bincitysioux

NDSU is not vastly superior to North Dakota in basketball. They will likely be the favorites and should be with a more veteran team. Bison fans would have you believe that the team that Woodside captained as a senior is the norm..................rather, it was an abarration.

While most have been quick to throw Mussman under the bus compared to me, the situation of QB succession is really the only point that raises my concerns about the head coach. I saw nothing in the last three games that would lead me to believe that either Goska or Hendrickson is the guy to lead this team post-Landry. In fact, I'm quite surprised that Hendrickson seemed to have vaulted ahead of Goska on the depth chart the last two games. I think North Dakota would have been better off with Goska at the helm, but Hendrickson took the majority of snaps to end the season.

The team has been doing a little bit better in the turnover area so far this season compared to last season, problem is that they are still forcing fewer turnovers. And we've actually outrebounded 3 of 5 opponents except for UNI and Wisconsin who are the best we've played thus far. This is a young team and consistency is going to be a problem. Mitchell is very important to the success or lack-thereof this season IMO. He got off to a nice start, but really struggled against IPFW and UNI. It also hurts that Clausen has been injured. With a healthy Clausen and an effective Mitchell, I think UND beats IPFW, and probably makes it alot more interesting against UNI than it was. Huff also got off to a fast start but has struggled the last 3 games. I expect that from a true freshman. From what I've seen I think this team has the potential to give good teams some fits on nights where Mitchell and Huff play well.

If I may, I'll try to get away from all of the NDSU v. RMU talk.............(for the record, I fully expect NDSU to throttle Bob Morris this weekend). Here's the FCS playoff bracket. So, what are everybody's thoughts? We all used talk pretty diligently about the DII playoffs.................let's move on up! I'm picking William & Mary and Eastern Washington to meet up in Frisco in January. IMO the lower bracket is all about Delaware and William & Mary, there won't be a close game until the semis. W&M beat the Blue Hens by one at home earlier this season. Seems like the upper bracket has more parody with Appalachian St, Stephen F. Austin, Eastern Washington, Montana St, and even Villanova. I think if EWU gets a second chance at Montana St., they'll come out on top. EWU has been playing much better football the 2nd half of the season than has MSU. App St. has to be the favorite, out of the upper bracket, the Big Sky fan in me has to root for EWU or MSU if they get there. Also, I'm not positve that App St. would match up well with Stephen F. Austin if they meet up. As of now (the day before ) I'm picking Eastern Washington to win it all, defeating William & Mary in the title game. I reserve my right to reconsider Saturday night.

I'm on record via countless posts as to why I prefer the Big Sky over the Summit League or any combination of Summit League/MVFC/Big Sky/Southland/ Independent that I'll try not to repeat here again and again............ To me, it is kind of like choosing between the Big East and the Big 10....................not such a hard decision. Both are AQ leages and have their merits, but the choice is obvious. That sounds great to me. I haven't lost sleep over not playing NDSU or SDSU in football the last 7 years, I won't in the future. I agree the game will eventually happen................................it will happen exactly 2 football seasons after Gene Taylor leaves NDSU. It is funny how the only time Taylor has went to the newspapers to point out that he "contacted" North Dakota about a game was when it was for a date that UND has had publicly scheduled with and FBS oppenent for well over a year. What happened to being "sensitive" to the Summit League's stance on scheduling North Daktota?

The staff, including Mussman, headed out on the recruiting trail.

Wilmer looks like he really beefed up......................

Mussman isn't the offensive coordinator anymore, he doesn't call the plays. When he did call the plays, from 2001-2007, UND broke pretty much every offensive record of significance in school history.

Congrats to NDSU for making the playoffs............. On a side note, I find it rather ironic that Montana losing to NDSU in 2003 is what essentially kept the Bison out of the DII playoffs that year, and now 7 years later, another Montana loss is essentially what put NDSU into the playoffs.

If Faison wanted the game so bad and was "begging" for it, I suspect he would have taken Taylor's every other year offer.

Things I like: -He's a great offensive mind -It looks as though we have recruited well overall under his watch: Hardin, Sutton, Mackey, Goodman, Andrews, Bennett, Z. Miller -He seems to expect alot from his players off the field: Murray was rewarded for correcting his problems, Bamba was booted for not despite being the best player on the team. -If we were 9-2 this year, we'd all love how he pisses and moans about officiating. Things I don't like: -Apparently wasn't aware that Jake Landry was graduating this year -Inconsistent play from his squad -Too emotional on the sideline I don't know if Mussman is the guy to lead us long term or not. But I don't think he should be fired for having one losing season in which his starting QB was lost for a good part of the year. Also, programs that change coaches often don't tend to do all that well. I don't like the prospects of turning to a new coach with a bad team that is filled with players that probably wouldn't fit his system. Then we have to sit and wait three years for him to get his players in to judge him.

