siouxfan512

I think what we will lose most in Keaton, other than the run capability he has shown, is just the leadership and demeanor he has on the field. Call it game management, call it field presence, call it what you want, but he does a good job of controlling what is going on with the team. I think that is what will be missed most if he does not play, beyond his physical play. Get rolling early and get a lead, and I think everything will come together just fine. UND is should definitely be in a position to win this game, even if you put LakesBison in at QB.

Maybe, depends how much extra they would bid, compared to how much extra revenue they would actually generate; and would the additional bid money from them really make much of a difference. If you knew you were going to host someone like MT, who would bring a bunch of fans, then they would probably consider it. If you ended up hosting Western Ill. then I don't think the donation would be in their best interest, as you probably won't recover what you are spending. For a business, its tough to make a blind contribution like then when you don't know what the results are. Though maybe they can write that off as a donation. Not sure.

I hadn't actually looked into, I was just going off of Haley's tweets.

If Bartels can consistently pass like the one he threw to toivenen (which was dropped), I wouldn't be too concerned. But consistency has been the question over the past few years. I don't see either QB being asked to throw much in this game, but they do have to throw some. We need some completions to keep the pass threat (err potential) there, but there will be a HEAVY dose of the ground game this week.O-Line need to step up in a BIG way.

Craig Haley was tweeting that this is very possible this year. The Big Sky had a better out of conference year than the Valley did. MVFC still had a nice year, especially with FBS games, but BSC had a nice year, especially head to head with MVFC teams.

Would be thrilled to have a seed, but I'll still admit MT scares me a bit. I think we would play them tough, especially at home, but their pass attack is can really hurt if they are clicking. Wouldn't mind hosting San Diego ... I believe that would be an Arnell vs. Arnell matchup, correct? You heard it hear first, the fix is in ... its all about story lines.

But we wouldn't know if we were seeded, until after the fact anyway, right? So does UND have to just bid, assuming they are not seeded?

Won't outbid Montana. Might not outbid SDSU. But there is zero reason that we still shouldn't be able to outbid and host Western Ill. Question .... IF, and its a big if, UND is able to position themselves for a seed, with 2 more wins, and probably some help, how does that affect the bidding process? Do they still need to place a competitive bid, as though they will not be seeded and wait to see?

Are we going to start a rumor that as soon as Keaton went down Heidelbaugh grabbed Bartel's helmet and quickly hid it? Cuz I'm all for starting rumors. haha

knew that guy would get slaughtered

For the WIN!

Except I think for the "Winning Solves Everything" theory to be in place, it needs to be consistent winning. You're not going to build up a hardcore fanbase in 5 or 6 home games. It more like 2-3 years, of consistent wins at home, along with some BIG wins. This season is a good start. Look at NDSU, they didn't build up the hype and fanbase in a year. It progressed year after year. 5 Nat'l Championships later, tickets are expensive, the Dome is sold out, and they have pretty much doubled the size of their tailgate lot. It doesn't all happen as quickly as we would like. Make the playoffs, Make some noise in the playoffs, and win consistently again next season, and you'll START to see those attendance number climb on a consistent basis. Just my opinion.

Well of course we want to win the Big Sky, but whether it is by ourselves or as co-champions doesn't matter a whole lot at this point. Especially since it is out of our control. UND needs to win out. It would be beneficial to also have E Wash beat Poly, as Poly would fall behind us in the rankings. Even with a E Wash loss, we would still be behind E Wash; but would also remain behind Poly.

Would have been nice to see Youngstown and Western Ill. win. USD really blew it at the end.

Stone Kane Spencer Pratt For the bonus point, I'll throw in a look a like for after UND destroys the bears.

