Wk 9 MVFC pickem

[MissouriStatefan]

SDSU @ YSU
SIU @ Ind St
Ill St @ MSU
NDSU @ W Ill

[Bearvision]

Same as MStatefan...

[Redbird Ray]

Illinois State wins this Saturday at MSU. xnodx

[DOME]

I'm predicting Fat Grace to fumble three times and throw a pick. UNI falls -17 to 0 at home against the byecycles.

[TheBisonator]

Hate to say it, but I think 1-6 Western Illinois beats the 1-7 Bison. I think our team has completely given up on the coaching staff.

[MplsBison]

We'll beat Indiana State, Western Ill or both. No way we end the season with only a single win.


Illinois State is also better than MSU, they will win.

[MSUBear42]

Illinois State is also better than MSU, they will win.

You do realize that if we played to win instead of playing 'not to lose' we would have destroyed you, right? When we were passing in the first half we were passing at will against you guys. We were happy just to run and run down the clock the entire 2nd half.

I'm interested in seeing the two most improved MVC teams play this week. We beat the Redbirds last year, on the road, and we're a much better team this year. Not to mention they're giving up something like 32 points a game.

[jmc_jackrabbit]

I might pick Illinois State if they were at home. But MSU looked pretty good at home to me when SDSU played there. And I can't pick four road teams to win in the MVFC.

Ill. St. at MSU
SIU at Ind. St.
NDSU at WIU
SDSU at YSU

[RabidRabbit]

I might pick Illinois State if they were at home. But MSU looked pretty good at home to me when SDSU played there. And I can't pick four road teams to win in the MVFC.

Ill. St. at MSU
SIU at Ind. St.
NDSU at WIU
SDSU at YSU

IMHO, WIU has demonstrated that they're really down this year. NDSU is an OK team with some serious coaching issues. Hopefully Mohler/Pashall have break out day in Macomb, or the Bison really do need to be worried about beating ISU Trees.

Glad Jacks faced the Redbirds early in the season. They're jelling into a solid middle of the MVFC team. MoSt would likely be the top team in the OVC or Big South, but they play in the conference with the #1 & #2 defensive team (who tagged Bears with an L.) SIU will be a tough game to win for the Bears.

CONGRATS TO TREES to ending losing streak!

UNI - Hope Bye Cycles treat you good so come back to finish 8-3 with all 8 D-I win.

[MSUfan2010]

Illinois State is also better than MSU, they will win.

Based on?


Ill. St. at MSU
SIU at Ind. St.
NDSU at WIU
SDSU at YSU (Doubt it though)

[onbison09]

IMHO, WIU has demonstrated that they're really down this year. NDSU is an OK team with some serious coaching issues. Hopefully Mohler/Pashall have break out day in Macomb, or the Bison really do need to be worried about beating ISU Trees.

Glad Jacks faced the Redbirds early in the season. They're jelling into a solid middle of the MVFC team. MoSt would likely be the top team in the OVC or Big South, but they play in the conference with the #1 & #2 defensive team (who tagged Bears with an L.) SIU will be a tough game to win for the Bears.

CONGRATS TO TREES to ending losing streak!

UNI - Hope Bye Cycles treat you good so come back to finish 8-3 with all 8 D-I win.

We're due :D

[Gil Dobie]

SDSU @ YSU
SIU @ Ind St
Ill St @ MSU
NDSU @ W Ill

SDSU - Possible upset on the road, may be the conference game the Jacks lose, but I'm not picking against them

SIU
MSU
WIU - Picking against the Bison until they win

[Big Al]

SDSU @ YSU
SIU @ Ind St
Ill St @ MSU
NDSU @ W Ill

+1

Solid picks, imo.

[MplsBison]

SDSU
SIU
Ill St
NDSU

All road wins this week.

[Thumper 76]

Ill. St. at MSU-Both teams are playing much better, but I think that this much improved MSU team is too tough at home for Ill. St to be able to overcome in this battle for fourth place in the Valley. MSU uses its more physical style of play and wins in the trenches. 28-21

SIU at Ind. St.-Ind St. is coming of their first win in forever, mabey they have some momentum to move forward? Unfortunately they have to play one of the two top teams in the conference in SIU, and no matter how much momentum they have I don't think it helps much against a strong SIU team, even if they are missing thier starting QB. However, I do think that they hang better with them than they would be expected to for a bit. Next week Trees. 35-10
NDSU at WIU-The battle of the bottom dwellers. Who could've predicted this?xconfusedx Just crazy. I think that this NDSU team is to the point that they may have given up on this year and their staff. With this new QB they put in last week, they didn't fare any better, and he actually did much worse than the original starter. I think that those factors, coupled with the fact that this team can't seem to figure out how to win even with having enough talent to win. WIU in a close one where the NDSU defense fails again, in a turnover ridden game. 35-28

