bincitysioux

I believe that is in fact how it works for the first round.

Studsrud is to UND what Jim McMahon was to the Bears in the 80's.

31-24 UND a the half

Although I am looking forward to the season getting started, I am just not expecting big things right now. Seems like this reclamation project is nine years in the making. Hope I am wrong and would be happy to be proven as such.

While I appreciate your argument, as it is well thought out, I simply disagree. You seem to imply that UND has no tradition in football, and that the success the program experienced from circa 2000-2007 was some sort of anomaly due to UND being a "big fish in a small pond". I am confident that UND will be a national championship caliber program in the not too distant future, just as they were in the 2000's, just as they were in the 90's, just as they were in the 70's, and just as the were in the 60's. UND is among some of the all-time winningest college football programs in the country. That is no anomaly. The 25 conference championship banners hanging in the Alerus were not all hung during the last 7 years of their DII history. I agree with you that UND football faces its own institutional challenges that some of its regional peers do not have to deal with in that it is not, and likely never will be, the #1 sport on campus. Can they succeed despite this? I say yes, they sure did as much in the 2000's, the 90's, the 70's, the 60's. Basketball has never been the #1 sport at NDSU at look what they've accomplished the last 8 or so years. Football has never been the #1 sport at SDSU and look what that program has done the last 8 or so years. SDSU had virtually the same "institutional advantage" while in DII that you say was the reason for UND's DII success, but they were perennial middle-of-pack program for their first 100 years of existence. Then they elevate their program and have unprecedented success. As a football first fan here of UND, I certainly would like it if the administration poured more resources into the sport if they have any more to pour in. But it is also wrong to say they don't invest in the program. They footed most of the bill to make sure the Alerus put in the turf that they wanted a couple years ago. They built a ridiculous facility for the football team to practice in in the event we get a little rain. You mentioned the salaries of the coaching staff being amongst the top 5 of the Big Sky. Well they were at the very bottom of the Big Sky when we joined the league, so that is another area where they have invested, and hopefully within 5 years they will be even higher.

Interesting, didn't know that. If his family isn't committed to him enough as a husband and father to follow him where his profession takes him, then I would view that as a problem.

Seems like we haven't blitzed as much the last few weeks. Need to get back to that IMO. Dropping extra guys back hasn't worked lately. If we are going to get beat in the passing game, I'd prefer the opposing QB pay for it at least.

As far as adjusting expectations go, I admit that I got very optimistic (overly so) about the season after the fast start. I was peeking at polls, and playoff possibilites after the PSU game. Now, here we are at 4-4. Which, in the long run, is about where I thought we'd be right now when I looked at schedules and evaluated depth charts coming out of spring ball. If you want to call it an excuse, go ahead. But the injuries this team has sustained the last several weeks are the biggest reason IMO for the lack luster results the past 3 weeks. Yeah, yeah, every team has injuries. But UND isn't in a place YET where they can overcome them. In 3 years hopefully they will be because that is what good programs do. But we are a little more than a season and a half into a huge reclamation project that not only saw coaching turnover, but also significant player turnover, for better or worse. After Mussman was let go, we lost arguably 2 of the 10 best wide receivers in all of FCS in Kenny Golladay and Jameer Jackson. Given how horrid our receivers are, still having those two would make a world of difference. The secondary has been atrocious for 5 years. Then you have two starting safeties get injured and an opening day SR starting CB quits when he gets pushed by an underclassmen. Depth, depth, depth. I thought Dustin Iverson figured to be a big part of the offense as a blocker, receiver, and team leader. He's gone due to stupidity. This summer I think I said best case scenario is that UND goes 7-4 this year. That was assuming there were no injuries to any key players. That is still attainable I suppose, but I think is looking unlikely right now. So I guess I am saying that if my personal opinion was that 7-4 would be the high-water mark this year, I'm not going to get too bent out of shape being 4-4 at this point in the season. They could still win out and be 7-4. They could also lose the rest and be 4-7. Either way, I'm not ready to throw in the towel on the season or on this coaching staff. Rome wasn't built in a day. If we had started 1-4 (which was very possible) and were now sitting at 4-4, the tone of this board would be far different. He probably would not have gotten an interview if not for his history here. DeBoer was the other finalist, and he probably wouldn't have been interviewed either if not for his win against UND while at USF. Also probably shouldn't over look the fact that in the four years Bubba was head coach at UMD, they were in the NCC. The preceding 4 years they were in the NSIC and the succeeding four years they were in the NSIC. He was coach of the year in the NCC in 2005. Every single player that was a member of UMD's 2008 National Championship team was recruited by Bubba. 16 of his 21 losses while at UMD were to NCC schools, and one more was to an FCS school. He was leading them against a whole different level of competition.

Is that really true? I ask because I really don't know. The head coach may delegate, but in the end, the buck stops with Bubba. He had to see the way Bartels was playing on Saturday, and it wasn't good. It was bad. Keep in mind, I've always preferred Bartels to Mollberg since they both came in. But what has been happening behind center the last two games has been really concerning. This team needs a spark. I really don't think Mollberg is a much of an upgrade over Bartels, but at this point he needs to be given a shot IMO. Maybe the team will respond to Mollberg calling signals. I think one of Studsrud's best qualities is his leadership. It think Mollberg and Bartels have similar skill sets, but maybe Mollberg can be a better leader out on the field. He got off to a slow start last season as the starter but was playing well when he went down.

The Root Sports announcers were commenting on his big wind-up several times during the game as well......

DId Smith play yesterday? Don't really recall seeing him.

2 point game late between EWU and UNC.......

i think it was antacids

Ha ha, fake punt. What an embarrassment. Now it looks like Meindel is hurting.

CB gets torched, safety takes out cornerback

I don't know if I have ever seen QB play this bad. And it is from a 4th year junior that was once upon a time our season opening starter.........

INT after throwing to triple coverage

Roots production quality is first class too. I don't get Midco, so I feel you pain of you don't get Root

I get Root, so this is way better than eversport that screwed us last week

Wow that was a horrible throw

Bartles just about dropped the ball again

UND defense makingbGriz 3rd string QB look like Tom Brady

Again the db had position, but refused to turn his head and see where the ball is...

It is frustrating that our secondary play has not improved one bit since last season....

By do our DBs never look for the ball? The are always only face guarding.....