UND92,96

Not sure how I was dragged into this discussion, but I'll just say this: one person's "excuse" is another's "mitigating factor." I think the factors I listed are perfectly accurate. Are they an excuse for UND's near-collapse? Not entirely, but I certainly do believe the the first half was a truer measure of the caliber of team UND is than was the second half.

Mussman just said, and I'm paraphrasing, "the injury situation doesn't look it will be better until the Western Washington game." In other words, we probably shouldn't look for Otto and/or Saporu this week.

Congrats to former Sioux Emmanuel Little for being drafted 7th overall in the CBA draft. link

I was actually talking about the USD line. I don't know anything about the SE Louisiana o-line. Sorry for the confusion.

I'm no great USD football mind, but didn't you guys graduate nearly the entire line from last year? The rushing numbers really haven't been there so far, which could be attributed to some of the competition, the line or the caliber of backs you guys have this year. In any event, I do think UND has a better running game than does USD this year, but that will be either proven or disproven as the season goes along.

Agreed--the polls are meaningless at most any level of football. But then again, what else is there to go on if one were picking a game and they know nothing about one of the teams? I will admit that if SE Louisiana were ranked in any of the polls, or hadn't played a close game against a team we're all very familiar with, I'd be more apt to think UND was a clear underdog. Maybe that makes some sense, and maybe it doesn't.

I'm sure that's part of it. Of course, if people want to base everything from one game, I will do the same and continue to believe that we're better than USD, and if USD can come within a few feet from winning there, we can pull it off. Judging by what I've read from some USD fans, the USD offensive line is considerably down from the caliber it's been in recent years, resulting in an inability to run the ball effectively against decent competition. I don't believe UND has a similar problem, and I believe Freund is every bit as good as USD's quarterback Sheppard.

Judging by the anygivensaturday board, people aren't too impressed with the fact that UND has a much higher Sagarin ranking, or is receiving votes in most of the polls, because if you throw out the homer votes SE Louisiana is being picked to win by nearly a 2-to-1 margin.

I'm sure the prognosis for Otto and Saporu will be discussed on the coaches' show tomorrow night, but I haven't heard anything yet. Regarding Belotti, I believe he has to sit out this year due to the transfer up. At least, I seem to recall reading that in the article "marlins" wrote.

I briefly checked out the SIU board, and it appears Coach Lennon is getting harshly criticized more after just two games than he did during nine years being head coach at UND.

Composite ranking has UND at 36: link

It's true that if he stays healthy, Trenbeath should reach number two behind Dressler in receptions and yardage by the end of the season. If by some chance he were to be granted the extra year, he'd likely reach number one in yardage and receptions.

With Brandon Jordan apparently done due to chronic knee problems, and the uncertain status of Otto and Saporu, what are UND's options at corner behind freshmen Hawkins and Watkins? Carl Hanson apparently wasn't even on the travel squad last week, but if neither Otto nor Saporu can go, I assume he becomes the third corner, unless Ankenbauer or somebody else moves to corner? It seems like just last week I was wondering why in the world Saporu wasn't going to red-shirt this year...

slulionsfan: I see where Southeastern Louisiana was picked seventh (out of eight teams) in the pre-season Southland Conference polls. In your opinion, was that a reasonable prediction? After the first four weeks of the season, do you think your team has shown to be, in all likelihood, better than the seventh-best team in the conference?

FCS Coaches Poll Team (1st Votes) Record Points Previous Ranking 1. James Madison (11) 3-1 672 5 2. Richmond (11) 3-1 665 3 3. Montana (6) 3-0 650 4 4. Appalachian State 1-2 585 1 5. Northern Iowa 2-1 575 7 6. McNeese State 1-1 504 8 7. North Dakota State 2-2 490 2 8. New Hampshire 3-0 471 10 9. Cal Poly 2-1 437 11 10. Massachusetts 2-2 374 9 11. Wofford 2-1 364 12 12. Delaware 1-2 348 6 13. Southern Illinois 1-1 343 T14 14. Elon 3-1 332 18 15. Central Arkansas 4-0 313 16 16. Eastern Washington 1-2 308 17 17. Furman 3-1 242 23 18. South Dakota State 2-2 215 13 19. Villanova 2-1 202 19 20. Eastern Illinois 2-2 183 20 21. Western Illinois 2-2 136 21 22. Georgia Southern 2-2 131 T14 23. Youngstown State 2-2 113 24 24. The Citadel 2-1 111 22 25. Tennessee State 4-0 78 NR Other receiving votes (pts. in parentheses): Liberty (63), Jacksonville State (32), Northern Arizona (31), Harvard (19), Hampton (14), Prairie View A&M (14), Montana State (10), Delaware State (8), Weber State (7), Sam Houston State (7), William & Mary (6), North Dakota (4), San Diego (3), Yale (3), Holy Cross (1), UT Martin (1), South Carolina State (1), Texas State (1), Lafayette (1), Florida A&M (1).

