wheelsup

agree 100%.. IF you dont think the offense was part of the problem you are giving way to much credit to running up scores against crappy teams against UNI 0 pts First half against Indiana state.. 7pts South Dakota - 3 pts (7 was ko return) While our Defense was clearly the weakest link.. Our offense was terrible against all decent teams except NDSU. The frustrating thing is that our offense had the template to win games this year (NDSU game plan) and Danny must have just been too bored with that. Hopefully 2024 will be a better year.. Im not expecting much in the way of changes in the coaching staff.. hopefully we dont lose the OL coach as he seems to have some talent/recruiting ability. Somehow the defense has to get better and Im hoping for a change at QB and/or Danny is another year smarter. I think our Offense has a chance to be even better in 2024.. good OL.. good RB's.. (Ziebarth, Isaiah, Siedl) good WR's (Belquist, plenty of returners, redshirt freshmen (Tai, hakim)).. better QB.

Not sure if there are any real sides to be taken here. Seemed like he played his butt off when he was out there and was an asset. Tommy was clearly locked in on Belquist this year as he had more receptions than the next 3-4 WR's combined. Im sure Wes was disappointed in this year as he was hoping to play a big role in an explosive offense and our offense couldnt really figure itself out this year. Im not a smart enough football guy to know if that was more Danny / Tommy or Wes. If I would guess.. I would say that it was a Tommy/Danny issue as we didnt really feature the downfield pass.

If the metric for popularity of UND football is judged by the ability to give tickets away then this year was certainly worse than most years. Outside of the NDSU game it was a struggle to fill my group of tickets. Im sure Ill talk a big game and then still renew all my tickets as I still have dreams of a relevant UND football team and my friends and family as excited for the games as I.

agreed.. He was a slippery little runner.. but also very clear that running was about the 4th thing he was interested in doing.

The idea of having Tommy back with an open competition is baffling to me. As bad as he was in big games (outside of NDSU) there was plenty of opportunity to try something different. Danny was unwilling to give the other guys a chance. I have zero faith that he would have a truely open competition. Too easy to just keep rolling with the statistical leader in every offensive qb category. I hate piling on Tommy.. I think he was a gigantic upgrade over Ketteringham.. At this point thought his limitations are obvious and well planned for by apposing teams. At some point you have to find out if the younger kids can play. Prob similar comment with Bubba/Tommy.. Both raised the floor but have a pretty obvious ceiling.

While I dont disagree with any of your points.. I was happy with our draw. Clearly the toughest first round matchup, but the chance for a rematch against USD made it a decent draw for us in my book. If the defense had a pulse outside the 3rd quarter and if the offense had just run the ball we would all be happily heading down to USD next weekend. If you cant beat a team like Sac St. at home the rest doesnt really matter.. but I generally agree with your points.

100% this.. Tommy/Danny regressed this year for some reason... If you throw out the games against the lower teams the offense did not produce outside of the NDSU game and maybe the Northern Arizona game. The offensive identity/template this year for success was pounding the rock.. just like the NDSU game. This is why Im down on Danny this year and not sold on him as head coach of the future.. Tommy was what he was, if you werent willing to give somebody else a try then pound the rock. If we do that yesterday we win that game even with the poorest showing by UND defense Ive just about ever seen. (Yesterday is still on the defense)

So having been at the game today... The defense was to blame and anyone who tries to say anything else didnt even watch the game. One of the worst defensive showings I have ever seen by a UND Defense. Im old enough to remember when we were good at defense (thought bubba was a defensive coach). 35 pts should be enough to win. That being said.. If Danny would have just called running plays we would have won the game.. Defense stiffened in the 3rd quarter and I thought we might pull it off. Danny overcomplicated the gameplan and didnt play to our teams obvious strengths. Tommy regressed this year but Danny could have hidden all of that with just having him turn around and hand the ball off. Even our last series.. plenty of time to run the ball.. Tommy did not look good.. gavin.. skokna.. Isaiah.. were carrying the squad. Time to be done with Tommy.. His shortcomings are obvious and while his is the statistical leader in pretty much every category due to his longevity in the program its time to try something else. As I said earlier.. Im not sold on Danny being the answer as a HC.. I believe if he had adapted to our teams strengths this year we would have won this game and the South Dakota game at a minimum. The crowd was also not the problem to day.. entirely predictable.. but also the people that showed up were into the game and loud. Which says alot considering the defense was about as strong as a wet paper bag. Until the 3rd quarter we could have left the defense off the field and had the same impact.. Also I know it didnt matter but I hated the punt in the 4th quarter.. with the defense playing like a wet paper bag it was reasonably obvious we would never get the ball back. If Danny hadnt called two crap pass plays and if Tommy hadnt taken two crap sacks in a row.. maybe a 4th down would havent been 4th and forever.. cmon man! Im sick of this team and investing my time and money into it. Even with our obvious deficiencies I still thought we would pull it out today.

I think the D-line has been stout this year.. malechi mcneal and buckner have been making some nice plays. My tactic on 3rd or 4th and long is now just to close my eyes and pray. seems like roughly what our secondary is doing.

It will be interesting to see the attendance for all of the games this weekend. I think first round attendance is usually pretty poor overall. I would expect that NDSU attendance will be pretty light with the additional challenges of a super weak game and the holiday weekend. I hope that UND bucks that trend and the fans really show up for this game as it should be a good one.

Seems about right. I think you could run the same poll with the bottom 4 seeds (Albany, Montana ST, Furman, Villanova) and there would be 50+% of people thinking they shouldnt have gotten a seed. NDSU belongs in the same discussion as those 4.. all of that being said, Im super happy they got left out. Im loving all of my Bison buddies talking about how they just dont know what to do with a game on thanksgiving weekend and having to spend $50 on a totally crap game.

