Offical Postgame thread

[Baffan]

I for the most part agree with what a lot of you have already said. A win, a bit shaky win, but not unexpected. Final score isn't what I was hoping for but more what I thought it would be.

Both offense and defense scared me at times. I think a lot of the problems on offense will be taken care of by next weekend. Defense really scares me though. We let a lot of big plays almost change the game. AA and the rest of the offense seemed to mesh in the second half and although wasn't entirely happy with some of AA's decisions, he still made a lot of great ones. More to come I'm sure.

Highlights of the game for me.

- Sims, seemed like he was in on every play while he was in and I see him being a great threat come Big 12 play.

- Special Teams, no longer do we have to cross our fingers for field goals.

- The play where the Bison blitzed and AA immediately threw the ball to Hamilton. That is the kind of play making ability I like to see from AA and the receivers

- Coaching!!!! Although I think the held a lot back, I think 1 penalty at the end and getting the plays in was huge improvement from last year. I really think tonight showed night and day difference in good coaching (PR Crew) and horrible coaching (GC Crew)

 

[atlantacyclone]

If we beat Iowa then I think that we are looking really good. I think that it will either be a close win for the good guys or something that we would want to forget. ISU WILL WIN....

 

[gocubs2118]

After this game, I hope the opening game on Thursday nights are here to stay. People can't use the attendance excuse anymore.

 

[tufnel]

I hope we show steady improvement throughout the year... period.

 

[CyCrazy]

After this game, I hope the opening game on Thursday nights are here to stay. People can't use the attendance excuse anymore.

Nope that was one hell of a crowd tonite, i was actually surprised it was that big. Largest total since 87 for an opening game (and that was iowa)

 

[Psyclone Brian]

Another thing I think we need to remember is the fact that NDSU also had months to prepare for this game, and gave it their best shot. And as weak as our defense looked (at times), they handled it pretty well.

 

[bigcyfan82]

O'connel =

why does our free saftey suck again this year??

 

[Psyclone Brian]

O'connel =

why does our free saftey suck again this year??

yeah, I wanna know this too!

 

[TheHelgo]

Nope that was one hell of a crowd tonite, i was actually surprised it was that big. Largest total since 87 for an opening game (and that was iowa)

what was the total? pollard seemed real pleased during the half time interview

 

[iowastatefan1929]

defense will struggle this year; team speed not good; overall the consistency was impressive; never let them get too close; never got too far ahead. very good to see special teams not make mistakes. 2-5 wins; defense has major issues sadly to say :sad:; oh well! isu is lucky that ndsu was not uni; uni would have been much closer. overall given the situation though it was good to see a win.

 

[iowastatefan1929]

yeah, I wanna know this too!

what happened on the last td for ndsu; lj was back there but someone was got played big time. that will not be the first time that happens this year:smile:

 

[Gnomeborg]

I think it will be better if the headphones in the booth are working.

And did anyone think we were holding back part of the playbook?

I think it was extremely clear that we didn't even turn past the first page of the playbook tonight.

 

[Tornado man]

oh well! isu is lucky that ndsu was not uni; uni would have been much closer.

I would agree with this; I'm glad we don't play UNI, at least not early in the season. Very few starters for NDSU could do the same for UNI.

 

[mj4cy]

Wasn't sims the dude that was at OU for awhile?

 

[iowastatefan1929]

I think it was extremely clear that we didn't even turn past the first page of the playbook tonight.

ya know; we here the same thing every year; i honestly think it is kinda ******** because every team does this so it actually cancels itself out... same thing about most improvement from week 1 and week 2; macarney said that every year :wink:; but the same goes for every team; but it seem isu actually gets worse or stays the same as the year goes on. iowa on the other hand suckz till week 4 or 5 and by the end they are usually pretty tough...

 

[richey24]

I loved how few penalties we committed, make the other team beat us, don't help them. Arnaud looked really anxious for most of the game, but especially the first half. Threw some passes behind receivers, missed some easy throws, did throw a nice ball to Hamilton that was dropped. A-Rob was solid, great moves, good north-south movement.

My favorite play I think was the read that Arnaud and Hamilton made on the blitz in I think the 3rd quarter(?) Showed a lot of confidence in each other and you could tell they both knew what they were doing.

Defense was very blah. I agree with the sentiment that Sims is a stud, he was all over the field, and made some very sure tackles. LJ also played well, defended a few passes nicely. Our front four needs to play more disciplined, not lose containment so much.

 

[CycloneErik]

what was the total? pollard seemed real pleased during the half time interview

Over 48,000. Place was just packed. I actually thought it would be higher from what I was seeing, though I'm terrible at gauging these things.

I thought the offense looked rusty. I wondered if the headset problem offered more of a headache than we're admitting, and if we ended up with WRs playing in different spots with Sed out of there. I don't know if we did, but I'm betting that Sed was going to see a whole lot of playing time that he had to be subbed for.

The defense seemed very passive, but maybe that was the whole reading and reacting idea.

Special teams are much more solid than we've been seeing, and that's a nice thing. No worried moments in any facet there.

And if Hamilton catches that 1st TD (which would have gotten him to 3 in the end), then I don't lose over a million credits.:wideeyed: Oh, well. Win as a homer, lose as a homer.

It was a nice win. I'm glad we got it. It's not as explosive as it would have been in my dreamworld, but it was something that would be reasonably expected.

Hats off to NDSU. They showed up to play, and gave it all they had.

 

[Istate]

The only excuse worse than Iowa's 'the second string guy is better than the first stringer' is ISU's 'we were holding back the playbook.' We hear it every year after a close win, and yet, we come to find out we run about everything the offense is capable of running during that same game. It's stupid to say and inaccurate.

1) Sims looked good. How in the world is he the weakest link in Kansas's recruiting class? He makes our defense better and may be ISU's best player.

2) Arob looked excellent. He attacked the LOS and made decisive cuts. I don't know if he can hold up for an entire year, but he looked much better to me than he did last year.

3) Banks is in position to make a ton of plays but someone needs to tell him that his cast is off now, and he can use his arms to make a tackle.

4) Our special teams might be the difference between 3 and 5 wins this year...to the positive for once

5) Money is what I was told this summer. A great athlete that has a ways to go to be a solid receiver against Big 12 defenses.

6) NDSU and SDSU have terrible qb's

7) We'll blitz the heck out of Iowa next week with eight in the box and see if they have a WR that can beat us.

 

[Tre4ISU]

One more thing-NO PENALTIES. This is huge to me. This means we are a disciplined team. A team that doesn't get out of position and then try to bail themselves out. Even on their big plays we weren't neccessarily out of position, we just missed tackles. On the offensive end, did we have a game last year w/o a false start or delay of game because we didn't know how to get a play in? I only recall us taking one timeout because of confusion on offense tonight but I may be wrong. This was the first game and we know how to get plays in which is nice to have. I really though when we got in a good rythme in the no huddle, we were pretty organized. I agree about O'Connell, but what else do we really have? I wouldn't mind seeing Sims and Smith back there, but then we are awfully short. I really think we beat the Hawkeyes. The good thing about this game being somewhat disappointing is that the guys will get themselves ready and in no way be complacent although I doubt they would be anyway. CYCLONE POWER

 

[dustinal]

what was the total? pollard seemed real pleased during the half time interview

Over 48,000. Place was just packed. I actually thought it would be higher from what I was seeing, though I'm terrible at gauging these things.

They said on the PA system it was the highest attendance for an opener since Iowa in '87. That ought to put to rest the idea that fewer people attend a Thursday opener than a Saturday.