dbarker

The Sioux women are picked by the league coaches to again win the NCC. They received 7 first place votes and 2 second place votes. It's interesting how SDSU has been ranked ahead of the Sioux in the two pre-season national polls, yet only one coach picked them to win the league. SDSU did well in the national tournament while UND did not, but the Sioux did go 3-0 against the Jacks last year, including a 38 point blowout in the finals of the NCC tournament. Both teams return pretty much intact, as does USD. The league looks very tough this year.

I was at "Meet the Sioux" tonight, and I have to say that it looks like the hype surrounding Myron Allen is justified. I have been watching NCC basketball for a long time, and I have never seen an athlete as explosive and quick as Allen. Yes, my opinion is based on a fairly brief intra-squad scrimmage, but his ability was very evident. Beasley looked as dominating as ever, too. The potential is there for this team to be extremely good barring serious injuries. It looks like the starting lineup will be Beasley, Allen, Brandt, Porter and Josh Johnson. They should easily be able to go 10-11 deep with Walker, Jahner, Rypkema, Lindahl, Mike Johnson, and possibly Steven Bradley also seeing significant playing time. The women also look like they could be extremely good. All five starters return, plus the addition of 6'3" juco All American Cara Demaine and some very good freshman. With the hockey team doing very well so far and the potential for the two b-ball teams, this should be a fun winter. Hopefully it will take away some of the disappointment of the football season.

A home loss to lowly Mankato? A sub-.500 record? I would have never thought this was possible after the excellence of the past 10-12 years, and particularly after last year. I have to say that I'm very disappointed that the Sioux could possibly go scoreless the entire first half against one of the worst defenses I've seen in the NCC in awhile. And the special teams' execution? Extremely poor. Is anyone else as disillusioned with the play-calling this year as I am? There really should be enough talent there to be able to average 28 points a game or more in the league, and most games the Sioux have not managed 20. And please, get rid of that stupid screen pass to the wide receivers! It doesn't work anymore! Also, I hope Mussman doesn't think he can give Riza the ball 40-plus times a game very often. He's not built to withstand that many hits.

Doyle looks like a good addition. He shot 47% from 3-point range and 90% from the free throw line last year.

The implication is pretty clear that since UND was not listed among the finalists, that probably only one of them was offered by UND. It has long been known that they were a "package deal," and it's quite possible that Roebuck didn't want to use two scholarships for two players who play essentially the same position. I wish the Dahlen's well, but I hardly think these commitments signify any sort of trend.

I too have been disappointed with the lack of turnovers caused by the defense, as well as the relatively few sacks. I do take solace in the fact that by my unofficial count, there are approximately 20 to 25 freshman and sophomores getting significant playing time this year. I think players like Mahmoud, Anderson, Alkins, Gagner and many others are going to be stars in the very near future. Plus, as unfortunate as Kelby Klosterman's injury was, the fact that John Bowenkamp is getting so much game experience a year ahead of schedule is a bonus for the next two seasons. I feel the Sioux will be back in the top 1 or 2 teams in the NCC next season, and the odds of that happening are probably much better now that there will be a returning qb with significant game experience. I can live with one season of 7-4 or 6-5 if it lays the groundwork for another NCC title or two in the near future. We have to remember how spoiled we as UND football fans have been recently. In the past 12 years (since 1990), UND has finished first in the NCC 5 times, second 5 times, and third twice. The third place finishes were the LOWEST during that span.

Gorder and his "golden arm," the one that has completed a whopping 51% of his passes on the season, and a grand total of 2 td's (compared to 3 picks) through 5 games, looks like he's going to lead the Bison to about a 2-8 record this year. But hey, as long as he keeps racking up those jbb awards, who cares about wins and losses, right?

