Monday Musings: Post-Week 6

On Saturday afternoon, as I was walking through the Fargodome's south lot on the way back to my car, I tweeted to the effect that there are victories that can constitute scariness and make a fan/broadcaster/beat writer tremble when considering what a team that defeats the third-best team in the country by 41 points could do in the long haul. That was my mindset after watching North Dakota State put on a clinic over #3 Youngstown State.

I've been selling positivity and prognostication on this NDSU team for the better part of the last five years and don't have the words to put to paper that captures just how magnificently the Bison performed on Saturday as they simply crushed the Penguins to the tune of 48-7 in the most recent game of a series where the winner has been decided by, at most, eight points over the past few years. The first reaction of the average fan will be to assume that NDSU got some breaks, and they did - but the chief point I want to impart to those same cynics is that forcing other teams into mistakes that benefit the Bison is simply what this team does and has done for the past two-and-a-half years.

Coming into the game, YSU's Kurt Hess was right near the top of the national passer efficiency metrics sitting right around the 175-mark, having yet to throw a pick in the 2012 season. NDSU's Marcus Williams changed that in the second quarter with a back-breaking 98-yard pick-for-score that put the Bison up 21-7 as the Penguins had been threatening to tie at 14. Carlton Littlejohn did the same in the third quarter sans touchdown, and Hess simply couldn't get into the rhythm of things as he completed a season-low 55.0-percent of his passes (11/20) for just 117 yards. All the credit in the world has to go to first-year NDSU defensive coordinator Chris Klieman (who was with Northern Iowa just two years ago) for putting together a game plan that had Hess rattled from the get-go.

Photo courtesy inforum.com/Bob Nelson

I'll have my power rankings out later in the week as I try to figure out what to do with a bye-week South Dakota State and Northern Iowa, but a few things of note in the meantime:

Illinois State needs to figure it out, fast. After struggling to get a win at South Dakota in a 34-31 thriller, the Redbirds laid an absolute egg in their own homecoming game as Southern Illinois shut them out 17-0. Playoff teams can't expect to stay in the hunt long if they play like that, and even the benefit of an FBS win over Eastern Michigan won't help them much if they continue to struggle against beatable teams. The good news for ISU is that they need to scrape just two wins out of home games vs. YSU, MSU, and NDSU and road games at Northern Iowa and Indiana State to reach the magical seventh win they need to be considered for the playoffs, and if NDSU in 2010 is any precedent, the FBS win should put them over the top.

Indiana State fended off a surprisingly stingy Missouri State defense and needed a fourth-quarter score from Shakir Bell to really ice their 31-17 victory. The Sycamores have been a bit of a mystery this year but I'm not above saying I overvalued them at fourth-best in the conference. Still need at least three wins out of games against NDSU, WIU, USD, ILSU, and YSU and I'm chalking at least two of those to losses right now.

We'll hammer more on the playoff implications later this week, but there's the weekend re-cap for Week 6. Curious to hear what fans think of the various teams, of YSU's road collapse, of Illinois State's stinker, and more.