BISON Media Blog

Gene Taylor

The question was asked from Swany from an earlier post:

Question for you Jeff. If the Bison go 4 – 7 do you think Coach Bohl is back next year? Gene Taylor has said Bohl is not on the hot seat and that he’s looking for “improvement” this season. Going 4 – 7, no matter how you slice it, doesn’t seem like much of an improvement from 3 – 8. Are there any circumstances that 4 – 7 could be considered an improvement?

My response: Yes, if the Bison go 4-7 (my prediction) and there is evidence of improvement from the previous year, I do not see any way Taylor fires Bohl. It’s just not the athletic director’s style. The Bison head coach still has a glittering overall record (52-25 heading into this season), has shown he can win and is showing he has dealt with the recent recruiting problems.

Now, if things spiral out of control this season and the Bison continue to falter, I still don’t see the head coach getting fired. He may resign and go the way of Bob Babich and get a job in the NFL, or something similar. Bohl has a thousand contacts in football so there will always be something for him. But for the A.D. to hold a press conference and say the head coach is fired … this isn’t 1975 around here anymore. In 1975, Ev Kjelbertson didn’t make it through the season. In 2009, the Bison went 3-8 and season ticket sales this year are still in the same 9,000 neighborhood as last year.

– Jeff Kolpack

Just to clarify, the Bison-KU game can be seen on the following TV outlets in the F-M area on Fox College Sports:

• DIRECTV 623
• Cable ONE 307
• Midcontinent cable 316

UNI players will have to wait a week longer to play than they want to.

Some thoughts and comments from today’s Missouri Valley Football Conference conference call with the most notable being NDSU has come out of fall practice with all top 22 players healthy for the Kansas game. When was the last time that happened for a Bison season opener? Not sure, if ever under Craig Bohl. He wasn’t sure.

• Indiana State head coach Trent Miles on the addition of quarterback Ronnie Fouch, a transfer from Washington: “He’s added a dimension to our team we haven’t had. He’s an experienced quarterback that started in the Pac-10 and he can throw the football. He’s rangy with a good head on his shoulders. He knows how to get us in and out of plays and is an experienced quarterback we haven’t had in I don’t know how long. I recruited Ronnie to Washington.. He sought us out because he just wanted a chance to play. He answers lot of questions and we feel good about the guy backing him up. Coy Glass was a projected starter at Hofstra so we have upgraded that position extremely.” My translation: No longer are the Sycamores a guaranteed win.
• Missouri State head coach Terry Allen on his improving team: “We have a fourth-year starter at quarterback and we’re and solid up front. We return nine starters on defense and we inproved dramatically on defense last year.” My translation: “Definitely no longer are the Bears a guranteed win.
• SDSU head coach John Stiegelmeier on playing Delaware in two weeks: “Our program has changed. We’re not that old in this business of the FCS and we’re ranked in top 10 of a couple of polls and we’re trying to continue that change and to do that, you need to go out to Delaware and play well. For our staff, players and program, it is a true measure and to me that’s huge. And you have to win. You have to win eight games to get into the playoffs.”
• SIU head coach Dale Lennon on Quincy: “They definitely have our attention.” My translation: Good ol’ coachspeak. What else can he say?
• Northern Iowa head coach Mark Farley on the open week, and then opening against NDSU on Sept. 11: “I’ve never been put in this situation before, having an open date on the first weekend. I’ve never done it, so I look at it having more negatives than positives to it. At the same time, we’ve been planning for it.” My translation: Coaches get restless on Saturdays in the fall.

– Jeff Kolpack

Damar Wilson is working out with the Bison men’s basketball team this week and put it this way: he passes the eyeball test as a Division I player. His plan is to walk on, but as of Tuesday, he was not on the NDSU roster. He’s 6-foot-4 and solid and had high school credentials in Alaska a mile long.

Here is his bio from Southern Utah.

I wouldn’t get too excited until he’s officially in the program, but again, the guy has some physical tools.

– Jeff Kolpack

The battle for the Dakota Marker will make or break this season.

