Whats been the most Surprising?

[UNI Prof]

Re: Whats been the most Surprising?

I think the defense is the most surprising. They are playing off the charts well right now.

[Victory_For_UNI]

Re: Whats been the most Surprising?

Pat Grace and Zach Davis filling in nicely where we were worried about a major void at qb following last season has been a pleasant surprise. Corey Lewis hasn't played great this year (thanks in large part to injury), and Derrick Law and the qbs have picked up the slack in that area as well.

[bigfridaynite]

Re: Whats been the most Surprising?

The scout team must be giving the Defense some great looks in practice so the younger kids on O must have alot of talent.
Does this kinda of preformance by the Defense make it tough to keep them D-Coaches around for years to come?

[Khan4Cats]

Re: Whats been the most Surprising?

2 things:

The quarterbacks: Both Grace and Davis have shown good skills, Grace has improved over the year and provides that extra dimension on offense. Davis has shown a nice handle of the game when he's been given a chance.

The defensive adjustments that have been made. The last few years it was like we fell in love with the Tampa 2 (even in 2005) and lived or died by it and whether we could get pressure on the QB. After the first few games this year it looked to be more of the same, but the D staff made changes -moving Ruffin around, using Kirk in zone blitzes, playing with 3 DL and an extra backer, and more to allow the D to not be predictable and wreak havoc on offenses.

I guess I can't say I'm surprised by the O-Line's progress because of the tradition and coaching we have there. The D coaches may be getting attention, but I'm more worried about someone trying to pluck Nelson away from us.

[bigfridaynite]

Re: Whats been the most Surprising?

I think Coach Frost really brought a lot to the table for a first year coach.
Playing in the NFL for a few years had to give him some very useful knowledge.

[MarshallTucker]

Re: Whats been the most Surprising?

I think Coach Frost really brought a lot to the table for a first year coach.
Playing in the NFL for a few years had to give him some very useful knowledge.

FWIW this is Frost's second season as an assistant. Last year he was just linebackers. This year he's linebackers as well as co-defensive coordinator. But I agree I think the LB play has been good and improved a lot as the year went on and we started to cover the 15 yard crossing pattern by TE and slot WRs over the middle a bit better. Frost still looks like an NFL safety in person by the way.

http://unipanthers.cstv.com/sports/m-footbl/mtt/frost_scott00.html

[06panther10]

Re: Whats been the most Surprising?

I think that a few things need to be mentioned about this team. This team really had some big time breakthroughs for the UNI football program. Not only did they exceed expections by everyone and go and win 10 games with a share of the conference title, but they grabbed the FIRST EVER at large selection into the playoffs.

This team got the first ever at large selection, and none the less did it on an EVEN year. The even year curse is broken!

Lastly, The last two years our football team has not had any big "letdown" games in my opinion. We did not lose any games that we really should have won. Such as UND and WIU in '06. That is a big accomplishment. It is tough to go out and win all the games that you are favored to win in a two year span, and this team has avoided the big letdown, and has gotten the job done.

Time for a playoff run!

[Chitown Panther]

Re: Whats been the most Surprising?

I agree with the "letdown" idea.

Yesterday could have been one of those days (for soo many reasons)...and it didn't happen.

One thing we need to do a better job is the Killer instinct. I know its farley ball to sit on a lead.....but we need to keep scoring as a game goes on. So many games we are close to slamming the door shut but dont' do it.

[UNISuperSenior]

Re: Whats been the most Surprising?

I agree with the "letdown" idea.

Yesterday could have been one of those days (for soo many reasons)...and it didn't happen.

One thing we need to do a better job is the Killer instinct. I know its farley ball to sit on a lead.....but we need to keep scoring as a game goes on. So many games we are close to slamming the door shut but dont' do it.

I completely agree with slamming the door shut..i hate it when we go conservative after we get a 10 point lead...

[UNISuperSenior]

Re: Whats been the most Surprising?

another thing that bothers me is how we waste a timeout with like 10 minutes left in the 3rd quarter

[clenz]

Re: Whats been the most Surprising?

I have noticed we tend to use at least one TO in the first 5-8 minutes of the game/half. I would like to go through a half and have all 3 to use the last five minutes if needed

[JayJ79]

Re: Whats been the most Surprising?

At least we're not Iowa.
They burned three timeouts in the first quarter last night.

Though the overall outcome of the game still ended up okay for them.

[06panther10]

Re: Whats been the most Surprising?

At least we're not Iowa.

Amen Jay. Amen.