The journey to Texas has 11 pre-scheduled stops with only one break between now & late November. There will be twists, turns & trouble along the route but through it all the Herd will progress. Following each game that progress will be analyzed. As great as the destination is, enjoy the weekly pit stops along the way!
A pessimist might focus on the 13 - 3 start to the game.
An optimist might prioritize that from that deficit they finished with a 28 - 13 surge.
Those who don't want to be strictly one or the other would acknowledge both & then proceed.
Well would you like at that 😏.
As was anticipated, NDSU was the better team and by much more than the final score would indicate. Had the team not coughed up the ball four times, with three ending up in Sycamore hands, the score would have been different by at least one touchdown. A 12-point victory looks a lot better than scraping by for the fiver that they managed.
It also can't be ruled out that the latest slow start could have been influenced by the mammoth game on the North side next Saturday. Coach Entz is consistent in preaching the 1-0 message but 18, 19 & 20 year olds may not have it all the way down pat (and understandably so). It should go without saying, but I'll say it anyway - if they lay the same sort of egg against the Bunnies that they did today they may not be able to get out of the hole.
In the event that they aren't able to strike first and strike often they will need more of the step-up that TaMerik Williams & Zach Mathis showed. 62 of Mathis' 88 yards receiving & his score came in the fourth quarter. That's clutchness we haven't seen since Christian Watson moved on. When compared to what Williams did Mathis' performance just becomes a nice footnote though. The Human Rhino has yet to hit three rushing scores in a game, Williams eclipsed the number while setting a new bar for himself with his 145 yards on the ground.
Hunter Luepke had a nifty 77 yards but he was clearly made the second fiddle this week. The performances by both the stars of the game should make it that much more difficult for the next opponent to game plan how to stop the offense, while adding more pressure to them to get going quickly.
As for the defense, James Kaczor & Will Mostaert are about the only two who deserve to be recognized. The former got there by registering a pair of sacks while the latter added one take-down and a blocked field goal. It wasn't a bad performance per se, it just lacked the sort of dominance that should be achieved against one-win opponents this deep into the season.
Now we can put it to bed & look forward to the most anticipated game of the year!
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