UND92,96

That is exactly my point. Those things always seem to play a large role in these games, and that's why it's so difficult to predict a winner. It's fine to be confident in UNO's defense, but by the same token, you have to at least acknowledge that until a team plays an offensive power on the road, there's always going to be a question mark. A good example was the UND defense of 2005. They played quite well all year, then ran into big problems in Vermillion. If the same thing happened to UNO today, I wouldn't be all that surprised.

I highly doubt a new a.d. will be hired until a new president is in place, anyway.

A.D.'s are fired often, and I strongly suspect that in many of those cases, they are first given the choice of resigning, to save face, or being fired. But how many of those A.D.'s choose neither, and instead take a "leave of absence" to delay the process? Should that reflect poorly on the school, or the individual?

Seeing as how these games are seemingly always decided by 3 points or less, I don't think fans from either side should feel overly confident about the outcome.

Here's an Omaha paper article on the friendly rivalry between Ryan Chappell and Brian McNeill. link.

Just when I was finally getting used to the idea that capacity was in the 12,200 range rather than the 13,500 as it was originally listed, the article in yesterday's Herald stated UND hopes for 13,000 for the game tomorrow. I wish they'd go back to actually counting the suites. How hard is that? Those people have tickets that are scanned too, don't they?

The 2005 game, played roughly two weeks later in the season than now, drew 10,728. I'd expect more than that for this one.

While I understand that people may want more of an immediate sense of closure, and I don't personally understand what Buning is gaining by taking a leave of absence instead of resigning, it doesn't really make a practical difference to me either way. Regardless, Buning is no longer carrying out the duties of athletic director, and won't be again at UND. No matter whether Buning was out in July or in September, or whether he took an extended leave of absence starting in July or in September, there still would have been an interim a.d. (or a.d.'s) for several months, wouldn't there?

Yes, it was a red flag. A red flag that problems existed within the department. It seems to me the other option was simply to fire him/not renew his contract in July. I don't think people who are upset about the way things played out would have been any less so had that happened, but perhaps I'm wrong.

PCM is correct. I'm afraid a lot of people are assuming that having Buning report to Harmeson was a cause of the problems, rather than a result from problems that already existed within the department.

The loss to McNeese State (FCS team) doesn't really count for purposes of playoff selections. For that matter, UND's win over Southern Utah (and Northern Iowa last year) are/were also essentially irrelevent for playoff selection purposes. Perhaps more accurately, games against non-dII opponents can be considered, but they are not one of the main criteria. link

It sounds like Bauer is out for sure, and Stroup is still questionable. Everybody else is apparently good to go.

I didn't mean to imply you did. But another poster has. More than once. With regard to leaks, I think they've come from a variety of sources. I'm not commenting on whether it's right or wrong.

I suppose people can decide for themselves whether I'm credible or not, but I know for a fact that Dan Martinsen was not the source for the information posted on this site regarding the lack of passes for coaches' families, etc. Yes, he received an e-mail about it, but a lot of other people knew about this issue, as well. A number of people were upset about the situation. It's not important who the poster was, or where he/she got the information, but it did not come either directly or indirectly from Dan Martinsen. I'm not here to argue whether certain leaks should or should not have happened, but I don't like it when people are blamed for things they did not do.

Trust me, I'm not trying to muddy the waters. But so long as you continue to rip Martinsen, I and others will come right back to the real issue, and that's Buning's job performance. If you don't approve of the way he was apparently fired, that's your prerogative. I guess I consider continually bringing up the Martinsen angle, to the extent there even is one, to be muddying the waters, but maybe that's just me. Heck, as long as you're at it, don't forget about Buning's other excuses, namely Roger Thomas and the "mascot issue" (Buning's words, not mine).

Well, I'm still trying to figure out what Buning expected to gain by taking his "leave of absence." It dragged this thing out much longer than necessary, and largely created the "circus" IMO. He is going to get a buyout of his contract whether he took the "leave of absence" or not. I'm quite sure several alums are/were willing to write a check to make him go away. Terry Wanless knew what he was doing by going away quietly, and he landed on his feet again. After this episode, I think Buning will have a much tougher time finding another job in college athletics administration than Wanless did, and it took Wanless a long time to find another good job.

I believe at least seven of the 18 head coaches at UND were hired by Buning. One would think that if he had been doing an adequate job, he would at least have had their support, and his performance review would have been much higher than it was. If I remember correctly, the Herald article on the survey contained only one positive comment about his job performance, and that was from an assistant coach.

I really don't know how to feel about UND's chances in this game. The Sioux defense has had some struggles, but most have occurred on the road. UNO has some impressive performances, but has only played two road games, and they were against Kearney and Augie, neither of whom are close to UND in terms of talent. Both of those games were pretty competitive until the end. UNO has had more success in Grand Forks than any visiting team in the past decade, but how much do past results really matter in the present? I have a feeling UNO's defense may be a bit overrated, and UND's a bit underrated. UND has the total package offensively, while UNO's receivers are pretty ordinary IMO. I have a feeling UND will win, but they must avoid turnovers, do a better job covering kickoffs, and hopefully do a better job containing Miller when he scrambles than they did last year. It should be a great one.

Again, it would be nice to know the date of the e-mail to provide some context. I certainly can't speak for Jon, but I suspect that may have been written pre-"leave of absence."

I think Goska (the quarterback) and the receivers are going to be good. I know Lennon mentioned that the offensive linemen as a group were pretty impressive, but I'm not sure who exactly has stood out. I'm guessing the kid from Montana may be one. I'm going to be very interested to see how Schaan (defensive end) does once he puts on some weight. He's supposed to be quite a pass rusher. As a whole, I think this is going to be an extremely good class.

I agree with everything in this post. I haven't heard anything negative about Dan Martinsen from people who have actually met him, other than from Tom Buning.

There is a lower price for 12 and under, but not high school age. However, if you were to buy a ticket today, it would be $10 due to the Tuesday special.

I believe the resignations occurred before the leave of absence. It would have been helpful had Fee given the dates of the e-mails.

Kevin Fee blog.