UND92,96

Stattelman? Really? Wow, I would have thought it would be freshman Troy Ott from Dickinson, who was a Mr. Basketball finalist last year.

Might this just be a case of differing opinions between you and the coaches regarding who was truly better, as opposed to a case of "discrimination" against walk-ons? Speaking of walk-ons, didn't Tony Stein come to UND as a walk-on? I would think that if a quarterback walk-on can actually earn a starting spot, then any position player probably could do the same if he was good enough. Off the top of my head, I think Ryan Grant and David Wisthoff from this year's team both were once walk-ons, also.

I don't think the respect from the networks or the public at large is much if any better for I-AA football. Most people lump anything other than major college football, i.e. anything other than the BCS, as "small college" or some other not-so-complimentary name.

Thanks. I doubt we'll see too many freshmen playing next year, in large part due to the large number of returning starters and other players who saw a lot of playing time this year. I did hear that wr Rick Presthus had a good year. With the loss of three senior receivers, I imagine he'll have a chance to play some next year. Also, with the loss of two senior defensive ends, I wouldn't be surprised to see a freshman get into the rotation there also, most likely Alex Cadwell from Stillwater. Although there are three tight ends returning who saw action this year, I imagine Drew Thomas might get into the mix. I'll be interested to see Donovan Alexander in the spring game. He is said to have a lot of ability, but with two returning starting corners, plus Jamaal Franklin, it will be tough to crack the lineup. With regard to recruiting, I haven't heard much yet. I did post some names in a different thread, but that was pretty much all speculation on my part. I really hope the Sioux can sign Rory Manke, as I think he's probably the top recruit in the area. I think the top priorities would be running back, speed at wide receiver, offensive line, defensive end and maybe a kicker. I'm sure all positions will be recruited, but some are really well-stocked right now with young players, i.e. quarterback, tight end, linebacker and defensive back.

UND fan: What's the deal with Stoute? I know he has a pretty limited basketball background, but it seems pretty strange that he only plays about 6 minutes per game considering the lack of depth the team has. I'm assuming he's on scholarship, and with his size and athletic ability it's hard to believe he can't beat out walk-on Jared Wells for playing time.

If he dropped out in the first semester for "personal reasons," but re-enrolled for the second semester, wouldn't he be eligible immediately? I recall Josh Siembida transferring in at semester break a few years ago and being eligible immediately for hockey, and I don't think he was in school anywhere for the first semester. I'm not sure what the difference would be in this situation.

If there is some turnover on the defensive coaching staff, there are some ex-UND defensive players coaching high school ball in the area who may be candidates for position coaches if Bubba and/or Dosch were to leave and Tibesar moved up to the coordinator job. Eric Schmidt has done an excellent job at Crookston High School, Alex Starcevic has done a nice job at Larimore, and Mike Mannausau was a recent grad assistant at UND who just finished his first year as the head coach at GF Red River. With that said, I'd still selfishly like to see Bubba stay!

I think jonnyboy makes some good points, but the thing is that Mussman himself obviously aspires to be a head coach. It's not as though he's being forced out--he evidently wants a new challenge. He was also a finalist at MSU-Mankato last year. While it may be somewhat selfish of us as fans to hope that it is Mussman instead of Schweigert who leaves (at least as it pertains to the UMD job), it makes a certain amount of sense since Schweigert has probably played a larger role in the success of UND football, and for a longer time, than has Mussman. In any event, it's a moot point since our views and wishes are not going to affect the UMD hiring process anyway. On the other hand, I certainly don't wish any bad luck to Bubba in terms of his interview(s) if he also aspires to be a head coach. He's one of the top dII assistants in the country, and if he wants a head coaching job, he has earned it. And with Tibesar waiting in the wings, at least there's an heir apparent to the defensive coordinator job, just as it was Schweigert who took over for Lennon when he left for UMary.

Along those same lines, I almost died at the womens game on Saturday when certain UMD fans were belly-aching about getting "homered" by the officials. I guess they forgot about last year's game in Duluth when UMD shot an unheard-of 48 free throws in the game!

Well, ol' Richie may not be much of a coach, but at least he's not a crybaby like this guy: This guy is putting together a real stable program. He "only" has ten juco transfers on the roster. I guess he doesn't understand that if you're going to take a shortcut in an attempt to win as many games as possible in a short period of time so as to get a better job, you're supposed to actually be good. He's recruiting all transfers, and his team is STILL mediocre. You can go 5-6 with local guys, too, coach.

