Overcoming Adversity- The Coaching Career of Robin Blake

[TheOtherPotterGuy]

Matchup Preview

Bison look to continue undefeated streak against struggling MWC foe San Diego State

San Diego, CA- Our beloved Bison head out on the road this week to take on Mountain West foe the San Diego State Aztecs in the first of four road games in a row.

North Dakota State is coming off a big win over the Duke Blue Devils and will look to continue their Mountain West dominance against a San Diego team that has not impressed this season.

"We've been working on a lot of new things this week." Head Coach Chris Klieman said. "I think this is the perfect team to practice on. I expect great things from our players."

Coach Klieman, who is now calling the offensive plays after the departure of Brett Terrell, seemed confident that his team will pull out the victory after an incredible offensive display last week.

The Aztecs defense comes into this game allowing an average of 400 yards a game. Linebacker Derek Largent is the leading tackler in the conference and will need to be contained for the Bison offense to be successful.

On the other side, Aztec quarterback Quinn Kaehler has not had a great season. He has struggled to find chemistry with his receivers after wide receiver Colin Lockett went down for the rest of the season with a foot fracture. Kaehler has relied on running back Adam Muema all season, but Muema may find little running room against a Bison D that is number one in the nation against the rush.

"Coach Blake has been telling us all week not to overlook these guys." Safety Sergio Swain said. "They actually look a lot better on tape then their record says. This should be a fun challenge."

The Bison need to take care of business today in order to create momentum through their four road game stretch. Kickoff will be at noon in San Diego, California.

Keys to Victory

Blitz Quinn Kaehler and contain Adam Muema

Create Turnovers

Establish momentum on offense and capitalize on every opportunity

Previous game results:
NDSU 27 Duke 21
San Diego State 24 Air Force 34

Prediction: NDSU 31 San Diego State 17

Matchup Preview | October 19, 2013
	@
North Dakota State Bison (6-0, 2-0 Away)		San Diego State Aztecs (2-4, 1-2 Home)
Offensive Stats Comparison 26.8 Points Per Game 29.7 364.5 Total Offensive Yards 357.2 131.7 Rushing Yards 131.8 232.8 Passing Yards 225.3 Defensive Stats Comparison 253.8 Total Yards Allowed 404.5 69.8 Rushing Yards Allowed 204.5 184.0 Passing Yards Allowed 200.0 Injury Report LG Herman Munoz/ Abdominal Tear Questionable C Antonio Rosales/Pulled Groin Questionable WR Colin Lockett/Foot Fracture Out for Season C Jordan Smith/Torn Quad 1 Week Game Notes

[beast10]

still enjoying this and the storyline. good luck against SDSU!

[TheOtherPotterGuy]

Quote: Originally Posted by beast10

still enjoying this and the storyline. good luck against SDSU!

I appreciate it man! Thanks for checking in!

[TheOtherPotterGuy]

Goodbye Perfect Season

Bison fall in a defensive battle to the 2-4 Aztecs on a rainy day

View of the offense from the coaches box. The Bison offense struggled mightily today.

San Diego, CA- A week after beating the Duke Blue Devils in a total team effort, the North Dakota State Bison fall to the lowly San Diego State Aztecs 15-3 on a day where the offense failed to move the ball successfully.

Aztec Kicker Wes Feer (49) kicks a FG to put his team on the board.

"That was pathetic." Head Coach Chris Klieman said after the game. "We are better then they are. We are more talented then they are. But at the end of the day our players and coaches could not execute."

The offense was so bad today, they didn't even break the 100 yard mark in total offense. Senior quarterback Carey Kaplan looked shaky and unsure in the pocket, tossing for a season low 38 yards and only his 2nd interception of the year.

Aztec CB J.J Whittaker (34) picks off a Carey Kaplan pass.

"Right now I can't tell you guys what happened out there." A dejected Kaplan said. "All I know is that I let the team down and I let the program down today. Everyone deserves better."

Bison linebacker Ali Pettit (44) picks off a Quinn Kaehler pass that led to a Bison FG

The Bison defense did well today in a losing effort. They contained the Aztec offense to only 150 yards through three quarters and allowed 3 field goals. But in the fourth, after a botched punt, Aztec running back Adam Muema put the team on his back and rushed for the only touchdown of the game.

Bison DE Tracy Salyer (92) sacks Aztec QB Quinn Kaehler (18) for a 10 yard loss.

"I'am proud of these guys." Defensive coordinator Robin Blake said. "Everyone stood tall as long as they could today but eventually our mistakes caught up to us."

Aztec HB Adam Muema (4) breaks tackles on the way to a TD.

