Playoffs in the FCS

[s--k]

Um how do you just not field that punt?

pretty glad they didn't purely from a betting perspective, the old pitch it around and NDSU scoop and scores and ruins the live MSU +pt bets.

I think they just put their eggs in the block with all 11 up on the line.

 

[KJ]

Was great watching both these teams this year. No regrets on the Montana State pregame bets and I made so many live bets this final score is fine.

1Q NDSU hit it out of the park, great start by them, don't hate it at all - I liked seeing them come out strong.

And Montana State rallied as best they could.

Glad the points came for your Overs

I rarely don't envy bookmakers but they got really stuck after the 21-3 start. Impossible to line that live after that.

 

[s--k]

I rarely don't envy bookmakers but they got really stuck after the 21-3 start. Impossible to line that live after that.

They had to price it 7 and higher as it kept looking like all Bison so yeah. I mean, it took some courage (or stupidity) to keep taking MSU lines, but I was going down with them at that point. Tommy showed up 2H. If he hadn't this game could've stayed one-sided

 

[s--k]

Cam Miller was 19-22-199-2-0 passing (11 yards away from his Over yards) and 18-121-2 TDs rushing. 2x national champion. Legend

 

[KJ]

They had to price it 7 and higher as it kept looking like all Bison so yeah. I mean, it took some courage (or stupidity) to keep taking MSU lines, but I was going down with them at that point. Tommy showed up 2H. If he hadn't this game could've stayed one-sided

I didn't remotely feel ashamed to catch MSU at double digits win or lose. Again all of my bets were 11.5-14.5 but even given the crazy 4th quarter it never really felt in doubt. And you knew they could always backdoor those numbers if necessary

 

[KJ]

Guess it's time to focus on a couple basketball games and tennis. Hope @pressitup is still awake but it might be past the bedtime.

 

[s--k]

I didn't remotely feel ashamed to catch MSU at double digits win or lose. Again all of my bets were 11.5-14.5 but even given the crazy 4th quarter it never really felt in doubt. And you knew they could always backdoor those numbers if necessary

Yeah, to get a team of their caliber without injuries plus those numbers is awesome. And the game is 4 quarters, they could and fortunately they did rally.

I thought early 3Q NDSU O was on shaky ground, but then their next possession of 3Q Miller turned it on and Lance was there for him.

These teams play 10 times, maybe one wins 6 out of 10, or it's 5-5. After last year with SDSU just smothering Montana it was really nice to see this one be competitive at the end

 

[bookieassassin]

Haven't watched these two enough - but sure looks like Montana State got outcoached in a BIG way.....

Game prep, and especially early scripting 100% - man they were slow to adjust in-game as well, especially on D. D couldn't even get lined up early on several occasions. That long run was gift wrapped - looked like they had 2 wide tackles, no nose or LB.

Secondary coverage late - giving them the easy sideline stuff? - and how can you not send a return man for the last punt?

 

[s--k]

Haven't watched these two enough - but sure looks like Montana State got outcoached in a BIG way.....

Game prep, and especially early scripting 100% - man they were slow to adjust in-game as well, especially on D. D couldn't even get lined up early on several occasions. That long run was gift wrapped - looked like they had 2 wide tackles, no nose or LB.

Secondary coverage late - giving them the easy sideline stuff? - and how can you not send a return man for the last punt?

Looking back on it now, I do not think Montana State was stressed in ways similar to what NDSU brought and to your point the coaches either took for granted what they were going to do was good enough or were unaware of how different NDSU would matchup vs them.

The Big Sky is a great football league, really good. But the likes of UC Davis and Idado this year were tough teams, but Montana State has elevated their program that they were able to deal with them fairly easily. Montana dropped off this year and the league overall was a notch down. In hindsight, the playoff game vs South Dakota, there were some things that USD did vs MSU there that maybe should've been a flag, but on the other hand, MSU looked superior for much of that game which was certainly aided by the outdoor atmosphere. Love Montana State's home field crowds.

MVFC was also a notch down, however, NDSU played South Dakota State twice and beat them both times, for the first time in years. They took Colorado to the wire (by comparison Montana State's only FBS game was a poor showing that required a big comeback vs New Mexico).

I'm thinking that some of the games that NDSU found themselves in, take even ETSU game, South Dakota season finale loss and even some of the first half struggles vs Abilene Christian - I mean not handling those games better could be seen as a sign of weakness, I took them as such as it showed vulnerabilities. We never really saw Montana State's vulnerabilities and maybe that created a false sense of security with what they were doing and how they were doing it that it would just be good enough even against another team just as good as they were. Where as NDSU was tested in the fire of closer games and had to overcome.

