USF Cougars 2024

[Otis Day]

Better late than never to get this started. Although we still have 2 days before the season. Blame a newborn baby and paternity leave to slow one’s message board traffic. Onto the program’s 104th season…

-The Coo Coach Cast is back, now with a side of Atomic Wings! Located just north of Bob Young Field off 69th street. The first episode previews the upcoming season.
Links here to the video or audio versions. One interesting tidbit is that USF will start a home and home with Black Hills State starting next season.

-Zim’s preview article from Sioux Falls Live which I feel is a fair and good assessment of the season outlook.

-My take as a fan and observer isn’t grandiose. I’d love to see the next steps here in the Coach Glo era. In a wide open NSIC 6-8 wins shouldn’t be unreasonable especially with 21 of 22 starters back. This includes a fairly productive offensive unit but the defense is going to need to make major strides from what was one of the conference’s worst last season. I like what Glo is doing and he himself noted on the Coo Cast his embrace/understanding of the program’s mantra and history has evolved and increased in the past year.

-Bummed to miss the opener in St. Paul but will be an interesting barometer for where this team is at.

Roll Tide and Go Coo.

[laker]

. Roll Tide and Go Coo.

I thought it would have been Anchor Down!

[Otis Day]

I thought it would have been Anchor Down!

For the thread it’s a RTR. Need Coach KDB to earn those contract bonuses to donate back to his alma mater :)

For me personally who will be in attendance at the game on Saturday in Nashville, Anchor Down!

[Otis Day]

This week's Coo Coach Cast sponsored by Atomic Wings is now live: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KGee8M6cNqc

Coach reveals his newfound addiction to Atomic Wings and we discuss him striking out on another coaching challenge up in Aberdeen.

[Otis Day]

Need to look into Mary more but after two weeks on the road, I'm just happy to have a Coo home game and see the boys live.

Trying to temper expectations as it's onlt been two games but just seeing the progress on defense has me more excited for the remainder of the season. Still early and lots to clean up. Onto the Marauders.

[USFIllini]

Two good road wins. Now let's see how they paly at home in a game that they will be favored in.

Defense has been night and day from last year but still has some work to do. Offense is still trying to find it's way. Hopefully will keep improving every week. Excited to see what the season brings. Next weekend should be a good test to see

[Otis Day]

Sloppy game today at the Bob but some of that is credit to Mary. Always better to be learning after a win rather than a loss. The optimist in me says we today we saw all those young guys last year who lost close games now found themselves in a real dog fight and came out on top.

Offense is finding a little more rhythm, getting Slykhaus and Brown Jr. involved was great to see. Only one score in the second half isn’t gonna get it done and would love to see Dean eliminate the one pick he’s good for each game right now.

Defense struggled to come up with the timely stops today to get off the field but a lot of that seemed to be Mary’s game plan with the quick passes. More disappointed in the shoddy tackling today.

[Tundra_Man]

Defense struggled to come up with the timely stops today to get off the field but a lot of that seemed to be Mary’s game plan with the quick passes. More disappointed in the shoddy tackling today.

Agree. Mary seemed to be able to get 4-5 yards at will, and seemed to always have someone open. I don't remember any (completion) pass plays they had more than 30 yards. They would just dink and dunk down the field each possession and it was working for them.

The tackling this week looked a lot like what we saw last season, which was frustrating. And all those times the defender just ran into the guy with the ball expecting them to just fall over, and when they didn't magically fall down the runner kept chugging down the field for more yards. Drives me nuts.

At least the Coo finally got an interception right at the end when they needed it most. So I gotta give them credit for that.

[CollegeFBGuy]

It’s only Monday, but an 80% chance of rain Saturday 😱 Looking forward to watching my first game at USF

[Iowacoo]

I was fairly impressed with Mary offensively. They seemed to have a plan and had some physical guys that were tough to bring down. Our special teams were less than special as
well. Completely agree about it being good for the guys to get into a dogfight down the stretch . Such a differant vibe around the program this year. Everyone seems positive but it gets a bunch tougher Saturday with Bemidji . Tough 3 week stretch coming up . Bemidji, At Minot, and at Mankato.

[Tundra_Man]

I was fairly impressed with Mary offensively. They seemed to have a plan and had some physical guys that were tough to bring down. Our special teams were less than special as
well. Completely agree about it being good for the guys to get into a dogfight down the stretch . Such a differant vibe around the program this year. Everyone seems positive but it gets a bunch tougher Saturday with Bemidji . Tough 3 week stretch coming up . Bemidji, At Minot, and at Mankato.

They also had some guys who were pretty darn fast. I think it was #5 for Mary that got running a couple of times and there didn't seem to be anyone on the field for USF who had speed that could match him.

Overall I thought this was a much improved Mary team from seasons past, at least offensively. Good to see them making strides in the right direction.

[Otis Day]

I was fairly impressed with Mary offensively. They seemed to have a plan and had some physical guys that were tough to bring down. Our special teams were less than special as well. Completely agree about it being good for the guys to get into a dogfight down the stretch . Such a differant vibe around the program this year. Everyone seems positive but it gets a bunch tougher Saturday with Bemidji . Tough 3 week stretch coming up . Bemidji, At Minot, and at Mankato.

Coach Glo graciously breaks down the kickoff return TD and onside kick on this week's Coo Coach Cast (links to video and audio). Appreciate his willingness to open up about what went wrong along with what went right each week. Check it out!

[Ironlinks]

The fastest man who can tackle needs to play safety on kick off returns according to Lou Holtz. The onside kick disaster happens sometimes but the receiving team has to know the ball is live and get to it at any means.

[Otis Day]

Consistency. I said it before the Minot game, can this team show me it can be consistent? Not yet. Pieces are in place but the team still hasn't quite figured it all out.

Coach Glo discusses "death by 1000 cuts" in playing a Minot team that USF couldn't quite slow down in this week's Coo Coach Cast. It limited the the offense's opportunities and the mistakes they did have via drops, TOs, etc. were then magnified because they didn't get the chances to touch the ball. Links to video version and audio version. Tall task ahead of the team in Kato this week; would love to be surprised. Which version of the team will show up Saturday?

[Otis Day]

Also - While not the 2024 edition of the Coo, a few former USF guys and local scribe Matt Zimmer made the trip to Tuscaloosa this past weekend. Zim as always does a great job of setting the scene of a SEC gameday in his write up below. Well worth the read even for non-Coo fans. Though in my opinion, T-town might be the dumpiest and least enjoyable SEC road trip I made, especially compared with Athens, Auburn, and Oxford. Nice to see the Coo and Coach Young well represented though in Bama's facilities....



https://www.siouxfallslive.com/sport...ime-experience