×

EISEN: MSU football riding a roller coaster of a season

Alex Eisen/MDN The Minot State football team runs onto the field at Herb Parker Stadium before an NSIC game against Minnesota State Moorhead played last week in Minot.

Finding middle, solid ground this season for the Minot State football team has been a challenge. The Beavers have gone from one extreme to another with constant erratic momentum shifts.

This turbulent journey took off in the first quarter of the season when Cory Carignan’s ludicrous kickoff return touchdown ended up on SportsCenter in a 52-7 defeat to No. 14 Minnesota Duluth.

Since then, the Beavers (3-6) have been strapped in for an ongoing, seemingly never-ending roller coaster ride that has featured a nauseating amount of ups-and-downs, twists-and-turns and loop-de-loops.

With the finish in sight, how MSU handles its final two games will determine if this adventure will be classified as the Beavers’ best season so far in the Division II era. Or, a disappointing conclusion to what could have been.

The Beavers have never won four games in a season since joining the Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference in 2012. A road win over St. Cloud State this afternoon or victory against Bemidji State in the home finale next week would make program history.

MSU is stuck in this predicament after heartbreaking four-point losses to Northern State and Southwest Minnesota State earlier in the season. Both were winnable games in hindsight.

The Beavers got a ball into the end zone on the final play of the game against the Wolves that fell incomplete, and then gave up a first-half Hail Mary and the game-winning touchdown with 25 seconds remaining to the Mustangs.

Those are the type of losses that coaches and players lose sleep over. But, dwelling on the past wouldn’t change the future.

The Beavers admirably regrouped. After difficult but deserved wins over rival U-Mary and Minnesota Crookston, MSU shocked the conference with its first Division II win over Concordia-St. Paul.

The road to three wins in the NSIC for Minot State continues to follow a pattern: secure wins over U-Mary and Crookston, then nab a rather unexpected result.

In 2017, that third victory was on the road at St. Cloud State.

The Beavers head back to the snowy tundra of St. Cloud, Minnesota, this afternoon looking for a repeat performance.

They will do so without graduated cornerback Kiante Goudeau, who had a career day back in 2017 with three interceptions and two of them returned for touchdowns. MSU’s offense that day only produced three field goals by JoseLuis Moreno.

The Beavers, two years later, still continue to struggle with moving the ball against top-tier defenses. St. Cloud State is seventh in the NSIC with 22.3 points allowed per games and sixth in yardage given up (326.6). Not the greatest, but still decent enough.

MSU is coming off back-to-back blowout losses against Augustana (51-6) and Minnesota State Moorhead (49-20). The Beavers have given up 45-plus points four times this season.

When the defense isn’t forcing turnovers, things can get ugly fast.

Watching MSUM quarterback Jakup Sinani pick apart the Beavers for a school-record 513 passing yards last week can only be described as demoralizing.

Asking the Minot State offense to keep up when the opposing team is punching in touchdowns nearly every single drive is simply unreasonable.

For the Beavers to succeed, both units need cohesion and feed off each other. A reality where three-and-outs turn into touchdowns.

Those sequences have been few and far between this season. Instead, it has been more sporadic with a pick-six coming out of nowhere or the offense having to trade scoring drives in an attempt to just keep up.

A complete game is needed against St. Cloud State (3-6) and even more so against Bemidji State (6-3).

Smooth out the final bumps of this roller-coaster season, and this jerky ride will be favorably etched into Minot State’s history book.

This is the opinion of Alex Eisen. He covers Minot State athletics, the Minot Minotauros and high school sports. Follow him on Twitter @AEisen13.

Newsletter

Today's breaking news and more in your inbox

I'm interested in (please check all that apply)
Are you a paying subscriber to the newspaper? *
   

Starting at $4.62/week.

Subscribe Today