bincitysioux

Have you guys seen the current WAC? I would want no part of that.............

I agree that the Big Sky doesn't care where a game is being broadcast from. But I think they probably care a great deal at how well their member institutions perform, in that they want them to do well in the playoffs especially and advance through the tournament. IMO this data illustrates that every time that North Dakota makes the FCS playoffs, they will be at a definate disadvantage compared to every other participant. We could end up the #1 seed and still have to travel to Rhode Island for example. On the other hand, we could go 7-4 and be "the last team in". With our resources we could in theory out-bid a higher ranked team for a opening round home game, all things being equal..........but things aren't going to be equal. I'm happy that it looks like we'll be the Fighting Sioux for the foreseeable future. It honestly doesn't affect me all that much, other than it looks like my favorite football team's season will usually end earlier than I like. I feel I am objective enough to recognize that unless the NCAA changes its policy, the 2nd most visible athletic program at the University will be severely harmed going forward.

This is football and nickname related.................... Everyone knows how important it is to be playing at home during the postseason. Of the 33 champions crowned in the history of FCS: Just 11 of those teams won away games during the playoffs Just 6 of those teams won more than one away game Just two FCS champions did not host any games during their playoff runs* *James Madison won all 3 playoff games on the road in 2004, and Eastern Kentucky won 1 road game in the first tournament in 1978 when just four teams competed. Just something to chew on........................

Grind it out, black-and-blue football is probably what one thinks of when they think of North Dakota football, but actually during this decade UND for the most part has been known for a wide open run and gun offense. Pretty much every passing record at North Dakota has been set within the last 7 years or so. And it has all been done with our current head coach calling the plays as he was offensive coordinator for around 8 years prior to be named head coach. The question is whether or not we have the personnel to accomplish what the coach wants to do and what he has done in the past. Coach Mussman likes to chuck it around.....................

Welcome to the board...... North Dakota is ecstatic to be in the Big Sky conference, and if the Summit and MVFC called tomorrow and offered, there is zero chance that UND would leave the Big Sky for those affiliations. The only way UND pursues Summit and/or MVFC membership is if the Big Sky completely implodes and loses a multitude of the more northern and eastern members............. 13 teams for football presents some challenges of course, like not playing full round-robin and could lead to some unconventional means to crowning a champion in some years, but it is still doable and I tend to think those issues will work themselves out. In any case, the unbalanced scheduling could provide opportunities for teams in some years that have a favorable schedule to surprise the rest of the league, as has happened with the Big 10 from time to time. For teams that play the stronger schedules, and do well with them, it could provide better seeding come playoff time. I haven't heard yet if the Big Sky is considering going back to the "lone wolf" scheduling model for basketball. There has been alot of speculation that UND and Northern Colorado may be travel partners. I had actually hoped that the league would go with an unbalanced 16 or 18 game schedule for basketball rather than a full 20 with each team playing twice each season. Could have eliminated the need for instance Sac coming to North Dakota every year and scheduled more regional games, but we will see how it works out. As for our football program, alot is expected of it. Last year was rough, and although I expect to have a better record this season due in part to a weak schedule, I don't know how much better the team will be yet. By all accounts, our defense, which is what we've hung our hat on for 100 years, is as athletic and talented as it has been in quite some time, and there is depth within it too. The defense actually played all right last season. They were prone to giving up the big play, but they were on the field ALOT. Offensively, we've really struggled at QB for a couple of seasons, very badly last season after the starter went down with injury. Most of us are pinning our hopes on a JUCO transfer and/or a redshirt freshman. I don't expect the offense to be high powered next season, but hopefully by the time we join the Big Sky, one of these young QB's will have gotten enough experience and asserted himself as the leader on offense. I think we have alot of potential talent at WR, but I worry that the RB position could be a problem if an injury occurs to our capable, yet not really explosive starter. Long story short, the football program is down right now, but not out. They should be a quality team within a couple years of Big Sky play. In addition to new turf supposedly going into our football arena, the university is in the process of raising funds for an indoor practice facility. Stop by anytime................and beat the 'Yotes!

Why are the QB's going under center so much this spring when they didn't at all last season?

I think he's meaning this year and next year. One this year, and then one next year after Mitchell graduates..................

