bincitysioux

Just looking through the conference stats, these two teams are very evenly matched. Pretty much middle of the pack for both squads up and down the stat book. One advantage for us that I see is our running game against their rush defense. If we can establish the run again this week, it should provide a few opportunities for Studsrud to make a few big completions in play action. Where I see a big advantage for UNC over us, aside from special teams, is in turnover margin. They are +2 on the season while UND is -7. We lead the league in fumbles, and they are 2nd in the league at forcing them. Not a good recipe. I expect another nail-biter. Same as every game in the Alerus lately. Are they going to have some sort of priority seating for the hockey game for students that go to the football game? I know they have done that in the past on double-header days and it has helped with student turnout.

Keeping with the theme that "the playoffs start today", this game against Northern Colorado is probably the most meaningful game to be played in the Alerus Center since the 1st round playoff game in 2005 when we sort of limped into the playoffs on a two game losing streak after breezing through most of the season. Ironically, Bubba was the opposition head coach for UM Duluth that day.

I think that at minimum, this team needs to finish in the top half of the league for Jones to keep his job. It is pretty sad that the bar has been set so low, but after last year's disaster of a season, a top half finish would be a big improvement. IMO, that's a pretty low standard but my opinion doesn't count for much. Faison has terminated 5 coaches during his tenure before their contracts were up, so I am confident that he will be watching this season especially close.

Very impressive building. Should be a great asset for many sports.

I will be there

It's going to be real interesting to see how this shakes out, and how the unbalanced schedule and the tie breakers come into play. Just looking at the loss column of the standings, I see 5 teams still in the running for the Big Sky's autobid: SUU, EWU, PSU, NAU, and UM. It is difficult to make heads or tails of it, especially when those 5 are basically going to all be playing each other over the next two weeks. Northern Arizona should beat Sac St. this weekend and will likely enter the final week at 5-2 in conference play. Northern Colorado probably helped our cause by beating PSU. Our best chance for getting in right now is obviously for us to win the next two, but also for PSU to lose their next two. Here's who the 5 Big Sky title contenders have left: -Southern Utah (6-0): @‌ Portland St., vs. NAU -Eastern Washington (5-1) @‌ Montana, vs. Portland St. -Portland St. (4-2): vs. Southern Utah, @‌ Eastern Washington -Northern Arizona (4-2): vs. Sacramento St., @‌ Southern Utah -Montana (4-2): vs Eastern Washington, @‌ Montana St. I will be cheering hard this Saturday for North Dakota, Southern Utah, Sacramento, and Eastern Washington. It would definately be in our best interests for the two conference front-runners, SUU & EWU, to do well the next two weeks. I don't think UNC has playoff hopes IMO. Even if they win out, they'd only have 6 DI wins.

They could just go back to throwing the same switch in the Alerus that they have been for the last 5 years. That would be affordable.

So as I sat at the hockey game tonight while they did their pregame hype show and intro video, which is always first class at the REA, I couldn't help but think to myself, "man, this would be so much better if they took a page from the Alerus and left all of the lights on while this builds up, that would really amp this place up!"

There is UND branding on the outside of the stadium. There is an enourmous mural of UND football just as you walk in the main entrance. The sidelines below the stands are covered with UND stuff for 100 yards on both sides of the field. There are championship banners galore hanging from the rafters. The concourses are very bland and sterile though, absent of anything UND or otherwise for that matter. Basically after you enter the building until you get to your seats it is pretty bland.

I'd say the people are what make most any venue great. No rush to have endzone seating IMO because we can't fill the seats on the sidelines. I agree that more UND signage throughout the concourse would be nice. The Alerus is "state-of-the-art". I doubt that any on-campus replacement would be much more superior. I doubt that any on-campus replacement would have a roof, so that would be a huge step backward.

I hate to get ahead of ourselves here, but that article also said: SDSU is averaging over 13,000 for attendance this year. That would play a major factor.

I believe they seed only the top 8 teams who get byes past the first round. The first round games are paired on a regional basis to reduce travel costs and that is where the bidding comes in. I could be wrong, but I think they used to do this in DII as well, which is why UND almost always hosted a first round game because nobody could compete with our bids. IF we do make the playoffs, and IF we do win the bid, I'd expect a poor crowd on Thanksgiving weekend. That may influence the dollar figure that Faison throws out to the NCAA if it comes to that. 1st round FCS playoff games are generally attended poorly. In fact, most FCS playoff games are attended poorly. IF we were to make it and host a first round game, I wouldn't be surprised if it were the lowest attended game of the year.

I'm on record as saying ad nauseum that I love the Alerus. I have been present since it opened, and through its first 8 years, the atmosphere at that place was pretty tough to beat. Raucous and deafening. I remain optimistic that UND is going to string together several winning seasons and playoff berths in the very near future and that will bring back the fans and students. Maybe I am off base, but it seems like a lot of the people that complain about the Alerus, probably never experienced a game there in the 2000's. The atmosphere then was off the hook. The 2001 playoff game against UC Davis was legendary. 2003 against NDSU was great. All of the playoff games in 2003, the building was rocking. The last great atmosphere that I can remember was 2009 against USD. The place was filled to the rafters and extremely loud that day. I went to the game against NDSU at the Fargodome this year. At the start it was so loud, my ears were ringing. Very impressive atmosphere and very jealous of it. But in all honesty, it was no better than the Alerus was for a big game circa 2001-2007.

We are 3-1 against Northern Colorado in the DI era. All have been VERY close games except last year when we ran all over them. Let's get healthy, stay focused, and do our thing.

Pretty exciting to be playing meaningful football in November for the first time since 2007.

They don't actually carry the network itself but any live game that FCS broadcasts is aired if you have the sports pack. FCS, the channel itself, is just a mish-mash of programming from all of the regional Fox Sports networks.

I agree that Midco's production quality is top notch, but like UND-FB-Fan said, it takes an act of congress to access it if you live out in the boonies like I do. I'd really like to see WDAZ and their sub-channels utilized for the coaches shows at minimum.

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.