Matt

There's a virus which if infecting otherwise healthy cells, with it's own viral RNA, causing those otherwise healthy cells to perform improperly. Do I need to point out whom is the virus in this analogy pulling the team and the program astray over the last several years?

Quite true, but I don't don't have a real clue as to what is going on in a sick person's sinuses, but when I see a runny nose and sneezing, I have a pretty freaking good idea what the problem is. True again. If anyone here wants to go to their wife and sell a 30% pay cut, you are a better man. Everyone advocating Tibesar taking that type of pay cut to come to UND should stop and quantify what financial loss like that would do to your daily life. Tibesar makes a good living, but he isn't set for life.

http://www.sportsnetwork.com/fcs/FCS_Bracket.pdf

I will concede the defense beat expectations. This is solely due to expectations being ridiculously low. The offense scored one TD. Against the 9th ranked scoring defense in the conference. 72nd ranked nationally. This team won't win another game doing that.

It's darkly entertaining to go back to the offseason analysis surrounding how this offense would "be just fine" because Joe is stud and he's got the best receiving corps in the country to throw to.

Reading through all of this reminds me there are so many instances of poor fundamentals, poor decisions, lack of discipline, and lack of physicality at so many positions it is worthless to harp on any one one spot.

I'm confused, is Joe transferring next year?

Go back and check the offensive output the last two weeks. With these weapons? All I'm expecting him to do is step into a throw. How about when a defender is in front of a receiver, and there's one behind the receiver, don't throw it to him? Doesn't seem like unrealistic expectations to me. He's playing with such flawed fundamentals, it seems he still thinks his arm can still bail him out like it did playing those little lakes area schools. I'm starting to wonder if his fundamentals are why the FBS schools didn't offer him. Of course, with the level of play Adams is at as a sophomore, the rest of the QBs in this league will be stuck in his shadow for quite a while. UND best hope might be developing a running game someday.

Nope. He showed last year that despite being a freshman, there's no law requiring you to play like one. 2012: Adams was selected as the Freshman of the Year on the College Sporting News “Fabulous 50” All-America team, and was also on the College Sports Journal Freshman All-America squad. Adams was also one of 20 players on the ballot for the Jerry Rice Award, given to the top freshman in FCS by The Sports Network (he finished sixth in the voting, which occurred prior to the playoffs). Adams ranked fourth in FCS in passing efficiency (160.80), and was the only freshman in the top 24 of the rankings. He also was 69th in FCS in total offense (191.5 per game). His efficiency rating also ranked fourth all-time in school history. In nine games as a starter and three as a sub, he completed 60.9 percent of his passes for 1,961 yards, 20 touchdowns and eight interceptions. With he and Kyle Padron sharing time at quarterback, the Eagles finished with 4,469 passing yards, breaking the previous record of 4,102 yards in 2005. In back-to-back games in the FCS Playoffs, each had a school-record six touchdown passes -- Padron versus Illinois State (12/8/12) in the quarterfinals and Adams against Sam Houston State (12/15/12) in the semifinals. Adams completed 14-of-26 passes for 364 yards – all after intermission --- as EWU scored 42 points in the second half to rally from a 35-0 halftime deficit and nearly pull off an improbable rally. His yardage against SHSU was a career high and ranks 38th in school history. His incredible scramble and touchdown throw against Sacramento State (10/20/12) was one of eight finalists for the GEICO Play of the Year. Facing a six-man rush from the Hornet 10-yard line, Adams avoided as many as eight tackles as he back-peddled side-to-side to the 35, then side-stepped a defender and tossed a touchdown pass to Greg Herd in EWU’s 31-28 win over Sac State. Adams won the Play of the Year voting for Week 8, and the eight weekly winners were shown on GEICO Best of College Football 2012 on CBS on Nov. 23. The winner of the GEICO Play of the Year was a one-handed catch by Ohio State’s Devin Smith. Adams completed 17-of-21 passes for 169 yards and two touchdowns against Sac State to earn team offensive player of the week honors. In an unannounced and surprise start, Adams made his first career start in EWU’s 32-26 victory at Weber State (9/22/12), and used his arm and his feet to lead EWU to a 20-3 halftime lead. Adams led Eastern to scores on four of five drives in the first half, including a 75-yard touchdown march on his first drive as an Eagle. He finished the game 7-of-12 for 75 yards, and ran five times for 62 yards, but missed most of the second half with cramping. Of his five rushes, four were for first downs; of his seven completions, four more resulted in EWU first downs. One game later in his home starting debut, Adams atoned for a fourth-quarter fumble and interception by throwing two touchdown passes in the in the final 2:19 as the No. 7 Eagles rallied for a 32-26 victory over 21st-ranked Montana (9/29/12) at Roos Field. As a result, Adams was selected as the Sports Network co-Freshman of the Week in the FCS, the College Sports Journal co-Freshman of the Week and the ROOT Sports Offensive Player of the Week awarded by the Big Sky Conference. Eastern put together an 82-yard scoring drive to pull within two points with 2:19 remaining on a 30-yard touchdown pass from Adams to Brandon Kaufman. After EWU successfully recovered an onside kick, Eastern scored again on a 20-yard TD pass from Adams to Ashton Clark with 53 seconds to play. Adams completed 25-of-41 passes for 353 yards (52nd-most in school history) and three touchdowns in his second career start for EWU, and also added a team-leading 54 yards rushing. He accounted for 407 of EWU’s 447 yards of total offense. In the final quarter alone, Adams was 13-of-21 for 171 yards and a pair of scores. Eastern scored the first time it had the ball on an eight-play, 75-yard scoring drive, then led 14-7 in the second quarter on Kaufman’s 36-yard TD reception from Adams. Later in the year, Adams repeated as ROOT Sports Offensive Player of the Week after accounting for 356 yards of offense in seventh-ranked EWU’s 34-17 win versus No. 16 Cal Poly (11/3/12). He led the Eagles with 288 yards passing and 68 on the ground, as the Eagles finished with a season-high 542 as a team. He completed 19-of-29 passes and had three touchdown tosses, and also rushed for 68 yards. Eastern’s scoring drives in the game were of 81, 66, 74, 69, 41 and 83 yards. For his effort, he also received honorable mention Performer of the Week accolades in FCS by College Football Performance Awards. With an off-the-charts efficiency rating of 252.6 in just his third career start, Adams earned College Sports Madness Big Sky Offensive Player of the Week in EWU’s 55-17 win over North Dakota (10/6/12). He completed 12-of-15 passes for 151 yards and four touchdowns in just over a half of work to also earn team offensive player of the week honors. He also had a net 38 yards rushing (long of 23). Eastern finished with 458 yards of offense overall. Adams finished with 191 yards rushing for the season (4.9 per carry). He scrambled his way to 62 yards in his starting debut versus Weber State, another 54 versus Montana (9/29/12) and a season-high 68 against Cal Poly (11/3/12).

