tnt

Unless they totally unravel, I don't see starting off 1-7. They could get beat by Duluth each night, but I am hoping that the team that plays well defensively and limits chances makes a rebound. After all, Minnesota did tie and beat Duluth, so they are not unbeatable, but they can't play like Saturday or they won't beat anybody.

It looks like if he came down on someone's ankle, his legs would just snap like a twig!

I have a feeling if this happens it won't be coming from Bubba, it will be coming from Chaves.

You know, the very few times they ran the screen pass, including against NAU, they saw some success. Just as with the tight end usage, it baffles me why it wasn't utilized more with guys like Santiago.

This better be more than a "squirrel" announcement about the next phase of the football facilities development, although that would be welcome sometime in the near future.

I agree, the problem usually is the non-conference record, but right now they have put themselves in an unenviable position of needing to split at the very least in Duluth. I think someone made the point that up until the second game against Western, that if they got to 3 goals, they would have been 7-1-1. The problem is they need to start getting to 3 goals on a consistent basis, and they need to start it now.

#culture is something that seems to be thrown out there a lot without a whole lot of meaning behind it. The last few years a lot of the players and coaches say all the right things after a loss or bad performance, but many times it becomes just lip service. Like I said, I can't remember a time since the early 90's when the team played without any swagger and were so easily discouraged after falling behind. That is not the culture I remember. I hear more excuses about bad luck or bounces than ownership of what happens after those bounces. We will see from here on out whether this is the new norm, or if they can suck it up and truly represent the culture that has been established here.

They definitely have shown they can play, but the woe is me attitude displayed when things didn't go their way last weekend makes me wonder if they have the mental fortitude to go on a run against good teams. Let's face it, Miami on the road and Western at home should not yield a 1-3 record, especially when you've got the likes of Duluth and Denver right around the corner. Sweep this weekend, split in Duluth and I think they can get some steam going, but they have to believe they are a good enough team to do that.

Last year we were expected to challenge for a bye in the playoffs without all of the injuries. When all of the injuries happened, guys that wouldn't have played had to, so just about all of those guys should have added the depth we needed this year. Northern Arizona was on their 4th quarterback and still found a way to win against a team that had the playoffs in front of them. This is football, everybody has several injuries. Last year was brutal, but it should have made the depth for this year that much greater. I have a feeling that every year UND doesn't live up to expectations you would point to a few injuries.

It's like Bubba remembers the days of Division 2 football where UND could just push their way down the field 4 or 5 yards a crack. There aren't many teams that are going to allow that to happen, especially when they know exactly what you are going to do. That is the main problem, they are so vanilla that teams know what they are going to do, and when they are going to do it.

Could you get a good one in here that won't be at odds with Bubba's conservative philosophy? Guys that are on the way up the coaching ladder aren't going to want to be hamstrung on their play calling, lest they go backward in their career path.

But he still would have had to score on an even harder goal line conversion. He must have had a prayer that they would turn the ball over, because even if they got the ball back on offense, they would have had to move the ball even further on a punt exchange, based on their field position. Most coaches have plays in their pocket for situations like that, whether they be trick or otherwise.

When I saw Bubba defending his decision to punt, it upset me all the more. If you aren't confident on fourth and two, and a play for that situation, then you haven't done a good job putting your players in a position to win! The fact that you would have had to have an even better play on a short field for a two point conversion if you wanted to tie the game makes it even more puzzling. If you have that little confidence in that situation, you for sure should have gone for it, to give yourself more time if you missed the two point conversion. There is no logic whatsoever in Bubba's defense of his actions.

Not sure how much they make on parking for hockey games, but I think I might do a study whether to just open up those lots for free, to keep more butts in the seats. With the apathy going around all sports, you don't want to give fans one more reason to stay home.

I would say the body language was bad very early in the game as well. Inconceivable. How demoralizing is it when your coach won't go for it on 4th and 2?

But Paul Ralston will tell you we improved from last year and had injuries to our receivers. Wait, we were playing against a team that had nothing to play for and was playing way down the depth chart at critical positions. Same with last game.

We'll see what Chaves has in him!

What waiting list?

If you don't go for it in that circumstance, you have no confidence in your offensive coordinator, so why did you keep him? Maybe Bubba was just setting up the opportunity to fire Rudy, in which case he should be held responsible.

2 Friday tickets in Upper deck where UND shoots twice. $20 each.

Can you imagine the outrage if they lost that game when the results came back favorable to them. Gotta say, that losing 3 in a row this time of year when there are playoff possibilities would have been too much to handle. As it is, splitting with the 2 teams that aren't that special is not something you are looking at with playoffs in sight. Thank goodness for Lenny Nelson.

Never quite understood why when Ralph was initially willing to build a 15,000 seat arena with the extra material costs involved, why they didn't shift those savings to better parking. If they would have dug down a level around the whole arena, they could have had a second level right on site without losing the aesthetic appeal of the building. That certainly would have made it an even more World Class facility. I don't know how many times I found a parking spot, only to have it become off limits. I think the hassle with that, especially in the cold winter has made it more inviting for some people to just stay home, rather than having to get there an hour or so before the game lest you have to walk a country mile to find a parking spot. I know we are spoiled with parking being cheap, but I think you could make a lot more money by charging for a yearly spot right on site, rather than still having to walk a ways while paying what for Grand Forks is a bit for parking. I think the Ralph people need to look into a lot of reasons why attendance is not quite up to par, but parking is certainly one of them.

Yeah, we went the cheap route when we transferred to the new Ralph, picking one of four sections that didn't require a Fighting Sioux club membership. It frustrates me that a year after the transfer, everybody was required to be a FSC member. Thanks a lot, if we would have known that, we would have picked better seats to begin with, as we had a relatively early appointment to pick out seats at the new Ralph. Wish there were more opportunities to move now.

My guess would be no. You would have to be a superstar for UND to enter into a scenario like that.

Pinto signed his NLI, so should be here next year.