RD17

This is a game UND can and should win. I'll be most interested to see if the offense can continue its improvement. UND 28 Stony Brook 17

I'm not sure why DI is so concerned about school moving into the division from outside the NCAA. Outside of Oklahoma City University, who I know has looked at it, are there any more NAIA or JUCO schools out there that could even pull this off? Seems like a non issue to me. What will be a big deal is what they come up with for a potential fee structure for schools wanting to moving from D-II in to D-I. If set high enough and tied in with mandatory conference affiliation, it will be a deal breaker for many schools that would consider the jump.

Argus Leader article

Butch Raymond has been hinting that alignment will be looked at after they get to 16. So it could be that they end up with an East/West format instead of North/South. If it went to East/West all of those Minnesota schools you mention would be in the same division. Bottom line is that smaller conferences are a thing of the past in D-II. The MIAA is a key conference in the middle of the country because they are a natural non-conference opponent for surrounding leagues. But they are going to 12 football teams in a couple of years and there is talk that they will go to an 11 game conference only schedule. Makes the prospects of out of conference scheduling in football very daunting if you're an NSIC AD.

My thoughts on the game: 1) The offense was much better than the last game I watched (Northwestern State). The offensive line looks like it is starting to come together and they really did a nice job of opening up running lanes. Landry played better and Bamba is developing into a star at receiver. 2) Even though the 12 points allowed looks nice, I was not very comfortable with how the defense played for the most part. The tackling still isn't very good and as I've mentioned before, UND really lacks playmakers at linebacker. Hard to play an effective 3-4 when that is your weak point. 3) I've never been a big Noah Shephard fan. He's too inconsistent throwing the football and Saturday was another case of that. 4) Seemed to be a lot of post game whinning coming from Ed Meierkort. Normally he is pretty gracious but I'm guessing the frustration of not being able to beat UND is getting to him? 5) The Alerus looks good with the new UND signage. A much needed improvement. 6) I hate singling out players for performance, but Delano Saporu REALLY needs some work with a tackling dummy. 7) I mentioned before the Northwestern State game that UND needed to come out of this week 2-2 to have a good shot at a winning season. Mission accomplished. 8) Mussman is doing a nice job of coaching. This isn't the most talented team in the world but they are finding ways to win. A couple more years and UND should be a very good FCS program. 9) The 4 PM start time is a very good idea IMO. Like others in this thread have stated, it gives more time for socializing/ tailgating and gives people a chance to get weekend tasks done in the morning while still easily making the game. 10) Sioux football on national TV is awesome!

You are a prophet.

It's interesting that even though both teams suffered blowout losses, the writer determined that USD is far superior based on the weak opponents they have beaten up on? I'm guessing that if you flipped schedules, UND would be sitting at 3-1 right now with some blowout wins while USD would be lucky to be 1-2 based on how poorly they typically play on the road.

So if attendance is reported as 12,287 its a sellout? Any idea what the suites might hold?

Does anyone know if announced attendance includes the suites?

I live in KC and I set the DVR to record it so I could watch it later. I had a local friend who was channel surfing call me and they were in shock that the Sioux Sports Extra show would be carried on cable in KC. The exposure from this is going to be huge.

I believe Minot State and Sioux Falls are both as good as in the NSIC. There are some rumblings that Augustana wouldn't be happy with USF in its league, but Augie would also find itself in a tough spot politically if it tried to block USF. It would have to take something very surprising like Michigan Tech or Nebraska-Kearney showing interest for the league to shift in a different direction. I also firmly believe there will be no future split of the NSIC. From what I'm hearing, the former NCC schools are pretty happy with being able to be the big dogs in their new league. Everyone in D-II is still alarmed by how the NCC crumbled, and even though 16 schools seems like a lot, the odds that a group of schools would try to form a new smaller conference and potentially find themselves isolated again are slim. The former NCC schools also know that the only way they will get their old NCC rivalries back is to move to D-I, which isn't in the cards for any of them. I know Mankato's president has a long term goal of solidifying MSU as the premier school in the state behind UMTC, but unless Glenn Taylor really opens his pocketbook, the facilities and fan support aren't there to make D-I work. Not to mention the probable new requirements just to start up the D-I process are likely to be quite prohibitive. Also, I believe Black Hills State and South Dakota Tech will both declare for D-II within the next couple of years and both will end up in the RMAC. I cannot understand why schools like Dickinson and Jamestown don't see the writing on the wall and start studying their options. They will be left completely out in the cold if/when the DAC falls apart.

