mksioux

I think "tanking" is a bit premature. They've lost, what, one game they should have won? And they beat a good Southern Illinois team last week. And they're still ranked. They're not the world-beaters their delusional fans thought they were, but they're not exactly tanking.

Since they said "upcoming seasons" I suspect the Hawaii game will not be 2009. Either way, I'm going to Texas Tech and Hawaii.

FYI - There's been a lot of discussion about conference affiliation on the "UND's Reclassification to Division I" forum on this site.

The thing is - you can keep saying how much this logo hurts and offends you, but if you want me to have empathy for you, you need to come up with articulate and persuasive reasons why it hurts and offends you. That's the part that is always missing.

USD's 2008 home schedule is horrible. Much worse than UND's. I think they are all NAIA except for UND. All I know is that I've never heard of any of them. http://www.usdcoyotes.com/sports/football/schedule.asp

UND did a better job than USD on the 2008 home schedule. But as far as lining up home-and-homes, USD appears to be doing a little bit better job. But UND's 2009 schedule has not been released yet, so there may be a pleasant surprise or two on there. The only hope I have is that most of the away games on the 2009 schedule are home-and-homes (obviously not with Texas Tech, but hopefully some of the others). It's not that teams are scared to play UND. It's hard for UND to schedule because it's in such a small conference that it needs to fill a lot of games with non-conference opponents. Keep in mind, UND didn't have a true AD in place prior to June 1, 2008 when Faison started. Given the two interim ADs with no DI experience at the helm when the 2008 schedule and part of the 2009 schedule was being created, and a new head coach with limited DI contacts, I'm actually pleased with the scheduling UND was able to do. But I do expect it to get better with Faison in place.

This isn't directly related to the marketing efforts at UND, but is somewhat related. Not that there was any question that UND is a hockey school and Grand Forks is a hockey town, but this really illustrates that. Check out Brad's blog today and the coverage for the start of the college hockey season. It appears the Herald and Brad have once again outdone themselves. A 12-page college hockey preview? Truly impressive coverage. http://www.areavoices.com/undhockey/ Don't get me wrong, I think this coverage is great. And I understand that supply and demand effects are in play here. But there is more of a demand for UND football than the Herald supplies. I don't mean to be "age-ist", but I think the Herald would truly benefit by hiring a younger guy to cover Sioux football. Someone like Brad with the passion, energy, and willingness to regularly blog.

I guess it's a matter of perspective, but I don't think SELA was surprised by North Dakota. I'd guess most people would have picked UND to win the game at the time it was scheduled. I know I did. SELA was 3-8 last year and picked to finish second to last in their conference. UND was a DII power with quality wins over FCS competition. If anything, the game showed that SELA was a much tougher team than many anticipated, or that UND was not as tough as was expected. The rest of the season will tell which of these was the case. SELA is going to South Dakota next year. Maybe that's not quite as daunting as coming to North Dakota, but it shows that SELA is not afraid to travel to a quality non-conference opponent. What may have happened is that USD got to SELA first and got the home-and-home contract. UND came later and SELA was understandably not interested in signing home-and-homes with both Dakota schools, so UND agreed to a one-game deal because UND was desperate for games. This year was extremely tough for scheduling, but for the rest of the transition, I fully expect UND to get home-and-home contracts with quality FCS teams. Maybe not the cream of the crop, but certainly with solid teams like SELA. I don't believe that's too much to expect and I trust Faison will get it done.

Nice! I think I remember you posting that now. Must have forgotten. Thanks. About Northwestern State: Located in Natchitoches, LA - population: 17,865 Enrollment (2005) of 9,847 Turpin Stadium capacity - 15,971

Unless a SELA official actually said that to UND, that comment seems awfully...umm..."confident" coming from the coach of the team that just lost to SELA. Obviously it would be a more difficult game for SELA playing on the road, but it's not like they wouldn't match up. I'm surprised Coach Mussman would say that.

Where did you get the info on the Northwestern State game?

That's too bad. It seems like SELA is a school we should be getting home and homes with. Oh well...Faison was not at the helm at the time.

I agree 100%. I'd much rather be complaining about a Sioux loss to an FCS team than posting nothing and hardly caring after the Sioux steamroll Crookston or Winona.

What do you mean by "bringing race into this?" And we're no longer allowed to argue with the tribes? That doesn't make any sense. I guess I fail to see where you are coming from with your post. Yes, it's true the that the NCAA ultimately forced this approval issue, but it's not as if the tribes had been standing on the sidelines before the NCAA policy. Particularly Standing Rock, through RHHT, was actively antagonizing UND and protesting the nickname and logo at every turn. The only real hate I've seen amongst the various players in this whole ordeal has been from the tribal leadership toward UND and REA. When reading their quotes, I could literally feel Thunder's and Peason's hate coming through my computer. You can't work with people that literally hate you, even with a million goodwill gestures. That's my point. I realize the majority of the people on the tribes probably don't hate UND and REA, but it still feels wrong to fly the flags of tribes where the leadership does. Maybe here is my distinction with some Sioux fans. I believe the Fighting Sioux nickname was adopted to honor the Sioux tribes of the past. I honor the Sioux people of the past, and I'd have no problem honoring the current Sioux people if I had the slightest feeling it was welcome. But I've come to the conclusion that it is not welcome, so I do not honor them. I don't think it makes me a racist in the slightest. I think us Sioux fans have held on to the belief that the majority of the Sioux people see things differently than their leadership. But that can only go so far. At some point we have to realize that, by all accounts, the Sioux tribes are telling us they do not want to be honored, and quite frankly, despise us for trying. And it appears the more we try, the more they despise us. Given all this, there is no way I can look at those flags flying at the Ralph and feel good about it.

Winning FCS games is important for recruiting. It would be huge to sneak into the top 25 by the end of the season, but with the loss last night, it's not likely. I think UND would have to win-out. Oh well, just win some more FCS games and get some momentum going into year 2.

Don't get me wrong, I'm glad they didn't quit and fought back into the game. I just don't believe in moral victories when playing a team in the same division, especially an unranked one. Going into the season, this game appeared to be a very winnable one. Perhaps SE LA is a lot better than expected. I sure hope so.

According to the fan thread on AGS, Southern Illinois won 27-24.

If there was goodwill on the other side, I'd agree this is a good idea. UND has shown an abundance of goodwill and it's never reciprocated. As it stands, I don't like this move.

UND got a beat by a mediocre FCS team. It's not the end of the world, but comeback or no comeback, it's certainly not a moral victory. Clearly UND needs to get A LOT better in the secondary.

No good. Ball game.

Konrath out of bounds at 32 yard line. 6 seconds left. 49 yrd. attempt.

UND to the 46 yard line of SE LA. Fumble recovered by UND - UND gets out of bounds. 12 seconds left.

38-35 SE LA. No timeouts for UND. Need at least 25-30 yards to get into field goal territory.

Free kick from SE LA 20 yrd line. Attendance 5,000. 34.3 seconds left.

SE LA opts for the safety. Penalty - illegal formation. Penalty declined.