UND92,96

A case certainly could be made that of all the defensive coaches on the staff right now, Kotelnicki may actually have the best credentials, particularly in terms of what he did before joining the staff here. He has previous dI experience AND coordinator experience from a major dII conference. Nothing against Mannausau or Kelling, but to the best of my knowledge Kelling was always a position coach (and I believe primarily on offense) at Augie, and Mannausau's non-UND experience is all at the high school level.

I'm not going to go so far as to say what Mussman should or should not do, but hypothetically speaking, if he did decide to go in a different direction at d-coordinator, the two people I'd like to see him call are, in no particular order, Tim Tibesar and Eric Schmidt. For Schmidt, it would be a promotion, and I have to think he'd be open to it. The fact that Lennon brought him along to SIU tells me all I need to know about his potential as a coach. As for Tibesar, I have no idea what a CFL position coach makes, but I doubt it would be all that much of a pay cut to come back here (could be wrong, though).

From a UND perspective I hope Meierkort stays at USD for as long as possible, because I certainly wouldn't want to see what somebody like DeBoer could do with 63 scholarships. If Meierkort were let go for some reason, I'm sure DeBoer would be at or near the top of their wish list.

I was a little surprised that according to the box score, Sharkova only played 10 minutes. As between Sharkova and Kuehl, who looked more physically ready to play at the dI level?

86 UND 56 JC final

I can't make it either, but I believe Tom Miller from the Herald is doing a live blog from the game: link

I love a good 'Fast Times at Ridgemont High' reference.

Prior to this week, when was the last time UND was a clear underdog at home? It's been a long time. Possibly 1999 (Lennon's first year) when we knocked off Northern Colorado?

It appears Oertel has committed to Washington State: http://www.cougcenter.com/2009/10/20/10928...ath-eric-oertel

Houdek, Rothfusz and Haring will red-shirt: link

There's been a kid on the sidelines in street clothes wearing a #27 jersey, but I'm pretty sure that's Binns. Maybe I'm reading too much into it, but I have to think that if the coaches expected Murray back, they would not have issued his number to anybody else.

I've been following UND football since I was a young kid in the early 1980's, and although certainly there were some NDSU losses during our dark years of the mid-1980's that were pretty embarrassing, last Saturday is up there at or near the top of the list of losses that really bothered me.

While it would be nice to have some of the skill position players from the mid-2000's, I think we miss the offensive lines from that era more. A lot more. Offensive line and linebacker used to be the areas where we seemed to excel year after year after year. Now, they are the areas which need the most improvement IMO.

I definitely agree that our complete lack of a pass rush has been very frustrating, and is probably the biggest reason our defense has mostly struggled. My own personal opinion is that the defensive line, at least when healthy, is probably less of a problem than the linebacking corps.

Here's a season preview: http://www.fightingsioux.com/ViewArticle.d...TCLID=204817224

Here's a season preview: http://www.fightingsioux.com/ViewArticle.d...TCLID=204817183 It doesn't mention anything about either Ledger or Privatsky being questionable due to their injuries last season.

Regarding the play of the defensive line, I have to think the erratic play has in large part been due to injuries. We know Boyle is a very good player. Bellmore has also shown some very good things. But both have struggled with injuries this year. I think Benjamin is going to be really good in time, too. The problem is that all three are probably best suited to play nose guard. Bellmore has also played some end this year, probably as a result of trying to get the best talent on the field at the same time. Brenneman will probably also be good at end in time, but like Benjamin he's just a redshirt freshman. If everybody were healthy, I'd kind of like to see a line of Benjamin at the nose, with Bellmore and Boyle at end. It seems like Boyle is athletic enough to be able to play either position. Ultimately, we need to hope that in the future at least one and hopefully more than one out of Brenneman, and red-shirts Stanchik, Lundeen and Cole can develop into an effective pass rusher from the end position(s). We may also see at least one juco transfer defensive end added before next season, particularly if some of the younger players aren't quite physically ready yet.

We need at least a one-week stay of execution. If Answer Guy makes fun of both UND and NDSU football, can he return? Please? I really need a good laugh!

I can't disagree. And frankly it's inexcusable for that to happen.

Two more commitments for 2010: link

UND actually beat Mesa State by a combined 131-14 in the two games at the Alerus in 2002 and 2004. The 2003 loss certainly was a choke, but I guess the fact that it was on the road, and the fact that I believe Mesa actually made the dII playoffs in 2003 made it more palatable to most fans than the Sioux Falls loss is.

Columnists and opposing fans are going to be riding this horse for all its worth for years. Here's the first shot from the Heraldo's own Ryan Bakken:

Here's a blog from Wayne Nelson about the loss: http://www.areavoices.com/waynenelson/

So I guess what he's saying is, we'd be a pretty good NAIA team this year. So we've got that going for us. Which is nice. (*in best Carl Spackler imitation*)

I can't really articulate exactly why, but I'd actually have preferred to finish this season 2-9, having defeated Sioux Falls (and S. Oregon), than to finish around .500, but with a loss to Sioux Falls. Losses to established FCS programs are just far easier to rationalize. The UNO loss you mentioned certainly bothered me, but I didn't have the "sky is falling" feeling I have now. Regardless of how good of a team Sioux Falls is, the stigma of losing to an NAIA team with a fraction of our resources is going to take awhile to get over, at least for me. I admit it, I have a very hard time getting over the NAIA label, not to mention all the other advantages we have relative to a tiny private school.