bincitysioux

I'm not very concerned about Hendrickson leading this team. He's a great athlete, and has a cannon for an arm, maybe even throws it harder than Hanson. Accuracy was his problem in the past, but that was two seasons ago. He's got 4+ years in the program. He's probably the perfect guy to have on the roster in this situation. Given the QB situation of the past 3 years, I was somewhat surprised when Nichols moved to tight-end last season. He is a huge kid with a big arm and had a stellar high-school career, as a typical drop-back passer. I believe that he took some game snaps behind Landry or Goska, but I'm not sure if he has ever thrown a pass in a game. Given all that, I'd give him the edge over Townsend as a potential backup. They were in the same class and the staff moved Townsend to receiver right away, while Nichols spent 3 years in the program as a QB.

Agree with everything you said. I got season tix in 2003, and the student section was very rabid at that time. Last night reminded me of those days............

I agree it was a nice concept, but I think they kind of botched it timing wise and with the sound system. The new opening video was very good. Was it just me, or did the PA sound terrible all night last night? I had trouble understanding the annoucnements most of the time. Don't remember it being that bad in years past.

EWU-Idaho game went final. EWU won. Montana St. and UC Davis also won. UNC, Sac, and SUU all lost.

Hard to take much away from this game. It was nice that the team imposed their will from start to finish and dominated in every facet of the game. This has not always been the case in recent seasons against lower division teams (Southern Oregon, Sioux Falls). Tough deal with Hanson. He did look quite good while he was out there. Hopefully it heals quick. He was walking around on it just fine before they carted him off. Would this be the same kind of broken leg that ended Hardin's season late last year? Remember he broke it in the middle of the game but continued to play, and found out after the game that it was broken. Regarding Hendrickson, he looked good out there tonight, and made some nice throws. Let's just remember that the last time he saw significant action, he was a sophomore making his first career start in Missoula in front of 25,000 raucous Griz fans. He's now a 5th year senior with alot more experience and time in the program. I noticed Tyhre Ivery and Myles Jablonski were not in pads. Ryan Bartels is listed on the participation report from tonight's game. Doesn't that mean his red-shirt is gone?

How do you make your picks? It seems the only thing I can do email a friend and view the leaderboard....

I agree. The uniforms will be fun. I don't care much, but if it amps up the players, the students, and the younger (louder) crowd I'm all for it. As a connoisseur of 1980's anthem rock in addition to being an afficianado of college football, I have to say that I feel that if we are going to watch the team run out during an AC/DC song, I think "Hells Bells" would be a better choice than "Back in Black" despite the switch to black uniforms. "Back in Black" is a great groove, but can you imagine how awsome it would be for the Alerus to go pitch black, fill with smoke, and then hear the bell ring prior to "Hells Bells" start to play, for about 30 seconds before the team runs out of the helmet? That would be great. I can't believe they didn't consult me on this.......................................... At any rate, I'm looking forward to tomorrow night. As far as the hype-stuff/jumbo-tron material goes, I just hope it is not as cheesy with the player participation as it has been the last two years.

Awsome news. Only concern I have is that WDAZ was saying that UND has $11 million in hand for the $19.5 million project. I hope this doesn't turn out like the BSA rennovation in Fargo, which has been going on for, what, 10 years now?

As of now Fargo, Devils Lake, and about half of Minot is out of luck when it comes to watching North Dakota. Those cities were all in the loop until this year. The cable companies that serve Fargo and Devils Lake could probably be considered Midco's biggest in-state competitors. Maybe it is just a cooincidence that they haven't come to terms with those companies, but I doubt it. On a side note, as I sit here on the eve of the football opener with my PC connected to my flatscreen in the man-cave, I still can't watch the latest incarnation of "Sioux Sports Extra"...........................something I've been watching on a weekly basis since I was about 5 years old.

I think that would be the better route. Probably half of the traffic on this site naturally gravitates only to the hockey forum already. No need to have a separate forum for NCHC news, or Big Sky football or basketball news. Discussion about Montana football is probably always going to take place in the UND football thread and so on. Personally, I like it the way it is. There are multiple options with the "Community" and "Other Sports" threads. No need to take up more real estate on the main page. But that is just my opinion.

I don't buy it. Cable One has picked up the games for years. The only thing different this year is that Midco is doing the negotiating rather than UND. They are likely asking for a bigger "royalty" to get the programming than what Cable One was paying in the past. I'm sure it doesn't help matters knowing that Midco is Cable One's biggest local competitor in the FM Metro area. Cable One is not the only company that has carried Sioux games in the past that is not this year, as of right now. My guess is that this is on Midco.................. Luckily the tens of thousands of people that don't get Midco can take solace in the fact that there will be a penalty clock on the screen this season, even though they won't be able to see it.......................

ROOT is doing a Big Sky preview show that will air on Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday of this week on it's various channels......................

I thought UND Sports Extra was going to be on UND Insider. I don't see it.....................

Did someone say Deek's Pizza? Thank you Jesus.............................

Ya, sounds good to me..................

Big Sky Football Notes

I tend to agree. The presidents of the major FBS schools already have free reign to call the shots regarding FBS/BCS football. Combine that with the monies they receive from the NCAA for March Madness, and I think they are more than content. I doubt that when they are cashing million-dollar checks from the BCS and the NCAA BB Tourney, that they are thinking too much about potential revenue from non-NCAA affiliated Soccer, Volleyball, Track & Field programs etc...............

I'm expecting a 35 point win and over 10,000 in attendance..............................

Jayson, I've watched alot of Big Sky TV over the past 3 years. The quality of their webcasts has been far superior than that on UND Insider. Not so much the video, but the continuity of the stream. Big Sky TV has always been nice and fluid for the most part, while UND Insider is constantly freezing, buffering, and falling behind. Can you say why the big difference, and will these new "upgrades" solve this?

Maybe the new nickname could be the University of North Dakota "Buffering".............................

I was told by the associate commissioner of the Big Sky that the contract with Root Sports would have no effect on UND's deal with FCS, except that FCS would not be allowed to carry a game that Root decided to carry. I don't know why the football games (and basketball, and volleyball, and women's hockey) will not be on FCS this year. Either because FCS did not want them anymore, or Midco would not allow them to be on anymore. Kudos to UND/Midco for getting the hockey on at least.  The one thing we do know about next year is that not even hockey will be on FCS, due to the exclusiveness of the CBS deal. That was the NCHC that gave us that gem, but I would have thought UND could have thrown they weight around a little bit on that issue. Both UND and Denver will have far fewer games televised than they did in the past.

North Dakota loves a winner...................

I think there's a LARGE group at Bisonville that think online students are "illegitimate"......................... Despite the fact that schools like North Dakota, Florida, Wisconsin, Washington St, Auburn, and George Washington actually are among the best schools (among others) for students wishing to pursue an online education. Afterall, hardly anybody does things "online" these days.......................................

FYI: I moved the last 6 posts in this thread to the UND/Midco thread...........................

My point is that actual viewership the last 3 years with games on FCS was undoubtedly much higher than what it will be with games on Midco. Like I said, the FCS deal is going away because of the NCHC, not because of Brian Faison or UND. FCS coverage was a luxury the last few seasons. My main issue is with cutting out a state-wide TV station from the package. The fact is that most people who live in North Dakota do not even have the option of subscribing to Midcontinent programming. If Midco is going to be the main avenue of getting UND sports out there, I view that as a problem.