Game Of The Week.... UC Davis (2-1) at Youngstown State (2-1) Wow! Who would have expect the UC Davis Aggies to go into the hostile environment of Bozeman, Montana, and throttle the Montana State Bobcats 45-0 last week. If you went to the Bison game at Montana State last year, you would expect that there wasn't a whole lot of growling coming over the sound system at Bobcat Stadium. This week the Aggies travel to Ohio to face the Youngstown State "Fighting Penguins"... kind of like facing a team with the nickname "Blossoms". But anyway, I'll stop talking about my phobias. If the video of the game is on the internet or if the game is televised by CSTV or one of the Fox College Sports channels, this is the game I will be watching. It's going to be a dandy folks. So let's break it down... I'll call the offenses even, but will give the Davis defense an advantage. Home field advantage goes to the "Fighting Penguins" and the kicking game is even. So here's what I expect... The Aggies will score. The "Fighting Penguins" will not score as much. Defense wins out again... UC Davis 21, Youngstown State 16.
The Truth Is....
For the life of me, I can't figure out why I wasn't impressed with the North Dakota State's performance last Saturday night. The Bison beat an established DI-AA program Northeastern University, but I came away from the game with a lot more questions than I arrived at the Fargodome with... Is the Bison red-zone offense really that bad? Has the short passing game not improved as much as I thought after the Concordia-St. Paul game? Is the inconsistency of the kick coverage team going to hurt the Bison in the near future? I don't know... But I do know that the Bison have really good kickers in Bibeau and Dragosavich, Joe Mays is an animal and Kole Heckendorf has some of the best hands in all of DI-AA football. Plus I also know, that Bison offensive coordinator Pat Perles doesn't need to start getting cute when the offense reaches the red-zone. The Bison ran the ball right down the Huskies throat until they hit the Northeastern 20 yard line and then all of a sudden... it was time to pass? Maybe he was trying something? Maybe I'm just being too critical? Maybe I was thinking about something else at the time? I don't know, but I do know that the Bison, in future games, will need to put touchdowns and not field goals on the board.
So this week the Bison travel to Muncie, Indiana, to take on the Ball State Cardinals. Shall we take a look at the matchup? I think so... It's hard to judge the matchup between the Bison and Cardinals defense because of the extreme class of competition each team has played, but let's just consider Eastern Michigan as a DI-AA common denominator. I would give the edge to the Bison if they faced the EMU Eagles and Ball State beat the Eastern Michigan 38-20... so the NDSU/Ball State game will be closer than people (Ball State fans)think. I'll give a slight edge to the Ball State offense and call the defenses even... Even against a DI-A school, the Bison still hold an edge on special teams due to kickers Shawn Bibeau and Mike Dragosavich, though I still worry about Bison kick coverage teams. So given that, I'll say the over/under is around 45... I'd call the game even if it was in the Fargodome, but it's not...Ball State 27, North Dakota State 20.
And The Winner Is.... * 2006 Season: 39-6 87% * Last Week: 14-1 93% * Upset Specials: 1-1 50%
South Dakota State 27, Nicholls State 23
Texas State 35, Southern Utah 31
San Jose State 28, Cal Poly 23
New Hampshire 35, Dartmouth 24
Massachusetts 38, Stony Brook 17
Purdue 37, Minnesota 27
Furman 30, Western Carolina 28
Southern Illinois 37, Arkansas-Pine Bluff 18
Montana 28, Sacramento State 21
Appalachian State 42, Gardner-Webb 23
Georgia Southern 34, Chattanooga 31
Upset Special.... McNeese State 24, Toledo 21
Disclaimer |
History |
About Us |
Help
Bison Insider is not affiliated with North Dakota State University.
Copyright (c) 2006, Penguin Sportz. All rights unreserved.