With Beatty also having shown he's a very capable back, plus the addition of Travis Lueck, who I really think will be a play-maker at receiver, I think the offensive cupboard will be pretty well-stocked next season. Also, the Sioux won't have that ridiculously hard road schedule next season. With UNC leaving, I guess it will be a moot point for a little while, but if everybody played or is playing 8 conference games the past two years, wouldn't it make more sense for everybody to have 4 home games and 4 road games instead of 3 and 5 (or 5 and 3)? I don't understand this scheduling by the NCC at all.

O.K., it was hardly a work of art, but I'll take an "ugly" win over a pretty loss any day. I can't say I was too surprised with the lack of offense. Traditionally, UND play-calling is notoriously conservative in big games, and you had the added dimension of an inexperienced quarterback, not to mention a freshman running back. Penalties really hurt, too. I was happy with the way the defense took control in the second half after being somewhat on their heals for much of the first half. All in all, any road win in the NCC is a good win. The Sioux are probably a year away from being really good. If they can go 8-3 or maybe even 9-2 this year, that will be a successful season in my eyes.

I see where 10 of 11 Fargo Forum sportswriters have picked UND to win the game on Saturday. I wonder when the last time 90+% of the Forum sports department considered the Bison to be an underdog in their own building?

Scott Swygman has said on more than one occasion on KKXL that he's seen Allen and he's the real deal. I also hear that Cara Demaine has looked very good in pick-up games for the womens team. On paper, this could be a very good season for both teams. I see that the rosters are now posted on the UND athletics website. Evan Lindahl is up to about 235 pounds, and listed at 6'10". That may be stretching things a little, but if he's even close to that size, with his offensive ability, the Sioux could have a devestating 1-2 punch with he and Beasley inside, and Brandt, Allen, Porter, Johnson, et al outside.

You would think that a program with 63 scholarships playing at home against a school with 36 scholarships (or less) would easily win, but for whatever it's worth, our friends from Central Washington went into Montana St. last Saturday and won convincingly. If I'm not mistaken, Central Washington's starting qb didn't even play. Montana St. is not as good as Montana, but they were actually ranked in the top 25 in I-AA a few weeks ago. Maybe this was something of an aberration, but then again last year New Haven beat a then-ranked Villanova team a few weeks after they were destroyed by the Sioux. I think it would take quite a while for NDSU to dominate consistently against any top-flight division II program. I really don't think the difference between the top I-AA teams and the top division II teams is all that great (see UNC against Montana this year). I certainly wouldn't hesitate to play home-and-home with NDSU for the foreseeable future. I wouldn't agree to a road-only series, but if they're willing to continue coming to UND every other year, then let's see how it plays out.

I too am very anxious to hear jbb's (remember, capitalization is a sign of respect ) take on how the Bison have gone into such a free fall the past few years. I'm sure we'll get some sort of "yeah, but you guys are only 2-2" response, but the difference is that no Sioux fans to my knowledge question that Dale Lennon is a good coach and has more than proven himself at UND, while it seems 90% of the Bison faithful want Bob "we were thoroughly outcoached" Babich's head on a platter. The other scary proposition for the Bison is that there hasn't been anyone good enough on the NDSU roster to beat out Graig Gorder for the starting qb position the past two years. For a guy who was supposed to be such a great recruiter, Bob hasn't exactly been recruiting many offensive impact players since he recruited Lamar Gordon in 1998.

UNC is actually a little below average size-wise on both lines by NCC standards, but I do know their defensive line is very good, as are the linebackers. I am not so sure about the db's, and I suspect that if the defense is going to be exploited, it will be by air (just like the Sioux defense). I think that a quick passing game will be way to attack the UNC defense, as I don't think Kelby will have a lot of time to sit in the pocket. The Sioux probably won't be able to make a living running between the tackles like they did last week, but I think they should try to run at least enough to keep the defense honest. I would expect a game very similar to last year's matchup, which was very low scoring with the Sioux winning 13-7. On paper, I think the Sioux have a good chance to win if they play with the kind of intensity they showed last week. UNC is not the type of team that typically puts a whole lot of points on the board, at least since Corte McGuffey graduated, but they don't give up many, either. I'm thinking the game will be about 13-10, one way or the other. If the Sioux don't turn the ball over, I think a win is very possible. Two or more turnovers, and I don't think UND will win.

