UND08

That wasn't the question I answered...it was "how will they be next year?" As to your question...As far as FBS goes...I have a feeling that so long as they maintain their speed/strength advantage over an opponent...they'll be fine. To me they look a lot like Michigan (albeit Michigan is a higher level team). Michigan was pretty dang good this year...until they ran into Georgia! If the talent level is equal or better...NDSU will win most of their games (given 22 more scholarships). Pretty generic answer...I know. But football boils down to talent and athleticism. NDSU generally has more of it than the opponents they line up against due to superior recruiting and player development.

Not an NDSU guy at all...but look in the trenches and that'll tell you how things will go for them. I have no reason to believe that they'll be any worse...but I'm pretty uninformed!

THIS RIGHT HERE!!! FBS Schools are doing it to us...why not move on down the food chain?!? For the record I've seen our coaches following a fair number of portal athletes on twitter...if a player can help us win...we'd be foolish not to do a deep dive!

1 - Classically speaking...I'm with you here. That's how I view it as well...but I'm now a believer that many modern athletes don't view things this way. It may just lead to the downfall of several teams and maybe even the game in general...but it is what it is at this point...and we aren't putting that genie back in the bottle unfortunately. I will say that maybe the majority of athletes don't leave the game "crippled"...but how many can say that after their college career is over they haven't had a single surgery? How many can wake up in the morning and not feel a bit of pain that reminds them of their "playing days"? To me that's putting your body on the line. My dad did that for 30+ years in his career...he did it for money...the kids do it for a scholarship (and maybe for their teammates and University "pride"). 2 - Agree with your take for the most part...but it's a whole lot more demanding than what a non-athlete faces in college. I get the value of a scholarship...I'd have loved one (I just lacked talent)...because I see the value of an education. I went to college with a lot of football players at UND who also saw its value, as they were often some of the best students. But not everyone on a football team feels that way...and I would guess there is a correlation between a student athlete's emphasis level on the word "student" and the probability they enter the transfer portal. Also...I don't really view flights/meals/lodging as a high end perk. Sure you might get to fly to Missoula, MT...but you're not sightseeing...it's going on the road to go to work. You hear coaches use that exact language often. 3 - I 100% agree with your thoughts here...but again this isn't how the world works. Would Otis Weah be getting sponsorship $$$ if it wasn't for a good OL blocking for him? Probably not...but sponsors are often pretty dumb here, and will pay the person who can exert influence on potential customers to use that product. It's not right...and it's not just...and it probably causes locker room issues in lots of places...but the world doesn't always function how it should. 4 - I'm 100% on board with this! We get used as a glorified JUCO by the FBS schools. I think the best we can hope for is to maximize our reputation as a place that players WANT to be at...and we should probably look to do the same thing with D2 or other FCS schools that the FBS and upper FCS schools do to us. Devon Krzanowski has been a nice pickup for us...we can probably find a few more guys like this if we are willing to look.

1 - I never made the connection of equating football players to soldiers/cops/etc...but you're telling me that football players don't put their bodies on the line? I guess career ending injuries that carry over into life after football NEVER happen... 2 - They get tuition...I get that. Free flights, lodging and meals are not really a fringe benefit. When you travel for a job...it's pretty customary that transportation/food/lodging are paid by your employer. 3 - Those poor teammates that don't get the high end NIL deals that work just as hard are learning a valuable life lesson...the cream rises to the top, and the talented people get paid. If you want to be part of that group...work for it! And if that's not enough...well sorry life isn't fair. 4 - Regarding the "investment" made by the school...this is no different than any business in the country right now. Hire an employee, train them...and then they up and leave. It's the world we live in today...and I don't think we're going back. People break contracts in the real world all the time. I'm not saying I like it...but it happens. Also...I'm pretty sure we aren't giving 4/5 year scholarships...it's a year to year agreement. The school can yank a kid's scholarship at any time...why shouldn't the kid have similar leverage? These kids should probably enjoy it now...their new found freedoms may likely kill college football as we know it...but at the same time the whole game seems to be built on who can build the biggest 8-9 figure war chest to pay coaches lavish salaries and build lavish buildings while providing the same benefit to the players that's been provided for decades...which isn't exactly a healthy business model to begin with. The genie isn't going back in the bottle here folks..."adapt or die" is a way of life. Bobby Petrino catches a lot of grief for his use of the transfer portal at MSU. Well the pre-Petrino Bears made the playoffs two times in program history. They're in for the second year in a row (2 in 3 years) and we are sitting at home. I don't really care how we get the players we need...but it would sure be nice to be in Grand Forks for a playoff game this weekend!

