Irish

I get the same message

Moving up to DI means that you will have to adjust to playing better athletes and a faster game - It may take a few years. It doesn't mean that your team should suddenly play like they have never heard of the fundamentals of the game or teamwork. This applies also to the football team.

I can't stand the Bison, but they are setting the bar pretty high. Wake up call time for Muss and Company. We need to demand excellence from our program too, and right soon.

It seems to me that Hak's teams slow starts have some commonalities (actually many, but some are just general poor hockey play). We always have trouble with the break-out. It doesn't matter if we have many veterans returning or just a few, there seems to be no flow in our play for at least half a year. Poor to uneven special teams play (see the Notre Dame game - we had just scored and had a 5 on 3 advantage - a real chance to take over the game - how did that work for us) - also see the Notre Dame example for extremely poor penalties we sometimes take. And finally, a rash of horrible turnovers by guys who should know better . If this happens once or twice this could just be a team that needs to work the kinks out. But 8 years running? I really felt that with the fantastic effort we got from some of the young guys last year and with the amount of talent returning that this would be the year we didn't have this start. We need to feel a sense of urgency and get it together now.

Come on - we are way too talented to play like this at the start of the season. These starts are getting old. Get it done.

You make a good point - Many fans remember the teams you mention - in fact when you look at the Basketball crowd you see mostly older fans. Why? Because it has been a long time since Sioux basketball has been top notch. Now we see a very talented group of Juniors. Why are they criticized? Because if you watched any of Gunther's teams you saw an extremely cohesive unit that played total team ball. Maybe not always the best talent, but a group that played smart and followed his system to much success. Some of the best shooting guards ever including Scarprud and Goodrich. You never saw these guys whine and take reckless shots or pout if they didn't get the ball enough to suit them. Watching this very talented group can be very frustrating in so many ways. They need to get it together and play as a team - I'm not saying they never do, it's just that they don't consistently do it.

Just saying that a feature of Hat's teams is that they coast until January - I can understand when some teams need to work out chemistry etc and jell later, but almost every Hak coached team under performs until the second half - Although it is nice to see the second half surge, It would be nice to get it done from start to finish. I can't believe that we have to start over every year. We have enough returners to understand his system this year.

how about the last 8 years?

Name me another top flight team that doesn't start playing up to potential until late January

Couldn't agree more - with what we have returning no way I expected this start - when will Hak's teams start playing the first half of the year - this can't be part of a winning stategy - and a coach got fired to give us this defense

I think it's safe to say that no one knows quite what to think of the lack of tackling we saw this year. Is it lack of talent, lack of speed, poor defensive schemes, coaching, lack of concentration, lack of leadership and pride, or probably a little of all. You are right, at this level all defensive players should know how to tackle. And, after one or two poor showings you would think they would have gotten their acts together. All we know is that we expected a fairly salty defense this year and instead this bizarro team showed up and stayed all year. The total inability to solve this problem makes me wonder.

Muss needs to get his act together and get this program on track soon or we are looking at a lost decade of Sioux Football. How we go through a year with a defense that looks like ours did is beyond me. I have seen high school programs that were much more assignment sharp and ready to play than we were - not to mention better tacklers. It seems like a good many are ready to settle for mediocrity and have adjusted expectations down. What has Muss shown this far that makes you think he will lead us to the top?

Add about 4 years to pull the program out of the hole he dug, and you have way over a lost decade. I have seen nothing from Muss to indicate he's the guy we need and plenty to show he is not. How many years do we want this program to go dark?

How do you like him now? I never said I was smarter than the coaches, but I sure as hell could manage the end of a game better than Muss did today.

Hey Saunders - what does it feel like to play behind 6 drafted defensemen? Hard to say - he sees the same amount of rubber. I am very tired of the Sioux mailing it in until after Christmas - there are enough veterans on this team to have a decent start and play up to our talent. I've always liked Gleeson, but he might as well shoot one in our goal each game.

Friday - Forbert Saturday - Rocco

I would feel a whole lot better about the officiating that we saw this weekend if next year we had a league run right. I thought the Sioux were movers and shakers in the new league. How in the wide wide world of sports did we end up with the director of officials being the only ref who has publicly stated his hatred for the Sioux (and hosed us again this weekend). What is Faison doing - I wish Sioux fans would insist on a public accounting from Faison on why this tool was selected for the new league. Have we no say in things at all. Someone needs to come clean on what happened because it is not good news for Sioux hockey.

I don't think this team will ever learn about bad shots and coach can't/won't insist that they do

We have a lot of guys on this team who won last year on sheer discipline and force of will. Why do all of Hak's teams have to revert to this kind of start?

This is really pathetic - if Football can't pull it's own weight there is something seriously wrong

Mediocrity is setting into the Sioux Football program. Remember, it took 4-5 years for Roger Thomas to dig us out of the 6 year hole left by Pat Burns. If things don't change and soon we need to get used to 7000 home crowds with a disinterested student body. It is telling that with a Big Sky opponent coming here for a game, the only interest in football on the Siouxsports site is this thread. If we get complacent, it will be a long black hole for Sioux Football.

As compared to your green tinted ones - what a logical fallacy - replace the part of our team that has played really poorly and we would have a pretty good season. Any team in the country could say that. Fact is this is the worst defense in modern Sioux history, so I suppose you are right - if they weren't so horrible we would have a better team. This program needs to get better and soon - maybe next year will be all you say it will - if so, great, we are back on track. However, remember how we predicted this season would go. I agree that we have some outstanding talent that we can be proud of and that gives up hope. We also have some areas that are so far below what is required at this level it is scary. I just would hate for us to settle in for a long period of average teams. Nothing I've seen so far in this transition indicates otherwise.

Agree that it's the first year of full conference membership and we shouldn't expect to win it all. However, our transition has been lackluster, 8-3 last year with the worst schedule ever, nonwithstanding. NDSU had two 10-1 seasons where they could at least thump their chests and talk about how well they would have done in the playoffs and had several signature wins. If we don't see significant improvement over the next two years, it'll be a long way back. Remember how long it took to recover from the Burns years. I think many Sioux fans are readjusting their expectations downward at this point.

Couldn't agree more - the question is how long are we willing to wait - for each season of mediocrity, the way back gets harder.

The reality is that this type of attendance is the new reality for Sioux football as long as we put out a mediocre product and for as long as the dedicated core of fans adjust their expectations downward. The idea that we are talking about tying football attendance to hockey tickets is pathetic - if football wants more butts in the stands then go out and have an outstanding season, make the playoffs, or get a signature win. Name one other campus where football doesn't carry its own water. Yes, there have been some exciting home games, but there also have been some real duds. Let's face it, our transition has been average at best. No signature wins, a so-so record, and some memorable losses. Even though the Sioux Falls game was 3 years ago, it definitely killed the buzz and excitement around the football program. Beating a 3-4 team at home is nice, but not a signature win - not even close.