Irish

Good point - the problem is that Bubba is almost pathologically resistant to change - hell, it took him 5 years to get rid of Rudy. And our AD (who I once thought would do a great job) seems to be content to let program after program implode. Not sure where any change is coming from.

I said SOME are right here on this board.

Some are right here on this board - a lot of complaining but little call for a new coach.

This may be but I still am not sure about how this causes us to hire Muss and let Bubba ramble on for so long. A winning football program would cure a lot of ills. Remember, the Hockey program was successful before the new Ralph.

Some on this board act like the entire hockey team went into the AD's office in 2008 and demanded like they hire Mussman - but only if they promised to keep him for 6 years. Then, in 2014 they went again and insisted that in spite of other candidates they hire a coach with a 22-21 D II record - but only if he got Rudy for an offensive coordinator and kept him for 5 years. Without the Bubba factor we would have at least 5,000 more fans in seats this Saturday. With what Bubba has given us this year no one gives a crap about the opening video. The Athletic Department has let down the Football program, but mainly in their hiring and inability to hold coaches accountable.

The only way this would help is if Bubba went.

If they won with 16 it says more about us than them.

Predictable with periods of poor timing when running his "gadgets". Other than these flops we are pretty easy to defend.

I think Danny has either regressed or failed to adapt. I remember when we finally got ride of Rudy and he was like a breath of fresh air. Not so much anymore. I agree that he has become predictable. Our first problem is that other than our "trick" plays we don't keep any defense off balance or guessing. And we are seemingly unable to make teams pay for overloading or overplaying when they figure us out. Some of this may be due to our personnel, but hey, who recruited and assembled this offense. Our overall stats look ok because we are world-beaters against some weak teams. Look at our offense against good teams. Not good. Add in "4th down Bubba" and here we are with a losing record. Something needs to change and the odds of Bubba doing some true introspection are practically nil.

Mussman for 6 years (31-34), Bubba's 8th year (67-60) with Rudy for 5 of those - we have an incredible tolerance for mediocrity. Add in the fact that Bubba is perhaps the worst in-game manager in all of DI football - and he has another year on his contract extension. Here we are. Bitching on the fan board (usually with prompt rebuttals) is about as far as we go to demand change. Bubba is an upgrade from Muss and his teams have some flashes of really good play, but no one can snatch defeat from the jaws of victory like he can. Rinse, repeat. Cue blaming Hockey for the decline in interest and attendance.

Agree that Senior leadership is important - Bubba has been head coach and recruiter since 2014 so - well just do the math. And an all Senior roster still couldn't save us from Bubba's stupid in-game decisions.

If the "everyone back" includes Bubba then expect more of the same.

Be prepared for this board to blame this on Hockey.

Don't hold your breath waiting for tough questioning from our sportswriters - they will sometimes mention things in columns but face to face they will never press - like when Bubba went for it on our 20 he got away with mumbling something like "I thought we would make it" and no one pressed further. Not blaming the individuals, that just how the system works. Although to be fair, I would have worded my question something like "what in the F were you thinking?".

I said it earlier but this finish makes me want to repeat it - we would be better off if UND sponsored a Madden tournament and let the winner make all game-time calls.

Imagine where this program would be if Bubba was head coach (thoughout his tenure) but he was banned from entering the stadium during game day and we brought in a specialty coach whos only job was to manage the in-game decisions. At this point I would be happy if UND sponsored a Madden tournament and hired the winner for this position. Now imagine if Bubba had fired Rudy after his first 2 seasons. We are not far from being a really good program -

Izzo is the biggest Bison lickspittle ever - I can't stand the sight of him.

Fruit of going for it on 4th on our own 20.

I agree that the optics are not great - but in my opinion the Football program has done most of this this to themselves. Fans are still primed to get behind this program - but to watch them is often painful - Forget the Muss years - we have also had how many years of Rudy, and now we almost as painful to watch. If we had not gone for it on 4th at our own twenty and beat the Bison this place would be rockin' this weekend.

What really hurts our offense (other than offsides) is that with our skill set at receiver, QB, and O line we are really easy to overplay without the defense worrying about getting burned. As soon as teams do that we seem to grind to a halt. Add in play calling that keeps no one guessing and here we are.

To simplify things for you - for the athletes it means being assignment sharp and disciplined - not taking stupid offsides penalties etc. For Bubba, well, it has been well discussed here but basically it means making good in game decisions and putting his team in a position to win. This is Bubba's biggest weakness (see Bison game).

Agreed - how long do you think it will take Bubba to learn this?

Because the real opportunities are when you are on your own 20

I have no problem with trick plays - but it can't be your only source of success. Running an offense is a lot like pitching in baseball - you have your strengths to go to but the key is to keep the hitters off balance and guessing. No matter how good your fastball, if hitters know it's coming you're going to have a bad time (unless your name is Nolan). We don't keep anyone off balance or guessing. The word is out on our offense and we can't seem to make anyone pay for taking away the 5 yard pass or stacking the line.

Other than extending Bubba, I don't see this from Chaves. Every time our football hopes get up we get this crap. Football does it to themselves. They need a winning, well run program to get students and the younger crowd to care. We exist in a tough zone to build enthusiasm - any worse and they would get rid of Bubba and hopefully build something better - any better and we would be a program to watch. But no - we are stuck on mediocre with flashes of being really good - countered by times of utter crap. Think of the momentum if we had beaten the Bison. Self inflicted.