UND92,96

I agree that in terms of football, the Manke's are the best. I believe Ryan was the NCC's most valuable db his senior year; Reed is probably one of the best UND quarterbacks ever despite not starting a regular season game until his senior year; and Rory has already made numerous big plays as a sophomore. One other good brother combo in recent years is the Brennan's (Ross and Steve).

Allow me to elaborate a bit on my original post--UND's offense is averaging 37 ppg over the past five games, whereas it seems many times in the past by late in the season, the offense was really struggling to find a way to score 20. I certainly can't say whether the late season struggles of the past were due to scheme, playcalling, players, etc., but I felt it would be patently unfair not to praise Mussman during this unprecedented late season run of outstanding offense, because he's certainly taken heat by a lot of people when the offense has struggled. Obviously the players deserve much of the credit, as well, but they are being put in good positions to succeed. To me, an example of being unfair would be to call out Mannausau/Kelling for yesterday's defensive performance, considering the defense has generally played well this year. While I was very disappointed in allowing that many rushing yards playing a team where you knew exactly what they were going to do, I have faith that the problems will be addressed, and that the defense will play better next week.

Exactly. UND actually outgained GVSU last year, but three fumbles killed us. GVSU didn't have any turnovers in last year's game.

I see that USD did manage to gain 400 yards of offense against GVSU (UND gave up 413 today by way of comparison) but had two turnovers to GVSU's none, and the Lakers had a punt return for a td. Maybe I'm just overly optimistic, but if the Sioux offense can continue to play the way it has in recent weeks, UND can win this game, although it will probably need to be in a shootout similar to today.

I know it's a moot point, but just think if we had last year's defense to go along with this year's offense...

For all of us who have been critical of Chris Mussman's playcalling in the past, let me be the first to say, great job today and really all season. This offense is a machine right now.

As effective as UNO's running game is, this was a good example of why it's tough to win in the playoffs with it. When UNO had to score in a short period of time at the end of the game, they simply couldn't pass well enough to get it done. THE CURSE OF PAT BEHRNS IS BROKEN!

RORY MANKE PICK!

Jr.

How things change in one year. Miller played a couple of possession against UND last year, and did nothing. This year, he's like Michael Vick (minus the fumbles).

I certainly don't pretend to know what the problems are with the defense based on listening to the game on the radio, but if you're Dale Lennon and arguably the best defensive coordinator in Sioux history, that first half had to be extremely difficult and frustrating to watch.

I considered it seriously, but the 16-hour round trip was a bit too much for me.

In Vermillion last year. But at least that USD offense wasn't completely one-dimensional.

That penalty was effectively a turnover, but I just think there's too much talent in the UND front seven to allow a team to just run up and down the field without doing anything tricky.

Pretty pathetic defensive performance. It's not like they're doing anything surprising.

Why even rush the punter? Stupid! Too risky.

Yes, but you'd think it was far tougher to stop Logan. Apples and oranges maybe, but it's not like we've never faced a running quarterback before.

If you go to the scoreboard at d2football.com, they have a link.

Agreed. It can't be easy to mold this many new players into a team, especially since even the returnees had to learn a new system. Nice job so far by Jones and staff.

Unfortunately, it appears that this year's team has some major issues defensively. I couldn't figure out what they were trying to do tonight, but whatever it was, it clearly wasn't working. Lewis didn't have a ton of talent by any means, but they had open looks nearly every possession. On the bright side, Langen was back to her old self offensively, and Beck had another excellent game.

What remains to be seen is whether anyone can step forward to be the go-to player. It probably won't work for that player to be Langen, because it's too easy to double and triple team a post player. Over the past decade, it seems like there's always been either a guard or an inside-outside player who could create her own shot--the Pudenz's, Richards, Arndtson, Moen, LeCuyer, Leighton and Boese. Who can step up to fill that role? The most likely candidate is probably Maffin, if she can regain her form from the Disney tournament. Thoughts?

Bruce Veldman from Becker (MN) is someone to watch as a potential recruit.

Actually, I'm 99% positive McNeil and Chappell were both 2005 grads. I specifically remember both playing in the shrine and mon-dak bowls, and McNeil played corner because Chappell was the primary running back. I just assumed he would end up playing defense in college, so it really surprised me when I heard recently that not only was he playing running back, but that he was potentially going to get a scholarship to a I-A school.

It's kind of interesting that Brian McNeil, who played at West Fargo a couple of years ago and is just finishing up his second year at NDSCS, is getting a lot of attention as a potential I-A running back recruit. He was nowhere near Chappell's level in high school (both were 2005 grads) in terms of either speed or production. It kind of makes me wonder who'd be recruiting Chappell now had he gone the juco route?

Is there any chance UND could put together a webcast on this short of notice? I have no idea how difficult that is, but presumably it's far easier, cheaper and less labor intensive than putting together a tv broadcast.