UND08

I went back and did some digging today. Factoring out the bodybag game each year, if you compare what we've done offensively in 2018 (9 games - exclude UW) to what we did in 2001 (exclude UMC - difference being we were a big fish in 2001 vs being a smaller fish this year) we average exactly 0.25 points per game this year less than we did in the year we won the 2001 D2 title (30.70 vs 30.44). We also had Cameron Peterka in 2001, which further puts things into perspective in my mind. Now before anyone gets after me too badly know that I share a lot of the same frustrations with our playcalling that many of you do, and I'd be fine with seeing Rudy move on. That being said...I remember a lot of "first one to 20, grind it out" type of games in the Lennon era...and Bubba is a disciple of that style of ball...so this doesn't surprise me much. That said, there are three cardinal sins that are glowingly apparent in my mind to this point: 1 - Lack of a kicker - We aren't going to be an explosive offense with our philosophy (despite Jack Michaels' thoughts in the pregame video). When you aren't explosive, you are going to have some drives stall...and not having an adequate kicker has hurt. I believe that plays out in our redzone stats this year. I believe poor kicking costs us 3-5 points per game. That being said...finding a good kicker is easier said than done sometimes (I mean LSU had to go to a non-scholarship D2 school to find a grad transfer kicker)...and I think Leech can do it...but he needs to be pushed by someone next year...the staff needs to bring another leg in. 2 - Poor special teams in general - Glaringly obvious. Opponent starting field position is too good and our punt protection is amongst the worst I've ever seen at the college level. That's unacceptable and change needs to happen yesterday. Nothing anyone on this board doesn't already know... 3 - Utilization of John Santiago - The staff moved him to running back as a true freshman...and it worked out GREAT! That being said...he's not a fit for what they want to do now, and there is nothing wrong with that. He was recruited as a slot...that's where he should be playing in this offense. To use him as they have most of the last couple years has been borderline criminal. I (unfortunately) caught the end of last night's MNF game, and I saw Saquon Barkley run an angle route, catch the ball 5 yards downfield, make 2 guys miss 20 yards downfield and hurdle a defender to set up their winning score. In my head I immediately saw John Santiago doing that same exact thing! I wish I'd see more of that...but I've come to the realization that I won't...and that disappoints me. All this said, we are 6-4, and one bad fumble by Oliviera vs Idaho State and a Special Teams debacle vs Idaho away from being 8-2. This year seems to feel a lot like 2016, without any luck going our way. No matter what happens...the athletic department can't afford to fire Bubba this year, unless a few of the posters on here are going to write the buyout check. It's been a mixed bag, but I'll still take this over the Mussman days! Hope we play well this weekend and get in...I'll be in Phoenix so I plan to make the trip up to Flagstaff. Go UND!

I know this guy gets some flack for being an "NDSU guy"...but he's spot on here. This is a "prove it" game for us...and I hope to see an effort that reflects that fact on Saturday!

I said this two years ago...hard to play smashmouth football without a smashmouth running back. I liked how we used John last night much better. We got him the ball with a screen pass (I almost lost my marbles when we did it). A swing pass, some sweeps and a check down. The offensive philosophy was much better last night, and I think a lot of that has to do with the ability of our quarterback. If we don't have a bad fumble by Brady, miss two field goals, and let their offense chew up clock in the first half, we win that game 55-6. Hopefully that's a lesson to our guys, because a good team will make us pay handsomely for those mistakes! Sidenote: Rudy gets a lot of flack on here (and our past offensive performances were deserving), but why on earth does it take us until halftime to make the adjustment to not bring 7 on every passing down on defense?!? A good team puts 21 up on us in the first half at a minimum if we play that kind of coverage, and Sam Houston might throw for 1000 yards if we play like that. Our corners were put in bad positions last night, and we can't do that in any other game this year and survive. The flip side to that is I think we'll be able to get pressure with 4-5 this year better than we have in a long time. Disguise blitzes and coverages and let the talent up front do some work! Second sidenote: Special teams was brutal! With all freshman specialists some struggles are to be expected, but kickoff coverage lapses against MVSU are inexcusable to me, given our history. Also...I thought the media folks said our kicker could kick touchbacks...I sure didn't see that last night!

Agreed! I enjoy and cherish our history as much as the next guy...but it rings kind of hollow to me to see UND parade it around while our opponent in that annual game has won 6 National Championships (and likely counting) in that timeframe...

What do we get out of bad-mouthing another school’s recruits/players on this board? I think it’s in poor taste personally, and likely some sour grapes because we likely wanted the kid too... in Ellefson’s case he only saw mop-up duty because Seniors Illies and Wentz were pretty dang good for NDSU. Personally when we use our TE’s 10% as well as NDSU does I’ll be happy.

I don't think we are far off here...my biggest issue is that by allocating football revenues to an entity that provides no services in return, you are distorting the financial picture of the football team in a negative fashion (not materially to the point of profitability, but it definitely looks worse than it is). If those sport-specific financials aren't being scrutinized by the public or being used in decision-making, then it's no big deal. It just seems unnecessarily confusing and unhelpful to me as a bystander. My biggest concern is that the athletic department has had to tighten it's belt...but has the Ralph? If they haven't, then that doesn't seem to be very fair to the athletic department as a whole...however it seems as though the newest agreement shifted some employees to REA, which should help alleviate that issue somewhat.

