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Surpised by the win honestly, but I'll sure take it. Really impressed with the effort for 2.5 periods. Power play was ugly - hopefully we get those bugs worked out soon.

We will win. That's it.

Agreed. I hate to say it, but I see our youth and inexperience getting exposed by Miami's high powered offense, and our offense not up to the task of picking up the slack. I predict 3 points or less on the weekend.

Lots of pre-season excitement in my house too. Tons. Hell, we were even excited about the comeback against SDSU. Now - not so much.

Yes - I believe they do.

EWU 45-17 Attendance by quarter: 1st = 8500 2nd = 7800 3rd = 3900 4th = 2500 - other prognostication models suggest 103. Lots of thoughts - lots of concerns. I plan on drinking for medicinal purposes.

That sounds terribly harsh. (yes, the truth sometimes hurts - especially painful this year) I'm playing my heart too. Please guys, get a frickin win this weekend. P.S. Quit the sideline sideshow, and get into the game - you may like the results.

yep - good point.

A good first step would be to look at a list of former UND coaches, then look at a list of former UND players. Whittle your final decision down from there. Or........ we COULD look outside of our walls for a change........... I'm beginning to think Kotelnicki was promoted by Muss purely so that a fresh DC from outside of the program wouldn't threaten his job. Call me crazy.

That question came up on Saturday - anybody know why he isn't around this year? I understood it to be a volunteer position, so maybe he is tired of volunteering? Regardless - he was one to help to "regain focus" on many occasions....

I've watched a lot of (almost ALL of the) home football games from the front row in the Alerus center, and that gives me a great opportunity to see what goes on behind the scenes during the game. What have I seen the past couple of years?... a lot of the crap being brought up here. Goofing off, laughing and chuckling, and a general I don't give a crap attitude by MANY of the players along the sideline. Maybe I'm just another booster taking the game too seriously. Or MAYBE, there is a lack of discipline and focus with this team. Shouldn't the team be more in-tune with the game than ANY spectator in the building? Maybe I've completely lost it and senility is setting in, but there was a time when the East sideline at the Alerus center was almost stoic. All players were focused on the play at hand, and were completely intense. And if they WERE f*****g off - there was someone in khakis immediately in their face getting the focus back. That time has come and has most certainly gone - and the discipline on the field shows it. I put this 100% on the coaching staff. PATHETIC!!!! I don't care what happened to Miller after the play. He needlessly cost us 15 yards with a stupid undisciplined action. And then he not only immediately returns to play, but gets a carry on the next play? A coach demanding discipline and accountability would've ripped him apart, and then sat his ass (see khaki reference above). I wasn't the only one with a puzzled look on my face when he got the next carry - I just don't get it. Anyway - should we be surprised at the number of penalties we get during a game? Of course not. If they keep it up, we should be looking at a home crowd of around 6K by the end of the season. I think I'll drink more at tailgating in the coming weeks - for medicinal purposes only. My general thoughts on the whole game: (insert completely frickin' embarrassed emoticon here)

You could always just leave her arse at home......

I would love nothing more - but I think he's on something a little stronger than Kool-aid.....

I see - that DOES explain the context a little bit - thank you.

I was reading this quote yesterday... Can someone explain to me why it was ill-advised? Best receiver in FCS in one-on-one coverage, and you need to score - I thought it was great. Seriously, there must be more x and o stuff that I don't know... why shouldn't he take that shot down field?

Watching the Valpo game, I kept thinking that if their qb had any accuracy they would've been on the move consistently. Lots of balls thrown in the dirt (err - rubber pellets), and out of the reach of open receivers. Accordingly, I'm scared to death of what might happen on Saturday to our defense. I'll take some solice in what a few have posted regarding "showing our defensive playbook unnessesarily"... hopefully we have some tricks up our sleeves to answer their experienced offense. I want a win, I expect a close game, but will not bet my first-born on either. (nor my second born. my wife maybe..... )

Jail the bison Jail the bison Jail the biiiison down in Cass Craig's resuming Rocky's excusing Jail the biiiison down in Cass

Good point - as we are trying to re-define our defense and have a young QB at the helm offensively, this team has to produce big results early and quickly if playoffs are going to be a reality. Will it happen?.. heart says yes - head says no. Flip a coin.

I remember thinking a playoff run was a possibility at this time last year, only to have my hopes dashed by an ugly defensive effort pretty much all season long. But here I am again, in the middle of August, thinking that playoffs are a possibility. Perhaps I shouldn't wear my green glasses indoors, but I'm excited to see the first game - more excited than last year, actually. I really believe that success will put butts in the seats - hopefully the boys can meet the challenge.

When Chelsea Dagger plays, it makes darn near every person in the building stand up, cheer, sing, wave their arms, and celebrate the goal. I don't care if we are ripping off the Blackhawks or not. (IIRC, nobody cared that our beloved sweater logo was ripped off from the Blackhawks for almost three decades) The song works, so let's change it up with something else? Sorry, I'm not convinced.............

Maybe they were concerned about the deep ball, but I don't know how many times our field position was absolutely destroyed by the 5-10 yard pass. If they were preventing a long threat, we sure gave up a TON of short pass yardage. Maybe the stats don't show it, but it sure seemed that way. I hope to see less cushion this year. (until we start getting burned for passes of 60+... then I'll respectfully recant )

Bison06 might be on to something here - if I'm NDSU, I'd be excessively pissed that Beck is putting himself and NDSU in this spotlight yet again.... I guess I'd send a message to him if it were up to me. Especially given the fiasco last year with petition-gate.

I'll bite - if he plays all games without suspension after getting his second resisting arrest conviction, I would say that is NOT fine, and would suggest he got off too easy. It would be the same as if one of my employees made the papers multiple times with their illegal shenanigans and the company name was mentioned every time. That is a bad representation of the company, directly affects image and ultimately profitability. There would definitely have to be consequences in order for my company to save face. If I'm NDSU, I wouldn't be happy that this outstanding athlete is putting us in this bad media spot yet again. I would expect some sort of suspension for any type of conviction. If nothing happens, I'll enjoy "Beck-gate" as much as last year's "Petition-gate" and "Wardrobe malcunction at West Acres-gate". It really never gets old.

I agree with pretty much your entire post. I'm tired of "waiting for the talent" to arrive to have a successful season. That's just BS. I'm not a tremendous Mussman fan - not a real secret - so maybe I'm unjustifiably looking for more accountability from him. Regardless, we changed up the DC after a pitiful defensive showing last season (even though we hired from within once again ) so maybe that accountibility with the coaches is starting to emerge.

Hope so. I still think the photo of the players carrying a garbage can full of snow makes us look stupid.