27-26 LMU at the half. The Ads are fortunate to only be down one at the half. LMU has been the aggressor and out rebounded the Ags by 11 boards which has resulted in 16 2nd chance points for the Lions. We are 2-12 from 3. No Cierra McKeown or Makaila Sanders on the bench either.

The Ags are being totally outplayed in the last 5 minutes. LMU turned up the pressure and the Ags have gotten ragged with the ball. We've seen that too often this season where the Aggies get lackadaisical and unfocused.

Ags lead 17-13 after the first quarter in a fast paced game.

Ok..I just donated $15 more so I hope that funds us completely. Thanks for your administrative support, PortlandAggie.

Thanks for coming over and writing such an informative post about UNI. When I think of the dominate programs in FCS history I think of UNI being right up near the top with NDSU.

Quite frankly, I'm not sure how we will fare against the Panthers for many of the reasons that you noted about the talent you have. I'm worried about the battle in the trenches with the size and skill of the UNI offensive and defensive lines. The Panthers could control the tempo of the game if we get pushed around a lot at the LOS on both sides of the ball.

How well our O line is able to protect Maier will be a key for the Aggies. Maier is a great field general who makes good decisions but he isn't particularly mobile. He does have the uncanny ability to throw the ball with good accuracy from just about any position his body is in when he is under pressure. However, he will also throw the ball into tight coverage when he's under duress. Luckily for us, it results in a completion more often than not since our WR's have consistently made great catches in traffic this season. However, throwing a pick or two against a team like UNI, who likes to control the clock when they get ahead, could be very tough for the Ags. We thrive on moving the ball quickly and scoring a bunch and we'll need to do that to win on Saturday.

Defensively, we tend to be a bend don't break team. We'll be severely challenged to slow down the Panthers' running game. We've been decent in our run defense this year but we haven't faced many teams with size and talent of the the UNI O line. I would think that the Panthers would be happy as a clam to run the ball at 4-7 yards a pop. Even though we bend on defense we have done a pretty good job of creating TO's this year and our LB's and DB's are very capable of making big plays.

On our behalf, we have great talent at the skill positions and we can score with lightening speed through the air and on the ground. I expect Maier will be pressured and will have to get the ball out quickly to our receivers and RB's. We have a bevy of players who can catch the ball and gain yards after the catch. We love to get the ball to our RB's in the flats and then let them do their thing in space. I don't expect we'll see many bombs attempted by the Aggies. It will be more of Maier finding receivers in the flats and in the seams on quick hitters and short to medium routes.

We also have a good stable of RB's who have speed and quickness. Gilliam is especially elusive and can cut and juke on a dime. Thomas has great speed for his size and can break tackles with his power. Modise hits the hole fast and can accelerate quickly. If we can establish a good running attack we'll be tough to stop once the offense gets rolling.

With all that said, the key of the game for me is who will win the battle of the lines in the trenches and who will make the fewest mistakes.

This game has all the makings of a good one.

Somebody ponied up to buy out his contract too.

The Aggie success this year has been driving Hornets fans crazy and, what few of them are left, have been crying for Sears' head pretty much all season.

Does anyone know if there will be food trucks and beer vendors available before the game to the general public as well as the students?

The students also get to choose what kind of tailgate entertainment they want: a live band or a DJ. DrMike is right, if this promotion doesn't bring the students out, it's hopeless...

From the Eastern Iowa Gazette article:

After the game, Farley complimented wide receivers coach Pat McCann, who for the second consecutive week assumed play-calling duties with offensive coordinator John Bond absent due to family issues.

“It might have been the most well-coached offensive football game adjusting-wise that I’ve been involved with in a long time,” Farley said.

That's not good business. The ticketing needs to improve.

The Massey Ratings currently has the Ags a 7.5 point favorites:



https://www.masseyratings.com/cf/11605/games?dt=20181127

Like Finn says, the computer website is still messed up. Search for the seats you want and and call the ticket office. Don't put the seats you want in the online cart though. If you do that then the person at the ticket office can't see that the seats are available. Just tell them the seats you want and, once you complete your purchase, they can email them to you and you can print them at home. I like to print them myself so we don't show up at the Will Call window and find out that something is messed up again.

Be sure and let them know that the website is not working properly. It's been over a week now and it's still got problems and that's really NOT OK.

Have him contact Blue or whoever is in charge of the Aggie Pack. Right now the Aggie Pack is on life support.

I just stumbled across the Big10 Network replaying the Aggie at Indiana so I got to watch the second half. The team I saw playing Indiana was not the team we have seen in the previous games. They really looked good and we would have been right in game up to the end if it hadn't been for several shots that rolled off the rim and several untimely offensive fouls once Indiana caught fire from 3 and lit us up.

Our defense was solid and our switches, rotations and block outs were excellent against some elite talent. Our ball movement was crisp and quick and our penetration and kick out was very good. TJ was driving through traffic in the lane and our 3 point shooters were draining their shots. Caleb Fuller is making huge progress and is settling i to a starting role. This was by far our best basketball of the season.

If we can continue to play this way we'll be a very tough out and we could pull an upset or two in the upcoming games. I'd love to see a game where Schneider, John, Gonzalez, Mooney, Fuller and Printup are all feeling it and scorching the nets from outside. That would be awesome.

Hopefully, we are over our early season growing pains...

Let's hope the stars align!

This has been one of the worst seasons for Aggie Pack attendance that I can remember except for the game with ISU and there's little to no leadership for those that do show up.

You are spot on about casual fans not calling the ticket office to get tickets after they get frustrated with the online ticketing problems. Heck, I'm an avid fan and I get frustrated with the seemingly ongoing glitches in the ticket website.

My wife and I also donated to the general athletics fund last year. The level that we donated at listed several small "perks" that we would get as a result. One of them was to have our names listed in the donor section of the football programs handed out at each game. That didn't happen. Truthfully, it's not a big deal to us at all and we didn't bring it to anyone's attention but it might be a big deal to some donors. It's another example, though, of how it seems like things fall through the cracks too often at the athletics department.

It's going to be a pretty sad statement to the team if we play this game in front of a small home crowd.

I had the same problem a week ago and had to call to get tickets. I told them about the buggy online ticket problem and I'm not surprised that no one has fixed it yet. That seems to be par for the course with ticketing.