jdub27

He gets his marching orders and direction directly from the top. He's not making significant decisions, which I would very much venture to guess include extending and/or firing coaches, without at least running it by his boss. This defending what decisions have been made and there is definitely a portion of those decisions related to off-field performance as well as on-field performance. The former is in a very good spot. The latter is not up to the standards that I assume anyone is expecting. He also doesn't have an open checkbook to make knee-jerk decisions that cost mid-6 to 7 figures. Not arguing with the current frustration. It is justified. However there are realities in how it can be dealt with.

University President's are the ones who are involved in these major decisions, not athletic directors. I would argue you aren't paying attention all that well if you don't think that the President and his second in charge aren't huge proponents of supporting athletics and understanding the "front porch theory" on why they are important. That being said, I have no clue what their stance is other than they see a huge importance of making sure we are aligned with our regional peers. Obviously none of that matters if a conference isn't interested. But, it probably doesn't hurt for University Presidents to have high-up connections to members of potential conferences you may be interested in though, at least have conversations.

Why? Their value to any media contact is the late night games. There are already plenty of central and mountain time games to fill the gaps.

Not saying what he will or won't and should or shouldn't do, but Summit schools and Fenton have already "played that game" to certain degrees with the MVFC, MVC and Summit making sure schools there have homes for Olympic sports. And since everything is speculation right now, with Patty V retiring, it isn't out of the realm of possibilities that the Summit is eying taking over handling the MVFC. It would definitely help strengthen the brand for the conference and would have minimal effect on the "affiliate members". I know the idea has been discussed before. I'm sure Fargo's appetite to help support the move by choosing twice not to pay to renovate the Fargodome won't go unnoticed when looking at funding options.

I don't have the answer. If I did, I probably by charging a hell of a lot of money as a consultant. The University has been able to put more support into athletics the last few years after actually taking on an unsustainable and broken budget and actually making some hard decisions to get to the spot they are in.

The University as a whole is in one of the strongest positions it has ever been in. That needs to continue to work its way into the athletic on-field performance. Don't think you can say the former about any other research institution in the state.

Arguing against strawmen is a different category I guess.

Either you trust the staff (coordinators, position coaches) feels they are putting the players that give the team the best chance to win or you don't. Personally I'd prefer they ignore pedigree, recruiting rankings, where players are from and scholarship status and instead focus on who is actually performing and executing the best in practice and during games.

They must have had some sort of plan with two DL in front of him, must have thought they would need to clear out more bodies than normal? But when the DE's get around the corners as fast as they did while Q is looking where to go, it is a bit of a calculated risk that almost blew up. Assuming there was a reason they went away from the tried and true that pretty much works every time but no clue what that might be.

Something, something, ESPN2, something, something, probably millions of viewers...

It was stated by Tom Miller in the article he wrote about it. 2 year extension in 2022.

There was around 50.

You don't think a change in S&C coach is a significant change in trying to find ways for improvement and something specifically that isn't "placing all the weight of their decisions on the new facilities"?

I thought the team looked ready to go against ISU. Despite the first play, where the defensive guys were in the exact right position and then being down 7 points after 2 plays, they played tough the whole game. Comparative scoring is what it is, but UND played them tougher on the scoreboard than Arkansas State (significantly), Houston and Baylor. They are up to the #9 team in the country at this point. No explanation for the NDSU game. We needed to start fast, didn't and everything unraveled from the opening kickoff. Still settled in a little and had a chance to get back in it and then literally fumbled that away on the first play of the 2nd half.

Good take. Also, getting a chance to compete for the job as a RFr is more than he would get most places. I think people are forgetting that he's been on campus for less than 18 months, not a whole lot of QB's who are seeing the field at that age. Also guessing the staff has set very clear expectations with him on what he needs to work on and that the QB is the same as any other position. Show you can do it better than the guy in front of you when the lights aren't on and you'll get your fair shot.

Glad you're such an insider for the Ag tech. That doesn't change that the official reason is that he injured his shoulder against Missouri State. Plenty of articles out there outlining it and stating exactly that, including the Forum, KVRR and NDSU's own page. Considering after a few weeks, they had packages installed for him, it seems pretty likely that was the actual case. He was an effective runner and did well in those packages after his shoulder healed up a bit. Weird that they would hold him out of practice when he wasn't hurt, just benched though?

That and he hurt his shoulder, which was the official reason he was pulled. Never got his job back.

NDSU didn't pull their injured starting QB up multiple scores in Carbondale this weekend against a team that didn't threaten to score much (3 points and less than 200 yards of offense) until there was 3:36 left in the game.

If that happens (based on what I think you are assuming with losses to USD and SDSU, with both games at the Alerus Center so far from guaranteed), then UND will likely have 4 losses, with 1 to an FBS school and 3 to teams that are in the top 5. That still doesn't scream bubble team to me.

Will be interesting to see if the QB change UNI made jump starts their offense.

Was nothing to do with your post other than I was going jokingly point out we had one of those current backup P4 guys on our roster the last few years and then happened to see your post with his name on it.

Fruechte explained the whole evaluation process. More consistent, accurate and more explosive plays, regardless of whether it was with the 1's, 2's, 3's or 4's. He also said part of his current accuracy issues are him trying to make the short throws off his toes instead of just trusting himself to do it. Work in progress that they are fixing in live action that isn't happening in practice.

I liked some of what we did towards the end of the 1st half, opening up some holes to move the ball on offense and making some stops on defense. UND started doing some delayed rushes/stunts and at least getting somewhat of a hand in Miller's face but he gets rid of the ball so quickly and we were playing not to get beat deep. His experience shined. Rucker missing him on a wide open shot was a killer. They set the tone on the opening kickoff (sounds familiar), we hung around enough were a score to open the second half makes it interesting. That fumble was a dagger. A bit concerned that Z is banged up, SS missed the week before, Smith only had one touch because he's dinged up and Hunt didn't play. Would hope we wouldn't have to see what we have in Brunell or Parker even though I think both of them have a chance to be very good, need those first 4 to get healthy over the bye week. The staff alluded to taking advantage of the 4 game rule for freshman, probably going to see some of those guys worked in across the lineup, which isn't a bad thing if they can play fast and know what they are doing. Tough to argue with this. Bye week is a perfect time to explore it a little bit more. You don't see a lot RFr starting at QB unless there's a reason (real special or injury).

How's he getting a year back? Unless something changed, this is his 4th year of eligibility whether he plays or not (5 years to play 4 unless there's a medical redshirt).

The same guy has been here since summer of 2022 and the guy who helps him showed up in summer 2023. There has been a definite improvement since they showed up and it keeps improving every year.