I had forgotten Adams was just a Freshman last year. At what point do we stop saying Mollberg is just a freshman and expect better play? One touchdown complimenting a couple of turnovers won't beat anyone. The pick six was as bad as I've seen all year at any level-guy wasn't open, threw it flat footed. Bad decision, bad technique. Awful.

What worries me on some level, is that there's a lot of long time fans-myself among them-which now consider a 3 score loss to be a close game.

I'm conflicted. Why does a 3 score loss seem like a win with this team? Is that wrong?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=krD4hdGvGHM

Particularly when that difference is accounted for by the glaring difference in student fees between the two schools.

This is one of those rare games where EWU could turn the ball over 4 times, with all of them being pick 6s, and they could still win because they have the ability to immediately follow the defensive touchdown with a 4-play 80 yd scoring drive.

http://www.undsports.com/ViewArticle.dbml?DB_OEM_ID=13500&ATCLID=209278707 From the Game Notes: "UND’s defense did limit the EWU’s air attack last season to a season-low 168 yards." I know funny, and THAT my friends, is funny.

Here's this team's statistical rankings. Wasn't sure where to post this but since we know where the buck stops, this seems appropriate. http://stats.ncaa.org/rankings/ranking_summary

http://www.sportsnetwork.com/fcs/FCS_Bracket.pdf

http://www.soconsports.com/fls/4000/socon/FCS/polls/2013/2013_FCS_Coaches_Poll/index.html Rankings Shake Up Following Six Games Between Top-25 Opponents SPARTANBURG, S.C. – Six games between teams ranked in the top 25 led to a shake-up of the FCS Coaches Poll rankings this week, including three new teams entering the poll. For the first time in four weeks, North Dakota State was not the unanimous No. 1, as Towson stole one first-place vote from the Bison. NDSU received 649 points and 25 first-place votes following its 24-23 victory over Northern Iowa on Saturday. Towson’s 44-28 win over last week’s No. 18, New Hampshire, was convincing enough to give the Tigers a No. 1 vote and 623 points this week. Sam Houston State remains in the third spot with 600 points after its bye week, while Eastern Illinois moved to No. 4 following a bye week of its own. Northern Iowa dropped one spot after dropping a one-point decision to North Dakota State. Coastal Carolina (521), Montana State (502) and Eastern Washington (448) remained at spots six through eight, while Fordham (418) debuts in the top 10 at No. 9 after dropping last week’s No. 10, Lehigh, 52-34. Montana closed out the top 10 after the Grizzlies received 417 points. McNeese State moved forward three spots following its convincing 59-28 win over Central Arkansas, which was ranked 11th last week. Wofford (319) and Bethune-Cookman (315) each jumped three positions in the poll to No. 12 and No. 13 respectively, after wins on Saturday. Lehigh fell five spots to 15th, receiving 284 points. Villanova, Youngstown State and Maine moved inside the top 20 after being ranked No. 20, No. 22 and No. 23, respectively, last week. The Wildcats are No. 15 with 248 points, followed by Youngstown State’s 219 points. Maine jumped six spots to No. 17 after a 62-28 win over Delaware, which was ranked No. 25 a week ago. South Dakota State, James Madison and Central Arkansas round out the top 20. Northern Arizona and New Hampshire each dropped four spots to No. 21 and No. 22 following losses over the weekend. Tennessee State, Jacksonville State and undefeated Charleston Southern finish out the top 25 after being unranked last week. Cal Poly, Gardner-Webb and Delaware fell from the rankings after being ranked No. 19, No. 24 and No. 25 last week. The FCS Coaches Poll is based exclusively on a voting panel of head coaches in the FCS under the cooperation of the Collegiate Commissioners Association (CCA) and the American Football Coaches Association (AFCA) and is administered by the Southern Conference.

