I cannot believe some of the comments I am reading. We are not the coaching staff. We are not the players. No reason for any of us to be doing the whole "this team plays hard...this team put a scare into Montana, this team is well coached, this team eats steak every day, they will bring their "A" game"....
South Dakota is a bad team. They are 2-6/0-4. I provided the multitude of categories in which they are 10th in the MVFC. This team has ONE sack and and has created ZERO turnovers in 4 MVFC games. They score 11 pts per game and allow 36.
As for Montana, they are getting to a point of starting to live off past reputation. Same with UNI. Montana is 5-3 and still has to play Montana State and EWU. The balance of power has shifted in recent years in the Big Sky. Yes, Montana is still a good program, but EWU is now the best team in the Big Sky, and MSU may well have passed Montana as best team in Montana.
UNI is no longer the power of the MVFC. They are slowly going backwards. This is likely going to be another non playoff season for UNI.
Here are the scores of the 4 games SD has played in MVFC:
SIU 41 - SD 10
UNI 27 - SD 16
MSU 31 - SD 12
NDSU 47 - SD 7
The closest loss was to UNI at home, and that was by 11 points. Of these 4 teams, it is likely NDSU will be the only playoff team, and you can see they had no problem at all with SD. If YSU has hopes of being a playoff team and being able to actually win 1 or more games in the playoffs, this is a game they ought to win by 20 pts or more.
SD has the worst run defense in the conference, and YSU has 2 excellent RB's. I know the weather is going to be rainy and cold. This ought to be a game where YSU does not have to throw often. Run, run, run and mix in an occasional pass. Both of YSU's running backs are hard to tackle once getting past the line of scrimmage.
There is NO REASON for the YSU defense to have any trouble with SD. Not if they plan on being able to have success at ISU, at NDSU and home against Indy State.
The ONLY reason for this game to be close is if YSU does not show up to give 100%, and/or is not focused on SD, and instead looking forward to the last 3 games. YSU is just better in all phases of the game. I see no reason that YSU cannot get ahead by 24-28 pts by the end of the 3rd qtr, if not sooner, and then coast home. Again, we are talking about a YSU team that has plans on making the playoffs, winning 1 or more games in the playoffs, and possibly even winning the MVFC. Such a team ought not have any trouble at all with SD.
Several of you like the Massey Ratings. Well, SD is 56th in FCS Massey Ratings. To put that in perspective, Duquesne is 50th and Sacred Heart is 47th. Jacksonville of the PFL is 49th.
No reason at all for this to be a close game by the time it gets to 3rd and 4th qtr. If it is close at that point, it will not be a good sign for YSU going forward to the final 3 games of the year.
