Sioux_FF

they are gone

Anyone need 2 FREE tickets for today's UND-NDSU Women's game. Great seats, 3 rows up from the scorer's table. A friend just gave them to me and I can't use them and they are free. Tickets are in E. Grand Forks. call if 218-770-0456 if interested. Free to first caller.

Nash is going to be the real deal, a great addition and Hooker didn't look like a freshman. (Actually he looks like a linebacker!) I was really excited about getting Calcaterra when it happened, but wasn't impressed at all. Agree on the post play. Salmonson was somewhat better, but I think success is going to hinge on Traylor and getting Brekke to contribute. I saw Doug Archer on the bench. Is he grad assisting?

Some honest questions: If and when Mussman is let go at the end of the season, how long does UND take to search for and name a new coach? Allowing for FCS playoffs, Bowl games, etc., or can it be done more quickly? Does having lame duck assistants trying to recruit result in a better or worse outcome than an intact staff coming off a 2-9 or 3-8 season? Or, are both options so bad it doesn’t it matter? Is UND willing to pay both Mussman’s buyout and considerably more for a new outside hire than they are currently paying Muss? A new outside hire will likely require more money to bring with him 2 coordinators who will need somewhat higher dollars than current staff is making…and possibly a couple more position coaches. Or, do you think we can get "the guy" without significantly more dollars than Mussman is making now? Will UND fans be happy if, in late November, it’s announced that a new UND coach is named from current staff…..Coach Luke, Coach Josh, Coach Danny, etc. and the rest of the young staff stays largely intact? I’m asking these seriously. I am starting to believe the pressure on Faison will be to “do something.” I am starting to think he might, just not sure they are going to pony up the dollars to make the change worth it. Nothing against Luke, Josh or Danny, but if it does become one of those guys where do you see the program in 3 years?

Everyone of them.......

I'll take a stab at that. Sports can be cyclical. Ups and downs. Nobody stays great forever, usually nobody stays awful forever. (Goph's beat Nebraska on Saturday!) Clearly right now, we're down. Losing Lennon and much of the staff early in the transition was crippling in a lot of ways. People say that's an excuse, but it's a fact. Clearly UND hasn't thrown money at Mussman to build an experienced staff. So, we have probably the most "green" staff I can remember right now. The best thing about rookie coordinators is they become second year coordinators. The best thing about Freshman qb's, is they become sophomores. Last year was actually better than I expected it to be, largely due to getting a solid QB transfer along with a 5th year senior who was finally ready for the job. It naurally raised our expectations for this year. I never expected us to be dominant in the Big Sky in the first few years. I expected us to take our lumps. I'm as impatient as any Sioux football fan out there, but I don't think we match up well yet with the top third of the BSC in terms of overall talent, strength, depth, coaching staff knowledge, experience or funding. I think all those factors go into it, not simply the head coaching. I still look at it as a learning process, for the players, staff, head coach and administration. I think it's a complex situation, and the simplistic solution that the coach has to be fired is not the best answer. You're solution appears to be we need to blow it up and start over. That's kind of what happened when Lennon left. But, I just don't think the answer is going the Tea Party route...................We're mad, we don't like something, so we've got to blow it all up. If we end up doing that you will see the proverbial 10 year black hole of UND football. You may think we'd be digging our way out of the hole, but it will just be a different deep hole. I don't personally know any of the staff. There are 3 assistants with ties to the strong UND football past, and a head coach who was a great coordinator himself, that hasn't been handed the best circumstances. I know people don't want to hear the "P" word, but I still think the benefits of a little more Patience will have us better off in 2 years than blowing up the staff this winter will. Just my honest difference of opinion from following the program for a long time.

I think Faison is a $$$$ and sense guy, more than anything. If you look at the current staff, with the exception of Mussman, it's pretty green in terms of coaching experience. To me that translates into what Faison has been willing to pay the football staff since he's been here. He's had numerous opportunities to pull in serious D1 experience to the staff, but that hasn't happened. The staff hires and promotions over his years have been mostly young and inexperienced. If you blow up the staff, I just don't see him giving big, or even adequate money for a quality outside hire. If he's forced to dump Muss, I'll put money on the new head coach coming from current staff. 20% UND loyalty, but 80% due to money. But, don't look for any instant improvement when that happens. I still tend to believe Faison gives the current staff another year, because lower attendance is still cheaper than the alternative for him.

