AJS

Onto the game. I'm really conflicted on how this will go. On one hand, there's the reality of where this team has been defensively this year. To win, they will need to play their best game of the year. The other reason is this game is without a doubt a Top 5 D1 game for UND. I truly believe it's a game that can change the trajectory of a program. You don't get a lot of "fast track" type games. This is one of them. As a fanbase, it just seems like you see this team make a dent and then they just can't take that next step. Can they finally truly break thru? On the other hand, UND has been amazing at home. Things just seem to have broken perfectly for them this game. A well-timed Bye week, SDSU winning an emotional game against their biggest rival. Back-to-back road games for the Jackrabbits. UND has real momentum. Why wouldn't the Alerus magic continue? Cannot emphasize the opportunity UND has enough this weekend. Win and they are in the conversation on the FCS national level.

There's less then 2400 tickets currently available for this game on Ticketmaster. This isn't a fair comparison, since I don't know where tickets were at the same time of the week for the UNI game, but the day before that game there were just over 2000 available. There's no doubt they will surpass the Potato Bowl crowd. Although 2400 is a lot of tickets, it doesn't really look it. The 3 End Zone sections account for 35% of the unsold tickets.

I think the hockey game will have minimal impact on attendance. My thoughts are along the same line as @Siouxperfan7, if it's not packed, it won't be because of the hockey game. I know this was a playoff game, but back when UND played Richmond there was 10K in attendance (technically 9,837), that was the same night that UND was playing in NYC. I have no doubt that attendance will be affected less against SDSU then it was that night. This is a big game, in October against a rival(ish), the 2nd closest team as far as distance goes. Attendance will be > 11K.

I did just notice that for the ACU game they do have a "Friends and Family 4 pack" which is $5.00 tickets. Kudos for that. I'm hoping they do some sort of marketing blitz for the SDSU game as well. This is probably a Top 5 home game in the D1 era. They need to do whatever they can to fill the place.

Hensler is this special high-end type of recruit that Berry has not been able to land the last few years. These recruits don't necessarily have the same exact story, but the examples of them have been (Fleming, Nelson, Chelsey, Eiserman, Cooley). The pattern is either a high-end player that picks Minnesota over UND or a high-end Minnesotan that goes elsewhere. Let's win one of these! Based on recent history I'm not optimistic.

@Dustin nice call on Hoosman. I should have included him by name as a surprise since he's been so good. He's a #1 MVFC back. Reminds me of Brady O.

You are your record, so this season is going according to what I expected so far. I had them at 4-2 going into the bye week. My biggest surprise is Tommy. As a Junior he's turned into a legitimately good FCS QB. I've always thought he was solid, but what we're seeing this year is a clear step above that. Like Tommy, I'm surprised the offense is as good / balanced as it is. Again, a clear step above what I would have expected. Disappointments. Blanket statement over the defense. I'm surprised how poor they've been this year. Yes, they lost a lot, but I never thought they would drop to what we've seen. I don't think it's one positional either that you can point to. They are not for the most part pressuring the QB like they have been the past few years which in turn hurts the secondary. I think we are seeing slight improvements the last few weeks in a few areas. My expectations are that they finish 3-2 and make the playoffs at 7-4. What to look out for? Two things (1) Circle the game on 10/22. If win, the trajectory changes. (2) Defense, Defense, Defense. Can they start playing with more consistency? My hope is that this off week will give them time to really study film. What's been going wrong. I do think there's a certain level of importance to being able to have time to reflect that I don't think you get when you are going from one game to the next. IF we see this team take a step defensively, they can be really good.

Hawks Win 35-30 In Yet Another Wildly Entertaining Game - UND Football 360 This quote I found really interesting. I did mention before, but points given up in the 2nd half the last two games has been pretty good, so not necessarily surprised, but it's nice others are starting to see some positive progress made defensively. I am in a love/hate process right now with the UND defense – LOL. They look good, fit stuff up, tackle well for a drive. Then the next drive the opposing offense goes right down the field with little resistance. They will give up a few drives like that in a row before suddenly buckling down again. But, what I am seeing is this defense seems to gel and gain confidence as games go on into the 4th quarter. They came up with a 3-and-out early in the fourth, gave up a long TD drive to make it 35-30, but then got the BIG stop on the final drive of the game to seal it. This tells me they are a work in progress, which we all know to be true. It’s getting there.

