It's not a talent issue.

[CYCLNST8]

It's fundamentals and development. Especially with our line play. The battle begins up front, and we have not been competitive since Osemeli. There are plenty of teams that excel without bluechip talent, and they are fundamentally sound at the line of scrimmage. All the best skill players in the world are pretty useless without solid line play.

I am not surprised by the outcome today. That being said, we need to give Mangino time. He wasn't able to transform the Jayhawks overnight. Meanwhile, Wally has a lot of youth on his side of the ball. As I predicted earlier, a squad loaded with freshmen & sophomores & until very recently a walkon, would struggle early on. Wally knows what he's doing, but he really doesn't have the experienced horses he needs right now.

 

[Cychedelia]

Thanks for the level headed post, I have been saying this in other threads. Mangio will get us there we just have been playing football incorrectly for so long that it will take a while. Back to basics, I think we saw some of that in the first quarter. I agree, he needs more time, we all knew this was likely going to be a rough season, and so far it's looking that way. Look for improvements every game though, that is what I'm going to do this season.

 

[DuckDynastyCy]

Biggest concern I saw today was the lack of run blocking by our OL, but our pass blocking started out great! Then we appeared to wear down as the game went on. Same for DL, somewhat expected since we are thin on the DL.

If we want to get serious about Football, we need serious upgrades in talent on both lines. A team that cannot run block gets one dimensional and has to pass will not be successful. Being behind a lot doesn't help that either. Chizik could recruit OL, he just couldn't coach them on the field. Wally needs to hire a LB coach that can get out and recruit on the road. We need some Talent upgrades at LB and DL.

 

[Wesley]

It's fundamentals and development. Especially with our line play. The battle begins up front, and we have not been competitive since Osemeli. There are plenty of teams that excel without bluechip talent, and they are fundamentally sound at the line of scrimmage. All the best skill players in the world are pretty useless without solid line play.

I am not surprised by the outcome today. That being said, we need to give Mangino time. He wasn't able to transform the Jayhawks overnight. Meanwhile, Wally has a lot of youth on his side of the ball. As I predicted earlier, a squad loaded with freshmen & sophomores & until very recently a walkon, would struggle early on. Wally knows what he's doing, but he really doesn't have the experienced horses he needs right now.

Our secondary looked weak and small. No Sims out there.

 

[Wesley]

Biggest concern I saw today was the lack of run blocking by our OL, but our pass blocking started out great! Then we appeared to wear down as the game went on. Same for DL, somewhat expected since we are thin on the DL.

If we want to get serious about Football, we need serious upgrades in talent on both lines. A team that cannot run block gets one dimensional and has to pass will not be successful. Being behind a lot doesn't help that either. Chizik could recruit OL, he just couldn't coach them on the field. Wally needs to hire a LB coach that can get out and recruit on the road. We need some Talent upgrades at LB and DL.

NDSU was better conditioned. Before the game the whole team went through half an hour drill to loosen up. On our side, we lollygagged it. They were organized. We were not pre game and half time. Their organization was better.

 

[UNIGuy4Cy]

Teams like Iowa NDSU and KSU have what we don't, discipline. Some of the big schools lack discipline but they have the talent to overcome it, we lack both.

 

[Rogue52]

There were some other problems out there...

Conditioning
Discipline

 

[atlantacyclone]

I would think that if CPR hadn't done so well his first three seasons.

 

[acgclone]

It's both. Today was lack of talent and coaching.

Talent alone, should keep almost ANY BCS team within 1 score of NDSU at home, but we were blown out. That tells me we have coaching issues as well as talent. It's easy to see that we lack the horses almost across the board.

OL is horrible
QB's are horrible
Wr's are average at best (for BCS as a whole), but below average for the B12
RB's average

DL pretty bad
LB's horrible
Secondary horrible

I don't see much to work with there, but I agree that obviously the coaches need to get off their *ss and figure something out. There's no excuse for getting blown out at home by a team with similar talent.

I'm also disappointed that we seemed to be wilting in the heat (I think it was 76 today during the game). You can't justify that. No excuses for that carp.

 

[DFWClone]

Talent is definitely a problem just not against teams like NDST. Coaching is the problem against teams like this.

When we play actual good teams, then it's both.

 

[Cytation]

I disagree. Our line play is nothing short of pathetic. We're small and slow. The staffs failure to identify good quality lineman on both sides if the ball is the reason we fail. It's the reason Mac failed.
In the last couple years it's seems like they've done better on recruiting but you won't see that for a couple years.

 

[demoncore1031]

Weapons on speed on offense were not used properly. Almost every completed pass was when a WR or RB was posted up. We couldn't get the ball to a guy in stride and let him gain some yards after a catch. Lazard's catch went for 48 yds, every other person with a catch averaged less than 10 yds per catch. I'm wondering where was Bibbs and where was the running game?

 

[CycloneWanderer]

I think the biggest thing that has held our lines back have been attrition for various reasons. It seems like we consistently lose 3 or 4 or 5+ linemen (both sides) every year. It has put us in a position where we have to play people before they are physically ready, which causes them to get injured and then it becomes a nasty self-propagating spiral.

 

[RubyClone]

NDSU was better conditioned. Before the game the whole team went through half an hour drill to loosen up. On our side, we lollygagged it. They were organized. We were not pre game and half time. Their organization was better.

Little disturbing as CPR went on and on during the coaches' night in DSM last week on how they were doing "less' to keep the players fresh.

What bothers me about the OL is - why are we so bad? I get if we lose kids year after year. But who have we really lost since Hicks and Osemele - that was 2011.

 

[Beyerball]

Talent is seriously lacking with this defense. We keep hearing how young we are and I'm tired of it. I sure that next summer we will lose a couple dline unexpectedly because of violating team rules. Bank it.

 

[19210]

Very frustrating watching the LB's trying to tell each other where to go. Running around and playing out of position allows big runs as you aren't plugging holes.

 

[Omaha Cy]

The defense was exposed today with assignments, fundamentals, and inexperience. EVERY damn time NDSU ran some mis-direction, that play popped off for nice yardage. It was maddening.

On the flip side NDSU wasn't biting or over-pursuing on any of that stuff attempted by ISU.

 

[GoClones123]

I see a team without a QB or leader. I know our O-line is so-so but put a

1. Confident
2. Capable
3. Intelligent
4. Leader

Under center and the line would work better. Our QB's have been timid, unfocused, and gun shy for four years. A lot of this is coaching and rotating game by game who will start.

I'm not a professional analyst but I drink a lot of beer and watch a lot of games.

 

[IcSyU]

"Young" in year 5 means you did a ****** job recruiting in 1-3.

 

[Cyclonepride]

I think the loss of Farniok was huge in determining assignments on the line. Maybe that was even bigger than the physical presence we lost.