RD17

22-15 Lindenwood 11:39 3rd quarter Another long drive for Lindenwood capped by a 45 yard run... they have some athletes on offense.

15-14 USF 14:44 3rd USF returned the second half kickoff for a touchdown.

14-8 Lindenwood 4:14 2nd Two straight impressive drives.

8-7 USF 7:30 left in the half. Lindenwood just had it's first decent drive of the game.

Central Arkansas has one as well, but it is only 50 yards in length. Other than App State and UCA, I can't think of any other current FCS schools that have one. There are a few schools in D-II (GVSU, MWSU, Tusculum, Arkansas-Monticello, Northeastern State) that have (or will have) them, but some of those facilities are small and/or cheap.

Really? That soon? Does anyone know how Old REA teardown costs will affect the overall budget of the project? (i.e. is teardown part of the $19.5 million?) As a comparison, Missouri Western State University in St. Joseph, MO is currently building about the same size facility in conjunction with bringing in the KC Chiefs training camp. Their facility will have offices, locker rooms, meeting rooms, etc. with an overall cost of $15.7 million ($10 million being kicked in by the Chiefs). Youngstown State is also building an indoor facility with a 300 meter track. YSU is going the bare bones route without all of the locker room and office space for about $10 million. You can see a "virtual video" of what that facility will look like by clicking here.

NSU is D-II and is in a much better league situation than Jamestown, so those two factors alone make NSU a much better job. There is pretty decent community support in Aberdeen and the school just recently commited to funding its football program with adequate scholarship money, so Dosch won't have his hands tied from a dollars standpoint like the past NSU coaches were. There are of course some obvious drawbacks as well, but I think Dosch is a good fit and he will turn around the NSU program rather quickly.

It would also be surprising to me if the Big 10 goes beyond 12, but according to the Chicago Tribune, sources inside the league are saying that the league is looking at going to 14 or even 16 members. There is also an additional Chicago Tribune article that handicaps the possible expansion candidates. All in all, I think the news that the Big 10 is looking at expanding makes it less likely that the league will have hockey anytime soon. Notre Dame is clearly not interested, and with none of the potential new members appearing close to adding varsity hockey, the numbers aren't there. I also find it doubtful that the league would add associate members to the mix in hockey when the league could be politically unstable immediately following expansion (especially if 3+ new members are added).

One thing to remember is that none of these freshmen have gone through a college offseason weight training program. A lot could change with some of the linemen type kids between now and August (or even spring ball, for that matter). The other thing is that Wayne probably asked the coaches for a few names which were likely rattled off without a great deal of thought. It's entirely possible that there were oversights, etc.

Maybe the better question would be how many championships could UND have won if they wouldn't have had to play UNO? Losses to UNO in 2005-2007 were killers because not only did they cost UND the top seed, but they also forced them to play a first round game (instead of a bye) and required them to play at Grand Valley in later rounds instead of potentially having the Lakers in the Alerus. Switching the regions around in 2004 to put UND and GVSU in the same region didn't help matters either. Kelly did a great job of building the foundation for a great program at Grand Valley, no doubt about that. But, Kelly or not, I think that GVSU's program would have blown up eventually anyway. GVSU just has too many advantages over the typical D-II school. I will leave it to the oldtimers to discuss pre-1980. There are years (1999, 2003 obviously, 2006, 2007) where a pretty good argument could be made that UND could have won a national title if things had gone a bit differently. But I will unequivocally say that the 2005 UND team should have won the national championship. The depth that team had on defense was unreal and the special teams were incredible as well to go along with an above average offense. In many ways that team was better than the 2001 team when it was playing its best. To win each of the first nine games by at least 19 points and have a 19-0 lead late against UNO and blow it was terrible. I feel that the end of that season may have been Lennon's poorest job as a Sioux head coach because he couldn't get that team to regain any of it's swagger going into the playoffs.

Unfortunately, FCS football is a dead end in many respects. The financials don't work and programs all over the country are suffering, as evidenced by two schools from the nation's best conference dropping the sport within the last couple of weeks. Hopefully moving the title game helps with exposure, but to my knowledge, the only FCS game that was on the ESPN family of networks last week was a non-playoff game (Southern vs Texas Southern on ESPNU), which to me speaks volumes about the marketability of this level of play. The NCAA recently published a study showing that the average FCS school uses $8 million dollars of institutional support to support its overall athletic program. That figure is larger than the total athletic budget for 95% of the D-II schools. When a school like UNI has to hire a consultant to take a serious look at the viability of its program at the FCS scholarship level, there is a problem. I have to imagine that many of the CAA schools that are dumping millions into facilities and budgets will move to FBS soon to maximize their revenue potential.

Interesting that the only time either of the two NAIA finalists have been held under 41 points this year is when UND limited USF to 28. I watched part of the USF semifinal replay on the web and the Cougars looked like a machine. It would have been very interesting to see how USF would have done in the D2 playoffs this year as they could be the best NAIA team ever, IMO. Also, it is interesting that Lindenwood is finally moving to D-II. I have been to LU's campus and the facilities are amazing for an NAIA school. It shouldn't take Lindenwood (or USF) long to compete at a very high level in D-II as long as both schools adjust well to the different financial aid and eligibility rules.