Heading into the off week UND currently sits at 4-2 overall (3-1 in MVFC). I would call their remaining schedule fairly favorable. Three home games > two road. On paper I would still call @ Indiana State your highest % chance of a win on the road out of any this year. I won't spend much time discussing this team offensively (very solid) or special teams (pretty good). Let's all concentrate on the defensive side of the ball. My question would be, can that side of the ball take a step and just be average? My hope is that this week off is just what the defense needs. Time to regroup and really study the film. There are some positives recently, they've given up 10 and 9 points in the second half's of the last two games. Which is respectable. Opponents 3rd down % has been again, respectable the last two weeks. Still high on the year 50.68%, but that's down 8% from where they were at after the SIU game. In general, they've had really good red zone defense. Given up TD's on only 55% of the time. I agree with @The Sicatoka, I think Ocansey is fine opposite of Siegel. The CB position is not my #1 worry anymore on the defensive side of the ball. I'm still convinced the overall talent is there, just get better week by week.

I thought the exact same thing. It reminds me going into the Northern Iowa game as well, I felt good about UND's chances until I listened to the 360 podcast. Both times, after listening I felt like there was no way UND had a chance. Sounds to me like Youngstown will be the best team in every facet that UND has faced so far. Outside of their passing offense. Hoping like UNI, UND can pull off the win against a borderline flawless opponent. Some more thoughts (non-360 related). Good: Like where UND's offense is right now. Multi-faceted. I feel good about the unit in general. Youngstown is a run first offense. Feel much better going up against that then a pass happy offense. Bad: This is a game that a Bubba coached team has routinely lost. This is the chance for UND to completely redeem themselves from the SIU debacle. Like against SIU, this is another opportunity game. Win and you're right in the mix of all FCS discussions. Both locally and nationally. UND's program could really use this one.

Kudos to the defense in the 2nd half! For the first time since Week 1 (first half), they actually played well. Hoping this is the turning point!

Per Miller it was Kilty. His normal jersey ripped.

He has them at 4th.

Craig Button (TSN) released his Top 32 this morning and Strathmann was #29 on his list. There are 3 players already playing college ahead on the list, but only two college commits listed before Strathmann. Perron not listed.

Per 360, on the year UND has allowed a 59% conversion rate on 3rd downs. No surprise, that is the worst in the MVFC. One week at a time, Missouri State's % this week will be the difference in the game. If they are <50% UND wins.

This is year two of the new NCAA hockey recruiting rules, but here's what happened last recruiting cycle (not counting transfers). August 21 - 3 Recruits (Strathmann / Perron / Livanavage) October 21 - 2 Recruits (Slipec / Klee) November 21 - 1 Recruit (Wiebe) December 21 - 1 Recruit (McLaughlin) April 22 - 1 Recruit (Croal)

Let's call it brand recognition. I'm not saying what I'd chose as a fan, I'm saying national eyeballs. What would be the biggest on any given year? Making the Men's NCAA Basketball Tournament Winning the Frozen Four Winning the FCS Title Game Am I off base here? It's definitely making the NCAA Basketball Tournament. Which do you think it is?

Who cares if neither UND or NDSU will ever be a contender to win it all in NCAA Basketball. Just making the men's tournament will give you more press then winning the NCAA Hockey or FCS Football National Championship. Make it to the 2nd round and it's X5. The NCAA Men's Basketball Tournament it's all about just getting in. NDSU over the past decade has had about a 50/50 shot each year of making it. They play in the Summit League final virtually every year. There's no comparison between NDSU and UND in the NCAA's biggest tournament.

This, not much elaboration needed. Just win.

This very well could have been a Shaugabay situation. What that would be is UND is interested, but would like to see more before an offer is extended. I don't know if they offered Zellers or not, I'm guessing not, but they didn't offer Shaugabay when he committed to Duluth. Obviously there are select players that will get offered before they play Juniors (Boisvert / McInnis / McMorrow). Those all will be playing Juniors this year though. Time will tell with Shaugabay and potentially Zellers if that was a mistake to take the wait and see approach.

Well that’s enough for today. Good news is realistically it can’t get any worse than this defensively. We are watching the absolute worst of something. 2017 was worse or no?

This defense is 2017 level bad.

No injury report this week from them.