UND92,96

Whomever this info was allegedly leaked to should be ashamed of themselves for making us wait this long.

When I read that a press conference was scheduled at USD tomorrow, I just assumed that it would be to commit to the Big Sky. I figured no announcement at all this week would be a bad sign, as that would seem to suggest further discussions with the MVFC. Had I not heard Faison tonight, I'd probably still be thinking that. But now, I'm not so sure...

To paraphrase, I believe he said something to the effect that "I'm not sure USD will be able to commit to the Big Sky". And it just seemed like his tone was different from how it was in interviews Monday and Tuesday. I hope I just interpreted his words differently from how he intended them. I guess the big question is whether he's actually spoken with USD a.d. Sayler in the past few hours, now that it appears that some sort of a decision has been made.

Faison is on the coaches' show right now. He doesn't sound quite as confident that USD will be joining the Big Sky as he did a few days ago.

USD has called a press conference for noon tomorrow per TV tweet.

This USD student newspaper article was linked on the USD board: http://www.volanteonline.com/sports/usd-athletics-to-announce-home-of-coyote-sports-1.2391581 I can't see the MVFC possibly making that quick of a decision at this point, so if there truly is a press conference either tomorrow or Friday, it still appears that all signs point to USD to the Big Sky.

Surreal is right. At times it felt like this day would never come, but it was well worth the wait. Nice job Faison, Kelley and staffs, and nice job to star2city for predicting this all those years ago!

Was there any mention of what this will mean from a Title IX standpoint? Unless another women's sport is also going to be added, it seems like the only other alternative is to cut a sport (men's golf?)

In this case, I think it was because the number of students was just so alarmingly low. If there were more than maybe 30 students in the student sections, I'd be surprised. I've never seen it anywhere near that bad since to the move to the Alerus from Memorial Stadium.

UND's win over NW State is looking a lot more impressive now than it did a month ago.

I'm a bit torn on Goska's performance today. He certainly didn't do badly, but the concern about him has always been whether he can be an accurate passer more than about 10 yards down the field. Aside from one throw to Sutton, he didn't really show that ability today. Coincidentally or not, Hardin was largely a non-factor. Next week should be a much bigger test. He's going to have to show that he can get it done with his arm, or UND will be facing a lot of 8-in-the-box defenses.

Season preview from the Herald: http://www.grandforksherald.com/event/article/id/181278/group/Sports/

Actually Walker was a high school recruit. The Northwestern transfer was named Tony Stauss I believe. UND has played against some good FBS transfer quarterbacks in recent years, including Zach Miller (UNO by way of Nebraska) and Mike Reilly (CWU by way of Washington St.). The Southern Utah quarterback this year is a BYU transfer.

I thought that was interesting also. My take on that is if none of the older quarterbacks look like they can seize the starting job for next year, it may be prudent to bring somebody in to compete with the two freshmen. Of course, in the years I've been watching UND football, which goes back to the early 1980's, I don't believe we've ever had a transfer quarterback actually win the starting job. Bringing in an FBS or juco transfer has been talked about a number of times, but it never really seems to work out.

Judging by Mussman's comments on the coaches' show last night, not only is Hendrickson moving back to quarterback, he'll be the number 2 behind Goska.

It will be very interesting to see what the offensive game plan is on Saturday. To date, when Goska has played it has seemingly been quarterback keepers about 80% of the time. Clearly that won't work long term. Will we seem some option? Can Goska be accurate on short and intermediate passes? If Murray can't play, can Sutton and Miller pick up the slack?

From the most recent Sioux Football Insider blog:

I know Landry has been the target of much criticism in the past couple of seasons, but this is a sad way for any senior to go out. Good luck to him with his future endeavors.

Yes, both are red-shirting.

I would certainly hope no red-shirts are pulled at this point in the season. I'd like to see Goska play, and run some option rather than pull a red-shirt. You also have Hendrickson who could switch back to QB, as he hasn't played much at receiver. Best case scenario is to rotate Goska and either Nichols or Hendrickson, and wait until next year to put Comes or Demler in there. If nothing else, at least we'll know by the end of the year if any of the non-red shirts has any chance whatsoever to be the starter next year.

I agree that on the offensive side, an upgrade in talent could be enough to get the ship righted. However, I question whether a defense which has struggled--at least against the pass--for roughly four years will be able to replace as many starters as we'll be losing, and somehow manage to get any better? I'm not sure wholesale staff changes necessarily need to be made, but at least some job title changes may be in order?

I think it goes back to what has been said before about Mussman's pay--while he may not be highly paid relative to other FCS head coaches, he's getting paid fairly well given his lack of experience and track record as a head coach. I suspect the same can be said of our coordinators. But yes, I agree that IF a change were made, at least in any of the coordinator positions, the pay should go up so as to attract quality candidates.

I don't disagree that the pay needs to be whatever the going rate is. However, I believe UND pays better than USD, and they managed to bring in a pretty good DC in the off-season from USF.

IMO, Goska should be moved to WR for his senior year, and let whomever prevails in spring ball between Demler and Comes be the starter next year.

To break down the 14-14 record a bit further: 6-1 vs. dII/III/NAIA 8-10 vs. FCS 0-3 vs. FBS I have said it before, and I'll say it again: Mussman deserves another year, and I believe he will get that. However, some things absolutely need to change in order for him to have a long career as a head coach at UND: -Fix the pass defense. Yesterday showed that the current version of the 3-4 still works pretty well against running teams. The problem is, most teams aren't running teams, and our pass defense has mostly been terrible over the past four years or so. How to fix it? I can think of a start, but whether Mussman is willing to take the necessary action remains to be seen... -Upgrade the offensive line talent, and find a few more legit receivers, as we currently only have one. I think Townsend will help next year, and hopefully at least one out of McGill, Ivery and Carrasco can step up. As for the line, retention of recruits has been a problem for several years. It's frustrating because offensive line should be one area where there's sufficient talent in ND/NW MN/WI to put together a decent group year after year. The line does not appear to be as good now as it was in the 1990's/first half of the 2000's.