UND92,96

There is talent in the program, and it's getting better. Hooker had something like a dozen dI offers. Crandall may have been a steal (although we haven't actually seen him play against college competition yet). Shanks was highly sought-after. Cashman and Shields should be pretty good with added strength and weight. And the group coming in next year looks very good on paper. So all the talk about salaries, facilities, location, weather, etc. being such huge challenges is somewhat overblown IMO. It may not be particularly easy to recruit talent to North Dakota, but clearly it can be done. I had previously thought that anything less than about 12 wins this year would be unacceptable, but I'm going to back off a little on that considering most of the best young talent won't even be on the court until next season. Next season will be important, though. I think it will be pretty clear after 2015-16 whether the program is headed in the right direction or not.

Not FCS, but it's interesting that one name that was mentioned by many as a potential UND candidate a year ago--Lance Leipold--was just hired as the head coach of Buffalo of the MAC. You don't often see somebody jump from dIII to FBS.

It appears NG Leonard Wright from Ellsworth (IA) CC will be visiting UND this weekend. SFI is estimating 12-14 recruits will be on campus. Looks like the weather will cooperate, with no snow predicted and highs in the mid to upper 20's--better than it's been lately.

We don't know of any as of yet, but I would strongly suspect that there will be some--particularly among Mussman recruits who didn't play much this past season.

I've always felt that it wasn't going to be Pelini's record that did him in. It was more a combination of the fact that he was, shall we say, a complicated guy who had a tendency to rub people the wrong way, and the fact that despite being a defensive guy, Nebraska had a propensity during his tenure as head coach of having some epically bad defensive performances. This year's debacle vs. Melvin Gordon and Wisconsin being just one of many examples. In a day and age of college football where even Florida, Texas and USC are quite capable of having bad teams, I would hope that Nebraska fans understand that given the fact that their recruiting base is far more challenging than most other traditional powers, it's going to be very difficult to actually improve upon Pelini's record.

There does seem to be some steam to this speculation: 0 replies11 retwee

Column on Montana and a hypothetical move to FBS: http://missoulian.com/news/local/martin-kidston-take-the-leap-to-mountain-west-conference/article_06986600-30e5-58bb-90ef-b21cd70c363a.html

It sounds like UAB is dropping football.

I am not one who is anxious to see Jones go. But it seems to me that with all the coaching jobs that open up annually, typically a coach of a low or mid-major program who is arguably doing a good job will have opportunities to move up the ladder, at least in terms of pay. For example, if Brewster has another very good year this year, I suspect he'll be getting calls from other schools for higher-paying jobs. Has Jones ever gotten any interest from other schools? I haven't heard of any, but admittedly that doesn't mean it hasn't happened.

Here are some possible candidates per CBS Sports, including Kill and Bohl: http://www.cbssports.com/collegefootball/eye-on-college-football/24851654/possible-coaching-candidates-for-nebraska

I highly recommend following "Fake Bo Pelini" on twitter.

Bo Pelini was reportedly just fired this morning.

Regarding asbestos and/or lead paint abatement as deterrents to a hypothetical renovation of Hyslop, does anybody know how big of an issue this has been in the renovation of the BSA in Fargo? Since it was constructed in the last 1960's/early 1970's, I'm assuming this was an issue there as well, but I've never specifically heard anything about it.

Bobby Hauck is apparently out at UNLV. Any chance he returns to Montana?

Upon closer examination, Forte was selected all-conference based upon just two games, plus reputation. He had two big rushing games, but missed five conference games, and had a combined 65 yards in two others.

It seems odd to me that of the four running backs who averaged 100-plus rushing yards per game in conference games, only one was selected as either first or second team all-conference. And considering Quincy Forte missed five games, I'm not sure he should have been selected at all.

At 6'5", 290, Steen might be worth a look.

According to a tweet, this kid will be visiting on the weekend of December 5: http://www.hudl.com/athlete/2269414/troy-hansen

Rodgers actually committed in late September. Based upon a Sioux Football Insider tweet from a couple of months ago, it sounded like he's projected as an OLB.

I question whether Studsrud has established himself as the leading contender to be the starting quarterback in 2015, as Hammer contends. While it's certainly possible that Studsrud earns the starting job, I think it's at least as possible he redshirts in 2015 if both Mollberg and Bartels come back relatively healthy.

Minnesota A.P. all state team was announced tonight: http://www.startribune.com/sports/preps/283902811.html?page=all&prepage=4&c=y#continue Engwall named to the first team. Santiago, Rooney and Momoh named to the second team.

We'll have to see if this news changes anything: http://espn.go.com/college-sports/story/_/id/11930803/new-mexico-state-aggies-hire-mario-moccia-ad Edit: Just to clarify, while you were probably referring to Collins getting a vote of confidence by the UNC a.d., I believe Moccia had also indicated last week that Lennon would be back next year.

Terry Allen is out at Missouri St., and so is Eric Wolford at Youngstown St., despite going 31-27 in his five years there. It's interesting that Dale Lennon is 28-29 during the same time frame.

At the risk of stating the obvious regarding the OL, the difference between where this group was when Bubba and staff took over, and where it is heading into spring ball is huge. I think it's safe to say the days of having to convert multiple defensive linemen out of absolute necessity are over for the foreseeable future. I think things will continue on an upward trajectory in the coming years with the better recruiting that we've already seen that this staff is doing. Not to mention the better player development that was also evident this year.

Even without the kind of running game we saw late in the season, with Mollberg and Bartels UND was averaging about 235 passing yards per game though the first four Big Sky games. Obviously that all changed when the injuries hit, but with a reliable running game and more talented receivers, I think either quarterback would be fine. I think we'll very possibly see the two incoming freshmen play a lot at running back. If Simmons can play, all the better, but I didn't see enough of him to know whether or not he's the answer. I think the play of the OL opened some eyes, and I don't see this unit as a weakness at all coming into next year. I see Anderson, Meehan and Boas all retaining their starting positions, with Stockwell taking over for Barton, and Francis sliding into Henson's guard spot for a year, before taking over at center in 2016. Tight end should be a strength with all the returnees, plus the return of Ruhe and the addition of Fiedler. WR is a huge question mark. Seibel appears to be the best of the returnees, but I'd actually like to see him move back to safety. Walker needs to get faster, but I wonder whether he was injured for most of the season? He seemed to disappear after that game he was returning kicks. It would appear we'll see at least two or three receivers play a lot next year who are not on the current roster. Maybe more. Defense looks very solid--especially the front seven. Hinojosa, Woodsmall, Carrothers, Dranka, Greeley, etc. all return on the line, and Ratelle, Rich, Labat, Idowu and Disterhaupt will make up a very solid LB corps, along with a few current redshirts. With the late-season emergence of Blackmon, I feel a bit better about the secondary. I still would not be surprised if we see a couple of transfers, but between Brown, Harris, Carter, Reyes, Blackmon, Montague and Flowers, there should be enough talent so that it would not be a disaster even if there's not another FBS drop down a la Tillman.