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!
As hard as last week was to stomach, Western Illinois' last visit to the Dome was a complete 180. The running game harkened back to games gone by. The quarterbacks just played to protect the ball & keep the offense moving. The offensive line kept them upright on all but one play. The defense pummeled their guy to six total sacks and most importantly kept them off the scoreboard until members of the third & fourth waves had hit the field.
It was a shutout
And a total shutdown
Exactly what a playoff-minded operation should do to a winless one
Thanks to Barika Kpeenu, TK Marshall & Raja Nelson thumping into the end zone six times the game was never in doubt.
Those six scores played a big role in the cherry on top - NDSU never had to punt. That's right, they never had to kick to the team they were stomping & booting out! The only possessions that didn't end in points came in the fourth quarter as the third & fourth string quarterbacks took the play calls.
But for all of that, it's just as short-sighted to get overly excited by the win as to be deflated by the losses. Since fan is still short for fanatic, that's going to fall on plenty of deaf ears but is nonetheless a good approach for this season.
We have a decent idea what this year's team is capable of but the most attractive thing about sports is the unexpected. Before the clock runs out in Cedar Falls this squad will have managed a couple of surprises for us. That alone should help fuel the fire to & through Brookings.
Maybe the surprises won't be as whole-scale as today's performance but here's hoping they will be as enjoyable! With one more tune-up game on the horizon, Entz & company may already have ideas which wrinkles will build on today's coin-flip decision & the called two-point conversion play.
The play not being counted was also indicative of the team's biggest issue - infractions. They tallied an average of more than 10 yards/penalty. Getting that far behind the sticks would be an issue for teams that run & gun, much less one that wants to perform in an older fashion.
Along with that, the ball hit the turf four different times during their possessions. Only one ended up with Western but counting on the ball to bounce that favorably is like lottery odds. Leatherneck players can take some of the credit for that, it's not like the Bison guys were dropping the ball like it's New Year's Eve, but it was a second problem which will need to be addressed over the next two weeks.
If they aren't able to be sharper with the details when the competition is closer to even then this one will be all of a flash in the pan.
Comments