iramurphy

4.5 40 is fast enough. Depends on how quick he is. Great size and speed for a free safety. Would have been perfect if Hendrickson would have moved to free safety early in his career. Great athlete and I think he could have been outstanding. I don't know for sure but I understood he wanted to stay at QB. Had he moved I think he would have been much happier.

4.7 isn't real fast especially in small RB. Stats are good.

Really one of my concerns about a number of programs. When you get blown out or are blowing someone out, get the other guys in there. That is the only way you will see what they do under game conditions and some kids don't do as well in practice but are "gamers". Sparks ran well in his only chance against SDak. Mines. Should have been given some PT if he is working hard in practice.

Figured the post would come to this. Can't imagine College refs wasting their time discussing college teams with fans but I suppose some of them are that stupid. Officials are not supposed to make those remarks even if they are true. For some reason I doubt that the Mariucci "Doood" is a respected sports fan who an intelligent ref would want to sit and have a beer with. It is a no win situation for the ref. Too many of these guys are half in the bag and too unpredictable. I would take his bet if I could bet that hockey fans across the country will typically pick their rival as the "cheapest" team. Doesn't matter because it is irrelevant. This is one of the greatest college sports rivalries. Big city, big University, long storied hockey tradition for the school and for the state. Next door smaller school, state population less than metro area also with long storied hockey tradition. They go up against each other for the same recruits. Both schools have had cheap shot artists (not sure if I recall any worse than Burgraff) but the Gophers have had just as many. Both schools have obnoxious fans and both have great fans. Both schools have had coaches say or do dumb-ass stuff over the years. I hope this thread doesn't continue with the crap about whose team has a goon or who started whcih altercation. Who the hell cares? If we aren't competing on the ice, it is all irrelevant. I believe that Wisconsin's Alvarez is as responsible as anyone for the breakup of the WCHA. I believe he sees the Big 10 as a vehicle for more TV revenue and I believe he thinks it will hurt UND, Denver, Duluth and CC. If he can hurt those schools, then he thinks it will benefit the Badgers. I believe Lucia sees an opportunity to hurt UND's schedule by not scheduling UND. I don't believe there are Gopher players who don't want to continue the rivalry. That is what competitors want, to always measure up against the best. The Sioux and Gophers are two of the best. The games between these teams are typically sold out are are great for college hockey. The only reason I see for Lucia to stop the rivalry is to hurt UND. True hockey fans on both sides want to see the rivalry continue.

I think it is time we also get our Alumni Office to make this a top priority. Should have been included in the recent campoaign to raise $300,000,000. This is a facility we need to move forward and I don't believe I see the urgency and focus from Kelly, Faison and O'Keefe. The opportunities it repesents for Sports Medicine research, kinesiolgy, physiology and medicine are tremendous. Altru should be negotiating with Mayo if they are truly a Mayo partner to collaborate especially since the director of Sports Medicine, Dr. Michael Stuart, is a big hockey guy (3 kids-NHL). It would afford Mayo the hockey facilities with nearby medical facilities to expand what they do and put Mayo's name on soemthing new. They could also add concussion research to garner grant dollars. NHL might also be a willing partner. We are all hoping Dave Fennell will step up to the plate. The Sanford donation would have jump started it. The Altru donation is over years so can't do the same. Can't say for sure if the Sanford donation would have been structured differently. They wanted the Sports Med contract and I think would have made it happen to get their name on the building but I don't know that for a fact. With $300,000,000 there has to be at least $10,000,000 unrestricted funds to move this along. We can always continue fundraising inorder to replenish the Alumni fund. University folks tend to be too complacent and comfortable in the University settings. Lets get on this. UND also needs to be positioning us to move to the FBS level if Montana, Montana State go or if a great opportunity arises. Not saying we move, just saying we need to position ourselves to do so. If we don't move then we have additional resources for our athletic programs as they stand.

The AC is the best team on the planet bar none. The Gopher teams that the AC beat should have been in the Rose Bowl and would have been if it wasn't for the fact that they might have struggled to be .500 in the EDC or WDA those years. The AC beat a poor Colorado State team this year. On a given day they could play with most FBS teams and beat some. Not sure they are a top 20 team but who cares, it doesn't matter. I predict they will play K State a lot tougher than people think next fall and will not get blown out. They have almost everyone back. Their Oline and defense are strengths. I hope that makes all the AC people feel better. Season's over we didn't do as well as I had hoped. We have a good start to the recruiting season. When I read these dull posts from some of these guys then I miss Graham Cracker. He seemed more entertaining than the AC folks and might even have been a bit brighter.