Not just for football, but for any UND sport other than hockey, does anyone else here get frustrated by the local newspaper coverage (or lack-there-of) of the Univeristy? It seems to me when it comes to reporting Sioux athletics, unless it was written by Schlossman, it is a pretty good bet that whatever you read in the Herald, you could've read a day earlier on Fightingsioux.com..............or two days earlier on Siouxsports.com . Since spring practice has started for multiple schools in the area, the Fargo Forum has done 8 newspaper stories, 13 staff blogs, and two video features on the local team in Fargo. During the same time, the Herald has done 4 newspaper stories and that's it as far as I can tell on Grand Forks' local team....................... I'd like to thank all the posters here at Siouxsports.com and over at Sioux Football Insider for keeping us in the loop...............

I see here that Chris Comes will not be participating in the spring game. Nor will a host of others including Dominque Bennett or Tyrhe Ivery................ Injuries or other? Bradley should get alot of snaps in the scrimmage.................

Sounds like both Kingery and Nichols have had good practices thus far through spring. It would really be nice to see someone emerge from the tight-end position and be a threat in the passing game. I know it is like "two hand touch" in scrimmages, so the sack numbers are inflated, but if the QB is constantly under that much pressure, good things aren't gonna happen for any QB. For those who saw the scrimmage, how far off the the line did the cornerbacks play????

Here's the final conference RPI....................... I highlighted leagues that we played schools from. 1 Big East 0.5796 0.5769 1 16 2 Big Ten 0.5748 0.5725 2 11 3 Big 12 0.5725 0.5628 3 12 4 Mountain West 0.5601 0.5573 4 9 5 Atlantic Coast 0.5554 0.5505 6 12 6 Southeastern 0.5530 0.5533 5 12 7 Pacific-10 0.5443 0.5474 7 10 8 Conference USA 0.5366 0.5304 8 12 9 Atlantic 10 0.5256 0.5285 9 14 10 Colonial Athletic 0.5240 0.5218 10 12 11 Horizon League 0.51375134 11 0.10 12 Missouri Valley 0.5118 0.5120 12 10 13 Western Athletic 0.5107 0.5045 14 9 14 West Coast 0.5012 0.5084 13 8 15 Ivy League 0.4990 0.4924 16 8 16 Metro Atlantic Athletic 0.4909 0.4928 15 10 17 Atlantic Sun 0.4734 0.4746 19 11 18 Northeast 0.4726 0.4757 18 12 19 Southern 0.4699 0.4723 20 12 20 Mid-American 0.4689 0.4764 17 12 21 Summit 0.4687 0.4694 23 10 22 Big South 0.4666 0.4706 22 10 23 Sun Belt 0.4657 0.4712 21 12 24 Big Sky 0.4650 0.4652 24 9 25 Patriot League 0.4631 0.4611 27 8 26 Big West 0.4627 0.4640 25 9 27 Ohio Valley 0.4617 0.4581 28 10 28 America East 0.4596 0.4620 26 9 29 Southland 0.4526 0.4516 29 12 30 Mid-Eastern 0.4305 0.4387 30 11 31 Southwestern Athletic 0.4089 0.4189 32 10 32 Independents 0.3986 0.4261 31 13 As far as team RPI, North Dakota finished at 271, which is 69 spots higher than the prior season, so that is definately a nice improvement. Not that it means anything, but our RPI was better than 4 current Big Sky teams.

IMO, if next season's starting QB is not on the spring roster..........................then we have a major problem. Until then, let's give the players in practice the chance to prove themselves at every position before we forfeit the 2011 season.................

That's a real blow................... Moody is a gifted coach, that did alot for this program. As far as I'm concerned, this is like losing Bubba........................

