UND92,96

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.

Now 54-3. This game can't end soon enough.

I was against pulling Studsrud's redshirt initially, but I have a feeling Bartels is probably done for the year. If so, UND would almost be conceding the last four games by playing Hanson or anybody else on the roster. I don't know whether this was the right move or not, but I understand it.

And the hits just keep on coming...

Back to actual poll talk for a moment, it's hard to believe idaho St. is now the third-highest ranked Big Sky team in the GPI: http://www.collegesportingnews.com/articles/20141028gpi.htm

Tom Miller just tweeted that Bartels did not practice today due to an undisclosed injury, and that Studsrud took most of the snaps with the number one offense. Bartels is likely a gametime decision on Saturday.

Just for the sake of comparison, all three of the other Dakota division I schools will have arenas within the next few years which seat between 5700 and 6500. It is my hope that UND will eventually have something close to that in terms of capacity.

Find me a division I school even remotely serious about basketball with an arena that seats 3300. And I'm not talking about what UND needs today. I'm talking about building the program into something like what it was "back in the day".

Because I vividly remember the early 1990's. And there were other periods prior to that which I didn't live through, but am aware of. Just because UND basketball has mostly struggled since the mid-1990's doesn't mean 1500 to 2200 per game should be considered acceptable.

Does anybody really dispute that long-term, a slightly-over-3000 seat basketball arena isn't going to work for a division I program? It seems to me that there has to be some sort of plan, even if it may not come to fruition any time soon.