I think we can if things go right and we improve defensively. We were close to beating Cal Poly, Northern Colorado and Northern Arizona. We played San Diego state tough. Turn those into wins and we might have made the playoffs. Close doesn't count and our goal is to win conference and National Championships. We need to learn to close out games and if we aren't better defensively we won't be there next year. I think if our Oline develops and gives Mollberg (assuming he is the QB) time and we improve our running game we will be tough Offensively. I can't imagine we can be worse defensively but we must make big strides on defense if we are going to be a playoff team. Our d backs will improve if we can improve our pass rush. Mollberg is capable of getting this team to the playoffs and I hear Bartels is also an excellent QB so I don't want to assume anything.Our Oline needs to be able to dominate the line of scrimmage in order to make the run game go. If we get that we will be hard to stop. At this level you can't take a week off. The AC was the best team at this level and they had an off week and got beat by Indiana State. It takes every player, every play, every practice and every game. No exceptions. The kids need to learn they can win and to do that they need to know their teamate is going to get their job done. They are good enough to beat a better opponent on any given play. When they learn that, then it takes heart and grit to make sure that "every given play" is the next play, then the next and so on. I am optomistic we will be better. That won't necessarily get us into the playoffs. I think if the chips fall right we could.

Mollberg is up to 225 lbs and worked out in weight room during break. In answer to questions posted previously he can run. He is a good athlete (leading scorer in DL bb and was an excellent basball player). ran the veer in HS. Labatt is up to 225 lbs and had a 4.0 GPA in Engineering first semester. With addition of the kid from Illinois UND has receivers that could play for most any school in the country. This spring I think one of the challenges for the coachingg staff will be to evaluate which of those guys at WR needs to move to a different position to see the field. May be opportunity a safety or if big enough, develop as outside LB or TE. Jackson may be big enough but is great WR so I wouldn't move him. Great start to recruiting. They need to have at least 4 QB's.Bartels and Mollberg are both excellent and l believe coaching staff and team have confidence either can come in a play as freshmen. The will push each other to get better. Oline should be as good and maybe better. Tough to lose the seniors in the line, but we need to be able to dominate the line of scrimmage to move the ball on the ground. Defense should be better but we need to improve our tackling fundamentals and our secondary. Secondary will get better if we improve our pass rush and our penetration to disrupt oppostion run game. Our dbacks need to be able to read run vs pass faster to improve run support and they need to be able to cover receivers without giving a 15 yd cushion on the outside. Need to see improvement each year and I believe we will. Need to improve speed on defense and get stronger across the board. I believe we are getting there. Not as fast as we would like, but we need to build this program so we can sustain success and also position this program to move up a level if opportunity arises. Don't believe we are ready for that quite yet, but if we aren't looking ahead we won't be ready.

PJ and other back ups should have been getting time already. When you get blown out by Montana State or EWU that is a great opportunity to get these other guys some PT. Who care if you lose by 40 or 60? Doesn't matter, you still got spanked. This tends to happen at the college level more than HS and is worse in the NFL. If one team is either blowing out the other or on the receiving end of a blow out get the subs some valuable PT. I am not insinuating the UNC game will be a blowout by the way. We need to play better to win. Defense needs to be more than a speed bump and offensively we need to be more consistent.

I hear what you are saying ( actually, I read it) but Mannausau is a good recruiter. All of these coaches are feeling the pressure I am sure. Might also be time for team leaders to step up. Missed tackles and missed assignments are simply that. There isn't a LB we have who isn't capable of making the tackle if he gets there. The 3-4 defense is predicated on the D-line keeping the blockers off of the LB so they are able to make the plays. I confess I haven't watched any film but I have wondered what the heck our dbacks are doing giving 12 yd cushions.. I think Muss probably focuses more on the offense but they all see the need for defensive improvement. Not time to give up on these guys but the clock is ticking. I think we are better overall than last year. We need to speed up the improvement process. We haven't resorted to taking some of the kids with drug and criminal problems and we haven't taken the kids who can't make it academically and allowed them to skate by. We have lost some good kids other schools would have covered for in the past and I don't think we need to do that. One of the most important things we can do is get the new facility done so we wow the recruits. It certainly is a difference maker for hockey.

