Bison06

Based on what? What defines it to be easy? A program like Montana dominated for many years and is in a huge slump. Why? Only one team can win a championship and it takes a lot of things coming together at the right time. To say it is the easiest is just you trying to win an argument by using the weak argument that it is your opinion.

How many programs would be happy to have a championship slump of 21 years? People throw around championships like they are easy to attain. UND hockey is the gold standard of the NCAA hockey world in my mind and hasn't won a chmapionship in 15 years. Montana is considered the best PROGRAM at the FCS level outside of maybe NDSU, and they haven't reached the pinnacle of success in 15 years. They aren't easy to come by, people forget that, NDSU fans included.

An 11 game regular season nearly always produces a 7 win at large team.

As a note, I really am hoping for Carson's sake this is not a serious injury. I wish him a full recovery and hope his draft stock doesn't drop too far. Chances are this will have an effect, to what degree, we'll have to see how it plays out.

Out 8-10 weeks is what I've heard. Let the Easton Stick era begin!

So since you didn't answer my question I can only assume your saying FCS football is a lower level of football than FBS? Great, I Agree, OSU would take NDSU to the woodshed. What that has to do with NDSU's away playoff record is what I'm curious about.

At the risk of repeating myself, what point are you attempting to make? NDSU is the division I FCS national champion. OSU is the college playoff champion, who is disputing that? This discussion is about ndsu's ability to win games on the road.

What point are you attempting to make? That NDSU wasn't as good as the 4 in a row make them out to be because they earned the right to play their games at home?

I hope you understand how odd your logic is. If NDSU was on the road during those games, that would mean they wouldn't have had as dominant as a regular season as they did. Which means they probably wouldn't have been as good. So in the real world, if NDSU is on the road during those games(because of what would have lead to those games being on the road) NDSU likely would not have been national champions. But, if you want to play in the magical world of make believe, had those same exact two teams with their same records played those game in the other team's stadium, I still believe NDSU was the better team in all of those games except for maybe one.(2012 Semifinal against Georgia Southern) Even then, you have no idea how the home field "advantage" played into the outcome. Maybe GSU was feeding off the atmosphere being so against them, who knows, we can't re-write history. The point is darell, the only data we have in the last 4 years for NDSU on the road is in the regular season and they have been absolutely dominant on the road. People can say playoff football is different if they want to, but the fact remains that they are still play the same game they played in the regular season.

So because NDSU has been so dominant in the last 4 years that they've earned the right to play all of their playoff games at home, you are able to extrapolate that out to NDSU must not be very good on the road? Additionally, you bring up a game from 5 years ago that took the eventual national champion to the wire? Makes sense. If you want to use more sound logic you may consider the part of the story that says NDSU has a better road record than they do at home in the last 4 years. Enjoy NDSU's losses while you can.

Make light if you must, but I think he's absolutely correct. There are teams that you would just not want to see on your schedule in a win or go home scenario, NDSU fits the bill. I would say the same thing about any team who has accomplished what NDSU has these last 4 years. Montana used to have that aura surrounding their program and to a certain extent still does. A great program is still very dangerous in a down year, NDSU is no exception in their down years. They have a team full of guys that have more playoff and championship experience than any team in the field, they know how to win and will be dangerous come November and December even if they have to eek into the playoffs by the skin of their teeth, assuming they can even do that given their performance against USD.

Obviously, what was inherited was quite different. But, I think it's fair to bring up that NDSU's staff is in their second year together also.

Just because it makes you so happy, I think I'll stay.

No thanks, I'll just continue to call you out when you make idiotic comments.

Also, the whole NDSU without the D thing you like to post? As a UND fan, you might want to move past that after today.

Yeah, beating someone on the last play of the game and having 1 first down going into the 4th quarter are the same. Just stop.

What would be the point of replacing the QB at this point? It's obvious they want him to be the guy in the future, pulling him will only put doubt in his mind.

