UND Football Fan

One thing I like to point out was during the last several years we tried to control clock and be more methodical on offense, especially against teams that were considered “better” than us so our defense does not get exploited. This squad with improved defense is allowed to be more aggressive on offense and if we go 3 or 4 series without a score it’s not catastrophic to team morale. It’s fun being a fan with the a team that has the hunter mentality.

Tackling has improved a lot also, it’s great to see it (defense) play well on the road. For the longest time road games were blowout losses or track meets that we tend to lose.

This game may come down to offense, defense will probably bend on not break (I am expecting limited big plays). Montana, our defense was on the field too much in the second half and they were able to put together some drives. If and when we get a multi score lead we need to limit their offensive big plays in the second half by us controlling the clock on offense.

This game, to me, will show if we are a legit top tier team. Top seeds win games like these. Need to have a start like last week, and a finish like UNI. This team cannot afford a bad quarter on the road against a playoff caliber team. Excited for the Saturday.

I am hoping we get ignited by the crowd like SU game from two years ago and roll to a win, by having YSU be more predictable with us playing with a big lead. If YSU plays in front early, it may be a Jerry leading us on a game winning drive in the end.

I believe this also, last two years he had been banged up at the end of the year.

I would have to agree, we have returns more kicks for scores, blocked more punts than teams have done to us. SDSU during Covid year we ran a fake punt that turned momentum and we win. I believe against Weber we blocked a punt that helped us win. Most notable was NDSU, KO return that got the crowd energized and as NDSU started to get back into it, we blocked a punt which led to a score. Kicking issues is an argument but Schmidt hires those he felt would improve the program. Schmidt wants to win, I don’t see him as a charity guy. As for Simon, players love him some players get the best out of his teammates. He could have cut and run after Fall camp or when an FBS qb came in last Spring he stayed because he wants to finish at UND. Last game he caught a pass and the double pass, I felt it was more of the call than Simon because UNI probably new that was an option when he is at wideout. Personally wait a few games before doing that, unless staff wanted to show it against an inferior team and hope to bait them run something different out it later on. We fans have no clue what coaches think or how players feel. As a fan, I’m appreciating the willingness for this team and staff wanting to get better and want to be more than an average to above average FCS team.

We need to win road games against the playoff teams. Best road wins (excluding Great West) were Portland State only playoff teams road win (9-3) 2015, 2018 Sam Houston (6-5) and Youngstown (7-4) 2022. Looking at that, that lack of success with teams with winning records says it all. UNI win was great, but not a playoff team. Team needs to refocus and not have a letdown after our first road win in nearly two years. With new systems and better depth this team is better but needs to continue to improve. Self inflected wounds would be losses if on road against legit playoff teams or bubble teams.

That QB is their offense, he throw or ran for all their plays but seven according to the box score.

Idaho State is beating Montana 24-18 in the 2nd quarter

The Oracle of Delphi said either we win big, or get a shut out victory. I misinterpreted the Pythia. Last year the Pythia was spot on going into the ISU Blue game.

Nice to see us overcoming shooting our selves in the foot with the FG and Fumble. This is a great first step, now on to next week.

I don’t want to jinx it, but I believe this could be our first road shut out in D1 era.

Need to put the doubt into UNI.

Also the connections are made so if athlete enters portal they may be more inclined to go to school that recruited them.

90’s early 2000’s was Kelly Green. I believe Roger Thomas made that color reference to it back than.

Observation: offense was meh at the beginning. Jerry is improving. Hopefully TE’s get healthy soon. My take on Z is he seems not as much of a bruising back as last few years (maybe lack of reps can do that), last two years he’s been injured down the stretch. I would rather see him play the whole season and have his biggest games during the playoff stretch of the season. Specials were solid, hopefully that carries through to Valley play. Defense gave up that big play, still too many. That being said we are takling better and playing fast. That is a huge improvement from last year. Defensively the challenge will be continuing building depth and continue improving in game adjustments, because with Valley play, once your exposed you need to fix or a season can become a slow death. This has happened a plethora of times over the years.

Could be worse, Matt Millen punch Patriots GM Pat Sullivan after divisional loss in 85 playoffs.

I expect a min of 7 TD’s and less than 2 scores given up even with backups in.

Well we were not the only one to lose or not got to OT because of EP or short FG. Tennessee missed chip shot FG and Notre Dame missed extra point.

Is there a shot on the ref on that side. WR need to look at official to see if they are on or off.

I agree, Bubba team would lose like this to an inferior unranked team on the road.

Had a chance to take the refs out of the game during 2nd quarter. I still thought too many fades when we started to establish a drive after getting a 1st down. Get a 2 yard run and than a fade call put us in 3 and 8 with them playing pass. That extra point miss plain old sucked, we did not chase the point (I think we or 0 for forever when trying to catch extra points). I cannot overly blame the D, when the offense had one sustained drive the 2nd half. A good team will find weaknesses and start finding things that work with more opportunities.

We’ve had special teams or offense putting games away. Let’s have the D do it today!