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Message: [QUOTE="SWC75, post: 3964681, member: 289"] - For years I and others have admired the North Dakota State football program and wondered in the back of our minds what would happen if Syracuse played them. The feeling is that things would not go well for us, despite our status as a ‘Power 5’ team and theirs as an FCS team. Well, Albany opened the season with them and lost but it was in a game very similar to the SU-Ohio U game: [URL="https://www.espn.com/college-football/matchup?gameId=401328159"]Albany vs. North Dakota State - Team Statistics - September 4, 2021 - ESPN[/URL] Are the Bison due for a down year? Well, they won their second game 64-0. I don’t think the Great Danes will be afraid of the not—so-great Orange. - Everybody around here is expecting a huge blow-out: [URL="https://www.syracuse.com/orangefootball/2021/09/syracuse-vs-albany-see-our-picks.html"]Syracuse vs. Albany: See our picks[/URL] Are we better than North Dakota State? If the team plays as if they expect to win by scores like that, we could be in deep trouble. - We have a quarterback controversy that Dino says will be decided in this game. That means that both quarterbacks will be given plenty of playing time, probably based on a script. We didn’t do that in the Ohio game. How would that game have gone if we had? Tommy was 7/8 prior to the switch in the Rutgers game, 7 for 15 after he came back in. Schrader didn’t impress me at all. He made that one play that, as Dino said “usually won’t work”. After that it was scrambles that resulted in sacks or minimal gains and under-thrown line drives. If we do that again, there isn’t going to be any blow-out. And if you keep the underdog in the game, anything can happen. - Typical FCS teams have good players on them, just not as many of them. You know, like we have vs. Clemson. Albany had a big quarterback, Jeff Undercuffler who threw for 41 TD passes in 2019 and can run the ball. Who knows what he’s got off his cuffs? Karl Mofor ran for 1,290 yards in 2019 and 460 in their abbreviated 4 game spring season last year. Their defense keeps them in games. Their offense could win one. - Albany played four games in the spring and kept right on practicing for the fall. They should be sharp and fundamentally sound. Are we? - We have been producing a lot of turnovers in recent years but have produced only one so far this season and are -2 after the Rutgers game. What if we are minus in this game? - Since that horrible day in College Park, we are 6-18. I’ve found in six decades of sports rooting that playing a weaker opponent is not the cure for the problems of a team that isn’t playing well. The cure is to play well yourself. If we don’t, we are hardly invulnerable. [/QUOTE]

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