UND92,96

I paid particular attention to him during warmups before the PSU game, because I have been curious as to why he never plays, even as a kick returner. FWIW, he did not appear to be injured. He does seem to have some pretty good speed and quickness, but an inability to get on the field this year does not seem to bode well for him. Even with the losses of Shaugabay and Garman, the competition for playing time is not going to get any easier with the addition of Oliveira and probably several others next year, along with presumably the return of Simmons.

UND is picked first by both the coaches and media: http://www.bigskyconf.com/news/2014/10/22/WBB_1022145849.aspx

I posted these numbers before, but I think they bear repeating-- in the nine quarters he's played in Big Sky games this year, Mollberg is 44-69 for 479 yards, with 1 td, a 2-point conversion, 1 pick and 1 lost fumble. While it would be nice if the touchdown numbers were better, continuing with a 63.7% completion percentage and better than 200 passing yards per game would likely be good enough for UND to win several more games, so long as the turnovers are no more than about one per game (as they have been during Big Sky play). The offense as a whole was bad during non-conference play. And given the overall talent level and injury problems, the ceiling probably isn't very high for this group. But progress is being made. And Mollberg's play of late has been a part of that progress.

I don't know whether this has been mentioned before or not, but according to the most recent SFI entry, juco transfers Dylan Bakker and Charles Flowers are red-shirting this season.

Did Ivery play at all against PSU? I never saw him out there. I was wondering whether he was still on the team.

They are one of those programs that seems to get ranked based largely on reputation. But if they finish sub-.500 this year, which looks pretty likely based upon their remaining schedule, maybe some of the pollsters will finally jump off that bandwagon for awhile.

SUU might be the worst defense UND plays against all year. It's time for the offense to step up and score 20-plus points.

I think this kid spells his last name differently from the Perrone family who used to live in Grand Forks, so I have no idea what, if any connection to the area he may have. I agree that it would be unusual for UND to be recruiting a kid from that part of the country without some sort of local connection. Vito Perrone was a dean at UND for many years: http://www.nytimes.com/2011/09/17/us/vito-perrone-sr-who-fought-standardized-tests-dies-at-78.html?_r=0

Here's the complete 24/7 list: http://247sports.com/Season/2015-Football/CompositeRecruitRankings?InstitutionGroup=HighSchool&State=MN 13. Momoh 21. Engwall 23. Rodgers

According to a Gigli tweet, it sounds like there was a commitment today from either a DE or OLB from the twin cities. I am assuming the positions based upon the hashtag #sackcity.

Doesn't Missouri typically have some of the lowest prices in the country? Why is that?

Down to $2.88 in Bemidji.

Unless there's a really good incoming transfer, I think Oliveira may be the guy next year. He's listed at 5'10", 220 right now, and reportedly has above-average FCS running back speed, as well. But obviously it would be extremely unusual for UND to have a true freshman starting running back, so who knows.

Where are the nearest gas wholesale sellers located? I'm just wondering if there's a logical reason prices should be expected to be lower in Bemidji than Grand Forks, or even Fargo at the present time. I believe the gas tax is actually higher in Minnesota than North Dakota, so that's evidently not a reason.

In Big Sky play, Mollberg is 44-69 for 479 yards in nine quarters (with two turnovers--not great but not too bad). In terms of completion percentage and yardage, I don't think that's far off from where UND can reasonably expect to be given the overall talent level. Of course, that doesn't mean much without scoring more offensive points than what we've seen, but at least there are no more defenses close to Montana's caliber on the schedule.

Yes, but it's not like they recruited either of these guys, and have some sort of bias in favor of "their" guy. I firmly believe they want to win, and won't hesitate to make a change if somebody at any position is not getting it done.

I guess we will just have to agree to disagree. I am not saying the first six games don't count. But I am not going to say that the coaches care more about playing Mollberg no matter what than they do about giving the team the best chance to win, either.

I am talking about from here on out. I don't believe for one minute that Bubba is going to just play Mollberg indefinitely for the rest of the season if he doesn't produce. What would be the point of that? Basically, I don't agree with the premise that just because Bartels is apparently not going to start against SUU, he's never going to get a chance to play again no matter what.

I disagree. Mollberg will need to play relatively well to keep his job, and I'm sure he knows that. But I do agree that in all likelihood, whichever of the two who ends up as the backup by the end of the year may very well transfer. I don't think it would wise to do so given how much can change in a year or two (Bellmore/Manke situation comes to mind), but that's just my opinion. BTW, while I'm certainly not saying Bartels is MORE turnover-prone than Mollberg, he did have eight turnovers last year in basically less than half a season, so he would need to improve somewhat in that area, also. Mollberg has eight turnovers so far this year.

Wasn't the first score (a field goal) led by Mollberg? I was thinking that was the drive he was injured, and that Bartels came in for the last play or two. Not sure on that, I guess. In any event, it's certainly true that the third quarter was probably the best the UND offense has looked this year. But I really can't second-guess Rudolph or Bubba if they are very hesitant to make a change of the starting quarterback based upon one quarter. At an absolute minimum, I think Mollberg gets the first half of the SUU game to show what he can do against a defense roughly the same caliber as Portland St. (on paper, anyway). If things go really poorly, Bartels may very well get another shot in the second half. EDIT: I looked back at the boxscore, and the first scoring drive was 76 yards, and all of the yards were when Mollberg was in there. I realize that isn't going to change anybody's mind.

I am basing it on the backup quarterback syndrome, i.e. the backup is always the answer for a certain segment of the fan base. If you have two quarterbacks who are relatively close, the other guy will always have his backers unless the starter plays like Peyton Manning.

Regardless of who is playing quarterback, Portland St., SUU and EWU are statistically three of the four worst defenses in the Big Sky right now. I would expect some improved offensive numbers compared to earlier in the season.

The weird thing is that if you go back and look at Bartels' 2012 info on rivals, he was described as a "dual threat" quarterback.

Unfortunately, I don't see this "controversy" going away any time soon in the eyes of the fans. I think both are capable, but neither is at a point where he's going to be so consistently good that there won't be a chunk of the fan base clamoring for a change.