How about patience? Having said that there is no excuse to get kicked by any FCS school and no excuse to give up over 40 points per game. Kids need to look to themselves and start stepping up their level of play. Not sure why we couldn't score against Montana State even though I get the part that they are better than we are right now. Our receivers right now could play for many FBS teams. Our QB's are very good and we will get a good idea of how recruiting has progressed with Mollberg next year if he wins the starting job. Our linebackers need to be bigger and faster but it won't do any good if that just means you get to the ball carrier and miss tackles. We need RB's with the size of Sutton and speed and quickness of Miller. O-line needs to keep imporving and we need quicker feet with similar size. Not sure how we can have line that big that can't run block. D-line hasn't kept blockers off our LB's very well and secondary needs to get a lot stronger and smarter. Not time to crap on our coaching staff yet. We will know after this years group of redshirts are eligible if we are making the necessary strides We aren't there but we are closer. . We need to make sure we dont' lose anyone for academics or stupid decisions. More than anything every year coaching staffs across the country need to assess whether or not they are recruiting the right kids. The Wisconsin RB who was coming as a preferred walk-on is an example. Seems he would be here had we offered at least 1/2 Scholarship. If we had he would have had to sit out to go to Wisconsin. (NDSU missed that one too). The Brainerd kid who starts in O-line as RFR for the AC, played for former UND player Chet Stevenson and he was offered preferred walk on here and there. Obviously both schools underestimated him. We need to speed up our facility upgrades. That will make a big difference for recruiting. Faison needs to continue to upgrade the non-conf schedule. I am anxious to see if he can get either the Gophers or Tar Heels. We aren't there yet and everyone can see that. The kids we have need to be more disciplined and can't miss tackles or pick up dumb penalties or turn the ball over. We aren't good enough. Eliminate the things like that and we have two more wins. There is more a sense of urgency but for now don't forget this is our first year eligible. If we improve steadily we will be there soon. Biggest key of course is we need better players to compete at this level. We are getting there at some positions but we need to pick it up a bit.

How about patience? Having said that there is no excuse to get kicked by any FCS school and no excuse to give up over 40 points per game. Kids need to look to themselves and start stepping up their level of play. Not sure why we couldn't score against Montana State even though I get the part that they are better than we are right now. Our receivers right now could play for many FBS teams. Our QB's are very good and we will get a good idea of how recruiting has progressed with Mollberg next year if he wins the starting job. Our linebackers need to be bigger and faster but it won't do any good if that just means you get to the ball carrier and miss tackles. We need RB's with the size of Sutton and speed and quickness of Miller. O-line needs to keep imporving and we need quicker feet with similar size. Not sure how we can have line that big that can't run block. D-line hasn't kept blockers off our LB's very well and secondary needs to get a lot stronger and smarter. Not time to crap on our coaching staff yet. We will know after this years group of redshirts are eligible if we are making the necessary strides We aren't there but we are closer. . We need to make sure we dont' lose anyone for academics or stupid decisions. More than anything every year coaching staffs across the country need to assess whether or not they are recruiting the right kids. The Wisconsin RB who was coming as a preferred walk-on is an example. Seems he would be here had we offered at least 1/2 Scholarship. If we had he would have had to sit out to go to Wisconsin. (NDSU missed that one too). The Brainerd kid who starts in O-line as RFR for the AC, played for former UND player Chet Stevenson and he was offered preferred walk on here and there. Obviously both schools underestimated him. We need to speed up our facility upgrades. That will make a big difference for recruiting. Faison needs to continue to upgrade the non-conf schedule. I am anxious to see if he can get either the Gophers or Tar Heels. We aren't there yet and everyone can see that. The kids we have need to be more disciplined and can't miss tackles or pick up dumb penalties or turn the ball over. We aren't good enough. Eliminate the things like that and we have two more wins. There is more a sense of urgency but for now don't forget this is our first year eligible. If we improve steadily we will be there soon. Biggest key of course is we need better players to compete at this level. We are getting there at some positions but we need to pick it up a bit.