About as bad of a start a team could get off to offensively and defensively and the entire 1H really. Tons of credit and respect to NDSU. I certainly can see an agree with your outcoached view. And, the other point, MSU generally has one way to win, run the ball and pass off of it. NDSU's run D was so fucking good. It was really something to see them shut that down, save for one big Mellott run in the 2H.

Man I really grew to love Cam Miller this year. Sad to see him go.

 

[Monger]

Looking back on it now, I do not think Montana State was stressed in ways similar to what NDSU brought and to your point the coaches either took for granted what they were going to do was good enough or were unaware of how different NDSU would matchup vs them.

The Big Sky is a great football league, really good. But the likes of UC Davis and Idado this year were tough teams, but Montana State has elevated their program that they were able to deal with them fairly easily. Montana dropped off this year and the league overall was a notch down. In hindsight, the playoff game vs South Dakota, there were some things that USD did vs MSU there that maybe should've been a flag, but on the other hand, MSU looked superior for much of that game which was certainly aided by the outdoor atmosphere. Love Montana State's home field crowds.

MVFC was also a notch down, however, NDSU played South Dakota State twice and beat them both times, for the first time in years. They took Colorado to the wire (by comparison Montana State's only FBS game was a poor showing that required a big comeback vs New Mexico).

I'm thinking that some of the games that NDSU found themselves in, take even ETSU game, South Dakota season finale loss and even some of the first half struggles vs Abilene Christian - I mean not handling those games better could be seen as a sign of weakness, I took them as such as it showed vulnerabilities. We never really saw Montana State's vulnerabilities and maybe that created a false sense of security with what they were doing and how they were doing it that it would just be good enough even against another team just as good as they were. Where as NDSU was tested in the fire of closer games and had to overcome.

About as bad of a start a team could get off to offensively and defensively and the entire 1H really. Tons of credit and respect to NDSU. I certainly can see an agree with your outcoached view. And, the other point, MSU generally has one way to win, run the ball and pass off of it. NDSU's run D was so fucking good. It was really something to see them shut that down, save for one big Mellott run in the 2H.

Man I really grew to love Cam Miller this year. Sad to see him go.

Curious as to what that game/2nd half would have looked like, had Montana St punted right before halftime.

 

[s--k]

Speaking of coaching and NDSU - here is a story on Tim Polasek. Have to love and respect the journey that some of these coaches go on. The guy had to sell shit to get the gas money for the NDSU a GA job and he lived in the stadium at first! This story is from when he was at Iowa and was one of the first that came up on the search. Probably some more out there detailing him living in the Fargo dome with barely two nickles to rub together.

For Iowa’s Tim Polasek, starting as a coach required working as a logger, tooBy Chris Vannini

May 5, 2020

---

When Tim Polasek got the call, the thermometer read 15 degrees. That was considered a warm day, but Polasek wanted to get in his truck and turn the heat on.

The yellow Nokia phone rang. Polasek didn’t recognize the number, but he answered it. The person on the other end of the line asked how he was doing, so Polasek explained that he’d just finished a good day of logging in central Wisconsin. The other person was confused.



“This is Craig Bohl, football coach at North Dakota State,” he said. “Is this Tim Polasek the football coach?”

It was. Polasek explained to Bohl that although he was a part-time assistant at Division III Wisconsin-Stevens Point, he was also a logger on the side because he needed to make money.

“I’m not gonna lie to ya, I just cracked open a Miller Lite,” Polasek told Bohl.

Bohl wanted to interview Polasek for a graduate assistant job at NDSU. The call revealed there was a lot more to this candidate than just football, and he figured out what all that noise was in the background.

“Typically, coaches are in a weight room or something,” Bohl says now. “I could tell for dang sure he wasn’t in a weight room or on a football field.”

Fourteen years later, Polasek is now the offensive line coach at Iowa. He just watched offensive tackle Tristan Wirfs get selected No. 13 overall in the NFL Draft. But no matter how far he’s moved up in coaching, he’s never forgotten the labor he used to do, all so he could have a chance to do what he’s doing now.

“It’s one of those stories that encompasses what a hungry football coach he is,” Bohl said.

In school, Polasek was actually a quarterback. He’s still the all-time leading passer at Division III Concordia (Wis.) and in the hall of fame at the school, where he graduated in 2002. He began teaching after graduation and coaching high school ball, but he realized he wanted to be in college football.

He didn’t have any résumé to speak of, so he drove over to UW-Stevens Point, 20 minutes from his hometown, and walked into head coach John Miech’s office. He told Miech about his successful playing career and that he wanted to coach. Miech said they’d take a look at his stuff.

