Key in my mind is to contain Davis. He has busted several long ones this year and put opponents away with them. Prior to last week Weber had only averaged 270 or so yards of offense a game. Against SDSU they had something like 70 yards (yes Virginia). Playing SDSU will skew things a bit, but my point is they don’t have many offensive weapons and so containment of Davis will be key
Edit: actually besides cal poly and may, Davis has not been a big factor. He was banged up a bit early in the season and doesn’t have a ton of rushing attempts. He does have the home run potential and that needs to be contained. .
Whenever I hear "stop the run and we win" what I recall seeing is us giving up uncharacteristic huge passing plays to the other teams. Hope the D can put together a complete game
He don’t think he has ever done the coaches show. He was ‘on assignment’ last game and missed the broadcast. I think he still works with some bowls scouting ( he was involved in SF bowl). I saw a post he was at Troy v south Alabama game.
Speaking of Doug, did you know he was information officer for the USFL back in 80’s? I’m reading a book about the rise and fall of the USFL and he’s quoted often. I bet he has some stories, especially about Trump.
Solid back, but I did a little digging. I believe NAU gets gashed (isn't that the new term?) on the ground by everybody this year. So it was Weber's strength vs NAUs weakness.
I hope Drakeley can play. Against SUU he was the leader among defensive linemen for tackles with four solo tackles, he seems to be a good run defender, as he said in 2010 profile “a brick wall with feet”.
Drakeley and De’andre Morgan were the only 260+ lb non-starter defensive linemen to play and Drakeley was the only one of those two to record a tackle.
By that measure, DT Tom Williams (drafted 2nd Rd. 1970, San Diego Chargers) or DE Mike Wise (drafted 4th Rd. 1986, Los Angeles Raiders) will be next...
Personally, I think it'll be O'Sullivan (darfted 6th Rd. 2002, New Orleans Saints) or Rolf (drafted 12th Rd. 1977, Oakland Raiders).
I’d like to see Casey Merrill get recognized.
Wikipedia:
Merrill spent nine seasons in professional football as a defensive end and outside linebacker. Blessed with exceptional speed (4.65 40 yard dash), Merrill became the first designated pass rusher in the NFL to line up and pass rush from both defensive line and linebacker positions. In the 1981 season Merrill had 7 sacks and 3 fumble recoveries for the Green Bay Packers. In the strike shortened 1982 season Casey had 4 sacks. In 1984 with the New York Giants, Merrill led all Giant defensive lineman with 11 sacks, including 1 in the playoffs against the San Francisco 49ers bringing Joe Montana down with a crushing hit.
Eason played five years and started all 16 games in 1985.
I don’t think we can say he doesn’t deserve to have his name up there; maybe others are more deserving but we shouldn’t read too much into the order of selection, lots of deserving candidates.
Ken O'Brien told the great story about Rolf and how he ended up at Davis, and how Sochor found out about him being there. Soch didn't even know he was on campus at the start of it, sort of got told through the coaching grapevine.
I believe Kenny said other college coaches were calling, saying "We hear you pay players to come to Davis."
Sochor is like, "What the heck? We don't even have scholarships." They were told about Rolf's abilities, so they had to use the dorm directory to call him! Ha!
Yeah, I guess he was all sewn up to kick at USC (who was damn near the top program back in the mid-70's) and Rolf realized he wanted to get into zoology and animal science so he ditched USC and the whole football thing to go to Davis because of the academics.
I think he was playing soccer at the time, so Soch worked it into his schedule that he obviously had to find a way to kick on gameday...and of course, get some work in with the special teams unit when he could during the week.
Of course, there's the story of Rolf banging in two goals during an afternoon match, then taking a small plane to San Luis Obispo (was that the place?) - to nail 3 or 4 field goals! Or maybe it was goals in Santa Barbara, and field goals in Davis. I don't remember the exact story. But good on the pilot making the special last minute trip.
i think that was a one-off. NDSU has the luxury of playing home-only games with opponents because they pack the dome.
my biggest concern this saturday is Weber controlling the clock with the run. we'd had problems this year when the offense is kept off the field -> not only does the defense get worn down (and we're thin to start) but the offense loses rhythm. perfect scenario is to get a nice early lead and see if they deviate from the run-first approach and put the ball in the QB's hands. good player, but, not their strength.