Irish

Agreed we've had some injuries - but this Bubba's 5th year. How is he doing with hogs overall?

Agree with this - this year is very important. In my opinion, in order to play smash-face Bubba Ball, you need to do several things: 1. Win some recruiting battles for stud hogs, 2. Keep the studs you have recruited, 3. Have a great development program for young hogs, and 4. Have a sensible and efficient scheme for blocking. 5. Have an offensive philosophy that keeps defenses off balance so they can't just dig in. Judge for yourself how many of these things we have going for us. Otherwise, the face getting smashed is ours.

In my opinion pure coaching malpractice. Although fans were disgusted, I think Bubba and staff got off lightly because A. We were just happy to finally be in a playoff game and thought we had turned the corner as a program, B. He was still not Mussman, and C. We were convinced we would make a deep run the next year. In most winning programs at least one, probably two heads would have rolled. How is Rudolf still here? I'm pretty disappointed in Bubba for this.

We seem to be endlessly patient - the problem here is that Bubba had a chance to deal with a less than stellar staff and decided all is well. He'd darn well better produce after endorsing the crap offense we have been subject to. And in the mean time, NDSU is top dog in North Dakota. Time to get serious about winning. And comparing anyone to Muss is a non starter. He's the reason we are still digging out of a hole.

To be fair, most of the country gives a crap about FCS football - although you get some nice press if you are 6 time champions.

Another factor that may tie into funding is fan expectations. Regardless of funds, how long would Mussman have lasted in Fargo? For sure gone after the Sioux Falls game. How about Rudolf? People demand a winner there while here we are content to win a conference championship here and there. How long since we won a playoff game? Not nearly as much pressure to win here. I think lack of demand for a winner is holding back some contributors - who wanted to pour more money down the hole Muss dug for example. Again chicken-egg. We need a break out - It could have been two years ago, but nooooo. Demanding a winner and being willing to pay for it are usually part of the same mind set (although not always) - We need to collectively decide we are tired of being second fiddle in this state and start to demand excellence.

I think everyone would agree that more funding for Football is desirable. The question is where should it come from. There is a bit of a chicken and egg thing about this - success means more ticket sales and more money which leads to more success. To some extent Football has been a victim not of hockey fans who see that as our main sport, but of poor decisions by the athletic department and coaches. First was our disastrous decision not to move to DI when NDSU did - this decision was spearheaded by the AD who was a former football coach. Next was the disastrous Mussman hire and the fact that we let him linger so long - it cost us at least 8 years while our rivals were seeing much success. Finally, when we did have the chance to advance on the national stage we had one of the biggest playoff collapses in history capped off the the famous triple reverse. Then, when enthusiasm was high again we got last year. Now Bubba thinks that Rudolf is the man to run our offence. In spite of this there is still a lot of reason for optimism. We seem to have talent going into next year, although key positions still need to be manned. We have completed with phase I of our new practice facility and have plans to start phase II. When the Bison started their run in DI they didn't have all the cash in the world or sold out attendance. They were coming off a period where we were dominant. What they did have is great coaching hires and the ability to get it done on the field with a great philosophy and players who fit into that scheme. Time for Bubba to get it done and get us an offence that it is out of the 19th century. Sioux football can be dominant again, but time to show it on the field. There was more pre-season buzz last year than I have seen in a long time. Time to recapture that.

I support the FB program and have season tickets like I mentioned. I am fully in support of developing this program into a National Champion. Bubba brought in a great attitude and is a great ambassador for the program. However, he needs to get it done on the field too - so far he hasn't shown the moxy to make any tough staff moves. We are moving in a positive direction with funding an facilities. This is a big year for Bubba as he has hitched his wagon to some coaches who need to step up their game. The program was on track to build a great following until last year's derailment. Attendance and game enthusiasm was at a high point. Time to turn things around in a big way. And just my personal gripe - It's hard to get too optimistic when your head coach thinks Rudolf is the man to guide the offense.

Maybe just the fans on this board are doing the complaining. I support the FB program and have season tickets but the jealousy towards hockey gets a bit much.

When the FB team wins a national championship not just a conference title then they should get rings pronto too. Until then they need to get their program in order and stop whining about Hockey. They need to have a bit of playoff success before they start complaining.

In a cost-cutting move, the pinheads who run The Pepper decided to ruin a classic and go with the guy who swore "he had the recipe and could make the bread just the same so no one would notice" - and cheaper. I'm done with the Pepper.

