mksioux

I noticed the exact same thing. Richmond was down and dejected coming off the field. After that, they got new life. You could see the bounce get back in their step. There was a multitude of reasons whey they lost that game, but this was more than a simple 5 yard penalty. The running into the punter started it all. It's kind of like the Buckner or Bartman plays. There were other reasons why those teams lost, but those are the plays everyone will remember. I feel like this game will be remembered as the running into the kicker game.

It was different than the flea flicker for two main reasons - First, the flea flicker was in the first half when the score was tied. The double reverse was late in the 3rd quarter with a commanding lead at a point in time when they were moving the ball and eating up the clock relatively well. Second, the double reverse sent Studsrud out around the edge into the field to block. I remember at the time I was thinking that if we lost Studsrud, we'd have no chance against EWU (at the time, the thought of losing didn't seem possible). Just a boneheaded call all around. it's not that you should never try trick plays, but just know the situation. There was absolutely no reason to do it at that point. Also, as someone pointed out, UND was close to field goal range at the time. 3 more points there really puts a dagger in them.

Yep, lots of new fans too. (I heard a "Studsberg" reference in the row behind me.) But with the way the game went down, I'm not sure if the attendance and new fans was a good thing. I dont really mean that I suppose, but man it's frustrating. You build all year for this game, you get a great crowd, new fans engaged, and that's the product you leave them with. It seems like the good programs break through there. Heck, Go out and lose a respectable game in Cheney next week and call it a successful season. This doesn't sit right at all.

It's almost like Kostich felt like he had to get a blocked punt because they came close to blocking one on the first punt. Situation be damned, he was going to get a block. But should Bubba get a pass? Doesn't the head coach decide whether to bring pressure there, or is that exclusively the decision of the special teams coordinator? The reverse made no sense. UND is leading comfortably, moving the ball, and eating clock, and you call a trick play reverse running out your only viable QB to block, lose 10 yards, kill the drive, and give Richmond momentum? It was bizarre. I know it was just one play, but the stupidity of it set the table for what was to come.

One of the most awful games I've ever attended. I'm still at a loss of what I just witnessed. This will go down as the worst meltdown in UND history. Maybe UND has blown bigger leads statistically, but this was the biggest meltdown anyway. Richmond made a few plays, but this is on UND all the way. The way this went down, I'm not sure I buy into the learning experience silver lining being talked about. This game is nothing but bad.

A larger capacity only means something if you have the fans to fill the extra seats. UND's attendance typically doesn't come close to capacity, so capacity doesn't really come in to play when you're comparing UND's attendance numbers against SDSU. I guess it matters in the sense that if SDSU had a facility that could only hold 13,000, they'd average fewer fans per game. But the reverse is not true. UND wouldn't average more fans if the Alerus had more seats. Hopefully that will change in the years to come and UND is consistently selling out the Alerus and we were wishing for a venue that had more seats.

I've never seen Richmond play, so I won't pretend I can add anything meaningful to the discussion. SFI breaks it down though. http://siouxfb.areavoices.com/2016/12/02/fcs-playoff-preview-7-und-fighting-hawks-vs-richmond-spiders/ What concerns me is that if this Kevin Johnson guy had backed up Lauletta when he went down against William & Mary, they probably win that game and get seeded higher than UND. So the fact that UND is ranked higher doesn't mean anything to me (except the right to play at home). I'm just going to go there and hope to see a good game.

That's because NOBODY tells NDSU what to do. This tournament is just a coronation party for them. Of course they get to set their own game times.

With all due respect Darrell, why does capacity percentages matter? The bottom line is that SDSU has way more people attend football games than UND. If UND consistently sold out the Alerus Center, I could see making that argument (we'd sell more, but we can't fit them in the building), but since UND hasn't sold out a game in years, I don't think capacity really matters.

I agree. But despite the tough ticket, I still think more UND fans would end up attending an NDSU game than currently attend any Big Sky road game. As for Brookings, Vermillion, and Cedar Falls...I'm not sure there would be a big difference. I think you'd probably get a few more UND fans at those games than Big Sky games, but I don't think there would be throngs of UND fans in attendance. But I could be wrong.

I do. I certainly would go to more road football games if UND were regularly playing NDSU, USD, SDSU, and UNI. But I honestly don't know if the road turnout would be a lot better than it is now. Certainly it would be in Fargo, but I'm not sure about the other three.

Does anyone know where to find video of the 1993 Sioux Bison game?

I'm buying my cousin's four season tix since he'll be in New York for the hockey game.

Even with the current budget issues, whatever need/preference there is to get into a new conference now is not even remotely comparable to the level of desperation there was to get into a new conference when UND was in the Great West.

Your analogy is poor. When UND was trying to get into the Big Sky, it was critical for UND to get out of the Great West and into any real conference. Montana's long term plan didn't matter because the Big Sky, even without Montana would still have been abundantly better than the Great West. UND is now in a stable conference and can actually afford to make a preference on which conference situation is better in the long term.

Hasn't he been punished enough?

Perhaps, but if UND wins enough games that they would have otherwise been eligible for the auto-bid, they'd probably be selected as an at-large team.

If the Big Sky will honor the schedule, it wouldn't be truly independent. But it would stink to not have a chance at the auto-bid and to hang a banner for two seasons.

I'm glad UND appears to be making Summit contingent on getting into MVFC. I'm not interested in the Summit unless an MVFC comes with it. I don't like a Summit move with football staying in the Big Sky, I'd rather we keep all sports in the Big Sky than that option. But I prefer Summit/MVFC over Big Sky.

Come on Volley. I think it's safe to say now that UND has no plans to join the WAC.

Disagree with you on the bolded part. Sure, there are obviously some kids activities scheduled for Saturday late afternoon or evenings in the fall, but there are way more kids activities scheduled for Saturday morning and early afternoon. 4:00 would be ideal in my opinion. Maybe toss in one 7:00 game per year. But really, anything they could do to make it later than 1:00 would preferable in my opinion. Even 2:00 or 3:00 would be better.

I hadn't noticed that. That is crazy. Obviously with an odd number of Big Sky team, someone has to have the bye the last weekend of the season, but I assumed they rotated that around the conference and UND wouldn't be seeing it again for several more years (if ever, since Idaho will make it an even number).

I've said it many times, 1:00 starts hurt attendance. I think 3 hours of tailgating prior to a game is pretty standard. Most young people are barely waking up at 10:00 a.m. For people with young kids, there are typically kids' events during the day on Saturdays. For most people, their kids' football or soccer game will take priority. My proposal is that when there is not a mens hockey game in town that night, move UND football to 4:00, or maybe even have a 7:00 game once in a while. That gives college kids and young people more time to get "primed up" for the game. And it would give people with families an opportunity to not have the game conflict with their kids' activities and would also give them an opportunity to get done the many errands and chores that busy people with families usually have on Saturdays. Hunting is not my thing, but maybe it would help with that issue too.

He said HOPEFULLY football schools will be coming back. Big difference. I don't doubt the WAC is trying to recruit football schools to join, but that's a far cry from it actually happening and UND being a part of it.

I've been wondering about this, but haven't looked at the numbers. Are we sure having a hockey game on a football day doesn't actually hurt football attendance? Sure, it brings in some people from out-of-town that might not have otherwise come. But I think there may be more people that live in the area (and students) that may not want to go to two games on the same day (which basically kills their entire day) and choose hockey over football. It would interesting to run the numbers. In any event, it's disappointing that ticket sales seem slow for Homecoming.