http://www.sportsnetwork.com/merge/tsnform.aspx?c=sportsnetwork&page=cfoot2/misc/cfoot225poll.aspx The Sports Network FCS Top 25 College Football Poll Team (First-place votes) 2013 Record Points Previous Rank 1. North Dakota State Bison (157) 5-0 3925 1 2. Sam Houston State Bearkats 4-1 3665 2 3. Towson Tigers 6-0 3657 3 4. Northern Iowa Panthers 4-1 3283 4 5. Eastern Illinois Panthers 4-1 3272 5 6. Eastern Washington Eagles 3-2 3124 6 7. Montana State Bobcats 4-2 2902 8 8. Coastal Carolina Chanticleers 5-0 2653 9 9. McNeese State Cowboys 5-1 2475 11 10. Fordham Rams 6-0 2451 12 11. Montana Grizzlies 4-1 2433 10 12. Wofford Terriers 3-2 1738 17 13. South Dakota State Jackrabbits 3-3 1660 7 14. Maine Black Bears 5-1 1533 23 15. Villanova Wildcats 3-2 1490 20 16. Bethune-Cookman Wildcats 4-1 1391 21 17. Lehigh Mountain Hawks 4-1 1255 13 18. Youngstown State Penguins 5-1 1178 NR 19. Northern Arizona Lumberjacks 3-2 1111 15 20. Central Arkansas Bears 2-3 870 14 21. James Madison Dukes 4-2 646 NR 22. Georgia Southern Eagles 3-2 636 16 23. Samford Bulldogs 4-2 592 NR 24. Jacksonville State Gamecocks 5-1 508 NR 25. New Hampshire Wildcats 1-3 424 19 Others receiving votes: Tennessee State 372, Cal Poly 234, Charleston Southern 223, Delaware 220, Yale 201, Gardner-Webb 157, UT Martin 101, South Carolina State 90, William & Mary 88, Harvard 87, Southern Illinois 78, Richmond 66, Southeastern Louisiana 64, Southern Utah 48, Murray State 31, Chattanooga 30, North Dakota 20, Illinois State 14, North Carolina A&T 10, Jackson State 7, Stony Brook 5, Western Illinois 4, Portland State 1, Alcorn State 1, Eastern Kentucky 1.

What Joe has shown in games seems to be why the coaches were reluctant to name a starter from fall camp. Bartels reads better, but Joe has better physical ability.

Because UND stinks, and EWU plays with an offensive style conducive to the UND defense giving up obscene points and yards.

“It’s a step forward in terms of the closeness, but it was a very winnable game and we hurt ourselves way more than they did,” said Idaho State coach Mike Kramer. This season continues to provide hilarious backhanded compliments, but I guess that's what happens when two bad teams do battle. You know both teams will stink out loud, so which team will ultimately hurt themselves more? Fortunately it was the Bungles.

I'm actually hoping this game isn't even played. I'm praying for a snowstorm, power outage, whatever. Whatever it takes to prevent EWU from showing up in GF on Saturday is fine, short of loss of life. I don't think I'm overstating things here to say the potential damage this game poses to the program in terms of real dollars lost in fan support, standing among area sports fans, criticism, etc., is significant. However, to play along, if UND wins, they make a run to the national championship, beating ndsu on the road. Now I'm off to spend my lottery winnings and spend some time with my lovely wife Kate Upton.

Piss pounding this UND team is hardly an accomplishment. Only the sh**iest of the sh**ty don't do that to this team. The jacks are being exposed as the frauds they are. UND on the other hand, is fooling no one.