There is a misconception in recruiting (for football anyway) that every kid needs to be a superstar. While it is true that UND needs to land high talent recruits like Demler, it is also important to bring in kids that are good fits for the program in other ways (character, work ethic, etc). Of course recruiting is an inexact science, but coaching staffs that recruit in this fashion rather than worry about how many stars rivals.com has given a kid, will generally succeed. If UND is going to take a chance on borderline kids (not saying these two are, because I haven't personally seen them play), I'd rather have them be local because the chances of them working hard and sticking with the program are likely better than if UND is taking the same type of player from Texas or California, or to some extent, even Wisconsin.

My hope would be that Miller emerges as the kicker so that there is a separation of duties. Although Hellevang did an outstanding job this year, it's tough to do both, and I have to imagine that it's even more difficult for young players. Hellevang really struggled with his kicking last season in his first year of having a dual role and I have to wonder if those struggles were related to having punting duties as well.

I believe the preseason depth chart had them both listed as corners, but of course that chart might not be 100% accurate and things can change fast with young players. Best guess is that one of them would have to be really, really good to overtake three experienced players for a starting spot. The positive comments in the other thread were the first that I have read about either player, but they sure made it seem promising about their potential.

It will be very interesting to see what the final plans are for the indoor facility and how it's going to be financed. IMO, an indoor facility is an immediate need for the athletic department and it is something that will help shape the future for several different sports on campus. It will obviously help football, but track and field, soccer, and baseball/softball would also stand to benefit. For this reason, I hope the plan is to not cut corners and to build the highest quality facility that can be afforded. It's that important to the future of UND athletics.

Is the consensus that the team is that deficient from a talent standpoint or is it more of a case of the team being young? I thought many people were very high on the current group of redshirt freshmen but are they not as good as advertised?

I know what you are saying about Saporu's tackling... it was atrocious this year. I think the coaching staff likes him because, when he is healthy, he's a pretty darn good cover corner and his size is an asset. But of course part of being a good corner is tackling receivers in space to limit YAC and he doesn't do that very well. Kudrna saw a great deal of playing time towards the end of the season and seemed to be getting more PT than Watkins in the last few games. I imagine it will be quite a battle in spring ball between Saporu/Kudrna/Watkins for the other starting spot opposite Hawkins. The bolded part was pretty much what I was thinking; in addition Freund and Manke were more adept at reading defenses and being efficient in the short passing game, which is something Landry lacks. With a lack of receivers that could stretch the field, the offense would have been better off this year with a Freund or Manke that could pick apart defenses with the short stuff. Landry seems more suited to running a more traditional offensive scheme where his arm strength could be an asset on play action. In reality, Freund was easily the most underrated QB to ever play at UND. He had a career efficiency rating of well over 160, and completed around 70% of his passes. Of course he played with Dressler one of those years, but he had just as good a season the year after Dressler graduated. Point being that many people just assumed that Landry could step in and the offense wouldn't miss a beat without accounting for just how good Freund really was.

In regard to Landry, I wonder how much of his struggles can be attributed to a weak group of receivers? Bamba seemed to be the only receiver on the team capable of getting open more than 10 yards downfield. The talent on this year's offense seemed much more tailored to a Manke/Freund type quarterback than Landry.

Defense: DL: UND should be loaded at NG. I believe that if Boyle can stay healthy, he will get an NFL shot after next year. Benjamin saw playing time this year as a RFr. and he looks like he could develop into a very solid player as well. At the ends, Brenneman was HM all-conference as a freshman this year and best guess is that Bellmore will be the other end. With the four guys just mentioned, UND marketing staff should plan a "Killer B's" marketing campaign for next year. Biggest concerns up front are 1) depth at DE and 2) generating more of a pass rush from the front three. Hopefully one or two of the highly touted freshmen can provide both. ILB: I was a major critic of the linebacker play early in the season, but as a group, they played much better in the latter part of the year. The key to the improvement IMO was Curtis Dublanko. He was the team's leading tackler in each of the last three games and appears to be ready to have a big senior year. The great UND defenses of the past have always had standouts at the Sam LB position (think Travis O'Neel and Digger Anderson) and Dublanko appears to have the athletic ability (and now the experience) to have a great senior year. German will be a senior and the likely starter at the other inside spot. Depth beyond those two is a concern unless highly touted true freshman Garrison Goodman makes an immediate impact next year. OLB: Kasowski also came on in the second half, leading the team in sacks and being named all-conference. Like Dublanko, he seems ready to have a great senior year. Cochran had 33 tackles this year in a reserve role and he should be the starter on the strong side as a senior. Hopefully Cochran can have a big year because I feel the Stud OLB position has been a weakness since Steve Brennan graduated. Freshmen Finley and Bennett reportedly were terrific on the scout team and they could add athleticism. At the very least they will have to provide depth. Jay Nelson has great size and is another player to watch at the SOLB position. S: Ankenbauer was named HM all-conference and Schwenzfeier led the team with 5 interceptions, but I feel both need to play a bit better next year for the defense to reach its full potential. Mersereau and Belotti will provide depth after getting playing time this year. CB: Hawkins was very good this year... led the team in tackles and was probably the most consistent defensive player on the team. Kudrna, Saporu, and Watkins all saw significant playing time so there will be plenty of experience. I think eventually a Hawkins/Saporu combo at CB can be very effective but Saporu just can't seem to stay healthy. Overall, the potential to have a very good defense is there next season. The team could potentially start seven seniors and three juniors and having an experienced D is huge as far as week to week consistency goes. To me, improving the pass rush, tightening up pass coverage and getting better tackling from the secondary will be the big keys. Opposing offenses threw for 271 yards per game and 27 touchdowns in addition to converting 47% of the time on third down... those numbers are unacceptable.

