wheelsup

I actually agree 100%.. by the way if you have a problem with this go check out our fellas when we played Youngstown this year. it would have been nice if our guys played more like they did against YSU and less like they did against NDSU.

Kelly talks about this every week on the podcast.. Make our DB's play man to man coverage.. simplify their assignments. Stop it with the soft zone. Simplify the Defense.. so far our complex defensive schemes seem to be only confusing us . Blown Coverages.. Unfilled gaps.. Speaking of the podcast.. hopefully we still get the podcast this week and another Day by Day from Midco.

Ill have to go back and watch that play.. I remember it a little different and thought the officials did the right thing. I think there was a question as to if Maag was even down on the play and I thought the dback did what he needed to do. I also wouldnt have had a problem if Maag had plowed him over after that happened.

Im going with a more optimistic view for Saturday.. Kelly green glasses are firmly in place... until at least the 3rd quarter The offense will not make the uncharacteristic mistakes that they made last Saturday.. We will not have a goofy fumble.. the o-line will continue to play well and be improved over the NDSU version. Hooseman/Smith/Red will be great and Tommy and the WR's will have a good game. Quincy will dominate the short yardage like normal. Special teams will have at least one block.. either FG or punt.. on kickoffs we will either just kick it out of bounds or pooch it every single time The Defense is going to have its best game of the year. After being embarrassed against the Bison they are going to suck it up and have a decent game.. Im settling for mediocre/decent from the defense and that seems optimistic but.... We cant have a first quarter like we had against NDSU or a 3rd quarter like we had against SDSU. My guess is the crowd wont be much of a factor as I would be surprised if they get 10k attendance and in an outdoor stadium on a holiday weekend with that layout I dont think it will be a factor. Looks like the weather forecast is decent (40 degrees and little wind).. not quite the friendly confines of the Alerus Center.

Every teams fans thinks that.. that’s part of the fun part of being a fan! I’m sure if sdsu hadn’t false started 5x in the first half it wouldn’t have been as close as it was. turns out they did..

what UND Biz said.. and I think we would likely feel roughly the same as Southeastern Mo State . The precedents only matter until they dont. Personally I have no problem with us being on the road against weber state if all teams were treated equally. IF you seeded the top 16 teams and the other teams were on the road then it would have made perfect sense. The reason we are all complaining is that the process completely sucks and the committee made up rules as they went along this year. There was clear favoritism towards Montana and clear ignoring of precedence towards UND. The committee somehow made two different interpretations of the rules in the same session. They allowed Montana to host based on financial bid (clearly ignored performance) and they allowed Weber State to host based on performance (ignored financial bid). Take NDSU getting the #3 seed out of it.. (which even the local fargo media was a bit surprised at, NDSU could have easily been the 4th seed although i have no problem with them being the 3rd seed) and its still clear that the Big Sky conference got everything they wanted and the MVFC took it in the shorts. I believe that is the whole reason there are reps from each conference on the committee.. Our representative clearly didnt do his job. A conspiracy theorist might argue this was purposeful.. another viewpoint might be that it was just negligent, and he was too busy popping the champagne after NDSU got the 3rd seed. Again.. UND and Youngtown should be very annoyed with his efforts.. Youngstown had a similar and even better resume than Montana.. and somehow Montana is not only in the playoffs but hosting the first round.

The big sky conference rep was clearly the best prepared negotiator in the room.. Im guessing the MVFC rep spent all of his negotiating skills getting the Bison up to the 3rd seed in order to get NDSU and SDSU on opposite sides of the bracket. I would really like to hear how all of the conversations went.. Big sky rep: - Hey.. Montana needs to get in based on their quality losses and no wins against teams with winning records.. Rest of the committee - Yep sounds good Field is set based on regionalization etc.. other than noticeable outliers like Southeast Missouri State playing against Montana and Idaho playing against Southeastern Louisiana (seems like a long bus ride).. really nice matchups for the Big Sky.. Im a little surprised Idaho didnt end up with a home game. Big Sky rep: - time to open up those financial bids.. looks like Montana deserves a home game - Rest of the committee - Yep.. based on decades of precedence I agree Big Sky rep: - hey about that Weber state/UND game.. it seems like there are some other factors we should consider.. they were basically the 9th seed they need a home game we should ignore the financial component - Rest of committee - thats a great point.. I agree Seems like at some point the MVFC rep should have opened his big yap and said... but.. but.. but.. what about what we just decided about the Montana game or maybe even throw out a.. but.. but.. but.. the way we currently have Weber state seed they are more like the 13th seed.. why are we calling them basically a 9 seed seems like we are screwing montana state if that is the case (oh regionalization). The MVFC rep seems like the worst negotiator on the planet or just not focused on the MVFC as a whole. Another year of.. the rules only matter until they dont.. and the precedents only matter until they dont. All of that said.. Im super excited about the game on Saturday.. it will be tough but I think the fellas will bounce back. Im also disappointed its not a home game as it should have been based on decades of precedents.

