southpaw

It's a step back in television rights for UND. But do they gain exposure by going from what would be the third best conference to arguably the best? I would think so. Also, which is better for directv viewers (some of whom are potential recruits) being on a channel in the low 200s right with the rest of the national sports channels, or being in the 600s with the regional channels? FCS is a destination channel. People don't stumble on that channel often. CBSSN is a channel that people can easily scroll to and suddenly find NCHC and UND info. Winning does a ton more for recruiting and donations than being on FCS does.

Please tell me where I can get an FTA system for $20 and an HD FTA system for $30 because if you're paying more than $8 for a ten foot HDMI cable you're getting ripped off.

So Bartels get two reps with the first team and Montana has to continue to prepare for two different QBs. That's a definite possibility.

Of course you'll "leave it at that." You made a statement accusing Mussman of not trying to win games based on his decisions in the past. Yet, when asked for more info you try and dodge the question.

I wasn't watching FCS when it was just one camera but it likely was one of their auxiliary outputs being set to just a single camera instead of the program out feed. I'm going to add that to the list of technical issues related to using the HD truck for the first time.

What was done to the hockey program for the good of the rest of the sports?

I feel bad for Jayson and Schlossman. They already deal with enough crap from idiotic "fans," I can't imagine the incessant whining once the season starts.

And I spoke with a Midco rep who told me they have approached both Directv and Dish about being added. That was six months ago so things may have changed but I agree that would be shortsighted.

So next year either Ryan or Joe will be a fullback

I disagree. Until one guy legitimately separates himself why make a decision? If a QB struggles for half a game or more why not try the other guy to bring a spark? If Joe comes out on fire Saturfay then obviously don't replace him. But if he falters like Ryan did for the 2nd and part of the third then why not? The point is to win the game. If one guy isn't getting it done bring in the other. If a corner is constantly getting burned do you say "oh well" and just let him get lit up til he learns?

Neither are most "UND" fans...

You covered several different topics all of the responsibility for improving those things falls on different people. First, the streaming of the games this weekend is hosted by a different company than what hosts the hockey games. America One Sports hosts WatchBigSky, which includes UND football, basketball and volleyball. I place the blame on America One (formerly b2) for not providing the highest quality feed possible. If the Big Sky Conference hasn't purchased a package which allows for HD streaming, then that is on them. As for the coaches show causing delays, I can tell that Midco has upgraded their production quality. The stream I of the weekly show was streaming at 3,000 kbps and looked like a low level HD show. It was much crisper than shows in the past and even played nicely via wireless on a laptop from 2008. I'd like to think had I taken the effort to plug in an ethernet cable on my newer computer that it would have looked even nicer. Now, I imagine there aren't a lot of people streaming videos at 7:40 on a sunday evening and that there will be thousands of people accessing the stream during gameday. If there are issues with that, then that falls on Neulion the service provider. As with any sports broadcast hosting site like Neulion or America One, the school sends just one feed to the company. The company is then responsible for hosting all of the traffic. Jayson Hadju has assured us that when hockey seasons rolls around there will be adequate resources to stream the video to all of the viewers. Until I see otherwise, I'm going to trust Jayson and UND that they're taking the necessary steps. You're likely never going to be able to watch flash videos on Apple products, just the way Steve Jobs wanted it. I'm dumbfounded why Neulion has not updated their servers to allow for the videos to be converted to a non-flash based format for easy playing on iOs devices. America One broadcasts can be watched on iOs devices so it's confusing why Neulion has not followed suit. Give the NCHC a call regarding your point about the lack of UND hockey broadcasts affecting recruiting. That was the conference's decision not UND's. Bring that issue up with them. On a side note, I live eight hours from the nearest Big 10 team and yet their HD sports package is listed right next to ESPN. So is NBCSN, and the Pac12 network. Having a channel with standard def games on FCS a couple hundred numbers away isn't going to entice a whole lot of athletes. Midco has made the jump to HD and is working to permanently get on a sports tier with Dish and Directv. That never would have been an option with the previous setup. Had FSSN remained the broadcast program instead of Midco we would still have the exact same issues we have now. Except that fewer people would be able to watch the games. And they would all be in SD. I agree with your point about the production quality being pretty bad this year for Midco. It surprises me because they were starting to get things together at the end of last year. A majority of the crew that operates the Midco games also worked for FSSN. Saturday was the first HD game for the crew so I'm guessing the new truck is going to take some getting used to. Fortunately, they will have a couple football games before hockey starts so they can work on the new equipment they're dealing with. If this lackluster quality of coverage continues, I would be concerned if I were UND.

How many people have FTA? How many have FCS? How many NDSU basketball and volleyball games will be aired? I will defend any broadcast system that benefits the University of North Dakota. If FSSN was doing more than three football games a year and reaching the same number of homes and converting to HD like Midco is, I would be all for FSSN. It's actually more beneficial to keep productions in house because then you have editorial control. FSSN was good for a lower level D1 team but what Midco was offering UND was better.

Give Mollberg the start and an unlimited leash in the first half. If he hasn't gotten things going, can't hurt to go with the guy who started games 1 and 2.

So does the Big Sky conference, where a majority of UNDs sports play...

I heard Dean Blais occasionally watches football on TV. Lets hire him!