Take a look at the earlier post with the rankings for the last three teams we played. Made some plays on defense and we led Cal Poly in the 4th quarter. Hendrickson has a bad game and can't hit a fat pig in the ass with a hand full of gravel or we should win that one. East Wash was an embarassment. That is a score we might expect if we play a FBS top 20 school. No excuse. Hendrickson struggles and the defense never left the airport. Against N. Arizona our d-backs gave a bigger cushions than a hug from Dolly Parton. Not sure why Mackey wasn't replaced. We had to have a number of kids who could have given 15 yd cushions then jumped on the recievers back (if they could) as they went by. Might as well get them some game time. Linbackers didn't show up. Too many missed tackles and missed assignments. That is another game we should have won. I really don't care to compare with our little sister to the south. They are very good and very young. We need to take care of ourselves. Starts with fundamentals. Kids need to be assignment sharp, can miss tackles, Can't drop passes. We have maybe the most talented group of wide receivers we have ever had, but they don't run disciplined routes, they drop passes, tkae dumb-ass penalties and fumble. All of those things are correctable. I really haven't kept up enough paying attention to the details of our schemes and adjustments to think we have a coaching issue. As long as we miss as many takles as we do, missed assignments and play undisciplined FB it is hard to get to Offensive and defensive play calling. I know game preparation and discipline are a coaching responsibility but that is a responibility for team captains and most of all the players. Montana is another game we should win. Defense needs to get better each week. My concern is they haven't. As long as we have kids missing tackles and missing assignments, we will struggle to put games away. Fan support has been only lukewarm. Student support is much better this year but we need to build on that. They finally have done some things with the fraternities and sororities. I would try and expand that to the dorms. We need to improve the video coverage and remember people at games like to see themselves on the screen. With hunting season upon us, it will be interesting to see how that cuts into attendence. UND should be giving away tickets to area schools and giving group discounts to area businesses. There is room for 3,000 more fans at each game. UND band is excellent and has become a bigger part of the game, before, during and after. Also Faison should have been on the phone yesterday to see if we could fill the Gopher games with UNC. Tell Hanson to call his old AD and coach and get it set up. Would be great game on schedule and timing good with them on probation. If we can't get UNC get the Gopher games. Payouts for either schools should be good. Need to be aggressive. Saturday will be agreat day for FB.

I would like to know if there was ever any evidence Kristo's injuries were related to alcohol. I understood he was trying to walk to his girlfriend's apartment and tried a shortcut across Ray Richards Golf Course where his shoes came off in the deep snow and he lost them. Maybe not very smart, but not necessarily drunk. I wasn't there so I don't know for sure. I do know that I read that his frostbite was not a result of being drunk. Anyone know the facts? Always amazes me how the truth gets trampled on blogs. Maybe that was the case, but I was told otherwise.

Doesn't have anything to do with UND sparky. This has to do with NDSU. .Great comeback though. The other common comeback that usually makes its way onto these blogs is something like "everyone does it or in UND's case "what about your hockey party". If at some point in your life there is something occuring at UND that you are envious of, you have a shallow existence. Same goes here. There is nothing going on at NDSU anyone at UND would be envious of. You have a great FB team good for you. I am more concerned about shoring up our defense, improving LB play, and getting consistent play from our QB and running game than anything that occurs in Fargo. Having said that, the quote from the judge: "I don't think they were smart enough, or grown up enough,or sophisticated enough to understand" is a classic. It applies to the arrogant president and AD down there just as well as the FB players. Can't blame Bohl. He is just being a FB coach. The fact that none of those three have an understanding of public ipinion or leadership abilities to have dealt with this quickly and decisively speaks volumes. I had stated previously Bresciani was a smart guy. He isn't has smart as I thought. He is almost as arrogant as Chapman and Taylor though. Had they suspended these kids for a game 1st game of the year, it would not have created the public stir or outcry. How damn dumb are these 3 guys? Wouldn't have hurt them on the field and would have gained a lot of good PR. Would have sent a message to the players and should have been followed up by standing by them as they dealt with the legal issues. The kids would have understood they have to obey the law and that despite making a mistake, the coaches and admin support them. Instead these three stooges have been good enough to provide entertainment and poster material for the rest of the conference and your friends from UND.

I thought the pro-bono deal was what Jemison got in trouble for.

UND needs to upgrade a number of things. Those Great West banners should already be up for all sports earned. Not that expensive, no excuse. I was also disappointed with the crowd. Cal Poly is a very good team and UND has a lot of weapons and has been fun to watch. The crowd was still a factor a couple of times. CP had a couple of fals starts and had to call a time out. Students hung around for second half this time. Up to atheltic department to make sure the place is filling up. Give discount tickets to HS students and Air Base personnel. Do some sort of promotion for competition between fraternities/sororities/ dorms. Have Faison and coaches met with Greek council and Dorm council leaders. If not get on it. Have coaches and players do Rotary, Kiwanis, Lions club meetings etc. Need to get the students re-engaged. Students and fans like to see themselves on the big screen. Get it done. Camera angles need to be improved. Need to have score updates from Big Sky, Big Ten, top 25 and area teams on scorebaord periodically. Faison doesn't need to do it all but he needs to take resopsibility and get it done.

It is huge, and that is realistic! Very generous donation. It is a big boost to an Engineering program that has been very good for a long time and has had rapid growth the last couple of years. Todays students look for the bells and whistles and the glitz. This provides money for scholarships, faculty, and bricks and mortar. The answer is thanks very much and foster this realtionship for years to come.

