UND92,96

I have a hard time taking these rankings too seriously. Grand Valley the 26th-best college football team in the country? Central Washington ahead of UND? etc., etc.

Fair enough. UND fans know all too well how injuries to key players can throw a wrench into things.

Do you think Central Michigan just had a really bad day against NDSU, or was the MAC just that bad this year? It seems hard to believe that SDSU and Cal Poly may have been better than anyone in the MAC.

UND wins a surprisingly close game today, 73-67. It's a little surprising that Roebuck would have agreed to play an afternoon game after a late night game the evening before. Other than in the consolation bracket in a high school state tournament, you don't see that very often.

I know, it was only Detroit, but the Vikes certainly looked good again today.

UND appears to be in the running for linebacker Damon Campbell and defensive back Sean Kennedy from Wisconsin Lutheran High School. link

According to today's Herald (print edition only), the following red-shirts are listed as "newcomers to watch" for next season: Brent Goska, qb Catlin Solum, rb Chris Anderson, wr Broc Bellmore, dl Chris Schaan, dl Tru Nguyen, lb Dan Hendrickson, lb

GVSU 41, CWU 21--final

GVSU is up 27-0 in the first half against CWU.

No. But he should be.

He's something like 6'3", 250, so he's a lot bigger than his brother. He was an all-state linebacker, and also played quarterback (believe it or not!). I wouldn't be at all surprised if UND is looking at him.

Roebuck is hoping to have Bagaason back within a couple of weeks, but she would be playing with a brace on her knee. It is possible she'll have to red-shirt, though.

Hopefully there's another Chris Kuper on the horizon, as Coach Lennon mentioned on the coaches' show tonight that they are recruiting a kid from Alaska again this year.

According to Coach Lennon on the coaches' show tonight, UND will have a 12-game schedule next year.

Five candidates invited for on-campus interviews: [url="http://www.grandforksherald.com/articles/index.cfm?id=58739

Interesting column in the Billings paper: link

I have to say, I completely agree with Ryan Bakken: link

I saw something last night that I don't think I've ever seen at a college basketball game before--some of the players on the Dickinson State bench yelled while UND players were shooting free throws in an attempt to distract them (like you often see student sections do). A few other random thoughts: -second half performance was very good; the last ten minutes or so of the first half was about as bad as it gets. -making Lehnertz try to guard an Emmanuel Little-type player is not a wise move. -all 13 UND players played in the first half. -I liked last year's offensive set better than this year's. We have some very athletic players, and this offense almost seems to hamstring them from doing what they do best.

I'm not sure whether this will impact UND or not, but I see that Rainy River Community College has dropped its football program. As some may remember, that's where highly sought after recruit Deangelo Brackins ended up going (his father was the head coach there). I can only assume there are some pretty good players from that program who might be worth a look.

At least one UND team finally announces some signees! link

I agree with you. Here's what I don't quite understand--Jones took over the program last year, and for the most part seemed to make some progress. He also added some talent this year in Joseph, Harrison and Benter. So why install a new offense? I don't understand it. Now it seems everybody is back at square one. I think that winning as much as possible this year is imperative, because let's face it--fan apathy is still a big problem, and it appears more talent will be lost after this year than will be added.

I believe this actually happened way back in the Omaha week, but it appears UND has suffered the first casualty from the 2007 recruiting class. Safety Cory Hanson from Willmar, Minnesota is no longer listed on the roster. I have no idea whether he quit, or was dismissed from the team.

Good question. I would hope Tibesar would be ready by next year (although I have no idea the extent of his injury), but the only other fullback on the roster that I'm aware of is the Safranski kid from Stephen-Argyle. Speaking of Stephen-Argyle and fullbacks, I saw the state championship game, and was thinking that the Gratzek kid looked like he might be a nice college fullback. I know his brother's at NDSU, but he might be somebody to watch for.

There were a number of linebackers red-shirting this year, including this kid who could be a good one, so hopefully one or more of them will be ready to play next year. We definitely could use a big nose guard in the Callahan/Schultz/Wolff mode.

It seems to me this poll would make more sense once the actual schedules are released, but since they've gone to the trouble of having one and all...I'll say UND finishes 3-1, beating USD and SUU, and splitting with the Cali schools. I just hope the season finishes with a home game. It would be nice to actually have a good chance to finish the season with a win for the first time in several years.