They made the playoffs last year and have been regularly ranked the last several seasons, including in this seasons preseason polls. They haven't had any signature wins like NDSU did, but overall have played much tougher FCS competition throughout their transition, and had success doing it. Their transition on the football field was really quite remarkable considering their mediocre history in DII.

Kramer Returns to Big Sky This is a good hire by ISU in my opinion. Hopefully the Bengals can right the ship.

UND won't agree to that, that is why Taylor is willing to offer it. I don't care if they play every year, every other year, every 5 years, or never again. As long as Gene Taylor is at NDSU, it ain't happening.

They didn't have advantages per say, but I think Mussman was hurt by the fact that his first head coaching job was for a first year transitional DI team. Stiegelmeier has been at SDSU forever, and Bohl took over at NDSU a year before the first transition year. Mussman took over the program when the athletic department was in a state of flux with no A.D. and the football program's staff and incoming freshman class was largely gutted by the outgoing head coach.

I'll take a DI non-schollie any day over a DII or NAIA opponent.

I've felt for the past several seasons that if there is coaching problem at North Dakota, that I think it is moreso with the assistants that it is with the HC. I've stated many times that I have not been a fan of the Co-Defensive Coordinator situation. There was a flop in play-calling roles between Mannasau and Kelling this season, but the pass defense continues to be a glaring problem. Run defense was still suspect at times as well, but there was a far better pass rush from the Sioux on opposing quarterbacks this season than in Mussman's first two seasons. Lennon started the Co-Defensive Coordinator experiment, but I think Mussman needs to end it. Offensively, Mussman needs to take over the play calling. I'm not ready for Mussman to be dismissed because the deck has certainly been stacked against him during his HC tenure here, but I think he needs to man up and make some tough decisions regarding his staff. The biggest concern to me about Mussman leading North Dakota football is not that he probably doesn't handle the media all that well following an ass-kicking, or that he tries to find the good things in 45-point drubbing of a season opener...................but what has me the most worried is that he apparently thought that Jake Landry would be quarterbacking the team in 2011, because there was obviously no plan for replacing him......................

I'm not as high on the OL after this season as you are. They gave up the 2nd highest number of sacks in the league this season. I thought Sutton had a rough year (albeit injury plagued), and it was partly because he is not as explosive or patienat as Murray. He is more of a scheme runner that needs to wait for his blocks to develop, and they often didn't. As a top teir DII school, UND could easily recruit the biggest guys at their level and often get the best ones that made guys like Chris Beatty and Adam Roland look really good. It is much more competetive at this level for the best OL out there. As far as "Building Blocks", I agree that we have a nice stable of running backs, especially with Murray for one more year. He is a real gem. IMO, he is easily the most valuable part of the offense in more ways than just carrying the ball. Obviously Hardin has the potential to do some great things during his time at North Dakota. McGill got better as the season progressed and I hear good things about a couple of the redshirt WR. I don't think we will enter 2011 with the glaring concerns at receiver position like we did in 2010. I really like the way the defensive front 7 will look going into the next couple seasons with proven DL Bellmore and Benjamin and talented LB like Hendrickson and the youngsters Goodman, Bennett, and Andrews. I think we should be good at corner back next year with Hawkins and Mackey. Safety is a concern though. But what do I know................I've said for the last two seasons that the secondary should be a strength of this program.

I'm not an apologist for Mussman as I'm still on the fence, but given the fact that we have had zero passing game leads me to believe that establishing the run would be a priority. If North Dakota's offense has had any "strength" (I use the term loosely) it would have to be in the run game. That was both before and after Landry's injury. As far as when he was asked about his goals for South Dakota State, his first was to win the game. Watch the tape. They wanted an opportunity to win. Doesn't every team want that?

Gene Taylor will never allow NDSU to play North Dakota in football as long as he is A.D. It is a moot point barring a playoff pairing or legislative intervention ..................................

Bingo...................... He seldom offers any substantial input, so I closed it before he could detour it to a full blown smack-a-thon.

Locally, it's being advertised as a televised double-header that starts with the women vs. Gonzaga at 6:00. DirecTV has just the men's game listed with a 7:00 start. Not sure if DirecTV is only going to have the men's game or what.

Apparently when the state has a billion dollar surplus it gets pretty boring as a legislator.

21-0 SDSU Both the Sioux and BIson games are on channelsurfing.net

What could be any possible downside to letting him take some snaps?