UND92,96

UMD's quarterback is banged up and can't move well, their offensive line is young and struggling, and they still don't have a running game. If the Sioux don't win this game comfortably, I will be very disappointed.

This is an excerpt from a Wayne Nelson article in Saturday's Herald:

I've always found it incredible that a town of 16,000 could have two pretty good class A (caliber) high school sports programs. I'm not accusing anybody of anything, because I have no idea, but are the vast majority of Trinity students who compete in athletics actually from Dickinson?

Question: what was/would have been the bigger upset--SDSU over Cal-Poly or NDSU over Minnesota? I actually think it's the former. I was not at all surprised that NDSU out-played the Gophers, but I was shocked that SDSU knocked off Cal-Poly on the road.

A quick read of the NCAA's edicts indicates that schools in UND's situation are barred from "hosting" NCAA post season championships/playoffs. My guess is that regardless of where the game is actually played, the NCAA will say that UND can't "host", whether the game would be in Grand Forks, Fargo, Minneapolis, etc., and regardless of whether any Sioux names or logos appear in the venue. The more interesting question to me is what will happen if UND were to finish 9-1, which clearly would warrant a relatively high seed. Would they simply give UND the lowest seed (6)? Would they give UND the seed they actually earned, but allow the lower seed to host, which, depending on UND's actual seed, could mean that a 5 or 6 seed got to play at home, but a 3 or 4 seed did not? What about the bye that the top two seeds get? If UND were simply to be given a 6 seed, not only would they not get to host, but they would also then be required to play an extra game. There could be all kinds of issues that will arise if UND actually wins out.

This Herald article from Sunday's paper also indicated that Manke felt okay after the game.

Here's a link talking about that Epping team, and the famous game against Hillsboro. link. It was featured on a prairie public tv special from a few years ago about the history of the class B tournament in North Dakota. It was a really good show, and is still shown once in awhile.

I believe Gowan from Central is over 1000 now. He had two 200-plus yard games, plus over 100 several other times (including West Fargo and North).

That's still a possibility, but if last week's results are any indication, the odds have gone down from what they would have been a couple of weeks ago. USD seemed to be all defense, no offense until last week (did I really just type that? ), but the offense definitely played much better at Western Washington. Whether that's a trend or a mirage will be interesting to see.

Yes, that halfback pass call really hurt. When you have a playmaking quarterback like Reed Manke, you absolutely have to have the ball in his hands in a crucial situation. I thought overall it was a pretty good day calling plays for Mussman, but that call was very strange.

Herald [url="http://www.grandforksherald.com/articles/index.cfm?id=13591

What I found so curious about the decision to take the field goal on 4th and goal from the 1 is why you go for the touchdown in this situation at UNI, but not at UNO? If ever there was a team against which you would think Lennon would want to be uber-aggressive and go against the grain, it's UNO.

That's good news. It's probably good that UND doesn't have another game until the 28th.

I know this goes against all conventional coaching wisdom, but in this situation wouldn't it almost be better to let them score, and then at least you could theoretically score a td and 2-point conversion to tie it up in the last minute and a half? As it is, there's basically no chance the more time you let them run off...

I can understand why Wayne Nelson predicted a UNO win today, but what's the deal with him giving them the advantage over UND on defense? The numbers suggest otherwise, and UNO is known to be suspect against the pass (which Wayne even admits). That seems like curious logic to give them the advantage simply because they give up roughly 10 fewer rushing yards per game, and they're playing at home.

It looks like International Falls has a good running back who is being recruited by UND, among others. [url="http://www.grandforksherald.com/articles/index.cfm?id=13273

UND is ranked number one in at least one pre-season poll: link

As I see it, with Manke playing this is arguably the most complete Sioux offense in a long, long time. You have playmakers at the three key skill positions with Manke, Chappell and Dressler. The line is very solid. The UNO defense, like always, is good against the run, but they're giving up 20 ppg, and gave up 31 and 28, respectively, against NWMSU and Augie, neither of which have as strong of offenses as UND (at full strength). So if UND can score in the upper 20's, can the defense hold the one-dimensional (albeit one strong dimension) Maverick offense to less than that? I think so. Just as few outside of the team and some UND fans felt the Sioux had any chance at Northern Iowa, I see this as a similar statement opportunity. Nobody outside of UND fans is giving the Sioux much of a chance on Saturday, but I really feel we're going to see the "real" UND offense on Saturday, and that UNO won't be able to consistently run the ball up and down the field against Wolff, Brennan, et al. I see the Sioux winning 28-24, and Manke comes through in the clutch again.

He is starting and playing well from what I can tell.

No, but it looks like you can watch it free on the internet. link

It's kind of interesting that on the d2football.com board, nobody besides UND fans is picking the Sioux to win. I like it. There's nothing like proving all the naysayers wrong. The defense and special teams are playing better now than early in the season. With Manke now back, if we can get the offense back to its Northern Iowa form, UND has a good chance. UNO has played well since their loss to NWMSU, but they have their flaws, too. They don't throw the ball as well as in the past, and their pass defense is suspect. I don't believe their special teams are very special, either.

Northwest 1. North Dakota (6-0) 2. Nebraska-Omaha (4-1) 3. Grand Valley State (6-0) 4. Winona State (5-1) 5. Northwood (6-0) 6. South Dakota (5-1) 7. Augustana (South Dakota) (4-2) 8. Minnesota Duluth (4-2) 9. Ferris State (4-2) 10. Saginaw Valley State (4-2) 11. Tiffin (7-0) 12. Humboldt State (4-1)

I don't think Belmore's confidence problems have anything to do with the coaches. I think once he started turning the ball over late last year, it became a vicious cycle--turnovers made him tentative, which led to even more turnovers.

Normally, I like to see an offense be aggressive in that circumstance. However, I didn't really have a problem with settling for the field goal. I have to wonder if maybe Lennon and Mussman wanted to be extra careful after the interception thrown around the goal line vs. Augie that was returned for a td.