Hakstol made a decision based on an incident that he wasn't happy with. Anyone who thinks his decision is based on what occurs at NDSU hasn't a clue. His decision was supported by the AD. Those who think we have a right to know what happened are mistaken. It is none of our business. IF charges are filed it becomes public and feel free to get your grunies bundled at that point if you have nothing better to do. You trust those who are the decision makers to take care of these issues. If you are at the AC then you trust your President, AD and coach to deal with it. They have. UND did what they think needs to be done. I believe over the years UND has been failrly consistent in how these issues are dealt with. This decision has nothing to do with what happened with the FB players at the AC. Over the years Hakstol has run his program as he sees fit. When he cut Matt Frattin a couple of years ago, then later allowed him back had nothing to do with the AC. Neither does this. Similar punishments have been handed out over the years including the occasional year when the AC doesn't have someone in trouble. The AC won't change their decision based on what UND does with our hockey players any more than UND made this decision based on what goes on there or how the media or fans on blogs react.

Way to early to send him to the NFL. Can't have drops that he has had, but made some big time catches over top defenders already this year that are highlight catches. This has to be the best group of wide receivers in history of school. Hardin, Jackson, Golladay, McGill and Ivery. Size speed and athletic ability. If a QB can put the ball where the receiver is and he comes up with the ball consistently, he can play in the NFL. Needs to limit his drops but he can play at any college level right now. If O-line will cont. to protect our QB we will score points. Need to get running game going and Defense needs to be better than a speed bump. Can't miss tackles, can't miss assignments and we aren't good enough to have that many penalties. We are getting there though. Fun team to watch.

Frankly, what they do at the AC doesn't matter much. They had a bunch of players who thought they could make a few quick bucks and involved others to take advanatage. Unfortunatley they were dumb enough to cheat and they have been caught. It speaks to their integrity and character and that of their school officials. What the school does with them doesn't matter much to us. Chapman did a lot worse and many still lament he is gone. They have a different culture there. (Mussman suspended 2 kids for skipping class). I have no problem letting the legal issues play out then let the AC guys decide how they are going to handle it. The new Chancellor has a great opportunity to call their president on the carpet and let him know how it should be handled. He didn't do so so he is OK with all of this. So am I, cuz until they want to play us again, it doesn't matter. We have more important things to do at home. We have to get the practice facility financed and built. We need to keep improving our FB team. We need to improve attendence for FB, BB VB. We need to reengage our students and community with our athletics and we need to be very diligent in our transition from the WCHA to the new conference. We can't afford to lose our advantage in hockey and we need to reestablish our advantage in other sports. Shouldn't be surprised at what they do at the AC. That is why it is still the AC. Good luck to them they have a hell of a FB team. Looking forward to playing them again.

This clown is a jerk. Had harrassment charges against him while in California. Involved in accusing students who challenged some of his financial records of breaking into his office after they removed documents from a dumpster.. Drives a Porche rag top. Firing staff and replacing with attorneys. Egotistical and history of ignoring law. Replace furniture and remodeled office. Has three rows of pictures and documents on his wall. Tries to intimidate. Rude. This may be the tool those legislators use to get control of higher ed. Would be nice to have Chuck Haga or someone expose this jerk before he destoys higher ed in N. Dak. Last Chancellor ineffective but this guy isn't the answer. Disappointed that our SBoHE selected him over better candidates. He presents a danger to higher ed and college students in N. Dak.

Don't forget, the Spirit Lake leaders wouldn't return phone calls to the SBoHE Chancellor nor his staff when they were trying to get them to do what was needed to keep the name back when Spirit Lake could have made a difference. Standing Rock was even more difficult to deal with. You never know from day to day what their stance on this issue is nor was. They have so many problems there with the child abuse and child protection issues and political corruption it isn't funny. Any tribal members who are not devoting all of their time and efforts to protect those kids should be ashamed. The Fighting Sioux name has been retired. Only those who are a bit delusional don't get this.

Not all QB's returned. I was told 2 incoming Freshmen and 2 Sr's were the 4 listed at QB, but HAVE NOT confirmed. Bradley is only a Jr. so I hope that isn't accurate. Coombs the QB from Ca. is a Jr. I was told Coombs didn't come back. Check and see if Bradley is there.

Never said there was nothing they could do. I wanted you to say what it was you wanted them to do and how did other politicians do differently for their schools. It would have been interesting to see how the NCAA would have reacted. Our present poiticians could still address the issues with the NCAA but doubt any will. I am not saying these guys couldn't ahve done anything. I wasn't convinced they would have gotten us anymore than the other schools got. Your point is well taken as far as they had influence and chose not to attempt to pressure the NCAA. They also could ahve pressured the tribes and other Native groups. Not sure they have enough time.