Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:01):
Roll heard.
Speaker 2 (00:02):
It's time for the Twison Bits on the Beer Belly
Sports Radio Network with TJ.
Speaker 1 (00:08):
Good In Morning, good afternoon, and good evening. I'm TJ
your host Bison Bits, where we shit a little bits
and pieces on our favorite FCS football team, the NDSU Bison,
and I wanted to start this episode by saying the
ass whooping at the Alaris, But it was not an
(00:31):
ass whooping for the Bison on Saturday. It was on
the edge of your seat at the Alaris as the
Bison snuck one out for their twelfth Missouri Valley Football
Conference title, winning fifteen to ten. Late in the game,
they scored a touchdown late and then an interception sealed
(00:52):
the fate for the Bison. But there's this was I
told you it's going to be Nipentucky. It was going
to be a hard game. I thought both teams would
score a little bit more, but it did not happen.
It was a battle of who can finally do something.
(01:13):
Both defenses I thought played really, really well and so
well the cole Peyton had the worst game of his
starting career at least he was eight or fifteen with
an interception one hundred and twenty five yards. He threw
the interception in the first quarter, and after he threw
it he seemed a little shell shocked after that. Took
aim a while to get going, never really did go go.
(01:37):
He did have sixty eight yards rushing. The Boyson rush
for one hundred and forty three yards on thirty six carries.
That's just four yards of carry. But you and D
was even worse. Jerry Kaminski's single handed He shot himself
in the foot with three interceptions, all in the second half,
two in the fourth quarter. He was twenty one to
thirty eight for one to seventy. But the stat here
(02:00):
is North Dakota rushed forty three times for one hundred
and sixteen yards. That's just two point seven yards a clip.
It was a rough game for both offenses. And if
you would have asked me before the game that you
and D would let's see, let me sure make sure
(02:24):
I get this right now, you and D would have
eighty one offensive plays to the Bison's fifty one, and
Cole Peyton would have been eight of fifteen and the
bizon Oi rushed for four yards of carry. Peyton would
have an interception. If you would have told me that
(02:47):
the Bison were going to be two to twelve on
third down, with you indeed being six to sixteen two
of four and fourth down. And if you would have
told me that U and D would have thirty four
minutes of possession compared to the Bisons twenty five.
Speaker 2 (03:07):
And if you would have told me that the Bison
went have eleven penalties compared to un D's, I would
have told you that the Bison got their ass handed
to them.
Speaker 1 (03:18):
But it did not happen. The Bison found a way
to hang on again fifteen to ten in the Battle
of North Dakota used to be the Battle of the
wood Nickel for the wooden Nickel, but it was a
heck of a game. The Bison got down seven to
nothing after the interception thrown by Cole. It was seven
(03:40):
to six at the half, it was nine to ten
at the end of the third, and U and D
got shut out in the fourth quarter. U and D
had a chance to is this game though late in
the fourth quarter it was fourth and one, maybe just
over one, and U and D ran out of the
piss instead of right behind right under center, they ran pistol.
(04:05):
Kaminski faked it to Siddell. I believe they're running back,
and then he followed right behind side down and the
Bison sold out knocked him for a loss. And then
Cole had a really nice drive. Well, they were at midfield,
so now they got to go. Times are running out.
They had to go on a third or third or
fourth down. Cole found Reese Kessel for thirty yards with
(04:27):
set him up for their next play, which was inside
the ten yard line, where Cole dropped back to pass,
found nobody open, found a seam in the line of
scrimmage through the defense and scored you and he gets
called for one goofy penalty. It was an illegal forward
pass though. The kick returner for You and D tried
(04:49):
to pitch the ball behind him, but somehow as he
pitched it, the ball floated ended up coming forward a
little bit. He didn't just pass it back. He kind
of flipped it up in the air, but it came
forward just a little bit. A flag was called for
a legal forward pass on a reverse. They're trying to
do a reverse and pushed back you. Indeed, they did
chip their way down the field. They got down to
(05:10):
about the thirty yard line late in the game. In
the past. Great interception, by the way, a really really
great interception by Ndius or interception not reception, interception by
I think it was Anthony Chidemi el Faro. Great great interception,
(05:33):
and the Bison seal it for their twelfth Missouri Valley
Football Conference title. They are ten and oer and there's
a little stat from off X from Bison overtime. They're
at Bison underscore overtime. N the SU D one era
teams that started ten and oh and how they finished.
