AJS
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Posts posted by AJS
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There's something that's exciting about having two freshman on the left side for what will be the 2nd week in a row. We'll see if they take a step forward having one game under their belt.
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With the roster set, here are my line combinations for forwards.
Mismash (FR) - Gardner (JR) - Poganski (SR)
Gersich (JR) - Hoff (SO) - Kawaguchi (FR)
Janatuinen (JR) - Jones (JR) - Bowen (SO)
Olson (SR) - Simonson (SR) - Smith (SO)
Adams (FR) - Either him or Kawaguchi on 2nd line, also fill in for Bowen on 3rd, he'll definitely get his minutes
Yon (SO) - Potential 3rd line
Gornall (JR) - Potential 4th line
My goal was to have two upperclassman on each line, with one underclassman. Only the 2nd line doesn't meet that criteria, but Hoff was solid and a freshman and is the 2nd best center on the team. This team with so many forwards returning and a big core of proven (not elite, but proven) talent, should be the deepest forward group in years.
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18 minutes ago, yzerman19 said:
I gotta give Mismash blue chip status. He is a second round NHLer...
Fair, everyone is a little different on how they define blue chip status. Mine would be truly elite, I don't think Mismash qualifies, great player though.
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I'm so excited about this freshman class, no "blue chippers", but a class you would clone and take every year. Highly skilled, but not prototypical NHL size that teams (NHL) love. Should be great college hockey players that will be in the system 3 / 4 years.
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Shout out to Rastas though for doing the best he can, getting thrown into a starting roll a couple years too early. He's a player, just way too light right now. Not ideal at all, but will pay dividends down the road.
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6 hours ago, UND-FB-FAN said:
Injuries are definitely hurting UND, but you don't go from 9-3 to 1-10 based purely on injuries. Recruiting is the lifeblood of college football; if UND fails to at least win more games than they lose, then thats a sign that Bubba's recruiting classes have been overrated (I apologize to the student-athletes of those classes, this is purely from a football standpoint). I'm doubting these recent recruiting classes at the moment - too much attrition and too much inability to execute on the field.
In all honestly, the best players on this team are Mussman recruits - Reyes, D. Harris, Stockwell, Studsrud (all of which are injured minus Studsrud). Hell, as we saw late in the game vs Montana State, the backup QBs that Bubba and Rudolph have recruited are completely horrible. Just an example of depth holes along the entire roster.
Need better coaching/teaching and recruiting so such collapses as the one we are witnessing don't happen when injuries go against you.
Laid out my defense with a couple posts, but will respectfully disagree with you on basically every point. These last two games have been ugly, but I don't think you could be more wrong in saying injuries aren't the main reason or that Bubba's classes are overrated. I can't emphasis enough (and I'll say this for the last time, since I'm a broken record), that ILB injuries cost this team their defense (as long as Rodgers / Hunt are out). O-Line is now so young it's going to take a while for them to get up to speed. There's so much talent on this team, but it's tough when so many key positions are filled with underclassman.
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Like on defense, injuries have taken place in the worst possible position (O-Line) offensively. I think we need to cut the O-Line a little break replacing two senior tackles with a Freshman (first) start and Sophomore (2nd or 3rd start). Montana State might have the best front 7 in the Big Sky. The problem I see isn't necessarily talent, but the lack of Juniors on the roster. You only have two that will play this year Taylor (hurt) and Aplin. It's far from ideal, but the depth at tackles when both starters are out are Mortel (FR), Blair (So), Bennett (Fr), Russo (So). Tobin (Fr) has started since day one, Rooney (So) also starter since day 1.
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I want to look at the defensive side of the ball. With all the talk about injuries and lack of depth, is that actually the case all over the board or is it strictly ILB? How different would the result be last Saturday if everything was the same injury wise, but you had a healthy Rodgers / Larson and moved Disterhaupt to the outside? ILB was the weak position coming into this year and the worst case scenario happened with Rodgers / Larson / Hunt all being injured. Teams are attacking the weakness and UND can't stop it. I can't emphasis enough how big of a difference that would make. The defense would look completely different.
Look at the defensive roster in the years to come, these being the underclassman that could have or will see the field this year, that will play major rolls in the future. Outside of Larson, this isn't counting any Freshman that will RS this year (look defensive line recruits). Guys that if not already will be excellent college players.
DL - Bennett (So)
OLB - Lawrence (So), Haas (Fr)
ILB - Rodgers (So), Larson (Fr), Hunt (Fr), Rastas (Fr - after he puts on weight)
CB - Holm (So), Hunt (So), Blubaugh (Fr)
Safety - Shannon (Fr), Randolph (Fr)
I'm definitely missing players that will contribute (ex: Wilson, Turner), but my point being outside of ILB, I don't think depth is an issue. It's just such a severe issue at ILB that it's causing what we see now. Like others have mentioned, the defense played well in it's first two games, it's just one injury (Rodgers) really changed the trajectory or the year, compounding the fact that Larson wasn't ready to go either. Let's hope they can ready the ship in the upcoming games, but the future is really bright for the defensive unit starting next year. The ironic thing is the ILB position will quickly become over the next couple years, possibly the biggest strength of the defense.