Im also amazed that the bison can keep any WR's.. just not enough catches to go around. I will say overall I like the transfer portal.. It helps out kids that dont fit into a system, are locked into the bottom of the depth chart (ex: hoosman) or for some reason just dont mesh with coaching staff and it also adds another level of excitement to college football as to if you are going to be able to keep your players or not. I always hope that kids have a decent support system and arent listening to some instant gratification bozo.. as the grass isnt always greener... but sometimes it is (ex: hoosman) . I also do think its a leading indicator of potential problems in your program.. when starters are leaving before the season is over there is at least a question in my mind. It will be interesting to see where they end up if anywhere.

So to me your starting statement is the questionable part.. Sigel and Hart were already playing a lot of CFB.. I think they were both starters on your team and key players (I could be wrong).. Gonnella.. he was a key player before he got injured and the Bison are good at RB so maybe he has a better chance somewhere else.. Sproles.. well his social media presence seemed to be bigger than his play on the field so maybe not that much of a loss. The two I would really question are Sigel and Hart.. as you said.. neither are like Jabril Cox so they arent going to some huge school.. they are already playing/starting at a program that gets NFL looks.. so as I said the timing is odd. If these kids were backups or maybe it will come out that they want to go to a school with a different academic program or something.. in any of those cases I would totally understand. If you cant at least question why two key starters would leave the team, to play football for a different program, during the playoffs...... seems odd to me. WE had a starter do that to us a couple of years ago and there was plenty of questions thrown around.

Yah.. peace.. I’m just sick of the negativity.. I had plenty Saturday.. The off-season will be plenty long and full of it as well. Until then I’m praying for some optimism and maybe 5 playoff wins in a row

sarcasm is lost on you people.. the point is even the great bison have a losing record on the road in the playoffs. Nobody really gives a crap.. of course we want to win.. it just would be nicer to have a home playoff game.. just spare me the bs about crying. If this had happened all of the bison fans would be whining at least as loud. If you want to talk bison football go to bisonville with all of those great football minds.

Save the negativity for Sunday.. I’m excited about the game and hope bubba will have the crew ready to rock.

Dear bison dan .. please share all of the details of the mighty bisons road record during the playoffs.. I can’t wait to hear it. I could share the details but it’s more fun for you to look it up. You guys have a great record in the Fargo dome… and a great record in Frisco.. but those road games .. tuff for everyone I guess..

thats back when the MVFC was a dominant football conference.. Since UND got in and started winning it is no longer a dominant football conference .. by the way.. I think pretty much every year one 6-5 team gets in.. this year was no different.

7 wins is considered bare minimum.. until its not.. (we have a little experience on that one) I agree that we can and should do better.. I also generally agree that there is likely not a conspiracy against UND.. the issue here is the changing of the rules or at a minimum.. deciding which rules are important this year versus last year.. versus the prior year. In this case I would say the Big Sky rep was a lot stronger advocate than the MVFC rep.. The Big Sky rep was able to get 5 teams in with 4 having the ability to have a home game.. apparently ours could barely get 3 MVFC teams and was unable to defend the long-standing precedent of the higher bid prevailing when deciding who gets the home game.. one can argue why that was.. at a minimum he sucks and is terrible at his job.. a conspiracy theorist would argue that he had an ulterior motive and tried to suck at his job as it should have been an easy base hit. You guys decide.

