UND92,96

For comparison's sake, I looked back at NDSU's second home game of their first dI season. They drew 11,030 for a game against Montana Tech, and that was a night game. So there is some precedent for a big drop in attendance when the second game is against a non-dI opponent. Had this been a night game today, I suspect there would have been over 10,000, FWIW.

37 Southern Illinois 31 Hampton (final) 34 Miss. St. 10 SE Louisiana (final)

Not Great West of course, but another score of interest: Southern Illinois 27, Hampton 24, early in the fourth quarter.

Through two games, UND has no sacks, and has given up six. Not good. The lack of a pass rush today was very frustrating. Rushing for just 90 yards is also disappointing.

I can't help but wonder whether a team like New Hampshire, with legitimate playoff aspirations, would want to add another FBS game (they already play at Army), the week before a conference game, for what will probably be a fairly modest payday?

Thanks for the link. Obviously we have to take these things with a grain of salt, but it's interesting that Southern Illinois is the only 2008 opponent currently ranked ahead of UND.

Not that it's an either/or proposition, but I guess I'd prefer to take on a low-level FBS program this year, considering we have an experienced quarterback, an outstanding receiver and our two best offensive linemen who all won't be around next year, rather than playing a top-25 FBS team next year with a new quarterback, and little experience at receiver and the o-line.

Helling didn't pick on Klosterman. You can read the whole story here. To sum it up, Klosterman says Helling was i) arrogant; ii) a ball hog; and iii) too ultra-competitive. As a 15-year-old in 1985. Put him in jail and throw away the key!

Apparently the radio coaches' show will now be available via the internet: link

I'm pretty sure another one-time UND athlete, Rick Helling, feels the same way about Klosterman, considering how much mileage ol' Chuck has gotten out of ripping him in print: link

Game notes.

I once e-mailed somebody at the Alerus asking for clarification of this, and it memory serves me the response was that in terms of actual non-suite seats, capacity is around 12,200. I don't believe suites have been included in the official attendance since the 2001 regular season. I also don't recall exactly how many suite seats there are.

Kevin Fee blog on start times. Thoughts?

There's also a certain amount if irony in Kees' complaints, given the fact that in 2003 UND overcame a 28-3 halftime deficit to defeat SCSU. Comebacks do happen.

Blog from St. Cloud Times.

I think there may have been a larger than normal student section. It's hard to say how many military people were there, but I would think that even if none of them showed up again, their seats could easily be filled if a more aggressive marketing campaign were utilized. In other words, I feel that selling out the Alerus on a regular basis is a very realistic goal once the home schedule is a bit more attractive (assuming we continue to have success on the field). Over the first four games last season, we averaged just over 11,100--or roughly 1000 under capacity. With any sort of dI bump, sell-outs should be realistic, although I wouldn't really expect it until next year when we start seeing a stronger home schedule.

There were a lot of positive's to be taken from last night's game, including nice performances by Freund and Trenbeath, no turnovers and over 400 yards of offense. In terms of things that need improvement, I'd say tackling, e.g. how many times did a defender miss the quarterback?; kick coverage; and somebody to emerge as a reliable number two receiver. Not that anybody was dropping passes or anything, but I don't believe we can expect Trenbeath to continue to put up those types of numbers because teams are going to focus their coverage on him until somebody else shows they can be a big threat.

Wow, I'm even more excited about the season after reading this: link

Belotti (#16) has now been added to the roster.

Wayne Nelson picks UND to win 35-21 in today's print edition of the Herald. IMO, if the game is that close, it's not a good sign for the season. Even before the days of Dressler and Chappell, UND has traditionally absolutely owned unranked non-conference opponents at home.

Does anybody know whether there is going to be a coaches' show tonight on 1440 AM?

Here's what the Lone Star Conference columnist from d2football.com had to say about TAMUK this year: I just can't see them giving the Sioux much of a game, unless UND is nowhere near at the level it's been over the past 15 years.

The same info (but in a completely different article) was in the Corpus Christi paper today. Assuming a jump to 63 next season, the large senior class this year, several early departures from the recruiting class of 2007 and Rosario's no-show this year, there should be a very large number of scholarships available for the next recruiting class.

Article from Corpus Christi newspaper.

Herald article on the likelihood of Watkins and Bamba playing as true freshmen.