BigGame

I really feel dumber after reading this post! Somebody makes valid points and your response is to attack and say that they are OK with Mediocrity. You didn't argue against his points, you just attacked and basically called him apathetic. Just because somebody thinks it's OK to exercise patience in the situation doesn't mean they are OK with being Mediocre. For me, Mussman seems to take steps forward each year in certain areas, only to go backward in other areas. I think it might be time to replace him but I initially thought he needed three years with playoff eligibility to show what he could do and I will stick to it for now. Right now they will struggle in every game no matter what because they have little to no run game and the QB play is poor. A decent QB would fix a lot of the problems right now, the run game needs more parts to make it go consistently though.

He sucks, if he can't win with the talent at USC. What would he do at UND?

The last two games the defense has been a lot better overall and that alone tells me they are getting good coaching but it is has taken a while to sink in with the players. The tackling still isn't great but is dramatically improved over last season. I still see some talent issues all over the field for UND. They have the talent to hang but I don't think they have elite FCS talent which has been obvious in several games this season. I like some things Mollberg has done but after the pick 6 I really thought he should have been pulled, he continues to do this game after game and a lot of his throws are late getting to wide open WR's as well. He isn't ready yet to make the reads and get the ball out quickly enough. I doubt Bartels is either, but I would prefer anyone who doesn't give the ball away at this point because UND isn't good enough to win giving away point swings and momentum like this every game.

Adams is clearly rattled by the crowd!

I think his problem isn't people being critical, it's the negative manner in which they do it. We have a lot to complain about but people are so worked up they are piling things on to place blame where it isn't deserved in some cases and in a non-constructive manner. I get people are upset but it seems very few on the message board can keep a level head. I leave is a few hours to drive up to Fargo, pick up my brother, and we will be at the game tomorrow. At this point I don't have a lot of hope for a good outcome but I will stay for the entire game.

The issue with football is they have limited time to teach and they players can't just know what to do, it must come quick or they will not be in position or ready when the ball is snapped. If players are thinking and not reacting during a play they are going to be slow and really not very good. Some positions are easier than others to learn and simplifying should help but doing so likely holds the rest of the defense hostage to what they can do. Like anything else some players will naturally pick things up quickly and others will be slower and need to put in more time. I have always been a believer that you keep it simple and do things really well, but in reality the higher the level of football it needs to be more complex.

I have a feeling that a lot of these young guys don't have the mental side down yet. Even if that is the case I think they need to play more because they have to learn sometime and some of these older guys aren't helping the team right now. If they go to playing the young guys I would expect more penalties but it can't possibly be much worse.

I have been very underwhelmed by our QB play. I understand Mollberg is a freshman but he has had a bunch of bad turnovers and isn't consistent with decisions or accuracy. I could improve but UND is good enough to just hand the ball over to the other team.

I agree because Hensen gives to much ground. I would bet over half of his tackles are after the opposing RB has already gained at least 5 yards. The NT needs to be able to hold the line against double teams which it seems UND has struggled with for a while now. Edwards is more of a hit or miss player though, but I think he should start and get the bulk of the playing time. He does take himself out of plays at times creating opportunity for the offense to exploit.

I completely disagree, coaches should try to get the athlete every possible opportunity and let them, along with his family, decide what is the best situation.

I doubt anyone disagrees with that but it doesn't mean he shouldn't be a bigger/better person for the sake of his athletes.

If that is how he handles it, he really shouldn't be coaching.

These are all long shot offers to kids that will most likely end up at FBS schools. How many kids in the Region are getting series FBS looks? Not many and if UND offers the same kids as NDSU or SDSU for that matter we don't have much chance to get the kid. Until UND steps up and makes the playoffs, I don't think we have any shot at most of the top regional talent as long as they are getting an offer from almost any other FCS school in the region except maybe USD. I few years ago everyone was talking about how we had to greatly expand our recruiting area to find the necessary talent to compete in D1 football. Now we apparently have a stockpile of talent in the backyard, enough for all the area teams to recruit and win. I want the good local talent to end up at UND but no matter what is done right now we don't win a head to head recruiting battle with NDSU.

I don't think it's that UND hasn't been trying to get these local or regional players, but that it has been very hard to win them over NDSU recently. NDSU walks in and says we have a scholarship for you, we have been winning and are the elite team in FCS football and you will have the opportunity to go to the playoffs and play for a national title. 4 or 5 years ago UND couldn't compete with that if a kids primary goal was to play football. North Dakota does produce some good football players but not a lot of them and lately NDSU has taken almost all of them instead of having some type of split between the programs. This does need to change but it's not like UND wasn't recruiting them it's just the obvious choice to most recruits during this stretch would have been to go to Fargo.

I would have said yes it can be corrected two weeks ago, now I really doubt it. This team just plays stupid, and it's more than just a few guys.

Him getting excited and showing emotion is a good thing, hell 90% of the posters have been complaining about his lack of emotion all season.

This has almost been my thoughts exactly after each of the last 3 games.

Muss sat Jackson the first game for some undisclosed reason which is right on track with how he has always handled discipline. Muss has a lot of issues but he doesn't let off field things slide without consequences.

Sure they have because this happens everywhere, but more often than not the guy who walks wasn't good enough to play anyway. Every year almost all college teams have players quit and the reasons are varied as to why they do it. Yes the coach is responsible but I am surprised some of you haven't blamed the coaching staff for Bamba and other players who have gotten themselves in trouble.

He's trying to look at it realistically which most here can't manage because of the rage they feel toward the coaching staff. Sure they missed on a few guys but during that stretch they were losing almost all recruiting battles with other area teams for different reasons. Is this on the coach, yes but people can't control everything. We tried to get Thorton and Wentz out of Bismarck but lost them to NDSU. I don't think at that point we could win a head to head with NDSU due to several factors but mainly the success they were already having in FCS and UND wasn't even playoff eligible. So they are damned when they don't bring someone in and damned when the can't get the first couple of choices and have to offer someone that likely wouldn't normally get a scholarship. Clearly it is on the coaches but those years were a struggle to recruit talent for several different reasons.

He's clearly saying everyone of this message board needs to quit whining and nut up by actually telling the coaches they suck.

I agree with how he carries himself but I didn't hear any excuses for the defense. Hammer brought up the turnovers and say what you want, it's a legit problem which is magnified with how bad the defense is. The offense can't turn the ball over period with the defense that can't get a stop or barely make a tackle. My point of view is that he seems to have lost all confidence in himself and the team but he was pointing out real issues that cause a lot of the problems for UND. As bad as the defense is, the offense hasn't been a lot better the last couple of games.

That is fine, my point is that even though we are in destroy Mussman mode, we can at least use criticize constructively. I mean there is enough actual stuff to pick at and slam him for without making things up.

You can criticize the staff for all kinds of crap that is on them, but it is total BS to say they don't care. The post game press conference was embarrassing and I am sure Mussman would rather have been anywhere else. That said you could see he was holding back his emotions the best he could. You can say he doesn't have the team prepared or motivated, that he has lost the team, you can even say you don't like how he handles things or presents himself. You are a fool if you think he doesn't care though, people don't get into coaching if they don't care about winning or being successful.

I might agree if I actually had all the facts but I doubt any coach would give up practice time if they had another option. In 97 it was community service but it also cost us practice time.