I had trouble sleeping last night after watching that game. It literally made me ill.
If we play like we did against Illinois State we can beat NDSU. We have the athletes and the depth to do it. The issue is the fundamentals (on the team) and the play calling in all 3 phases (on the coaches). That is the key to winning this next game.
We cannot turn the ball over, have bad snaps, miss field goals, have false starts, not turn around when a pass is in the air, or play a predictable soft zone defense. We will need an exceptional effort from every position. If we don't shore up the fundamental play of our secondary we will be in for a long day. The DB coach is not getting it done. Peterman could have been called for face guarding that may have resulted in a TD. I can't tell you haow many times I have noticed stupid little things like that that have cost us games. If he turns around we have an INT and the don't get 3 points.
The playcalling on offense must improve. I-AA fan, we have a power game. We are running A-Gap power plays over and over. I know that we are tunning that play to set up play action, but when the box is full, we cannot expect to run the ball like that every single play. Even Tressel knew when to mix it up a little. We are successful with the dive play, but we run it a little bit too much which puts us in a punting situatuon and the Defense is not coached well enough to make the necessary stops. Tressel would run those power plays all day, they are just disguised differently now, but tressel had his best athletes on defense and it was a defense the could turn a game or preserve a victory. We are unable to do that on defense consistently. That is why we must be more creative on offense.
That game was pissed away by bad playcalling on offense and lack of fundamentals all the way around. You can't have those penalties and TO's and expect to win close games. I don't understand why Hess, who is a senior, cannot change the play at the LOS. I saw multiple times yesterday when we got to the line, UNI defenders were showing blitz so Hess would stop the play and look to the sideline and then go back to the LOS only to have the UNI defenders back up like they were going into pass protection. Hess should be able to audible out on his own and run a different play. Looking to the sideline gives the defense time to change their intentions. We should be able to run whatever play we want regardless. We have one of the best QB's in the FCS and the play calling was highschool.
This cannot happen against NDSU.
