Get up....It's GAMEDAY!!!!

[ST_Lawson]

well, not OUR gameday, but there is football....being played....on ESPN....by a MVFC team....today!

In just over 18 hours (from when I'm posting this), NDSU takes on Charleston Southern at the Fargodome for the ESPN FCS Kickoff game. 6:30 PM Central time on Saturday evening on ESPN (the main one).

I know I'll be watching. Football is back, baby!

[wiu712]

The college football season actually began Friday night this year with California vs Hawaii on ESPN. This game was played in Sydney, Australia where it was Saturday afternoon.

The Cal Bears won the game 51-31.

The area college football season gets started tonight with Culver-Stockton hosting Mid-America Nazarene at 6PM in Canton, MO.

Culver-Stockton has done a lot of work to upgrade their football stadium. A turf field was installed in 2014. The stadium originally contained concrete bleachers with a seating capacity of 1,563. However, C-SC purchased chair-back seats from the old Arrowhead Stadium, home of the Kansas City Chiefs, in 2003 and the stadium now has a capacity of 1,800 spectators.

[ST_Lawson]

Right, and actually, I had that game on TV while listening to the Cubs game and finishing up the game previews. I was really more referring to "my" brand of football...FCS football. I just don't really get as excited about a Cal vs Hawaii game as I do about a NDSU vs Charleston Southern game.

[ST_Lawson]

I gotta say, I expected a NDSU blowout, but so far...a very defensive battle.

NDSU and CSU are all tied up at halftime 3-3 (NDSU's 3 coming on a FG at the end of the first half).

[ST_Lawson]

What a game...NDSU ended up winning, but only by a TD and it took them into OT to do it (24-17): http://www.espn.com/college-football/ga ... =400873307

I'm very impressed with what CSU did....very nearly taking down the Bison at home.
NDSU had a few key mistakes that helped, but CSU was playing at 100% the entire game.

Now, the question is, is NDSU really a step down from where they have been the past few years...or was this just "opening day jitters" and Stick and the crew will be back to their usual form by their next game? If what they did yesterday was indicative of how they're going to play all season, then I may have to revise my earlier prediction of our game with them....although I'd like to see one or two more games of theirs to be sure.

[wiu712]

The MVFC will have another televised game on Saturday (Sept 3):
South Dakota State at TCU
7PM on Fox Sports-Midwest

[leatherneckcountry]

We also have to remember they lost to Montana in the 1st week last season before demolishing them in the playoffs also another thing to remember is we are starting to get to the point where a lot of guys that where Bohl guys are now gone.

[sealhall74]

Well, NDSU did pretty much dominate the major stat categories. The only one they did not was punting. My initial impression is that they did not control the line of scrimmage, especially on offense, leading to those long time consuming drives that they have done in the past which ultimately wear down the opponent.

[necknerd]

Before we get too excited about our prospects against NDSU, based on one game, let's recall that they lost their first game last year, to University of Montana. That said, let's also look at two things: first, this is the first year when the new coach at NDSU plays with his own recruits, rather than the majority of recruits from his predecessor. I do not doubt he can recruit, but we shall see whether this group lives up to their legacy. Second, let's look at the potential of the 'Necks in this new season. I think coach Nielson did a great job bringing our program back from the depths of the MVFC. However, his teams had limitations. Whilst we had great recruiting classes, we did not always take care of business effectively on the field. Our special teams were a glaring weakness. I would argue that we lost at least six games due to special teams lapses (e.g., blocked kicks) during the Nielson era. I would also argue that our offense did not reach its potential during the Nielson era. Part of that was youth. His first classes are just now reaching their junior and senior years, and we can expect them to demonstrate improvement this year. Beyond that, I think that our offense, over the past three years, was a bit predictable. When you have a beast at running back, like Nikko Watson, that's ok, if not optimal.

In the coming year, I expect those two limitations to be addressed. First, Coach Fisher is an offensive-minded coach and his results at Vanderbilt, at Richmond, at Penn State, and so on, suggest he will bring new dimensions to our attack. Second, he has recognized and addressed our problems on special teams, hiring a dedicated special teams coach, and no doubt changing our approach to the kicking game (e.g., blocking scheme, etc.)

In sum, I think we can expect a better result in our game against NDSU than we had last year, when frankly I, and I think most of you, wrote the team off for dead. That does not mean we will win the game, of course, there is much to be done and evaluated before then, but it raises my optimism, more so than the results of last evening's game between Charleston Southern and NDSU.

Can't wait for the season to start...just four more days...GO 'NECKS!