The strange thing is that UC-Davis really didn't have a very good year, at least by their standards. A 6-4 record, with four of the six wins being over dII teams.

You may be right--I don't really know. I do think that if a guy runs a legit 4.5 or better, unless he's really small or has very few other skills, he's probably going to be playing at a level higher than dII. I think that applies regardless of region. The one thing I do notice is that the midwest teams tend to have offensive linemen in the 6'4" to 6'7" range, whereas the other regions have a tough time finding those types of players. I guess we should consider ourselves lucky that the I-A's aren't recruiting MN, ND or SD harder than they do.

Jeff- If it makes you feel better to think UND needed to play a "perfect game" to beat UNA, so be it. I think the reason UND won is because 1) UNA couldn't run the ball at all; and 2) UND was able to run the ball pretty effectively. Those two things are pretty basic to football and have nothing to do with luck or playing over one's head. Stopping the run is what UND has prided itself on for many years, so this wasn't a one-game aberration. UNA could throw pretty effectively, but any time a defense forces a team to be one-dimensional, it's very tough to win. The physical nature of teams from the region formerly known as the midwest region and/or the upper midwest, i.e. UND, UNC, NW Mo. St. and Grand Valley St., have won the vast majority of national championships lately, and I don't think it has been a fluke. The south and the west teams have the speed, but tend not to be as physical and therefore have a difficult time winning titles since UNA's run from '93-'95.

I can't say anything good or bad about Dosch because I don't know him and I've never heard anything about his coaching ability one way or the other. Just by virtue of the fact that he's been on the staff for so many years would probably merit some consideration for the coordinator job, even if ultimately he didn't get it. I would agree that Tibesar would be a great choice to replace Schweigert if he were to leave. Tibesar is probably destined to be a head coach before too long. According to his bio on fighingsioux.com, he graduated with a 4.0 g.p.a. in business economics, so he's obviously a very smart guy. He was also a great player and if the players like him, that's all the better. If he's not the defensive coordinator at UND within the next year or so, I imagine he'll take a job elsewhere because he'll probably be a hot commodity.

It was interesting that Kuper commented on how he doesn't know why the roster has him listed at 280 when he's clearly over 300. I've wondered all year about why the official roster listed the weights of guys like Duchscher, Momerak, Anderson, Hermes, etc. as probably 20 or more pounds under their actual weights. I think it gave something of a false idea to media members and fans from other teams that the UND defensive front seven was very small, when in reality it was clearly not.

I believe the next quarterback at SCSU will be Daniel Kaczor. I've never actually seen him play, but I think it's safe to say he'll be a major step down from Heckendorf. All I know about him is that he's a hometown guy from St. Cloud, and I don't believe he was very heavily recruited at all coming out of high school.

It seems that the popular theory in some circles is that Lennon will be off to the I-AA ranks very soon, but I'm not so sure. Yes, if a top-25 program offered him the head coaching job with a nice pay raise, he'd likely take it. The thing is, those types of jobs don't open up very often, and when they do, it's generally because the head coach moves onto a better program. In those instances, somebody from within the staff is often promoted. I'm sure Lennon feels he has one of the top jobs in dII, and it would take a pretty nice offer for him to give that up. I don't think some I-AA reclamation project like Delaware St. (the only I-AA job currently advertised at afca.org) would be all that attractive considering what he's got going at UND. If I'm wrong, so be it, but I wouldn't be surprised if Lennon is at UND for several more years. Some people are happy coaching at a lower level, i.e. Amy Ruley at NDSU for all these years. Less pressure, not in the shadow of a major college or pro team, smaller town, etc. are all factors in making a dII job pretty attractive for a lot of people.

Just when it looked like the UND mens basketball team had a little something going, they blow a 15-point second half lead at home to lose to a very mediocre UMD team. There are just so few players on the team who can score. Lindahl, Johnson and Rypkema will generally give you double figures, and on occasion Bradley. Otherwise, unless Nobles gets healthy, nobody else can put the ball in the basket with any degree of consistency.

ESPN switched to the football game in western ND? Now I'm even more upset that those of us in GF didn't get to see most of the first quarter.

I agree that Roland really showed something this year, and in the post-season in particular. He's not the type of back who can take it 80 yards for a touchdown on any given play, but he runs hard and rarely gets taken down by the first tackler. He didn't have many yards yesterday, but then again neither did Michael Tennessee who came into the game with the eye-popping statistics. If the line gives him a hole, Roland will pick up at least 4-5 yards and sometimes more. With another year of experience under their belts, a duo of Roland--the power guy--and Strouth--the change of pace quick guy--could be very good. The question will be if the line will jell with a few guys who haven't started before. I expect that it will.