(05:55):
In two thousand and seven they were ten and oh,
but they were still in their transition from D two
to D one. They didn't qualify for the playoffs. In
twenty eleven they were ten and zero. They won a
national title, in thirteen, won a national title, in eighteen,
won the national title. In nineteen, won a national title.
And now we're at twenty twenty five, and we will
(06:19):
have to see how this plays out. Bison get a
big win, I mean big, big win. They should secure
the number one for sure, the number two seed. They
get a win here with their next opponent, they're probably
gonna get that. And that next opponent is Northern Iowa
and this is not the Northern Iowa team. We remember
(06:41):
in the early transition that NDSU went through in FCS
where it was a slugfest. I mean they would fight
on the field, there were personal fouls, and they SU
would go down to Northern Iowa and play like absolute ass.
Northern iowould come to the dome and just push the
Bison to the brink. Those days are over. Coach Farley resigned.
(07:05):
One of the reasons, if I if I'm not if
I understand that right. One of the reasons Farley resigned
at Northern Iowa was I think it was NIL. They
just they lost so many players and they're still getting
decimated from the NIL contracts and they themselves, I've read
(07:25):
this is about a year ago. They're struggling to raise
money to bring in players from NIL. So the it's
a huge rebuild. They'll Coach Poliss said in his press
conference that he sees them going in the right direction,
but it's been tough for Northern Iowa. If two wins
the three wins, excuse me. On the season. They won
last week over Murray State thirty one to fourteen. They
(07:45):
won their opener thirty eight to fourteen with Butler. They
lost to a rebuilding Wyoming team thirty one seven, they
lost to a very average East from Washington team seventeen fourteen.
They were crushed by Utah Tech twenty and then then
the l started coming. They got beat by North Dakota,
they got beat by STSU, they got beat by South Dakota,
(08:07):
they got beat by Southern Illinois, they got beat by
Illinois State, and all they scored in those games are
seven points, three points, fourteen points, seventeen points, sixteen points.
It's a rough road to hole for this team. I'd
like to think that they are on the rebuild. Hopefully
they can get things turned around. A once really really
(08:29):
really proud program is seen better days. They are shuffling
quarterbacks like crazy. They've played three of them this year,
and I'm not sure exactly. I'll look and see who
quarterbacked on Saturday. I believe it was, Yes, it was,
(08:51):
That's who I thought it was. It was Bailey. They
just don't have any continuity, They don't have any flow
with their offense, and it looks like they will be
led at quarterback by Jackson Daily, who played last week.
He's got four tds and three picks on the air.
(09:14):
He's completing sixty percent of his passes, but it's been
a struggle for him, really been a struggle with the
running game. They don't have anyone over five hundred yards rushing.
Harrison Bay Blue has four hundred and five yards. Bill
Jackson who had a really good game last week against
(09:34):
the Racers of Murray State, really good game. Actually he's
at three hundred and seventy seven yards rushing. So it's
been a really tough goal for this team. Though they
do have some wide receivers that can do some things. J. C.
Roch forty seven catches on the air. Tyson Kershaw has
four hundred and twenty receiving yards on the week year
(09:55):
at sixteen point two yards a clip. But overall this
team has just seen better days and I think they're
they're gonna come out slogging. I don't see them ever
just folding. But they're not the same Iowa State team.
For the Byson, it's going one to zero and focusing
on this game one, not getting hurt, but focusing on
this game and not just looking past it. You can't
(10:17):
start looking at the playoffs yet, you're still two regular
season games away. Then you'll have the buy and then
your playoff games, So you're four weeks away, so it's
about focusing on who's in front of you getting the
job done. And if you're the Bison, and if I
was the coach, I would turn up the heat and
I would get up as fast as I can so
(10:39):
by the second half, I can start filtering in my reserves,
getting them some experience, getting their feet wet, keeping your
starters fresh. Bison, I think overall are fairly healthy. Some
of their d backs are about ready to go. If
I understand that right, I believe they're close to going.
I don't have an injury. I just heard it briefly,
(11:02):
but they've had some injuries. Of course in the defensive backfield.
He wouldn't know it after Saturday the way the reserve
is played, but they're just they're just about ready to go.