Sports Network Top 25 1. Richmond Spiders (49)...............3-1........2,389....2 2. James Madison Dukes (37)............3-1........2,387....5 3. Appalachian State Mountaineers......1-2........2,122....1 4. Montana Grizzlies (12)..............3-0........2,095....4 5. Northern Iowa Panthers (2)..........2-1........1,979....8 6. McNeese State Cowboys...............1-1........1,760....7 7. New Hampshire Wildcats (1)..........3-0........1,528...10 8. Elon Phoenix........................3-1........1,306...17 9. Cal Poly Mustangs...................2-1........1,272...13 10. North Dakota State Bison...........2-2........1,257....3 11. Eastern Washington Eagles..........1-2........1,197...14 12. Central Arkansas Bears.............4-0........1,184...18 13. The Citadel Bulldogs...............2-1........1,155...21 14. Wofford Terriers...................2-1........1,137...11 15. Southern Illinois Salukis..........1-1........1,115...15 16. Furman Paladins....................3-1..........970...24 17. Delaware Blue Hens.................1-2..........880....6 18. Massachusetts Minutemen............2-2..........870....9 19. Villanova Wildcats.................2-1..........863...19 20. South Dakota State Jackrabbits.....2-2..........773...12 21. Eastern Illinois Panthers..........2-2..........754...22 22. Western Illinois Leathernecks......2-2..........743...20 23. Tennessee State Tigers (1).........4-0..........576...25 24. Georgia Southern Eagles............2-2..........544...16 25. Liberty Flames.....................3-0..........431...23 Others receiving votes: Harvard 331, Youngstown State 276, Northern Arizona 273, Yale 251, Jacksonville State 224, Hampton 106, San Diego 71, Prairie View 59, William & Mary 50, Brown 44, Florida A&M 43, Holy Cross 38, Penn 30, Weber State 28, Sam Houston State 22, Eastern Kentucky 14, Southeastern Louisiana 13, Lafayette 10, Sacred Heart 9, Delaware State 8, South Carolina State 8, Norfolk State 5, Princeton 4, Tennessee-Martin 4, Montana State 1, North Dakota 1.

Any Given Saturday Poll Top 25 (First place votes in parenthesis), Points 1. Richmond (68) 3172 (2) 2. James Madison (45) 3135 (5) 3. Montana (10) 2911 (4) 4. Appalachian St. 2753 (1) 5. Northern Iowa (6) 2717 (7) 6. McNeese St. (1) 2544 (6) 7. Cal Poly 2284 (9) 8. Eastern Washington 2079 (10) 9. New Hampshire (1) 2001 (13) 10. North Dakota St. 1913 (3) 11. Wofford 1796 (11) 12. Elon 1611 (17) 13. Massachusetts 1458 (12) 14. Delaware 1439 (8) 15. Southern Illinois 1420 (15) 16. Furman 1362 (22) 17. Villanova 1323 (16) 18. South Dakota St. 1087 (14) 19. Central Arkansas 1035 (19) 20. The Citadel 870 (20) 21. Western Illinois 642 (21) 22. Eastern Illinois 553 (23) 23. Georgia Southern 461 (18) 24. Youngstown St. 406 (NR) 25. Harvard 263 (24) Others receiving votes (minimum of 5 votes): Liberty (53), Tennessee St. (51), Yale (37), Northern Arizona (30), Jacksonville St. (18), Sam Houston St. (17), Hampton (16), William & Mary (15), Univ. North Dakota (14), Montana St. (12), Albany (10), Dayton (8), Fordham (8), Weber St. (7), Prairie View A&M (6), UC Davis (5) MOST SIGNIFICANT WIN OF THE WEEK: James Madison MOST SIGNIFICANT LOSS OF THE WEEK: North Dakota St.

Lloyd Omdahl column in today's Herald.

Ironic that the team ranked one place above Idaho St. is none other than SE Louisiana.

While I agree with the majority of your post, I question what the NDSU fan support would be if things go bad. Granted, the evidence occurred when both were dII schools, but look back at the 2002 season, when both programs struggled. Both teams hosted season-ending games on November 16, 2002. UND drew 7328 vs. USD; and NDSU drew 6768 vs. SCSU. NDSU's second-to-last home game that year produced nearly identical attendance figures. I'm not claiming that's proof of anything in terms of right now, but certainly there's reason to believe that a lot of fans would jump off the NDSU bandwagon if things go bad. I suspect the same would happen if UND were to struggle similar to the 2002 season.

I have a feeling this game is going to be similar to when we used to play UMD or Mankato when they had the pass-on-every-down offenses. SE Louisiana threw for 377 yards against FBS Louisiana Tech today. They haven't been able to put up much in the way of rushing yards so far, UND is tough against the run, and the Sioux obviously struggled in the second half to stop the pass against Idaho St. Plus, the health of our starting corners is questionable. So all things point to passing, passing and more passing by SE Louisiana. The good news is that if USD could come within a few feet of winning there, and the Coyotes have struggled to come away with road wins against anybody the past several years, we should at least have a decent shot of coming away with a win. I definitely expect this to be the toughest test of the year so far.

Eastern is probably not going to want to schedule any more of the Washington dII's. Central beat them two years ago.

I'll guess a starting lineup of Kimbrough, Guinn, Seay, Youngblut and Bagaason if healthy. I doubt we'll see two posts in the starting lineup, since Ledger may be the only one who can spell Kimbrough. I wouldn't expect them to play together too often, but who knows?

This turned out to be the final score. It must have been a decent effort by SE Louisiana.

Tom's take