MNHawk

Solid defensive showing with a struggling offense. I feel like I’ve seen this before…

I want someone with a career record that is closer to 67-3 (DeBoer at SF) than 22-21 (Bubba at UMD). That’s for sure. I am thankful for the way that Bubba has turned this football team into a perennial playoff contender and led the program with integrity and class, but I think we should be seriously skeptical about his ability to lead this program to the next level. Unfortunately, guys like DeBoer don’t come around often, so it is tough to find another young guy that has experience building dynasties at a lower level, but I would want someone that has won big games as a head coach at a lower level in the Midwest. Names like Jeff Thorne, Gary Fasching, Vince Kehres, Todd Hoffner and Tony Annese come to mind. I don’t know what the interest would look like on either side, but those are the type of guys that I think could be the “next Kalen DeBoer”. These types of hires don’t always work out (see Tom Arth), but you don’t know if you don’t try. I don’t know that this is the appropriate place to discuss our next head coach, but you continue to ask us to speculate on that very point, so I will give you your wish. Maybe starting a new thread would be a better route if you wish to continue this discussion on future head coaching options.

Someone asked for opinions on who we would rather have. I gave my opinion. Don’t ask the question if you don’t want an answer.

I was watching the Washington game last night. They have this new young coach named Kalen DeBoer. I’d like to see what a guy like him could do around here. Probably not realistic that we could get a guy like that though…

We had some poor punts including one that was blocked. No real positive plays. We definitely lost the special teams battle today, but it is probably fair to argue exactly how badly we lost it. Maybe calling the special teams play “poor” in the Bubba era is a bit unfair. It has been “consistently inconsistent”. Far from the steady, reliable special teams play that you see in most of the best teams.

There is such a repetitive cycle on this board where people say they aren’t ok with being a middling program, but then can’t handle any criticism of the team during the season. Every off-season: ”We need to stop being ok with mediocrity, it’s time to take the next step and hold this program to a higher standard” Every game thread: ”They tried their best, and it was a good effort. That’s all we can ask for.” At what point do we expect a coaching staff to put together a legitimately good team? Every single year under Bubba our offense has looked lethargic. Every single year we have had poor special teams. Every single year we’ve had an inability to finish games against great teams. I am ok with losing to Nebraska. I am not ok with losing to Nebraska as a result of very predictable causes like yet another subpar passing game. I know I am being harsh on this staff and team, but it is year 9 and they haven’t got it done yet. It’s time to hold their feet to the fire and ask ourselves if they have the ability to solve these problems and become an elite program. At the end of the day, this looks very similar to the previous Bubba teams we have seen. Poor passing game and poor special teams. We will go as far as the defense can take us. If the D is elite, we will go 8-3, if it’s just “pretty good”, we will go 6-5. Having the same weaknesses year after year is uninspiring and tiring.

Am I wrong to say that this staff has shown questionable ability to judge offensive talent in the past? Address the argument, not the person.

Thanks for not accepting mediocrity. We need more fans, administrators, and coaches to take that approach to the football program.

I don’t blame fans for questioning the talent evaluations of the offensive staff. This is the same staff that started the 2020 season with Dalton Gee getting carries over Skokna and Weah.

I would at least like to see some decent hurry-up offense here. We need two TDs in six and a half minutes. It’s not impossible, but it will require a sense of urgency.

Yeah, I don’t know if it’s Schuster, the scheme, the protection, or the WRs, but we need to figure it out. I believe our offense has only created one big play all day. We need more explosiveness than that.

Man, our inability to throw the ball downfield really makes it tough on the offense.

Lots of mobile QBs primarily run between the tackles. Ever heard of a guy named Newton? Or Tebow?

You realize we’ve spent the last two years bringing in Quincy to run the ball throughout games, right? Where have you been?

This UND team doesn’t look particularly well coached.

The defense has had a couple of nice stops here. Nice to see them bounce back a bit in the midst of a rough game.

Schuster has struggled to throw the back shoulder to Maag today.

Didn’t throw much faith in Schuster there. Two runs and one underneath pass after first and 20.

Watching some of the NDSU game. It's easy to see why the ISU offense is averaging 15 points and 4 turnovers per game this year.

31-7. Put in Quincy and let’s get ready for NDSU.

No PI?

Did we not just grind out a dominant half where UND doubled WIU in yards, first downs, and TOP? Seems we met your expectations for a top tier team from earlier in the week.

Special teams = luck?