If there’s one thing the Mustangs learned from their trip to the Midwest this weekend it’s that the FCS schools in the Dakotas certainly know how to run the football.
South Dakota State running back Cory Koenig lived up to our Gameday feature and ran all over the Cal Poly football team on Saturday, rolling up 259 yards on 21 carries in the 48-35 victory. Koenig, who missed last year’s meeting with a shoulder injury, came into the game with four touchdowns and was averaging four yards a carry. He matched that touchdown total and more than tripled the average against the Mustangs’ struggling defense, which was once built on stonewalling the run and pressuring the quarterback up front.
But on this day, Cal Poly did neither, coming up with just one sack and failing to prevent Koenig from reeling off touchdown runs of 32, 46, 52 and 11 yards. Those numbers are that much more impressive when you consider Koenig’s longest carry of the season had been 27 yards.
Koenig’s 259-yard night would’ve been a Great West Football Conference record if not for North Dakota State running back Tyler Roehl’s monster day in a 27-21 victory at FBS Minnesota (making that Fargo Farmboys 21, Golden Gophers 17 prediction on the previous post look pretty darn good … I guess it pays to wake up early and milk those cows).
Roehl, who grew up in nearby West Fargo, N.D., rushed for the school-record 263 yards on just 22 carries, pushing North Dakota State’s record to 7-0 on the season.
Second-ranked North Dakota State, which plays unranked Southern Utah and Illinois State next, could easily be 9-0 by the time the Bison roll into San Luis Obispo for Cal Poly’s Homecoming game on Nov. 10. And if Cal Poly doesn’t figure out what’s wrong with its run defense soon, the Mustangs are going to be very happy to see North Dakota State leave the Great West after this season.
Sunday, October 21, 2007
Running wild in the Dakotas
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
11 comments:
I would like to point out that of the seven touchdowns that the Mustangs allowed on Saturday that five of them occurred on third down with short yardage to go. What happened on three occasions is that Koenig was able to bust a 32 yard touchdown run on 3rd & a, a 46 yard touchdown run on 3rd & a, and a 52 yard run on 3rd & 4. What happened on the 3rd and short yardage situations is that the Mustangs stacked the box to prevent the first down. Additionally SDSU showed 3 wide receivers so once Koenig got thru the holes that were opened for him by his larger and superior offensive linemen there was nobody to stop him. Was that not obvious? There was no reason for SDSU to change their play calling on 3rd & short -- what they were calling was working. To summarize, of Koenig's 259 yards of rushing, 130 of them occurred on 3rd & short. That is a huge reason for the Mustang defeat on Saturday.
Additionally "FUMBLE-ITIS", the dreaded and deadly disease which reared it's ugly head in Idaho, returned to the offense. The results were two fumbles by Dally on drives that seemed destined for the end zone for Cal Poly.
In my mind it is the two aforementioned factors that added together led to defeat for the Mustangs. Both are fixable...
It would seem that The Tribune, being Cal Poly's hometown newspaper would be a little more supportive towards their football team when writing articles. It is bad enough that their head coach, Rich Ellerson is constantly bashing the players, it doesn't seem necessary for you to do it also. Those kids work hard and deserve credit whether they win or loose. They have come a long way this year, breaking school records and I think Jonathan Dally is doing a terrific job his first season with the team. Sure, there are going to be losses, but that can be expected. Instead of blaming the players, maybe the coach should blame himself for calling lousy plays, and not letting the players show their full potential on the field.
Regarding the last "Anonymous" comment, I have listened to each and every one of the Cal Poly Monday press conferences as well as the postgame interviews and I really do NOT see where Coach Ellerson is "constantly bashing the players". In fact his approach is always how to improve as a team and he also is willing to take his share of the blame. For example, on the ill conceived fake punt earlier this year he accepted blame away from the execution of his players.
I am not sure where you get the "constantly bashing" comment. Football is a violent game that requires precise execution and when that does not happen you lose. Jonathan Dally has been an outstanding addition to the Mustangs and they are much better off with him at the QB helm than Matt Brennan. Dally also fumbled twice against SDSU when he was trying to score. He will get better and that will help for the team to get better.
saying that dally has been better at the helm than brennan isn't exactly fair. ramses barden barely practiced with the team last year because of a nagging knee injury and appears healthy this year. this season's schedule is no way as challenging as it was last year or the year before. coach has changed the offense for the third time in three years. plus, brennan was a freshman guiding the team through the last six games into the ncaa play-offs. against a much tougher schedule, cal poly's record was 11-5 with brennan as a freshman and sophomore at the helm. so far, against a weak schedule cal poly is 4-3 with dally at the helm as a junior fumbling away two possible scores against a 2-4 unranked opponent.