I agree with all that as well. As far as Jack Michaels doing play-by-play for UND................I think this is a huge coup....... I'm sure alot already know, but I'm sure some don't as well.............for those who have not heard him, Michaels is probably the most talented play-by-play voice between Minneapolis and Spokane..........Dan Hammer was fun, because he was a known regional name, and was basically a Sioux homer while on the air, but he was/is nowhere even remotely close to in the same category as Jack Michaels when comes to play-by-play and describing what is happening on a football field. I'm not a fan of Ed Schultz, the man, but I've always said there has been no better football announcer in our region (UND or NDSU) than he was. I've long thought that Michaels was a close second to Ed. We are definately in for a treat when we tune the radio in for Sioux football in the future. Jack is very professional. He's hosted a 3 hour sports show out of Bismarck for the last 5 or 6 years. In that time he's covered all bases including Twins, Vikings, T-Wolves, UND, NDSU, UMary, Redhawks, Fargo North, Bismarck Century, Beulah, and Carrington. As a former NDSU athlete, I'm sure his allegiance will always lie with NDSU, but as I said, the guy is gifted and a total professional and just seems to love covering sports and working in radio. As far as Bisonville imploding because "one of their own" has gone to the "dark side"....................I find it comical. They forget that Ed Schultz called both NDSU and UND games. They're oblivous to the fact that Scott Miller, whom they've all but canonized, spent several years calling Sioux games. They loathe Dan Hammer simply because he called Sioux games despite the fact that he spent 90% of his time in radio and tv in the Fargo market wooing NDSU. It's absurd. Radio, even more than TV, is a very volatile and fluid industry. We were lucky to have talented guys like Scott Miller, Ed Schultz, Dan Hammer, and now Jack Michaels. Let's enjoy it. It is rare to have a Tim Hennessey as long as we've had. Hopefully Jack Michaels sticks around for awhile. We'd be lucky.

Sounds like it is all but a formality that Dominique Hawkins will be moving to safety this season...................is that a good thing? He's really been the only bright spot in the defensive backfield the last three seasons.....................Seems to me that quality safeties are easier to come by than quality cornerbacks............

It's my understanding that the GF Herald has heard that the Sioux have started spring practice.................... wall to wall coverage is forthcoming....... They've already supposedly had 4-5 stories this week.................yeah right.

This thread could prove useful to someone like me who has never been to an event at the Excel....................... Let's try to get it back on topic............. That goes for Bison and North Dakota fans..............

Family of 4 will be there...............

Valid points............... But USD has also travelled to Montana St. twice and to Lamar and gotten no home game in return, which IMO is not much different than us travelling to SFA, SE Louisiana, and Idaho St. and not getting a return. The only one game FCS home game that they've bought has been Drake, while we've "bought" Lamar and Stony Brook.............. Where they have done better is getting their return games faster.............They got Northern Colorado and SE Louisiana to return within a year and did a 2 for 1 with UNI to get them in during transition. UND just got their first return trip in 2010 from Northwestern St., but are scheduled to also get from Central Arkansas and SDSU in the future unless they "Idaho St." us............... As far as the FBS games, we all know why we haven't been able to schedule Minnesota..............Personally I'd call Wisco and Texas Tech a wash especially considering that we weren't even a bowl counter when Tech played us. Agree that K-State and Air Force are better than Idaho twice...................... Don't get me wrong, I agree that the schedule has been sucking and that the 2011 home slate is pitiful. But I can see why it is so difficult and am reluctant to label the administration as lazy. And I'm certainly not going to bang my head on the wall when there is one DII game on the home schedule once we start Big Sky play, when that is the norm rather than the exception in FCS. IMO the A.D. and football staff is trying a new direction with the 2011 schedule with 3 home non-DI's. In '08 and '09, we only had 10 game schedules and everyone was pissed about that too, but Mussman stated multiple times that they decided it would be better to play one less game than to fill it out with sub par opponents. Well obviously with 2011 they are going for quantity over quality, and felt the opportunity to have 6 home games may offset the crappy teams somewhat..........

Has South Dakota really done all that much better? By the end of the 2011 season, USD will have hosted 9 non-DI teams and even TRAVELLED to another non-DI school since moving to DI in 2008. By the end of 2011, North Dakota will have hosted 10 non-DI teams since the transition started................. Both schools have 3 non-DI teams on their schedule for the upcoming season.

Have you even been reading this thread?

Does anybody know if UND "skipped over" USD in order play mines? I don't handle scheduling for the school, so I wouldn't know. Is it possible USD could have declined to play UND in 2012? Probably not.............UND of course is in a position to pick and choose to play whomever they want at their own terms........... Obviously UND has an axe to grind agains USD, otherwise we certainly would have allowed them to play us...........

9/1 is likely the SD Mines game...................

You sure? As I indicated here, since moving to DI, the non-DI games have been better attended than the DI games....................

Something entirely different....................indoor football field with a track around it that will be used by the entire athletic department for practice.....