UND92,96

I am not taking a position as to Jones' status, but one could argue that by assembling a roster with such an inordinate number of players in one senior class, a coach really shouldn't be able to use that as an excuse the following year if things go badly. IMO, this was a result of an over-reliance on transfers in recent years at the expense of high school recruiting, which resulted in a less-than-optimal balance of scholarships amongst the classes. With that said, I am encouraged by the current freshman class, and the committed players for next year. There will be growing pains this year, but I still feel that there should be certain minimum expectations, such as finishing at or near .500 in the league. There is enough talent for that to happen, IMO.

I tend to agree with this. St. Cloud had some very good offenses when Rudolph was there. Of course, having Heckendorf, Birkel, etc. didn't hurt either. I am quite sure the UND coaches know they will need far more points than what have been scored the first four games in order to remain competitive with the Big Sky's best teams, and that running almost exclusively between the tackles isn't likely to be particularly effective with the current personnel, so I expect a far more diverse offense now that Big Sky play is starting. Will it be any more effective? We'll see Saturday.

Sounds like a linebacker from the twin cities committed tonight. Any guesses as to who? Maybe Hanson? EDIT: Apparently it's Donnell Rodgers.

I was not impressed with NAU at all. Prior to the season, I thought they'd be in for a big drop off this year without Bauman, and I did not see much this past Saturday to dispel that notion. USD, on the other hand, was pretty good. Remember, they also only lost 28-20 at Montana the week before, and have been without their starting quarterback for a few weeks.

Black Hills St. managed 10 points, 13 first downs and 238 yards against Montana St. earlier this year. I would like to think we have a chance to exceed that, but that's certainly no guarantee.

I may be in the minority among non-MVFC homers, but I actually think Missouri St. might be a better team than Montana St. this year. I guess we'll be in a better position to make a judgment after Saturday.

With Ruhe out (the one TE who was definitely a legit receiving threat), I wonder if there is any chance Fiedler's redshirt is lifted?

Ideally, once the talent is in place I'd love to see a conservative game plan that actually works, a la Wisconsin, or UNO back in the day. You know/knew exactly what's coming, but stopping it is a whole other story.

In terms of margin of defeat, it's probably not possible to do worse than last year--118 to 37 in the two games against the Montana schools. I think the defense has improved to a far greater degree than the offense has regressed. The reality is that we stunk last year on both sides of the ball. At least now the defense is respectable.

With any kind of offense whatsoever, there would be several more potential wins on the schedule based upon what I've seen and read. UNC is terrible, as usual. Portland St. is only slightly better. Weber is 0-4, albeit against a very strong schedule. And even NAU looked far from impressive in Vermillion yesterday.

O.K., we all know the OL is struggling. How many years is it realistically going to take to rebuild it? How many current redshirts have a real chance to start next year? An FBS transfer would be nice, albeit unlikely, and I don't think juco transfers are the answer. So for improvement as soon as next year, it seems to me it's going to have to come from Stockwell and the current redshirts. And that's asking a lot of a bunch of 19 or 20 year olds with no game experience.

The fact that a linebacker is now the main running back does at least show that they are willing to make changes in personnel.

I'm kind of assuming Marcus Coker's ability has been severely diminished by injuries? He was once the second-leading rusher in the Big Ten, but didn't do a lot of damage tonight.

Stony Brook's offense isn't good, but they do have some talent. That Florida St. transfer TE/punt returner was good.

EWU is like the early 1990's Loyola Marymount basketball teams. Defense is a total afterthought, but man can they score.

Here's a crazy stat--UND defense had more forced turnovers than the UND offense had completed passes.

Bolduc has really punted well.

This has to be at least within shouting distance of a record for fewest yards gained by a winning team.

Rich may exceed 20 tackles in this game.

UND with another stop. Takes over on downs.

Crap. Mollberg int off a deflection.

Best defensive performance in a long time. Another TO.

Pick 6 for Tillman.

Agreed. Monster game so far.

Particularly since he's a senior transfer, and won't be back next year. Might as well try a younger guy.