I get it now, but after last season this is exactly where we are weak. It would not have needed a smiley a few years ago, but now?????

I don't think we disagree on what we want - just slightly on how to get there. I think that we can agree that last year's team played the opposite of what you want. Play for 60 minutes? From what I saw, we set a modern day record at UND for leads given up, goals given up within a minute of scoring, and missed open nets. As for short, crisp passes - chipping it off the glass doesn't count. It sounds like almost everyone wants us to step up the recruiting from certainly the soon to be Junior class that gave us the lack of puck skills we saw up front last year. Blue Chippers by definition should have skills coming in. You don't have to look further back than the passing clinic goal against Miami to see short, crisp passes in action. Touching the puck in that sequence were Boesser and Schmaltz, two Blue Chippers, and Caggula and Stecher who seem to be the kind of player you desire. I submit that we need a mix of both and the great experiment of getting more grinders and fewer top talent because they might leave early has left us short. We need both high enders and players who develop into high enders in College. We need to recruit like we are the top program in the country (which we are). I loved Rizzo's comments about our program. Blue Chippers are certainly not all that matters, but they do matter a lot.

Rudolf somehow thinks this "strategery" will somehow flummox the defense so they won't know how to stop our 185 pound running back from going up the middle. He's a typical case of an idiot who knows just enough technical things to be a menace.

Great news - nice job staff - watch and see how much he contributes to our program. Hopefully another Boesser. Let's keep our roll going.

I'm in for Nashville

First Rounders, second rounders, third rounders - either way as long as we don't return to the "we need more grinders" philosophy that gave us our Junior class.

I don't disagree with what you are saying but I was referring to a couple of years of no Blue Chippers - 6-7 players per year times two. Do I like second rounders - absolutely. Do I want us to be a top school that top talent wants to attend because of fans, tradition, and player development - absolutely again. We need to get back on top and soon.

Don't get me wrong - I really like some of the guys we have coming in. However, by your math, if we go a couple of years without a Blue Chipper that means that the top 12 -14 rated players available during that time are going elsewhere. This is not where I think our program should be on a regular basis. We used to be one of the main "go to" schools for these guys. I hope we will be again.

Agreed that we had a spectacular D corp. However, we needed the strength up front also. Watch the title game and see the Caggula, Schmaltz, and Boesser clinic. Not only were they high end talent, but they were tenacious off the puck and worked their butts off. After last year, most fans are concerned that A - we make the tournament this year and B - we don't add a third straight year of no Frozen Four appearances. And what do us non-insiders have to talk about in the off season - recruiting. Remember, through the 16 Championship season we have had a great run of Blue Chippers. Is this the only way to measure recruiting - of course not. Have we been missing out on desired studs and losing them to other teams? - no one knows. Has the recruiting philosophy changed? No one knows. Do we have the mix that the coaches are looking for? Probably, but too soon to tell. Is it getting harder and harder to predict who will up their game in College and who will fold? Probably. My point is that during the off season this is what we have to talk about. After last season, especially up front, a reasonable conclusion is that we need to up our recruiting game. Blue Chippers are not the end all, but sometimes are seen as an indication that our program is still on top. We used to be seen as THE school to go to as a step towards the Pros. And sometimes a slow drip of Studs signing with other teams provokes an over reaction. Not every wish for some Blue Chippers is a condemnation of the players we have recruited.

I never said or implied that we were a bunch of talentless hacks. I just stated that in my opinion we need some bona fide blue chippers in our mix. We are the team of Oshie, Parise, Boesser, Toews, Schmaltz, etc. We have had numerous first rounders here (5 at one time, I believe). No reason we shouldn't continue to recruit them heavily. I like a lot of our talent coming in, but one true Blue Chipper could be the difference in a championship much like Boesser was.

We have one Blue Chipper in recent history leave after 1 - Jost. Boesser was one of the engines that drove the train to number 9. Not sure why this board has turned against getting Blue Chippers unless it is just sour grapes. High end studs need to be in our mix.

Let's get some of these guys.

The fact that this hasn't crept into Rudolph's brain so far is just unbelievable. The fact that Bubba hasn't forced it into his skull so far is even more unbelievable. Hopefully this year will be different.

Yes on rusher - we have the talent as long as we don't try to pick it up 1 yard up the middle at a time No on receiver - it would be nice though and with a new QB coming in it isn't out of reach.