I get the importance of having seven home games but its like everyone is glossing over who those home games are against. SDSU, Montana, MSU and EWU are all top teams. Montana may be overrated a bit but its still going to be a tough game. I fully expect wins in the two home games vs Sac St and UNC but if we go 1-3 vs these tough teams I will be ok with it. The team doesn't seem to be quite there. They seem like the 4th or 5th best Big Sky team so I expect them to be close but probably lose to teams ranked in the top ten of FCS.

I was surprised yesterday's game was not streamed in HD. That could fall on the shoulders of America One, Midco or the Big Sky Conference if they didn't purchase an HD package with America One. As for the camera work, we do high school games that look better than that. The camera guys bailed on their shots way too quickly. It looked like every camera was caught adjusting which means the director or technical director was struggling. Running a 6+ camera setup is tough but they never seemed to get comfortable as the game went on. That indicates it was probably the first or second game for someone in an upper role.

I just get tired of people having such short memories about how "great" things used to be. I live in Colorado but I do live broadcasts for sporting events, including an FBS school. I don't defend Midco because I have a blind love for them or even any sort of affiliation. I know some of the people on the crew, but they are all freelancers who aren't tied to Midco other than during the broadcasts themselves. I defend Midco because I know more than nearly everybody on this board about TV coverage for college sports. I don't have to live in North Dakota to understand that Midco isn't forcing TV companies to put it on a separate tier. That's just idiotic to believe Midco would force itself into a place where there are fewer viewers. Midco is going to charge what it believes is a fair market price for its channels. Feel free to believe that is why prices are jumping $25 but why isn't that happening at every single cable company in MN/ND/SD? Why are there some markets that don't jack the bill for their customers but there are others that do? If you think it's because of some higher power that Midco holds, you're wrong. UND gets $200,000 per year from Midcontinent to broadcast more games to more people than FSSN. UND also doesn't have to deal with the hassle of running its own productions which takes several full time staff members to do so. UND's exposure in the region (that's more than just North Dakota) has increased in football. UND football is expected to have more games on FCS this year than the last two years of FSSN combined. Both Midco channels and the webcast quality have been upgraded to HD, which means better viewing for a significant number of people in the region and throughout the U.S. That would not have happened in the foreseeable future had FSSN still been in operation. They couldn't afford a $25,000 graphics system that could run a penalty clock. They sure as heck aren't going to upgrade to full HD at close to $400,000 for a renovated truck. I watched the first part of the UND football game online, watched the second quarter on my phone and then caught the second half on FCS. There are very few FCS schools who can offer up the same thing. The deal with CBSSN for hockey sucks for UND. I'm not too happy about it myself but I understand it wasn't UND's decision so I'm not angry at them. It also has nothing to do with Midco. FSSN would have the same restrictions that Midco will. There are 8 teams in the conference, UND is just one of them. Every other team in the conference is getting more exposure. I doubt UND is happy to be giving up their deal with FCS but it is what it is. They'll figure out a way to get the exposure back up. You may believe UND is moving in the wrong direction but you're wrong. I understand you're frustrated that the channels are not affordable in every town in the state. Cable companies can easily add channels to their basic lineup. They just don't want to do it without trying to cover the costs associated with buying that channel themselves. However, the popularity of UND sports means those cable companies try and take advantage of their customers to earn more money. The only way it should be $25 a month is if you're going from the lowest basic tier to the highest HD tier. In which case, the cable company is screwing over the customers who want to watch Midco in HD. A regional HD channel should be on the lowest tier of HD, just like a regional SD channel should be on the lowest (or at least second lowest) tier.

That's not Midco's fault. Unless you're one of the few places that receive the HD FCS channels then there's no way you could have watched the game in HD. The game won't be in HD unless you're watching on the web, on a Midco HD channel or on one of the HD FCS channels.

On that 4th and 1 run, three SDSU linemen were able to trap six UND players from getting to the hole. Their line is pretty dang good and it will be interesting to see if they can play well when they face NDSU's defense.

I took a look at the predictions thread prior to this game. 29 people submitted legitimate predictions. Only 13 people predicted UND to win. The scores of the predictions averaged out to: SDSU 33 UND 28 Final score: 35 - 28. I would say the results were pretty close to the predictions. Yet most people are whining, complaining and calling for Mussman's head. For the people who picked UND to win it was: SDSU 27 UND 34 For the people who picked SDSU: SDSU 37 UND 22

Really? He threw numerous times off his back foot while falling. If he didn't have stud receivers who could go up and get a ball a lot of those would have ended up as interceptions. He played better than Bartels but he wasn't off the charts amazing. He got lucky a number of times.

How many schools have their own in-house production companies to do all of their live sports? How many instead have contacts with regional or conference broadcast entities that do the games? There's a reason there aren't a whole lot of the first one and a dozen of the other. Pick three home games this year and that's all ANYONE wouild have been able to watch if the FSSN was still in operation. What three do you pick? How much whining would be doing if it didn't happen to be one you wanted to watch? NDSU has an agreement with the local NBC affiliates. UND has an agreement with Midco. Guess which one reaches more households?

I agreed with Mussmans handling of the QBs and I don't mind if it continues. Give Mollberg the start and don't think about pulling him til second half. If offense hasn't done much, try Bartels for rest of game.