siouxfan512

mine was much better last night. Not good but better. Tonight it has either been glitchy or blurry. Makes ya really appreciate the job that UND does.

now not that I know much about the rugby kid, or how he is performing, but I really don't think bartels should be the backup. Really not impressed with the kid.

During a Christmas season that is about giving, UND just cares more... um, thats why we gave that game back to you guys ... um, right? No?

Agreed, he will only get better too. Next year he just needs to eliminate flexing his muscles after he lays a nice hit, and getting 15 yd penalties. I'm sure he got chewed out for that one when he did it, but we don't need guys showboating and getting personal fouls.

I'll be watching on TV from Mpls, but it is definitely getting discouraging to watch Jones team. I don't care how good UNI is, that kind of beat down is just unacceptable. Looks at SDSU and USD; both who have beat the goofs. Put our team out their, and I beat we get blown out. Not because we don't have the talent, it is more so the style of play. I watched the first part of the second half against waldord, and after seeing missed shot after missed shot after missed shot, I had to turn the channel. Hope the boys can compete on Friday though. Good win against Bradley, hopefully this team finds momentum.

Psh, those plates sure look like painted Styrofoam to me

It was SOOO loud, even on TV

Can't wait to hear just how loud they yell Sioux at the end of the anthem. One giant middle finger to the NCAA and that a$$ clown, Kelley.

gross

The only thing that would concern me at safety, is can the kid hit? He didn't look comfortable taking a hit at RB, which makes me wonder if he could deliver one. WR just seems to fit for a kid like that, but the coaches know way more than I do. I have to think he was able to play RB in high school purely because of his speed. When he hit a hole, he looked great, but when he need to shake of a hit, or bounce off of a guy he looked pretty rough. If he moves to defense, it would have to be to improve coverage, because I just don't see him being a big hitter like Reyes. Could be wrong though. I just hope the coaches find a good spot for him because he is too much of an athlete to not work on to the field. Kind of a shame that he couldn't have kept his redshirt, considering how limited of an impact he ended up having this year.

Doesn't surprise me. Question is, would Nike built a facility to contend with the Ralph? They definitely have the money over there.

Agreed, unless you are going to lump all sports in to the Big10 and not just hockey. If UND hockey ever moved to the Big10 we would lose all ability to call the shots. UND just would would not have the negotiating power to dictate anything and would have to bow down for the conference. Big10 hasn't worked out very good as a conference, so I would hope UND has zero intentions of moving. I feel like I remember hearing that NCHC didn't want Notre Dame because they wanted to dictate everything, move to the Big10 and you're going to get that mentality from 6 schools

I second that. Those updates were always great to read.

My bad, I tried checking for a 2016 thread before starting one, but I must have missed yours.

Sure hope so, because I think it would be a blast to go tailgate that one, regardless of where it is. Really disappointed I couldn't be in Fargo for the game this year. Made it up for the NDSU/USD game and had a blast tailgating. Hope to make it back for some good tailgating again next year.

Well, that gave me a good laugh!

Well, I will be a huge BGSU fan week one. They won't be Ohio St, but if they could, that would make quite the trap game when UND comes to town.

Sure hope so, because he was looking pretty good. Would be nice to have that much stability at the safety position for 2 more years. Unfortunately, I have no idea how that works. Might be something to ask Miller or Schloss during their weekly online chats.

Makes sense to me. I do think that some of the toughest teams we will see next year, are home games, which should definitely help. Home Games South DakotaCal Poly - Our run shut the door on them this year, lets do it againSouthern Utah - Glad this game is at homeWeber State - Redemption from blowing our 4th quarter leadNorthern Arizona - Another good one to have at home; Their QB is going to be a real stud in this leagueAway Games Stony Brook - Win itBowling Green - Would be a much bigger win than WyomingMontana State - We showed we can beat them, but this will be a very difficult road gameSacramento State - Should winIdaho State - Should win; Major redemption gameNorthern Colorado - Should win; If this years game was indicative of anything, UND should roll

I love the confidence, but lets not discount that this may be a game we want to lose. The FCS made it very clear how important quality losses are. As for their conference, I agree this isn't like playing a big ten team, but they did beat two big ten teams this past season. I agree though, if UND wants to keep elevating themselves to be a FCS power, then they need to be able to win, or at least compete with teams like this. If Portland St can beat Washington St, then why can't UND beat BGSU. I just love that football hype seems to be growing, hopefully it transpires into more fans at the Alerus next season.

Agreed on all point. I have watched a fair share of bison football this year, and NDSU's defense improved drastically from game 1. Which actually makes the rematch against MT all the more intriguing. Even in that game, there was some nice coverage by the Bison corners, but MT just had some excellent receivers. Anyways, I think it is certainly a fair statement to say, both teams look quite different now, than they did 3 weeks into the season. This is where I really wish those rivalry games could be played annually, because this talk is so speculative unless we actually meet in the playoffs. Otherwise, it'll be two completely different teams playing again in 4 years.

