UND92,96

So I'm assuming then that if it's "hilarious" that UND entered the poll after taking a pretty decent Fresno State team to the wire, then it must have been even more "hilarious" when USD entered the poll last year after edging the hapless Gophers, right? Or were voters thinking they were voting for SDSU? Hmmmm...

To clarify, it was Kolpack who responded to Vandrovec's tweet with the theory that it had to be due to confusion by the voters. I apologize if my post was unclear about the true origin of the theory.

Funny thing is that all this "confusion" talk started with a tweet by Terry Vandrovec of the Argus Leader, who seemed miffed that SDSU was the lowest ranked of the four Dakota teams. Given their performance last Saturday night, perhaps that dubious distinction is deserved. And now, their starting quarterback has quit the team. It's looking like a potentially disastrous season in Brookings...

58.

I don't think it's even remotely warranted at this point, but any positive publicity is good, I suppose.

I agree. The best win of the dI era was probably at Central Arkansas, and I believe they were sub-.500 that season.

One other game of possible interest to UND fans--Mary (and Josh Murray) are hosting Augie on Midcontinent Sports Channel right now.

Mollberg update: http://siouxfb.areavoices.com/

I can't specifically answer this, but he does have the title of "special teams coordinator".

Yes, on paper Fresno State should be able to name the score, but strange things happen sometimes. Look at last year--UND lost 23-17 to Northern Illinois, while Fresno lost to them 40-17. It's tough to explain how those results could have happened, but that's football. Sub-.500 SDSU only lost to then-6th-ranked Nebraska 17-3 last year. That shouldn't have happened. There are lots of other examples of huge mismatches on paper in which the score ended up being respectable for the underdog. Fresno State could be in for a letdown after a huge game at Nebraska, and let's face it--their players are not going to take UND seriously at all after watching the film of last week's game. I'm certainly not saying UND will keep it close, but it wouldn't surprise me if the game is closer than last week's game ended up being, IF (and it's a big "if", I acknowledge) the UND offense can figure out a way to move the ball a little bit.

I think DeBoer was smart to get out when he did. He now has on his resume` a highly successful stint as a head coach, AND dI coordinator experience, which on paper would seem to make him a viable candidate for an FCS head coaching job, particularly if SIU has a couple of good years. And while their offense wasn't very good last year, I noticed that they did put up 400-plus yards yesterday at Ole Miss, so things must be looking up.

Couple of things--was it Lennon and staff's fault for a couple of lackluster recruiting classes, or was it Buning's for slashing the recruiting budget? As for USD, I believe Meierkort has managed to supplement his high school recruiting with a number of FBS/juco transfers. Not sure how many are playing key roles, but I know some are. Aside from adding Bradley last off-season, that is an area where UND has not had much success going back a number of years.

I have thought for the past few years that Mussman should be his own offensive coordinator, a la Steve Spurrier. It doesn't mean Breitbach should be fired, but I just think Mussman is a much better o-coordinator based upon past results. Another thought--is there a compelling reason why Kotelnicki has been able to consistently put quality special teams on the field during the transition, but the offense and defense have mostly struggled? I mean, if there are circumstances, e.g. a lack of talent, which excuse in some people's minds the offensive and defensive struggles UND has experienced the past few years, shouldn't those same supposed handicaps similarly impact special teams? Or could it be that Kotelnicki has just done a much better coaching job than the coordinators? I don't know, I'm asking.

Obviously early season computer rankings must be taken with a grain of salt, but both Sagarin and Massey currently have Idaho as the 14th-worst FBS team in the country. Sagarin has Idaho just 18 spots higher than UND. On paper, this appears to be the most favorable matchup UND has had vs. an FBS program.

Hardee is doing a fantastic job with this program. I certainly don't pretend to be a great volleyball mind, so a question for those who may be--is there someting unique about volleyball which makes it immune to the usual excuses about why sports often struggle during the dI transition? Volleyball has the same handicaps as the other non-hockey sports, e.g. lack of a real conference, lack of post season, etc., correct? It's just interesting that a program which was never a power in dII has done so well the past three years, whereas some other sports which were powers in dII have struggled.

About 12,300 (not including suites).

Heath Sherman also, who played about five years with the Eagles as a running back/return specialist. A dII team with two future NFL running backs...

From what I've heard, Seth Nichols could have a big impact this year as a receiving threat at TE, and he was held out last night with an injury of some sort. Hopefully he can be back by the Idaho game, which could really help the passing game. If you put Hardin, McGill, Townsend and Nichols out there, that's four pretty good weapons for Bradley to throw to.

Wayne Nelson's prediction:

Maybe I'm just being unreasonably optimistic, but on paper I really think we should see a big improvement this year: -a more accurate quarterback; -a bigger, more experienced and deeper o-line; -legitimate threats at receiver to complement Hardin; -more speed on defense. I don't know what to expect from Drake, other than USD beat them pretty badly two years ago 51-21. I would like to think UND should be able to win with a similar score, but who knows?

The Herald article has been updated to include quotes from Grant Shaft: http://www.grandforksherald.com/event/article/id/214094/group/homepage/ I'm kind of impressed with Shaft's candor.

Oskie said Butler is definitely still enrolled at UND, and will probably be back on the roster next semester. Not really sure why it was necessary to remove his name from the roster even temporarily, but in any event it sounds like he'll likely be back if he can recover from his injury.

I just submitted the question regarding Butler to the SFI guys. I'm sure they'll find out what's going on.

Also announced at press conference today that TE Zach Adler may have red shirt pulled, that Goska is taking some reps at TE and that there's a 90% chance Garman's red shirt will be pulled (per tweet from Tom Miller).

I just read the settlement again for the first time in quite some time, and it appears that all the proposed changes to the Ralph are indeed only necessary in order to make it eligible to host an NCAA tournament. Thus, the question becomes whether it's worth it financially to make costly changes to host women's hockey playoffs, when the settlement also specifically allows such games to be hosted elsewhere, i.e. Purpur (or even at the Little Ralph in TRF?). With regard to an eventual transfer of ownership from REA to UND, I have to wonder whether it's even wise for that transfer to ever happen. For one thing, it would make mandatory all the changes to the building which are purely discretionary under REA ownership. Also, wouldn't it create issues with regard to the legality of serving alcohol in the facility?