“I said, ‘Coach, you gotta hear me on this. I’m right down the road, I’ll do anything,” Polasek told him. “He called back and said all we’ve got is a volunteer quarterbacks job for the spring. So I got going with a recruiting area. But I was on a volunteer basis.”



That meant he needed to make money somehow. A family friend was willing to help, offering Polasek a bartending job with a friend. That wasn’t a fit. Polasek wanted to do physical work. He’d worked in a steel mill in college. So the friend offered him seasonal work with Kielblock Logging.

Polasek had no idea what he was doing, but he quickly learned on the job. He spent two winters and one summer making $12 an hour as a lumberjack. He was free from coaching in the summer other than camps. He spent two or three days a week in the winter recruiting, so the rest of the week would be spent in the woods. His main job was driving the skidder, a tractor meant to pull the trees that have been cut down.

“I would basically stack the trees to be cut into the log lengths,” he said. “I’d get off the skidder and cut eight- to 10-foot lengths for the logs. Then you go back, get four or five more trees and you keep doing it. … So you’re on and off, pulling heavy things, hard terrains, big hills.”

The trees they’d clear would be dying or not seeding. The role of the logging was in large part to help promote more growth while putting the wood to use.

He learned how dangerous the work was, too. Like when his skidder rolled over.

“I was pulling up trees with the winch, and they got hung up on another big tree and I was trying to scoop the skinner to un-wedge them,” he said. “I was on a side hill, and when the tree gave, the skidder tipped over on the hill. I jumped out of the skidder. My boss saw me. He grabbed me by the throat and said, ‘Don’t ever, ever leave that skidder again. That cage is there for a reason.’ That was another hard lesson I learned. If you tip over, you’re in the cage and you’re OK.”

He also hated wearing his hard hat in the field, especially in the summer heat. An older worker named Jimmy constantly yelled at Polasek to wear the helmet, often cussing him out over it.



One day, Polasek’s life was saved when he wore his helmet. A large branch fell out of a tree and landed on his head. It was a loose branch that had been caught up in another tree. Those kinds of branches are called “widowmakers” in the logging community. The name is self-explanatory.

“This branch was 8 inches thick and probably 14 feet long,” Polasek said. “It hit me straight on top of the hard hat. The hard hat split right open, knocked me to one knee, and I was shook up for about an hour. Probably had concussion symptoms. You learn real fast to pay attention to details.”

The winters could feel as cold minus-20 degrees. The summers could be as hot as 100 degrees. But he wanted to coach football, and if he wasn’t getting paid, he’d do whatever he could to keep coaching. Growing up in a small town in a single-parent household with his mom, he learned you only get what you work for.

“I have such an appreciation for all those small-town people where it’s a big deal to play softball on a Wednesday night,” Polasek said. “You try to not let down anybody that helped me in my hometown. It was a driving factor for a long time and still is.”

When that call from Bohl came, Polasek offered to immediately drive eight hours up to Fargo for the interview. Bohl said he could take a few days. But there was a problem: Polasek didn’t have enough money for the drive there and back.

To get the gas money for the trip, Polasek sold a golf club driver to his high school superintendent for $200.

“I found out later he was just trying to help me do what I wanted to do,” Polasek said. “He never even used it. Then I bought the driver back a few years after.”

Polasek got the NDSU job, and Bohl says Polasek initially slept in the basement of the Fargodome upon his arrival. Coaches gave him the nickname “Lumber.” He worked his way up, spending 10 of the next 11 years at NDSU, including the five as offensive coordinator, before landing a job at Iowa.



His first game with Iowa was against Bohl’s Wyoming team, and the two hugged on the field before the game, reflecting on the early days.

“The burning desire to continue to learn has been evident,” Bohl said. “It’s been neat to see him grow. The sky’s the limit for him. I’m convinced he’s going to be a great head coach.”

Polasek sees plenty from his logging days or steel mill days that translates to football: the need for teamwork, the physicality, the respect for authority. More than anything, it’s a reminder of how far he’s come.

“There’s not a day I don’t wake up and feel fortunate to do what I’m doing, especially what I’m doing now,” he said. “At the same time, I just maintain a respect for all the workers in this country that work every week for 40 years. Seeing those guys at 55 doing what was hard to do as a 19-year-old kid was a game-changer for me. Coaching ball’s a hell of a lot easier than doing that.”

 

[twinkie13]

I like their pretzels and specialty chips

Great beer nuts.

Get the big container from the Sam’s//Cotco places.