nd1sufan

How about the whole OL this year. And a player that came in at an ideal weight, Johnannesson, about 225 or 230, they inexplicably ran up to 250 pounds. JJ lost a step in speed and some quickness at 250 lbs. He was plenty powerful at 225 or 230 and had more speed and was much more effective than this he was this year. .

While yes you are correct that NDSU doesn't get many "highly recruited" athletes, if you mean P5 kids, they do get a few kids every year that have G5 FBS offers with the occasional 1 or 2 P5 offers every year. If you would add up the FBS offers that NDSU recruits sign every year and the other FCS offers that UND signs every year, my guess is the FBS offers to NDSU kids outnumbers the other FCS offers for UND signees. How many of the 20 or so commits UND has so far this year have other D1 offers? 4? While I agree the S&C coaching has a large impact on the program, the 2 schools are starting off with a different level of athlete. It still amazes me that Bubba and his staff didn't offer Lance coming out of high school. That would concern me about Bubba and his staffs eye for talent.

I assume there is a dietician on staff to educate and monitor what the players are eating.

As someone who is on the outside looking in, one thing UND lacks is athleticism and SPEED. I think it was obvious that UND was outmatched in the speed department today vs Nicholls. UND didn't have any skill position players that could separate from Nicholl's players. It appears that the WR commits this year don't address the fact that you don't have anybody that can stretch the field and at least pet a little fear of a deep pass in an opponent. The OL and DL do also need to get bigger and more physical also. I think you will see next week when Nicholls comes to Fargo that NDSU will not have a speed disadvantage. NDSU recruits the South(Florida and Georgia specifically) for Skill positions (RB's, WR's and DB's). Maybe Bubba's staff needs to look at that. After seeing Chave's tweet tonight, it looks like there is a better chance of an Bubba extension than a Bubba firing.

You have heard Nicholls has staff eavesdropping on the opposition outside the tent before games and at halftime? Dokay...

you are right. That is a dumb question. But the answer is the same as the reason there isn't a bug in the visitors locker room in the Alerus or the Fargodome. Maybe I am wrong. There may be UND staff member or an NDSU staff member holding an empty glass to the door of the visitors locker room at halftime. Who knows. While I get the locker room situation may not be ideal, I have heard some former college players saying they would gladly take a very spacious tent right next to the stadium over some very small cramped visitor locker rooms a 5 minute walk from the stadium.

Not very many have a chance to win the BB tourneys, but comparing making it to the “Big Dance” in BB and making the FCS playoffs are worlds apart. And if it means only 6 at large bids, so be it. That gives 2 each for the Big Sky and MVFC, and the other two split between the CAA and Southland. If you are fourth or worse in your conference you are out of luck.

How about cutting it down to 16. There are at least 8 teams that have ZERO chance of winning a title. Give everybody a bye week before the playoffs and get rid of regionalization, seed everyone 1-16. Tell the SWAC and MEAC if they want to play in the Celebration bowl they lose their AQ. If they want somebody in the playoffs their second place teams better have a great resume. I think that would be 8 AQ’s and 8 at large bids.

Not sure why anybody is overly concerned about this game, home or away. If you watched the Nicholls/SELA game Thursday or followed the UNDFOOTBALL360 guys tweets during the game, neither of those teams deserved playoff consideration. This game should not be close.

i think I said 40, but whatever. And yes, NDSU only scored 21 and 22 against MSU and SIU. It is hard to get up for every game when even if your opponents see it as their biggest game of the year. I know UND fans mock that, but ask most of NDSU's opponents and they would tell you it is. I would guess you could ask most of UND players and they would say the same. They did not play exceptionally well in either game. But UND allowed 38 points and almost 500 yards to Northern Colorado just a couple of weeks ago with their season on the line at home. If UNC can score 38 my guess is NDSU will also. NDSU will be favored by 28 and UND fans will be offended and say there is no way they can lose by that much, until Sunday morning.

It looks like UND has one on the All Metro team (Robertson), who I hear is a very good player. I heard some think he has enormous potential for development and was under-recruited. I think "Juice U" actually has 3, including The Metro player of the year.

Just saying I wouldn’t play Holm unless he wanted to and preserve his year of eligibility. Don’t question his heart if he wanted to play another year. Even if they get by NDSU, the chances of UND winning a national title THIS YEAR, not saying ever, are not very good.

That NDSU offense wasn't the same as the one playing now. Lance and Watson are playing much better than they were week 2. And they will let Lance run as often as necessary in the playoffs. And watching the last couple of weeks of the UND defense, it hasn't improved much from the beginning of the year.

And I know any given Saturday is possible. There is always that 2% chance of a huge upset. I just don't think I would risk a year of eligibility of my best player in the secondary, his fifth and probably most productive year, on a 2% chance.

NDSU scores at least 40 against UND with or without Holm. You better hope Mr. Freund can find a way to score more than 40 or maybe Holm should keep his redshirt.

So you are saying now that Bubba made the playoffs that everything is back on track and he should get an extension? I don't know the sentiments of UND fans. Maybe that is how UND fans think. If he makes the playoffs and only has 2 years left on his contract and doesn't get an extension, that doesn't exactly show confidence in the head coach.

My guess is he was suspended for questioning anything about UND football. UNDBIZ has a bit of a problem if a word questioning the Bubba era is uttered.

I don't think you would make it through to a third. Although those tunnel screens are scary.

I know they try to eliminate rematches in the early rounds (particularly in the first round). With both UND and SDSU being a rematch for NDSU whoever wins, they may have the UND/SDSU winner going to UNI. That could be a bus trip also.

I watched parts of this game, and UND has some good young pieces in place. I am not sure they will go very far this year with Stewart at point. His numbers will be ok, but his leadership is lacking. How many times a game does he miss a shot or think he was fouled and sulks about it rather than getting back on defense? Is there a second option at the point for UND?

How many games has Skokna played?

If UNI were to be your opponent, they may be able to bid higher. But that may be a favorable draw. UNI is very inconsistent and are prone to lose early playoff games.

I thought the question was how much to pay for a cupcake non-conference game. You are right, NDSU has only had to bid for a playoff game the first year they were in.

I think the $130,000 is a bit low. I think NDSU has had to pay between $200,000 and $250,000 the last couple of years.

Does that get UND in the playoffs? Will they take 5 or 6 Big Sky teams? Will the Big Sky rep argue UND would be 6th in the conference standings if they were actually in the conference and do they lobby for the actual top 5 members to get in? I have no idea. And will a playoff appearance get Bubba an extension? Are UND fans good with that?