Yeah, I bet. I was told 4 or 5 different rumors known to be "factual" while tailgating and at halftime by people in the know yesterday. I guarantee there is not one football player on the roster, when after missing a block or tackle; or making a poor choice or inaccurate throw; or having the ball stripped while they are fighting for yards; or taking a dumb penalty thinks to himself "if only I had been coached better" or "if only the coaches had stressed to me more not to do that". As a great fan of the program recently said, this isn't 5th grade football. They know they blew it in spite of knowing what to do. You honestly don't think they preach and coach about all those things continually??? Even the kids will tell you those mistakes are on them. I didn't say that the second year in the BSC was an excuse. I just stated it as reality. That can be hard sometimes. So, yes I do think it's the players not getting the job done. I believe most of them would say the same thing. We aren't an elite team yet in terms of overall talent and depth, so against solid teams the players have to play mistake free. But, we are competing at a high level and 2 of these games could have went the other way if key mistakes could have been avoided and players made a few more plays. Again, I believe the players would honestly agree with that.

Of course you won't go into details. Unless you are in the program you don't have them. Rumors and stories aren't facts. Also, they have been playing hard and getting beat by better teams, which is what you said you wouldn't mind. Which of the losses were to "inferior" teams? None of them in my opinion. The redshirts were in sweats and sitting in the west stands as a group yesterday...... I think that was telling them a message. But, maybe you're right. This is already our second year in the Big Sky. Why we aren't beating these established teams in the top 10 of FCS at this advanced point is unforgiveable. Why our coaches allow players to fumble or throw interceptions or miss tackles is just awful coaching. Passion as a fan is fine on your part. Just needs to be mixed with reality. Claiming to know other's passion isn't reality. Also, I don't see Mussman being let go after this year because of the way UND runs the program. They lost Lennon at least partially over money. He signed at SIU for 200k a year for 5 years in '07. UND extended Mussman for only 114k, years later. That is at least in part due to how UND values the football program. They could have went out for a big time coach, but they haven't. When the coordinator positions were open last year, they could have went and hired BCS\FCS experienced coaches from the outside and paid some serious dollars. They did not, they promoted from within at a fraction of the cost. This is apparently how the UND administation wants it to be financially. If Mussman is let go, at best it will be one of the far less experienced coaches currently on staff getting promoted. If you are worried about setting UND football back a decade, watch it happen if they do that. It will come down to $$$$, and they have shown over the last decade that big time money won't be thrown at football staff. We have a young team and a young staff. It's going to be a steady improvement if we have a little patience. For me I will continue to support UND football- the kids, the staff, the program and the school as I have every year since attending my first games in the early 60's.

I think what CMSioux is getting at is all the negativity, and the commenting about the temperament and abilities of the staff. To imply that our coaches, with 10, 20, 30 years of experience as college football players and as coaches have a "lack of passion", or don't care, or aren't aware of the problems is just silly. That goes beyond simple passion or support. It's criticizing them personally, while having 2% of the facts of the situation. By watching their sideline demeanor, or how they come off in media interviews, commenters on here can tell about their passion for the game? Wow, what amazing talent to have.....The staff are people that live UND football year round. Scouting, recruiting, practicing, teaching, parenting at times and ensuring these kids are going to class and keeping their noses clean. They have families and houses and careers. Not passionate??? You might not like the results we are seeing. But, it's not due to the staff being passionless. It just might be due to UND's 2013 team being not quite as good as the best teams in a very good conference yet. YET. Simply, some of these teams are much better than us, not all, but some. A tough, front loaded schedule and a success story 75 miles to our south exasperated this, but it's not due a lack of passion by our coaching staff. Montana and MSU didn't have D backs that ran stride for stride with Greg Hardin all day long because of a lack of passion by our staff, they did it because they are better than us right now. It's easy to be nattering nabobs of negativity all the time. And it's OK to be upset with results. But, anonymously calling for people's heads or questioning their passion with basically no facts or knowledge of the inner workings of establishing an FCS program is silly. Just my 2 cents.

I seem to remember Brekke had some pretty bad issues with asthma in high school that affected how his playing time was handled. l think there were times where he could play only 3 or 4 minutes and get a 2 or 3 minute break and then go back in, all game long. I don't if that is still the case or not anymore, just throwing that out there.