Jalen Crumby is one d back that they think should
be ready to go Saturday. So not a lot of injuries.
They'll Nixon dings here. But I want to talk about
(11:24):
one more thing before I give my score prediction. There's
something that bothers me. It bothered me in the und game,
it bothered me in the Youngstown State game, and It's
bothered me at times throughout the year, and it's probably
quite the nitpick, but this team was supposed to have
the best core of wide receivers that the programs ever had.
(11:44):
On top of it, it might have the best core
wide receivers ever, not ever, but the best core wide
receivers this season in FCS. But there have been many,
many times when Cole Payton's dropped back to pass and
thank God for his offensive line having the ability to
hold off the pass rush, because he couldn't find anyone open,
and he would look and look and look and dance
(12:06):
around and roll out. Sometimes he would find something when
wide receivers start to make their breaks and coverage breaks down.
But it's been a struggle at times for them to
just one two three throw finding open receivers and Cole
when he couldn't even roll out and find somebody. Fortunately
he's a really good runner. But that has bothered me
for the last so many weeks now, and I think
(12:27):
they really need to Is there a problem our defense
is just dropping back eight guys all the time and
I'm just not noticing it where it is hard to
pick up guys that may be open. But I know
Cole misses some people. He missed some people on Saturday
I saw, But you know, is there a problem there?
Am I just making that up? Curious about that process
(12:50):
and the penalties. Again, the penalties and the lack of
third down conversions could cost this team. Sounds nit, I know,
but again I preach about third down conversions and the
Bison were terrible at it. They were two of twelve.
They had more penalties eleven then first downs in the
(13:12):
whole damn game, which is ten and you indeed twenty
three first downs. So again, that just bothers the hell
out of me. I just it is a problem. It's
something that should be addressed, or at least I know
it was talked about in the press conference with coach Polisik.
They got to get those penalties down, and some of them,
according to the coach, were a little goofy. You had
(13:34):
some things that were a little different, not consistent problems
throughout the game. But there's still penalties, even if they
may be odd penalties. So you got to get that
nipped in the butt, and you have to start fan
faster offensively. The last three weeks, the last two weeks,
as you say, the Bison offense stumble out of the blocks.
(13:55):
They were fine against SDSU prior to that with Southern
Illinois and Illinois State again, offense a little sluggish. You're
getting down to nitty gritty time in the playoffs when
you shouldn't be that sluggish. You think you'd be able
to fire on all cylinders and move the ball down
the field, either even if you have to punt and
(14:17):
pin your opponent back or you're in a position to score.
Those are things that bother me right now as a team.
Other than that, they're running the ball pretty well. And
I can't discount the fact that everyone that goes to
Grand Forks plays like crap. Grand Forks. That Alera Center
is a son of a gun to play in, It's
a son of a gun. Many teams have come in
(14:39):
said they don't know what it is. It's the vibe.
If it's the dark, dark green of the turf, it's
the lighting. There's a weird vibe, and teams come into
the hilaris and they will struggle. And one of those
teams that might struggle will be playing for their playoff
birth lives will be STSU in two weeks, so we'll
see how that goes. But you and D played a
(15:02):
really good game. They're on the cusp. They could be
out if they if they drop another game, they could
they could be out of the playoffs. If South Dakota
State loses two more, they could be out. Losing five straight,
you can't make the playoffs USD if they get if
they only get seven wins they need, they need two
more wins and they get another win, they only get seven,
that might keep them out. So NDY issues in a
(15:24):
great spot in totality. They've already caught, They've already clinched
the Missouri Valley. They're looking about having a number one seed,
at least a top two seed, where they'll be home
throughout the playoffs until they get to the championship if
they can get there. So all things considered, the Bison
are in a really good position. But there's just some
things that bother me. The slow starts in the penalties,
(15:51):
and then let's not get anybody hurt. Run that score
up on Northern Iowa, get into the second half, start
to filter in your reserves, let's go home. What do
I think about this game? Well, I'm still expecting another
slow start by the offense, unfortunately, but I think this
is going to be a pretty good win for NDSU
somewhere around. I'm gonna throw out forty to ten. Forty
(16:15):
to ten, NDSU will get the win. That's my prediction,
and that's bizen bits. Thank you so much for listening
until next week. This is TJ. Take care of yourself
at each other probably