I gotta say I’m honored and humbled to try and predict the Bison Football season for 2010. This is the start of my 5th fall in Fargo, I was spoiled the first two years I was here as NDSU went 10-1 and 10-1 with some thrilling wins (think UC Davis in 06 and Cal Poly and Sam Houston in 07) and some not so good performances (think Youngstown in 08 and 09 and Sam Houston last year). Now as I look forward to 2010, I see a lot of youth. And at positions that need experience like quarterback and offensive line. I see huge question marks at wide receiver and in the secondary. There are injury concerns at linebacker and in the special teams. And with 15 true/redshirt freshmen playing against experienced players in one of the best FCS conferences in the country, that doesn’t add up to a lot of wins.

2010 NDSU Record: 4-7

I don’t see NDSU winning either of it’s first two games agaisnt Kansas and Northern Iowa, although I expect the UNI game to be close, those 2 schools have built up some angst against one another(see last year’s fight) and would expect another tight game in Cedar Falls. NDSU has a unique schedule this year with 2 separate stretches of 3 straight home games. The first are all winnable games, Morgan State, South Dakota and Western Illinois. USD should provide some challenges and Western is better, but these are home games and the Bison need to prove they can dominate at the Fargodome, much like they did in 06-07.

The road trips to Youngstown State and Illinois State will be difficult, the Penguins were not good last year and still put up 39 on NDSU here in Fargo, and the Bison struggled out there in 2008. Illinois State may be the most improved team in the league, Bison fans will remember what Matt Brown did to NDSU last year at the Dome. I don’t see NDSU winning either game.

The next stretch of games is interesting, I still think NDSU can beat an improving Indiana State team at home, but then it gets tricky. Southern Illinois may now be the class of the league, Dale Lennon has his players now in Carbondale, but who knows if NDSU plays a perfect game, they can knock off the Salukis. As for the Jacks, I believe it’s all mental. NDSU dominated the series up until 2006, winning the Great West thanks to beating SDSU at the Dome that year. Call me crazy but I don’t think the team has gotten over that loss at Brookings in 2007. I know most of those guys have graduated and coaches have left, but NDSU was going for a perfect season that day and didn’t play well at all. SDSU had a punt return and a punt block that day and hasn’t looked back. Fair or not, NDSU’s season will be based on the Dakota Marker this year, and a win in that game, may change people’s opinions on this whole year.

Finally a trip to Missouri State at the end of November will not be easy, especially since the Bears are improving..depending on how the Jacks game goes, this is another possible game NDSU could steal.

2010 Prediction: 4-7

- Dom Izzo

Bison need a Montana-like victory this season

This is the sixth annual Bison Media Blog pre-season pick and some years were easy to predict (2007) and other years, like this season, are difficult to figure out. First, the problem: NDSU has seven true freshmen playing a big role and a good chunk of the two-deep is either freshmen or sophomores. Coming off a 3-8 season, that’s either encouraging or disturbing, depending on what side of the glass you prefer.

This is college football in the Missouri Valley Football Conference plus an opener at a Big 12 Conference opponent. Most are physical teams who don’t rely on freshmen so right off the bat, things are not looking promising. The ’07 team goes into Kansas and wins. The ’10 team does not.

The ’07 team goes into Northern Iowa and on the Panthers’ season opener, wins that game, too. The ’10 team does not. The Bison will take down Morgan State and that brings us to the crucial game of the season: South Dakota.

This will be a deal breaker. A win and NDSU takes some confidence into the league season. A loss and three wins may be tough to equal. This program is in dire need of a big win, much like the victory at Montana in 2003 after the 2-8 year of 2002. It needs an upset and the opportunities are there the first two games.

I recall the dire predictions for the Montana game, something in the line of 40something to 7something. And things were looking that way at halftime when the Grizzlies took a 24-2 lead. Then the big comeback and suddenly, football was hip again in Fargo.

But this team is so, so young.

I see at least four wins: Morgan State, USD, Western Illinois and Indiana State, although Indiana State promises to put up more of a fight this season. I see struggles at Youngstown State and Illinois State. Youngstown has a new staff but the Bison also struggled at Youngstown. Illinois State has come up faster than anybody ever thought it would.

