Irish

- I'm not reading this as a reaction to losing to Washington. This is Bubba's fifth year and a legit question. What we have learned so far this year is that Bubba is Bubba and probably will not change a lot. So .... can we take the next step? Pro's - stopped the sideline dancing and has instilled a better work ethic, worked hard to improve the game day experience. Other than last year has generally improved the defense. Tied for a Big Sky conf. Championship - has recruited some talented players. Cons - Has given us perhaps the worst O coordinator I have seen in my 50 years as a fan and refuses to change. Immediately after winning the Big Sky, pisses away our first home playoff game in ages with perhaps the worst overall coaching job I have ever seen in the second half of the game. Failure to adequately recruit the QB position - Studs was a gamer for sure and one tough cookie but still - last year we had a 4th year starter who couldn't throw downfield, locked on to a receiver, and had trouble throwing a screen pass. We need a good QB recruit every year. Has not shown the ability to recruit and keep O linemen - In a Bubbaworld O linemen are the key to our team. Has not recruited talented receivers (we had better skills here during our D-2 days) - Has shown almost no ability to adjust in general, but especially during the game. Special teams are pathetic - our lack of coverage is frustrating and lack of kickers may be a season breaker. In summary - when we evaluate Bubba we need to take his assistants too as he has shown he will never make changes. He will always remain the guy who thinks "if we punt from here we can really put them back". In my mind it's playoffs or bust this year.

I fear Rudy is on the hot seat only on this board - Bubba seems to love him. We recruited much better kickers when we were DII - this is on the coaches.

I was overall pretty happy with our effort - even though some weaknesses in talent were exposed. In my opinion, everyone left it out on the field except Rudolph and Bubba. Come up with a philosophy and game plan that allows us to play to win. I am getting more frustrated with Bubba this year - Rudolf will always be a clown and I don't expect him to change.

Who had Santiago up the middle for our first play?

Talk them into a "jobswapping" day - trade O coordinators. Then put 8 in the box to stop their smallest running back from going up the middle.

I find it very sad that this is our tradition - other fans should too.

Totally agree -

Rudolph misses the flight and "chuck the pigskin" is signed up for a game.

This - To be brutally honest our program has been wandering in the wilderness for quite a long time while the knuckleheads to the south have had unprecedented success. We are desperately wanting to compete again. That's why a sloppy win isn't satisfying. We really want to see an assignment sharp, hard hitting, crisp football team with schemes to match our personnel. That's why fans have been so hard on the team. It's time (and I'm not saying that can't be the rest of this season) - starting with this week.

Could not agree more - besides the losing, one of the most frustrating aspects of last year was how we looked - at times difficult to watch. We need to come out and look like a team that is assignment sharp and ready to do some hitting. If we get beat by more talent then so be it, but let's earn some respect by giving them a real football game.

Great - lets continue to load up. Good to get a local kid with skills

I think they will get it together, but didn't yesterday - Our parking lot had changed as a Sioux Club member - they had about 5 guys milling about, 1 or 2 collecting $5, and absolutely no one directing anyone to the proper lane or showing them where the new parking was. With more traffic it could have been frustrating as we got in the lane for paid parking because of no help from staff.

A win is a win and it's nice to start with one. However, in order to keep attendance and interest high we must improve. How long has it been since we played a crisp, assignment sharp, hard hitting game? Seems like forever. Most fans left thinking this game was at best so-so. We need to pick it up or we are going to get our heads handed to us the next two weeks.

Why in the world can't we organize a decent kickoff coverage - it's not rocket science.

What is Duluth bringing back? I really hate it when Duluth and St. Clown are better than us - hopefully with our recruits on deck it will be short lived.

This is not the team I had hoped to see this year - looks a lot like last year's team with a QB that can throw downfield.

I have been critical of Bubba's personnel and scheme decisions, but today he deserves props for trying to make the game day experience memorable. It is good to have a coach who cares this much. With a successful season Sioux Football could become the place to be.

This guy is a menace who likes to break things just to see what would happen. He needs to be gone.

I agree - it started to kill the buzz last year - good thing this year laying an egg means winning by 20.

I usually am pretty supportive of Tom, but it looks like he too has pledged fealty to his Fargo overlords.

If we spent the off season evaluating what went wrong with a sharp eye and making some adjustments I think we could surprise the heck out of Sam Houston. Even with an average O line our offense could be hard to stop with the weapons we have and a QB with better throwing skills. I am excited and optimistic about this game.

But with countless different line checks for each.

Nice article on Central goalie Kaleb Johnson in todays Heraldo. Can anyone fill me in on his recruitment? Sorry if this has been mentioned previously - I must have missed it. Is he someone we are interested in/recruiting?

QB is a position that has been poorly recruited and developed - hopefully this will change this year. Lack of a quality QB recruit each year and mis-managing QB talent has been a major failure of the Bubba era.

A great competitor and teammate who gave his all. But let's be honest about his QB skills - had trouble with the long ball, tended to lock on a receiver instead of reading the progression, and had a terrible time with a simple screen pass. We seriously need a better arm at QB in order to win, especially with Mr. Double Reverse calling the plays. Bubba has done a poor job so far developing QB's (and even being able to recognize who is capable of playing QB as shown last season). Hopefully the competition this year will lead to some increased skills.