Well, I guess you're the expert. Can we assume you'll be applying and eventually straighten things out for us?

Call me an apologist if you want, but I didn't expect us to come out of the transition and immediately contend for an FCS title, or even a BSC title for a number of years. I believe it was delusional to expect that. Some on here do not want to hear it, but we had a unique transition that probably put us a year or 2 behind where we should have been in year 1 and 2 of the BSC. But, if firing the head coach was the magic pill for winning, why not fire every coach after every sub-500 season? Or, after every loss? Quality institutions do not normally do that. A program needs stability to improve. Coming into this year with 2 rookie coordinators and 3 freshman qb's, I expected it to be tough road, maybe even brutal at times, in a very, very good conference. A study was done a couple years ago about BCS programs and the firing of head coaches. I expect it somewhat follows at the FCS level too. http://www.colorado.edu/news/releases/2012/11/14/fire-coach-not-so-fast-says-new-study-university-colorado-loyola-professors "They assessed how coaching replacements affected team performance for the four years following a replacement. They found that, on average: When a team had been performing particularly poorly, replacing the coach resulted in a small, but short-lived, improvement in performance after a change. The records of mediocre teams -- those that, on average, won about 50 percent of their games in the year prior to replacing a coach -- became worse. " “When a college football team’s performance is disappointing, the first and often only remedy administrators, fans and sports writers turn to is firing the coach. This is usually an expensive approach to solving the problem. “Despite the fanfare that often accompanies the hiring of a new coach, our research demonstrates that at least with respect to on-field performance, coach replacement can be expected to be, at best, a break-even antidote.”

Agree 100%. Like I've said before on here, patience. Last year, this year, and maybe the next year or 2 are all part of this process. It may be frustrating, but it's part of a process. The UND program is sound and building. The xDSU's have a headstart on us and makes it harder and adds to the frustration. I'm not giving anyone a "pass" or making excuses. Just stating reality. This team is still going to do some very good things this year, even with very young quarterbacks, and we will continue to build on that in the coming years I know being negative is easy, but is it helpful in any way? I don't think so. I know second guessing decisions or personnel is easy, but is it based on knowledge of facts? I don't think so. It's easy to be an expert on Sundays from a distance. And, it's OK for fans to want UND Football to be better faster. I'm probably one of the oldest posters on here, but I'm enjoying watching the progress. I know it's coming. Thats why the Ravens have to fire Harbough. They have't won all year and got blown out by 21 to the Broncos. He obviously doesn't know what he's doing and must be fired. Wow, that was fun. And so easy..

Watched a good part of the SDSU-Butler replay last night. SDSU lines look very good. QB not real consistent, we need the Alerus to be rockin' and hopefully we can rattle him into errors. I hope the game comes down to mistakes and special teams. UND 38 SDSU 31

Great memories, I was there for this one and also a couple years later. I recorded the game off cable onto VHS and later converted it to DVD. I still throw in the DVD at least once a year. Can't wait until I have a new updated FCS championship version to watch!

I guess I'm in the minority, but I doubt they will know which of the 2 QBs is "the guy" until after a couple of games - and maybe more. Their skills and abilities in practice don't always translate real well when they are running for their life and getting slammed by the opposition for real. Sometimes the only way to see who has the best poise and game sense is in real games--- and even then we have to be ready to accept some youthful mistakes along with the great plays. Also, I don't think any coach wants to have the famous QB by committee situation. It's easy as a fan to say we don't want that QB by committee stuff. But, with 3 redshirt freshman qb's and a revamped OL, the BSC teams are going to throw a lot of pressure and different looks on our QBs. Keeping one of the young, inexperienced QBs healthy all year under those conditions may be tough. I hope they both play the first few games - and I hope they both look great. But, It won't surprise me if we get down to QB No. 3 at some point for a variety of reasons, most likely health. Cannot wait for next Thursday.............Go Sioux!

I was able to see many of Brianna's games, from 8th thru 10th grade. I believe she started in 8th grade on varsity. Very smart and could create and dish or score if needed. She reminded me a lot of Crookston's Kamille Wahlin at the same level, like a coach on the floor. Kamille had a pretty nice career at Iowa. Brianna would look nice in UND green too! Fergus is loaded with the younger Monke girl also a senior at about 6' 3" and very talented. Her older sister plays at Wisconsin Green Bay. I talked to some Fergus friends who said both Rasmusson and Monke have been getting looks from D1 schools. [

Bailey Strand a Senior to be at Fergus Falls, MN has committed to the UND Women's BB team. http://www.fergusfal...commits-to-und/

got my season tickets in the mail today.................