I think you are spot on with this analysis. People are quick to blame the secondary when teams start throwing the ball effectively, but the secondary can only do so much if there is no pass rush and the linebackers are not making plays in space on those short passes. UND's linebacking group is junior and senior dominated, but unfortunately, the talent just isn't there. Miller is a decent ILB and Kasowski makes some plays at times but outside of that, the group just isn't that athletic. The other thing that really hurts is that Bobby Stroup would have been a senior this year and likely a dominant pass rusher coming off the edge, which could have made a huge difference in this defense. The coaching staff brought in a big group of LB's in the last recruiting class and I believe at least two of them would be playing a major role right now if the decision hadn't been made to redshirt and build for the future. I suppose Mussman could have gone out and signed 2 or 3 JUCO's to come in and play now but all that would have done is displaced some veterans and upset team chemistry, and we'd be right back at the same juncture in 2 years. Both NDSU and USD have been run off of the field in a game this year and yet both played respectably against pretty good offenses last week. I would also think that with the combination of playing at home against a rival and having something to prove after last week's poor performance, UND will look like a whole different defense these next couple of weeks. The other point I wanted to make about this game in particular is that obviously the heat was a detriment to UND because they weren't used to it, but also the two returns for touchdowns in the first half probably hurt the UND defense in this game as much as anything. That gave SFA two more immediate offensive possessions and probably contributed to UND wearing down quickly.

I think it is a very good sign that so many of these guys are playing early simply because this was the first D-I recruiting class when it comes to money. In other words, the previous couple of recruiting classes knew that UND was moving to D-I, but they weren't getting the full ride offers initially. Apparently, the coaching staff did a pretty good job of targeting kids that were talented enough to make an immediate impact. Also, attrition was a big problem with the 2005-07 recruiting classes which contributed to the need for many of these guys to play early. If you project out two years with many of the players in this class redshirt juniors, and then add what apparently is a very good 2009 recruiting class to the mix as sophomores, and you start to have the pieces in place to compete at a high level as the transition ends. I think Mussman knows the importance of sticking to the plan and redshirting everyone that he can, and it should pay off over the long haul.

Actually, I think USF is built a bit different than what you would typically see from a lower division team. They are big on the oline (like 6-3, 300 kind of big) and they should be able to physically challenge UND more than you would expect from an NAIA team. UND's advantage should be speed and depth at the skill positions, but if they don't come ready to play this game will be a problem.

I'm thinking along the same lines as you, although USD will be tough. Also, you can call me crazy (and many of you did last year when I said UMD would have won the NCC and would give Grand Valley all they could handle ) but UND will have its hands full with Sioux Falls. Yes, USF is NAIA but they have a great team. I really like the job Faison has done so far, but scheduling a team like USF was not wise at this point in the transition.

I am encouraged to hear (by watching the Mussman interview on fightingsioux.com) that the offense is going to open things up some this week. I think the decision was made going into the Texas Tech game to be real conservative so as to stay in the game. Then NSU was so mistake prone offensively that I'm betting the coaches decided a conservative game plan was best because NSU would probably implode and beat themselves. But SFA is pretty good offensively and Mussman probably knows that UND will have to score some points and keep their offense off the field. UND cannot go on all season winning games with under 300 yards of total offense and the gloves need to come off. Hopefully the guys are up to the task. I think what happens this week with the offense (whether they can be successful or not) will go a long way towards determining how the rest of the season plays out.

