Bison06

I didn’t really see that as a controversial statement, especially to a poster like you who has been extremely vocal and critical of your unhappiness with the direction of the team. If a team has one playoff apprearance and zero playoff wins in their time in a division, in my opinion that team hasn’t been relevant on the national scene. It’s not a personal comment about UND.

I’m just speculating. There are about a dozen scenarios I can think of that are far more likely than NDSU offered a scholarship to a guy that, in your scenario, wasn’t scholarship worthy in your mind, but upgraded him to a scholarship guy because UND offered him. What does that accomplish for NDSU? It’s contradictory. He’s either so damn good that NDSU doesn’t want him playing for anybody else in which case he would have originally been a scholarship guy. Or, he was the next guy on the list they wanted to offer, but had other players or scenarios they liked slightly better and were willing to let him go if another school offers him a scholarship. Hence the PWO. Something had to have changed their mind and it just doesn’t seem very likely that the thing that would change their mind is the fear of having to play against a guy they didn’t think was originally good enough to be a scholly QB in this class.

So NDSU's motive in your scenario is to take up a scholarship with a guy they didn't have rated as a scholarship guy simply to ensure that he doesn't end up at a school that hasn't been (with respect) relevant on the national scene since their move up to FCS? Isn't it more likely they know something you don't? Maybe one of their current scholly QB's let them know he was transferring?(pure speculation)

Or...a guy that NDSU had rated higher decided to turn down the scholarship offer and this guy was next on the list. Not everything is complicated.

I’ve got the morning to myself to figure out all of the world’s problems right here with all of you.

That’s why I’m a fan and they are the coaches. I’m sure they are on it and have the necessary recruits and development in place to keep the machine churning.

Really? Grammar police man? Smh I’m typing on my phone.

Maybe at UND you always worry about the oline , kidding of course. I haven’t worried about NDSU’s o line in 15 years, they haven’t proven me wrong yet. I’ll give them the benefit of the doubt until they give me reason to worry.

Looking back at Wilson’s recruiting he definitely has the track background and accolades to suggest the speed is there. We’ll see how that translates to his college body this spring and fall. With any back that doesn’t get a ton of carries, thinking too much can lead to indecisiveness which can make them look slower than they might be. Who knows if that’s the case with these young guys or not.

I haven’t been overly impressed with Saybein Clark just yet, but it’s difficult when you don’t get a ton of carries. I really like Wilson, he has good instincts as a runner and is excellent as a receiver out of the backfield. I haven’t seen enough from Cofield to get an opinion one way or another and your right on Brooks, great change of pace guy, but not sure his body would hold up if he was an every down back. My guess is they continue to running back by committee with Wilson being seen as “the guy”. Not sure what sort of speed he has, but he seemed to do a nice job last year when he got opportunities. By last year, I mean two years ago I suppose, 2017. Definitely an area I’ll be keeping a close eye on in spring ball.

Fair points, But for the story to be complete and to truly see which situation is better off you would need more information. 1. How good were the people they were replacing? 2. What has recruiting looked like the 2-3 years before this. 3. Culture of the team Sure, there are question marks, but this is college football. You only get four years with each guy playing. So your ability to recruit and develop is central to your success. You can’t have a Tom Brady starting for you for two decades. NDSU has proven they can recruit and develop players as good if not better than anyone in the nation. People can worry about other positions if they like, but I wouldn’t worry about the O-line.

Fair enough. Hard to tell who is "trolling" and who is making actual predictions I suppose when it's just words on a screen.

Did you think that Klieman was an upgrade in head coach at the time? As a likeable guy, I think many would agree, but to say he was an upgrade when he took the position seems like 20/20 vision in retrospect. Klieman at the time had only been a head coach for one season at a Divison III school and they went 3-7. Not exactly a track record that screams upgrade from a guy who had just won three national championships as a head coach and finished what many consider to be the most successful transition from DII to I-AA/I-FCS ever.

Have you not read through the thread that got shut down? That's all that was being discussed for about two days on there. Regardless, many, not all of UND fans are predicting NDSU will take major step back under the new leadership and new players.

I find it interesting that regardless of what I say, many people’s first instinct here is to be adversarial. I haven’t said anything controversial or degrading in any way to UND. How about joining in the conversation instead of picking out the one small part of my post that you want to disagree with me about since I have Bison in my name.

You seem to be in the minority on this board by saying that the drop off next year will be minor. Winning a national championship requires many things, one of which is things to fall a little bit your way. If you look back at NDSU’s run here, there were many games that NDSU could have easily lost if things didn’t go just right. Georgia Southern and SDSU come to mind. Because of that, I won’t consider NDSU to have taken a step back unless two things happen. They start losing more than one game to FCS opponents in the regular season and they don’t make it past the quarterfinals. A semifinal loss or a championship game loss to me is consistent with the level of play they’ve had in recent years, depending on how they lose the game of course(close game vs blowout)

So you're predicting a dropoff or no?

Many on this board when referencing the coaching changeover and many seniors graduating. We've both read plenty of those comments here.

I suppose it's the same logic that has UND fans saying that UND will compete regularly with NDSU and for national titles because it happened in the past. None of know how next year will play out, but in my opinion, it is far more likely that NDSU will continue to compete for a Top 5 spot nationally, than it is that they will fall out of the Top 25. I guess we'll see.

I completely understand why you’d take this approach, it’s gotta be frustrating to know there is a school following the exact guidelines your school follows yet gets such superior results. Its much more comforting to chalk it up as everyone on their team is cheaters and everyone on your team is 4.0 students who are in bed by 8 pm after they’ve had their warm milk.

What makes you think that NDSU doesn’t have the Rams to reload like they always do? They haven’t stopped recruiting the position and it’s been the strength of the team every year since the 80’s basically. At one point every single star NDSU has ever had on the O line was unproven. I expect the O line to continue to be the strength of the team given the team’s commitment to recruiting and developing those five positions specifically.

Sincerely, you seem to be pretty knowledgeable about football. Out of curiosity, what is your opinion about this change of regime at NDSU and why you feel it is going to be more challenging than the 2013/2014 regime change? To me, it could go either way, as any coaching and QB change can, but I’m just curious if it’s something specific you’re seeing that suggests this changeover won’t go as smooth as the last one.

Does the NCAA have disclosure mandates similar to the NFL? Not sure if the NFL’s mandates are specifically written as gambling mandates, but we all know why they have such strict policies on reporting their injury reports.

This is the first honest answer about the true motives of this feigned outrage I’ve seen yet. I appreciate your honesty.

I understand why you’d feel that way, my logic does tend to cater to the more intelligent posters here.