AJS

Unfortunately, I'm in the cheer for whatever results get Bubba fired. Knowing UND's luck, I agree with @Oxbow6, they'll go 6-5 and Bubba will stay.

John, I think you are going to be in for a long, disappointing season... this team is going to be really good.

Talking about Fort, I want to expand that a little further. I believe this years True Freshman were Bubba's best class. Correct me if I'm wrong, but there's a chance that nobody loses their Red Shirt. In 5 games Fort has played 4, Cochran 3 Nelson 3 a few others have games sprinkled in there, none of which are anything close to key contributors (which makes believe all shirts will stay in tact). Of course the new 4 game rule really helps out, but I do think this says something about UND finally building a little depth.

Fort didn’t play last game, will be something to watch, if he doesn’t play again this weekend we can assume they want to keep his RS.

Looking at Pt/G in the BCHL, Budy is currently 4th, Bowen 12th.

Agreed, this is a game UND needs. ISU is a quality team, but if UND is a true Top 25 team, which I think they are, this is one they'll win.

Last weeks game appeared to have gotten away from ISU (understatement), up 17-0 in the 2nd and then get rolled. You can pick out one game. You can also look at: @ Utah - 31 point loss @ UNI - 7 point loss PSU - 27 point win The Montana game is definitely their low point of the year, but otherwise their results look ok to me. There are bad teams on UNDs schedule, ISU isn't one of them.

This should be a really good game, Idaho State has a solid team. I have a lot more confidence this week after what this team showed offensively in the first half last week, they were really good. Consistency is the key moving forward, they've shown flashes offensively (more bad than good) and defensively (more good than bad), but really haven't come close to putting together a complete game from both sides of the ball (together). What's the word on Idaho State, is one side of the ball their strength, or just overall a solid team?

It was sarcasm, although I do agree that more than 3 or 4 would have a 4-1 record, I took (most likely too much offense) to the word many. Who knows, you could be right and many is a subjective amount, but I could see your comment coming one of the 4 NDSU fans that post here coming from a mile away. We get it, every team UND beats sucks, it gets old hearing it over and over.

The weekly PDF isn't out yet for Idaho State, but they do keep track of who plays in each game. Fort played in the first 4 games going into Davis. It's possible they shut him down, but probably unlikely. This one bothers me, given that Odom would have been just fine on the 2-deep. Of course, we don't know if this was also a players choice, but this potentially is about as bad of burning a redshirt as I can remember.

Thanks for the input. Let's go with only 3 or 4 FCS teams wouldn't be at least 4-1 and we'll go from there.

It'll be interesting to see how it plays out, that's for sure! It's a good problem to have, clearly, but the coaches will really have to earn their paychecks trying to navigate this. One of the "problems" is Sanderson is just a Junior this year, but being a potential 1st rounder, it's definitely either accelerate or lose him. Early prediction: Poolman / Peski (Graduate), Kierstad and JBD sign early. You bring in Bast / Moore / Sanderson / Kleven. Hope Miller / Reid are ok delaying for one year, which honestly if they are 3rd round picks or lower (which is probably likely), that's not too big of a stretch they do.

Rizzo returned to action for the first time of the year last night, registered an Assist. Bowen with 1G 1A in that game as well.

The BCHL Showcase Festival is happening this week/weekend. A little different than the USHL as they don't have their Showcase the first weekend of their season. Chilliwack still plays tonight, but so far some big numbers for UND recruits. Bowen (1 Game) - 4 Assists (5G 6A 11Pts - 9GP) Moore (1 Game) - 2 Goals (6G 2A 8Pts - 9GP) Budy (2 Games) - 1 G 5A (3G 10A 13Pts - 10GP) Who would have thought Moore (Defenseman) would be leading this trio in goals so far? Very impressive start for him being the other two have Junior experience. Like I mentioned a couple weeks ago, this trio will be fun to track this year (as well as Rizzo when he gets healthy).

@Longtime fan, I think you're giving way too much credit to an FCS Top 10 team. Outside of a handful of teams (usually NDSU / JMU occasionally one or two others), we aren't talking about juggernauts here. I guess we'll see in a couple weeks. The way I'm interpreting your statement, half of Montana State's backups will be better than half of UND's starters. What do you think the score difference will be? I'd bet on much closer than what your statement would indicate. I just don't like when I think people go too far one way. Bubba is a very average coach (see record), this program isn't where we as fans would hope it would be and I personally don't believe Bubba and this staff are the people to get this program to the next level. I really do believe they are close to breaking through. What I mean is this wouldn't be a complete rebuild for the next coach, far from it. Now, to give Bubba credit, this program is in a much better position now than when he took over.

I'm in the same boat, let's wait and see how this goes, but a lot of eyes will be on Kett this weekend. This isn't going to be in the Heidlebaugh / Zimmerman at Montana category which was a borderline insane decision, but the nightmare scenario for Bubba is Ketteringham struggles and is pulled, with Schuster coming in and steadies the ship. I said at the beginning of the year, win at home, win the games on the road you should (mulligan for at EWU) and this team will be sitting pretty. That's still a possibility.

Breaking the team into four separate components, Forwards, Defense, Goaltending and Special Teams. I feel if you group the Defense / Goaltending together, they are in the elite category. I'm talking National Championship caliber / top handful of teams in the country. Offensively, they brought in more talent than they lost. You'll see not only a higher skill level, but also the talent level is deeper. You'll see guys who played big minutes last year that will be watching from the stands this year.

I'm all in on this years team, I think they are going to be really, really good.

On Saturday there was no point when I thought UND was the better team. I can see how people (me included) think it was a game they could have and probably should won. I don't think those things have to be mutually exclusive. If you play that game 100 times, I'm not sure offensively they possibly could have turned over the ball more than they did.

It's almost an art how Bubba and company kill momentum. It's borderline laughable now.

The more I think about it, it's to the point where I would be surprised if they don't give Schuster a shot to see what he can do. We've seen enough to realize that Kett is not the guy. Now, will he play as bad as he played last Saturday again? Unlikely, but you can say he has been below average in 4.5 of his last 5 games. Is the offense as a whole where they were at the end of last year with Rudy, when they basically are throwing their hands up. It's an easy call, Schuster is the only option that has a chance to inject life into this offense and the fanbase. It comes down to winning, ultimately, but if they start Kett and they lose, where he's average or worse, he has to lose everyone.

Really like these lines.

I'm hoping we see Schuster from here on out. Ketterinham's confidence has to be shot. As much as this pass loss stings, they still have more than enough time to get on track. Win at home, beat ISU and Poly on the road and they are sitting good.

I think you're correct, same goes for Evan Holm. It all depends if / when either are available to play, but it will be interesting to see if let's say they are ready to go with five or six games left how the coaching staff and the players themselves decide what to do.

To me this is a "prove it" game. Defensively, prove what we think you are. Offensively, prove what we think you can become. Before the year I don't think anyone looking at the schedule thought this was a game UND would win and it's changed to a game most think they have a chance. With the limited games in Football, every game carries so much weight and I don't want to come off as someone that thinks this is a must win, but this game could really change the trajectory of their season. A win or loss really changes the landscape of their season moving forward.