UND92,96

There again, Masek's health will be a big issue. If he does play, I can't imagine Behrns would further risk his health by running option when he already supposedly has a sprained m.c.l. I don't believe UNO has much faith in their backup quarterback(s). If UNO has to rely on simply handing the ball off to Kammrad or trying to be a drop-back passing team with a gimpy option-type quarterback at the healm, I don't believe they'll move the ball very well. UND has been playing exceptionally well against the run lately.

It certainly didn't take too long for you to re-think your position on this one...

Calling this a huge game would be an understatement. The Sioux haven't had much luck against the Mavericks in recent years, losing the last three by a total of eight points. This has been the one team that Dale Lennon-coached teams haven't had much success against for some reason. It's really pretty surprising, considering UNO is primarily a running team and UND has typically had a very strong rush defense. As with the NDSU game, stopping the run is the biggest key. Kammrad (sp.?) is a very good back, and is by far the leading rusher in the NCC. UNO's lowest rushing total this year was against NDSU when they had 132 yards, and I think the Sioux need to hold them to around that same number to have a good chance to win. UNO has actually put up some pretty good passing numbers this year, even though they only throw about 20 times a game. However, the quarterback sounds like he will be hobbled after suffering a knee injury in the fourth quarter against St. Cloud in which he left the game with about 8:00 minutes to go and didn't return despite the fact that the game was very much in doubt until the final second. However, I strongly suspect he'll play this week if at all possible since they really don't have a backup with any experience at all. He's not a pure passer, but as mentioned he has decent numbers. However, if the Sioux have similiar success stopping the run as they did against NDSU, I highly doubt that a hobbled Masek will be able to beat UND by throwing the ball. Aside from the usual keys for UND of not turning the ball over more than once and successfully throwing the ball against a defense that Keith Heckendorf really torched last week, the biggest key in my opinion is getting punts off without them getting blocked. I'm sure many of us remember that was the reason the Sioux lost to these guys in 2001, and without the block against NDSU the game probably never even gets into overtime. Unfortunately, Bentow has had a tendency over the years to either get punts blocked or at least nearly blocked due in no small part to his slow wind-up. If the Sioux have a lead in the fourth quarter, I would definitely keep everybody in tight on the punt team and kick it as quickly as possible. A 30 yard punt is far better than getting it blocked, needless to say. By the way, UND punted once the entire game against Mankato, and it was partially blocked, believe it or not. Maybe we should just go for it on all fourth downs.

This game sounds a lot like the Newberry game, in that after playing very well for three quarters, the defense completely goes to sleep. I really hope there were reserves playing in the defensive backfield for most of the fourth quarter. Looks like the final score will be 41-25. I can't be too critical because it's a win on the road, and the offense played very well aside from the first half turnovers. But giving up 25 points to what is quite frankly a terrible offense has to be somewhat of a disappointment considering they're averaging less than 10 per game and hadn't scored more than 20 in a game all year.

Bowenkamp to Lueck for another td. Now 34-6. Total yardage is approximately 440 to 50 in favor of UND.

Crowd is announced as 1,888. Sounds like at least half are UND fans.

UND now leads 27-6 late in the third.

Well, if the UND backs and receivers could hold onto the ball, it would probably be at least 27-0. Mankato must have all of 25 yards of offense in the first half but only trail 14-6.

Wow, what a turn of events. Mankato has its fourth consecutive 3-and-out, but FAKES a punt from its own 25 and gets it. But on the next play, they fumble and the Sioux recover!

Bowenkamp to Lueck for a td pass of about 25 yards. UND is now up 14-0 midway through the second quarter.

UND is dominating but is shooting itself in the foot. Roland fumbles at the goal line so instead of 14-0 its still 7-0. Actually, it should be 21-0 right now. Mankato doesn't have a first down yet.

UND is moving the ball well in the first two possessions. The Sioux had a 1st and goal on the first possession but end up missing a field goal. Sounds like a pretty windy day. Mankato goes 3-and-out on its first possession. Lueck has a nice punt return. UND then goes about 37 yards on its second possession and Roland gets a short td run. UND up 7-0 midway through the first quarter.

One thing from this article that really sticks out to me is that Metro gets just $35,000 PER YEAR from ticket sales! Granted, they don't have football, and Metro is strictly a commuter school, but that's still an incredibly small amount of ticket sales revenue for an entire basketball season, especially considering how good they've been. With the small budget they have, and the lack of fan support, it's amazing that they've been able to put together such good basketball teams over the years.

