UND92,96

I would say UND is definitely very interested in Cavalier's Matt Anderson. He's the top senior prospect in the state, IMO. I'd say the odds are quite good that UND is also interested in Ryan Kasowski. Probably not as a running back, but possibly as a linebacker.

I'm not always a huge fan of the playcalling, but I suppose that's normal for fans to second-guess the offensive coordinator. I felt that we didn't really attack UNO's weakness--their corners--enough. But it was the turnovers, not the playcalling, that was the real problem. One other thing Lennon said on the show last night that is quite true--and I'm paraphrasing here--is that fans want the offense to be as dominant as the defense. With just 36 scholarships, that's simply not realistic. With a couple of exceptions, UND's top talent is on the defensive side of the ball. That doesn't mean the offense has to be sub-par, and it certainly hasn't for most of this year, but it's also unlikely that it's going to consistently be a 40-plus ppg unit, either.

The issue of playcalling came up on the coaches' show last night, and Dale Lennon made a point of distinguishing between a conservative offense, and one that simply failed to put many points on the board. His feeling was that UND wasn't being conservative against UNO--they just made too many mistakes. As for the short leash comments, my feeling is that Belmore should be pulled if he has another bad turnover. He simply can't fumble anymore. And if he gets intercepted, it needs to be on a long pass attempt or the result of a receiver bobbling the ball. I've always felt that as between Belmore and Manke, Belmore has more of the "measurables," i.e. size, speed and perhaps arm strength. Manke would seem to have all the intangibles going for him, and he had a far superior high school career. I certainly don't claim to know better than Mussman or Lennon who should be playing, but I honestly feel that Manke is a winner and deserves a legitimate shot to play before his career is over.

I've always felt that aside from location, UNC had absolutely no business going dI. Their men's basketball program is a joke--terrible team, terrible facility and terrible fan support. They would also appear to be somewhat strapped for cash, with a 2004 budget of just $4.3 million. Even football, their bread and butter sport, has historically had trouble sustaining success over long periods of time. They're evidently desperate for football wins, since after playing an all I-AA schedule in 2004, they've played two RMAC teams this year. Not coincidentally, those two games count for two of their three wins on the year.

UND has shown interest in Fargo South receiver Evan Savageau, according to the this Forum [url="http://www.in-forum.com/articles/index.cfm?id=107507

Aside from being located in a very small town, which admittedly is a problem, I don't think USD is in too bad of a situation in terms of money. Their fiscal year 2005 budget is at about $4.3 million, and I suspect their football revenue this year has gone up considerably now that they're actually doing well and fans are interested again for the first time in about 20 years. They're averaging a little over 7000 per game now, and that number will likely go up a bit after this Saturday's game. They draw around 2500 per game for men's basketball, which puts them far ahead of Northern Colorado, for example. Their fiscal year 2005 budget is very comparable to SDSU's fiscal year 2004 budget.

This may not be an identical situation, but in the 2003 season, I seem to recall Bowenkamp being pulled a few times in favor of Joe Wilson when he was struggling. Like Belmore now, Bowenkamp was in his second season as starter in 2003, and had his share of ups and downs. If, as expected, Belmore gets the start on Saturday, I think he needs to be on a very short leash. It's not like there's some inexperienced freshman backup. Manke can play. Keep in mind that the passing game will be key on Saturday. Like UNO, USD is decent against the run, but bad against the pass. This will not be a game to go ultra-conservative, because USD will put up some points. Their offense is better than Omaha's, particularly playing in Vermillion. We probably need to score 30 points to have a good chance to win, and it will be difficult to do so without being more aggressive with the playcalling.

I don't know that he was "officially" fired, but he was definitely forced out. I suspect he was essentially told to resign or be fired. He was just too young for the job. I believe he was in his late 20's when he was promoted from defensive coordinator. I agree with you regarding UNO's probable playoff fate. I think both UNO and USD have the same problem--pass defense. UND simply didn't exploit that weakness and paid for it. Hopefully we will do so on Saturday or else another loss wouldn't surprise me.

According to the first UND women's basketball press release, the games will be on the radio.

If UND were to be seeded 3rd or 4th, they'd be playing at home on November 12. If seeded 1st or 2nd, they'd have a bye. If seeded 5th or 6th, they'd be on the road. I won't even address the one other possibility...

