MSU-Northern’s football team has had a week of practice in preparation for this coming week’s opponent, College of Idaho. Putting a bow on last week’s matchup against Eastern Oregon, head coach Jerome Souers told New Media Broadcasters in the latest chat that there’s still a lack of special teams development this late in the season and that came back to bite them in the narrow (28-21) loss in La Grande. He still said the team is on the right track, though.
“There are just so many inexperienced players on our team,” Souers said. ” That tends to show itself in certain parts of the game.”
“For us, it’s been special teams. (We) still continue to struggle with our (point after attempts), field goals, and our punt team,” Souers continued. “Different things that you might normally think are fine, (but) they just aren’t.”
“(However), I thought our guys played with great energy (and) started making better plays,” Souers said. “The coaching staff can see improvement. That’s what’s important in this stage of our program (is that) we get better every week.”
This week will be the biggest challenge of the season for the Northern Lights, who have to deal with the No. 1 ranked offense in the Frontier Conference as COI comes to town. Souers had nothing but praise for the opposition and said the intricate nature of the Yotes will be tested by the MSU-N defense.
“Clearly, they’re the most balanced offense we’ve seen,” Souers said. “They run the ball as well as they throw it.”
“Their quarterback (current Frontier Conference offensive Player of the Week Andy Peters) is a tremendous athlete,” Souers continued. “He throws it and runs it and makes great decisions for his team.”
“They’re as strong at the receiver position as they are for the running backs,” Souers said. “They’ve dominated everybody they’ve gone against, scoring 45 points per game and averaging close to 500 yards a game. This is a very efficient offense that we’re lining up against on Saturday.”
Northern (0-5, 0-3 in conference) will host College of Idaho (5-2, 3-1 in conference) on Saturday afternoon. Kickoff has been moved up to 12pm and can be heard with Noah Friedman and Keller Sherman providing the commentary on KPQX-92.5FM and HiLineToday.com.
