mizzou/sioux

I also think we have to consider what Faison has done for us as a whole in all sports. When you start tallying it all up I think you'll have to consider it a job well done, perhaps excluding football. Yes, I understand football is the veritable front porch at most schools and perhaps right after hockey at UND. But I think we have to consider there are quite a few outstanding football programs in the Big Sky, the Montana schools, Eastern Washington and Northern Arizona among them. I realize as the saying goes that close only counts in horseshoes. But not so long ago we hung in there pretty well against teams such as Northern Illinois (see where they are today), Fresno State (see where they are today) and San Diego State among others. Give Faison a break.

Trivia question here: We know that Nebraska had its 16-game winning streak over the Gophers snapped the other day. But, which school at this point owns the margin in the overall series between the schools? Ans: With Saturday's 34-23 victory the Gophers now lead the series 30 wins to 22 losses and 2 ties.

Sports is uinquestionably cyclical. It is most interesting to note that the Minnesota Gophers finally broke their 16-game losing streak to Nebraska. Yet, Nebraska, with one of the most solid and glorious football histories throughout time in the United States, had its own low moments, after establishing a powerful program that had a good deal of success prior to the U.S. involvement in World War II. During the period from 1942 through 1961, the Huskers were only 68-120-4, according to stats provided by Wikipedia. Then along came Bob Devaney and Tom Osborne and we know the rest. It takes time sometimes to become a good head coach after having been a coaching assistant. As has already been pointed out, Lennon took many of his assistants along with him. This is not intended as a knock on Lennon. Then, the SUs moved up and were able to gain a monumental recruiting advantage over us. In small ways we are making progress. Our defense appears to be improving. However, one can't fault the defense for making Portland State score as such on a short field. Yes, Devaney was able to turn things around at Nebraska the first year he arrived there. Kudos to him. Apparently the surprising win over an established national FCS contender (Montana) just a year later doesn't hold much water at all.

Looks like the UND volleyball team is having a terrific season. Always good to beat the Montana teams. Keep up the great work.

If my math is correct, Warmath's head coaching record after eight years as a head coach (two at Mississippi State and six at Minnesota, was only 33-35-3. Oh, the irony of it all. Any similarities visible. Just wondering.

Excuse my error in inserting the Murray Warmath story improperly in und 92,96 response. But Warmath had some tough days for a while as coach of the Gophers before going on to success, and he was in his early 40s when hired by Minnesota.

For what it's worth, it might also be argued that Pat Behrns wasn't quite ready to lead the Sioux as head coach when he was at UND as well. However, after moving to Nebraska-Omaha his coaching record improved immeasurably, including beating his old team on a number of painful occasions (to Sioux fans, at least). I think there are a lot of variables at work here. Hindsight, which can be awfully close to 20/20 at times, now tells us we probably should have moved up to D-I when NDSU and SDSU both did. However, correct me if I'm wrong, but I think it was in that same time frame that we were in the process of establishing Division I women's hockey. That was an expensive proposition. Money is a factor, however one chooses to look at it. NDSU and SDSU were able to establish a powerful initial recruiting advantage in football, which is still there. It's easy to sit back as a Monday morning quarterback and say, well, you should have done this, you should have done that. In reality, life throws us a number of curves. Am I wrong, that it wasn't all that long ago when a certain portion of Bisonville was ready willing and able to throw Bohl under the bus. Now look. Well, enough for now.

Ladies are off to a great start in conference play. We should know more after the Idaho State contest.

Right now NDSU football is flying high. Under the present circumstances it's true that NDSU doesn't need UND in football, but NDSU may need UND in selected other sports. I'm quite content at this point to let the football ride. Since there are cycles to almost everything, it would be most interesting if some day in the not-to-distant future if the shoe might be on the other foot. Even Nebraska with its proud and stirring football history had some "dead" years before the Huskers hired Bob Devaney to restore life into the program. When Devaney was introdued as coach wasn't there a rallying cry something to the effect of, "Get off your fanny and help Bob Devaney"?

While I sense in a way that you just might be pulling my leg, Jerry Olson was head coach for UND in the 1971 upset of NDSU. Meanwhile, Al Onofrio (who died in 2004, I believe) was the head coach at Mizzou in the 1972 upset of Notre Dame at South Bend. Onofrio's predecessor at Mizzou, Dan Devine, a Wisconsin native, grew up along Minnesota's North Shore and is a graduate of the University of Minnesota-Duluth and is a member of the College Football Hall of Fame.. Devine coached the 1960 Missouri eleven almost to a national championship. Mizzou's sole loss that year was to Kansas. However, Kansas used some ineligible players in that regular season finale and had to forfeit the game. After the forfeit Mizzou wound up with a perfect season after defeating Navy in the Orange Bowl. The 1960 national champion turned out to be the Minnesota Gophers, who lost only to Purdue 23-14 in the regular season and to Washington 17-7 in the 1961 Rose Bowl. At that time the pollsters determined the nationa champion before the bowl games; hence, the Gophers won the national championship with two losses.

