Irish

North Dakota is a small state - those of us who live here have to co-mingle with the fans of the farmers down south - we even have to put up with their trolls on this board. Even though we don't play them, we are often in comparison. It has been a long day already at work. While I don't expect us to be at the same point as they are, I don't expect what I saw on Saturday ever. We have had 5 years to prepare for the Big Sky. We need to raise expectations and right soon or we are in for years of mediocrity - remember how long it took us to recover from the Burns era.

We need to sit the defense down and tell them in no uncertain terms that if they don't want to go out and smack someone they can ride the pine - I'd rather lose with attitude playing second and third in the depth chart than this death of 1000 cuts. I think the defensive play is the reason why fans are so frustrated. We are used to Fighting Sioux Football where win, lose, or draw, you knew you were in a football game. Right now, the buck stops with Muss. I'm not sure who was responsible for recruiting the defense, but we are clearly in over our heads at this division. It's hard to tell if this is a failure to recruit, a failure of our scheme, a failure to adjust, or players failure to execute - probably some of each. I'm not sure I see a fix this year - we are preparing for game 7 - nothing has improved significantly so far. I just know that we are a long ways from where we need to be in order to compete at this level.

Rocco

Knight

Any of the several games where the crowd was able to chant Kaanguus, Kaanguus - and Kangus was pouting and sitting in his goal swatting a puck out

Anybody else think that we don't have the horses up front to play the 3-4? If the linemen can' hold and occupy the O line, you're gonna have a bad time. Linebackers need to be mobile and hostile (in the Digger Anderson mold). I'm not sure that a different formation would be the answer for this defense, but I'm starting to think that the 3-4's time has passed. It was put in to stop the Bison option, and didn't look like an option stopper yesterday.

Careful what you say or green_sioux will accuse you of knowing more than the coaches

Is this Mrs. Mussman?

Wow - apparently my comment has been irritating you since July - I'm glad you finally thought of a fitting retort - the always popular "you think you know more than the coaches". I'm not the only fan that has been frustrated with some of the game decisions and some of the transition. He still needs a signature win and a breakout season in my opinion. So far so good this season, but we do have a defense to get on track. In my mind, the jury is still out. Since this is a fan discussion board where people express their opinions, I guess you will have to learn to try and deal with that.

I'll admit to criticizing Hak in the past for some issues, but team discipline isn't one of them. There is no doubt in my mind he's acted appropriately on this matter. I am amazed that this thread has taken on a life of its own. Hak is in a position to know all the facts on this. Let's trust him and move on to a hockey discussion that involves ice and skates.

Wow - Faison had done some pretty competent things as AD - The Big Sky is one, but he seems to be completely oblivious when he comes to hockey. The new conference started out with such hope, and has been nothing but disappointing since. First St. Clown instead of Notre Dame, then the disastrous (to us) TV contract, not this. I thought once we got the cream of the crop (less St. Clown) in a conference with us, we would do away with the old WCHA politics of the inmates running the asylum. Apparently not. I thought we would commit to excellence from top to bottom and eliminate the rush to mediocrity that seemed to permeate the WCHA. The officiating was one of the biggest frustrations. Guess not. We must not have any say in this league. Time for Faison to stick up for UND.

In trying to pack the Alerus, the first group that I would try get to show up is our defense.

Couldn't have said it better - Moral victories instead of real victories get old after a while

I think I should feel better about this game than I do. Once again we fall short - Where did our defense go all of a sudden? It has been long enough - Time for Muss to give us a complete game and a big win.

Which brings up the question - why haven't we recruited talent like they have - I know we have some QB talent now, but this is the longest QB dry spell I can ever remember. We have some work to do, both on the field and getting people in the stands. This is a pivotal year. Hope we can come through.

Good point, but we haven't exactly player world-beaters. We need to take it up a notch and that starts with the game plan.

I think we agree to disagree - I think Mussman has wussed out on multiple occasions - hopefully we are fully loaded now we can change this. It pains me to say it, but the Bison have gone into their FBS games with a much more aggressive attitude and it has payed off. Muss needs to win a big one and soon. Rebuilding is over.

Perhaps Gene Murphy

Maybe he is - then go down there and call a game that gives us a chance to win. No repeat of last year where he totally wussed out (actually, I wish it was only one game - this has been a pattern of his). I'm not sure what Muss is like in the locker room, but on the field at game day he needs to strap on a pair.

It's not really about a FBS win - It's about swagger and buzz. FBS wins help give you both. The early 2000's teams had this in spades. When you went to a game you knew that you would see the Sioux get after someone. On your feet Sioux fans for another third down and long meant something. Game in game out, we brought it. We knew that anyone coming to Grand Forks would have a bad time. We lost almost all of that feeling during the transition. It's easy to blame the schedule, which was crappy, but I think the product we put out on the field had a lot to do with it. We lost the in your face defensive attitude. A lot of the fall is due to our lackluster play. The Sioux Falls game was the final blow - I think we are still paying for it. While diehard ticket holders and older Sioux fans kept supporting the team, a lot of college students had no interest in watching a program that had an NAIA team eat its lunch (at home) when we had one of the best college hockey programs in the country on campus. We are a lot better team now and have some things to be excited about, especially with the passing game and talented young receiving corps. We have not recaptured that old feeling yet. I think some of this has to do with style of play. Many people have an idea of what Sioux Football is all about. It does not include lackluster line play and sloppy tackling. Even though Saturday's win was great it wasn't totally satisfying. The Bison had several 10-1 seasons and some FBS beatdowns to revive their program. What have we had so far? I think we are improving, but we need a team personality. Something to rally behind. So far, I think a lot of the fan excitement involves the teams we are playing. We need the buzz to be about Sioux Football again.

Agreed that our defense was a major disappointment. Worst tackling performance in a long time. I'm most worried about our line play on both sides of the ball. Our quarterback was our leading rusher with 50 yards - with our stable of running backs, that is ridiculous. I think PSU should have lines that are somewhere in the middle of the Big Sky in talent..If we don't figure out how to get a push, it's going to be a long season. I'm sure the team is working on this - I just hope it was a one game thing and not an indication of where we are in talent.

I'm surprised how fast our strengths turned into weaknesses and weaknesses into strengths.It was almost a total opposite from last year We got great quarterback play, especially considering he was a back-up, our receivers were big, strong, and fast, and our defensive backs played adequately On the other hand, our running game was as poor as I can ever remember, we got absolutely no line push on either side of the ball, and our tackling was horrible. The thing that excites me the most is our passing game with this corps of receivers. They will give almost everyone trouble. What worries me the most is line play. If this is an indication of how our lines on both sides of the ball stack up in the Big Sky, we could be in for some misery.

Great to win but I'm not sure what to make of this game - Hendrickson carried us - Take away his performance and you have a defense that gives up over 500 yards and has numerous missed tackles, a team that takes 11 penalties, a line that couldn't run block. On the other hand we forced turnovers and made them pay. We have much to be excited about, but also much to work on. This sloppy play won't do in the middle of the season.