Why shouldn't athletes be able to capitalize on their notoriety for profit? Why shouldn't athletes be allowed similar freedoms regarding who employs their services that coaches get? I'm a card carrying conservative North Dakotan...but college football players put their bodies on the line for us for twelve fall Saturdays (and several other days for practice/training)...and for most of us our relationship with the athlete ends on those Saturdays...if they can better themselves in that four or five year period then I don't have a problem with that. We need to find a way to be the "better option" for athletes at other schools just the same!

It's a new era in football recruiting/roster retention. I get what those of you who are saying that we shouldn't build a team using the portal mean...but the damn portal is going to destroy teams if we sit back and do nothing. Gotta match inflows and outflows...if talent is available that can help us win...go for it...because you never know who's going to be left when the dust settles anymore! And I don't blame kids for betting on themselves and leaving either...life's short...if you are willing to bet on yourself then I think you should! We need to adapt with the changing times...

These 2021 numbers are absolutely putrid...no way around that! I saw someone put it on Schuster...how many red zone interceptions has he thrown? It's an honest question...as we seem to fumble a lot inside the 20 (Maag has been particularly prone). It's a team sport...and there's plenty of blame to go around...whether it be skill players not hanging on to the football, quarterbacks making bad decisions, a scheme that's easier to stop when space gets tight, or an offensive line that can't grind out the tough yards when everyone in the building knows what's coming. It needs to be significantly better next year...or we'll have a record that's likely worse than 5-5 at this point in the 2022 season.

Not an esteemed football mind by any means...but I feel like if we think that...opposing D-Coordinators do to...then they overplay. It's why the option call worked so well for us...we gave a look as if we were running an inside zone play, and countered back to the right on the option. The right DE for WIU was sucked in and slipped...Tommy pitched early so he didn't have to take a hit (probably smart) and Weah trucked his way in. The counter action fooled the defense and made them look kind of dumb. We don't seem to run a whole lot of counter-type run plays...and maybe we need to do more of that in my woefully-uninformed opinion.

I think what many people are overlooking here is that games are won and lost up front. On Saturday, our offensive line got us 200+ yards rushing, limited penalties, and kept the QBs on their feet (albeit against a bottom tier MVFC team). When that happens...this offense looks pretty dang good! We still struggled in the red zone though...and that's because we couldn't generate enough push to knock WIU off the ball when everyone knew what was coming. We often have to resort to "smoke and mirrors" to get it done inside the 20. That is the single greatest limiting factor I see in our offense right now, and it's not totally unexpected with youth and inexperience moving into starting roles. That should continue to improve as they season. Tommy can fake a handoff and throw the ball 40 yards downfield...which is about all we ever ask of a QB in going deep. He made a throw to Richter on Saturday that was right where it needed to be (and Richter made a great adjustment to it). But with Maag not really being able to factor into the offense, our ability to stretch the field is SEVERELY limited right now. We need to address that in a big way through recruiting/development if we want to take the next step. The throw Tommy probably can't make is the 20 yard frozen rope into a window or a deep out route. I'm not going to knock him too badly for it...outside of a couple of generational QB's at the farm school...there are a lot of FCS level QB's that can't make that throw. This team will go as far as it's offensive line takes them in my opinion. We looked damned good this spring when we were rushing for 275+ every game. If we can get back to consistent 225+ yards per game on the ground, we will be just fine!

I get that it came at a bad time (and it was definitely a bad time)...but we're being awfully critical of a guy who threw 1 interception...which came on a bang bang play when he was trying to make something happen. The proper play would have probably just been to eat it and kick the field goal...but there's no guarantee we make that either. It hurt a lot...but I'm gonna cut Tommy some slack here...those things happen to all QBs. I think this team is really missing a healthy Maag...we need a physical big bodied receiver to step up...and I'm not convinced that Richter is athletic enough to do it (if he is he needs to show it).

They just took SIU to overtime this weekend... I don't really see any gimmes on the schedule from here on out for UND...time to sack up and take care of business one week at a time!

I actually hope the bolded part isn't true...for the kid's sake. If NDSU is his dream school, so be it...but one of the things I think I respect the most about the Belquists and the Feeneys is that they put their allegiances aside and didn't force their kids to go somewhere they didn't want to go because of the "legacy factor." I get that this time is different because both schools were all over Hegerle...but it's such a big decision...I'd hate to have to go somewhere because my family told me to. I am happy to hear that we weren't an automatic no. I think Danny's offense is helping us in recruiting...and our coaching staff seems to do a great job of selling what we can offer. We just need to beat those guys now to take the next step imo...

I don't think next week's game is "make or break" as far as the 2021 season is concerned...but if we want to take the next step as a program, we need to beat NDSU...because we won't win many of these types of recruiting battles without a victory under our belt! That's why this game seems to mean more to our team and our fanbase...because everyone knows this.

