Leatherneck Nation

FWIW, I didn't get the impression people thought USD was lousy, but were suprised at how badly a #10 ranked team played.

I have never personally met Coach Fisher, and was more familiar with Coach Nielsen. I still find Coach Fisher to be a much better fit. Yes, to me personality plays a huge role in it - the fact of the way he reached out to football alums to get them more involved in the current program (and not just with $$$, but with actual involvement from talking to the team a la Don Beebe and interacting with them during the "alumni game"). Far as I can see, Coach Fisher is working with the same budget, etc. as the previous coach, and has done a lot more to develop the team than was done before.

Maybe we were just the wrong fit for Nielsen, who knows? I still think this team has done better under the new head coach. But, that's just me.

I'm not sure I'd agree that Coach Fisher has done more than Coach Nielson at THIS point (9/18/2017). When we beat the heck out of USD this year and make a deep playoff run, I'll agree wholeheartedly.

I do like to equate things to ideas/concepts I'm familiar with though, and I will certainly say this - I don't want to work with people who don't want to be here, regardless of how talented they are. Coach Fish clearly shows he wants to be here as head coach of the Leathernecks by all the things you all have mentioned. I couldn't be more excited for that alone in addition to the fact that I think he's a heck of a football coach. Really excited to see how it plays out this year!

Without wishing to put a hex on us, I still think we will play much better than UND did. I was shocked at that game - not at USD, but how a team ranked #10 could look more like a D2 or D3 school. Maybe it was a rotten day for them and they are usually much, much, better - I honestly don't follow them so I don't know.

Grudge match or not, I do think USD will have its' hands full with the 'Necks. I think our defense will do a heck of a lot better job than their opponents this past week.

Whatever, did anyone watch Coastal Carolina? How do you think we match up against them?

I was pretty impressed with USD, especially the O and D line play. That new weight room looks like it is paying dividends. If Streveler is having a really good day, they are going to be tough to beat. The past two years, we have had one of those UND-like games (@ Fargo and Brookings), so it happens. If you have a weakness or two on offense or defense that can be exposed early and often, things can get out of hand in an ugly way. It will be interesting to see how much pressure we can put on Streveler to keep him out of rhythm. So far, we seem to be putting more pressure on the QB than last year. I think we match up with them pretty well in the secondary. Unfortunate that they get two weeks to prepare for it and we only get one but that is the card you are dealt so play it.

sealhall74 wrote: ↑Mon Sep 18, 2017 5:15 pm I was pretty impressed with USD, especially the O and D line play. That new weight room looks like it is paying dividends. If Streveler is having a really good day, they are going to be tough to beat. The past two years, we have had one of those UND-like games (@ Fargo and Brookings), so it happens. If you have a weakness or two on offense or defense that can be exposed early and often, things can get out of hand in an ugly way. It will be interesting to see how much pressure we can put on Streveler to keep him out of rhythm. So far, we seem to be putting more pressure on the QB than last year. I think we match up with them pretty well in the secondary. Unfortunate that they get two weeks to prepare for it and we only get one but that is the card you are dealt so play it.

The key is the 1st quarter against USD they have outscored there opponents 66-3 in the 1st quarter including 38-3 in there last 2 games force them into a close game and hope they make some mistakes probably are biggest advantage over UND is are O Line it's the best in the league hopefully McShane will be back for that game.

leatherneckcountry wrote: ↑Mon Sep 18, 2017 6:00 pm

sealhall74 wrote: ↑Mon Sep 18, 2017 5:15 pm I was pretty impressed with USD, especially the O and D line play. That new weight room looks like it is paying dividends. If Streveler is having a really good day, they are going to be tough to beat. The past two years, we have had one of those UND-like games (@ Fargo and Brookings), so it happens. If you have a weakness or two on offense or defense that can be exposed early and often, things can get out of hand in an ugly way. It will be interesting to see how much pressure we can put on Streveler to keep him out of rhythm. So far, we seem to be putting more pressure on the QB than last year. I think we match up with them pretty well in the secondary. Unfortunate that they get two weeks to prepare for it and we only get one but that is the card you are dealt so play it.

The key is the 1st quarter against USD they have outscored there opponents 66-3 in the 1st quarter including 38-3 in there last 2 games force them into a close game and hope they make some mistakes probably are biggest advantage over UND is are O Line it's the best in the league hopefully McShane will be back for that game.

If we can keep things close in the first half, I think we can wear them down in the second half. In our first two games, we've put up 27 points (total) in the first halves and 52 in the second halves. It's like our basketball team was a few years back (back when they were good)...if we went into halftime down less than 10 points, by 5 minutes into the second half we'd be tied and blow past the opponent past that. I like our chances at home, with a homecoming crowd, in a game like that.

sealhall74 wrote: ↑Mon Sep 18, 2017 11:25 am A coach who wins consistently by running a clean program will have more than enough support from the community, regardless of how "in-touch" he is with the community.

I agree

Illinois State beat Missouri State 34-9. Attendance at Missouri State = 7,183.

North Dakota State beat Robert Morris University (Pittsburgh) 56-0. Attendance at North Dakota State = 18,308.

Memphis beat Southern Illinois 44-31. Attendance at Memphis = 41,584.