AJS

What a shot in the arm for this '19 recruiting class! Recruit rankings are obviously subjective, but Hero had him as the #15 FCS RB recruit in the country. https://herosports.com/fcs/football-2019-recruiting-top-running-backs-ajaj

Players transferring because of playing time seems to happen pretty frequently at the college level and would have no impact on recruiting and probably little impact on the room. I mentioned this before, but you'll notice a common theme with players transferring, it's almost always underclassman. I can't think of any recent examples (Tomek, Wilkie, Murphy, Chartrand, Seinkbell, Bruneteau) of players that transferred after their Junior year. Not saying it can't happen, but that would seem to be a pretty hard sell for someone with only one year of eligibility left and on top of that would almost assuredly would have aged out of the junior ranks. On top of that, what program would want to bring someone in for one year, if they wouldn't be an instant impact type guy? The option of transferring is pretty much off the table for this years Junior class, which is where the clog is for both talent as well as numbers. Berry's only option would be manipulate the scholarships to bring in extra players. Go with 17 Forwards for a year and let the best player play. If he has the right guys, unselfish guys, this could work. I can definitely see how you could lose 3 and bring in 4 (forwards), but only losing 3 and bringing in 5 would be really tough. Just tossing out ideas, but the one option would be if Rieger (Sophomore) transfers and they move Johnson back to defense. That would open up another forward spot and it would be easier to make room for the 5th. Even if the Donovan ship has sailed, I would still like Berry to be aggressive and try to bring another forward (5th for the '19 class).

There's two parts to everyone's season, conference and non-conference. The good news is UND is currently 6-2-1 non-conference with two more against Canisus (must sweep), so the have the opportunity to finish with a respectable non-conference record. More good news is the NCHC which is always good non-conference record I believe is on track for it's best non-conference overall record they have had overall. IF UND can manage a .500 winning percentage in the conference (which would be better than last year), that will be good enough to make the NCAAs. They've dug themselves into a hole in their conference portion, but there's so many conference games left to rectify that.

I found that odd as well, it would surprise me though if there wasn't something to it for Brad to mention it. We've hashed this out a bunch already, so most of this will be a repeat. It's time for Berry to earn that paycheck and make some difficult decisions. It's very clear to everyone for the second year in a row this team struggles to put it lightly to score goals. You look at the lineup tonight and the bottom six are essentially both four line players. This is a two year problem that will turn into a three year problem with the Junior class taking up so many of the Forwards spots. Like others have mentioned, he needs to get very creative with his scholarship money. We know for sure the 3 for 3 trade off that will already happen. Bringing in a fourth with Blaisdell is a must already, so he's already going to have to figure that out. To really turn this roster around, you can't let a guy like Donovan walk. This team needs talent, the good news is they have it in the pipeline, the bad news, scholarship money. The coaching staff needs to figure this out.

This team showed so much heart in the 3rd, they saved their season with that performance in the final frame.

This is going to be the start of my post after this game.

I won't be able to listen to anything he says the rest of the year, it'll only make me mad. This year is one period away from being lost. 20 minutes potentially left for the season, lets see how it goes.

This is outrageous.

There's no doubt about that.

Not going to push the panic button yet on this game, but this team is one more bad bounce (more likely) or great play by UAA to be in a hole they probably can't come back from.

Three non-conference games left, must win tonight. 4-1 UND

I don't know if this has been posted yet. https://www.ushl.com/news_article/show/968797 UND leads the way with 3 players that were selected to take part in the World Junior A Challenge. Pinto, Frisch and Miller.

First of their last four non-conference games all of which they need to win. 4-1 tonight

I'm not sure how that'll work out, I was just commenting that the him sitting out 7 games isn't for next year (where he will be on campus, but can't play), but the year after.

