Sioux_FF

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

great effort. Makes me want to order tickets for next year......................but I agree with the ouch!

who is the pressure on right now?

1:47 to go. UND up by one

Webb is the glue.......

I really hate to say it, but so far so good.

I didn't see the 2 at the game on Saturday. That makes the situation even more strange. Eventually, we'll hear what happened. If they wanted to transfer, they had to know leaving a program that late in the year could be a red-flag to a future team. If it wasn't voluntary, it's still concerning for the program. Hopefully, they can land somewhere. I've seen most of the home games this year and I think we match up talent wise very closely with most BSC teams. The area that concerned me the most all season was how we never seemed to adjust to the physical level of play. All season it seemed to surprise us. We lost a lot of games where we were as good or even the more talented basketball team, but didn't match the intensity or physical play of the opponent. I think it was the source of much of our turnover issue. Hopefully the program will find a way to improve that mentality going forward.

Anyone know any options for viewing this weekend games in "establishments" in the Phoenix, Mesa area?

I don’t consider myself a “Mussman apologist” like many on here like to paint people. I’ve followed Sioux sports seriously since the mid-60’s, but that doesn’t make me any kind of expert. I can’t claim to know even a shred of what the UND coaches, administrators and athletic dept folks know about UND football based on watching games, reading articles or hearing 30 second interviews with coaches and players. I’m just a fan. Hearing people on this board say things about coaches with equally minimal information is both frustrating and sad to me as a UND fan. It’s easy to boldly state things like a coach has to be “gone” based on their own ideas of future wins, playoffs, etc. But, it’s silly and not at all helpful. People at a much higher knowledge level of UND athletics will make those decisions, not us. Those decisions will be made on a variety of issues, most of which we won’t even know about. I look at the last football season as a barometer of where we are and where we need to be. I think it was unrealistic to expect a playoff berth in our first year in one of the premiere FCS conferences. I think we showed plenty of glimpses of a program heading in the right direction. I expect the team to make good progress every year. Coming out of the transition and nickname fiasco (which people like to discount as not being huge factors, but they were) things are steadily improving……the recent recruiting classes are evidence of that. I expect each year to see major strides in areas of speed, depth and quality of athletes. We did about what could be expected with the group we had last year….and that isn’t a slam against that team. We just weren’t quite deep enough or talented enough to be an upper echelon BSC team. Yet. Each year I expect that gap to decrease. I’ve said before on here, the players have to make the plays. The coaches can prepare them but it’s still up to the players to execute, or have the ability to out-execute the opponent. That will be better every year with our successful recruiting efforts. I think back to the 2001 title game and the 4th down pass to (now) Coach Luke late in the game. If he drops the ball, or doesn’t make the 1st down we would have lost the title. 2 years later, we lost in the ’03 Championship game. Lennon was 1-1 in those 2 title games. But, if Luke drops that ’01 pass, Lennon could have been 0-2 in title games. Instead of being revered as a guy who “could win the big one” experts on here would have called him a guy who couldn’t win the big one and would have been calling for his head. Not because of coaching, but because of execution by players on the field. Games and seasons can come down to a handful of plays that are made or not…..by players. My point is, we are assembling some amazing football talent. Give it a chance. Nothing said on this board is going to have any effect on changing coaches. I know it’s an opinion forum, but some of this is just not helpful, actually it comes across as self-inflated and silly.

We have an offer to TE Tony Gumina, 6'3”, 225, Sussex (Hamilton Chargers), WI. I was up about 15 rows in the stands at the BB game, but this size would seem to be a good fit.

Different eras and different levels of competition. This year's team is playing teams that are bigger, stronger, more athletic and way deeper than any UND Mens BB team has ever played in D2. That has to be a factor in any fair comparison. I was at the game this afternoon (I've only missed one home game this year) and thought it was a pretty decent game. I think this team and this level of play is better than the era mentioned earlier. I went to all those games too. I even watched Phil Jackson in person a couple times in the 60's. Comparisons between eras are tough, but you have to look at the caliber and quality of the teams we are playing this year, and not just the nostalgic feeling about great Sioux teams of the past. I like to do that too..... For some, it might be a case of "the older I get, the better I was (or it was)" type of thing. And that's OK.

just back from the Betty....... a few minutes before the game Coach Mannausau brought and sat in the end bleachers with 2 strapping young men and one set of parents. One wore a lettermen's jacket. The letter was a "C" and the nickname was Chargers on the back. It had the year 2013 so not a JUCO. They only stayed for about 6 minutes of the game and left. I kind of watched the rest of the Mens BB game but didn't notice any more folks obviously on a visit.