I never said because we had more passing yards than our opponent our pass defense was tight. Many of the teams we out passed didn't need to because their running game was so strong. A 5 to 10 yard pass is a part of everyone's offense. at every level of football. It's not a home-run. It's something a defense is often willing to give up. It's a play that lets the defense live to play another down. Getting the ball pounded down your throat is another thing. If you let that happen, it's game over. My point is we got "out physicalled" against the better BSC teams. They didn't beat us because they could pass a 5 or 10 yard pass here or there, like every team can do, multiple times a game. They beat us because they could pound it on us. I never, ever said the defense was poor. We were middle of the pack in our first year in an elite FCS conference. We just didn't have the quality or depth up front to quite match the elite BSC teams. But, all in all, we did what many of us expected -- win some games and not quite match up to what is currently the best teams in the conference. It was Year 1. Year 2 will be better. I gave several examples and stats from 4 of our losses last year where that was true. Can you name one where we lost because of that 5 or 10 yard pass? I can't think of one.

Respectfully disagree on the 5 to 10 yard pass thing. We got out-rushed by more than 100 yds a game in 2012. (UND ran for an average of 133 and gave up an average of 235 yards of rushing.) We out passed out opponents on average by more than 50 yards a game. Our opponents passing didn’t kill us, but the physical running teams did. Take the 2 big blowouts we suffered. Eastern Wash outrushed us by 290 to 143 yd, and we slightly out passed them. The other blowout against Montana State we were out rushed 436 to 15 yards! I don’t know which is more alarming, the 436 yards we gave up or UND only getting 15 yards on the ground in an entire game. They passed for more yards too, but out-rushing us by over 400 yards isn’t really an indication of soft corners. Another loss, Cal Poly, we were out rushed by nearly 200 yards, 321 to 133 yards, but we had 200 more passing yards than them. San Diego St was a game we could have won but ended up losing 49-41. We were out rushed in that one 292 to 55 yards. We had the edge in passing yards by 434 to 231. The “5 to 10 yard pass” didn’t really kill us there either. Maybe the 247 additional yards they gained on the ground did. We couldn’t match the power up front of the top half of the BSC. I’ll stick with my statement about that most of our 2012 losses can be attributed to our lines being not quite at the elite status of BSC teams……..yet.

I think there were several reasons why it may have appeared our D-backs played soft all year. I thought there were quite a few games last year where we were dominated up front. Many of the BSC teams could dominate our D-line and still get people on our linebackers. We saw some very good running backs that made great runs by just having to beat one defender at or beyond the line. Over and over it looked like we couldn’t tackle, but it was often a case of one guy having to make a play against a quality RB at full speed in open space. (I also think it also got to be a confidence thing for our defense, making for some tentative tackling attempts.) A typical Sioux defense would have more guys making tackles. Our depth on the D line wasn’t tremendous and that might have contributed to staying in the 3-4 so much. We had a lot of trouble against teams with good running backs and tried to help stop the run with safety help and LBs committing to the run. We also had a lot of trouble getting pressure on the QB compared to what we’re used to from a UND defense. Many times the corners were left with little or no safety help and little or no pass rush, so they were playing pretty soft, especially after getting burned. The cause was poor line play, the result was the secondary looked weak. I’ve said it before but I think the teams that beat us and dominated us, dominated our line play on both sides of the ball. I don’t think Jake Miller had more than a few times all year where he got through a decent hole at the line of scrimmage. He didn’t suddenly get less talented, it’s just not his game to be a power back and he had to try to be at times. I think Year 1 in the BSC taught the coaches, players and strength coaches a lot. I believe we are building quality and depth on both lines. I look for some solid improvement this year. Can’t wait to witness it. Go Sioux!

I've only been to Wild Bills once, they have some good daily specials. Had a Wed night Rib basket a couple weeks ago. Large portion and reasonable. Plus I was impressed with the service for a newer place. We go to the El Roco one or 2 Saturdays a month for the live trivia. Excellent bar food, specials and the best sweet potato fries I've ever had. Both places have a nice selection of my favorite item.....cold beer.

Tony Hrkac with Dallas and Troy Murray with Colorado