Because when news comes out and the women's hockey folks whine about UND football's deficit, they aren't taking into account that a portion of their revenue is taken from their P&L without any corresponding benefit, which is why I think it would be nice to see a breakdown of the services that REA provides to UND football. I never said that football is self-sustaining (it's not), but it is a sport with both current revenue and potential for greater. This whole arrangement is just a shell game that seems unnecessary to me. But that's where we are in this era that pits individual sports against each other I guess...

Would it be too much to ask to see an accounting of how football's 52% revenue share is spent by REA? If all sports have to submit the majority of their ticket revenue to REA, shouldn't they have some expectation of a benefit from that entity? That should be easy to prove for basketball and volleyball, who play in an REA entity, but it seems awfully murky to me on the benefit that the football program gets. Budgetary pressures hit these programs pretty hard, but I'm not so sure that they hit the Ralph...which isn't really an ideal situation in my eyes. Regardless, when the athletic department financial results come out each year, under this agreement you have to factor in the 52% hit in revenue on the football program's P&L. Does it make the difference between showing in the red and the black (no)...but it probably makes the net loss look a lot worse.

Yep...a potentially basketball focused school with a healthy budget in a good sports town within easy traveling distance sounds absolutely terrible. I'm sure the UNI's of the world said the same thing back in the early 2000s when NDSU and SDSU moved into the Gateway/MVFC for football... I get that adding Augie to the Summit does nothing the automatic bid status of the conference in the "NOW" context...but it's within the conference footprint in a growing city with a potential healthy endowment. If they do things right, they could offer great diversity to the Dakota 4 (being basketball/Olympic-centric)...and could easily become a power in the league.

Yep...multiple players have been dealing with what the trainers have called a severe "talent deficiency" the last several years...

Minot State is on their 3rd coach in 4 years and they've amassed a record of 8-36 in that time (of which 6 of those wins were against equally crappy if not worse UMary and Crookston)...I'm on record saying I don't like Rudy as OC but it's not like he left Minot and the Beavers became a powerhouse.

Ok let's be realistic here...Bubba just received a contract extension after last year. I don't remember the particulars of it...but if (and I mean if) we would have a disappointing year next season...where does the money come from to pay two head coaches? It probably won't pass the eye test if UND has to pay out a fired head coach 18 months after cutting sports to save money...

I'll second this one...he's a charismatic guy who's departments have overachieved based on the schools he's been at. I'd like to see our interviews consist of Doug Peters and a couple of FBS Associate ADs...

I don't disagree with anything you said...I think immediate measures need to be put into place...specifically mandatory regular testing. I don't care if pot is socially acceptable or not...it's against the law and those who don't have enough respect for the program to do things the right way need to be dealt with.

Ok...I'm as mad as anyone about this but an embarrassment to UND? No these players were the embarrassment...roughly 100 guys in the program and over 90% of them have never had any significant run-in with the law. Like Siouxboys said all programs have at least some "fat." If you want to put this on the captains then go right ahead...that's the direction society is going these days...it's always somebody else's fault! These two need to be held fully accountable for their actions...which if convicted means a swift kick in the you know what from the locker room to the jail cell. Now...I will say this is starting to become a trend...and I don't like it. It's up to Bubba to fix this...and I'm confident he will. Hell it wasn't even a year ago he was named coach of the year and he got a contract extension. This is one fickle fanbase...and I'm not going to fall into the trap of jumping ship overnight. If the trend isn't addressed swiftly and severely...then we'll see what happens...but until then I stand behind this program and will continue to do so.

This is the cherry on top of a Sh*tty Season sundae...I'm starting to see a disturbing trend...it needs to be cleaned up...yesterday!

This...so much this! I like John a lot...but our offense is better with Brady as the feature back...find ways to get Brady and John on the field at the same time...I'm hopeful that's coming at some point this year!

Haha...Through two games this year I've already seen calls to fire Rudolph and Kostich on this board...it makes me feel like I'm on Bisonville!

Are you referring to the first drive of the game? If I remember right it seemed to me that Keaton checked into the wrong play.

I believe overwhelmingly in the fact that these injuries are largely a fluke outside of anyone's control...but if there was one factor in Fargo that could contribute to NDSU's injury issues this year I'd say it was fatigue from playing 15+ games per year over the last several years. I don't think that's causing these issues but that's a whole extra season of wear and tear over a career that has to have some effect, even if it's not on knees. I feel terrible for Mr. DeLuca though...he's a great player. To potentially lose two seasons due to two completely unrelated injuries stinks. I know it's part of the game...but you never want to see that for any athlete. I hope he can heal up well and get back on the field...whenever that may be.

I don't remember Utah having 8-9 in the box...if Mizzou State does that this weekend I hope we can hit guys like Demun Mercer over the top and make them pay!

And I hold out hope that you'll see that this weekend. Remember playaction doesn't work very well if you can't run the ball effectively...

You mean the 2000s...or were you talking about his time at MSU-Mankato? https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chris_Mussman

I agree with you...and I hope that we see that starting this weekend. I will however not criticize the fact that we didn't see that last week...as against a team as talented as Utah was that would be considered unrealistic in my book...

I seem to remember us at the peak of Mussman's time as OC winning a lot of games by relying on our stout defense and running game. By the same token I remember Rudy having an offense at St. Cloud that was one of the most efficient and productive in the country. What I'm getting at with that is it's all about philosophy from the top down. I think as long as Coach Schweigert is around we will hang our hat on our defense and physicality. That's not a sexy way to play the game...but it's got a good track record in Grand Forks. I remember Braden Hansen throwing for 600+ yards against Montana...that was fun...but if I remember right we barely won the game and didn't have that great of a year. Whatever style of play leads to wins is the style that I'll get behind!