Hey! Look Under That Rock Off My Office Floor.... Why? Why break the rules? As previous reported by the Fargo Forum and other media outlets, trouble started in August when the contracts of Nicholls State head coach Daryl Daye and offensive coordinator Jeff Richards were terminated after the University discovered that seven Colonels' football players had completed an BYU internet correspondence class. The problem being that these credits earned do not count towards NCAA athletic eligibility. Didn’t anybody tell these young men about this? Did the coaching staff instruct these players to take the class? Ninety-nine percent of the time the easy way out of a situation is not the best answer. It’s like showing up for football practice and not working to make yourself better each and every day. It’s sad that winning football games has come to this…. The Test…. Last week, the Carson-Newman offense ran the veer option. This week, the Bison defense will face a wishbone-dominated Nicholls State offense. I think I’m having a flashback to the Nebraska and Oklahoma teams of the 1980s. My college defensive coach always told me that a option/wishbone team was only successful if they had better athletes on offense as compared to the defense. Hence, bringing back Bison memories of the 1980s and early 1990s. The safety play for NDSU will be big this week. Characteristically the wishbone features a power game, either left or right, with the lead-side halfback being the lead blocker for the ball carrier. The weak-side safety becomes a key to stopping the wishbone. If the weak-side safety can undercut the lead blocker and get to the ball carrier, the wishbone fails. Sounds easy… but what if the quarterback takes a step back and launches the ball to the area that the safety just vacated? So if an offense runs the wishbone, the weak-side slant becomes a pass a quarterback must learn or be able to throw. If the Bison defense is successful, Jared Essler & Craig Dahl will have a bunch of tackles-for-loss…. Bison stars…. Every week I try to pick one or two players who have stood out during the early stages of the NDSU football season…. This week let’s take a look at right side of the Bison offensive line. When the Bison need that tough yard, who do they run behind? The answer is RG Justin Buckwalter and RT Tim Popowski…. 625 plus pounds of premium butt-whoop. The SDSU ‘Bunnies’ coaching staff should be kicking themselves right now as both players herald from South Dakota, Buckwalter form Lake Preston and Popowski from Brookings. So if you get the urge to watch some smash-mouth football during the next Bison game…. focus on these two gigantic men. Geez, I guess South Dakota is good for something. On a side note…. The college message boards have been buzzing this past week about a proposed scholarship limit cut for NCAA Division II football from 36 to 24 scholarships. Will this influence more Division II football programs to make the jump to DI-AA? One thing I can’t figure out…. Over the past ten or so years, many NAIA and NCAA Division III athletic programs have made the move up to the NCAA Division II level of competition. These are the same programs that are now screaming that they can’t compete in football against teams carrying a full 36 scholarships. If they couldn’t support the increased number of scholarships in football, why didn’t they stay where they were? The prestige of being a Division II program really isn’t that much higher than being a NAIA or Division III program. In my opinion, the NCAA Division II membership is only punishing the colleges that have made a commitment to athletic excellence. Instead of these poorly funded programs going out and busting their behinds to raise some money, they’ve decided to bring the other elite programs down to their level. Is this how we do things in America now? I realize some of you don’t care about Division II anymore, but what’s next? Division I-AA?…. One more time…. I would like to thank the Bison fans who traveled to Watertown last Friday for the golf outing. It was a pleasure meeting all of you… Nothing I like more than talking Bison football. Definitely an experience for the highlight reel…. The Offense.... Base Offense: Wishbone…. Leading the offensive attack is junior signal-caller Yale Vannoy (6-2 225 Jr Kingsville, Texas). Vannoy has thrown for 212 yards, 1interception, and 2 touchdowns in 2004, while carrying the ball 44 times for 258 yards and 3 touchdowns. One problem…. Vannoy suffered a mild concussion last week versus Texas State, so the Colonels may rely on true freshman quarterback Michael Williams (5-11 200 Fr Ft. Walton, Florida). At this time, Vannoy appears ready to start the game at QB. Courtesy of the wishbone offense, three Colonels runners are featured in the offensive backfield; HB Colt Colletti (5-9 215 Sr River Ridge, Louisiana), HB David Plaisance (5-8 185 Sr Baton Rouge, Louisiana), and FB Broderick Cole (5-10 230 Fr New Orleans, Louisiana). The ‘running back trio’ has rushed the ball 93 times for 508 yards and 4 touchdowns. Leading the Colonels’ receiving crew is WR Marcus Richardson (6-2 190 Sr New