AJS

Switch Emerson for Schmaltz. Give Emerson minutes and see what he can do. If he struggles, go back to it next Friday. Put James 2nd / Emerson 3rd / Schmaltz extra. My point is make guys earn spots. Give opportunities to young players. I know it feels like I’m picking on Schmaltz, but he’s not the only one. This year will be better than last (better talent level), but there’s still some guys who are big minute “locks” that are baffeling

I’ll watch my words here. Schmaltz is fine, but I don’t see him as a Top 6/9 forward. Incredibly low offensive ceiling. I don’t understand why he’s a Top 6 / PP fixture.

Win today and you’ll see an ushering in of a new era of UND football. Get this one!

One of my major takeaways from the 360 pod was that defensively they made zero checks against NDSU. Trust the play call, keep it simple, play fast. Tough not to be extremely confident in this group. Momentum of course, but the confidence these players have to have right now. At the beginning of the year you saw these two games and sort of cringed. Didn’t appear to be ideal. I love it now. Gives this program an opportunity to double down on itself. Win and you graduate to the next FCS level.

It is UNI's homecoming game. Not sure if they usually have a large walk-up crowd, but still quite a few tickets available.

8 things to know about UND football's next opponent Northern Iowa - Grand Forks Herald | Grand Forks, East Grand Forks news, weather & sports

ESPN3 is not part of ESPN+ (neither is ESPN / ESPN2). ESPN3 is strictly through your internet provider I believe. If you have Midco internet for example, you get ESPN3.

Two guys on defense that continue to impress that might not be the usual suspects. Cole Davis and Devin Hembry.

Tough game in a tough environment. I think it's fair to say that up to this point, UNI has underperformed compared to pre-season expectations. From that perspective, I feel better going into this game than I would have predicted. I am worried about UND have an emotional letdown following the NDSU win. Here's what a win would mean. Solidified as a Top 10 team going into the easier portion of your schedule. Inside track for a seed Move UNI / NDSU into a potentially "loser out" game the last weekend of the year. For UND you essentially win the tie breaker over UNI / NDSU. Watching the way this season is playing out, 7-4 might not be good enough to make the playoffs. If this team plays like they did against NDSU, fundamentally sound in all three phases, they will win this weekend.

One thing I will say is I'm not sure I've ever been less confident in my "what kind of team is this" feeling thru 5 games. That should be enough of a body of work to have a good sense. I really don't have a good one.

I like this question. For me. Nightmare Loss: 22+ Bad Loss: 14-21 Not sure what to make of it loss: 8-13 What could have been loss: 1-7

Why I’d double down on this. Take the UND perspective out. Let’s look at this from an NDSU point of view. IF they lost this game. 2 FCS losses, before they go to Brookings / Cedar Falls. We’re talking a very good chance of no seed / playing on Thanksgiving weekend. A UND win would not only vault UND up a tier, but also knock NDSU down a tier. We’re talking a decade + of frustrations gone. Am I off base here? That’s why UND winning seems virtually impossible.

There are some games that are so big that they can change the narrative for a program. This is another “big game” opportunity. My prediction? Until they actually win a game like this, most likely outcome is NDSU rolls. Whatever your worst case scenario for this game is how it’ll end up.

Score wise, perfect. Get all the first teams out and build your depth the rest of the game.

I posted this earlier this week. There is a chance that the reason it was so lopsided is because SDSU is a step or two better than ANY other FCS team, except for Montana State. Let’s let this one play out for a few more weeks.

This needs to be a clean, decisive win. Get your confidence back type of game.

Yes. Green Bay next year, UND the following year.

I've talked about this before, but it just feels like a high-stakes year for the program. You can feel the frustration from the fanbase. As much as things feel off right now, the hope has to be that UND just got the best team in the FCS (which is true) A+ game on the road. Next three games feel like it's make or break for Bubba. Where I'll disagree with some is I think an 8-3 record would be a success, but with how uninspiring and frustrating the Boise State / SDSU games have been, the NDSU game is feeling more and more like a must win.

That’s all for today. As bad as you could have imagined. We’ll still be here for that one time they exceed expectations. Has to happen eventually.

Crazy.

Worse? It’s UND so of course it’s very believable, but still. This is crazy.

I wish, but I’m not counting on it.

So much worse than I expected. Were never in this game. Embarrassing.

Let the kids have some fun!

Puckpreps would be what you’re looking for. Rank by birth year. Almost all the information is behind a paywall, but you can search and find everyone’s rankings.