bincitysioux

I went to my first game this weekend and I also enjoyed seeing the offensive scheme run the way it should be. My guess is that the change in the offensive philosophy is the result of our lack of any truly effective post players, although Koenig did play exceptionally well on Saturday. The offense seems to be geared around our small forwards and guards cutting and slashing toward the basket, which makes sense since our lineup is so small this year. I had a question about Josh Doyle. Does anybody know anything about why he is not playing more? Is he still not completely healthy after his knee injury last year, or are we just too over-crowded in the backcourt and he is apparently the odd-man-out? I was just curious if anyone had any info, unless he is still having knee-trouble it seems odd to me that someone who was such a key contributor to this program over his first two and a half years here seems to be getting so little playing time. Oh yeah, O.J. Harrison's reverse dunk in the second half this weekend was awesome!

I revere Dean Blais, the coach, as much as the next guy, but I don't think this would be in the best interests of the University at this time. I'm a firm believer that what we need right now is somebody who has experience in college athletics administration (preferrably with connections in DI). Money is going to be tight over the next several years (transition) and some tough decisions are going to have to be made. We had a guy that was willing to do that, but he was burned at the stake by the coaches who became accustomed to Roger Thomas' spend-at-will philosophy. We need a happy-medium. Someone who can keep the coaches happy (Buning obviously could not), and someone who can keep the athletic dept profitable or at least breaking even (RT could not). Some may not like to hear it, but I think we need a guy like Wanless. He wasn't nessecarily liked by everyone in the dept., but from what I gather, he was at least respected. I agree with a few others who say that of any potentially interested candidates, at least until applications are formally submitted, that Ray Purpur would be the ideal hire. He has years of administrative experience, Division I connections, a proven fund-raiser, and apparently most importantly has ties to the University of North Dakota. His surname is just icing on the cake.

I'm not too familiar with the street names in the area but looking at the pics in the print version of the GF Herald today, it looks like it would placed on the eastern 2/3 of the parking lot that currently sits north of Memorial stadium. It looks like the western 1/3 of that lot would have another parking ramp adjoining the current one across Columbia road via the skywalk. So, which stadium are we building? The open-air field that runs east-west, or the one with the retractable roof that stays with the north-south layout? Decisions, decisions....... My vote is for the one with the roof.

Coach was interviewed during the hockey game last night. He said he intends to release the 2008 opponents once they have 10 confirmed games scheduled, which should be in the next couple weeks. He said there will be two DII opponents (presumably Texas A&M-Kingsville and St. Cloud St.) and no more.

Coach Lennon was interviewed last night during the 1st intermission, said they had a group of kids up on a visit for the weekend. He said they are recruiting the same areas, and also branching out more into Iowa, Montana, Nebraska, Texas, and Arizona.

Speaking of "NCAA Approved Ethnic Stereotypes", apparently Mexican-Indian-South American nicknames have the NCAA's stamp of approval.

It'll be at home

The UND-Cal Poly game will be in SLO. UND will be making two trips to Cali next year. Link

When the Betty was built, it was intended to be a practice facility for basketball.

Irish people sure are a funny lookin' bunch!

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My curiosity is peaked.

2 seats for sale in Section 302, Row G for the Saturday, Dec. 8th game. Taking offers until Friday at noon. pm or email: jci@invisimax.com

Lennon was on KNOX this morning. He didn't shed much light on the subject of scheduling. He said they have 10 games scheduled right now, but two of them are "pending". Mentioned road trips to the states of CA, LA, and TX. He did say that they have a contract with every GWFC team for next season, but are ironing out details. Also said they are currently having talks with both Idaho and Wyoming for FBS games starting in 2010 and beyond.

Is there really any feasible way to expand the Alerus? If there is, I would be all in favor of that before building a new stadium. The only ways I can see to do it would be to put seating on the North concourse overlooking the endzone, and/or wipeout all the seats on the west (visitor) side and steepen the pitch of the seats so they go all the way up to the top of the building (more like the pitch in the REA). I don't know if this would be cost-effective, if the Alerus Commission would go for it, or how many net seats you could gain in there. But I do think that UND should stay in the Alerus until demand for seats exceeds supply for a long period of time. Being the #2 sport in town, I question whether Grand Forks is ready to go back to outdoor football. Attendance is up ~2,000-2,500 since we moved indoors. If you can get capacity up into the 14-15,000ish range, I think that would accomodate UND football adequately. It's not all a loss if your building is a little small either. If it is full, that will lead to more TV coverage (every game?), and higher ticket prices.