Anyone hear anything about Evers for tomorrow or Saturday? Or Houdek?

just home from the Betty.. Small crowd but at times they got into it. A group of students behind the scorer's table did a nice job of getting into at least one PSU player's head. I thought Wilmer played with some good emotion too, and that seems to fire us up. Nice win.

Could not agree more. Schuler is hard to figure out. He constantly passes up wide open jumpers to drive.....and almost every time he drives he passes back out to the perimeter. Montana picked him off a few times during their run just after halftime. Our offense for the most part was 4 stationary guys passing around the 3 point circle. During that early second half run, Montana started trapping the man with the ball and it repeatedly confused us. We really need a consistent inside presence for these guys to succeed over a whole game. They are so close....will be nice to hopefully get Brekke back soon.

I agree, but the "Manage Ignore Prefs" might be a better solution. The trolls come here to get a reaction, plain and simple. By using the Ignore option, I avoid reading their posts unless someone replies to them. If UND fans ignore them and don't reply to them, maybe, just maybe the worst of the worst will go away.

In our first year in an elite FCS conference we went 3-5 against the BSC (or 4-5 if you count the Portland non-conference win) Our 5 losses included 3 teams at 7-1 that combined for an overall record of 31-9. We didn't get the easy wins we probably could have over the 2 bottom teams if the schedule had been nicer. Not exactly great, but certainly not the end of the world. That's just the reality of it. We're aren't discussing our 5th or 10th year in the BSC without making the playoffs....it was Year 1! Your signature includes the Cary Eades quote about National titles....... well, the UND football team has a more recent National title than the hockey team. also a reality. We can all expect or demand a win, but the reality is what is done on the field. Like stated above, patience.

No my point is about the reality of the situation. It really doesn't matter to me what folks like yourself or others think. The players play. For the most part, the team that is the deepest, and has the overall bigger, stronger faster and more talented athletes will have the edge. Watching our football team last fall, much of the time we weren't that team. Except for the Mines game, I think both our O line and D line were physically outmanned most of the time, which was a surprise. I saw BSC teams with running backs that had the combination of size, speed and elusiveness that UND fans dream about having. Our passing game is at the top level of the BSC and possibly FCS, but we saw that wasn't enough. My point is we are part way to where we need to be and it's going to get better. I saw this past year as a step. We will get better. In reading your previous posts during the football season, you always seem to fall back on the teams struggles as being a simple case of Mussman not being able to coach 'em up or realize things that you do. If only football were that simple.

I don't know about that. I think the fundamentals were there, at times the skill and talent wasn't. Back when I played football I remember coaches explaining what they wanted me to do, and how to do it. We would practice it repeatedly and everyone knew what was expected. In the game it game down to execution, effort and talent. I could prepare and get myself in the correct position and try my hardest. If I failed to make a play I never thought to myself "if only I had been better coached". It came down to my talent, speed, strength and execution being better than the guy across from me. Last fall, it came down to all the individual battles going on during each play. We clearly had some decent talent on defense, but often we saw offenses with more talent across the board. I would be willing to bet no players on last years team felt their problems were due to lack of fundamentals taught by the staff. The athletes on the field have to make the plays. I think back to players like Dressler and Chappel. They were awesome to watch and their success wasn't due to being better at the fundamentals. They were faster and more talented. In short, they played better than the opposition. I think Greensioux is correct. The talent is coming and it will be worth the wait.

per Reggie Tales on WDAZ.com, Reggie says the Erberts and Gerberts opens Friday 12-7-12 in Grand Forks....

As the season shakes out it is more than obvious that UND's schedule was mighty tough. All three losses to date within the conference are very likely going to be in the playoffs, As a friend shared perhaps it's not that our defense is so bad it's that the offenses we are playing are so good. I wonder what the school record is for most offensive plays in a season of more than 20 yards - gotta think that record has been blown away. This was one of those signature games that I'm glad I'll be able to say I attended until until the final horn - right up there with the win at UNI a few years ago. The first ten rows of students deserve kudos, they understand how to lead student cheers. Those in the second level are more focused on their cell phones and the girls/guys in the row ahead of them. I love the band - kudos to their effort to bring some atmosphere to the game - I do think that their habit of playing right up until the ball is put into play is a little distracting - the team probably doesn't hear it through. No doubt it's a new era in UND football and things are only going to get better.