UND92,96

The watering down of division II is one issue. I think we can agree that it is not as good now as it was 5-10 years ago. But the issue involving SDSU's proposed move to division I is another issue, i.e. whether they have gone about it the right way and whether the legislature is going to step in. That is certainly a worthy topic of discussion. Their leadership has mismanaged this by painting themselves into a corner regarding the conference issue, and then doing an about-face. I think you can admit that this could have been handled better. I see no reason for you to get so defensive about us questioning the SDSU brass's handling of the whole issue.

tony- The point is, in my opinion, that there are plenty of articles in SD newspapers critical of SDSU's move and in particular, the about-face on the conference issue. Just because those articles are being linked and/or commented on by UND fans doesn't make them any more or less valid. You may question our motivation, but that doesn't really have anything to do with the underlying issue of whether the SD legislature is going to take some action to either block SDSU's move altogether or at least make it more difficult. I think that's a worthy topic of discussion on this board since it may very well affect the future membership of the NCC.

Ahhhh, yes. 1906. I remember it like it was yesterday... Here's the REAL scoop. In 1904 and 1905, the two teams played twice in a season, with each team hosting once. However, in that fateful year of '06, NDSU apparently refused to travel to UND (the one game played in '06 was AT NDSU according to the UND media guide), thereby causing such ill will that the series was apparently suspended until 1910. UND won the 1910 matchup 18-0. That was the happiest day of my life up to that point... That's MY story, and I'm sticking to it.

The Sioux are back in the poll at number 25: link I can't understand this love affair the pollsters have with UMD. They've lost to USD, who just lost to a dIII team. Their one win over an NCC team was over probably the worst team in the league, MSU-Mankato. Their other win was over a pretty bad Southwest St. I realize UMD had a good year last year, but that loss to USD should have made it clear that this is not the same team as in 2002.

Augie will, of course, throw and throw often, but I doubt very much they will be able to run against the Sioux. The good news is that the Augie receivers should seem relatively slow compared to what the Sioux faced against Newberry. I think Hoffschneider and Manke can cover their receivers one-on-one, so I hope the Sioux blitz a lot and get after the quarterback. I do think the Sioux should be able to score some points. Although UND lost by seven last year in Sioux Falls, this was the team who Bowenkamp threw for 500-plus yards against. BTW, remember a few weeks ago when there was a lot of talk about how UND was going to utilize the tight ends in the passing game, unlike last year? Well, in the past two games, the tight ends as a group haven't caught a single pass. I think Mielke in particular needs to be utilized as a receiver.

Well, it certainly wasn't a great performance by the Sioux, but it was a step forward from last week, and I think the positive's definitely out-weighed the negative's. Positive's -got off to a good start for a change, forcing a 3-and-out on the first defensive series and scoring a touchdown on the first offensive series. -offense played pretty well, scoring 42 points. -Bowenkamp threw 4 td's and 0 int's. -Lueck continues to look like the big-play threat the team needed. -sacked Newberry qb 6 times. -had two great goal line stands. -db's played fairly well until very late when the game was already well in hand. -gave up less than 1 yard per rush. Negative's -committed far too many penalties. -defense went to sleep the last two or three possessions. -had a punt blocked. -stubborn insistence on running between the tackles when Newberry was stacking the line of scrimmage to stop the run. -continued to call the "bubble screen" when it has fooled nobody in about five years. Please get rid of this play, Mussman! -appeared to suffer injuries to some key players, i.e. Grant and Ahlers. All in all, I'd have to say that Newberry is a pretty talented team offensively, and I wouldn't be surprised if they win several games. Those may very well have been the most talented receivers UND will see all year. Newberry needs some help on the o-line and on defense, but they are definitely not a 1-10 type team. It's hard to predict how the Sioux will do in the NCC. Everybody in the league now has at least one loss, and nobody appears to be dominant. UND likely will be a very dangerous team, particularly at home, but the Sioux still have a lot to work on in order to be a serious threat to make the playoffs.

I see where you got the hypothetical $35.00 price from, but that's a little misleading. You have to keep in mind that hockey prices for non-Minnesota/SCSU games went from $16.50 last year (I think) to $21.00 this year. Football prices for games against everyone except NDSU remained relatively unchanged, going from $15.50 last year to $16.50 this year. So yes, if you were to add 66.7% to the non-Minnesota/SCSU hockey prices, which were already increased by 27% from last year, you would get $35.00.

