pirate

At his best, Hallstrom is smarmy, patronizing and condescending in regards to game reporting. At his worst(when he wanders from reportage to the realm of opinion ie: "upon further review" segment), he becomes angry, bitter and blaming. He can also become passive/aggressive(tony's favorite personality disorder), in references to The University of North Dakota. I will refer to forum communications role in the Myron Allen story. Forum communications is nothing more than a sports information disemination department of ndac. Of course the above is just my opinion, which is being safely guarded by Stacy Anderson, WDAY's head cameraman.

I will be very interested in seeing who emerges on the O-line. Hendrickson is the most likely to start at Center. I see either Kuper or Smith will be moved to one ,or, perhaps both tackle spots. Are the remaining positions going to be filled by Buisker, Hoffelt? By the way, Carney has the same eligibility remaining as do Manke, Groeschel and Belmore. His "clock" did not start untill last year. I will re-affirm that this spring Coaches will try Donovan Alexander at wide-out.

Of all the Sioux players who played in the normal rotation, I am having a difficult time thinking of anyone who ISN'T a d1-aa caliber player.

More than football in Ross Brennan's life, I really hope life is going better for him on a personal level. There are things in life bigger than sports. Good luck Ross.

Another reason why we can not play ndsu nor go d-1. We do not have a smack board. Child-up.

I have heard the coaching staff is considering moving Donovan Alexander to the other side of the ball. I know they want to use his skills for kick-off and punt returns. However I don't know if they want to try him at running back or wide reciever.

I am in complete agreement with you Vince, regarding the officiating. Mutcshler(sp) and his crew have no credibility as far as I am concerned. Last year, at Sioux Falls, UND v. Augustana, Mutcshler's crew officiated. In that game Augie had ZERO penalty yards FOR THE GAME. I have never seen that before or since. Also, Murray, the Umpire interferred on three plays. Murray is not mobile enough to handle the Umpire's job. On Masak,s touchdown run, this crew missed a holding call on UNO. I watched it at the game. When I got home and played the game tape, Darrin King made the same observation regarding the Hold. John Leisure's crew appears to me to be the most consistant in the NCC. Duetch's officiating group is also very capable. Timmins, Lindquist, McCallum are all very average at best.

Does Danenhauer's statement make him an official "weasel" now?

The only credible pre-season poll is the D2football.com poll. This is also true for their in season poll throughout the football season. Jeff Harlin, Midwest Region columnist for D2football.com. and Brandon Misener D2football.com editor, do an outstanding job covering this region and all of D2 football. Jeff will be a weekly guest on Derek Hanson's sports talk show on KFGO this fall. Listen in, it's good stuff. As for the other publications they might sell some copy and speculation in June and July, but hold little validity.

According to today's Herald, Aaron Austin, has decided to concentrate exclusively on basketball. He will not be playing football this fall. I see Brian Loe and Demetrius Charles are listed on this years roster. Somebody indicated in a post this past spring neither would be back. I noticed some interesting 'walk-ons' listed. Notably Ken Weber (a transfer from Mich. Tech.), Abdur-Rahman, Aagard and others. Hopefully, everybody shows up today.

I agree, the Northwest will not be that weak. They get guality teams from the GLIAC, the most of the independents and with CWU, WWU and WOU some very good D2 teams. The Northeast still amazes me, a waste of four play-off spots.

Rate the other three regions however you want. (They seem pretty competitive to me.) The Northeast has one respectable league now that the GLIAC is moved. The PSAC, and they only allow limited numbers of scholarships. 21, I believe.

The Northeast Redion is a joke. They're going to get six teams for the play-offs?

The "tie" I refer to, would be a three-way tie for the NCC season championship.(North Dakota, NDSU and St.Cloud each with one loss). In effect, I am arguing for a more competitive non-conference schedule for North Dakota in the future. However, as the NCAA and D2 continues to evolve(expansion of the regional play-off format) certain scenarios like the one discribed above can be diminished. I will restate what I said earlier, North Dakota will just have to win-out in order to avoid being displaced by a three loss team.

Bison Kent, Using your scenario, North Dakota, must have a sense of urgency and go undefeated. I mean UND could tie with NDSU and, again using your scenario, and st. cloud and not get a playoff bid. NDSU, on the other hand, could have a three loss season and get one. 'Out-of-region' non-conference games are irrelevent. Wow, that is some formula they use to determine 'play-off' teams.

BK and bi-guy, Given the content of your posts, both of you are saying North Dakota will have to win all non-coference games and win the NCC outright. This being based solely on North Dakota's lack of strength of schedule. I am curious as to what either or both of you think NDSU will have to do in order to make the play-offs?