Mankato looks to be coming into this game pretty banged-up. According to their press release, at least 10 players--including the starting quarterback--are out this week. There will likely be a lot of freshmen playing for the Mavericks. This may be a good opportunity for the Sioux to get the running game going a little bit. Not that I'm advocating abandoning the pass, which is clearly the Sioux's bread and butter offensively, but Mankato is giving up 190 yards a game on the ground. I would think Roland and Strouth should be able to find some running lanes. I'm hoping that the revenge factor from last year's inexplicable loss at home will overcome any post-NDSU letdown this week.

In this Greeley newspaper article, their a.d. claims the expenses will be about $10,000. link I'm not sure I believe that it won't be far more than that. In any event, look at it this way: Even if there's a $25,000 guarantee and it was ALL profit (which, of course it is not), that would be roughly the equivalent of a home game with a crowd of 2,500 with an average ticket price of $10 (the current average reserved ticket price at NDSU for basketball). At UNC, that would be huge because they typically average a few hundred people for home games. But at UND or NDSU, that's pretty much an average home crowd. Considering a fledgling dI school can expect far fewer home games than usual, you would need a pretty large number of these guarantee games just to make up for the loss of revenue from the fewer home games.

I can virtually guarantee that UND and NDSU will not meet in a first-round playoff game this year. Teams from the same conference don't meet in the first round anymore unless it absolutely can't be avoided, i.e. if three teams from the same conference make it in.

Speaking of Winona, they are the ONLY team currently ranked that does not have a single game left against another currently ranked team. Their probable toughest game remaining is against Northern State on a neutral field (Metrodome).

The new poll: Midwest 1. North Dakota (6-1) 2. Emporia State (6-1) 3. Winona State (7-1) 4. Pittsburg State (6-1) 5. North Dakota State (5-2) 6. St. Cloud State (6-2) 7. Nebraska-Omaha (6-2) 8. Concordia-St. Paul (6-1) 9. Central Missouri State (6-1) 10. Northwest Missouri State (5-2)

True, but I figure if they're going to go to the trouble of compiling one, we owe it to them to provide a little constructive criticism of their work.

Savior? No. But he made good decisions for the most part, threw a great pass to Lueck for the long td in the second half, scrambled for a first down (I didn't think he had that in him), made a clutch throw to get a first down in overtime (the timing route to Lueck on 3rd and 12), and the throw to Johnson for the td in overtime. He really had to bullet that one in there. He deserves a lot of credit in my opinion. He's not perfect, but he has shown improvement over last year. Last season, int's were his big problem. Now, he's only thrown 3 compared to 12 touchdowns. I don't think any other qb in the league has a better td to int ratio.

Not me. I was upset with him after the Augie and St. Cloud games, but it's certainly now looking like those games were aberrations rather than the rule. A great performance on the road in a tough environment, and a clutch performance in the most pressure-packed of games would have to make believers out of pretty much everybody. And you have to like the 12 to 3 touchdown-to-interception ratio.

For what it's worth, UND still isn't getting any love from the d2football.com pollsters. The Sioux rise a whopping two spots to number 13, and are still ranked behind Pitt St. and even Central Mo., believe it or not. Pitt St. at number 10 is the highest ranked midwest team. I guess the midwest is now the weakest region, huh?

Lueck was also a juco all-american at NDSCS in Wahpeton prior to transferring to Murray St. He may very well be as talented as any receiver in the NCC.

Debating you is really an exercise in futility. As I said, when both teams are in the same division, it's as close to a level playing field as you can get. If one team chooses not to be fully funded, that's their problem. When two teams are NOT in the same division, then the playing field is per se not level. To claim otherwise is essentially stating that there's no point in moving up in the first place. That's not to say that the lower-division team can't win on occasion, but when that does happen it doesn't speak very well for the team with the big scholarship advantange. Why don't we just boil all this down to as simple of terms as possible: you are bothered by the fact that NDSU has not done well at all against UND over the past decade. You very much want that trend to reverse. What better way than an extra 27 scholarships?

O.K., I know it's poor form to quote myself, but...what the heck. NDSU--37 carries for 76 yards (2.05 yards per carry). That was the big question, could UND stop the run? The answer was a resounding yes. This was at least the fifth game in a row against the Bison where UND has allowed less than 2.5 yards per carry. Bohl and his staff are almost certainly a big improvement over the Babich regime, but it looks like it wasn't all Babich's fault that the Bison have had trouble running on the Sioux. BTW, I was wrong about Gordon--he did have one 100 yard game against the Sioux (2000), but never did get a touchdown in his career against UND.