writing letters to the commish about it when your administration has more restrictions at your home is just sour grapes. Take the loss and move on. The really good teams overcome that crap, as has Southern Illinois and the occasional lucky win by Western Illinois and close callsby others.
Be proud of your team and be wary of the overconfidence that ran rampant here last week. UNI is, and has been for years, a terrific team.

Go Jacks!

Captn and Cat:

I was not at the game nor have I taken the opportunity to meet you person. My loss I guess, but I do agree with your comments. I personally feel SDSU has been outplayed the last two years. Corey Lewis has been a big factor in the last three games that we have played. I know his hometown of St Paul Nebraska, and I wonder why we did not have him on our recruiting list.

Also SDSU has not had a Grace type qb for years. I thinking Ted Wahl was the last one that resembles him in his ability to run.

I dont know if we are good as USD, but I hope we are. Maybe you could comment on that as you probably saw both games.

I am thinking if there had been a fifth quarter, we might have found a way to win

[JimmyJack]

Re: Game Thread: University of Northern Iowa

Guys,
Cap'n Cat observations:
The Jacks are a solid team.
Someone said above that the MVCF is a bigtime conference. Damned right.
New teams sometimes have to sit at the kid's table for a couple seasons.
The noise in the Dome some of you were complaining about is no worse than in the previous 30 years. Writing letters to the commish about it when your administration has more restrictions at your home is just sour grapes. Take the loss and move on. The really good teams overcome that crap, as has Southern Illinois and the occasional lucky win by Western Illinois and close callsby others.
Be proud of your team and be wary of the overconfidence that ran rampant here last week. UNI is, and has been for years, a terrific team.

Go Jacks!

UNI fans are rightly proud of their football program. And you beat us in the trenches badly on Saturday. But we're not exactly Culver Stockton in this relationship and you're not exactly USC.

The Dome is a great venue, but all those sound effects are a Mickey Mouse distraction that detracts from your tremendous program rather than enhancing it. If you want to play in a pinball machine, that's fine. We don't have to like it. Many NDSU fans dislike all the silly distractions in their dome and prefer something a little more classic as a football environment. That's simply a matter of opinion. Personally, I'll take marching bands and fan-prompted cheers over piped in electronic sound effects any day. What is it about domes that cause athletic programs to turn to that piped in "atmosphere"? It's not like UNI doesn't have 16,000 fans there every week to make noise and create atmosphere.

As for overconfidence, I think you're using the wrong term. You're suggesting there's something wrong with fans being hopeful that their team will win? Is it overconfidence to pay tribute to a great program (UNI) but expect your own team to have a chance? Nobody here was running down UNI. Everybody I saw here was offering tributes to what a great program UNI runs. But of course as SDSU fans, most of us were hopeful that we'd win. The last term I would attach to a John Stiegelmeier football program (and make no mistake, the fans follow his lead) is overconfident. Ask our former Great West conference-mates whether SDSU has classy fans who give credit where it's due. Don't try to turn our fan base into some bunch of blind partisans. We're not like that. We have a large and vocal fan base, but nobody harbors any illusions about our invincibility at this early stage in our FCS history.

As a side note, and I'm not even sure how this became part of this discussion: USD has not yet won a single FCS game. So any discussion of which program is better, besides being irrelevant, is premature.

[CapnCat]

Re: Game Thread: University of Northern Iowa

UNI fans are rightly proud of their football program. And you beat us in the trenches badly on Saturday. But we're not exactly Culver Stockton in this relationship and you're not exactly USC.

The Dome is a great venue, but all those sound effects are a Mickey Mouse distraction that detracts from your tremendous program rather than enhancing it. If you want to play in a pinball machine, that's fine. We don't have to like it. Many NDSU fans dislike all the silly distractions in their dome and prefer something a little more classic as a football environment. That's simply a matter of opinion. Personally, I'll take marching bands and fan-prompted cheers over piped in electronic sound effects any day. What is it about domes that cause athletic programs to turn to that piped in "atmosphere"? It's not like UNI doesn't have 16,000 fans there every week to make noise and create atmosphere.

As for overconfidence, I think you're using the wrong term. You're suggesting there's something wrong with fans being hopeful that their team will win? Is it overconfidence to pay tribute to a great program (UNI) but expect your own team to have a chance? Nobody here was running down UNI. Everybody I saw here was offering tributes to what a great program UNI runs. But of course as SDSU fans, most of us were hopeful that we'd win. The last term I would attach to a John Stiegelmeier football program (and make no mistake, the fans follow his lead) is overconfident. Ask our former Great West conference-mates whether SDSU has classy fans who give credit where it's due. Don't try to turn our fan base into some bunch of blind partisans. We're not like that. We have a large and vocal fan base, but nobody harbors any illusions about our invincibility at this early stage in our FCS history.

As a side note, and I'm not even sure how this became part of this discussion: USD has not yet won a single FCS game. So any discussion of which program is better, besides being irrelevant, is premature.

Regarding the bolded, remember that any university putting on a football game is, first and foremost putting on an event, and one from which they hope to build/maintain a fan base and make some cash. It's a show. Don't like it, don't go.

Though they may not be catering you, the more serious football fan, they are catering to the thousands of kids that pack the Dome, most students, parents, alums, etc, all of whom enjoy the spectacle (and keep coming back). That such things do not occur at Brookings does not mean they are bad for UNI or the Herd or, ahem, USC. Use of such multimedia tools is highly effective.

And domes versus outdoors? Who knows? Works for UNI and NDSU......are we to tear them down?

[Nidaros]

Re: Game Thread: University of Northern Iowa

[SIZE=3]
And domes versus outdoors? Who knows? Works for UNI and NDSU......are we to tear them down?

That would make it fair

[JimmyJack]

Re: Game Thread: University of Northern Iowa

Regarding the bolded, remember that any university putting on a football game is, first and foremost putting on an event, and one from which they hope to build/maintain a fan base and make some cash. It's a show. Don't like it, don't go.

Though they may not be catering you, the more serious football fan, they are catering to the thousands of kids that pack the Dome, most students, parents, alums, etc, all of whom enjoy the spectacle (and keep coming back). That such things do not occur at Brookings does not mean they are bad for UNI or the Herd or, ahem, USC. Use of such multimedia tools is highly effective.

And domes versus outdoors? Who knows? Works for UNI and NDSU......are we to tear them down?

Wow. You said it was sour grapes when several people here said they don't like the sound effects. I respond that it's an opinion and that we weren't overconfident about the game, just fans. And I threw in that those kinds of sound effects seem more popular with dome teams, which does seem counterintuitive since there's so much natural sound in domes, particularly full ones like the UNI-Dome.

Now, based on that... somehow I'm against domes in general.

I'm afraid to say anything else for fear I might be labeled as an anti-kitten zealot for disagreeing with a guy named CapnCat.