AJS

For the most part, this is still what it looks like. Since there's always a decent walk up crowd if they can sell about 200 / 250 today and tomorrow, they should be in business. That would help clean up a lot of the tickets left that aren't in the four end zone sections.

Jade Lawrence was in the two-deep last week as well. I've learned not to put a ton of stock in the 2-deep when it comes to injuries, as it really only tells us if someone will be out for a significant amount of time (see Zeke & Waletzko). Mortel was listed as starter at LT on last weeks 2-deep as well, but we all know he wasn't available to play. Good news is anyone you see on the 2-deep even if kept out, it shouldn't be a significant injury.

Ultimately not a big deal at all, but why is it Wednesday and we still don't have the game notes for this weekend? Have they ever not had it out by Tuesday?

Yes. This week is so important to not only win, but show that they have truly "arrived" in the FCS playoff conversation. With that to take the second half of your first sentence, start winning with a sense of dominance. This is a game that a true Top 20 team shouldn't have a problem with at home. Is UND at that point? We'll see on Saturday.

What I hope for this weekend: Offensively Continue to build, last week they did play well for about 3 and a half quarters, but were completely stuck for the other quarter and a half. 24 points was barely enough last week, but we need to see them continuously get into the low 30s. Any idea how Mortel's injury is? This year the offensive line has actually played pretty well, especially given expectations, but they are very thin with Waletzko out and possibly Mortel again. Is there an "8th" guy who will be able to step in and play reasonably well if there's another injury? At the very least you'd hope to have 8 guys who are ready to contribute. Defensively Do your thing, this is an exciting group to watch. It was really fun watching the secondary taking a huge step last week. Special Teams They need to play sound, a punt blocked cannot happen. They were very lucky that didn't cost them the game. Most importantly though I was excited to see Leach nail his kick. The last two have been short, but it's nice to see him turning the corner. Potato Bowl / Homecoming with what will be a big and energized crowd. It's been mentioned, but it's important that they play well. Need the win at home. Idaho State seems to have a quality team this year, but UND is the better team. Hoping for an injury free game, UND to score more points than last week and give us less.

Who played on the O-Line yesterday? I know Mortel was hurt, did Tobin play?

Listening to that, there's no way UND can compete. I'm just trying to figure out how Prarie View was able to stay within 10 of SH in the first game.

This is the only tidbit from UND360 today. There is a chance that Matt Waletzko gets his first start this weekend at RT. We will have the full Who’s In/Who’s Out on the Tailgate Show starting at 4pm on Saturday. Waletzko was one of the players listed on the Sept. 11th update. Not sure if Helgren is knicked up or if Waletzko has passed him on the depth chart. Miller said that Oliviera practiced yesterday so I'm sure he'll be ready to go (along with him testing it a few plays against Washington). Right now, I think we have questions on the following: Offensively: Questionsable: Tobin Unlikely: Nyuon, Greibel (both haven't played a game yet) Defensively: Questionable: Larson, Tank, Lawrence, Nelson, Ommerman (final 3 haven't played yet this year) Unlikely: Gordon (Hasn't played this year) If you look at the Washington game, I believe the only two that played last week that are questionable this week are Tobin / Larson. Tank played week 1, but not week 2. Those three are such key pieces, but given the others haven't played this year and it sounds like Nelson, Lawrence & possibly Ommerman could be ready to go, although not ideal, the injury situation isn't really that bad. Sept 11th report: No major injuries to report from the Washington game that we know of. However, knicks and bruises have piled up a bit. Concerned about Ryan Tobin’s availability at LG this week. Matt Waletzko injured his hand as well. Might be some shuffling this week up front. On defense, hoping to get Lenny Nelson back this week. Tank Harris is still a question mark at this point. Our biggest concern is the availability of LB Noah Larson, who played extremely well until he left the game in the 3rd quarter and did not return. We believe his is a leg injury. We have heard there is a chance that safety Chivaldo Van Ommeren will be cleared this week and could travel to SHSU.