This was the sentiment of everyone in our section. I would love to see the chart that they are using

yah.. you are right. Must have been for something else. Hopefully we get a good turnout this weekend!

Ive blocked the 2nd half or at least the 4th quarter of the richmond game out of my mind. Also the scheduling was bad.. quite a few people left to get to the hockey game thinking it was over. I would maybe prefer a 1 or 2:00 start, but im fine with the noon start for all the reasons mentioned above.

While not getting seeded or an official bye.. the Bison got as close to that as you can get with Drake. I expect that they will beat them by as many points as they want to. Their 2nd round game though against MSU.. not so much. I heard that MSU was a bit banged up which was why they got drilled by the Grizz.. if they are healthy that will be a tough one.

A couple of thoughts from the game on Saturday.. maybe only interesting to me. Whatever cheat sheet they are using to decide if we go for one or two they should burn. They are either reading from the wrong row or the wrong column.. Terrible Kicking game has certainly improved. CJ has a big leg and fun to watch kick FG's On kickoffs our guy can clearly kick it through the endzone as he did it prior to the last drive.. so all of the short kicks are on purpose. Im not a fan of that approach.. Im sure there are some stats somewhere as to how impactful it is so maybe Im wrong.. we seem to be the only team that I watch that consistently does that so maybe we are just ahead of the curve.. I wish tommy was more of a runner. Last drive was again masterful.. say whatever you want but that guy is awesome with the game on the line. I wish we saw that version of Tommy/Danny more often. Im more convinced than ever that running the ball to set up the longer pass is the path forward this year for the team. Hopefully we will stick with that in the playoffs. We had some really nice plays on saturday with Belquist in motion to get the defense moving and then inside run with Gavin / Luke / Isaiah.. All teams have figured out our outside passing game... please stop. I think we have done it so much that the d-backs just sit on it. They usually get there as soon as the ball gets there. I think our d-line has really improved this year.. and Malechi McNeal is super fun to watch. Our coverage on 3rd and long.. 4th and long etc is still baffling. I am super excited about the playoff game on Saturday. I think we have a decent path. Sac St will be tough but at home.. USD is also a game where we should have a chance. Meaningful football games in November/December are awesome.

First round is a tough game for UND but I love our bracket! Win the first round and get redemption in vermillion!

USD #3 seed and we should have beat them on the road..

Will be really interesting to see how the seeding works out. We beat NDSU.. we should have beat USD on the road other than an inept offensive performance and gave sdsu as good of a game as anyone else (not saying much). The narrative that this team isn’t any good is just not true(Kelly green glasses firmly in place)

I think if the offense commits to the run and throwing the ball downfield we will be just fine. That’s a big if.. as if u watch the USD / UNI games we clearly don’t do that. Yesterday when we ran the ball we did very well.. all those crappy little outside passes behind the line of scrimmage are totally defeating. ndsu has clearly stepped up its game after playing us. If we commit to a similar offensive template as we used against NDSU we will be fine.

Danny is associate head coach or something like that.. I realize Bubba still "runs the show" as the head coach but I would guess that while its bubbas team its Dannys offense through and through including all play calling / strategy etc. Also when it comes to D1 football.. I dont think anyone "deserves his chance" to be the head coach... as the next argument will be.. he needs 4+ years as they were bubba's recruits.. and then it will be.. we dont have enough money for the buyout. Whenever there is a head coaching change at the D1 level there should be a search for the best available candidate unless there is some overwhelming reason to stick with a current staffer.. i.e history of success / continuity. I dont think UND football fits any of those criteria. This isnt a promotion to the manager of your local subway restaurant that you can fire in 6 months if it doesnt work out.. its somebody you are going to pay 1 Million+ over the next 4 years to lead the squad hopefully to greatness.

I was very excited about him as a head coach until this current year. Based on the offensive performance since the NDSU game Im not nearly as sold.. UNI / USD /first half of Indiana St were complete debacles from an offensive perspective. At least some of that has to rest on Danny's shoulders.

agree 100%.. anyone that really hates Tommy needs to go back to when we had Ketteringham. Tommy has leveled up the program in my book and deserves a lot of credit. That being said, Im ready to see a new guy back there next year and maybe even yet this year. The combination of Tommy and Danny have lost their Mojo in my book. My guess is its a combination of both. Tommy would look a lot better if Danny would follow the NDSU win blueprint. Danny would look better if Tommy could complete some of the downfield passes.

Agree 100%. Defense has done enough this year.. maybe a little surprising as bad as they have been in stretches, but neither of the two terrible defensive games have cost us as the offense bailed them out(by the way Tommy played great in both of those games). Its been the failure of the offense in big games that has been the story to me. They completely failed at UNI, USD, two quarters at Indiana State. Before this year started, I was 100% on board and excited with Danny as our future head coach. After this year I am not. He hasnt been willing to adapt to the strengths of this team. Tommy has looked great against mediocre/terrible teams and has looked terrible against good teams. The outlier has been the NDSU game where all he had to do was turn around and hand the ball off. AT times I wonder if our unwillingness to throw quick slants or quick passes over the middle has been Tommys inability to see over the linemen and so its why he hold the ball so long. Anyhow if those are his limitations.. and you arent willing to bench him.. play to his strengths and run the ball.

UND showed the template on how we can win this year against NDSU. For some reason Danny has been unwilling to build on that gameplan. If we went with that yesterday we would have won the game and the UNI game would have been substantially different as well. The o-line is one of the strengths of this team particularly the run blocking.