Eddie Gonzales Beaker

Radmen Niven Cowardly Lion (Stole this one from last week's)

Noah SOol Alan Ruck

Let’s rewind for a minute … to Nov 14, 2015. UND hosted UNC, and put up 422 yards rushing (Santiago with 180, Norberg with 80, Brad only had 5 carries). We passed for 150 yards. Labatt had a pick six, and there were several turnovers going UNDs way in UND’s 45-14 beat down of Northern Colorado. Fast forward to today. We can expect an improved UNC team, but also have to remember we are also improved. Yes, our offense is boom or bust, but we have a much more complete defense this year, and they are looking good! UNC has played better this year, but I’m not sold on them yet. They beat, Rocky Mountain College(NAIA), Abilene Christian(1-8), N. Arizona (Most impressive win), Sac St (W 27-19) and Portland St (W 56-49). I think this is going to be the first week, in a string of weeks that will expose UNC for what they are. A team that has shown improvement, but isn’t quite there yet. They have to come to GF, host Montana and travel to Cal Poly. Big shock in the Big Sky, but UNC has been a pretty pass heavy team this season, to go with that Sloter has 7 interception on the year. I think there will be ample opportunity for UND to continue increasing their INT numbers on the season. On the defensive side of the ball, UNC looks to have some of the same struggles as last season (9th in Rush D and 12th in pass D); UND needs to capitalize on this early in the game and take UNC out early. Same as previous weeks: UND needs to establish the run early; but needs to get some passes around as well, and much earlier in the game. This should be doable against UNC. Weber had the top pass defense in the Sky …. Not that it is an excuse for lack of pass game this weekend. Winning the turnover battle is something UND has been tremendous at this year, and it will continue this weekend. Our defense needs to just keep doing what they are doing. A needed improvement from last week; sustain drives and chew up the clock –Need to win that possession time battle. And finally KICK COVERAGE! Has to improve from last week… otherwise kick it out of bounds. (Stats are skewed as UNC is toward the bottom of the Sky in both KO and Punt returns, but if we cover like last week, they have the people to take advantage of it.) UND wins in Greeley, but I’ll wait to throw my score out there until I hear the injury updates. IF Keaton can’t go I’d like to see a mix of Bartels (who had some nice passes Sat.) and Brad (Who did not have a nice pass, but a TD nevertheless), Brad could throw that run element back in at the QB position. After watching Bartels run; it is conceivable that a 40 year old Peyton Manning might out sprint him. Even if Keaton can play, I don’t think you keep him out there the whole game unless you absolutely have to. Here are some stats to mull over. Game is played on the field, not on paper, but I’d say this is UND’s game to lose. SCORING OFFENSE G TD FG XPT 2XP DXP Saf Points Avg/G 4 Northern Colorado 8 39 5 37 1 0 0 288 36 7 North Dakota 9 34 11 31 0 0 1 270 30 SCORING DEFENSE G TD FG XPT 2XP DXP Saf Points Avg/G 1 North Dakota 9 25 8 19 0 0 0 193 21.4 9 Northern Colorado 8 37 12 33 2 0 0 295 36.9 TOTAL OFFENSE G Rush Pass Plays Yards Avg/P TD Avg/G 5 Northern Colorado 8 1523 2060 535 3583 6.7 39 447.9 9 North Dakota 9 1928 1579 630 3507 5.6 30 389.7 TOTAL DEFENSE G Rush Pass Plays Yards Avg/P TD Avg/G 2 North Dakota 9 884 2182 617 3066 5 23 340.7 12 Northern Colorado 8 1671 2233 632 3904 6.2 36 488 RUSHING OFFENSE G Att Yards Avg. TD Yards/G 3 North Dakota 9 416 1928 4.6 18 214.2 4 Northern Colorado 8 300 1523 5.1 18 190.4 RUSHING DEFENSE G Att Yards Avg. TD Yards/G 1 North Dakota 9 291 884 3 6 98.2 9 Northern Colorado 8 348 1671 4.8 20 208.9 PASS OFFENSE G Comp Att Int Pct. Yards Avg. TD Avg/G 4 Northern Colorado 8 152 235 7 64.7 2060 8.8 21 257.5 12 North Dakota 9 127 214 2 59.3 1579 7.4 12 175.4 PASS DEFENSE G Comp Att Int Pct. Yards Avg. TD Avg/G 4 North Dakota 9 178 326 16 54.6 2182 6.7 17 242.4 12 Northern Colorado 8 187 284 1 65.8 2233 7.9 16 279.1 KICKOFF RETURNS G No. Yards TD Avg. 2 North Dakota 9 30 756 1 25.2 11 Northern Colorado 8 36 650 0 18.1 PUNT RETURN AVG G No. Yards TD Avg. 12 North Dakota 9 12 35 0 2.9 13 Northern Colorado 8 7 14 0 2 INTERCEPTIONS G No. Yards TD Avg. 1 North Dakota 9 16 187 3 11.7 13 Northern Colorado 8 1 0 0 0 PUNTING G No. Yards Avg/P Ret. Avg. TB Net/P 4 Northern Colorado 8 38 1524 40.1 76 2 0 38.1 6 North Dakota 9 54 2263 41.9 80 1.5 8 37.5 KICKOFF COVERAGE G No. Yards Avg. Return TB Net Avg. 3 Northern Colorado 8 49 3045 62.1 604 17 42.9 12 North Dakota 9 51 2956 58 855 14 35.7 FIELD GOALS G Made-Att Pct. 6 Northern Colorado 8 7-May 0.714 8 North Dakota 9 17-Nov 0.647 SACKS BY G No. Yards 2 North Dakota 9 22 121 11 Northern Colorado 8 12 91 SACKS AGAINST G No. Yards 10 Northern Colorado 8 18 111 11 North Dakota 9 20 127 PENALTIES G No. Yards Avg/G 7 North Dakota 9 59 512 56.9 13 Northern Colorado 8 74 683 85.4 TIME OF POSSESSION G Poss. Time Avg/G 1 North Dakota 9 305:20:00 33:55:00 12 Northern Colorado 8 219:05:00 27:23:00 Gained Lost TURNOVER MARGIN G Fumb Int Total Fumb Int Total Margin Per/G 1 North Dakota 9 7 16 23 8 2 10 13 1.44 9 Northern Colorado 8 8 1 9 4 7 11 -2 -0.25

