UND92,96

UNO is a very good team, and based upon the past decade I think it's safe to say UND will need to play extremely well to win. It must be pointed out, however, that this is the first true road test for UNO. Their two road games so far were at Kearney and Augie, and both of those games were relatively competitive.

Although I'm disappointed in the defensive performances in three of the last four games, there is some recent history to suggest that you don't necessarily need a shut-down defense to achieve some pretty great things. For example, in 2003, UND went undefeated in NCC play, and made it all the way to national championship game despite giving up 31 points to Mesa State, 28 to St. Cloud, 35 to UNO and 29 to Winona State. And that Sioux offense wasn't even remotely as good as this year's. So there's still hope that with some modest improvement by the defense, this team could still make some serious noise in the post season.

Considering how successful the UND defense was last week by being more aggressive than they'd been, I'm surprised they would have gone back to an "unaggressive"--for lack of a better word--gameplan this week.

The strange thing is that before today, the last several times UND had played Mankato, their offense couldn't score much at all. I'm not sure why today was so different. When UND gives up more points and yards against Mankato than Augie did, something doesn't quite add up.

You kind of have to wonder how much Stroup's absence hurt the Sioux defense. I know one player can only make so much of a difference, but you have to think him rushing the passer would have been a big help today. This is the second time this year he's missed a game, and an offense that doesn't seem to score much against anybody else goes crazy against UND.

I'm sure UNO appreciates being given a bye the week before they play UND for the second year in a row.

For Wayne Nelson, Lefty (UNO fan), sultan and everybody else who predicted Mankato would give UND problems, I'd just like to go on record as saying you're smarter than me. I really thought UND would win going away. I guess it shows how much I know.

Does this game remind anyone else of 2003? Every game seemed to come down to a miracle finish!

Bad play.

We need Bubba back.

27-24 Mankato.

Ironic that quarterback sneaks were a topic of conversation on the coaches' show this past Wednesday. Lennon said some quarterbacks have that knack for always getting the first, and some don't. I was about to put Freund in the latter category...

I think Mankato probably does better against teams that aren't necessarily used to seeing that kind of offense, such as probably Central Missouri and possibly Northern Iowa. Against teams in the conference that have seen it the past three years between UMD and Mankato, it's less effective. Sure, they'll move the ball between the 20's very well, but they struggle to actually get it into the end zone. That's simply a byproduct of not having any sort of a running game. I would say at best, Mankato is the 5th or 6th best team in the league this year. Of course, that doesn't mean they can't beat UND, but IMO they can't without UND giving them a lot of help, i.e. the Augie game last year.

I don't mean to imply that Mankato isn't a legit team. Any team in the NCC is dangerous on a given day. But they weren't particularly impressive in beating Augie by 10 two weeks ago in Mankato. And UNO beat them by 30 last week despite being very banged-up on both the offensive and defensive lines. The bottom line is that UND is the better team, and should win the game if they play relatively well.

October 8.

I don't think you'll have any problem getting in. I doubt Mankato has ever sold out a game.

Correct. For some stupid reason, I was thinking yesterday was Friday when I posted that.

I'm sure they've left already. They may not be there yet, but I'm sure they're at least on the road.

This is just my opinion, but I would kind of expect LaFrance to back up Jossy at the point. As for the other newcomers, I would expect them to probably red-shirt, or else play very little except for in mop-up time.

Here are some possible reasons for optimism: In three games against UND (two while at UMD and one while at MSU), offensive coordinator Dan Ragsdale-led offenses have managed 10, 12 and 3 points. Also, if you throw out MSU's game against NAIA Peru State (which lost 36-7 to Jamestown), MSU is scoring just 19.5 points per game. I see MSU as a more talented, but only slightly more successful version of Augie.

I didn't realize this guy has been coaching in Mankato since last year.

I have a feeling most of the local sports media probably do.

Ryan Bakken noticed. link.

We'll know a lot more about USD after Saturday, as they play Central Washington on the road. If they lose, their season is hanging by a thread, as they still have to go to Omaha, and of course play UND. I'd be very surprised if USD can win at either CWU or UNO, as they just never seem to get that big road win over a good team. Plus, their defense is just not very good.

Chappell is now the leading rusher in dII, and Freund leads in passing efficiency: link.