A LOSS IS A LOSS???.... (updated 9-25-2005) The Measuring Stick    I had my mind made up before this game that a win would confirm that something special was happening in Fargo. Either the coaching was terrific or the recruiting was incredible. A loss however would force me to re-evaluate my thinking. Well we all know the Bison lost in Bozeman. Did that mean that something special wasn't happening? After thinking about it on the way home, I'm not so sure. They lost to a well established, perennially strong program. The weather conditions were far less than ideal. They outgained MSU. They were playing on a foreign field. They are young. They came within 1:41 of winning. But they lost. There will be no fairy tale story coming out of NDSU. We've raised the bar a little too high and these young men can't always get over it. But they are trying, and learning.    The loss exposed some problems with the Bison, not at all uncorrectable. When the enemy spreads the field like the Cats did, especially on the winning drive, you've got to worry more about making a sure tackle, and less about punishing your opponent. There seemed to be far too many Bison defenders being deked and missing tackles and too many arm tackles attempted. Although Kyle Steffes rushed for 117 yards, it took 33 attempts, resulting in too many 3rd and longs. The running game needs an infusion of imagination or better execution or both.    Considering the program is really in its 2nd year of IAA competition and in its first year of using the maximum of 63 scholarships they are seeing an inordinate amount of success and you can be sure, raising a lot of eyebrows among knowledgeable IAA fans. In the end a loss is always a loss, but not necessarily the end of any road. In this case maybe its just another necessary step in a very long journey.    NDSU came within a pass tipped in the air, received, and taken in for an MSU TD, or an errant pass thrown by a bumped Steve Walker, or a missed long field goal for the Bison, or any combination of the preceding of winning. It was a close well fought game with NDSU coming on the losing end of the score, quite similar to all losses suffered last year. Players of the Game    Rodney Tompson was selected as the BI Defensive Player Of The Game in a close vote. Not in a close vote, Cole Heckendorf, was selected as the BI Offensive Player Of The Game. Holiday Vibes - Got to view the game with SDBison, Bisonguy and some of the venerable Bison Battlewagon crew. We had a lot of good COLD fun. In a display of lack of class by a few Bobcat fans, the Battlewagons Bison flags were taken down and burned. - Where would the Bison be without Cole Heckendorf? - The Bison away jersey numbers are incredibly hard to read, I'm sure contributing to the MSU public address announcer being in a fog all afternoon. - The MSU student section pales in comparison to NDSU's. Go Bison!! Bob H.