jdub27

The whole team, including the staff, failed to show up against NDSU. Tommy went 13-18 with 2 TD's vs Missouri State. That's pretty far from struggling. His passer rating the last 3 games was 135. Well below where he was for the season, but hardly terrible. If that is his baseline for "struggling" than the offense is in pretty good hands. The offense UND is currently running uses swing passes to RB's, quick passes to WR's and screen passes as an extension of the running game and to stay on schedule. This requires a QB that has above average accuracy to be running the offense. It is the exact reason that Tommy had the keys this season. He completed 65% of his passes this year. Is his arm the strongest in the QB room? Doubtful, but I don't think his arm is nearly as bad as some people are making it out to be. I also think his mobility is significantly better than he showed for most of the season, however he's conditioned to look for the completion. He's shown flashes, moreso last year than this year. He'll get better at that, he's a redshirt freshman. That being said, there is definitely a spot for a package for QV and maybe more as he continues to get better as well. You mean the game where UND was content to start running out the clock before halftime because both sides of the ball where having their way?

What is even a trick play? Was ndsu's first rush against UND a trick play? All blocking motion including a pulling lineman to the left and the running back takes off right against the grain for wide lane. That's not a normal design. Most trick plays work because the offense has intentionally set something up prior or the defense has shown tendencies that can be exploited. If UND would have had it one score closer towards the end requiring JMU's defense to play a little more true and UND ran a stop and go for a wide open TD, is that a trick play as well?

And an offense that scored 2 points against what I believe NDSU fans refer to as a charmin-soft defense.

Being on the road is an obvious concern for the fans. Guessing the staff and players don't feel that way. UND's run defense will determine the outcome. I also predict we see a bit more Quincy and also some rush yards from Tommy. I don't think it is a matter of him not being able to run, I think it was that he hasn't needed to (though it likely probably cost a handful of 1st down conversions through the season). He's a winner, if the opportunity presents itself, he'll pull it down and go.

The return equated to an extra 4th round pick in excess of what it "should" have been and he still got his guy at 24. Seems pretty savvy to me. Plenty of ammo to move up into the 2nd round and get a guy they had on their 1st round big board.

Amazing how that lines up with the perception/reasoning that UND is only succeeding this spring because they are some sort of veteran team.

I think part of it is a donor purchased a pretty large number of student tickets and that ate up a good portion. Forecast for Brookings is a high of 49* with a 10-15 mph wind. Not exactly balmy but not terrible.

A transfer QB from Virginia Tech that's appears to be a great athlete but have questionable accuracy and a transfer RB from SMU that was buried on the depth chart there. Both had pretty impressive resumes coming out of high school. Still not sure how that's going to fix all of their problems magically though. RB hasn't been an issue since Luepke came back. Adding a scrambling threat to the passing game will be something they have been missing but in the past, their QB's have also had talented arms and been able to keep the defense honest.

Looks like about 270 or so tickets remaining for UND (91% sold). For comparison, NDSU has around 750 remaining (84% sold) and SDSU currently doesn't list any tickets for sale as of this morning.

Honestly, no, I don't think so. They use him in a fair amount of jet sweep and from what I have seen, it is pretty hit or miss. Maybe in the slot, but to your point, I do think that DF has shown a little more creativity in creating mismatches and getting the ball to playmakers in space than his counterpart in Fargo. That being said, they have usually just relied on running over people and it has been pretty successful. But also more to my point on him being in an offense that doesn't quite know how to properly utilize him.

Tall and fast, but tends to have some brick hands (except of course when he's pushing off a defensive back right before halftime). Not sure he's in an offense that knows how to utilize him. They way they try to get him the ball in space doesn't seem to work.

Unfortunately with the 25% capacity, that gives them an extra 1500 tickets available. They are also selling their's at $45 vs. $25 for UND. That's an extra $125,000 they would have to work with when submitting a bid. My guess is they are one of a very few schools who would outbid UND.

What was weaker yesterday? Fargodome press box glass or the NDSU defense that gave up over 300 yards on the ground?

MSU at 6pm on Saturday?

You didn't see that whoever comes out of the bracket gets to play UNI for the actual title?

Well, the committee is off to quite the start...

Phil is such a whiny homer.

Agreed on the sale part. But also tougher to give tickets away to random people. I know we do plenty of that in the tailgate lot or even before a hockey game in front of the REA.

I understand the reasoning behind it (particularly costs) but I don't agree with it. I'm sure people will adapt but overall, its going to be fairly annoying, particularly for large groups or people that share tickets.

Oddly enough, Montana played a game against D2 Central Washington last week and play against Portland State this weekend. Not sure when they decided to try to get a few games under their belt, but I was suprised to see it.

Yep, just caught that portion of the tie-breaker. Knew there was something simple I was missing.

Nope. That would still be SDSU as they would be 3-0 against the 3 common opponents between UND, SDSU and MSU (which are WIU, SIU and NDSU). MSU and UND are 2-1 against that group. Tiebreakers found here: https://herosports.com/fcs-football-conference-tiebreaker-playoff-auto-bid-bzbz/

There really isn't any "seeding" from the conference. There is an autobid winner, which only guarantees a playoff spot. The playoff committee, particularly with the unbalanced schedules this year, aren't going to specifically use conference standings as they determine things. If SDSU were to win, NDSU would be 4th in the conference, but they are very likely to get in, while MSU is likely on the outside looking in. Oddly enough, it's NDSU's win over UND that will put them over the top (plus they stomped MSU).

Here are the tie-breaker rules: https://herosports.com/fcs-football-conference-tiebreaker-playoff-auto-bid-bzbz/ In the event of SDSU beating NDSU and UND beating YSU, those 3 would be tied. Since MSU didn't play either team, the tie-breaker falls to common opponents between the 3 and goes all the way down to #4, which is record against common conference opponents. In this instance, all 3 would have played WIU, YSU, NDSU and SIU. UND and MSU would be 3-1 against those 4 and SDSU would theoretically end at 4-0. Its unfortunate, but UND's win over SDSU doesn't give them the tie-breaker in a 3 team scenario, only a 2 team scenario.

UND had at least a top 3 or 4 bid. UNI and maybe SELA were who they were concerned about having higher bids. No one expected Nicholls (with the help of the Southland) to put together a gigantic bid for tent city. Was still a joke they got it due to facilities. Any time the NCAA needs to rewrite rules because of you, it is probably time to take a look in the mirror.