North Dakota State needed a win today to start off strong during their four game road stretch. Now they will need to regroup and restart as they travel to San Jose, California to take on the Spartans next week.

North Dakota State Bison at San Diego State Aztecs
Oct 19, 2013	1ST	2ND	3RD	4TH	SCORE
North Dakota State Bison (6-1, 3-1)	0	0	3	0	3
San Diego State Aztecs (3-4, 2-1)	0	3	3	9	15

Team Stats Comparison
	NDSU	SDSU
Total Offense	96	208
Rushing Yards	58	71
Passing Yards	38	137
First Downs	4	9
Punt Return Yards	25	17
Kick Return Yards	0	15
Total Yards	121	240
Turnovers	2	1
3rd Down Converstion	2-13	3-11
4th Down Conversion	0-3	0-0
2-Point Conversion	0-0	0-1
Red Zone Touchdowns/Field Goals	2-0-0	2-0-1
Penalties	4-20	2-10
Posession Time	9:39	14:21

Scoring Summary
SECOND QUARTER SCORING		NDSU	SDSU
2:19	(SDSU) FG SDSU: W.Feer, 51 YD FG	3	0
THIRD QUARTER SCORING		NDSU	SDSU
2:10	(NDSU) FG NDSU: R.Bush, 47 YD FG	3	3
0:31	(SDSU) FG SDSU: W.Feer, 51 YD FG	6	3
FOURTH QUARTER SCORING		NDSU	SDSU
2:11	(SDSU) FG SDSU: W.Feer, 23 YD FG	9	3
0:41	(SDSU) TD SDSU: A.Muema, 20 YD run (2-Pt failed)	15	3

North Dakota State Bison PASSING C/A YDS TD INT C.Kaplan 4-11 38 0 1 RUSHING ATT YDS AVG TD D.Goolsby 24 69 2.8 0 J.Branch 9 -1 -0.1 0 C.Kaplan 2 -10 -5.0 0 RECEIVING REC YDS AVG TD A.Munoz 3 34 11.3 0 J.Branch 1 4 4.0 0 DEFENSE TACK SACK INT TD S.Swain 8 2 0 0 C.Francis 5 0 0 0 T.Kent 4 0 0 0 N.Cabral 3 0 0 0 P.Dunbar 3 0 0 0 B.McKinley 3 0 0 0 T.Briggs 2 0 0 0 A.Pettit 2 0 1 0 T.Sayler 1 1 0 0 KICKING FG XP PTS LONG R.Bush 1-1 0-0 3 48 PUNTING NO YDS AVG IN20 E.Mason 6 278 46.3 1 PUNT RETURN RET YDS AVG TD B.Redd 3 25 8.3 0

San Diego State Aztecs PASSING C/A YDS TD INT Q.Kaehler 13-23 137 0 1 RUSHING ATT YDS AVG TD A.Muema 18 84 4.6 1 Q.Kaehler 5 -18 -3.6 0 D.Pumphrey 1 5 5.0 0 RECEIVING REC YDS AVG TD D.Denso 5 85 17.0 0 E****ffin 3 38 12.6 0 C.Young 2 6 3.0 0 A.Muema 2 0 0.0 0 T.Vizzi 1 8 8.0 0 DEFENSE TACK SACK INT TD C.Galea 7 0 0 0 J.Fely 7 0 0 0 S.Meredith 6 2 0 0 J.Thomas 5 0 0 0 D,Largent 5 0 0 0 J.Whittaker 4 0 1 0 N.Tenhaeff 3 0 0 0 P.Romain 3 0 0 0 KICKING FG XP PTS LONG W.Feer 3-4 0-0 9 52 PUNTING NO YDS AVG IN20 J.Alesi 5 246 49.2 0 KICK RETURN RET YDS AVG TD D.Hardwick 1 15 15.0 0 PUNT RETURN RET YDS AVG TD T.Vizzi 2 17 8.5 0

[Miles Perry]

Rough loss, but gotta love that scoreline. I always love those defensive battles.

[TheOtherPotterGuy]

Quote: Originally Posted by Miles Perry

Rough loss, but gotta love that scoreline. I always love those defensive battles.

Haha yeah I do too, but it was odd to watch. I don't control the offense so to watch them get shut down like that was weird. Thanks for checking in!

[TheOtherPotterGuy]

Around the Nation

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Gators Improve To 6-1

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Yes!

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Big 12 Foes Clash

The big Big 12 match-up this week is the battle between #25 Texas and #7 TCU.

Disrespected!

The #18 Minnesota Golden Gophers get the short end of the stick in the latest polls.

Over By The Half

All cylinders were clicking for Alabama in a 31-3 beat down of Arkansas.

