AJS

I think we'll have a lot better idea come Thursday when the FCS Committee releases their updated rankings. There should be one opening this week with Charleston Southern losing, although Richmond lost, it was to JMU, so they'll stay. I just don't know where UND is ranked in the Committee's mind, compared to teams like SDSU, ect. If they are in this weeks Top 10, I'd put them at 50% for a seed w/ a win this Saturday.

This isn't a fun situation and nobody can defend what he did, but some people need to pump the breaks a little. Kick him off the team? What he did was extremely stupid, but settle down. Talk about a mob mentality with some of you, I'll never understand it. Is it a morally superior thing? Do you feel better about yourselves putting down a 21 year old? I do think the suspension needs to be more than a game, so maybe with where we're at with the season just suspend him for the rest of the year? He'll learn from his mistake and should grow as a person because of it.

Whoever starts this weekend, it's the person the coaches think give this team the best chance to win this game. Would everyone feel better with Studsrud, obviously, but it sounds like that's not the option. A couple positives, whoever starts on Saturday probably will know by Wednesday, so they can get the 1st team reps in practice and more importantly mentally prepare knowing they are the guy. It can't be easy going from bench all year to you are the guy the next play. UNC is a decent team and this would have been a battle regardless is Studs was playing, but they don't have as solid of a defense as Weber State. Side note: Special teams still worry me more than the QB situation. They can't have a repeat of last week or they won't win. If UND wins on Saturday, it'll take a huge defensive effort, like we say in the 2nd half of the Weber game. The QB will need to control the game, the running game will need to lead and the QB will have to protect the ball and make timely passes. Having Stanley back would be huge as well.

We are in agreement with the first sentence. I do however think we are a lock at 8-3.

Stony Brook is the worst of the 3.

Positive is I don't think we could be playing any worse and it's only a 6 point game. Adjustments need to be made on the offensively, I mean Weber has a solid defense, but they've given up a decent amount of points in most of their games. This seems like a game where the defense needs to play lights out in the 2nd and cause a turnover or two. Play like they have in the 2nd half of every other home game and they'll be ok.

This looks like the offense we saw the first 4 games of the year, just brutal. As big of a concern and it has been all year is their kick off coverage. The have to have the worst kick offs / coverage in football.

29-7 UNH over Stony Brook mid way thru the 3rd. SBU looks really bad.

It's on MidcoSN2, 624 -- also, yes http://eversport.tv/big-sky/football

If UND wins out, they are in, regardless of the autobid. Basically with your scenario, UND would be the 4th ranked Big Sky team heading into the playoffs. I don't get the logic.

Everyone knew this team would have growing pains, I've actually been fairly impressed with how they've played during this young season. The Sophomore class looks to have taken the step that was crucial for this team, especially Gersich, JJ and Shaw (not counting Boeser, Gardner and Wolanin since I think they showed enough last year that we knew how good they were). The freshman have been better than I thought, especially Hoff, Yon, Bowen and Poolman. Although not ideal with injuries, all 3 freshman D getting playing time early should pay off at the end of the year. Ausmus has struggled, but we know how solid he is. I'm still sticking with my statement from last week that I think this team offensively can better than last year (with the bottom lines contributing much more), the defense will improve (3 freshman played the last 3 games), they won't be as good as last year obviously, but they can be solid. Split the next four series and win 5 in a row heading into winter break with a 14-4 record!

I'm going to take the glass half full approach for the game as there were some positives that I saw. I was impressed with the freshman d-man, especially C. Poolman and Johnson. UMD is a solid team full of upperclassman and I thought UND played them tough 5 on 5. The difference was special teams, UND's power play is just atrocious. It seems like it's the same thing every year, they just are never very good. Regardless with the talent on the team. Let's see what happens tomorrow, a split is what I expected coming into the weekend, need the W tomorrow.

Out of the last 3 games of the regular season, I feel most confident about this one. Weber definitely has a quality team, but if you really look at who they've played and their final scores, it's not as impressive (I know similar things can be said about UND). Being at home is a huge advantage. I see it similar to the SUU games. UND 38 WSU 17

CBSSports doesn't start broadcasting NCHC games until January.

Definitely. Win out and they are a Top 10 team.

*8th. How we are ranked compared to other 2 loss teams is big to note. I was hoping that maybe Western Illinois, Youngstown or Montana would fall below us, but that didn't happen. I've been on the need to win out train or a while. Do I feel better now than 2 weeks ago? Yes. Do I think an 8-3 record now would get us in. Absolutely (i.e. if we lost to Idaho State, ect, maybe it wouldn't of). Things can really change though from week to week. Keep winning and hope that a couple teams ahead of you each week fall. Starting with Montana to EWU next week.

Will the 1st line be as dominant as the CBS line? No, but I also don't think it's a completely lopsided argument either. I do think UND's first line can be dominant in its own right. My argument would be although the 1st line won't be the same, I'd take this years version of the 2nd, 3rd, 4th lines over last years. It's early and I'd like to see a couple more series before I'd put any money on it, but the Freshman forwards have been a positive surprise. Especially Hoff, Yon, Bowen.

UND moved up two spots to #17 in the STATS FCS Poll.

There's usually a huge learning curve for freshman, especially on defense. 1/2 of UND's D-core this past weekend were freshman. It'll take them some time to adjust. Not making excuses, that's just the way it is. I think Colton has played pretty well thru 5 games and Casey seems to be picking it up the last couple as well. Outside of the freshman, I've been really encouraged by Shaw's play, Ausmus has struggled, but we know he's rock solid. The defensive unit will improve this year, that's a guarantee. IMO, I'll take this years forwards over last years. Again, they are young, so it'll take some time to gel, but I think they are much deeper than last year.

I'm interested in this too. I've been using the STATS poll to go with UND's ranking, because that seems to be the one that every television broadcast uses.

Perception is so important with these polls. Northern Arizona had 0 votes in the STATS poll going into last weekend. I wouldn't be surprised if Montana fell about the same as they did in the Athlon poll. I predict UND will move up and be #18 in the STATS poll. Even though 4 teams lost that were within 10 places of them, I think most were all too low to drop enough for UND to jump them (outside of Eastern Illinois). Things change a lot on a weekly basis, but every week the same holds true. It's just tough to move up significantly in the rankings on a weekly basis. UND is still in the position that a loss to Weber will send them right to the bubble. Got to keep winning.

I've seen it both ways this year, is Arnell a Senior or Junior?

I've thought about that too, since UND is currently 4th out of the Top 4 BSC teams in every ranking. EWU still has to play both Poly and Montanta. IMO, it's best for UND to not only win out (obviously), but also have EWU beat both Poly and Montana. I'm cheering for Poly in every game except EWU. Cheering against Montana every step of the way. This is looking at it strictly from a standpoint of what would help UND get the highest seed possible.

If Cal Poly wins out, they'd definitely be ranked higher than UND, based on their wins over 3 Top 10 teams.

Believe SDSU had offered.