Speaking of that lackluster turnout, I would think that the crowd for the Omaha game last year in Fargo might be a source of concern in the athletic department at ndsu. It was the best home game the bison had, but since the playoffs were a virtual impossibility at that point, a lot of people stayed away. Of course, that is just as likely to happen here late in the season if the Sioux are out of the playoff hunt, but Fargo apparently has at least its share of fair weather fans. That's probably why attendance for basketball hasn't been too good lately in Fargo.

You are absolutely correct. Maine, for example, has a football stadium capacity of 10,000. I suspect that there are many I-AA facilities that have even lower capacities than that.

Diggerdan: Here it is: http://www.billingsgazette.com/index.php?d...kusekcolumn.inc Upon re-reading this column, I guess it's possible that the deficit may have been pre-existing, and therefore I guess it is possible that UM made money last year. However, I think it's still a concern that a pretty successful mid-major program like Montana has a deficit of about three-quarters of a million dollars after a dream season like they just had.

Here's a statistic that I brought up some time ago on the d2football.com board but which apparently didn't resonate with too many people who are gung-ho about division I. Last year, Montana won the I-AA football championship and averaged around 20,000 per game in attendance. In other words, they probably did about as well as a I-AA football school can do in terms of football revenue. They also went to the NCAA tournament in mens basketball, which is a big deal financially and which any school moving up would have to wait a very long time to even be eligible to do. They offer far fewer sports than NCC schools do so that revenue didn't have to be spread as thin among several different sports as would happen at ndsu or any other ncc school that is moving up. And the athletic department still lost money (per an article in the Billings, Montana newspaper last spring). To me, that raises a lot of red flags right there. I personally would like to see UND play better non-conference teams in football, and if it were possible to move to I-AA in football but remain in division II in other sports, I would be for it. However, since that is not possible, and judging by what happened at Montana last year, it appears that a move to division I would be potentially disastrous financially. With regard to the potential for increased national exposure by going division I, keep in mind that the only way I-AA teams play on national tv is if they make it to the national championship game. Just like in division II. And God knows ndsu's basketball program is not exactly national tv-worthy. UND has played on either ESPN or ESPN2 a total of 11 times since 1997 (hockey 6 times, womens basketball 4 times and football once). Guess how many times ndsu has been on national tv during that time? Once. Is that going to change by going division I? Not likely. But heh, they might be on the ESPN and CNN tickers. I guess that's almost as good as playing on national TV

I think that UND will take a wait-and-see approach. If ndsu (and unc) fall flat on their faces and have major budget problems, then UND will stay in division II and continue to prosper. If the aforementioned two schools actually succeed, which I personally don't think will happen, then I think UND will make the move. The thing about UNC that perplexes me is that they don't draw well at all in division II, so consequently I doubt they generate much revenue from ticket sales. It would seem that if you don't generate revenue from ticket sales, you would have a lot of trouble coming up with the money to increase the budget by several million dollars. I would be shocked if UNC can actually make a go of this. NDSU depends very heavily on football to generate revenue. Last year, the one good home game they had was UNO, but since the mighty bison already had three losses at that point, the attendance was actually about 3,000 below their season average. My point is this: if a large percentage of their fans are of the fair weather variety, which it appears that they probably are, what will happen when the inevitable happens and they struggle? Will the crowds diminish considerably from where they were in division II? I think they are making the assumption that if you slap the division I label on it, people will all of a sudden come out in droves. I disagree. If you don't win, people will not get too excited about playing Northern Iowa or Western Illinois or Montana State.

