CMSioux

(Sad to say) I can't remember the last time I thought we had the better offensive scheme in the Big Sky.

Gotta work til noon...go Valiants.

This is not a feel-good post and I know there are some who will trash it, but I want to start by sharing a story about John Gagliardi, the winningest coach in college football history from St. John's, MN. The story goes that when he felt his team needed a perspective-check he used to hold a quarter up to the sun and say that the quarter was their football career and the sun was their life and that they needed to keep that in perspective. Damn that loss on Saturday was probably among the top ones in disappointment in the FCS era. Mostly because of my expectations of what i wanted these kids to accomplish for themselves. For me it's a day of tailgating and football, I don't have film to watch on Sunday or a test on Monday and I didn't spend my summer in a weight room. I will choose to be there on Saturday and holler just the same during the Hawk Walk and game. I know the crowd will be small, the student section will be empty. If/When changes are made I know the staff understands that is part of being a coach and as a fan i know it means having patience and keeping the faith. I want the seniors to enjoy their last home game, I want the rest of the team to have a coaching staff that will help them look to the future with optimism and dedication. At the end of the day they are student-athletes. Damn that one stung...how I react is a reflection on me and my ability to keep it in perspective.

If we lose to any of the teams left in our schedule we do not deserve to get in. I am confident we can run the table and I mean RUN.

It is a trend everywhere, Alabama has troubles getting students to games.

Tailgating was quality over quantity ;). game noise was good, student tailgating was empty, was really fun to meet all the new players on MBB team in the Champions Club tent. .

Yes but as we learned in 2015 the bar for getting in gets moved depending on what their agenda is. Many voters will take this as an opportunity to low ball us - so even if we win out and are 8-3 they can justify a 7-4 from their favorite conference. Already seeing the positioning being set up: 1. It's tough for an independent to get in VS 2. UND is really a Big Sky member and Big Sky doesn't deserve 5 teams in.

Great having "meaningful games" in late October/November. Gotta give the boys a home field advantage today.

Actually we did not win the title outright as the reporter stated we shared it with EW - although that is one history revision I will take.

Yes I was - there was one coach who moved his players out onto the court during time outs because we were so rowdy behind him. Now the ushers in the oversized sport coats would try and haul you out if you tried that (plus I think those seats are reserved now).

Easy to say and I know I still look like a student from the '80s but I think the baton needs to be passed when it comes to expectations of being roudy and loud, my days in the snake pit are behind me. I still cheer loud but it's just not the same coming from a greybeard.

Looks like nice tailgating weather too.

I have never understood the thought that you can beat a team that is ranked but if they are not ranked at the end of the season then it doesn't count as beating a ranked team. Isn't part of the reason they are not ranked at the end of the season because we beat them? Yes we are independent but we are playing a Big Sky schedule - 8-3 gets us in. I think it is quite common knowledge that the 2015 committee screwed UND and it wasn't just UND fans that were pointing that out. I actually don't think it will matter because we are going to win out. Weber's is not what they were last year. Their best win is EW and a big part of that was because EW was without their All American quarterback. The wild card in all of this is our special teams play, a blocked kick returned for a TD. a muffed punt or other mistakes that give the opposition great field position will kill us. As they say there are three components of every game, offense, defense and special teams - you win two of those three battles and you usually win the game.

Another lost fact is that EW was without Gubrud when they played, a factor in their low scoring.

Geez I hope we get special teams figured out, in a low scoring game it might bite us

8-3 will get us into the playoffs, bonus is we will not have a BS rep at the decision table (sarcasm from 2015).

Am I the only one that thinks the student section has evolved to where it is overrated as far as impact and game environment - even at the hockey games? At football they only cheer when it is third down - if they are prompted by the announcer, most leave by the third quarter. At hockey there are random Let's go Sioux cheers and the cheers that are been around for 50 year "Who's he he sucks" and "Sieve". and the band. When I watch road games it seems their are teams who have students who are cheering much more often than our student section - it's like ours don't know or don't want to know what to do so they check their Snapchat constantly. I understand this is probably the wave of the future and we need to just get used to it.

I remember reports from the spring ball game and scrimmages prior to the season were that our O Line could not contain our D Line and our quarterbacks were running for their lives. In hindsight I guess that says we have a great D line and our O line was practicing against one of the best.

In 2015 the pollsters and NCAA decision makers continually moved the bar based on who they wanted in. The combination of bias and laziness is not going away. In an unbias world 7-4 with 2 wins over ranked teams should be enough, but it won't be for UND, it will be for someone else because the bar will be strategically moved as needed.

And the sound person still plays the music too long when we have the ball and are in our huddle.

except that 6-5 > 7-4 in the back room.

The pollsters should be embarrassed - quite obvious there is no research or knowledge of schools outside the pollster's regions.

I want to buy you a beer someday.

That tie we had with BSU in Grand Forks last year helped keep us out of the playoffs.

I hate thinking that every year the Griz pull off at least one trick play that works on us. Just a reminder we have been beaten by third string quarterbacks making their first starts - we can take nothing for granted. I want to believe we will win this one by more than one score - in fact based on the season they are having and their personnel we need to, if we are indeed a playoff bound team. One thing I know for sure - when we beat these guys we will get no credit from outsiders - they automatically become a weak team that is having an off season.