UND92,96

I guess we will just have to agree to disagree. I am not saying the first six games don't count. But I am not going to say that the coaches care more about playing Mollberg no matter what than they do about giving the team the best chance to win, either.

I am talking about from here on out. I don't believe for one minute that Bubba is going to just play Mollberg indefinitely for the rest of the season if he doesn't produce. What would be the point of that? Basically, I don't agree with the premise that just because Bartels is apparently not going to start against SUU, he's never going to get a chance to play again no matter what.

I disagree. Mollberg will need to play relatively well to keep his job, and I'm sure he knows that. But I do agree that in all likelihood, whichever of the two who ends up as the backup by the end of the year may very well transfer. I don't think it would wise to do so given how much can change in a year or two (Bellmore/Manke situation comes to mind), but that's just my opinion. BTW, while I'm certainly not saying Bartels is MORE turnover-prone than Mollberg, he did have eight turnovers last year in basically less than half a season, so he would need to improve somewhat in that area, also. Mollberg has eight turnovers so far this year.

Wasn't the first score (a field goal) led by Mollberg? I was thinking that was the drive he was injured, and that Bartels came in for the last play or two. Not sure on that, I guess. In any event, it's certainly true that the third quarter was probably the best the UND offense has looked this year. But I really can't second-guess Rudolph or Bubba if they are very hesitant to make a change of the starting quarterback based upon one quarter. At an absolute minimum, I think Mollberg gets the first half of the SUU game to show what he can do against a defense roughly the same caliber as Portland St. (on paper, anyway). If things go really poorly, Bartels may very well get another shot in the second half. EDIT: I looked back at the boxscore, and the first scoring drive was 76 yards, and all of the yards were when Mollberg was in there. I realize that isn't going to change anybody's mind.

I am basing it on the backup quarterback syndrome, i.e. the backup is always the answer for a certain segment of the fan base. If you have two quarterbacks who are relatively close, the other guy will always have his backers unless the starter plays like Peyton Manning.

Regardless of who is playing quarterback, Portland St., SUU and EWU are statistically three of the four worst defenses in the Big Sky right now. I would expect some improved offensive numbers compared to earlier in the season.

The weird thing is that if you go back and look at Bartels' 2012 info on rivals, he was described as a "dual threat" quarterback.

Unfortunately, I don't see this "controversy" going away any time soon in the eyes of the fans. I think both are capable, but neither is at a point where he's going to be so consistently good that there won't be a chunk of the fan base clamoring for a change.

Yes, the punting was not good yesterday. I almost thought UND might take a safety and free kick rather than risk a punt from the end zone in the last minute plus.

One thing I was a little disappointed with was giving up 164 yards rushing.

Seibel really surprised me today. Kid's a walk-on who didn't even play receiver in high school (was a DB). He's already elevated himself to playing ahead of some older scholarship receivers and he's just a redshirt freshman.

Looks like Ferguson is out.

And Bluto. Come to think of it, this incident practically demands double secret probation.

Sounds like receivers Ferguson and Walker are game time decisions. But Anderson will be back on the OL.

A nickel or dime difference is one thing. A quarter, as it is right now, is pushing it. Part of my frustration is also how blatant it is that when there is a downward trend, GF prices notoriously drop far more slowly than in NW Minnesota (except in EGF, funny how that works). And then, of course, there's the issue of how for awhile there a few years ago, the prices in GF and Fosston were consistently the same (as they should be, IMO). Then, something "mysterious" happened and the prices in GF went back up to anywhere from $.05 to $.15 higher than Fosston. Most of us know exactly what happened.

Maybe the inflated prices of western ND do play a role in "justifying" artificially high prices (IMO) in most of eastern ND besides Fargo? I think a lot of people look at Fargo prices as artificially low, but I'm not so sure that's the case. Interestingly, Fargo prices are actually higher than the Bemidji area right now. I'm not aware of that happening in the recent past.

I was thinking he just needed a new ivory backscratcher. He-who-shall-not-be-named is Grand Forks' own version of C. Montgomery Burns, only he's apparently a member of the GOBC instead of the Stonecutters.

I guess it's not that hard to get away with a seemingly blatant antitrust violation.

It's interesting to me that a certain Grand Forks gas station owner is charging $2.95 per gallon at his station in Bemidji, but $3.20 in Grand Forks. For whatever reason, the prices get lower as you go east on Highway 2. Crookston and Mentor are at $3.05. Erskine and McIntosh are at $3.00. Fosston and Bemidji are at $2.95. There's often a small difference in the price between Grand Forks and Fosston/Bagley/Bemidji, but generally not as much as $.25 per gallon.

I agree. Frankly, I have always been perplexed as to why so many college and pro teams use punters as the holder.

Kid reminds me a little of ex-UND NG Mark Callahan in high school. Callahan was also a really big high school LB, who became a lot bigger and ended up as an outstanding NG in college.

I realize the staff is playing the hand it was dealt, but I really wish there were more young players who were healthy enough and good enough to have earned playing time on the offensive line this year. It would be nice to feel like whatever struggles the OL has experienced were due to youth, and were just a prelude to better things next season. But aside from Miller, none of the freshmen have been able to get on the field. And of course, thanks to Muss, there are no sophomores at all. Will Stockwell ever get and remain healthy? Can Cox put on 30 or 40 pounds? What's the deal with Bell not even being listed on the 2-deep? And can Francis, Taylor and/or Stiner, or even one of the walk-ons, step in and compete for playing time as soon as next year?

Based upon the fact that he graduated from college in 1972, I'm guessing Faison is around 63. I would be pretty surprised if he's still UND's a.d. much beyond next school year.

5dimes is the site. Better hurry--the line is already down to Portland St. by 1.

Massey and Sagarin actually have Stony Brook rated ahead of UND. I don't pretend to know exactly what all goes into computer rankings, but that seems strange to me.