Auburn remains #1 in the polls but could a team from a "Group of Five" conference challenge them in the National Championship game? Louisville, from the American Conference and Northern Illinois, from the MAC conference both jump in to the top three as they remain undefeated on the year.

NCAA Football Rankings - AP Top 25 - Updated: Oct 21, 2013
RK	LW	TEAM (VOTES)	W	L	POINTS
1	1	Auburn	7	0	33
2	3	Louisville	7	0	26
3	5	Northern Illinois	7	0	1
4	6	Alabama	6	1
5	12	Syracuse	7	0	1
6	8	Baylor	5	1
7	4	TCU	6	1
8	15	Oklahoma State	5	1
9	13	Wisconsin	6	1
10	16	Michigan State	6	1
11	2	Oregon	6	1
12	18	Georgia	5	2
13	7	Ohio State	5	2
14	9	Missouri	5	2
15	11	Florida State	4	2
16	20	Kansas State	5	1
17	21	Oklahoma	5	2
18	--	Minnesota	7	0
19	17	Texas A&M	5	2
20	23	USC	5	1
21	--	Clemson	4	3
22	--	Florida	6	1
23	10	South Carolina	5	2
24	19	UCF	4	2
25	25	Texas	4	2

After losing to Iowa, Ohio State quarterback Braxton Miller loses his top stop on the Heisman Watch list. Replacing him is dynamic running back Glasco Martin from Baylor.

Heisman Watch - Updated: Oct 21, 2013
NAME	POS	SCHOOL		SEASON STATS
Glasco Martin	HB	Baylor		155 ATT, 997 YDS, 14 TD
Braxton Miller	QB	Ohio State		93-163, 1286 YDS, 18 TD, 4 INT
Dominique Brown	HB	Louisville		110 ATT, 561 YDS, 11 TD
Daniel Sams	QB	Kansas State		55-101, 702 YDS, 8 TD, 2 INT
Phillip Nelson	QB	Minnesota		69-134, 1040 YDS, 16 TD, 4 INT

Players of the Week

Offense:

Northern Illinois QB Jordan Lynch

10-14, 127 YDS, 12 CAR, 129 YDS, 4 Total TD

Defense:

Clemson LE Corey Crawford

6 TKLS, 6 TFL, 4 ATK, 3 SKS, FF

Congratulations to both players!

[TheOtherPotterGuy]

Matchup Preview

Bison look to regroup against David Fales and the San Jose Spartans

San Jose, CA- After a 15-3 disaster against the San Diego State Aztecs, the North Dakota State Bison will continue their southern California tour and travel to beautiful San Jose to take on the Spartans.

"We've worked hard all week preparing for this game." Head coach Chris Klieman said. "The team knows what i expect and they should expect it out of themselves too."

This will be Coach Klieman's third game calling the plays for the offense. He was successful against Duke, but his offense fell flat against San Diego state. The Bison will need to look to their captain on offense, quarterback Carey Kaplan to have a great game.

"I know what is expected of me and this team." Kaplan said. "I am going to go out there and do the best that I can to help my team win."

If the Bison want any chance of success against the Spartans, the running game must get going again. Sophomore Duane Goolsby and redshirt Freshman Quinn Denman must elevate their play and take some pressure off of their quarterback.

On the other side, the defense has been playing outstanding all year but they will face one of their stiffest challenges yet. Spartan quarterback David Fales is on a roll this year and will look to attack a Bison secondary that has given up a lot of passing yards this year.

"We all know we need to step up our game." Safety Sergio Swain said. "Coach Blake expects us to be at our best everyday and we will play our hardest out there for him and the team."

With the Boise State loss last week, the Bison are still tied for first in the Mountain division but they need to win this game to remain in the race for the conference championship game. Kickoff will be at 12:30 in San Jose.

Keys to Victory

The running game must get going

QB Carey Kaplan needs to elevate his play

The defense must slow down QB David Fales and create turnovers.

Previous game results:
NDSU 3 San Diego State 15
San Jose State 20 Colorado State 42

Prediction: NDSU 21 San Jose State 24

Matchup Preview *|* October 26, 2013
	@
North Dakota State Bison (6-1, 2-1 Away)		San Jose State Spartans (3-3, 1-1 Home)
Offensive Stats Comparison 23.4 Points Per Game 30.7 326.1 Total Offensive Yards 360.8 121.1 Rushing Yards 86.3 205.0 Passing Yards 274.5 Defensive Stats Comparison 247.3 Total Yards Allowed 411.8 70.0 Rushing Yards Allowed 201.3 177.3 Passing Yards Allowed 210.5 Injury Report LG Herman Munoz/ Abdominal Tear Questionable HB Tyler Ervin/Torn Achilles Tendon Out for Season Game Notes