RD17

Well, Tibesar's contract situation doesn't really matter... coaches that are under contract leave all the time for other jobs. I do agree on Mussman, however. I think he would make a fine head coach at UND, I just personally would prefer Tibesar.

I'm sure DeBoer is a fine coach, but does UND want someone with no NCAA experience during the transition to D-I? I doubt it. In my mind Tibesar is the top candidate for the job and he should be hired ASAP if he is interested. The situation at Kansas State is not very rosy right now, with several assistants leaving over the past two years since Ron Prince was hired. Even though he has an FBS coordinator job it may not be that far-fetched for Tibesar to very interested because the ship may be sinking at KSU.

I don't know if anyone has seen these or if they were in the print edition of the Herald. But there are pictures online showing what the proposed retractable roof stadim would look like and also a few renderings of the indoor practice facility. link

I am really surprised that Hedberg got fired. He did a great job turning that program around and it seems odd that they would fire him based on having a couple of down years. I doubt Mussman would be interested in the Mankato job. If they were still a 36 scholarship team maybe, but to go from a I-AA coordinator job to what will amount to an average D-II job is a step down career-wise.

Northwest Missouri has improved immensely over the last month. I saw them a couple of times during the regular season when they were struggling and they look like a completely different team now. They have a history of struggling some in the regular season and then turning in on in the playoffs. They did it 2 years ago when they made the title game with 3 losses. Why they do that, I'm not sure, but they are definitely a team that "builds" as the season goes on. I think there is no question that GVSU would have lost a few more games if they played in a better league. GVSU has a very good program, but it's not a situation like Mount Union in D-III where they have a level of talent so vastly superior to everyone else that they are completely unbeatable. You put UND in the GLIAC and they probably would have gone unbeaten at least 2 of the last 3 years and been at home a bunch in the playoffs where the situation is entirely different.

That Humboldt State game killed UND from a strength of schedule standpoint. Take away that game (and replace with a good opponent) and UND would have been seeded ahead of GVSU. My understanding is that UND had an agreement to host West Texas A&M (a team that went 11-0 in the regular season), but they backed out when USD agreed to go down there and play them.

One of the big things that has kept North Alabama in D-II is the fact that they host the D-II national championship game and the Harlon Hill trophy is sponsored by the city of Florence. UNA would likely have to divorce themselves from from those two long-standing traditions to go D-I. Also, what will the requirements be to move to D-I once the moratorium ends? Certainly they will be much more stringent and/or longer than they are now. This could be another limiting factor for UNA or any other school seriously considering making the jump in the future. I'm not saying it can't or won't happen at UNA, but I would consider a move to D-I far from a slam dunk for them at this point.

The 12/9/07 Grand Forks Herald has an [url="http://www.grandforksherald.com/articles/index.cfm?id=59943

Yes... actually I was just thinking about that game when I made the post. I think they had two NFL running backs in that backfield (Bailey and Heath Sherman). Luckily, I don't think they'll be bringing that level of talent to Grand Forks this time around.

I think Goska is going to turn out to be a very good player. He's a terrific runner and played in a running offense in high school. He was overlooked some in recruiting because he didn't throw much in high school and had poor mechanics. I know the coaches feel that they can work with him to correct that and Dale Lennon says he reminds him of Grand Valley's Cullen Finnerty because of his running ability and overall makeup.

A message board poster on D2football.com is reporting that UND will host Texas A&M-Kingsville on 8/28/08. TAMUK is historically a strong program, but went just 3-8 this year. link

You are exactly right... and I think Dale Lennon would agree with you also. UND had the best team in the country in 2005 and blew it with that loss to Omaha. That team should have won a national championship. These last two years UND has been right there with the best teams in the country but again the losses to Omaha, key injuries at the wrong time, and poor play and execution in the big games with GVSU has cost them. All that said, it is time for a new era of UND football and I think the future is very bright. Last year's recruiting class is terrific and I do not think it will be long and Dale Lennon will have this program up in the top 10 in the FCS.

Exactly... if GVSU doesn't have to respect UND's running game then: -their smaller, quicker defensive line which is best suited to rushing the passer can just plan on doing exactly that every play. They can probably get pressure by rushing just 4 guys if they know what's coming. -it puts a tremendous amount of pressure on Freund to find the holes in the defense. They have so much speed at linebacker and in the secondary that it will be very difficult to throw the ball 40 times without at least 2 or 3 interceptions. -it makes Dressler less effective. The best part of UND's offense is the play action pass to Dressler and with no running game GVSU would have a much easier time containing him.