Every single forward they are going to bring in next year is talented, will be a true freshman, will be drafted and will have at least played one full year of juniors (Pinto 1, rest 2). They will either be close to a PPG (Caulfield) or over (rest). Others have laid it out, but the problem right now with trying to "make room" is the talent of each individual class. There's only 3 Seniors and realistically I don't see anyone leaving early. Usually when you have someone look for other opportunities (Non-NHL contract) it's after their Sophomore year. There's 3 Sophomores and we wouldn't want any of those three to look elsewhere. It's this bottleneck with the Junior class that's absolutely killing this team. This isn't hindsight is 20/20, Berry should have picked 2 names out of 5 person now Junior Forward hat and encouraged them to look elsewhere after last year. They need to and I'm sure they will make room for Blaisdell which will bring the freshman class to four. Unfortunately, that'll leave Donovan on the outside looking in. What's so frustrating is this was a problem last year that was so clear. He knew the horses he had in the pipeline. Yes, Pinto has definitely been a pleasant surprise, but if not him Mancinelli (or Randklev) looked like a guy after last year that should be coming in as well in '19. The good news, is the '19 class is going to be amazing. The bad news, obviously, is it could have been that much better if Berry would have made the tough decisions last year. It's ultimately going to hurt this team. I'm sure nobody knows this more than Berry, so hopefully it's not a mistake he makes in the future.

Seven in 2020, he has to sit out the entire year next year.

Forwards that have signed NLI - Rizzo, Pinto, Caulfield. Blaisdell has to be next in line, I would be shocked if he didn’t come. That’d be my guess, those four. They lose 3 Seniors and they’ll make room for Blaisdell.

I bet this was just a bad timing issue. Donovan most likely wanted to come in next year, but there wouldn't be room. This is a loss, yes, but for the '20 class, not the '19. I would have had Donovan as the #5 forward for next years class. My guess is they are going to figure out a way to bring in 4 (which is a necessity). We know 3 that have signed already and Blaisdell would / should come in before Donovan as the fourth. I don't see any way to get to that #5 forward spot. Good luck to him, he's a great prospect. Out of potential '19 class, he might have had the most potential (given his size), but would have also been the biggest risk. Given that he wouldn't have been in next years class (which is already stacked) and there's still a year out from the '20 class (headlined by Halliday / Bowen), this isn't as big of a loss as it might be made out to be.

I wish I wouldn't have included the part about this years freshman class, because overall it's night and day difference from the Junior class (based strictly on numbers) if nothing else. I still don't think that bringing in 50% of forwards you know won't produce offensively is a smart strategy, but also it's too early to really make a proper judgment. As for the Junior class, although it's absolutely true, this wasn't meant to be a shot at any individual player. My frustration lies on the fact that over 1/2 that class was of the role player variety. I'll never understand it. That all being said, I still have a good feeling about this year. This team will never be an offensive juggernaut, but if they keep working hard (throw out Saturday's game), they will start to get rewarded.

This. Outside of a select few teams in FCS you really don't know what you're going to get on a year to year basis. We'll have to start digging into what each team is losing. After a quick glance at Easterns roster, they have 27 Seniors, I don't know the importance of each player, but that's a lot of bodies.

I said this starting last year, but I think the problem is squarely on one single recruiting class. I still would like it explained to me what the thought process was with the now Junior recruiting class. You had the "star" in Jost, Hoff was a solid recruit that hasn't panned out like they thought (which does happen), so no real fault for the coaching staff. Then you dig deeper and the forward class was rounded out by Bowen, Yon and Smith. You had 3 out of your 5 forward recruits that didn't produce at all in juniors, yes, every team has to have roll players, but under no circumstances should over half your forward recruits be of that variety. With the talent at defense, you move Johnson to forward (I know wasn't expected), but now you have 4 of 6 that fit that description. Hoff hasn't materialized like they thought, Jost is a one and done and you now sit with 5 forwards who have limited offensive ability on your roster for 3 years. You are now stuck for two more years with over a third of your forward roster with basically no offensive ability. You just cannot handcuff your roster like this. The bad news is, we are now in this situation. The good news is, it's a mistake that Berry will never make again(ish). I still question the forwards this year (mostly Keane). They basically brought in one guy who produced, another who's a solid player (Hain), everyone likes what they've seen from Senden, but then there's Keane. They should have probably tried for another guy that can actually put the puck in the net. Good news is there's help coming next year. They are stacking up on offensive high end talent.

