UND92,96

Weisenstein will chair the search committee: link

On one of the past coaches' shows this year, Lennon sounded very optimistic about some of the young offensive linemen. I'm also still waiting for the emergence of players like Koelln and Hiltner, who I believe were quite highly-regarded coming out of high school. Hiltner is gigantic, and made all the Minnesota all-state teams, including A.P. first team, and the guy who runs the Minnesota preps board was very high on Koelln.

But at least we do return our two best offensive linemen in Braegelmann and Troen, plus Bondy has had to play quite a bit due to Bauer's injury, and I think Erik Moe has played some at guard, also. The line probably won't be as strong as it is this year, but it should still be pretty good.

Ultimately, Dale Lennon is the only one whose opinion really matters with regard to how the co-coordinator situation is working, and I do trust that he'll make the correct decision, whatever that decision may be. It appears that a pretty solid nucleus will be coming back on defense, but I'd really like to see a 300 lb. nose guard, and a big inside linebacker transfer in from either the juco or I-A ranks.

UND is picked fifth in the NCC pre-season poll: link I certainly think it's realistic to expect a bit better than that.

I'm somewhat familiar with some of the young talent on offense and in the secondary, but what about the front seven? Are there any potential run-stuffers waiting in the wings?

I think that if you were to carefully read my post, you would see that nowhere did I blame anyone for anything. It's a legitimate question, particularly considering you just don't seem to see co-coordinators at any other program that I'm aware of. Am I happy with how the run defense performed against UNO and USD? No. Is anyone, players and coaches included? But I don't pretend to know the reasons for the downturn in our run defense the past couple of years. And by "downturn", I'm not talking about the overall numbers so much as against the teams that you know are going to run 80% of the time, but you still can't slow them down. How's this for a sobering statistic?--against the three best backs UND has faced this year--Allen, McNeill and Garner--the Sioux have given up an average of 245 yards per game. What is this, 1986?

Probably, but they only drew 3300 yesterday, and SDSU vs. Southern Utah more closely resembles the UND-Winona matchup than does SDSU vs. NDSU in terms of expected competitiveness.

May as well be an optimist and subscribe to theory one. Here's why: as poor as our run defense looked yesterday, and as poor as it looked throughout most of the UNO game, we still were in a position to win the UNO game late. True, it was at home, but home field hasn't meant much in that series. It's a longshot, but it's possible if our offense plays lights-out and we get a turnover or two on defense. Heck, we beat them last year without forcing a single punt, although clearly their defense is better this year. It also sounds like the injuries are piling up a bit for them. As for GVSU, we simply have no idea how good they are this year, since they have so many new faces, and they haven't had to play any highly-ranked teams. Again, it's unlikely that we would win there, but at this point we simply don't know enough about them to say one way or the other. Key injuries may also be an issue for them right now.

At the risk of stirring the pot--which is really not my intention here--what do people think should happen regarding the defensive coordinator situation next year? As most people know, for the past two years UND has had co-coordinators, which I believe is a rather unusual arrangement. Should Lennon keep things as they are? Pick one or the other? Try to recruit Bubba or Dosch back? Thoughts?

UND lost their last match of the season yesterday, to finish 0-12 in the NCC, and 6-23 overall. Any theories as to why things got so bad after a decent first season for Peterson?

There was an interesting article in today's Herald in which Terry Wanless and Roger Thomas were interviewed regarding their experiences as a.d. [url="http://www.grandforksherald.com/articles/index.cfm?id=56764

Same here. I had meant to post something earlier this week about Mr. Larson's passing because I knew he was a UND basketball great.

I'd much rather see Ashland, just because it would likely be a high-scoring affair, and it would be good to show that the NCC's number 2 team is clearly better than the number 2 team from the GLIAC.

So you guys lost Hochstein today? Is it probable season-ending? That would be a shame.

He apparently played in the first half today.

It looks like UND is for certain the 3 seed, which means we'll likely be playing either Ashland, Winona or possibly Wayne State. My guess is Winona. Again. EDIT: Winona is up on Wayne 38-20 in the third quarter, so now it's probably a matter of whether Winona or Ashland gets the 6 seed.

Weston certainly didn't hurt his Harlon Hill chances today...

Alright, so maybe we're a longshot to get to Florence, BUT AT LEAST THEIR STREAK IS DEAD AND WE'RE 9-1!

NEVER MIND!

If they get another first down, maybe we should just let them score so at least we'll have enough time to respond?

Thank you Weston!

I'm so sick of our crappy kickoff team.

The big difference between the two teams is that we can't seem to run when they know it's coming. They can.

Chappell's back in.