UND92,96, My comments were very generalized "snap shots" of some NCC teams and how it relates to the strength of the NCC compared to the rest of D2. Notice that myself and the Board administrater mentions Mankato as being in the power mix of the conference. Not a rousing endorsement of the NCC. As for North Dakota's offense. Last years team made so many critical mistakes that will have to be corrected in order for this team to put up even adequate numbers. It is not so much how many points are scored in UND's offensive system, it is how effectively they control time of possession and field position. It is a matter of converting on opportunities given to the offense by the defense and special teams. It is a matter of being productive early in the game and not playing from behind. I belive the talent is there(somewhere). Right now, it's a matter of who is going to do it, if anybody will.

It is hard to rationalize the NCC being the best football conference in D2 right now. The NCC's lone play-off team got there by using at least one ineligible player, and the second best team ,scsu, lost out on a play-off spot to a team from the NSIC. Traditional contenders, UNO, NDSU and North Dakota had woeful seasons. It's too tough for me to consider this the best D2 football conference. Scsu should be able to phone it in this upcoming season. UNO will self destruct; NDSU will score but wont stop the opponent from scoring. UND, just the opposite, good defense but can't score. I look to MSU-M to be a surprise.

Last years passing statistics need to be improved upon. Only 12 TD passes thrown. Five by Kelby Klosterman, seven by Bowenkamp. Six TD passes caught by Jesse Smith the next was two by David Wisthoff. We need two deep threat recievers. I see Lueck as one who can fill that role. The other will have to come from others you mention. I too like Johnson, not so much for his speed, but rather, how he manuevers after the catch. Grossman seems to be able to alude defenders and presents coverage problems. Trevor Mielke might be a surprise in that he may be a deep threat tight end much like Travis Headly was his junior year. Who knows what will happen this year. Last season we played many of our games from behind in the score. Opposing defenses knew we had to pass and defended the deep ball. Hence, we threw the ball alot, but, they were mainly the short routes which were a concession or semi-prevent defense. There were no long numbers put up. Maybe that will change this year.

I agree the depth of the O-line is there. What is important, is continuity and maturation. The o-line seems to develope best as a unit or group. The complex system of reads and communications can only be executed after many repititions and study. From that, there must be successes and ultimately confidence in each other. O-linemen are truely a special fraternaty.

Two redshirt freshmen,Corey Watts and Cody Bartlette, were the only ones not on the spring roster and thus may have quit the team.

Coach Mussman was on the "Tim and Swyg Show" friday morning talking about the offense. Grant has been moved to center and Kuper is now at guard.Dokken, Smith and Olsen are the other # 1's. Hoffelt and Kalash are the most impressive RS's. Bowenkamp is currently the #1, Joe "Willie" is sitting out the spring due to the semester rule. The three RS freshmen have different strengths in their games, with no one ahead of the other. The recievers are deep and also bring different skills and strengths to the table. The one question was "if" Lueck can get himself academically eligible. Fullbacks are the ever depdendable David Wistoff and Ricky Harrison. Roland was tried at FB, but has moved back to RB.He has put on some weight and continues to impress. Miller is being held out of contact drills untill fall. Brandon Strouth has impressed the staff, however, his 165 lb. weight may cause some concern. TE's are Murphy, and Vanderpan(sitting out spring due to semester rule). Mielke, Ahlstrom(who is making significant improvements) and Kusler(converted D-line) are mentioned by the coach. Position with deepest quality is recieving. Great size,Stattleman and Lueck; great hands Ahlers, great speed in Alkins and Grossman. RB's also have a great mix of size,grit and speed.

Early in the school year, there was talk about Aaron Austin(currently playing BB at Fergus Falls CC after playing for UNC last year), coming to UND to play both BB and football. Coach Schweigert was on the hockey telecast this weekend, saying the priority was to sign O-line, D-line and wide receivers. Drew Thomas of Red River is undoubtedly the crown jewel of potential recruits. An intriguing possibility is Central's Drew Hysjulien, a tall athletic receiver and punter.

Putting a "pretty hard to find" h-o-c-k-e-y s-u-c-k-s sign on a bison fan site, would seem to me to be a passive agressive behavior. One of many personality disorders endemic to ac supporters.

Here is a real shocking developement. Last night the ndac student senate passed a resolution "strongely" opposing the use of native american mascots, nicknames etc. They also recommended the ac's media guide and p.a. systems not refer to schools that have such by these names etc. Ancillary to this is that the senate frowns on derogatory chants and tee-shirts. Like I said, I'm in a state of shock.