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12 minutes ago, Midwestern Hawk said:
This team was much closer to what is expected vs Montana state than South Dakota.
First defensive drive was a three and out which reminded me of last years defense. The first offensive drive was best drive in awhile and had a touchdown called back because of a bad call.
The defense was much better getting the bobcats to third down but several times came up a yard or two short. We just needed 4-5 stops and a couple of offensive drives and the result could have been different. Have to find a way to cause some negative plays for the opposing offense. Not sure of the exact results, but don't recall many negative plays for the bobcats. It's getting closer. Hopefully will find. Few of those needed plays vs Davis.
Agreed, although like the USD game, I think if UND / MSU play 10 times, 49-21 is the biggest points difference you'd see. In the last two games, things have went about as poorly as they could. Positive side is I'd argue it wasn't for a lack of effort last Saturday, things just started to snowball again. 13-17 on 3rd / 4th down is just absurd. It comes down to making plays of course, but Murray single handily put on a show.
UND won't see an elite QB like they've seen the past two weeks until the last game of the year. My hope is the players only meeting will jump start a couple wins against teams they should beat, even with a depleted roster. IF things don't get turned around against Davis / UNC, then I will start to become very concerned.
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I'm going to bump this on a weekly basis. I understand currently there is a 1 in 13 chance of having a bye on the last week. What bothers me, is conference schedules aren't computer generated. If UND had a bye the last week 1 out of 13 years, no complainants. I just don't see how it can happen twice in a row.
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9 minutes ago, Feff said:
My expectations for this season have changed. Playoffs are a pipe dream now. Even if we win out, we've lost a whole lot of credibility. Therefore, my hope for the rest of the season is that the coaches right the ship and start building that credibility back up. The program has fallen on it's face and done it in a national spotlight with the rankings that we've had. Gotta get some of that respect back for future seasons.
Unfortunately, perception sometimes is reality when it comes to respect, credibility in sports. Although injuries are an excuse when it's at the magnitude UND is currently at and I have no doubt UND will be successful once again as early as next year, they are basically going to have to start over building up their credibility on a national landscape. A lot of what Bubba helped build from a hype, excitement, credibility standpoint are gone.
All is not lost even this year, there is still time to start to pick up the pieces starting next week. I still can't believe the scores the last two weekends.
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4 hours ago, SiouxForever said:
A week to go until the season starts. Let's get a 5 keys to the season convo going.
Ready. Set. Go.
1. Scoring
2. Freshmen adapting to the college game
3. JR/SR forwards stepping up - Olson, Simo etc.
4. Thome - Need to get some reaps in net
5. Power Play, can we have a good one fore once?
Regarding the power play and the trend for about the last 15 years, I'll say UND once again won't have a good power play.
My 5 keys:
1. Out of the "core" group of returning forwards that have produced at this level (Gersich, Poganski, Gardner, JJ, Hoff), we need one break out (15+ points), two with modest improvement (7-12 points) and the other two with slight improvements (5pts). What hurt this team last year is the decrease in production from Boeser and the stagnant point production from Poganski / Gardner.
2. Outside of the "core" group, we need one player to have a break out year.
3. Freshman forwards, two of the four need to adapt quickly and produce right away
4. Wolanin needs to break out, he has all conference potential. Sticking on the defensive side, either Peski / Johnson need to have a Shaw like improvement.
5. One of the freshman Dman needs to adapt quickly and assert themselves into the rotation
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With Cam being a Senior, does anyone else hope that Thome gets a chance early? I'd like to see him get 20% of the starts.
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14 hours ago, SiouxVolley said:
Just saw that Davis is being shellacked 41-3 by Weber St in the 3rd. May be they are the type team we can be competitive with this year.
Going off my previous post, but I do think this upcoming game will set the tone for the rest of the year. They just got their ass kicked by two strong FCS teams with year with good lines / great QBs. If UND can't compete and beat a team that's mediocre in Davis, I'll be very concerned. Injuries or not, this is a must win. Help build momentum going into Homecoming and hopefully put together a respectable second half, which will give everyone a lot of hope going into the offseason. If they can prove they can beat the bottom of the Big Sky with this many key players out, they'll be back on top next year.
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13 hours ago, Midwestern Hawk said:
We need to find a way to win a few games this season. Will make recruiting much tougher with a season below .500.
Correct, need to win games, even if it's with a skeleton crew. Injuries to the magnitude UND has are an excuse for losses, but if this team can't be competitive, then I'll start to worry about the future.