Another mystery of this week's poll is how Central Washington jumped up three spots to number seven. They have a win over an NAIA school, which is very costly to your quality win index, and although they do have a nice win over Washburn, their other six wins consist of five teams with below .500 records, plus the aforementioned NAIA team.

NDSU's fiscal year 2005 numbers are now out, and they're reporting to have broken even, with revenues and expenses both reported at $7,668,848. I won't bother trying a link after the difficulties I encountered trying a link to the UND numbers.

One of the really frustrating things about Saturday's game is that conventional wisdom says that if UNO can't run the ball consistently, they're in big trouble because their passing game isn't well-equipped to be effective without a strong running game. Similarly, they have trouble when they fall behind for the same reason. Getting behind by three scores means they almost have to abandon the running game, which usually spells trouble for them. That's one of the reasons they lost so badly to USD. Well, UND largely stopped the run, giving up less than 3.5 yards per rush, and UNO threw about 20-25 more times than they want to, but somehow they still managed to win since everything that could conceivably go wrong for UND in the 4th quarter did go wrong. Also, terrible special teams generally make winning extremely difficult--and the UNO special teams are definitely bad--but they got away with it. Not that it's any consolation, but the one thing you can probably count on is that UNO will now lay an egg either next week against Mankato, or else in their first playoff game. Behrns may have some kind of spell over UND, but he has proven time and again that when it really counts, at least against anybody but the Sioux, he will find a way to lose.

I just realized that despite the loss today, UND actually has wrapped up a share of the NCC title thanks to Bubba's Bulldogs beating USD. It's very small consolation, I know. The bad news is that if we lose in Vermillion next week, it will likely result in a four-way tie for the title, with UNO, USD and the winner of UMD-SCSU.

Something will have to give next week in a matchup of a resistable force (UND offense) and a movable object (USD defense). Which unit is struggling worse right now? Unfortunately for the Sioux offense, they're in a bad situation at the worst time of year for it to happen. Belmore has to have lost most if not all of his confidence considering the way he's played the past two weeks, and yet can you really throw Manke in there on the road with the season on the line considering how little he's played this year? I say yes, but it's unfair to expect all that much out of him. If nothing else, he can't possibly turn the ball over as much as Belmore. This program must have some kind of mental block when it comes to UNO that is simply beyond comprehension. There was absolutely no way UND should have lost this game this year. And the fact that UND could lose 5 out of 6 against ANYBODY in dII is mind-boggling to me.

Maffin has apparently been practicing, but I'm not sure whether she's 100% or not.

This is, of course, unofficial and subject to change, but my understanding is that as of now, the starting five would probably be Langen, Boese, Guinn, Jahner and Mahlum.

You may very well be right. If this were a playoff game, I'd say you'd definitely be right, i.e. UC-Davis in 2001. I STILL say there was over 13,000 for that game!

Charlie Jeske from the Alerus was on the radio this morning, and said there's roughly 2000 tickets left for the game tomorrow. Assuming a full or nearly-full student section and normal ticket sales for the rest of today and tomorrow, I would expect 12,000-plus.

Here's the [url="http://www.in-forum.com/articles/index.cfm?id=106884

I can't help but wonder if perhaps we're giving UNO a little too much credit. True, they've more or less had our number in recent years. But this year, which is really all that matters right now, they are a very flawed team, as has been shown by the fact that they've played quite poorly in the second half of the NW Missouri game, and most all of the Central Washington, USD and UMD games. They have a very porous secondary, and questionable special teams. And they've been poor on the road this year. Just as many people were concerned prior to the Winona State, Augie and St. Cloud State games due to what had happened in the past, it seems to be the same for this game. But I honestly expect a similar result here as in those games. UND is the better team, playing at home, and has something to prove. I look for the Sioux to play their most complete game of the year, and put to rest the talk about struggling against Omaha.

Last year it came out in the second week of November, so it will probably be a couple of weeks before the NCC coaches' poll comes out.

The TV show typically starts when the conference season starts. The basketball coaches will probably be on the radio show Wednesday nights either the week before or the week after their first games of the season. I believe the women open with Merrimack at the tip-off tournament, who beat St. Cloud State in the Elite 8 last spring. However, I don't think they return much from that team.

New regional rankings: