JackJD

Caught part of the game on Midco. UND looked good. Some have commented in this thread about NDSU expected to win the Summit League. That was/is the pre-season conventional wisdom but not in Brookings. SDSU fans know we have to go through a transition, figuring out some things without Wolters. The guard who will run things is injured so that's causing the transition to slow. But, we are confident that when the conference season comes around, SDSU will put a good team on the floor, one that will improve throughout the season and we hope NDSU has been buying all the pre-season predictions about winning the Summit League ('cuz it ain't gonna happen for our friends in Fargo). SDSU put some nice minutes in last night in a win over Howard -- now, Howard is going to have some struggles because they're very young (something like 10 new guys on the team). As I write this, we're starting to dismantle a decent Lehigh team. SDSU's Cody Larson, the transfer from Florida dominated last night (24pts) and is starting to do that again tonight. SDSU comes to Grand Forks 12/21. We had a rough time up there two years ago, struggled at home against UND last year and from what I saw the other night, it probably won't be a pleasant trip this year.

It is named the "Sanford-Jackrabbit Athletic Complex" and Sanford contributed $10 million to the $32+ cost. The money's in the bank and we're building now.

Sheesh. Leave the Jacks out of the meltdown! Recruiting to SDSU has become relatively easy since the move to D1 and there are a number of reasons for that and facilities is one of the minor factors -- or, from your point of view, apparently not a factor at all. If that is the case, then take your facilities out of the equation and ask that question again: Why is SDSU getting the athletes? By the way, SDSU's facilities are not as bad as you suggest. Sure, the outdoor football stadium has reached the end of its useful life. But, it will be replaced in just a few years with a 22,000-seat facility that will surpass every FCS stadium in this part of the country (isn't that the way it is with facilities...its like playing leapfrog with your competitors, everyone taking a turn having the best). And it will remain an outdoor facility which I think most fans prefer for all but maybe one game every five years. The Dykhouse Student-Athlete Center located at the north end of the football stadium opened in 2010. It is an outstanding facility. Construction is now underway for the indoor practice facility that will include a 100-yard turf, 300m track etc. It is scheduled to open by the start of school in the fall of next year, 2014.

I'm checking out. Gotta scream at the TV.

This game is bugging me...UND is going to score again.

Eagan, MN kid. Was a stud running back his junior year and then his team's quarterback was injured his senior year so his coached asked him to play QB -- which he did well. But, he just didn't get on the radar of a lot of schools. We spotted him his junior year and went after him. I think he visited a Gopher game but the Gophers didn't go after him (they've since said they missed a good one...Pat Ruesse in the StarTribute has chided the Gophers coaches a couple of times on how they missed Zenner in football and Nate Wolters in basketball).

Crap...I have about that many posts (but have been signed up on this board for many years)...guess I'll check out. Good luck the rest of the season.

Zenner wants to be an orthopedic surgeon. He's a top student. He's the kind of guy that if he lived next door to you, tomorrow he'd be playing football in your backyard with your seven-year old kid (and the seven-year old would win).

You'll see Stig pull Zenner and go with Gandy. Different style but can be effective. Gandy just hasn't had much playing time.

I like Hardin.

I think that's accurate...I know it he didn't hit 50 yards in either of the games against NDSU last season. We just have to figure out how to adjust when NDSU devotes a lot of its resources to covering Zenner....that's an opportunity.

Zenner's fourth 200+ yard game in his career.

So, Lakesbison is on this message board using gfhockey as an alias?

You're watching a typical Stig-coached team in terms of demeanor: note there's next to no celebrating by SDSU. See Zenner just hand the ball to the refs when he finishes a run. Lunch-bucket guys is a pretty accurate term.

Crowd shot of early in the first half indicated a lot of seats available...may have been in the student section. In any event, I had a conflict that didn't get resolved until late in the week so when I decided to drive up, I check on ticket availability with Ticketmaster (those bastards)...looked like nothing much was available so the wife and I decided to not drive up and just watch it on TV. What is the attendance?

Isn't Hammer a UND guy? The color commentator is a former UND player...I thought they were a crew associated with UND and not Midco. Regular Midco guys would include Tom Niemann (SDSU guy).

SDSU 28, UND 10

I think the feeling is mutual. UND didn't have to show much against Valpo and we didn't have to show much against Butler. We have another wide receiver to add to the mix. He's a JC transfer who had some issue with the Clearinghouse so he did not play against Butler. The issue has been resolved and we expect to see him get some snaps at UND. Another 6-4 or 6-5 guy with decent speed and good hands -- was an award winner for Omaha North in high school. An objective viewer -- someone who's not a fan of either school -- will likely enjoy this game. Of course, I'm going with the 'Rabbits for the win but I don't think it will be lopsided.