SDSU at YSU-Personally I have not been as impressed with YSU as most people have been. They haven't beat anyone thats good this season yet, beating up on some OVC teams is the extent to their solid wins. After seeing them lose at home to MSU, I don't have much confidence in them throwing the upset against this Jacks team that is going to be flying high and is on a roll as well as getting back their senior QB. I think its close until the third quarter, when the lines for the Jacks wear down the Guins and start wreaking havoc. 38-10

[leatherneck177]

SDSU @ YSU - Jacks by 17
SIU @ Ind St - Salukis by 24
Ill St @ MSU - Bears by 4
NDSU @ W Ill - Bison by 7

[Thunderstruck84]

SDSU 24 @ YSU 10
SIU 38 @ InSU 9
IlSU 24 @ MSU 27
NDSU 19 @ WIU 21

[Jacks02]

SDSU 31 @ YSU 13
SIU 41 @ InSU 10
IlSU 27 @ MSU 31
NDSU 27 @ WIU 24

[Thunderstruck84]

NDSU at WIU-The battle of the bottom dwellers. Who could've predicted this?xconfusedx Just crazy. I think that this NDSU team is to the point that they may have given up on this year and their staff. With this new QB they put in last week, they didn't fare any better, and he actually did much worse than the original starter. I think that those factors, coupled with the fact that this team can't seem to figure out how to win even with having enough talent to win. WIU in a close one where the NDSU defense fails again, in a turnover ridden game. 35-28
I think that your pick is right on but the reasons aren't. I don't consider NDSU's issues this year coaching, I put in on the players recruited and still healthy or lack thereof. As a wise coach once said "It's not so much the Xs and the Os, it's the Jimmys and the Joes". Here's a list of NDSU's injuries:

MLB: Tyler Henry - out for the year (neck)
OLB: Matt Anderson - out for the year (back)
OLB: Matt Kittleson - out for the year (ankle)
MLB: Preston Evans - questionable (pinched nerve)
DT: Mike Fairbarn - out for the year (MCL)
RB: Mike Sigers - out for the year (turf toe)
RB: Matt Voightlander - questionalbe (knee)
TE: Matt Veldman - out (turf toe)
TE: Thor Brown - out for the year (ACL)
K: Shawn Bibeau - out (groin)
K: John Obarski - out (groin)

Add that to the attrition the program saw in the offseason:

WR: Sidney Haynes - dismissed from team
WR: Jordan Schultenover - dismissed from team
RB: Pete Blincoe - transferred
QB: Troy Jackson - dismissed from team
LB: Black Sczepanski - dismissed from team
S: Brian Kuhtz - transferred
S: Jordan Osbourne - transferred

Add that to a few years of poor recruiting and what you've got is a bad team. The Bison can't really blame themselves for injuries (although with the last couple of years, you have to wonder if the trainers start getting held accountable for some of this) but they can be held accountable for the attrition and for not recruiting enough depth at a bevy of positions.

If you ask me, the talent level currently on this team is pretty even with the 1-7 record and unless there's a drastic culture change it won't be much different for the next year or two.

xtwocentsx

[MplsBison]

I agree for the most part with thunderstruck.

You've got to have the talent to make a scheme work.

[Jacked_Rabbit]

Thunderstruck seems to be contradicting himself...

Aside from injuries, which simply unlucky for the Bison, isn't it the NDSU coaching staff that recruited these players? Here's my point, even though you are saying that you don't blame the coaching staff, they brought in the hooligans that were dismissed from the team... So, indirectly, they are more than partly responsible for the 7 L's. xthumbsupx

[Thunderstruck84]

Thunderstruck seems to be contradicting himself...

Aside from injuries, which simply unlucky for the Bison, isn't it the NDSU coaching staff that recruited these players? Here's my point, even though you are saying that you don't blame the coaching staff, they brought in the hooligans that were dismissed from the team... So, indirectly, they are more than partly responsible for the 7 L's. xthumbsupx
There's a difference between the quality of the coaching staff and the quality of the coaching, there are a lot more things (including recruiting) that go into making a good collegiate coaching staff other than Xs and Os. A great coach can be a terrible recruiter and a great recruiter can be a terrible coach *COUGH*TimBrewster*COUGH*. I'll equate it to a chess game; your coaches can do all they can to put their peices in the best positions but if you're playing with 2 knights and a bishop against a full board you're going to have a hard time winning.

I agree that the coaches are to blame for their lack of foresight in recruiting but the coaching is not necessarily where the blame should go. At any rate, it's splitting hairs and it's not going to make a differene one way or the other. xpeacex

[MplsBison]

Another thing you have to consider is that it can be hard sometimes to predict which recruits will succeed.

