Matt

1991 Home opener at Dakota Field...defending national champions... GVSU 21 NDSU 17

Boy, you sure had to torture and/or ignore these quotes to come to your conclusion. Are you sure you read it all?

Muss has also been consistent on one point: that if the game is played, it is played every year. Of course, seasons like this year tend to diminish influence over decisions like those.

Are you referring to NDSU here? Looks to me like the Bison bit off way more than they can chew in that conference...and that includes SDSU.

Why aren't you too ashamed to even talk smack when NDSU football is now in the same conversation as Indiana State? UND has the bottom on the radar, but when you are looking up at the Sycamores, Bison football has now hit rock bottom. Historically bad.

I worry about apathy/indifference setting in during the transition. You know the axiom about the cost of attracting new customers vs keeping existing ones. If football support erodes during the transition, I wonder how difficult it will be to get it back. Particularly when we always have the hockey program to lean on.

You think Sioux and Bison fans are down, think of the shame the Wagner fans are feeling...

I agree. While I don't think this team is talented enough to win the conference, I do think it has more than enough to dispatch USF at a mimimum. The staff has been failing this team, and it took this week to expose it to everyone.

I agreed with Muss' postgame comments that he was outcoached. USF doesn't outman UND at a position to position basis (their QB is an exception but he's a system QB that UND wouldn't recruit). However, in this game USF not only executed their scheme flawlessly, but the strategic matchups they created gave them numbers advantages that overcame their size/speed disadvantages up and down their roster. How many times did they execute that screen before it was stopped? How many open receivers (that had far less speed than the UND Dbacks) did they have in the seam? They were so sharp and efficient it was almost robotic. At this point in the season, why isn't the UND offense and defense anywhere near that sharp against an athletically inferior opponent?

Can you imagine having to sit through the stinkfest if these teams actually played this year?

I wonder if starting the season with three on the road, plus getting whacked last week, has created an 'outta sight outta mind' situation that has slowed ticket sales. I don't think there should be that many tickets available this close to kickoff.

Absolute FREAKOUT going on in Bville over this.

No one needs to have actually viewed the defense giving up that many points to figure out they needed a lot more than better tackling to "shut down" the SFA offense. Moreover, sometimes the opposition is just that much better than you that even when you are put in a position to make a play on the ball carrier, he makes you break down fundamentally. Do we fault the Sioux defense for lack of execution of fundamentals, or do we credit the opposition for just beating the defense on a man vs man basis? What I'm getting at here is the defense simply needs better players from future recruiting classes when the transition is over to be able to run with athletes like that. I think the SFA O coordinator did a good job of creating those matchups.

Shut down? There's 60+ on the board! That is historically bad! That SFA team is flat out better. There are no 'if and buts' in a butt kickin' like that. Maybe better fundamentals makes SFA grind out longer drives and take more time, but the outcome can't be in doubt. The defense was not shutting down that SFA offense no matter what they did.

I expected this from TT, but not from any FCS school against a Sioux defense.

what channel is it on in fargo 44?

Chapman is a great president or a bully; the UND residence is fine, NDSUs is a money pit; it's just a matter of just whose ox is being gored here isn't it?

I'd pick UND over Rice tomorrow.

In GF there's always hockey to look forward to. What's left with no playoffs only two games in?

I'm not saying UND could have prevented the imagery that was used in this case, or in future cases for that matter. I'm saying if they want to keep the name, and again I have my doubts about that, they need to take proactive steps with their opponents so they are aware of the sensitive nature of the situation. It's like putting a "DO NOT USE IN BATHTUB" warning on the hairdryer. It won't keep idiots from doing it, but becuause someone got sued before, now the manufacturer has to warn against forseeable misuse of the product. Unfortunately its become the burden of using a NA nickname. Otherwise I say the UND admin just sucks it up and deals with it.

Ask them to use the official logo as the only authorized imagery. Give the short story of the problem with the NCAA and the nickname. Let them know any use of NA imagery will be highly scrutinized because of the lawsuit. If UND is serious about keeping the name (I have my doubts) this will be their ongoing burden in the future.

I was also struck by the part about it not occurring to UND staff to discuss concerns proactively about how the imagery is used. That absolutely should have occurred to someone at UND. 'We discussed this issue before hand and they disregarded our concerns' would read a helluvalot better than "its impossible to control behavior of opposing teams."

You do realize the team hasn't played a single down yet?