Before looking at the 2019 season, I'll take a quick look back at 2018. It really was a tale of two halves. Even with the disappointing home loss to Idaho State, everyone had to feel really good where they were going into the Weber State game. They were 5-2 coming off three "show me" wins by more than 20 points. The defense overall was very solid and the offense I would put in the slightly above average category. They were running all over teams, the offensive line at that time was a major surprise in a good way. They looked good against Weber for a while, at one point were up 23-20, but then the offense stalled and the defense couldn't get off the field. Probably a closer game than it should have been, but a very respectable 35-30 loss. Dropped to 5-3 and the rest is history. A really unthinkable loss given the situation to Idaho and the wheels fell off offensively the rest of the way. I'll never be able to really figure out what happened to the offense we saw the first half of the year. Looking at the roster, I always thought that 2019 had the chance to be better than 2018, due to the relatively small Senior class. Defensively: Overall played well in 2018 Secondary: (+) Harris was the only senior that played at all last year. They don't lose anybody at Safety, only Harris at CB. Holm / Blubaugh are legit starters at the corner position, plus young talent in Odom and Seigel (both kept their RS's intact). You are going to need at least one of those two ready for big minutes and to take the step Blubaugh did this past year. Only losing one player from this unit, they should be better next year. LB: (+) You lose Palmborg at OLB which is a big loss and depth at ILB (2 guys), but do return both your starting ILB's who are studs, Hunt who will be a junior, Bruner who will be a RS Freshman that was a big recruit. Haas will also give the OLB position a big boost. Overall this group loses 1 starter and 2 depth ILBs. Line: (-) This will be the only and big question mark on the defense. Not only do they lose two starters, but Greer on the inside. They should be ok at Defensive end with Bennett and crew, but I don't know what they do at nose tackle. I hope they are combing the JUCO ranks for size. Overall: I really like the back 7 they'll have, not only the potential starters, but also depth. They have one giant hole to fill and that's at Nose tackle. Offensively: Very up and down, ended up costing this team a playoff spot by completely falling off the map. QB: (+) They do return all four QBs on the roster. I think they will be better with a brand new off season to not only push each other, but with a new OC, a new set of eyes. After watching every game this season, I think they need to go in a new direction. Kett was fine the first half of the season, but was a shell of himself the last two games. RB: (-) They lose two of the best UND has ever had. JJ is a great back and I really like Otis. They need to strengthen the depth they have. WR: (+) Return everyone, besides Stanley. This will be a really good group when healthy. TE: (=) Lose Fielder, but do return talent OL: (++) This group was pretty good early on for as young as they were. They lose Aplin, but return 6 players that contributed a lot last year. The depth and overall talent will be better next year. Overall: It's easy to breeze past how they looked early, because of the atrocious finish, but they were actually pretty good for a while. The new OC no matter who it is will be an upgrade. The only giant hole is at RB. Otherwise, the pieces are in place for what could be a pretty effective offense.

This is what I have been thinking as well. Get somebody talented, young, hungry and confident. Let it be known that if he's successful the reigns would eventually be turned over to him. I think this gives you greatest chance from a home run hire. It's relatively low risk, high reward. If it doesn't work out, then we're heading in a new direction in a few years anyway. I genuinely think this situation is going to be an eye opening one for the staff. Nothing they didn't already know about the football business, but what happened this year this and the aftermath is really strikes 1 and 2. The only thing that can get somebody to really take a hard look in the mirror is knowing it's either win or you're out. By staff I really mean Bubba. There's no more excuses, nobody else to throw under the bus. The clock is ticking.

This is as important to the short term future and potentially long term future of the UND football program as the changes at OC and OL. As stubborn as Bubba has been accepting change which has ultimately really hurt this team offensively, it might finally have clicked. We'll see how this plays out, but if the right hires are made and the reigns are actually given to the new OC, this could potentially really move this program into the right direction. Not that the talent level doesn't have to increase, because it does, but this team definitely had the talent to be a playoff team this year. In fact the playoffs were almost a certainty until the wheels completely fell off offensively starting the second half against Idaho. I'm very excited to get a fresh pair of eyes especially evaluating the QB position. There's a lot of talent returning on both sides of the ball.

I'm trying to better ride out of the waves of the season, especially when it comes to weekends like the last two. Even when looking at the last two, Saturday was definitely an outlier. This is a team that is great defensively and has strong goaltending. That *should* keep them in every game this year. In fact, what we've seen is outside of the Mankato series and Saturday night against Western (outlier), this team has always looked stronger than its opponent. Offensively, overall its been a disaster. Trying to take emotion out of it, it just can't continue to be as bad as its been. Moving forward, there's still more than enough time to right the ship. It starts this weekend against UAA, the good news is they've actually faired ok out of conference and if they win their remaining four (they should), then they'll finish with a nice out conference record.