bincitysioux

I've been to at least one UND Football road game every year for the past 14 seasons. My very first one was a November game at St Cloud in 2006. Fun time, great game that went into OT (we won) but a weird setup with seating only on one side of the stadium. Too bad for the players for sure. I would imagine survival is on the SCSU Athletics radar rather than DI. They have real enrollment issues....

Campbell wins 58-56

It happens every year on this site.

The 12 game season happens something like once every 5 years. All depends on where Labor Day falls.

I missed that apparently.

Only 11 games allowed next season.

I like our chances at home against SDSU in an early season game. Will probably be Potato Bowl and biggest crowd of the season. Different story if it were in Brookings. Agree about Rodgers, huge shoes to fill. Anyone know anything about Cam Hunt? I expected big things from him this year, but he sort of disappeared in the second half of the season.

I'm guessing this post won't be real popular here, but it has some truth to it. We adopted a modern offense for the 2019 season. I say we ditch this archaic 3-4 and adopt a modern defense for the 2020 season.

7 or 8

Special Teams is still an issue as well. I know some will point to the two punt blocks that did seal victories for us, but I always view a blocked kick as more of a fluke play or a great individual effort than anything else. The place kickers on this team are a real liability. Taubenheim wasn't stellar but was at least serviceable. The current guys make him look like an All American. I will give the coverage teams credit though, they were good this year and produced some nice situational punts. The punter doesn't doesn't have a strong leg, but he pinned teams deep several times.

2019 ended with a thud. Never too early to look ahead to the coming season. Since we are moving down to the MVFC, the schedule next year sets up more favorably. Without digging real deep into what every team has returning for players, I see 7 games where UND can be favored, three likely losses, and a pick ‘em. WIN vs Valparaiso LOSS at Kansas St WIN at Youngstown St PUSH vs SDSU WIN vs Missouri St WIN at Western Illinois WIN at Portland St WIN vs USD LOSS at Illinois St LOSS at NDSU WIN vs Southern Illinois The outcome of the SDSU will determine if UND gets a seed and the first round bye that comes with it or if we play on Thanksgiving weekend again.

Tackling is also right up there as a concern. It seemed like shoring up a few minor details like tackling and clock management would have been worth an extra win this season.

This seemed like a pretty decent win. Hopefully can make it 3 in a row tomorrow. Playing much better on this trip than on the last one to Valparaiso and Milwaukee. I was disappointed in our showing against those teams. I'm looking forward to the Big Sky trip next week, since I'm more familiar with those teams. Should be a good measuring stick of where we are at.

I felt Kett's fumble was all on Johannesson. It looked like an RPO play, Kett kept it, and JJ couldn't get out of the defender's way fast enough. If JJ makes a block the fumble doesn't occur.

I thought it was clearly targeting, he led with the very crown of his helmet, a direct head shot our QB. I understand it is a very subjective call though, and our QB certainly wasn't a "defenseless" player in that case. It was definitely helmet to helmet contact though, and the defender led with his.

I can't understand why they didn't stack the box against Nicholls. It was obvious early on what they wanted to do, and it was obvious we couldn't defend it with the original game plan. More of the same in the second half with no adjustments.

Probably not, but I really think we got hosed on the "Non-Targeting" penalty. For as many times as they showed it on replay, I have a hard time understanding how it wasn't targeting. Sure, Kett lowered his head, but the defender popped square in the end with crown of his helmet. Hit him so hard that Kett's helmet went flying! I'm sure that pissed Kett off, (it would piss me off). He would never have gotten flagged if the ref wasn't two feet away to clearly hear whatever he said. I'm sure alot worse things are said on the field that go unheard and unflagged.

IMO, #4 and #8 on that list are the most glaring and obvious things that stand out to my untrained eyes on a game to game basis. Clock management has been a significant issue in many games this season, and at times in previous seasons. It has literally cost us wins from time to time. I've been harping on the strength program for a few years. Anyone who watches a lot of the games either in person or on TV can attest that there are few games where we appear to be the bigger, stronger, or faster team. This has been the case since moving to DI 12 years ago. Sure, I agree that recruiting plays a huge part in this and can always be better as well. But we have had the same strength coach for two different coaching staffs with similar results. #3 is the next biggest issue in my eyes. This defense hasn't been getting it done in recent seasons. It's fun to watch at times when they terrorize the QB or force a turnover, and that is all great, but at the end of the day they often give up a lot of yards and a lot of points. It isn't a new trend, but for whatever reason, the Defensive Coordinator has normally been given a pass from most on this website (who are often pretty critical of just about everyone else). The 3-4 is possibly an outdated base defense and probably why we are one of maybe 5 teams in the country that run it. Chicago's "46 Defense" was also awesome in the 80's but nobody runs that anymore either. I'd like this program to be farther along that it is at this point just like everyone else. But being a realist and considering the financial aspects, it would be pretty incredible for Chaves to make a coaching change at this point. When you look at it from the Athletic Director's perspective he probably sees that overall the program is in better shape than it was when Bubba took over. Not in great shape, but better shape. It's been trending upward since the disastrous 2017 season. Playoffs in 2 of last 4 years, and just outside the playoffs in 2 other years. 4 winning seasons vs 2 losing seasons under Bubba. Again, I'm not advocating one way or the other, just trying explain how I think that Bill Chaves is probably assessing the situation.

Gave up 316 yards on the ground. That’s just turrible...........

Couldn’t really blame Faison at the time could you? UND was Big Sky Champ, Bubba was Coach of the Year, earned a seed in the playoffs. FBS win and nearly made playoffs in 2015. I don’t recall any belly-aching when he was extended.

$175,000 Coaching salaries are listed in the Wiki.

It would cost $440,000 to not have Bubba Coaching next year. From Chaves’ perspective, that’s a hefty price to pay to get rid of a coach who’s won more games than he’s lost and just took the team to the playoffs for the 2nd time in four years. Not advocating one way or the other, just pointing out the financial aspect of it........

Holm having a rough day

He whiffed on a block that would have prevented that fumble at the goal line, so he's close by........

Schmidt bailed out by the holding call, otherwise another easy 4th and long conversion by the opposition...... We are so bad in 3rd/4th and long situations.