THREE YARDS RUSHING.... (updated 10-23-2005) The Measuring Stick    That says it all doesn't it? 3 yards rushing. That's only about halfway across my office floor for heaven's sake! Now I'm not a coach, but when my quarterback looks up and sees both safeties within 7 or 8 yards of the line of scrimmage, you don't hand it off on a straight ahead play, you audible out of it and run some kind of misdirection play, pass play or even a naked bootleg by the quarterback to get away away from the pursuit. Apparently Steve Walker is not allowed to do that or there are no such plays in the Bison playbook. You've got to loosen up those safeties and slow them down. They also found very quickly that their horizontal passing game was also very ineffective. But that didn't stop them from trying over and over and over. And then they found out too late that their vertical passing game was very effective. I've been trying mightily to not say this, but here it is. Pat Perles wake up and use a little imagination and common sense!! This loss has to be attributed to poor coaching, not that UC-Davis isn't a very talented football team, but they could have been beaten. This season it seems that if the defense and special teams can't help with scoring and field position that the Bison really struggle. The other thing that really hurt was penalties with the Bison losing 81 yards to 8 yellow flags, with one of the calls by the Big Ten officials really questionable, that being a pass interference call on Bobby Babich that cost the Bison what may have been the winning score. Maybe someone had a better look at it than I did, but I just didn't see the contact.    I don't know if this ultra-conservative play calling goes back to Craig Bohl and the old Nebraska system or not, but I'm beginning to think that's the case. They have had the same philosophy it seems under both Tim Albin and Perles. They NEVER run any misdirection or fake punts or kicks with the notable exception of the U of Montana game which they wouldn't have won without them. That game the offense was coached by Dan Enos. This was an incredibly boring game to watch. 3 and out and send the tired defense back out on the field. NDSU was relegated to the back page of the sports section of the Bismarck Tribune, not exactly what you want when you're trying to get the word out about NDSU and DIAA football.    The Bison faced a very good quarterback in the accurate and mobile Jon Grant, probably one of the best if not the best football player that they've played against this season. Players of the Game    The Bison Insider Defender Of The Game could have been any of 3 or 4 guys that played their hearts out. We chose Isaac Lavant. The Bison Insider Offensive Player Of The Game was and had to be Steve Walker, in spite of his three interceptions. Holiday Vibes - The Bison cracked the 16,000 mark in game attendance for Cal Davis. - Marques Johnson had a season high 7 receptions, but dropped at least 3 or 4 others in the first half. He moved into 4th place in all time receptions - NDSU faces its third straight conference opponent in Southern Utah next week. - Montana claimed the title "Big Dog of the West" with a 36-27 win over Cal Poly. Go Bison!! Bob H.