Their total defensive stat is pretty horrid considering only one premium quality opponent.. They might argue that they’ve faced experienced quarterbacks in their games, that point was made in their press conference.
Anyway they don’t appear to be that great on D and not as many sacs as UCD.

I recommend the Montana press conference video above if you want to feel good about the Aggies. Of course you have to take all the praise with a grain of salt as the smarter coaches blow a lot of smoke.
This game is too close to call; literally. Sagarin has two tables of predictions for this weeks games using different methodology and they split on who’s favored.

Anyone have an idea about the status of the players who didn’t play against NDSU? White and Kraft are two whose absence I noticed.

Just going from the box score list of starters from the team site
UCD - Offense
# Player Pos.
2 HARRELL, Jared WR
6 CRAWFORD, Carson WR
9 VAUGHN, Khris WR
87 PREECE, Wes TE
79 RICHARDSON, Kooper RT
60 PARKS, Jake RG
34 GILLIAM Jr., Ulonzo RB
15 MAIER, Jake QB
70 LAMSON, Colton LT
65 FORD, Jordan LG
74 PETTEK, Connor C

I think the second to last year under Biggs we were pretty terrible running the ball. Tim Keane was our offensive line coach. We used the mad cow aka wildcat offense in spots. The following year they added a second offensive line coach who’s name I can’t recall. At the time they reported that we were doing more of what might be considered lateral blocking, pass blocking screens etc and the added coach fixed up some of the run blocking techniques or more vertical running plays. We had decent success, with Colton Silvera and others running the ball. Next year Biggs announced his retirement and the coach moved on to North Dakota. Ron Gould’s team then had more success with Manzaneras.

We moves the ball but had a hard time getting into the end zone. I think that’s common for football teams that rely on the pass. When the field gets short the defense has less to cover.
We need to be more balanced. I know it seems like we should rarely run because we pass better but that’s not going to work against good defenses.

I prefer to think NDSU is really good. If they aren’t then one would conclude we slipped from last year and I don’t think that’s the case.
Cal seems to be better than expected and San Diego beat Harvard which was advertised to have had the best recruiting year in FCS.
But so far it seems the defense can elevate its game against tough opposition and the offense not so much, if judged by getting touchdowns.

The offensive line certainly had some moments but the second half wasn’t encouraging for our offense as a whole. Pass rush certainly contributed to the frustration. Something to think about: in both the Cal and NDSU games we scored only a field goal in second half.

“Their defense was much more physical than we anticipated from watching film,” Entz said.

Any one hear a reason why no audio broadcast from KHTK?

Box score participation show Jordan Ford started at left guard and showed Suani also starting on DL. I think that’s a first for both players

same on the KHTK web, just BS sports talk

Efficient as evidenced by only one punt and over 500 yards of offense

what happened in San Diego is we were highly efficient on offense but let some scoring opportunities get away such as the turnover in the red zone and getting field goals in the red zone. This was impacted by no depth at running back that game. On the other hand San Diego statistically didn’t have great success running the ball but always seemed to pick up first downs one way or another and therefor won the time of possession battle and held down the score even though they couldn’t stop our offense. Change a few plays, i.e the kickoff return, the interception in the red zone and the field goal after having a first and goal inside the five and the result would look a lot different.

Containing a running game hasn’t been our MO this year, it’s been all about forcing long drives and hoping to disrupt the offense by getting into the backfield and also hoping for their offense to be inefficient with turnovers and penalties. Then we outscore them. I kind of like the old fashion approach of taking away the run but that’s not what they talk about.

I notice the Lehigh game isn’t on the big sky site.

If I recall correctly that 2005 team lost a future NFL tight end Daniel Fells and featured running back Nelson Doris in the Stanford game.Doris ran for 115 yards at 4.6 yards per carry against Stanford. That was a big loss

We are ranked number 4 on things other than our point performance this year. We haven’t covered the spread in a game this year. Computer rankings like Sagarin that are based on point differential would not have us number 4.

It may not yet be reflected in the polls but it is reflected in the computer rankings. We’re now fifth in the big sky in Sagarin ratings behind Weber, Montana State, Montana and Eastern Washington.

[reply="CA Forever;24250"Imagine what the score could have been if the defense hadn’t allowed them to convert 11of 16 on third down. Defense made them punt just 4 times