Have actually been pretty impressed with UND's defense. For the offense to be this anemic and for NDSU to only have 27 is actually pretty good. Not meant to be patronizing at all. This could easily be much worse if UND's defense wasn't as stout. Some damn good players on that defense.

Leading up to this weekend, I didn't know how this would all play out in terms of trash talk and fans going back and forth at each others throats. There was a time 5-6 years ago when I was happy that this game was no longer played. I thought the vitriol had reached critical mass and there was no going back from it. I had a level of disgust, sadly, for anything and everything UND related and at times even found myself cheering against UND more than I cheered for NDSU(A younger man's maturity level, I suppose) As I've gotten older and moved away from North Dakota, I have developed a level of respect for my home state that I think I always had, but needed to move away for it to be realized. And it's been surprising to find that the respect I've learned about extends to UND as well. I find myself so excited for this game to happen, but not in the way I thought I would be. I thought it would be so NDSU could "prove how superior they have become", but my excitement comes from a more altruistic place. I am excited this game is being played because of what it represents to the state. Once a year everyone in the state is glued to their TV's watching two great Universities battling it out for a year's worth of bragging rights. Win or lose tomorrow for my favorite squad, I'm sincerely happy this game is being played and hope that the fans in the stands are respectful of our opponent and enjoy this historic day.

I expect UND to bring a steady dose of pressure to force bad decisions by wentz. Whether you bring pressure or drop into coverage, there really is no fool proof way to attack a player like wentz, who can beat you through the air and on the ground. If he is on his game he is a very difficult player to beat. That said, wentz has shown the propensity to press a bit when he is off and that has lead to some costly mistakes, fumbles, interceptions etc. It will be interesting to see how well the NDSU o-line is able to protect Carson from UND's confusing style of attacking offenses at times.

Not trolling or trash talk. Looking for legitimate discussion. Since it's been brought up how NDSU fans might react to UND winning the matchup. I'm curious how UND fans would respond to the opposite. What would you all think about the state of the program if NDSU wins in a blowout.

I think this is the most plausible scenario. I would likely make the same decision if I were in the coach's shoes. If you have 3 QB's and none of them are far and away better than the other, you go with the guy who is the youngest in my mind. Especially in a year where UND is expected to be improved, but is maybe a year or two away from making big noise. When a coaching staff comes in, it takes 2-3 solid recruiting classes to really get "your guys" into the system to execute your stuff. Because of that, I would imagine Bubba and co believe that next year or the year after is the year they want to identify as the year the program really takes off. With that in mind, they can either play a Junior this year/Senior next year and run the risk of having a brand new starting QB the year they have identified as "the year" ie the 2017 campaign. Or they can go with a young guy this year and have a 3 year starter at the helm during the 2017 campaign. I think it's a really smart decision to go with the young guy if the other guys aren't vastly superior, in this scenario.

While I may agree with the assessment of the lack of "freak" athletes at the WR position, both Urzendowski and Vraa or more athletic than most think and frequently find themselves behind the secondary for explosive gains. They are definitely capable of beating corners and safeties deep, especially Vraa.

I honestly think Bohl is going to have his team prepped pretty well in his second season. They've had some time to weed out the guys who don't buy in and to instill the discipline necessary to run his schemes well. I expect Wyoming to be very much improved and a much better representation of a Bohl coached team. I expect the score of this game to be closer than the actual game will feel at this point. Maybe like a 27-14 with Wyoming controlling the game from start to finish. Maybe UND will prove me wrong, but I believe that's how it'll play out at this point.

Any NDSU fan that has any knowledge of football knows a game against UND will likely be a test. Not only is the scheme UND runs on defense a scheme that typically gives NDSU trouble, it's a rivalry game. I would expect NDSU to be able to handle the nerves of a big game better than UND given their experience, but you never know. If UND beats Wyoming or even keeps it close, many of those "overconfident" NDSU fans will even start to see that UND may provide a tough game.