bincitysioux

I agree in principle. The atmosphere in the Alerus was awesome from 2001 to about 2006 or so, and has been declining since. I've kind of decided though that it would take more than just copying what they do at the Ralph to get back to where it was though. When you think about what makes the REA so special, a big part of it is the fact that there are 3,000 more people for hockey games crammed into a building half the size of the Alerus.

The students today suck, plain and simple......................... But if you think it's bad at football games, take a gander at the student section at a basktball game. That's just embarassing. But, of course, the Betty (like the Alerus) is so far to walk to from the dorms........................oh, wait no it's not, it's at the same place the hockey games are............................ The distance of the Alerus is bunk..............forget comparing walking from Wilkerson to REA vs. Alerus. Some say an on-campus staudium is the answer. Compare walking from Wilkerson to Alerus vs. Memorial Stadium. That was a long damn walk in my day. Ever heard of the shuttle bus? They're running constantly.................. I think as the team gets better, and has a chance to compete for something tangible, attendance will get better both by students and in general. At least that is my hope............

Marketing of UND football has been lackluster. You'd think now would be the time with a decent season thus far, the Big Sky on the horizon, etc................ Haven't really heard much about it being homecoming this weekend. As far as the in-game stuff goes, it is par for the course, although it gets a bit irritatating because it seems so constant at the football games. They do the same garbage at hockey with students singing Joan Jett lyrics during stoppages............just seems less frequent there. I will say that after getting to the hockey games this weekend, the REA staff really deserves kudos for the always awesome pre-game intros they come up with. As always, this year's is awesome. The one they are doing at the Alerus with the players screaming "GREEN.......WHITE" before the team takes the field is pretty bush league. They've been good in the past, but it is a little embarassing this year..........................

31 Cal Poly 27 SUU SUU now 0-3 in the GWC........................

Apparently their were some fools protesting the last time we went to UC Davis. I've also seen protestors the last two times I went down to Vermillion...................... Dartmouth threw a holy hell fit when the hockey team played there a few years ago...........................

Yep, that's been on Fightingsioux.com for a few months now........................wonder what kinda pay-out that is?...........

Personally, I would take the Big Sky with no presence in the state of Montana over the Summit League.

I'd say the loss of Bellmore is quite substantial. He's been starting since he was a freshman I believe, and is a big reason that our run defense is so darn good, not to mention his knack for blocking kicks. Hurts losing Lynch too, but I believe there is more depth at that position. No denying the fact that when a team hangs its hat on running the ball and stopping the run, and you lose to key cogs to that formula, it is going to hurt...........

BYU to the Big 12 seems like a no-brainer. BYU covets AQ status, brings TV dollars, and fills the western void left by Colorado's departure. UCF makes great sense for the Big East as they are one of the fastest growing schools in the country and are located in football-rich Florida. Sounds like South Florida is against them getting in.

Despite, having a normally top notch FCS program, Villanova gets crap support and plays in crap facilities. I have to think that when the Big East was begging 'Nova to upgrade that it was mostly the basketball schools pushing it. I doubt that Rutgers, Pitt, Syracuse, and South Florida looked forward to Villanova going FBS.

I've always felt that the prospective fans that patronize North Dakota football games don't care much about the opponents. They want to see a winning team, and one that is challenging for a title of some sort. And we've never routinely sold out the Alerus. You could count on one hand the number of times the Alerus has been sold out in 10 years. Even the last NDSU game in '03 didn't sell out. It could happen though, assuming we can be perennial top 3 team in the Big Sky and get back to the point where we are usually making the playoffs.

After the first quarter, it was total domination by UND. But Coach Kelling's pass defense continues to be suspect at best, apparently regardless of the opponent. All those students that showed up for the Drake game, but not today, suck. But I expected it since it is opening weekend for hockey. There is obviously no way to make it to the opening face-off of a 7:30 hockey game when a football game gets over at 4:00.

Next two games will reveal alot about the state of this football program IMO. If we destroy Montana Western (because we should because we're a DI football program), and if we beat Cal Poly on our turf (because we match up extremely well against them) then I think we could say that the win against SUU was no fluke and that this team has made significant strides and is well on the way to being back to where Sioux football should be. So far, the team has exceeded my expectations this seasons. I figured we'd be 2-3 with blowout losses to Idaho, Fresno, and SUU. We're sitting at 3-2 with, by my estimation, pleasantly surprising results against Fresno and SUU. A dominating performance against Montana-Western gives the team confidence. A win against Cal Poly puts us in the driver seat for a conference championship....................

