NSIC - Week 5 Chat

[Purple Mav Man]

Who did I take in the Key to the City game....find out..here..
NSIC Week Five Preview - 2021 (d2football.com)

This part alone is what is making this year exciting, IMO anyway. Some numbers come from necessity, but the NSIC finally has the QBs/WRs that can make that happen. It also benefits the playoff teams to see more diverse offenses in conference play.

[vikingfaithful]

Witt picking AU 15 points over USF is excessive in my way of thinking. Although we fans of USF and AU are congenial towards one another the players run into each other in restaurants and clubs regularly. They have no love for one another and would love to kick a$$ this Saturday. My way of thinking is a close game down to the wire.

[Thunder]

Who did I take in the Key to the City game....find out..here..
NSIC Week Five Preview - 2021 (d2football.com)

Another great summary of the weekend ahead for the NSIC. The one thing that still amazes me about the Wolves season so far is how explosive this team looks. They have speed and size uncommon to NSU football. I absolutely agree with Witt that this could be a "trap" game for the Wolves. I hope they come out ready to play in front of the huge crowd and blow Mary away early.

[Matt Witwicki]

Who did I take in the Key to the City game....find out..here..
NSIC Week Five Preview - 2021 (d2football.com)

[unknown]

One thing I wanted to ask of any former players on the board is what is typically the condition of the visitors locker rooms in the NSIC? I'm not even really sure where the visitors are at in the new stadium, but I believe they are using some old locker room that was already in the Barnett Center. It has to be tight for a full football team.

For the majority of the schools, the visitors locker rooms are pretty bad. In the case of roughly half of them, they take the locker rooms of smaller sports like basketball and throw the visiting team into multiple locker rooms. Its pretty common to have 20 guys in a basketball locker, 20 in another basketball locker, and then have the remaining guys in some other random locker. In almost all places, the air "conveniently" never is on or doesn't work. I know they no longer play football but Crookston would throw a curtain up in their weight room and call it good while other sports teams did their workouts up there As far as Northern, I'm not 100% certain but I believe the opposing team uses the locker room designated for the swim team, which would explain why they enter the stadium from the direction that they do.

[laker]

Since SCSU doesn't have football anymore, I thought that I would pass along that their former QB Phil Klaphake is the head coach for unbeaten Sauk Rapids-Rice HS team.

Sauk Rapids-Rice Football Stays Unbeaten; HS Scores (wjon.com)

Another story about SR-R and Coach Klaphake.

[MrMustang]

Plenty of intriguing games this weekend. Even those for the teams fighting to be in the middle of the pack. Some biggies and hard to predict if you ask me

[Thunder]

I missed last weeks NSU game. How was the crowd/environment? Was it as lively as the home opener?

The atmosphere at "The Bank" (kinda hope that catches on) was great again for second home game. I find it hard to believe there were over 1000 fewer people at this one, but that is what they announced. The tailgating seemed to actually be better for the USF game than the SMSU game. It really is a great place to watch a game, and I don't think there is a bad seat in the house. As Witt mentioned in his description, the stadium is built to be pretty vertical on the home side. That ensures your are right on top of the action even higher up. I think it also helps rain down some noise onto the field. My hope is as NSU develops a top tier NSIC football team we will develop a top tier football crowd as well. As #WolvesNation mentioned I expect a huge crowd this weekend. I think they should get awfully close to the 7000 max attendance. I expect both tailgate lots to be full as well. It should be a really fun environment.

One thing I wanted to ask of any former players on the board is what is typically the condition of the visitors locker rooms in the NSIC? I'm not even really sure where the visitors are at in the new stadium, but I believe they are using some old locker room that was already in the Barnett Center. It has to be tight for a full football team. They also walk in from outside the stadium (but it's not a long walk). I know visitor amenities are typically not great (see Iowa's pink visitors locker room) so I'm curious how Northern's visitors compare to the rest of the conference. As for the visiting fan side, it does have a little bit of a high school feel to it, especially when compared to the other side of the stadium. But for most instances it will be more than sufficient. We don't have a cross-town USF-Augie game to worry about. Perhaps if we reach the lofty status some people hope for we will see more visiting fans for big games to. But I feel a 7000 seat stadium is a great size for what NSU football desires to become.

[Twincitiesmav]

This is a great year for football in the NSIC. There are 6 teams with 1 loss or undefeated and 3 teams with 2 losses. In past years it was Mankato above everyone else, then UMD, USF and AU. At the beginning of the season did anyone think Northern would defeat Sioux Falls or Wayne going to Duluth and leaving victorious. I'm certain there will be more upsets in the next 6 weeks. Maybe someone new will make the playoffs

Hate to be a pest but I would put Winona St. in that group I have highlighted. They did make the postseason as recent as 2017.

Northern St. could be that new team! And with commerce moving up to D1, I now can see more nsic teams making the postseason.

[vikingfaithful]

This is a great year for football in the NSIC. There are 6 teams with 1 loss or undefeated and 3 teams with 2 losses. In past years it was Mankato above everyone else, then UMD, USF and AU. At the beginning of the season did anyone think Northern would defeat Sioux Falls or Wayne going to Duluth and leaving victorious. I'm certain there will be more upsets in the next 6 weeks. Maybe someone new will make the playoffs

[#WolvesNation]

I missed last weeks NSU game. How was the crowd/environment? Was it as lively as the home opener?

The attendance was around 4,900, as compared to 5,900 the prior home game vs. SMSU. That being said, the overall environment and crowd was every bit as good as the inaugural stadium game. The difference was less people in the visitor seats and less surrounding the stadium in standing room spots. The home grandstands were still wedged. Many alumni I have talked to will be making their first trip back to Aberdeen to take in the stadium this weekend. Allegedly the standing-room-only capacity is 7k at The Bank and I would expect the attendance to reach the capacity this weekend, making it over 6k pretty easily. It will be the first afternoon game played at the stadium so we will see how that affects the environment compared to the 6PM kickoffs the first two games have been.

[wsuguy87]

Winona at Wayne- GOTW. Seems strange to say that on Key to the City week, but it sure seems to be.

If WSU doesn't start better and tighten up the pass defense, it won't be much of a game at all. Mary did what they wanted offensively for an entire game and the Warriors continued their season long trend of sleep walking through the opening half.

[vikingfaithful]

Augustana at U. of Sioux Falls. The Cougars are at the precipice of missing the playoffs, this makes a proud program like USF a dangerous team to play. All of the Vikings opponents thus far are pass happy outfits, while the Coo employ a power running scheme combined with efficient throwing. An emotional rivalry game means anything can happen. Yes I picked AU for a victory, but I always do. Personally I believe this is a 50/50 game. Where will the key reside for another year? I don't know.

[laker]

Since SCSU doesn't have football anymore, I thought that I would pass along that their former QB Phil Klaphake is the head coach for unbeaten Sauk Rapids-Rice HS team.

Sauk Rapids-Rice Football Stays Unbeaten; HS Scores (wjon.com)

[vikingfaithful]

I missed last weeks NSU game. How was the crowd/environment? Was it as lively as the home opener?

See, week 4 chat. page 7 post #101. Our fearless leader Matt Witwicki gives an accurate description of the game environment.