Roland and Strouth were the primary ball carriers this year and both return. If Chris Beatty returns (he split time with Mahmoud in 2002 but was beaten out by Roland and Strouth this year), he'll be in the mix also along with freshman Alan Sundby from Cavalier. They're all pretty much blue collar guys although Strouth has excellent speed--just not much bulk.

The cupboard looks pretty well-stocked for next year. The entire backfield returns, although it would be nice to have a little more speed there. Strouth may be the guy, but he needs to run a little more north and south as he had a lot of runs this year where he'd run about 20 yards parallel to the line of scrimmage only to get either no gain or a loss. Roland and Wisthoff will give you all they have and they are both very solid. On the offensive line, Smith and Kuper return as starters. I expect Hendrickson and Buisker to move into the starting lineup, which leaves one open slot. Hoffelt, Bronson and some of this year's red-shirts will probably compete for the final starting position. Three of the top four tight ends also return, with Drew Thomas being added into the mix after red-shirting this year. At receiver, Johnson and Grossman return, along with Groeschl if he doesn't switch back to quarterback. I'm not sure whether Weber, the transfer from Michigan Tech, red-shirted this year or whether he's even still on the team. Loegering and Van Dyke will be in the mix, along with freshman Rick Presthus. I'd like to see a deep threat along the lines of Lueck, but I'm not sure anyone really fits that bill unless a transfer comes in. On defense, UND will be absolutely loaded. Duchscher was honorable mention all-NCC in his first year of playing, and he returns at nose guard. Newhouse and Peterson have played a lot at defensive end and they will be very solid. Depth on the d-line will be relatively inexperienced, but shouldn't be a huge problem. I would look for the very athletic Adam Wolff to be the backup nose guard, and senior Mike Gruschalla and perhaps freshman Alex Cadwell to be in the defensive end rotation. At linebacker, the depth is almost unbelievable. Everybody returns, led by Anderson and Dahlen as first team all-NCC players as sophomores. Hermes and Nordick are also returning starters, and Babington-Johnson, Brennan, Maier, Halstenson and Ullsperger all got considerable playing time this year. Add in Schmitz, Lynch and red-shirts like Wise, Meek, Reiff and others, and there is a wealth of talent here. In the secondary, all-NCC strong safety Danny Gagner returns, along with starting corners Manke and Hoffschneider and nickel back Brandsted who should move into Stratton's free safety position. Look for Jamaal Franklin to get back into the mix after a medical red-shirt year (I assume he was hurt since he didn't suit up all year but was on the sideline in street clothes). He was slated to start instead of Hoffschneider coming into the season. Also, watch for Donovan Alexander, who was considered perhaps UND's top recruit last year, to compete for time at corner. Franklin and Alexander both have tremendous speed. All of this year's back-ups also return (DeSautel, Charles and Greenwood), so depth should be as good as it's ever been in the secondary. Glas returns at kicker, and Brian Loe will likely get the nod as the punter. Loe saw action in 2002 after Bentow was injured. All-in-all, aside from a few open slots on the offensive line and perhaps a few inexperienced receivers, next year looks very good.

I was also disappointed in the timing. I thought it could have waited until Monday without any ill effects on UMD's part. This was their a.d.'s explanation in Saturday's Duluth paper: If Mussman were to get the job, I imagine UND would probably have to go outside the program for a new offensive coordinator. If Schweigert gets the job, I would expect either Tom Dosch or Tim Tibesar to get promoted.

I am extremely proud of the season the Sioux had and how they battled today. We are left to wonder what may have been had Bowenkamp not fumbled, and had we managed a field goal on that possesion. It would also certainly have been nice to have had Lueck, but I'm not going to go the route of some Grand Valley fans who whine about not having Anes two years ago. Injuries are part of football and you have to play with who you have available. As for the future, with the realignment of regions, having home field for the playoffs is probably even bigger now. I would like our chances of beating Grand Valley at home, but probably not on the road so it makes going undefeated during the regular season almost a must. Not an easy task by any means. We need to remember that the defense returns almost intact, with Momerak and Stratton being the primary losses. If we can find a few new offensive linemen, and a deep threat to replace Lueck, we could have another great season next year. Anyway, great job this year, Sioux!

It was just reported on WDAZ that Kyle Schweigert and Chris Mussman are two of the four finalists for the UMD head coaching job. Here's a link to a release from the official UMD site.