http://www.gobearkats.com/ViewArticle.dbml?DB_OEM_ID=19900&ATCLID=211771650 Some interesting notes from Sam Houston's 42-32 victory in week one. Sam Houston took full advantage of the Panthers’ mistakes on Saturday, forcing 3 turnovers and having 4 drives start inside Prairie View territory. The Kats converted each of those 4 drives into points, scoring touchdowns three times and kicking a field goal on the final play of the first half after a botched PV punt gave the Kats the ball on the 2-yard line with only 2 seconds left in the half. The Kats held the Panthers to just 1 of 14 conversions on third down. That is in line with last year when SHSU was ranked in the top 20 of the FCS, allowing just 32.9 percent of its opponents’ third-down tries to be converted. Easier said than done obviously, but if UND can (1) Keep turnovers limited (2) Convert on 3rd down, that will go a long way on Saturday. Based on those two notes above, it's pretty shocking it was only a 10 point game. Edit: Just watched the breakdown video they have on their site and 2 of the turnovers were caused by terrible special teams plays by Prarie View. The first one, the snap sailed over the punters head which gave the Kats the ball at the five yard line (scored TD). The second the punter didn't field the ball and fumbled it giving the Kats the ball inside the 5 with 2 seconds left in the half (FG).

I hope the answer is no and I'm sure nobody knows, but there's not UND fans that go on NDSU opponents boards and spam them with comments, right? I can't get over that those two are on a SHSU board this week.

Not being sarcastic, seem like a good group. http://www.katfans.com/katsforum/

Based strictly on different teams message boards I've read over the years, but Sam Houston seems to have the most level headed, down to earth fan base.

Before the year started, when I made predictions this was one of two games (along with Washington), where I felt UND didn't have a chance. After watching UND's first two games, I believe this is a true coin flip type game and one that UND absolutely can win. The reasons I'm optimistic is UND has a very good FCS front 7, I don't believe that SHSU will be able to do much on the ground at all. UND's secondary is the weak link, but they took a giant step from 1st half Game one to 2nd half game one and into game two. They may be the weak link on this defense, but as an FCS unit, I think they are average (with the ability to be above average as they continue to gel). Overall, I really do like UND defensively. Offensively, the O-Line has held their own and UND should be able to get the ground game going. As disappointing as 8 was against Washington, hopefully that was a good learning experience for him. SHSU isn't Washington, UND will have more success through the air. The offense which will obviously be better this week, will in turn keep the defense more rested, so they won't wear down like they did in the 4th against Washington. If this team can put it all together (which they haven't yet this year), they will win on Saturday. This is such a big game, not only for the season, but overall for this football program in general. The big talker today as it should be is injuries. Does this look correct, these are guys either reported by UND360, limited last week, were hurt or didn't play. Should be good to go Oliveira Blubaugh Probable Lenny Nelson Lawrence Questionable Larson Harris (DT) Tobin Waletzko Won't Play Nyguin Gordon Greibel At a minimum UND needs all the 'should be good' and 'probably' guys to be ready to go along with at least one of the guys listed as 'questionable'. As good and important as Harris / Larson are, the depth is definitely better with those two positions than it is on the O-line. Anyone I'm missing? Anyone that should be moved to another category? When you look break it down like this, knowing they aren't any long term injuries, the situation although far from ideal isn't actually that bad. That's assuming the Top 4 are ready to go (especially Oliverira and Blubaugh).

What was the injury situation? I know Larson / Blubaugh were both dinged up, but hopefully nothing too serious.

Agreed, as good as it gets.

Before I completely turn the page to week 2, my overall thoughts: Offensively The two biggest positives for me were Rudolph and Ketteringham. Some of the new packages are definitely a step in the right direction and Ketteringham has the arm to stretch the field and make all the passes. The total points scored of 35 itself wasn't impressive, but they played pretty methodical in the 2nd half, which I was fine with. You had a fumble and a couple missed field goals which ended up costing points, plus with how the defense shut MVSU down in the 2nd half, they didn't have to play fast and score as often as they could have. Looked more of a try to bleed the clock type deal. Was able to play the 2nd string later in the 4th as well. It's tough given the competition to really grade their performance, but I am optimistic that this unit has the potential (bigger playbook / QB play) to be an improved unit over what we've seen in recent years. Need to improve: Drops and although they played well, the offensive line needs to continue to improve, because they won't see a defense that poor the rest of the year. B- Defensively They secondary was flat out terrible in the first half, especially the CB position. They were coming in blind and made the adjustments in the second half, but still, Holm / Harris have enough talent where it was still inexcusable. The one thing to note is not only did they play better in the second half, basically shutting down MVSU, but out of any positional group, Holm / Harris would have had the most "rust". Again, it's tough to grade, but overall I'd give them a C. Need the secondary to play better, although I do believe the CB group overall is solid and will play much better as the year goes on. I like the front 7. Special Teams Definitely mental right now for the freshman kicker, he appears to have an ok leg, so I'll wait a couple more games to hit the panic button. Punting was in the same spot where it was his first college action. Overall, I'm happy that they played MVSU the first game. I'm not sure how they would have done against a quality opponent, but they were able to work out some kinks. Defensively, night and day difference between the 1st and 2nd half which is very encouraging.