Sometimes a 4 or 5 star kid doesn't do jack for the program and sometimes a no-star kid can turn into an all-american.

[UNIFanSince1983]

SIU 56-3 -- ISU may have picked up a win, but they are still pretty atrocious
NDSU 21-20 -- Both teams are struggling, but WIU lost to ISU Blue - Gotta pick the Bizon on this one
SDSU 16-10 -- SDSU will play down to YSU after the huge win in Brookings last week, but are too strong and will pull it out
MSU 27-13 -- The Bears have been playing well, and I have not bought into Illinois State yet

[I-AA Fan]

SDSU 16-10 -- SDSU will play down to YSU after the huge win in Brookings last week, but are too strong and will pull it out


Is there any reason that you would say they would be playing down? If YSU wins the next two weeks will it be playing down for the Panthers as well? Were the Panthers playing down last year, when they were down by 13 into the 4th quarter against a sub-.500 Penguin club?

Sorry for the sarcasm, but there is no such thing as 'playing down', unless YSU went back to DII.

[Jacked_Rabbit]

Here are my picks, against the spread, of course:

South Dakota St. @ Youngstown St. +11 - The Penguins keep this one close until the end, as the Jacks leave Y'town with a 24-20 victory.
S. Illinois -27 @ Indiana St. - The Sycamores hang around in the first half, but SIU pulls away in the 2nd for a 45-13 win.
Illinois St. +7 @ Mizzou St. - The Bears win a thriller at home this weekend, 24-23.
North Dakota St. (pk) @ W. Illinois - There is no way the Bison lose again, is there?!? NDSU pulls it out on the road this time, 21-17.

[SO ILLmatic]

SDSU
SIU
Mo State
WIU

[SO ILLmatic]

S. Illinois -27 @ Indiana St. - The Sycamores hang around in the first half, but SIU pulls away in the 2nd for a 45-13 win.


How is Indy State gonna "hang around" in the first half???

[Jacked_Rabbit]

How is Indy State gonna "hang around" in the first half???

Just an opinion buddy, nothin' personal! ;) I just have a feeling SIU will come out a little flat, and i don't think Indiana St. has a that terrible of a team. I don't think your Salukis will be up by more than 14-17 at half... xrolleyesx Don't worry, they'll pick it up in the 2nd and run away with it!

[igo4uni]

Just an opinion buddy, nothin' personal! ;) I just have a feeling SIU will come out a little flat, and i don't think Indiana St. has a that terrible of a team. I don't think your Salukis will be up by more than 14-17 at half... xrolleyesx Don't worry, they'll pick it up in the 2nd and run away with it!

I thought Indiana State gave up football.

[MSUBear42]

About Illinois State, THEY ARE NOT GOOD. I'm sorry, but I was FAR from impressed with Illinois State today. They beat an MSU team that just didn't care out there today. ISU might as well have been playing against a pile of twigs because that's the effort the Bears put out today.

And for the Xth straight game, OUR PLAYCALLING WAS T E R R I B L E!!!!!!!!!!

Photos:

Album:

http://thumb7.webshots.net/t/96/196/1/74/80/2783174800105763267mngQpe_th.jpg (http://sports.webshots.com/album/575325126CAhKrV)

Pics...


Big crowd

http://photos-e.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-snc1/hs088.snc3/15558_643918570204_34320110_37928389_621267_n.jpg

http://photos-h.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-snc1/hs108.snc3/15558_643918580184_34320110_37928391_3593638_n.jpg

Full lots:

http://photos-f.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-snc1/hs108.snc3/15558_643918585174_34320110_37928392_1106045_n.jpg

http://photos-e.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-snc1/hs088.snc3/15558_643918645054_34320110_37928404_6976736_n.jpg

Their QB actually knows how to throw it away
http://photos-a.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-snc1/hs088.snc3/15558_643918689964_34320110_37928412_3700149_n.jpg

http://photos-g.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-snc1/hs088.snc3/15558_643918724894_34320110_37928418_8248658_n.jpg

http://photos-a.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-snc1/hs088.snc3/15558_643918729884_34320110_37928419_7000036_n.jpg

http://photos-e.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-snc1/hs088.snc3/15558_643918799744_34320110_37928433_7816438_n.jpg

Last play of the first half, 5 Bears within range, they can't intercept it, and ISU catches it for a TD... Wow. This pic says it all.
http://photos-f.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-snc1/hs108.snc3/15558_643918904534_34320110_37928449_1372593_n.jpg

[Jacked_Rabbit]

How is Indy State gonna "hang around" in the first half???

0-0 at the end of the 1st quarter. I guess I pretty much hit the nail on the head!