What if we lose to one of those teams but beat everyone else and finish 8-3 with a GWC title?

Winning is the most important factor to attendance. If we had been 9-2 last year, the opener against Drake and the Black Hills game would have had 10,000+. NDSU did have good attendance in 2009, but it was still a drop of about 2,000 per game from 2007 & 2008 because they were crappy in 2009. Sure, there should be alot of hype when Montana or Montana St. comes to town, but IMO the average candidate to attend Sioux football games won't distinguish much between Weber St. and Montana-Western. I worry that that this weekend's game against Montana-Western won't even crack 7,000 with it being opening weekend for hockey. Sadly, I think that the only game this season that has the potential to draw over 10,000 is Cal Poly. It is homecoming, it is a DI opponent, the hockey team is on the road, and we should be 4-2 and coming off of a 40+ point beat down in the previous game. Unless we are 8-2 going into the season finale against USD, I doubt that game draws even 9,000 since attendance seems to genereally tail off late in the season, and that is the opening weekend for deer hunting...........................

Agree that the trend for a school at North Dakota's level will be to be guard-heavy. Hopefully once in a while we can come across an effective but rather under-sized post player like Brandon Brekke looks like he could be.

Although I have no desire to see UND and NDSU play, as long as North Dakota is looking improved finally I may as well bring up the following .................... On the Jack Michaels Show today on 740 The Fan, Jack asked Scott Miller what the key would be to defeating this year's NDSU team. Miller said taking away the Bison running game would put NDSU in jeopardy. Something to chew on: UND is currently ranked 3rd in FCS rush defense..............................

They appear to have a very solid team.

If NDSU's fans, administrators, or stakeholders feel that online education is simply just a fad not to be taken seriously, then it is just another example of them being behind the times and continuing to lag behind................

Agreed. In most cases a head coaching change involves a period of transition that can set a program back. North Dakota's current coaching tree dates back to the mid-80's starting with Roger Thomas who was the last total break from his predecessor. Dale Lennon was a long time Thomas assistant, and Mussman was a long time Lennon assistant.

I have no idea what the coordinates are, but I'll bet you'll be able to scan it in. I scanned in their game against Sac St...........if it is on MidCo, it is on satellite somewhere.

Wow. 19.5? Not much respect there..............

Regarding Mussman, I think coaching wise, he does just fine. I don't have a problem with his "conservative" style, such as running the clock out in the 1st half with a lead against Idaho, or punting on 4th & 16 in the 4th quarter against Fresno. Mussman proved to be a helluva offensive coordinator for the better part of a decade. I can't recall a game situation since he took over where I thought "WHAT ARE YOU DOING?". Like any good coach, he adapts to the talent on the roster, at least offensively. When we have 3 quality running backs, a huge offensive line, and a green QB, we become a running team. We we had Danny Freund, Reed Manke, John Bowenkamp at QB, and Weston Dressler, Brady Trenbeath, and Dan Grossman at WR, we were a passing team. Good coaches adapt, and Mussman has done that in his time here both as OC and head coach. What I don't like about Mussman is how he sometimes carries himself on the sidelines and through the media. I don't like to hear how we'll be "going down to Southern Utah and see if we can get a win". I didn't like when he laughed in an interview about the Texas Tech game and said "it'll be nice experience for our players to see that atmosphere". I hate how in several interviews over the last couple years he's basically thrown the defense under the bus on occaision for not "getting off the field" when the offense hasn't been able to stay on the field. I hate how occaisonally he can be seen on the sideline bent over, head down, with his hands on his knees after a bad play by our team. Lastly, I sort of question his ability to make tough decisions as an administrator overseeing his assistants. I know he inherited the co-defensive coordinator situation which is a pet peeve of mine itself. IMO, despite some great athletes in the secondary, the pass defense has mostly been atrocious the past 4 years. At the same time the run defense is one of the best in the country for two years running I believe. One co-coordinator is in charge of the front seven, the other in charge of the defensive backfield. One are has continued to improve, while the other has not really improved at all in four years. Something needs to be done about that. Having said that, I do give him credit for abondoning Breitbach's pistol offense experiment.

Pretty nice that 4 of the first 5 games have been televised..............

That's a fairly significant drop for USD............... I believe they only have around 9,000 students or so............