I have been looking forward to seeing what Mahmoud could do ever since he was recruited a year and a half ago, and he's definitely a talent. If he stays healthy, he will do some great things. Another player who really looked good last night were freshman linebacker Digger Anderson. He was all over the field on both special teams and defense. Also, you had to be impressed with Jeff Glas's accuracy on his field goals. I'm not sure why he kept kicking those high, short kickoffs, but he looks to be as big of a weapon as Peterka was for field goals. Plus, he gets a lot more trajectory than Peterka so hopefully blocks won't be a problem as they were for Cameron at times. My biggest concern for the season is depth on the o-line. Last night, I believe there were only 8 healthy non-red shirt offensive linemen as Chris Kuper did not suit up. I believe Kuper, Matt Buisker and Andy Hendrickson will be capable backups, and Ben Murphy could always move back to the line if necessary, but I would have liked there to be a few more bodies there. It hurt a little when two guys who red-shirted last year chose not to come back.

Hennessy's line was funny, but why would he (and any other media members) actually pick NDSU to finish in the top two? I just don't see it. This is probably the least amount of proven returning talent they've had in a long time. While it's possible that they'll surprise me, I don't see them finishing much above 4th (behind the Sioux, UNO and UNC) unless Gorder all of a sudden becomes a good qb. Barring that, their offense will go nowhere because everybody will put 8 in the box and dare them to throw. If their offensive line couldn't consistently open holes for an NFL caliber back like Gordon, at least against the better defenses in the league, I don't see them doing it for Keontay Jackson or whoever they'll have at running back this year. As long as Babich is coaching, (and I hope he stays forever) NDSU is a lot of hype but not much in the way of substance. They haven't even won a share of the NCC title since what, about 1995? At least they win the recruiting battle every year, at least according to the Fargo Forum.

I actually think that the secondary will be strong. Thornburg at corner is probably as good as anyone in the conference. Stratton is a returning starter at free safety, and Copple has played a lot the past few years and should step in for O'Neil at strong safety. Ryan Manke is likely going to start at the other corner, and he's an outstanding athlete although unproven at this point. I know there were some freshman who red-shirted last year with good ability also, such as Josh Brandsted at safety, and Demetrius Charles and Jamaal Franklin at corner. Charles was either 2nd or 3rd in the 100 meters at the Minnesota State Meet his sr. year, and I believe Franklin was 3rd in the 100 at the Wisconsin State Meet so they definitely have the speed, anyway. Plus, the future looks pretty good as there's a kid coming in who was a first team all state corner in Colorado's large-school class, and Kurt Knoff's nephew (Tom DeSautel) who plays safety at about 6'5" and is quite an athlete also.

I read the same thing regarding Schwenzfeier but I am hoping that he is not really going to be the starter because I just don't think he's an NCC-caliber back. I'm sure he's a good kid, but he seems like a special teamer or deep reserve at running back at best based on what I've seen. Since he was the primary backup once Miller went down last year, I'm not surprised that he was named as the starter coming out of spring, but I have a feeling things will change once the real games start. Miller, Mahmoud and Chris Beatty all have better ability. I wonder if maybe Miller will be seeing some time at fullback this year?

It doesn't seen like the Sioux are getting much respect in the the pre-season polls out so far, but then again those polls don't mean anything anyway. I will be interested in the NCC media and coaches polls, however. I imagine the NCC polls will be something like this: 1. UND 2. UNO 3. NDSU 4. UNC 5. St. Cloud 6. SDSU 7. Mankato 8. Augie 9. USD UND is almost never picked to win in the pre-season for whatever reason. Regardless of the number of starters returning (or not returning), I would have a hard time picking any team other than UND as the favorite. UNO chokes almost every year, lacks discipline, and can't complete a pass to save their lives; NDSU has major issues at qb, rb, and play-calling; and UNC is 11-11 over the past two years and has trouble scoring points. The only questions I have for the Sioux are whether the new o-linemen can do the job (I believe they will), and whether the Sioux can win at least 2 of 3 at UNO, NDSU and UNC. If so, another NCC title is very possible. Any predictions for who will be the starting running back for the Sioux? I personally am hoping for Riza Mahmoud, who red-shirted last year. He has some serious speed and put up huge numbers in high school at Champlain Park (MN).