After watching last nights game, plus feelings coming into the season, concerns are WR, Secondary, O-Line, Special Teams WR: Had a really bad game as a group, as many dropped balls as I can remember. Guys with the majority of the drops mainly Toivonen / Wanzek are sure handed. I do think this group overall is solid, but they are more on my list as a segue to the second bullet point. Secondary: As bad as this group was in the 1st half, they cleaned up basically everything in the 2nd half. I'm not saying this positional group isn't the weakness of the defense, because it is, but I'm optimistic that they will improve. As others have pointed out, Harris (missed entire year due to injury) and Holm (missed most last year due to injury) absolutely were going to have some rust. I'm not saying these two will be the best CB tandem in the FCS, but they both have been pretty good CB's at the this level. Those two will get better, there's no doubt about that. They were missing a starting safety as well. Still needs to improve, but I think they will. O-Line: Tough to tell based on opponent. Given how young the line is, they will improve throughout the year Special Teams: Kickoff coverage much better in 2nd half, not ideal for kicker to go 0-2 (after going 0-2 in Fall camp scrimmage). Who got the most reps at RT yesterday? I know Waletzko got in pretty early, but did he play the majority of the game?

After watching both halves, I do think UND didn't really know what to expect from the opponent, or guessed wrong. I realize how bad MVSU is and how bad the first half was for UND. Taking everything into account, if these two teams played next week, it would be a a much more lopsided game. After last year, I have to hang onto the positives.

Like I mentioned, tale of two halves, the DB's didn't give much in the 2nd half. Holm we know is solid did get picked on and Harris was over a year since he played last. It's tough to cover against a 3 step drop when you're on an island. Nice adjustments by Schmidt in the second half.

This post is going against the grain and will be completely optimistic: Definition of the tale of two halves, I thought overall once adjustments were made the second half UND looked good on both sides of the ball Ketteringham looked good WR's won't drop as many as they did tonight Like they did in the secondary, the kick off coverage was good in the 2nd half Solid pass coverage all game Running game picked up as the game went on I get it, it was a bad first half, but once adjustments were made the game wasn't close. The opponent was terrible, but there are things that they can build on.

This is a very good point and could definitely point to a potential positive outcome with "opening the playbook" this year offensively. During this coaching staffs era, not only did they have (1) Terrible depth at the QB position until this year, but also (2) Limited abilities with Studsrud as far as the deep ball (lack of speed outside didn't help). Of course the system isn't going to change this year, but with (1) True Depth (2) Bigger Arms, I wouldn't be surprised to see an offense that is harder to defend. Zimmerman not starting against Montana was ridiculous, but it also shows based on practice they didn't think he was better than Heidelbaugh (obvious statement). That also showed up to that point that they didn't think they had an option B, so the entire game plan that year was going to be conservative. Coming into fall camp knowing they have depth, they can game plan around it and not an offense where they have to be conservative, because if Studsrud went down (as we saw in previous years), the team was basically screwed. I'm excited for this year with the depth at QB, the return most of the WR core, but add the RS Freshman class (Greibel, McKinney), who will give you another dimension with more speed and a guy like Maag. I'm with @BarnWinterSportsEngelstad I think we could be pleasantly surprised this year on the offensive side of the ball.

My updated list: 1. Jaxon Turner 2. Noah Mortel 3. Ryan Tobin 4. Jordan Canady 5. Alex Cloyd By breakout season, if they were in a league, I'd hope for some sort of All-Conference recognition for these 5.

Neither were eligible, Hlinka was 01’s

I'd be shocked if we didn't hear about it today, this is the last day before classes start and they have an off day tomorrow. Come Wednesday they are basically a week out.

Pretty sure the All-American prospects game is all about draft year.