AJS

Rucker is going to be unbelievable this year. Navratil was back to his old form as well. The LB's looked really good. I'm equally excited to watch that young Safety core grow. IMO, Sutton / Erkman tandem could be really solid. There are 5 starters that are underclassman on this defense (was 6 last weekend with Mohr).

Two weeks ago, I would have told you I would rather have this game not scheduled. Fast forward to the week of the game, I couldn't be more excited. This program really did have a difficult off-season. Coaches leaving, portal hit harder than it ever had. No respect from the FCS pundits going into the year. A lot of question marks. After how they looked in Week 1, they can completely erase all the doubt this Saturday. Montana (-4.5) is a great team. UND absolutely has a shot in this one. The opportunity they have completely outweighs the risk. GET OUT TO THE ALERUS!

Mohr no longer listed. Anytime an injury causes someone to be removed, must be significant.

I trust others much more with more in-depth break downs, but I liked what I saw overall on Saturday. The two biggest concerns were QB play (down-field passing) and kicking. The defense in all phases looked competent. After the past 3 years, that's a huge complement. There's some young talent for sure. The O-line was awesome in run blocking. This seems like more of a solid team. Not dependent so much on one of the facets of the game. Areas to clean up, but I came away really impressed. Everyone get to the Alerus on Saturday, so much on the line this early.

Not sure I'm following. I understand that we don't know if a season ticket holder will actually show up or not, but those tickets are sold. Taking out the student section, what I'm most interested in is how many seats are being held that will eventually be released (opponent tickets for example). Sell a few hundred this week and a few hundred walk-ups and it should be pretty full.

This is the perfect score prediction if this game plays out like a normal FBS game under Bubba. 10 points worse than the spread. One bit of detail, ISU will score on their last two possessions. We’re all here for the what if. What if Romfo looks the part, defense makes plays and they completely surpass expectations. Sell hope that this team will be better than what was predicted and they have a real shot against Montana. Prove everyone wrong!

Does the Cole Payton package work against most teams? The way Miller was playing, I cannot believe they went to Payton at all. Some major take-aways. Miller looked the part of an All-American. My question being, is he the offense. They did not run the ball well outside of him. NDSU won both the Turnover battle (1 INT vs 0), as well as 4th downs (1-1 vs 0-1). Effectively 2 TO's to 0. That INT was incredibly fortunate NDSU was so much better coached. Colorado at best is a 5-win team. 3 Super-stars, but outside of that. Not a lot to like.

NDSU definitely looked good. The ultimate question though is Colorado average or awful. Miller’s a great QB though.

Safe to assume most additions after first day trend towards part time Grad students?

I would have a different feeling if it wasn't a foregone conclusion that it was going to happen at the end of the year. Seems like a bit of an overreaction from some.

Interesting. Is the thought process that this player will drop down to say a Concordia and play this year? When Romfo was announced QB1, almost seemed a certainty that Trey would portal out after the year. There's no way all three were going to return. This might be an all-time spin zone, but it might not be the worst thing for it to happen now.

My uneducated, initial 2-deep thoughts. Excited Tackle - Thaden had a lot of steam after Spring camp, the fact that Becher (6'6" - 310) won the spot, bodes well. Thaden (6-7" - 285) and Teeter (6'6" -300) backing up, seems like a potential position of strength. Teeter has collegiate experience. Anderson returning starter. D-End - IMO, last year, low ceiling / experienced group. Teiken, who was one of the highest ranked recruits, right on schedule starting as a sophomore. Mohr has been a talker since Spring ball. Like those two transfers are backing up. Excited as well for Vig / Schultz. Young, talented group. CB - Deep talented group. Per Tom Miller, best unit on the team Disappointed OLB - Pending... the fact that Boecker is still in competition for a starting spot is worrisome. Listening to Tom Miller, it seems like Rucker might be the best Defensive player (or at least highest ceiling). My hope was that you'd see Rucker and Navratil start with the two transfers backing up. Hoping Boecker has improved, but this positional group was a nightmare last year. Besides Rucker (obviously) and Navratil, wanted them to essentially start over with anyone else that played significantly. Two other things I'll be watching closely (1) Center position - really hope Buxa wins. Based on recent history, they've had pretty good luck with young Centers. (2) Davis injury. Need him healthy for depth purposes at a critical position

If I were to rank the games currently with 10 being the highest probability to win and 1 being lowest. 10 - Murray State, San Diego 9 - Idaho State 8 - 7 -@ Indiana State 6 - Northern Iowa, USD 5 - @Youngstown State, @ Illinois State 4 - Montana 3 - 2 - SDSU 1 - @Iowa State, @ North Dakota State

I really don't think he's necessarily anti-UND, but that projection is complete garbage. I would have the worst possible scenario be 5-7. That would be essentially losing almost every 50 / 50 game.

Anybody else starting to feel a bit optimistic about this team defensively this year? I'm talking could they be a decent MVFC (4th or 5th ranked) unit? I like what I'm reading.

Borud / Hagen would have stayed without the coaching changes. Hagen was on Izzo's show and said as much. Pretty easy math with those two given they didn't leave after Fall camp. Kilty did leave for $. Nobody will disagree with your premise; I just don't believe for Football it has to be as prevalent for FCS schools that invest in their programs. Look no further than the other Dakota schools / Montana this past year.

To some extent, yes, but how many key players transferred from NDSU, SDSU, USD this offseason? Two from NDSU, were there any from the South Dakota schools? Without the Coaching changes at UND you see two less key players and the outlook is completely different. Take out the 5th year transfers now, and it'll be even less. I don't think it's unrealistic to think that schools like the Montana / Dakota's who are investing in Athletics can keep the "key" player losses to 3 or less each year. Some years you might see more, some less.

Most likely something he “retweeted” at one time.

McNeal really at 220? That would be down 15 pounds.

Only 16 combined SRs / GRs / 5th Year

- No Lucas Schweigert (was noted before) - No Max Gunderson

Preseason ratings and who those teams don't play. 3. USD (Missouri State / ISU-R) 4. SIU (UND / UNI) 5. UND (SIU / Missouri State) 6. ISU-R (SDSU / USD) 7. YSU (NDSU / Murray State) 8. UNI (SIU / Murray State) With this unbalanced schedule, who you play matters. Based on preseason rankings, ISU-R has by far the best "misses" with the #1 / #3 rated teams.