Bear Bryant and Kentucky head basketball coach Adolph Rupp happened to be at Kentucky at the same time along about 1950 or so. It appears that there wasn't enough room on campus for both Rupp and Bryant, so Bryant wound up going elsewhere. Wonder what might have happened to Kentucky football had Bryant stayed.

If you're really looking for the worst football loss (scorewise) in UND football history, it's Bear Bryant-coached Kentucky 83, UND 0 way back when. Seems the "Bear" liked to pour it on.

In 1969 NDSU defeated UND 64-14 at old Dacotah Field. However, a scarce two years later in the rain and mud (also at Dacotah Field), UND snapped a number of long streaks (including unbeaten and untied streaks for NDSU, conference and otherwise) to gain a measure of revenge with a 23-7 Sioux victory. To be fair about it, NDSU was playing without its injured first-string quarterback which undoubtedly played a role in its defeat. UND went on to capture the North Central Conference championship that year. So, don't lose hope, Sioux fans. Here's another one: Back in 1972 or so, Missouri was coming off a 62-0 blasting by highly-ranked Nebraska. It's next opponent was Notre Dame. What happened? Mizzou upset Notre Dame 30-26 in a game regarded by many as the greatest comeback win in Missouri football history. It was certainly a dramatic turnaround..

Correct me if I'm wrong, but it seems to me it wasn't all that long ago when NDSU had what was for them a horrible season (3-8 sound right?) and Bison fans were ready to throw Bohl and Vigen under the bus. Now some of these same fans are ready to order busts of said same to rise up out of the ground by the Fargodome. What happened? Well, we all know what happened. Let's not be hasty.

The UND gals rallied to pull out a 3-2 win over Florida A&M University at New Orleans tournament this morning.

For anyone interested, UND volleyball team tied with Alabama-Birmingham 13-13 in first set of Middle Tennessee tournament. Can be watched for free on Middle Tennessee athletic website.

In spite of some fan criticism at both NDSU and at SDSU, the schools stuck with both Stig and Bohl. Now look at them. Let's not be hasty. I also agree that how one comes out on sound bites has very little to do with how good a coach is.

I'd have to say both Fargo and Grand Forks are in pretty good company by looking at the list of college towns cited in the AIER survey. Having lived in both Grand Forks and Fargo, my reaction is that it's pretty much six of one and half a dozen of the other. Being larger, Fargo has more options in certain areas, but out here on the Plains we are used to driving two or three hours to satisfy some of those options. Years ago I drove right past NDSU on the way to Grand Forks because at least in part none of the Fargo-Moorhead colleges and/or universities had the major I was looking for. UND did, and I'm most grateful for it. UND prepared me very well for graduate school at another Midwestern university. Again, I am most grateful. I am not going to knock NDSU. Several members of my family have attended and graduated from NDSU. All in all, the high school academic backgrounds of students enrolling at North Dakota's two pre-eminent universities, I believe, is so close that there is virtually no difference. Since the student body itself is perhaps the largest determining factor in how good an education one gets at any given school, I think one can be proud of both universities equally. Statistically, I can't see any one of the schools having overall bragging rights. They're both outstanding universities and will likely continue to be so. I do think, however, UND has a slightly better overall college atmosphere for what it's worth. That, too, is probably negligible.

Contact Prairie Public TV for a copy of the DVD.

I'm not certain it's available on DVD, but there was a VHS video made by NFL Films mentioned above.

Let me be among those welcoming you to the board. The only previous football game UND played against a Pac-12 school was way back in 1931 when the Oregon Ducks en route to New York City for a game with NYU, I believe, stopped off in Grand Forks to play UND. The end result? A 0-0 tie.

Thanks for providing additional details on that game. I didn't realize Oregon was ranked that highly that season. I can understand why your Dad felt the '31 team was the best ever. Thanks again for sharing.

Many moons ago (along about 1930 or so) UND's football team did play Oregon Ducks tough. In a game played at UND's Memorial Stadium it was UND 0, Oregon 0. If I'm not mistaken I think it was the Memorial Stadium dedication game.

In my opinion it's not a dumb question. I'd like to know the answer myself. I believe the Summit has an automatic qualifier, but I don't know about the Great West.