Da Bears

Congrats on the win. You whipped our tails today in all phases of the game. I expressed some emotional thoughts about UND's class that I regret upon reflection. Football is emotional and today is incredibly frustrating. Good luck against Youngstown State.

I am not sure about the itinerary or the accomodations. Just going off of what I heard and what Flightaware shows. When Terry Allen was the head ball coach I accidentally gave away the location of their hotel in Normal one time and some Redbird fans pestered the team. I got a talking to from the SID at the time when they found out it was me.

Unfortunately no. I wanted to back in the summer but Grand Forks is really far away. Alerus looks nice from the games I have watched on TV.

They are locked in. It looks like the charter flight just landed about half an hour ago and from what I have been told, they are going east immediately from landing at GFK right past the Red River into Minnesota. They are going to do all their prep work and walk thrus outside of North Dakota. Coach is a little paranoid about prying eyes and isn't messing around this week.

In some ways that is fair but what he has done to turnaround Missouri State is nothing short of phenomenal. He might be 0-2 in the playoffs right now but if he stays at Missouri State for the long term, he will have a great postseason mark in no time.

I talk regularly to some people in the Missouri State athletic department and they are fired up for this ballgame on Saturday! Coach Petrino had one of the grad assistants clip all of the North Dakota celebrations during and after the MSU/UND playoff game in 2020 and he has been playing them all week long. They have identified individual UND players who celebrated at certain points and have been talking all week about payback. Bobby himself was not happy with the MSU win last year and is still bent on getting revenge for 2020. They are putting everything into the emotion and revenge factor in terms of their focus. I think Bobby's handshake with Bubba pregame will be curt. As Bobby Petrino once said about going to Tuscaloosa when he was at Arkansas: We aren't coming to paint! It should be a fun game. Go Bears!

With respect to Title IX and federal law, I am not sure what UND could officially disclose. They would be very limited when you factor in FERPA as well. In the end, he was never officially announced as a Bear, never played nor practiced for the school, I don't see how an unbiased viewer can think less of Missouri State through this entire ordeal.

I cannot imagine that they would have known. We are stocked at RB and are primed for a run at a title, why would our president, AD, or Coach Petrino take on a potential media headache for a relatively small gain? Doesn't make sense to me.

Word down here in the Ozarks is that there were some testy conversations the last few days between AD staffers and football operations people about this situation. I guess this UND/MSU thing is an MVFC version of the Jimbo Fisher/ Nick Saban controversy. I'll let y'all decide which side is which. I love it though. I hope your moms/wives/girlfriends/boyfriends or whatever can make you a hearty dish of knoephla on October 1st because I think we are in for a physical contest. Is there snow on the roads by then? I am considering the trip up to Grand Forks to back my squad if the weather is decdent.

That's a good post. I mostly agree with the entirety of it. I wish Mr. Weah would have been a little bit more careful with his comments on his former school but in the end I'm not sure it means much more than a little message board fodder in the summer. The objections and holier than thou attitude of the entire Springfield media, and trust me, it is more than just a few, is something they will have to correct because we are about to be hated through most of the Valley. People don't respond well to the johnny come lately who is decidedly new money and it doesn't help that Petrino's team is darn good and carries themselves with an old school late 80s, vintage Miami feel.

Petrino is a no-nonsense, "tell it like it is" kind of coach who doesn't play the country club politics game that wins him friends in the sports media. He made mistakes when he was a younger coach that earned him some enemies. I can tell you this though, if you drive a couple hours southwest of Springfield and you visit a gas station in Arkansas you'd be hard pressed to find many people that wouldn't choose to have him back on the Razorback sidelines if they could. I would wager a lot of people in Louisville and Bowling Green, KY would feel the same. Atlanta Falcons fans might be different but few people take the time to understand how the Vick situation made it a no win situation down there. Since the day he arrived in Springfield you'd have a very hard time finding locals who would say anything bad about how Coach Petrino has conducted himself. I would guess it will be the same for our new running back. The past is the past and we are all Bears now. And that is very bad news for the traditional Valley football powers.

You know I would expect that from your neighbors down (or up because I don't care enough to look at a map) in Fargo but maybe the behavior I associate with NDSU fans is more of a state of North Dakota deal. I think Bubba Schweigert is one helluva coach. But he hasn't won the Orange and Cotton bowls, hasn't been an NFL head coach, and hasn't developed a Heisman winner like Bobby Petrino. If you had the choice and threw out all of your nostalgia and personal feelings for UND, which one would you choose if you were trying to make the NFL. If it was me I'd head to the Ozarks and play for Bobby Petrino. Imagine you were an elite junior hockey prospect. Would you choose to go to Nebraska-Omaha or develop under the tutelage of Brad Berry? I'd opt to be a Fighting Hawk. I mean unless the Gophers offered or something like that. I still have more respect for your program than NDSU but I am pretty fired up about our game in October now. Bobby is an exceptional motivator and I have to believe that all of these comments will make the bulletin board in Springfield and will give our boys extra fuel in the Fall.