I'm more concerned with how he was able to throw the ball on Sunday. Not sure what the injury was; bad bruise, sprain, etc. but hopefully whatever it was didn't tighten up too much or feel worse the next day. I'm sure the training staff will be taking care of him all week, and if he CAN go, he probably WILL. I want to see him in, but only if he can be effective. If he is going to go in and try to force throws that he can't make with an injury, the coaching staff will need to make some decisions. Regardless, I'm sure Bartels and Heidelbaugh will be extra focused in practice this week. Our run game SMOKED UNC last year. I know UNC is a better team this season, but we need to have a little bit of a repeat this weekend.

only if the returner pulls offs about 4 or 5 madden worthy jukes, and maybe somersaults into the endzone. If that can't do that, then we should probably just watch hockey instead. * For the record, I don't want to hate on hockey fans, as I am a HUGE hockey fan, but I'm not sure how you cannot get excited about this football team. The offense is boom or bust, but the defense is so much fun to watch. We're 7-2, leading the Big Sky, and have a chance to win out. This is what people have been waiting for. Have to remember the fans won't flock back until they see this winning become consistent, but this has been an awesome year to watch UND football. There is zero doubt that Bubba was the right man for the job. I just hope he is hear for quite a while. Never know how long a guy want to coach, but Bubba is only 54, so he should have quite a few years left here.

Top 10 in the Athlon Sport Poll http://athlonsports.com/college-football/fcs-rankings-power-poll-week-10-2016

I'll trust the coaches on this. If they don't think Brad is quite ready, then go with Ryan. Don't go with Ryan because he is the easy choice though. He has certainly had more experience, but we have also seen his limitations. I would like to see a heavy does of Brad, with a little Ryan sprinkled in to keep the defense guessing. If Keaton isn't 100%, but can still play, maybe we start Keaton, but sprinkle Brad into the mix. The thing with Brad is defenses won't have much to go off of. That being said, he can't be throwing ducks up either. That grab by Wanzek was a very heads up play. Even more vital to get the run game going, and going early this week.

Agreed, I think there are SOME valid complaint, and I've been open about my concerns at times. But the level to which some criticize is excessive.