FARGO — It’s morphed into the UFO of North Dakota State football, a look quite unlike the Bison have shown before. Unidentified Football Offense.
What the heck is that?
It’s seemingly a minor breakaway from the traditional West Coast offense. In increasing fashion as the season has gone along, NDSU’s offensive players will break the huddle to the line of scrimmage. Once there, instead of going ahead with the play like they’ve done forever, offensive players now on occasion will pause and look to the Bison sideline.
What happens from there is an in-house answer only, but generally a coach or player will signal the same play, a different play or nothing at all.
“It’s been a little different,” said starting quarterback Cam Miller.
Miller said the adjustment has made his job and offensive coordinator Tyler Roehl’s job easier in being able to see different setups with a defense. In the past, it was up to the quarterback solely to change a play if needed.
It’s something that was installed in the Bison offense in the off-season.
“If we can find a better play to get in based on the structure of the defense, that’s all we’re trying to do,” said head coach Matt Entz.
It’s also a technique to force a defense not to substitute, with the Bison offense at times lining up quickly to prevent that. By rule, a defense has to keep all 11 players on the field as long as the offense doesn’t substitute. If an offense does substitute, a referee will hold up play until a defensive response, if it wants to.
“Maybe we can get them frozen in some personnel groupings vs. trying to match that personnel,” Entz said. “Just trying to take every advantage that we can.”
In other words, the offense is dictating who is on the field and not responding to what the defense is offering. Furthermore, it is at times dictating the tempo of the game.
After NDSU’s 4-1 start, what’s been the result of the UFO? The fact Miller is leading Division I FCS in completion percentage could be one data point. He’s completed 84 of 107 passes for an accuracy of 79% and set a school record by completing 23 consecutive passes against Central Arkansas and South Dakota.
Last year, Miller completed 66% of his throws.
One reason for the improvement, Miller said, is Roehl having the angle of watching the defense from the coaches box high above the field. It appears he may have a role in the instant audible to the QB.
“He gets to see different things from the box that we’ve seen on tape knowing what they’re in and what kind of pressures they’re bringing,” Miller said. “It obviously makes it helpful for me, too, getting guys in the right position to throw the ball to.”
The look-to-the-sideline audible is bound to get tested for the first time in a hostile opposing stadium. Last week at Missouri State was NDSU’s first true road game and a crowd of just 8,700 in a 17,500-seat Plaster Stadium combined with a fast Bison start rendered the Bears’ crowd mostly silent.
Miller played only one snap in the 2021 game at the Alerus Center, but it was enough for him to know what the environment will probably be like on Saturday. The Bison appeared to have issues with the UND crowd that afternoon.
“It was extremely loud,” Miller said. “This year just knowing what is going to play a big factor in the game and knowing how to handle that with various different cadences and how to communicate with our guys effectively.”
Jeff would like to dispel the notion he was around when Johannes Gutenberg invented the printing press, but he is on his third decade of reporting with Forum Communications. The son of a reporter and an English teacher, and the brother of a reporter, Jeff has worked at the Jamestown Sun, Bismarck Tribune and since 1990 The Forum, where he’s covered North Dakota State athletics since 1995.
Jeff has covered all nine of NDSU’s Division I FCS national football titles and has written three books: «Horns Up,» «North Dakota Tough» and «Covid Kids.» He is the radio host of «The Golf Show with Jeff Kolpack» April through August.
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