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!
If every fan had been asked before the season to pick the most likely loss, it's likely that 9 out of 10 would have identified the latest trip to Brookings. The real percentage may be even higher than 90. So the outcome was no surprise, but how it happened needs to be talked about.
Despite finishing with a 3 - nil advantage in turnovers SDSU was only able to win by 17. That's a comfortable margin but there is some missed-opportunity to it. Despite being put behind those eight balls, the defense held them to just three touchdowns. That's respectable. That's indicative of drastic improvement from Grand Forks. That's playoff caliber.
That's not to say that 33 point is some great number to allow. That's a problem, but, considering the circumstances, the total could have been up near 50.
The offense was also clicking better than their 16 points would indicate. Two tipped passes that SDSU players managed to secure and at least one other that could have gone the wrong way will be the next thing that Miller, Hedberg & Roehl have to work on but they may go the rest of the season without three such plays so there is a measure of flukiness to it.
As they're talking it through hopefully a better comeback strategy is anointed. Maybe going no-huddle & hurry-up for a drive, just once. Just one single time. From what Miller has shown this season it seems like he is physically capable of that and for as long as he's been here, it's fair to think he's mentally sharp enough to execute faster.
Then again, they keep going to the check-with-the-sideline thing so maybe not.
Along with the quarterback, the ball carriers will want to put a premium on ball security (which was already true this morning & every other day) should the teams rematch. SDSU's defense's ferocity in punching at the ball will be high on the list. With the four or five times that it was very evidently happening as the tip of the spear, it's laudable that the ball only came loose one time.
Griffin Crosa had been dictionary worthy for Mr. Reliable so while the touchdown-worth of points that the team missed out on hurts, I'm not going to criticize him for one bad game.
One more noteworthy stat is that NDSU finished with 12 more plays in just one more possession. Part of that is a reflection of the difference between the offensive philosophies and effectivenesses but that is 12 more chances that the Bison could have scored so it's something else that they need to look in the mirror at themselves about.
With two games to go there's very little margin for error left but they made strides since the Wreck in the Forks so perhaps this one will be just as good of a prod to the players to keep maximum focus for the rest of the season!
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