CSU and USU play on October 22...let's see how that one goes for the Rams. As they say in finance...past performance is not indicative of future results. Blake Anderson has a good track record as a coach, and basically turned the whole roster over...USU may not be the MWC cream puff we all thought they'd be given last year. I was disappointed by the second half of the game...but I'm not surprised given the back to back road games, late start, and FBS/FCS differences. I hope to see us rectify some of the issues up front this weekend against Drake, and get healthy so we can take a helluva swing at "the farm school to the south" in a few weeks!

That may be so...the Chargers may be weighing the choice of having a competent backup (in Stick) or a pseudo-assistant coach to help mentor Herbert (in Daniel). That being said...if Stick continues to play solidly this preseason he'll get a shot with another team when the final cut roster turnover mess gets sorted out.

I take an opposite stance...with some of the size advantages we have at receiver I wish we'd unleash it more successfully...it's extremely difficult to stop...we just have to execute it better imo!

I think a large part of that issue was the "Jimmy's and Joe's", not the "X's and O's" on the defense. Specifically the lack of a dominating nose guard to eat up space and blockers to allow our inside linebackers to make plays. When we had that in 2016...we were salty! I personally would like to see us transition to a 4-3 scheme since I believe it's easier to recruit to. That being said, Bubba is a defensive guy. I'll defer to his pick as long as we recruit better to the scheme that we are going to be employing.

No offense...but I don't think the ice is thick enough for Bubba and company to take that kind of attitude. I guarantee you that if we start turning away athletes that can help our team because they stood us up for a better offer when they were 17 years old (and FBS is better)…then we'll be looking for a new coach and blowing things up in the next year or two...and if that's what you want to see happen...then why wait?!? I guarantee you this...if we enter the MVFC with the same attitude toward recruiting and player development that we have now...we will get our @$$es handed to us on a silver platter regularly...we need to get bigger, faster, stronger across the board...and if a decent-character guy can help us do that...then I'm all for it at this point!

Ya know what I think would be good for the program? WINNING...and generally you need talented players to win consistently and at a high level. Again...I don't think we are in a position to turn down a good player with no baggage if he decides he wants to be here...just my two cents though!

I don't know about you...but after watching the 2019 season it's pretty dang clear to me that we could use talent upgrades at pretty much every position! If the kid is of good character and can play...I say let bygones be bygones and bring him back if he's at all interested! I don't think we are in a position to snub our noses over some sour grapes due to the fact that the kid got an FBS offer 4 days before signing day and took it. I mean...I love UND...but if I was a high school qb and got an offer from an FBS program...I'd have absolutely taken it!

I've been tough on this team and the coaching staff this year...and I think my complaint still stands regarding the lack of any kind of consistency and the ability to put together a complete 60 minute effort in all three phases of the game. That being said...they did what they had to do and got their name called yesterday...and I'm pumped! I watched the Nicholls/SELA game last week...and I feel good about our chances if we play the way that we are capable of playing of beating the Colonels (while I'm also mindful that a sloppy effort will result in a very disappointing Saturday). If we can beat the Colonels and play NDSU tougher than we did in September...I'll consider this year to be a success, while hoping we can continue to build going forward (and not have a 2017-esque setback).

They lost to Ole Miss by 11...now if you put NDSU and Ole Miss on the same field I think we all know how that would go...but I'm sure the committee will look at that and give them more credit for it than we'll get for our NDSU effort...

The way I see it...UND and SELA have each won once against a solidly "in the field" playoff team: UND over Montana State SELA over Central Arkansas Neither team has a common opponent...I'd say that UND has the better wins, but also definitely has the worst loss...and SELA has an FBS loss that was competitive. The UND Football 360 guys called me "Mr. Negative" last night after the SELA loss...but when I try to look at this objectively...I don't feel very good about our odds if it comes down to these two teams for one spot. That doesn't mean we don't get in...but I don't think we get in over SELA...but who knows when it comes to a committee! Also...this is all moot if UND lays an egg tomorrow. I don't know about you guys...but I was in Flagstaff last year...and the bad taste from that game is still there for me. I take NOTHING for granted with this team...

So they schedule a Valpo-esque team instead of NDSU and make the playoffs this year? Great! Then what...this team hasn't given me any reason to believe that we can do any kind of damage in the bracket. But I guess if we are just happy to make the field...then that's great! Besides we already had a cupcake game on the schedule in Pocatello (and we all know how that turned out). In all honesty what we should have done for 2019 is scheduled another Pioneer League team AND an FBS instead of NDSU. If you're going to lose that game anyway...we might as well get paid well to do so and not have it be counted against us. That way we'd be 8-4 with an FBS loss (8-3 FCS) and in solid position. But again would that have made us any better of a team this year? In my opinion the answer is no...