Orleans, Louisiana). In 2004, Richardson has hauled in 8 passes for 116 yards and 1 touchdown. The Nicholls State offense has averaged 268 yards on the ground and 70 yards through the air for an average total offense of 339 yards of total offense per game this season…. The Defense.... Base Defense: 4-3… On the defensive side of the ball, Nicholls State is led by strong safety David Willis (5-11 185 St. Martinsville, Louisiana). After the first 3 games of the 2004 season, Willis leads the Colonels defense with 21 tackles, 2 tackles for loss, 1 interception, and 1 quarterback sack. The Nicholls State defense also features LB Cory Vavala (6-1 215 San Antonio, Texas) 19 tackles, 2.5 for loss; CB Tommy Lee Brown (6-2 188 Amite, Louisiana) 7 tackles, 2.5 for loss, and 2 interceptions; and DE Trae Robertson (6-2 275 Tylertown, Mississippi) 8 tackles, 3.5 for loss. For the year, the Colonels defense has given up an average of 113 yards on the ground and 138 yards through the air per game. History.... This will be the first meeting between the Nicholls State Colonels and the North Dakota State University Bison football teams…. Show Me the Keys.... * Again this week the Bison offensive line has a huge weight advantage…. This game should favor the Bison offense in a game of good ole’ smash mouth. Most Northern college football fans are aware that Southern teams usually bring a ton of speed. But they lack that good ole’ farm boy brawn…. Developed from years and years of eating meat and potatoes….. * Bison QB Tony Stauss must capitalize on the Colonels putting 8 or 9 defenders in the box. According to reports, Nicholls State likes to play man-to-man with their cornerbacks. This could be a big game for the Bison wide-outs…. * Sacks, interceptions, fumbles... Goal for takeaways this week? Four…. Four turnovers from the Bison defense equals a comfortable win this Saturday…. Five sacks means a Bison blowout…. * The full stable of Bison wide receivers; Marques Johnson, Allen Burrell, and Travis White continue their impressive on-slaught of the competition against Carson-Newman. This week the Bison may have to play some dink & dunk, so that first broken tackle by the wide-outs can mean the difference between first down or a punt…. * Score early! It never hurts to put the smack on lesser competition early and often, especially on the road…. Especially when the temperature is 85 and the relative humidity is 80 percent. It’s amazing how fresh players feel when they are up by two touchdowns on the scoreboard…. * The Bison safeties must control the running attack…. Essler and Dahl better be looking for keys from the Colonels players or formations. Good week for lots of film work on the Nicholls State offense…. * The Bison coaching staff can’t be afraid to switch quarterbacks if the Bison offense struggles. Sometimes change is good…. That feeling won't die.... * One word -- 'Consistency'.... from play to play; from game to game.... Bison consistency on both offensive and defensive will make the Bison awfully tough to contain. Young players such as LB Joe Mays, FB Tyler Roehl, WR/P Mike Dragosavich, RB Cinque Chapman and RB Shamen Washington will play a major factor in the success of the Bison program this year… And bring Bison football back to the standards set by the 80s and 90s teams…. Jottings.... - The weight in the trenches: Offensive line: NDSU 301, Nicholls State 270 Defensive line: NDSU 268, Nicholls State 257 - Injuries this week: Last injury report showed a full go this week…. - This will be the first ever trip to Louisiana for a Bison football team…. - The NCAA denied senior OG Justin Monson’s application for medical redshirt for last year’s season ending knee injury…. Monson’s football elgibility will expire after this season…. - 2004 Southland Conference Football Coaches Pre-season Poll: 1. McNeese State 2. Stephen F. Austin 3. Northwestern State 4. Sam Houston State 5. Nicholls State 6. Texas State - Audio of Nicholls State football games is available on the internet free of charge… - Roger Thomas is a weenie.... Most of you probably don't know who this is anymore. Let's see if I can trigger some memories? He is an athletic director for a small time college in North Dakota.... - Southeastern Louisiana will join Southland Conference next year…. The Lions, returned to the gridiron in 2003 following an 18-year hiatus. This season, Southeastern Louisiana competes as a DI-AA independent…. - Nicholls State University was named after Francis Redding Tillou Nicholls, a brigadier general for the Confederacy during the Civil War. Nicholls was also governor of Louisiana from 1888 to 1892, after which he served as chief justice for the Louisiana Supreme Court…. - Nicholls State’s September 18 game against Texas A&M-Kingsville, which was canceled because of the threat of Hurricane Ivan, will not be rescheduled…. The two schools could not find a common open date, and playing after the season was not an option because of the Division II playoff schedule…. - Poll Watch: The Bison are currently ranked #28 by the Weekly Football Gazette. Nicholls State did not appear in any polls this week....