It's interesting to contrast the football ticket situation, where the majority of attendees are not season ticket holders, and the hockey ticket situation. I'm not sure if anyone else has commented on this, but single game tickets for the hockey series against Minnesota and St. Cloud are also $27.50. But since practically everyone in REA is a season ticket holder or student, I doubt we'll be hearing much, if any complaining about it. Gopher fans probably won't bat an eye at paying $27.50 since they normally pay $28.00 for a single game ticket, anyway. At SCSU, it's $20.00 for their home series against the Sioux, and obviously watching a game at the National Hockey Center is not anywhere near as comfortable as at REA so an extra $7 shouldn't be a big deal to them, either.

I don't begrudge anyone who has a problem with the ticket price, but just so there's no confusion, it must be pointed out that season ticket holders are paying roughly $13.33 per game, UND students get in with a student ID, and children under 18 and senior citizens 60 and over get in for $10.50. So probably more than half of the crowd, even if it's a sell-out, will be paying less than half of the face value of the ticket. I can't help but wonder how many more season tickets may have been sold had there been this much attention regarding the ticket prices about a month ago and more fans would have realized the relative bargain of a season ticket...

I'm not sure going I-AA will make scheduling home non-conference opponents much, if any easier. I'd say it would be relatively easy to schedule road games against some established I-AA programs, but whether those teams would return the favor is a relative unknown. As an example, look at UNC's schedule this year: link Some good opponents on the road, to be sure, but a home schedule that is worse than what the Bears would have had had they remained in the NCC. It will be interesting to see how many of the established I-AA programs UNC is playing on the road this year will reciprocate next season.

Even Herald editor Mike Jacobs weighs in on the football schedule controversy: link Must be a slow news day. But as I posted in another thread, watch out for Newberry. That 1-10 record was under a different coaching staff and without the dozen or so dI transfers they've brought in.

It would appear that this team is far more talented than one would expect from a team coming off a 1-10 season, including a couple of wide receivers good enough to have originally committed to Miami and Clemson: link One thing to watch for is whether the Sioux can remain disciplined in light of the propensity of Newberry to commit penalties. Newberry is averaging a pretty astounding 150 yards in penalties per game so far.

I meant to include Saginaw Valley, also. Thanks for the addition.

I would agree with your list. Although not necessarily top programs over an extended period of time, I'd also be interested in seeing any of the following on UND's non-conference schedule: Central Arkansas, Southern Arkansas, Central Missouri, Slippery Rock, Nebraska-Kearney, Chadron St., Tuskegee or Winona St. I am glad that Central Wash. is also apparently back on the schedule next season, as well.

I'd say this was roughly the equivalent of losing to Bemidji St. I don't know whether the talent level simply isn't as good as many of us thought, whether it just isn't being utilized properly, or whether there is some other problem. But there is absolutely no excuse for losing to a mediocre-at-best RMAC program like this. Other than Kearney and perhaps Chadron, that conference has traditionally been terrible, and judging by Mesa's first game of the year, they are not a playoff contender by any means. I still have a lot of faith in Dale Lennon, but I am extremely disappointed that the problems of last year evidently haven't been corrected.

Apparently. But 2 out of 11 Fargo Forum prognosticators are picking "David." link

This column was in today's Grand Junction (CO) newspaper: link

The new womens basketball roster has been posted on the UND athletics web page: link It looks like maybe Chelsea Hausauer reconsidered leaving the program as she's still listed on the roster. It's going to be a very young team but not unlike the mens team, there are a lot of talented newcomers. If a few of the new players can add some outside shooting, the Sioux could surprise some people.

I wonder what the odds really are that the SD legislature may ultimately put the kibosh on SDSU's proposed move? From a purely selfish perspective, it would be great for the NCC to remain at eight schools AND not have to find another new member...

Any word on whether Franklin is expected to be ready to go by the start of the season? Needless to say, his defense would certainly be a welcome addition. I already know what to expect from Austin, but I'm anxious to see what Nobles and Parks can do.

The new poll is out. UND is 19th, NDSU is 20th. link

Agreed. Plus, season tickets are just $80.00, which comes out to $13.33 per seat for a six-game home schedule. A pretty good buy IMO.

To the best of my knowledge, there was nothing in the local media regarding the guarantee. But I may have just missed it.

This is an excerpt from the UMC press release regarding Saturday's game: The Golden Eagles hurt themselves in a game that started out in their favor. Key penalties and turnovers turned out to be drive stoppers in a game that was closer than the 59-0 score would indicate. "Closer than the final score would indicate?" I really hope their SID was trying to be funny...

I've heard the same thing. I think UMD has built a pretty good program and they will be a nice addition to the NCC. But it will be interesting to see how they do when they're playing UND and UNO every year instead of just USD and Mankato. Up until now, the only really difficult regular season game they have in any given season has been against Winona. It's a whole other situation when you can be beaten on any given Saturday.