Agree... although it is interesting that, despite being smallish, UND's OL seemed to struggle more with run blocking against the quicker defensive teams. I forgot to mention it before, but I do think depth is a huge concern on the OL next year. In addition to the players we have talked about, juniors Brandon Quesenberry and Connor McKendry will also be in the mix after seeing limited playing time this year. But after those seven guys, it will be all red-shirt freshmen. Needless to say, the line will have to stay relatively healthy next year.

Here's what I have on offense... will take a look at the defense and special teams later: QB: Landry had a so-so year IMO, with a QB rating around 120, which will not get it done in UND's offense. He showed flashes both running the football and with some downfield throws, but he needs to become more "assertive" and more consistent with his passing. Next year's team should be pretty talented and whether the team can have a great year (8 or 9 wins) or another average year will largely depend on his improvement. Goska will also be in the mix but I expect him to have a similar role to this season. He needs to improve his passing to match his running ability. I don't expect any other players on the roster to be in the mix until 2011. RB: Sutton was a pleasant surprise this year and he should continue to get better with another year in the weight room. Depth after Sutton was an issue, but hopefully the highly touted freshman Marcus Binns and/or the return of Josh Murray will help in that regard. If Binns is as advertised and UND can get Murray back, it will be a huge boost to the offense. I don't see any other backs on the roster (Battle, Solum, Davis, et al.) being anything more than a role player on this team. Magstadt played quite a bit at fullback this season as a freshman and he should be better next season. WR: After Bamba, this is the biggest offensive question mark, IMO. Gone are the days of UND being able to plug in so-so athletes into a possession receiver role and have it work... the DB's at the D-I level are noticeably more athletic and physical and UND needs better athletes that can get open. Chris Anderson's ability has been talked about for a couple of years, but he has yet to produce much of anything so I'm not sure if he will develop. Redshirted freshmen Greg Hardin and Blair Townsend have been mentioned as having great falls on the scout team but it may be tough for either to produce enough to take the pressure off of Bamba. Finding a number 2 (and 3) receiver will be very important. OL: Losing LT Bondy leaves a hole, but I'm still fairly optimistic about the future of the OL. McGurran started all season at center as a RFr., while fellow RFr. Lynch (guard) and Gillson (tackle) also saw playing time to varying degrees. With Queoff (LG) and Schroyer (RT) also returning as starters I'm fairly optimistic that the line play will be better next season. True freshman Joe Gleason has been mentioned on this board as being very impressive on the scout team so watch for him next fall as well. TE: Seth Wisthoff played a great deal this year as a RFr. and he appears to be the TE of the future. All in all, I think UND will be better offensively next year with improved play from Landry and the OL. The biggest immediate concern is finding another receiver or two that can make plays.

I believe I said in August that I would be happy with a winning record, so I will give the season a "B". The team came into the year with just two returning offensive starters, no home games for the first month, and an upgraded schedule over last year. I thought that if things broke wrong, this season could turn out to be a three win disaster, and the potential was still there for things to go south after the USF/SUU games. But to their credit, the coaches and players stayed together and improved and somehow managed to win six games. UND was out gained by nearly 100 yards per game this season, and it's not very often that a team is over .500 when facing that kind of yardage deficit. Chris Mussman deserves a great deal of credit for: A) scraping together a pair of winning seasons in the first two years of the transition when the cupboard was pretty bare from a talent standpoint, B) putting together two outstanding recruiting classes in his first two seasons as head coach, and C) having the patience to redshirt and develop almost all the kids that will be on the field when the transition is over. Keep in mind that he also had to overcome the obstacles of having to kick his best defensive player (Stroup) off the team, and having his top returning offensive players (Chappel in '08 and Murray in '09) be declared academically ineligible two years in a row. He has proven to me that he has what it takes to lead this program and at this point I'm quite confident that UND will have a playoff caliber team by 2012.

I was really suprised to see how athletic budgets at the FCS level seem to have skyrocketed. I was picking a few schools at random and New Hampshire sits at $25 million and James Madison is nearly at $30 million.

He must really be something... either that or the SID is forgetting to update this part of the game notes each week.