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2023 Playoffs - 1st Round: Sac State at North Dakota

North Dakota is realizing that the refs won’t throw any flags and they’re being extra physical (with some questionable no calls). Hornets need to step it up.
 
lol this offense is back to their 3 and out self.

Martin can’t drop that, but at the same time, that ball sailed too much. One team made adjustments, the other didn’t. The story of this year playing out
 
Apparently you can throw an opposing teams helmet as far as you want and it’s no penalty. I’m learning new rule interpretations every day.
 
So very pleased to that hornets played with HEART! I honestly think this is one of the best TYPE of WIns they could have asked for. The resilience is a team builder and LOL…. FUCD is home crying..,
 
42-35 Hornet win. Wow. Poof goes the “Hornets don’t belong in the playoffs” narrative some of the pundits and haters were floating since the selection show. :rofl:

And just like that Coach Thompson has just as many playoff wins as Taylor does. :lol:

Near perfect game IMO. Play calling on both sides was spot on. Kaiden Bennett (17/22, 207 yds, 1 TD, 13 car, 126 yds, 2 TD) put this team on his back and willed the Hornets to victory. He was unstoppable as Marcus Fulcher (10 car, 41 yds, 1 TD, 2 rec, 23 yds) sealed the win with some tough yards to burn the clock. In the passing game, Anderson Grover (6 rec, 96 yds, 1 TD) had a big game as well. All of this was made possible by the offensive line up front as they dominated in both aspects of the game.

The Hornet defense bent but didn’t break yet again. Hornet defense did well in the 1st half, getting a stop and a late turnover to preserve a 2 score lead. However they were on the field for almost all of the 3rd quarter and a lot of the 4th quarter until getting the stop of the season with back to back sacks on UND’s final possession. Armon Bailey (8 tak, 1.5 TFLs, 1.5 sac) led the team in tackles while Darian Pollard (7 tak. 1 TFL. 1 sac) and Brock Mather (4 tak, 1 TFL. 1 sac) got the crucial sacks to end UNDs season. Lots of injuries on the defensive side, I didn’t recognize about half of the secondary as Caleb Nelson and Cameron Broussard didn’t see action.

Special teams did just enough and staved off near disaster on a couple of UND kickoff returns. Questionable decision to kick deep against a dangerous return game, but kudos for being the first team ever in an indoor game to have someone hold the ball on a kickoff.

Here are my takeaways from the game:
  • In KB we trust. No doubt he should be the clear cut starter if he is healthy enough to go.
  • That said he missed a wide open Marshel Martin (4 car, 20 yds, 4 rec, 24 yds) that probably goes for a score in the 3rd quarter.
  • Brilliant play calling from Coach Fresques. He threw out all the cutsie plays that always seem to get this offense into trouble and stuck with the playmakers that got this program to where it is. No frills, no gimmicks, just the basics against an evenly matched opponent. Well done.
  • Offensive line was very physical and dominated the line of scrimmage. Probably their best game since Stanford.
  • Defense missed some tackles and lost contain on some plays, but did just enough.
  • Those blitzes Coach Thompson dialed up were brilliant. Bailey feigned a blitz and covered the back out of the backfield with Mather coming in on the inside on the 1st sack. Then a shown Bailey blitz on the inside with Pollard on a delayed blitz to overload the quarterback’s backside. Just masterful. UND had no way of stopping unless they were in max protect…which they couldn’t afford to do on 3rd and long.
  • Secondary had some issues, but a lot of it was the 2nd/3rd stringers today. Hard to beat up on them too much.

Big win, Hornets get to play December football for a 4th straight season. Enjoy the run. On to Vermillion.

Stingers Up!

TDCelebNorthDakota23.jpg
 
If Bobby F OC could have made as good of play calls as he did today we would have had home field advantage.

However maybe it took the humility of losing to FUCD to bring reality to our coaching staff that penalties and mediocre preparation and OC play calling would get results?

Not good enough results. Today the team showed HEART! If we can play w minimal mistakes and play to WIN!! We can compete with any FCS team!

Let’s hope for CONSISTENCY going forward and finish the season much later than usual!
 
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