Wins in the next two games should still be expected.
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1 hour ago, geaux_sioux said:
Due to all of the injuries it's time to readjust expectation to a realistic level. "Other teams have injuries too" isn't valid here. Find me another team that is down to its 5th and 6th MLBs. The OL also isn't helping. Those fr aren't ready and neither is Blair. Worst of all is the digression of the DL in my opinion. I don't think it was wise for Tank to lose weight in the off season. Our NTs aren't clogging things up like they need to.
Agreed with readjusting expectations. I do think that UND played against two great QB's that made this defense look worse than they are (even with all the injuries). Although the playoffs aren't going to happen this team, I need to see the following.
- Competitive games.
- 6 wins
- Don't pull any RS
- Rotate more than you usually would, get as many players reps as you can
This team wasn't going to win the last two, but when things aren't going your way, the score snowballs and it looks worse than it could have been. As was the case this week, next week is a must win.
Question about ILB's though. I think we can all agree that Rodgers / Larson would be an excellent combination. Who's behind them except for Rastas? Bungum next year or would he be in OLB? Hunt?
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This is going to be hopefully my most annoying post I'll ever do, given what took place the last two games. When things aren't going your way, things aren't going your way. You look at certain 3rd downs, calls that could have potentially changed the direction the game. I know as well as everyone else the holes on this team currently, but nothing is going their way.
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On 9/21/2017 at 10:15 PM, Wilbur said:
As Wolanin goes, so will this team. Guy has got unreal talent. Can't wait to watch the kid break out this year. Likely his last year in Grand Forks.
Agree with this.
Looking at the defense UND has returning, circle Wolanin. The is how I'd rank the returners, based on sticking them on any great defense.
- Poolman (2/3) - Best freshman season since Chorney, the guy was so solid.
- Shaw (4) - Had the most improvement, comparable to Gersish, like Poolman, solid.
- Peski (5)
- Johnson (6/7)
Wolanin has a chance to be a legit #1 defenseman on the good defense, he has so much skill. If that takes place, you have to start filling in the spots. Like the rest of the team, it might be about depth. If Wolanin doesn't improve his defense immensely, he could still be around a 3/4 on a solid club. UND will need at least one freshman to push for the 5/6 spot, if the other is in 6/7 range, they are still looking good.
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19 minutes ago, northernraider said:
Ouch, way to $hit the bed
That definitely hurts, as everyone knows they are there, the problem is this will most likely scare a decent percent for the rest of the year.
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I'm interested in the football minds that have watched this program closely. Outside of the obvious coaches, does anybody believe Bubba and most his staff isn't the answer or is this one of those 100 year floods where everything goes wrong from a personal / injury standpoint? Having watched this team over the past 2 years, I believe it's the latter.
I said it before, but we throw the expectations out the window, we have to look at this from a rebuilding standpoint. Having an OL like we had today might not be what we need to dominate the line today, but give it a season to a mature and we could have 2 years with 4/5ths of it. Rastas is getting important reps to hopefully be a back up next year with experience. CB's that still have 2 / 3 years left after this year. Depth is an issue this year, but hopefully getting youth in their now, will pay off in years to come.
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5 minutes ago, fightingsioux4life said:
When is this going to change? Every year, we are "starting over" with the offensive line. It is becoming a tired old refrain around here.
Agreed, but when you have 3 starters out (SR, SR, JR), this is what you get. Positives being if they had a healthy OL, I don't think it would have made a difference. This was strictly on the defensive side of the ball. The defensive display as bad as it looked really wasn't all bad on 1st and 2nd down. I've never before and probably never again will see a team complete over 80% of their 3rd / 4th downs.
Positive being we've seen what a UND defense is capable under Bubba. This is a situation where they don't have ILB's. Is that on the coaching staff, yes, but when you have what you think is your 2 deep going into Spring camp and 0 can play right now, it's tough. Having a healthy Rodgers / Larson at ILB would have made a huge difference the last two weeks. Add on top of that your two best CB's, it changes things.
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Playoffs aren't going to happen. Here's a question to those in the know. Even when guys get healthy (OL for example), will we see more substituting in game to get experience for those young players like Mortell / Blair? Same goes for QB, safety's even if healthy. More than if we were actually in the hunt?
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Playoffs are out of the picture, let's see if this now young Hawks team can pick up the pieces and build toward next year.
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Davis Predictions
in Football
Posted
UND 28
Davis 24
I thought UND was going to get smoked last weekend and they did. I like the team only meeting, I think it jumpstarts this team. I don't think they were as far off against Montana State as the score indicated (Murray was a game changer), absurd 3rd down percentage. The O-Line will be in it's 2nd week together, I think they'll be able to move the ball much better. On defense, I think Davis has a pretty good QB, but not as dynamic as UND has seen the two previous weeks.