UND92,96

Dev Ferguson is really starting to become a big-play threat. In the past three games, he has 7 receptions for 213 yards and a td. And that catch in the fourth quarter was pretty spectacular.

Definitely not. Schmidt has proven to be one heck of a defensive coordinator. Why were some of these guys not playing more last season? I believe Labat was injured, but I'm wondering how Rattelle wasn't starting, and Rich and C. Brown were basically not playing at all?

Mollberg will never have Hendrickson's speed. My point was more that Hendrickson (and Goska) looked awful when they were forced into action after Landry was injured. Remember when neither could complete a simple pass against Montana and SDSU? But both turned out pretty good. I see Mollberg showing similar improvement from where he's been for much of last year and early this year by sometime next year. He has a pretty high ceiling.

Mollberg's 2-point conversion pass was gutty and clutch. The reality is that very, very few UND quarterbacks have ever been asked to start as freshmen and/or sophomores, let alone to do so with a patchwork offensive line and without an especially strong running game. And yes, there have been some baffling lapses in judgment on his part. But I still feel like he has a chance to be pretty darn good. By early next season, I have a feeling he's going to progress to a point similar to where Hendrickson was as a senior.

EWU holds on for a 56-53 win. I see little chance they go far in the playoffs with that defense.

NAU is not good. Idaho St. is possibly the one team that has improved as much or more than UND from last season.

Montana had less than 50 yards rushing, and less than 300 yards of total offense: https://www.nmnathletics.com//pdf9/2881277.pdf?ATCLID=209697035&SPSID=58640&SPID=6399&DB_LANG=C&DB_OEM_ID=13500

While the end of the game felt like a gut punch, I am so proud of this team and this staff. The turnaround from last year's debacle is nothing short of amazing. I like UND's chances of getting to 7-5 this season, which would have seemed absurd a few weeks ago.

I think the Big Sky might be pretty down as a whole. EWU has a great offense but no defense to speak of, and Montana and Montana St. are decent, but probably not great, at least by their standards. Several of the other teams that have had some success in recent years, such as Cal Poly, SUU, NAU and Sac. St., appear to be a bit down. One surprise may be that some of the teams expected to be among the worst--Idaho St., Weber St. and UND--may be a bit better than expected.

Did anybody actually see the USD-Montana game? I'm just wondering whether Montana played relatively poorly in that game, or if USD--expected to be one of the two or three bottom teams from the MVFC, and playing with its backup quarterback--is better than expected? I thought USD looked fairly good against NAU, but that was a home game.

True. UND has had better luck with developing under-the-radar high school recruits such as Brekke and Wilmer rather than transfers, but I do understand why you need to take a chance occasionally on a juco or other transfer and hope they pan out. But given the fact that both Brekke and Wilmer did end up panning out, I am just a little frustrated that there was such a long gap between recruiting those players and the recruitment of Cashman. I feel like Jones went the transfer route a little too much for a few years there, but clearly more of an emphasis has been placed on recruiting high schoolers the past year or two, so perhaps it's now a moot point.

Calcaterra and Salmonson combined for about 5 ppg and 3.5 rbg last year while collectively playing about 21 minutes per game. Unless one or both has greatly improved, if Cashman and/or Shanks can show any kind of offensive ability, and be competent on defense and on the boards, it would appear playing time is there for the taking.

I am interested to see what happens at the 5 position. The offensive production from that position was really lacking last year without Brekke, and I would not be all that surprised if Cashman gets a serious look to possibly even start.

It looks like a lot of schools have shown interest, but none have offered him yet: http://www.verbalcommits.com/players/houston-lavachek

I may be putting too much stock into the result of one game, but if USD can stay within eight points of Montana on the road, I'd like to think UND has the ability to stay within 10 or 14 at home, barring a slew of turnovers by the offense.

If the team can stay relatively healthy, I think this is very realistic. The Portland St., UNC, Weber St., NAU and SUU games are all legitimately winnable if the offense gets a little consistency.

That's 300 fewer than last year at the Al.

Here's the box score. https://www.nmnathletics.com//pdf9/2860512.pdf?ATCLID=209682804&SPSID=58640&SPID=6399&DB_LANG=C&DB_OEM_ID=13500 Who would have predicted UND would actually have one more first down, and only 36 fewer yards than MSU?

It's going to take time, but we will get there. As anybody who saw last year's debacle can attest, this is significant progress for one year.

I am perplexed by the Sharpe situation, particularly that he wasn't considered a viable option the past two weeks compared to a guy who played defense until two weeks ago. I am willing to bet Norberg only knows a fraction of the playbook, but he's been thrown into the fire out of necessity anyway. One would think that even if he isn't ready to be a workhorse, Sharpe's speed would be a nice complement to Norberg's straight-ahead running.

Here's the roster: http://www.undsports.com/SportSelect.dbml?&DB_OEM_ID=13500&SPID=6389&SPSID=58573 Looks like O'Toole did not return, but Emily Thompson has been added.

I am not taking a position as to Jones' status, but one could argue that by assembling a roster with such an inordinate number of players in one senior class, a coach really shouldn't be able to use that as an excuse the following year if things go badly. IMO, this was a result of an over-reliance on transfers in recent years at the expense of high school recruiting, which resulted in a less-than-optimal balance of scholarships amongst the classes. With that said, I am encouraged by the current freshman class, and the committed players for next year. There will be growing pains this year, but I still feel that there should be certain minimum expectations, such as finishing at or near .500 in the league. There is enough talent for that to happen, IMO.

I tend to agree with this. St. Cloud had some very good offenses when Rudolph was there. Of course, having Heckendorf, Birkel, etc. didn't hurt either. I am quite sure the UND coaches know they will need far more points than what have been scored the first four games in order to remain competitive with the Big Sky's best teams, and that running almost exclusively between the tackles isn't likely to be particularly effective with the current personnel, so I expect a far more diverse offense now that Big Sky play is starting. Will it be any more effective? We'll see Saturday.

Sounds like a linebacker from the twin cities committed tonight. Any guesses as to who? Maybe Hanson? EDIT: Apparently it's Donnell Rodgers.

I was not impressed with NAU at all. Prior to the season, I thought they'd be in for a big drop off this year without Bauman, and I did not see much this past Saturday to dispel that notion. USD, on the other hand, was pretty good. Remember, they also only lost 28-20 at Montana the week before, and have been without their starting quarterback for a few weeks.