And I dont think its even a 9 seed.. the committee basically gave Weber St the 13th seed.. so dont try to tell me its a close 9th seed.. total garbage.

well.. I guess this did happen.. this is total crap. The NCAA process is total garbage.. after this happens they should really seed teams from 1-24 and the highest ranked team should host. By rough math Weber was seeded 13th and we were 20th.. Using that same math, Montana had to be seeded 19th and they ended up with a home game. This is really a terrible look for the NCAA. I take back my previous comments apparently even though we are paranoid they are also out to get us.. Our MVFC representative in the room.. Mr. Bison AD should be able to answer these questions.

I believe all schools will deal with as well.. to me the timing is a bit odd. This year NDSU has had 4 players hit the portal before the season is over.. all four of them were considered to be reasonably decent and even key contributors (Sigel, Hart, Gonnella, Sproles).. My assumption is that none of them were kicked out the door but rather chose to leave.. and did not see the value in sticking with the program through the playoffs. If they were bad apples and you guys were happy to get rid of them then I get it.. my sense is that this was not the case. If these guys hit the transfer portal after the playoffs I would have a different opinion. The worst excuse is that football is suddenly too hard for these young men.. If you cant acknowledge that the timing is odd or that they were all bad apples that the team is better off without.. you should acknowledge that there might be some internal issues with the program.

So I 100% agree with what you just said.. if those things actually happened there is nothing we can do about it and I would be ok with the result. But.. I guess I dont believe that it actually happened.. "The supposedly money hungry NCAA decided to ignore a reasonably substantially higher bid and give the home playoff game to Weber State because they should have been a seeded team.." Heading down that conspiracy theory route where everyone outside of grand forks hates UND football is a bridge too far for me. The conspiracy theory last week was that we wouldnt make the playoffs becasue the NDSU AD and Fargo in general was going to do everything they could to keep us out of the playoffs.. obviously not true. The simplest answer is usually the right one and the simplest answer is that our bid wasnt better than Weber State's. Seems like its time for a little transparency to clear this up.. apparently FOI requests can be filed.. Chaves or somebody else.. should be able to file a FOI request with both UND and Weber State see what the bids are and embarrass the NCAA if this conspiracy theory is true. Seems like there would be a lot of schools/teams unhappy with the new precedent of.. well Weber state should have been seeded but wasnt so we promised them a home game regardless of their bid.

so here are the reasons I have heard.. Nichols got a bunch of money from their conference.. Doesnt the MVFC give some money? Seems like an odd excuse Weber state got the home game because the "should" have been seeded. Both of those reasons sound like crap to me and just more reasons for us to be ok with a mediocre effort on our part. I dont think we are nearly as unlucky as people would try to say to somehow take the spotlight off a failure by the AD to get a home playoff game. I would hate to hear the excuses that would come out if we were matched up with a school that actually had money to bid.. instead we are left with conjecture about back room deals and somehow trying to justify losing to a school without locker rooms and another school that doesnt match our attendance. I dont know why Im so annoyed by this.. but this is the second year we have had a good opportunity to help change the trajectory of the program and host some home playoff games. Im not a hockey versus other sports guy.. but we roll out the red carpet for the hockey team in vegas and all of the regionals.. we cant even beat out bids from 2nd tier schools in football for a home playoff game.

I refuse to believe UND cant outbid Weber State and also cant outbid Nichols state. If we actually arent outbidding schools like that then Chaves should be fired. If Chaves doesnt understand how important having home playoff games are to building the overall program then he shouldnt be the AD If its something other than money and its "other criteria" then Chaves also has to get his !@#$ together.. this is crap. I would totally understand being outbid by Montana, Montana St and some of the other heavyweights.. but the last two we have lost the bid to.. give me a break! If our goal is to be a top FCS football program then you have to be able to outbid the Nichols State and Weber State's of the world.. If our goal is to be mediocre.. By the way.. Im still excited about the playoff game

This is why all of this should be public and transparent.

I really hope the bids are made public.. it will be incredibly disappointing if we didn’t have a very competitive bid

yah.. its not my thing particularly when its North Dakota kids (I even still cheer for Wentz to do well in the Pros.. although I hated him at NDSU).. I should have stayed off this thread completely.. My apologies.. pass the vapors.

Ill add that I really dont enjoy the shots at the players.. take a shot at Entz if you want.. (Ive met him.. he is no Klieman) and also NDSU in general.. but the shots at the players are generally in poor taste in my opinion. Many area kids want to go to NDSU and UND.. anyways.. pass me the vapors.. Ill stay off this thread.