From KELO-TV (Sioux Falls) this evening (9/5/13), a clip on SDSU at UND. The video starts with about a 10-second ad and then the sports show opens with the SDSU at UND game. A few comments from Coach Stig are included. I'm confident SDSU's team will be prepared for a battle. http://www.keloland....le=130905sports

That's a pretty accurate observation. In many games, Zenner gets loose and goes for a long ramble. Here's some video from the opening minutes of SDSU at Kansas last year...Zenner takes the ball in the endzone and goes the distance, chased by a Kansas defensive back who is supposed to have great speed. No one is certain whether this year's version of the Jackrabbits will run more or pass more. Recent history indicates we'll lean on the run more but we have a deep stable of very capable receivers of all sizes and you're going to see a lot of passing. I'm still undecided about whether to drive up from Watertown, SD...pretty easy trip for me.

SDSU had 22 first downs and Butler had 17. Four of Butler's first downs, however, were gifts from SDSU -- penalties. Penalties were the one real disappointment in the game. SDSU had 10 penalties for 103 yards. Butler had two penalties. We badly need to clean up that stat.

The Jacks played 66 players in the Butler game. For a significant part of the second half, nearly everyone on the field was a freshman or sophomore. Our offensive line average weight is 307…”smallest” guy is 295. It’s hard to measure the strength of the offensive line based on the Butler game but I think they’ll play well against even the best defense. The offensive line protected Sumner all day long and he had lots of time to pick his targets. (We know that won’t happen at Grand Forks…but, it was a good tuneup and nobody got hurt.) We had eight receivers catch passes. Sumner was 22 of 32 for 326 yards passing including three TDs, a couple of which zipped through some tight defense…. the zip is back on his passes following thumb surgery after last season. The backup QB got a lot of playing time and that was great to see. He was 3 of 3 passing for 33 yards including a TD. As noted, eight receivers caught passes. #83 Schneider was the primary target in this game with 10 receptions for 167 yards. He’s an experienced junior and is a typical SDSU tight end of recent years (pro’s have liked them), 6-5, decent speed, capable blocker, great hands, agile. But, in most games Schneider may not be the primary receiver. Zach Zenner had a relatively light day. He had 16 carries for 117 yards. I thought the middle of the Butler defense stiffened up nicely early in the game. Later, our backup, Gandy, had some nice runs through the middle but the Butler guys had to be wearing down.

In 2004, NDSU beat Valpo 52-0 in Fargo. (That season, SDSU beat NDSU in Brookings.) In 2005, SDSU beat Valpo 69-6 in Brookings (and NDSU beat SDSU in Fargo). After the SDSU game, the Valpo coach said he would never again schedule a scholarship team. I think he lasted just one or two seasons after that. I remember when Valpo came out on the field before the 2005 game in Brookings. They looked big, stocky, well proportioned. And then the Jackrabbits came on to the field and one could observe the Valpo players side-by-side with the SDSU players: The average size difference was remarkable...it seemed like an average of two inches in height difference along with a comparable difference in muscle and weight. Valpo's guy were just proportionally smaller. The NDSU and SDSU games vs Valpo were a long time ago and I think not much can be learned from those games.

Knew that-- just ran out of one "I". We won't forget that miserable game

Some of you have missed or are ignoring the obvious: John Stiegelmeier's Jackrabbits are humble -- sometimes to a fault. I can't think of a Jackrabbit football team under Stiegelmeier looking beyond, overlooking, or underestimating an opponent. (Some of our fans wish our guys displayed some swagger but they don't and won't. E.g. Go to the game and watch Zenner. If he breaks one and goes the distance, he'll calmly hand the ball to the ref and trot off the field--all in a day's work.) The only game in recent memory that may have appeared to show we overlooked a team, was the season opener in 2006. The Jacks hosted DIII UW-Lacrosse and completely blew it. But I think we just played poorly and UW-L had a plan and stuck with it. The next two games that year proved the SDSU team had some sort of problem: a 0-3 start. Then the Jacks got on track and won seven in a row (and ended the season with a loss at NDSU). I recognize your comments are more expressions of 'hope' that SDSU will travel to Grand Forks with the wrong attitude but I don't think that will happen. The Jackrabbits have a long memory and know well the tradition of UND football. We'll be favored but the Jackrabbit team won't look at it that way and I'm sure UND's team won't look at it that way either. I'm thinking about driving up for the game...I can get to Grand Forks in about three hours but I haven't been to an SDSU v. UND game since the Memorial Stadium days when I was in college.