NDSU’s program is not at the level of Southern Illinois or South Dakota State. The Jackrabbits don’t play freshmen anymore; the Bison do. The season finale is at Missouri State, again a team that has improved at a pretty good clip. Young teams do not win often on the road, so you can pencil in five losses there. The key to a successful season, then, is to win your rival traveling trophy.

Keep in mind the Bison weren’t a bad 3-8 last year. There’s a difference. A good 3-8 is being in every game, which they were. A bad 3-8 is getting blown out eight times. But the Bison lost FCS’s top rusher in Pat Paschall and a couple of key offensive guards. NDSU is at least a year away.

The playoffs are out of the question. So, the game for the Dakota Marker against SDSU on Nov. 13 at the Fargodome is what will make this season. The Bison will finish 4-7.

– Jeff Kolpack

We’ll have our first press conference of the year with Craig Bohl at noon today, any injury updates will be posted on here later this afternoon…Jeff and I will be posting our season predictions on here later today as well.

-Dom Izzo

Craig Bohl closed Saturday’s practice to the public and media, which doesn’t happen very often at NDSU. It’s part of the paranoid world of college football coaching.

All of them are always on the lookout for spys. Seriously. I recall Bohl’s first year at NDSU when he was at the grass practice fields wondering which house across North University Drive would best be suited for an opposing team to put a camera. If you’ve sat in your car watching practice anytime in the past several years, odds are somebody came over to check on you.

The practice of closing practice is becoming more common. Florida’s Urban Meyer closed all practices to the public this month citing “internet people and scumbags,” mainly referring to autograph hounds and agents. He said people are selling Florida players’ autographs on eBay and we all know what agents can do to big-time athletes. Enough is enough, he said.

Of course, that’s not a problem in the Missouri Valley Football Conference. Still, in the age of instant communication, I wouldn’t be surprised if most teams will eventually close up shop to outside view. Not this year, maybe not five years, but the trend has been set and you know what happens to trends in college football: they catch fire.

I’ve watched a lot of practices over the years and frankly my reporting, as far as I can tell, isn’t a huge problem to NDSU. I don’t diagram plays, I don’t get into base defensive philosophy and the only play I really know well is “slot right, 41 counter.” That was the play in the youth days where either I scored or fumbled. It was feast or famine and not much inbetween.

No, most of the reporting in fall camp is on depth charts, injuries or feature stories. Not exactly sexy stuff to an opposing coaching staff.

– Jeff Kolpack

NDSU announced today that two backups — linebacker Isaac Kolstad and tight end Austin Vetter — have left the team for personal reasons.

Vetter, a sophomore, was attempting to factor into the tight end rotation during fall practice, but was not on the two-deep chart behind starter Landon Smith and backup Matt Veldman, who in theory could also be considered a starter. Freshman Taylor Nelson was also making strides this month. Vetter played in seven games last year catching one pass for four yards.

Kolstad, a redshirt freshman who was hurt all of 2008 and played sparringly last year, did not make the two-deep chart either at linebacker falling behind true freshman Don Carter. He did, however, have one of the three Bison interceptions on the season returning a fourth quarter pick 27 yards in the season opener against Wagner College.

NDSU is in game preparation mode for Kansas and I’m sure the Jayhawks are the same with NDSU. So if you’re KU, what do you do on offense? Judging from last year’s statistics, it’s not rocket science and the Bison coaches know it. Head coach Craig Bohl said one of his “areas of concerns” are the safeties, where veterans Daniel Eaves and Cyrus Lemon return.

“Our safeties are going to get tested,” Bohl said. “We have to make sure we’re settled in there.”

Said defensive backs coach Brian Ward: “We’re expecting them to try and throw the football. Any coach will look at how successful a team was at either stopping the run or the pass last year and we were in the bottom five of the country in defending the pass. So if I were them, I would throw the football. But our guys are up for the challenge and we’re going to be ready.”

Look for junior college transfer John Pike to continue to push Eaves at free safety. Pike is considered to have good cover skills. And in backup strong safety Colten Heagle, Ward says he’s a player”who is very talented and is going to see a lot of playing time throughout his career.”

– Jeff Kolpack