tnt

All I know is that the small crowd really took away the possibility of an unbelievable atmosphere at the Alerus with such an incredible game taking place. Probably would have rivaled the Cal Davis game if the crowd would have showed up an been more vocal.

Friday: Grimaldi Saturday: MacMillian

I think most of us would take him on UND. I think his hatred for Minnesota is skewing his objectivity. Also, we don't know that Michigan State is going to be terrible yet. Kind of reminds me of the gopher fans who used to downgrade Ryan Duncan because supposedly he got his points playing with stars.

Maybe the chest bumping is contagious, as that appears to be how the defense attempts to bring down runners that are far more talented than they are used to seeing. What is scary is that this was what kind of effort and scheme they came up with in trying to restore a little respect for a much maligned defense.

Exactly. Your defense is unable to stop the other team, the score is tied and you have a 3rd and a yard and a half from the NAU 40. This is not hindsight either, but I told my friend at the time that they need to be looking at this as needing a yard and a half in two downs, which calls into question why you throw up a prayer at that juncture. It's hard to complain about the offense, but when you have a defense that is not capable of stopping someone, you have to have a mindset as a coach that you need to outscore the other team. If you are going to be aggressive on 3rd down like that, I would like to see you go for it on fourth as well.

it was also a fact that UND lost players to the pros early quite often, and to the Olympics as well. Troy Murray, Dave Tippett, James Patrick, Dave Christian, Kevin Maxwell ...

I agree 100%. I have no doubt that if the gophers don't win the WCHA or the NCAA this year you will hear the inevitable "chokers" rant. I realize part of it is good natured ribbing between rivals, as I am sure that there were a few gopher fans saying the same thing after the Sioux loss to Michigan a few years ago. In reality, you have to have a lot go right to win when you are predicted to win, mainly because you are going to be the team with the bullseye. Minnesota and UND have that bullseye anyway, but it heightens it that much more. Choking is when you have a big lead and lose it by tightening up, not when you get beat by a goaltender or outstanding effort from another team.

I think it's all preference, and I don't see any huge difference between Hammer and Sweeney. Remember the days of Sweeney and Travis Dunn? I think this is an upgrade over those early years, and expect that things will get better once Hammer is around the program all the time like Sweeney had been. Tim Hennessey probably has more inside information than both of them combined, but people complain about him being too much of a homer.

Sounds like this may be exclusive to Fox College Sports because I noticed the Midcontinent station seemed better than in the past.

Grimaldi

I agree. Even last year they gave up a ton of yards, but managed to get out of it because the level of competition wasn't as good as we see now. So we either don't have the talent we need to be an effective defense, or the scheme isn't allowing us to be a competitive defense -- either way that is on the coaches. Do we have the right coaches in the right places? I guess time will tell on that. I will say that I don't think our defense has improved enough for the defensive coordinator to become an associate head coach. Maybe I'm old school, but I can't stand to see players that get burned 60% of the time getting in the oppositions face when they make one big play. Maybe that's just what is expected in college sports now, but if I were a coach, I would get into that players face and point out the number of times he's been burned in proportion to the big plays he's made.

Kristo

Where was Michelle Karvinen tonight? Is she hurt or something? Could have used her speed. Sure like the looks of Dufault and Kohler. I can't imagine Kohler as a Senior is she is this strong right now.

I think you meant to have Knight at center on that line.

So will the lineup against Manitoba be line combinations we will see in the future beyond the Alaska trip, or will they be makeshift lines to account for all the suspensions?

I think it would be nice to have the trifecta with this being the last year of the WCHA. We are already assured of having the most # of WCHA titles, and I believe Minnesota is the only one that can catch us in the most Broadmoor trophies. That said, we sure could use another NCAA title to separate ourselves from the other rivals in that respect again.

Maybe I missed something, I thought Gene Taylor said that they were not going to suspend any of the players after the Colorado State game, and he said Bohl wouldn't either. Did it all of a sudden become politically expedient to do so? They have been all over on this thing from waiting for the justice system to do their thing, to no one would be suspended when asked in an emotionally charged locker room, now to suspending one player who even Bison faithful say is replaceable. In the political season, it is often stated that flip flopping is not leadership, and in the case of Bison football, their appears to be a lack of real decisive leadership.

I would say we match up pretty well considering we beat them last year with a very limited roster, and they had their top rookie in the lineup while we were without two of our top rookies. I like the fact that the preseason favorite seldom comes through, and I like our grit more than theirs, although they really took that up a notch last year with the addition of Guentzel to the coaching staff. That said, they do have home ice in the only head to head matchup this year.

I agree that if you are going to risk losing the field position on a field goal miss from that far, you might as well go for a fourth and 7 or 8. The only problem I had with the fake punt was that you were fourth and about 12-15 yards and they ran an end around that looped back about 5-10 yards as well. Plenty of time for the speed of Cal Poly to recover from being fooled. That said, the push of their offensive line and defensive lines and the lack of the same with either of our lines was very evident. Also very shocked that Cal Poly came out of a timeout with 3rd and goal from the 2 and the Sioux defense wasn't ready for the quick snap. Before they figured it out he was over the goal line.

I thought the same thing, but if you put in a stipulation that they refer to them with the "mighty" or "fighting" Dakotans, it doesn't sound as bad. Hey, if you have to call Mankato State, Minnesota State University at Mankato, you can have the same stipulation at UND. I did think it would be the equivalent of Montana being the Montana Montanans, but at least you would have the North and Fighting/Mighty to break it up a bit. Probably better names out there though.

As I recall, he was as bad as Mazzocco in his view of the gophers as saints and the Sioux as the Evil empire. I imagine that is part of the job, but LaPlanta at least had some respect for the Sioux.

... and it doesn't help that parts of our society condone this and even take advantage of it by throwing "blackout" parties to make a buck. That might even be more disturbing because they are mature adults with an understanding of the consequences of that type of behavior. True, that doesn't happen around here, and hopefully being proactive against any kind of that behavior by the administration and other responsible adults, we never have to witness it in this area. Maybe that is wishful thinking, what with the attitude of some that if they do it in New York, it must be cool.

So you're saying he gave that much money in the hopes of securing a tax cut? Even if he did get a tax cut, would the tax cut equal 10 million?

What are the strings? Tell us.