AJS

@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.

I look at it a couple different ways, I'm sure it's like riding a bike, so but this years version of EWU has not practiced or played in anything like the weather will be on Saturday, so that should help mitigate that advantage a little. It would be another thing IMO if they were able to practice in those conditions all week. As far as looking at the teams strenghts / weaknesses, I don't really see it helping one time that much over the other, but I might actually give the advantage a little to UND. Reasoning being, in sloppy conditions, it will hurt the offenses more than defenses. EWU's strength is their offense. I think the key will be UND has not been able to run the ball and EWU has not been able to stop the run, something is going to give on Saturday. Whoever wins that battle will win the game.

The Canadian Junior hockey leagues always have such an early start, the BCHL regular season has been going on for a few weeks now. Budy - F - '00: 2G 4A 6P (6 Games) Bowen - F - '02: 5G 0A 5P (6 Games) Moore - D - '01: 3G 1 A 4P (6 Games) Costello - F - '00: 1G 2A 3P (6 Games) Rizzo ' F ' '01: Recovering from Injury This will be a very fun group to track this year, with most having very high expectations. I would expect 4 of the 5 to be on campus next year. Bowen is the one I'm really excited to follow. Going back when he committed he was thought to be a potential Top 5 pick in the WHL Bantam draft. He was pretty comparable to Rizzo as far as Bantam hype / first year results in the BCHL (playing as Junior in HS). What are others hoping to see out of this group this year? Mine is as follows: Budy / Bowen: Finish the Year in the Top 10 in BCHL scoring Rizzo: Get healthy, Avg 1.5 PPG once fully recovered Moore: Tough to but point expectations on defenseman Costello:

EWU injury report.

Numbers are numbers, the only thing that bothers me and it shouldn't is the line "it won't be close". If EWU plays a perfect game and UND doesn't play well, I agree, it won't be close, but what happens if both teams play well for four quarters? Such sure comments will always get under my skin. Side note: Half of EWU’s games have either been against a very good P5 program or a D2 school. They should cancel each other out, but in all reality, they only have two games of legitimate data.

You mean +7.5, it’s now at +8.5

Russo. I'll go left to right. Waletzko, Tobin, Nguon, Hergel, Ventrelli

Re: Miller's article. By far the biggest news is Ketteringham, very happy he'll be back this weekend. Love how it sounds like he's made huge strides in this past week. Holm off the two-deep. Hasn't played this year, but didn't see it going this direction when he dressed for the NDSU game. I'm also wondering for the first time if this is going to be a yearly thing or since he's missed so much time, will they manipulate and keep him at 4 games so he can redshirt? He played as a True Freshman. Ventrelli starting. Personally, I love it. Probably not ideal, but having two Freshman anchor the right side of the line. If they play well, knowing they have 3 more years is such a bonus.

Opposite, it looks better.

Looking at the schedule before the year, you always have preconceived notions on how teams are going to do. It's fair to say that up to this point, Eastern Washington has fallen short of those expectations. It appears that they've been hit pretty hard with injuries so far, I'm not sure on the status of those players, but we've seen the affect that can have. They seem to be a pretty streaky team, awful first half against Idaho, pretty solid second half. We all know how reactionary message boards can be, but reading their comments they are down on their O-line and Defense (all facets). This game has taken on a new importance with EWU sitting at 1-3. Regardless of their injury situation, they still have a great offense, their defense does appear to be struggling and we all know it's a tough place to play. This potentially, could turn into a bad loss if that's the result, even though I do see a lot of W's left on their schedule. This will be a test, but I'm sold on UNDs defense. Most encouraged by the changes they made 2nd half to stop SHSU's QB's ability to run. Along with containing EB3's ability to run, they also need to get off the field on 3rd downs and not allow TD's almost every time EWU is in the red zone (both things they struggled against NDSU). EWU offense vs UNDs defense is strength on strength, I would put them as fairly even. I see this game coming down to UNDs offense vs EWU's defense. Ketteringham practiced this past week, but will he be fully healthy by Saturday? I kind of look at it as regardless, they won't be in as bad of a situation as they were against SHSU, as Schuester now has at least 3/4 of a game under his belt. If they have a break out game, finally getting the running game going and take another step with the passing attack, they'll be in good shape. Pretty long post to quickly summarize I see this one as a toss up. Still don't know enough about this UND offense yet. Predicitions for injured players, who will be back? Ketteringham Gordon Holm Nelson Rooney Anyone I'm missing?

If the coaches think Schuster gives them the best chance to win, he'll play. Nobody actually thinks Schuster gives them a better chance to win than Ketteringham though, right?

Based on what?

Heading into the first bye week, seems like a good time to dig into where the team is at. Record wise, they are where they need to be at 2-1. Comparing this year to last year, I felt last year at this time we knew what we had. This year, I really have no idea. That's a good thing, given the very similar results. This team offensively I really feel hasn't even scratched the service of their potential. That's pretty obvious when you're installing a new offense and you've played 3 different QBs (not in garbage time) through 3 games. Good news is it sounds like Ketteringham will be back for EWU. Let these guys find a rhythm and see what they can do. See what their potential is when the defense isn't teeing off on the run game. On defense, the D-line won't be where it was last year, but given how many guys are new at that position, it's a unit that has a lot of room for growth. I think they've been fine so far. Overall, this is a very good unit.

I really want to commend the defense, they were on the field a lot yesterday and played outstanding, especially the second half adjustment minimizing their QBs running ability. Of course there's a drop off in talent of the two deep, but UND plays so many guys and nobody stuck out (in a bad way). Want to shout out the secondary, especially Siegel and Galvin. It's amazing how good Siegel is as a freshman and I thought Galvin was terrific. Those guys have really stepped up with Holm and Nelson injured. Impressed with Schuster, can't imagine coming in as a True Freshman and that being your first experience, talk about being thrown into the fire.

Maybe, maybe not. I've always wished rankings were more fluid, since you learn so much each week and probably don't get a good idea till around week 5. I guess they should just have you create the rankings since you know so much about every team through 3 weeks.