While I am sure that we are all most grateful for the success that Matt Brennan brought to the Mustang football program including a post season appearance, the bottom line is that he allowed the competition to come in and take his job. That happens when you only complete 45% of your passes and throw nearly 3 times as interceptions versus touchdown passes. Nobody cares whether or Ramses or Tredale or anyone else was injured -- those are simply excuses which do not get you (or the team) anywhere.
Jonathan Dally has shown to be a quick learner who has improved every week. He is a leader who has taken the Cal Poly offense to new heights. BUT, you do have to remember that the quarterback in a triple option system is very much a target who risks injury more often than quarterbacks in more traditional offenses. Dally rushed the ball 30 times on Saturday and he is one tackle away from Matt Brennan having to play. Matt Brennan has to be prepared (just like any good Boy Scout) because he can get the call to play again at any time. Hopefully he has the character and mental toughness to do that because at this time that is his job.
although we’ll never know, but
it would be interesting to see how this year’s passing yards would be effected if ramses barden was nursing a sore knee.
while you are correct about dally being chosen over brennan by the coaches to run the triple option against this year’s schedule, i’m not sure what you mean by “throw nearly 3 times as interceptions versus touchdown passes.” that is not true. better check your stats.
a quick learner? what did they run for the last two years at hancock jc? brennan seems like he is tough enough and skilled enough to be ready if needed. he may not have the individual numbers during his freshman and sophomore years that dally has accumulated against the weak schedule, in this his junior season. but, is it numbers or wins that determines who should be at the helm? compare the wins at starter and you’ll see it’s 4-3 (with no trips to a top ranked opponent, i.e. montana/no.dakota st.) for the junior dally and 11-4 (10-3 regular season and 1-1 post season) when brennan was a freshman/sophomore. right now, it'll take a 8-3 season record to have any chance of making the playoffs. isn't that the idea or is it individual stats?
How did an entry about the Dakota RBs running crazy and Cal Poly's defensive struggles against the run turn into a QB debate? The talk should be about how Cal Poly can stop the run this weekend against Idaho State. Seems like the offense is running just fine. The Mustangs allowing seven TDs against a 2-4 SDSU team should be the concerning thing for CP fans.
FYI -- I did check the stats and you are right. I looked in the media guide and for his career before this year Matt Brennan has 14 TD's and 14 interceptions passing for his Cal Poly career...
Brian...
This is the 9th comment on your blog on this subject. I would think that you would be happy to have all of this activity even if it ended up including some QB discussion...
I am sure that you were at the press conference on Monday. I would expect that we might start seeing a 4 man line -- anything to create more pressure on the QB. The linebackers are having to work overtime because the QB and running backs are having free reign...
If I am not mistaken they did run four down lineman against SDSU....if I am wrong let me know.
Our defense needs to be much more aggressive, simply put, needs to get into the backfield and bust some plays up. I realize easier said than done, but they have done it in the past....I think the talent is present, perhaps the on field play reading is struggling.
Go Poly! Beat the Bengals!
According to the depth chart against SDSU Cal Poly listed three linemen PLUS 4 linebackers. One of the linebacker positions is listed as "Bandit" with Sean Lawyer listed as the starter and Ryan Shotwell as the backup. Last year I believe that most of the time they went with four linemen and Shotwell playing defensive end. That part is a problem because Shotwell has been much less productive than last year -- primarily because of an injury earlier in the year but also perhaps because his postion has changed to bandit linebacker.
Additionally I think that Cal Poly has had a tough time replacing Chris White at nose tackle from the '06 Mustangs with help from Ryan Shotwell. In fact last year the Brothers Shotwell led the Great West in sacks with 7.0 each. The year before they placed pressure on the quarterback with Chris Gocong and Matt Chachere. It is common knowledge that they have placed much less pressure on the quarterback and produced fewer sacks than in previous years. That has always been an intregal part of the Cal Poly defensive system because it leads to more turnovers. This is the area that has to improve starting next Saturday.
Post a Comment