The key will be UND's running game. Grand Valley is not as physical up front on defense as in the past and I think UND can run the ball against them. UND really needs either Chappell or Murray in there though... I don't know if Battle is an explosive enough runner to make GVSU respect the run enough to change their gameplan.

This is a great point and you are 100% correct... UND has made a huge mistake in the last couple of years by not aggressively seeking a couple of impact transfers. For example, in 2005 UND was 2 or 3 offensive players short of a national championship. This season you add three impact defensive players to the roster and you have a national championship team. I just don't understand why, when you are so close to being good enough to win it all, you wouldn't throw caution to the wind and do whatever you can to add those last couple of pieces... especially this year when you can spend the money now on transfers with the promise that they can have a full ride in 2008. I think people get the wrong impression about Grand Valley in thinking that they have all these D-I transfers. The truth is that GVSU is 90-95% high school recruits. But what they do well is sprinkle in transfers to plug holes to make sure they can put the best possible team on the field each year. Example: they graduated their top receiver off of last year's team and were a bit thin at that position. So this year they go get a Northwestern transfer and he becomes their go-to receiver without a dropoff in production from last year. Northwest Missouri State is doing the same thing... they lost a bunch of impact linebackers from last year's team, so they found an Iowa State transfer with one year of eligibility to plug in this year. UND is the only elite program in D2 that isn't taking this approach when it comes to transfers and I really believe it has cost the Sioux at least one national championship over the past few years.

No... WWU was still using its timeouts. UND would gladly have run the clock out if they would have let them.

I don't know if anyone else has seen this, but UND has an ad in the 8/27/07 edition of Newsweek. It appears about 22 pages into the magazine and touts several UND strengths and achievements like being ranked among the top entrepreunerial schools in the country, having an average ACT score of 23.4 for incoming freshmen, and of course, 7 D-I national titles in hockey.

I thought Freund looked OK at best... he wasn't very accurate with his throws and made a couple of very poor reads. The coaches though are very confident in him which leads me to believe it must have been an off night and he will play better. Landry was the #2 QB and he has a gun for an arm... very impressive. I think he has a bright future with a little more experience. The freshman QB Goska has great speed as shown on the long TD run. According to the coaches, he is a raw talent and they need to work with him on his throwing mechanics but he is a winner and of course you can't teach speed. I agree with the poster that said Josh Murray was impressive at RB... he's pretty elusive. Starting O-line looked good. Chris Mussman told me that he feels great about 4 of the 5 spots on the line so that is good news. Alex Nicholas looks like he's ready to contribute at receiver... he made a few nice plays. Defense was missing at least two starters so it was tougher to get a read on them. I think the secondary and outside linebackers are in good shape but I don't know how the depth will be on the line and the inside linebacker spots. German and Kasowski look like a couple of good young linebackers but they are just redshirt freshman so i don't know what kind of impact they will have this year. Kicking game was pretty weak because the ball kept getting buried in the grass on the holds... Hellevang did hit a 50+ yarder at the end though. Ankenbauer and #31 and #36 on the corners look like a trio of good freshman DB's. Very athletic. I had a couple of different people tell me that Chappel has been phenomenal in practice so far this fall. If the line can stay healthy he could put up huge numbers this year.

Great... thanks.

Will do... I'm in lake country this week on vacation but I'm making the drive up to GF tonight to check out the scrimmage. I have heard (just generally speaking) that the new freshman class is outstanding. Can't wait to see it first hand. Does anyone know if they have printed rosters they hand out at the scrimmage? It would be nice to have something to look at with all the names and numbers on it versus trying to remember later who was doing what.

Yep... there is a tremendous amount of football alumni money to be tapped into. That money will be key to increasing the budget and making the transition work and Kupchella and Buning know it. This would not be a good time to alienate many of your biggest potential donors. Think about this: Would you want to be in Buning's shoes a year from now and have to explain to the new UND president why you're having a hard time raising the D-I money and why everyone is blaming you for one of the most popular coaches in UND history leaving?

Good point. It will take me a while used to the new names for the divisions. I still want to say Moorhead State and they made that change maybe eight years ago?

Well he did at least listen to what Sacramento State had to say when they more or less offered him the job in 2002, so it's not unprecedented for Lennon to lend an ear when solicited. That's my point though- there's a big difference between being asked to apply for a position once in a while and responding to it than there is to sending a resume every time a job you're qualified for comes open. If I knew that Lennon had been actively pursuing several different jobs, I'd be more concerned.