UND92,96

UND only went winless on the road in one of Mussman's six seasons (2010). And although UND has really struggled away from the Alerus this year, I still feel reasonably confident that Bubba will find a way to get one road win in his first season.

I don't ever recall a high school recruit from Kansas at UND. But I like the idea of recruiting another midwestern state, particularly one without an FCS program.

Looks like Hammon was at Georgia St., but decided to transfer: http://georgiastatesignal.com/panthers-release-rb-krysten-hammon/

Press release announcing signings: http://www.undsports.com/ViewArticle.dbml?DB_OEM_ID=13500&ATCLID=209764223

I'm pretty sure Collins signed today, based upon a picture I saw of all the De La Salle commits posted on twitter. For some reason, it has seemed in recent years that UND waits a few days after the first day of a signing period to announce its signees. At least for most sports other than football. EDIT: It looks like McDermott also signed today, based upon a few tweets. Still looking for confirmation of Seales.

It's actually pretty amazing that even with a DE playing NG for much of the time, the run defense against Weber was still really good. Who do you see starting in the secondary next year? I would guess that Reyes will be one of the starting safeties, but is the other safety likely going to be somebody not on the current roster?

Although the pass defense needs some work, it's hard to find fault with UND's run defense. Weber managed just 41 yards on 36 carries. And that's with UND's top two NG's out.

If anybody doubts that a team can completely turn things around in one year, look at what Idaho St. has done. UND actually won last year in Pocatello.

Depending on who is brought in before next season at receiver, is there any chance Seibel switches back to defense? He's a natural DB, and his athleticism is probably a bit better than expected, at least IMO. I almost wonder if he could potentially be the other safety opposite Reyes?

The thing about the offensive line is that we are pretty much going to have to rely on the current group of redshirts developing quickly. Jucos are probably not the answer, FBS drop downs are very hard to come by, and it's almost unheard-of for a true freshman to be good enough to play right away on the OL. But with running back and receiver, there's a chance for true freshmen to make an impact immediately.

Make no mistake, the offense needs a lot of help. But the lack of big-play ability at receiver sticks out to me. The current receivers struggle to catch the ball, and certainly can't stretch the field.

Weber only had 276 total yards, although I suppose some of that was due to getting conservative after going up by 21 early in the second half. That gift-wrapped touchdown as a result of the punter being unable to handle the high snap really hurt. UND needs to recruit four or five receivers, with most needing to play immediately.

Seibel, Walker, Cerriteno and Ivery. There are also a couple of walk-ons that I'm not sure about--Pat Brown and Zack Selland.

Ferguson? I definitely didn't see that one coming. He's been injured a lot, but the kid's been a starter for most of the year as a true freshman.

I realize that. It's just that when it comes to jucos--and this is over an extended period of time at UND--for every Glen Matthews we seem to get 10 Joey Bradley's.

UND has had some success, particularly recently, with FBS transfers. Juco transfers? Not so much. Not that I blame Bubba for rolling the dice under the circumstances. I don't think he had much of a choice. But in the future, I would expect there to be fewer of them than were added in the last off-season.

Unfortunately, this is pretty much par for the course for juco transfers at UND.

It's now a 26-cent per gallon difference between Bemidji and Grand Forks. $2.88 in Bemidji $3.14 in GF

I agree, but the talent level probably doesn't allow for this group to ever run for much more than maybe 150 yards in a game. And when we were passing for around 200 yards per game, 100 to 150 rushing yards would have been fine. Unfortunately, injuries have decimated the passing game, and the running game is simply not capable of picking up the slack. I guess my point was that I don't think the running game is the primary issue right now. The exact degree of improvement is certainly open to debate, but I do think some progress has been made since early in the season.

Anybody know how long Loyd is expected to be out? The Herald article about yesterday's exhibition game mentioned that she is injured.

I think everyone agrees that the o-line is not where it needs to be, but the fact that Jer Garman has averaged 4.5 yards per carry the last two games (43 carries for 194 yards), even with no threat of a passing game in one of those games, tells me that at least the line is improving as a run-blocking unit.

The more I think about Studsrud's shirt being lifted, the less of a problem I have with it. A month/four games of taking every offensive snap, plus all the reps with the number one offense in practice, is probably as much or more experience than any of the other true freshmen who have played all year, simply because the rest are mostly just rotating in every third series or so. If Studsrud is "wasting" a year, couldn't you make the same argument for nearly every other true freshman who has seen the field this year?

Not that it's any consolation, but UND actually didn't run the ball too badly yesterday, particularly considering EWU did not have to respect the passing game at all. 126 yards and 4.7 yards per carry is decent for this group. I expect that an additional week of practice and playing at home will result in a far better performance next week by Studsrud. I just hope Ferguson can play, as without him there is nobody capable of stretching the field.

Per Tom Miller, this was UND's worst loss since 1926.

54-3 is the final. UND only managed 163 yards of offense. 37 passing yards.