So this is what we think we know: McNeese State UC-Davis Idaho State Southern Utah South Dakota St. Cloud State Southeastern Louisiana Cal Poly FCS from TX I think the GWFC schedule is still up in the air. UND92,96 said Cal Poly is apparently on the schedule, and they say the same thing on their board but don't know location. I think there's a good chance we could end up travelling back to Vermillion next year, to get the conference schedule to balance out. But it seems to be shaping up like we'll play a full round-robin schedule in the GWFC, so that is good. Also wonder if the TX school on the schedule could be Texas Southern. They're 3-19 over the last two seasons, perhaps either willing to travel for guarantee money, or willing to host against 1st year transitional school? I keep racking my brain as to who other possiblities may be, especially for home games. I remember this post from this summer. Could Maine be a possiblity for a home game? We have a relationship with them (Hockey), Lennon apparently almost had them on last year's schedule, and remember in 2001 they were scheduled to come play at DII NDSU in Fargo but the game was cancelled due to 9/11. I also wonder if Drake would be a possibility. Non-scholarship, but usually one of the better non-schollies, geographically friendly, and they already have 6 home games scheduled (2 NSIC teams) so they could be interested in a regional FCS opponent, transitional or not. Other possibilities that come to mind are Presbyterian who is making the transition, but their conference schedule is very front heavy and they have alot of open dates toward the end of the season, when we presumably will also when other conferences are playing their league schedules. Central Washington and Western Washington will certainly still be looking for games, although I really hope we can limit the home schedule to just 2 DII's at the most. I wouldn't mind at all continuing to play CWU for the next few years.

I've never questioned the decision to continue to play Chappel against Winona. I've questioned the decision to totally abandon the running game against GV half-way through the first quarter. I guess I've said my peace on this subject now. It's 9:00 now so I'm going to now go stupidly bitch to my children like I know every little detail about everything in an attempt to undermine their future coaches and let them know that there is no I in team but there is an M and an E.

There is already a poll up at the Great West website asking who'll be the pre-season favorite in the GWFC in 2008. UND is currently 3rd.

I'm a farmer. Some farmers do very well, others (probably most) either don't or just get by. Most farmers don't choose the profession to make money, they choose it for the lifestyle. The majority of farmers in this region are "land rich" and "cash poor".

Well, all I'm saying is that neither QB made many good throws yesterday, and neither one moved the offense. As far as the end result on that last 4th and 1, that was a result of the the poor coaching/gameplan throughout the game. It was 4th and frickin' 1! How about a qb sneak? How about a power I formation? 4th and frickin' 1 with the season on the line, and you go with an empty backfield and a pass play with your hobbled back-up QB who has hardly seen the field all year. UND abandoned the run in the 1st quarter of this game and that is what cost them the game. I don't care who was hurt, there had to have been someone on the roster that was capable of taking a hand-off and showing GV at the very least that we may call a running play at some point in the game (perhaps on a 4th and 1 situation?). UND was very one-dimensional yesterday, and it wasn't due to injuries, the GV defense, or the weather. The coaching staff apparently decided to take the run game out of the game plan. It may very well have proven to be ineffective, but you at least have to try to run the ball.

I thought the defense played horrible yesterday, as they've done against every quality offense they've played this year. They made one play all day, the first GV fumble that one of our guys actually forced. Every other turnover was due to carelessness by GV and every drive that was stopped was due to a GV penalty that helped us out. Yes the tackling is extremely frustrating as well. All day yesterday, too, GV receivers were left open, but luckily dropped the ball at opportune times for UND. The regression of this defense over the past two years has been very frustrating.

I couldn't tell the difference between Landry and Freund. Both were making the same short 2 yard slant/crossing pattern throws. Landry may have led both scoring drives, but the first one should have been intercepted, that was a stupid throw to make. The second was all Dressler, 2 yard crossing pattern that Weston broke for big yards. The big problem yesterday was not qb play, or injured runninbacks. We were simply out-coached.

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Ha, thanks I needed that! After the loss yesterday, I needed to laugh!

I would expect nothing less. On offense, for whatever reason, we never even made an attempt to establish the run. Murray was effective when given the opportunity, Battle never saw the field. Apparently the game plan was, just bide our time until we have the wind at our back, then throw 2 yard slants.