I think some of this goes back to line play, but in addition the poor running game was also due to the game situation. I think Mussman and the offensive coaches knew that the offense was not ready to really open up the playbook and once the interception that led to the NSU touchdown happened, the decision was made to go very conservative and try to led the defense win the game. NSU knew it also and was crowding the line of scrimmage and limiting most runs to 3 yards or less, but I'm guessing that Mussman felt that NSU was so mistake prone offensively that they wouldn't be able to score more points unless they were handed to them.

I had a chance to watch the replay of the game and these are my thoughts: 1. The talent level is not yet where it needs to be a real good FCS team. Need more size and speed on defense and the oline needs to be better. 2. Landry did not play well and he has to do a better job. Too many missed receivers/ off throws. I think he will play better as he gets timing down with the young receivers but UND will struggle to win games if he continues to play like he did Saturday. 3. Mitch Sutton is a player. Not a polished running back at this point because he lacks patience to set up blocks but he will do some good things these next 4 years. 4. The offense needs to find a way to get the new RB Davis more involved. He is the one guy that can make people miss in space. 5. The special teams are very good. Hellevang is finally looking like a college kicker and the blocked punt was a huge play. 6. Mussman does a very good job of gameplanning and having the team prepared in general. He just needs to upgrade the talent level (which I continue to hear is on the way with this year's recruiting class) and this will be an upper echelon FCS program very soon. 7. The NSU secondary could have been exploited with better play from Landry and the receivers. The 2007 UND team would have scored 2-3 more TDs on them IMO. 8. As was stated by others, any road win at this point is a good one no matter how its done. Need to keep improving the program incrementally and this team will be where it needs to be in 2012. 9. After watching the replay in slow motion the NSU player definitely fumbled on their last scoring drive (ref said he was down) which would have put the game away. 10. I still think this is a 5 or maybe 6 win team at this point unless the offense improves greatly over the next couple of weeks.

My thinking is that UND needs to win 2 of its next 3 (NSU, Stephen F. Austin, USD) to have a good shot at a winning season. UC Davis, Cal Poly, and Central Arkansas should be the three best FCS teams the Sioux play and they cannot go into that stretch of the season with a .500 (or below) record. The extra week of practice should help with offensive continuity and hopefully the success at TTU has bolstered team confidence.

I still have a great deal of concern about UND's offense. Yes, they did a nice job of not making mistakes and getting a few first downs against Texas Tech, but it will take more than that to win some of these FCS games. Landry is solid, but the offensive line still has a lot of work to do and they must find a big play receiver or two. I know everyone talks about the speed and potential of Anderson and Bamba but until they start to actually make some big plays the jury is still out, IMO. NSU lost yesterday because Grambling's defense scored three touchdowns and NSU has generally been mistake prone this year. They do have a big time back in Nebraska transfer Quentin Castille, but hopefully UND's defense is strong against the run and can force them into mistakes. This is a very winnable game for UND if the Sioux can get the offense going.

Definitely some strange stuff going on so far this year. I would never have guessed that NDSU would be having this many problems and what is up with USD giving up over 700 yards to UNI? Yeah UNI is the better team but wasn't it a 10 point game last year when they played? St. Cloud State has been blown off the field by the two D-II teams they have played but they took Maine to OT. And App State lost to McNeese State yesterday... the same McNeese team that had to rally from 14 down in the fourth quarter to beat an average D-II team last week. And yet there are several FCS teams beating or playing FBS teams tough.

For those in Grand Forks: what's the latest on the proposed indoor facility? Is it just the economy keeping things quiet right now or is the University really serious about revamping the old hockey arena?

Yeah I was thinking the same thing. Stroup had great potential but just off the top of my head Travis O'Neel, Eric Schmidt, Ryan Goven, Tyler Dahlen, Dan Ullsberger, and Steve Brennan are all head and shoulders above Stroup.

With Western Washington dropping football, it means that either Central Washington, Humboldt State or Dixie State will have a schedule opening on November 7th. My suggestion to Mr. Faison is to get on the phone immediately.

I talked to a couple of people about UWF a few weeks ago, and as I understand it, going D-I and adding football is not something that is really on the table. Basically this study will either point them in the direction of either adding football and staying D-II or moving to D-I and not have football, at least in the near future.