Mankato vs SMSU - Week 1

[SW_Mustang]

Lots of Mav fans on the home side - and I don't blame them. They are welcome so long as they leave me my spot.

Posted attendance was down this Ag Bowl from last... by a whopping one person. Pretty good turnout on both sides I thought.

[njmav1]

I'm encouraged by the fact this is a two-score game. Didn't expect that.

I was really impressed by Nava. This team can move the ball in the air if you give him some time.

[Stanger86]

Listening to Mustang fans as I walked down the steps (yes, I stand or sit on the home side when it is really cold or raining) I heard- "I'm a fan of Bowman but the offense came alive in the third quarter. CORRECT!

Had a feeling that might happen

[Stanger86]

I was really impressed by Nava. This team can move the ball in the air if you give him some time.

Not the purest form, but effective

[DAWGS]

Absolutely.

1. Make TD on 1st drive
2. Convert 2 or kick PAT
3. Make TD on the INT drive

35/36-31 with ~9:00 left in the 4th.

I know that logic is a slippery slope so I'll stop there, but they really were that close to having a different ballgame. I don't think we could have said that last year.

Last years game in Mankato had a tremendous opening drive lead by Gimbel, that took over half of the first quarter, got inside the 20 and we missed the FG. Really deflated what was a great opening effort. This year SMSU converted an early FG and it made a huge difference.

[SW_Mustang]

Last years game in Mankato had a tremendous opening drive lead by Gimbel, that too over half of the first quarter, got inside the 20 and we missed the FG. Really deflated what was a great opening effort. This year SMSU converted an early FG and it made a huge difference.

I remember that drive. They had so much energy and it was zapped almost immediately, and they never really recovered.

The FG was certainly a great start. I was glad to see we made it, and our PATs.

[MrMustang]

Gunn. A stud.
Zylstra. Another stud.

Listening to Mustang fans as I walked down the steps (yes, I stand or sit on the home side when it is really cold or raining) I heard- "I'm a fan of Bowman but the offense came alive in the third quarter. CORRECT!

Lots of fight in the Mustangs tonight. I think that they surprised themselves and their fans. They surprised me.

Pleasantly surprised by me. This is a GREAT Mankato team and we hung with them. Yes the ran for 1 million yards but given the size advantage that was expected. We made a enough plays and actually hug with them in the second half instead of rolling over.

[MrMustang]

Hard not to be optimistic at this point. Mankato is great and we hung with them.

The key now is to play with this intensity and effort against similar talented teams. if we do that we can win some games.

Like our new DBS who really play hard and hit.

Nava looked good. Line is a work in progress, we could not run the ball, which doesn't bother me. If we have to throw it 50 times so be it.

Hopefully we can hang in there against the run this year as we are way undersized.

More optimistic than I was before game one and I think it had us anywhere from 4-7 to 6-5. There is some great new talent here.