Matt

http://www.grandforksherald.com/content/und-sports-reason-optimism-upcoming-big-sky-conference-participation UND SPORTS: Reason for optimism in upcoming Big Sky conference participation “I have no question in my mind that they will do what they need to do to get there,” Fullerton said. “That’s the kind of institution they are. They’re the lead institution of the state. They’ll get there. I have great faith that that is true.”

I'm really enjoying the righteous indignation of the ac faithful re: Faison "whining" to the media. Think I'll re-watch/re-read Gene Taylor "whine" to the media when Tim Brewster said he didn't want to schedule the ac anymore...and then again when Alvarez advocated the conference stop scheduling FCS teams. Then I'll head over to BV to read all the posts ripping Gene for his "whining" to the media. Oh wait... So precious.

Weber State

I don't think actually losing is the threshold here. The public believes the ac football program is light years ahead. And deservedly so. I doubt Gene wants to give UND the opportunity to show the public the gap isn't as wide as the public believes it to be. I don't necessarily blame him. I do blame him for the the bs song and dance that's been going on in these "negotiations" though.

I tend to believe Gene thinks the ac does not need the game. Why? Given what we know, if he did think they need the game it would be scheduled by now. Does that mean Gene "holds all the cards" in scheduling the game? IMHO, yes. Gene holds all the cards because he's sitting there with back to back to back rings on his hand and all is well in Fargo. Until those cards are played out nothing will change.

UND on Family Guy http://youtu.be/_hK6DNwdfqw

This is a fun game we like to play with the Gophers in hockey too. If I weren't so lazy I would post the head to head football record vs the ac, to go with a national championship...but i'm lazy.

I'll take "Beating the agricultural college in whatever sport manages to get scheduled" for $1000 Alex. With that trendline it is understandable Gene is in no hurry to schedule football.

The most open minded and tolerant people among us are now advocating for "zero tolerance". Irony.

Which makes me believe even more that the legislators are not interested. edit: wouldn't it have to be approved in committee before making it to a floor vote?

With what is going on in the Bakken right now-rents are doubling, crime, totally inadequate infrastructure and manpower to deal with growth-do you really think the ND legislature will have the stones to put a football game up for a vote?

Play well with whom? Gene is more than happy to negotiate in the media when he believes it suits his purpose, so I can't imagine you think he cares about that.

I'm on your side in the overall argument, but if we are proposing alternate realities and answering them with our own hypothetical, then I would suggest if the ac was not the 2 time defending champ with a winning fbs record to boot, they would probably have had less scheduling difficulty and Ferris would have not been necessary.

Darell, they went undefeated and won their 3rd straight title. I'm not sure they were real concerned about being on the playoff bubble.

While UND football certainly had more to lose than just a football game with a loss to the ac at that time, I am old enough to remember there was a SIGNIFICANT "f**k you" coming from the entire UND athletic department to the ac, circa 2003 when the ac was hurting for games in all sports at that time. There is still one principal party involved here whom I'm sure isn't forgetting that.

I listed those guys because they are good players. I would also add Paschall to that list. Had I wanted to list guys that didn't pan out I would have listed names like Dante Perez, Sammie Rogers, Deveon Dinwiddie, and more.

Not much of a fan if you have to ask me that.

Wilson was a solid starter. Pike was a backup that turned into a solid player due to injury. Jastrom was an FBS transfer Shepherd was a D-2 transfer Andre Martin FCS transfer That's a handful of recent contributors. Most did little to nothing. Their website breaks them out nicely. As i thought, more transfers during the transition and just a few contributors every couple of years after that. http://www.gobison.com/roster.aspx?roster=66&path=football

That's the first thing I thought of when I read the article. How they even feign righteous indignation about Montana St with a straight face is pathological.

If by "a lot of success" you mean more JUCOs on the roster during transition, then a couple of contributors every couple of years after transition, then I agree. And that's exactly what it should be for UND IMHO.

What other teams? Our peers in the upper midwest haven't been successful that way. I don't think the UND philosophy has been bad. Unless you are in transition, JUCOs should be a very small part of the roster. If a few JUCOs contribute every couple of years that's great. The transition is over for this program. They have, and should continue to build mostly with freshmen. The roster holes we are seeing should be an anomaly. I would doubt we would continue to see a high volume of JUCOs as we move forward.

The lack of self awareness of those involved absolutely boggles the mind. This isn't merely a simple mistake or bad judgement. These people are absolutely clueless. Years ago idiots like this would wander into a bear's den and get eaten, ridding the gene pool of their defect. Today's society perpetuates their stupidity and allows them to reproduce. Someone please let them know they would also be advised to refrain tossing the "N' word around Compton.

Yes, his twitter posts certainly give the impression he's leaving.

QB is actually about the ONLY position I am more comfortable with this year than last. There will be far less asked of them than last year. Their jobs will be simplified. I think this fact alone will significantly impact the turnover ratio, which will probably result in 1-2 more wins even if nothing else changes.

Mussman deserves all the scorn he gets around here, but it is worth pointing out that there wasn't exactly a chorus of people around here going, "man this is a weak recruiting class that will get their asses handed to them in this conference." Count me among those that swallowed what was being fed and felt the team would be positioned to do well after signing day.