I agree, we will have trouble matching up with a high octane pass game, and while Reyes is good, and Arnell should be back, we are still really young at corner. Hopefully there will be quite a bit of offseason development, and I would also hope the coaches are looking at any potential FBS dropdowns for talent, speed and depth. Our DL will continue to improve too, so this will be a game we getting quick pressure on the QB is an absolute must. As for the RB ... I know we don't typically play this caliber of a team, but based on what we saw from our guys this year, I feel pretty confident that we can protect the run. Though Ratelle will be sorely missed.

I hope you are sending this to whomever you can to get some traction going, because I'd bet decent money that this is way better than whatever some committee will come up with. Really like it, nice work.

Serious question for you: If UND and NDSU played again, do you see the numbers being the same or different? I honestly think our run D would play about the same. I also don't believe there is any way that NDSU holds UND to the same limited yardage. I'm not saying UND would rack up 300-400 yards, but there would be a substantial difference in those numbers if the two teams played again. Need to remember that Santiago and Oliveira were true freshman. That was Santiago's 3rd college game, and either Oliveira's first or second. They definitely grew a lot of the course of the season. The benefit for NDSU was, when UND was able to stuff the run, NDSU has the passing game to turn to. At that point in the season we did not (though another glaring area that we improved on by the end of the season).

Ok, I got tired of moping about the fact that we were completely snubbed from the playoffs, so I decided to take a look at our non-conference schedule for next season. A lot to be determined before then, and there will certainly be some new faces in the mix for UND as well as our opponents, but here it is. I see UND starting out 2-1 in the non-conference schedule, but if the 2015 season taught us anything, surprises can happen. So maybe with a grade A performance, we can pick up another (and this time quality) FBS win. Feel free to pick this apart and comment, but hopefully it makes a good read for those of us who need some football material to read in lieu of missing the playoffs. Stony Brook (5-5)(3-5 conf.) Finished 10th in the Colonial Athletic Conference Last meeting was 2014 in Grand Forks; UND won 13-3 Key Win: Beat New Hampshire 31-6 (giving them more wins against playoff teams than E. Illinois J ) Key Departures: QB Conor Bednarski DL Victor Ochi (12 solo sacks, 2 assisted sacks, 14 solo TFL, 5 assisted TFL) Rankings within CAA Scoring - 7th - 17.3 PPG Rushing – 7th – 152.7 YPG Passing – 9th – 148.1 YPG Scoring D – 1st – 15.7 PPG Rushing D – 1st – 104.6 YPG (Stony Brook, meet John Santiago) Passing D – 1st – 145.5 YPG This really shouldn’t be much of a contest. Stony Brook’s strength is their defense, but if our offense can emerge like we did late this season, then UND should roll by halftime. Hopefully that is the case, because if you lose a game like this, you are already a long to make the playoffs. SB will probably stop some drives, but it looks like their offense continues to be anemic. UND needs to open up a heavy lead, and then start trying some different things to prep for the following week. Bowling Green (9-3) (7-1 conf.) Finished 1st in the Mid-American Conference – East (Plays N Illinois this weekend for conference championship) Won 2 games vs Big 10 (Maryland and Purdue) Key Departures: QB Matt Johnson (4465 Yds, 41 TDs, RB Travis Greene (1036 Yds, 12 TDs) DB Dernard Turner (4 int, 1 TD) Key Returning Players: WR Gehrig Dieter (82 Rec, 882 Yds, 9 TDs) WR Roger Lewis (76 Rec, 1401 Yds, 14 TDs) (Hi Roger, I’d like you to meet Cole Reyes J ) WR Ronnie Moore (62 Rec, 818 Yds, 5 TDs) DB Alfonso Mack (5 int) Rankings withing MAC Scoring – 1st – 44.2 PPG Rushing – 5th – 178.2 YPG Passing – 1st – 387.8 YPG Scoring D – 8th – 27.8 PPG Rushing D – 7th – 166.2 YPG Passing D – 11th – 255.2 YPG This will be a much bigger test than playing Wyoming. Fortunately, BGSU will be losing a monster of a QB, as well as their senior RB. Unfortunately, BGSU will likely start James Knapke (6-2, 237) at QB, and he will have several dangerous receivers still on the roster. Knapke took over for an injured Matt Johnson in 2014, and threw for 3173 yards and 15 TDs. It is also worth noting that while BGSU loses starting RB Travis Green, they will still have Fred Coppet who still rushed for just over 700 yards 4 TDs. His average per carry was actually slightly better than Greene, and without Will Ratelle on the field, our linebackers will need to step up (Hopefully Taj Rich comes back really strong). I don’t think BGSU will be as good next year as they were this year, but they will still be a very strong team. Probably not a game you expect to win, but definitely need to be competitive, and if the defense plays well, and our offense is clicking, then who knows. Santiago can always be a game changer and Oliveira will only get better. If Keaton starts next season where he left off, then there is certainly potential in this matchup. Needless to say, this would be UNDs biggest win at the D1 level if they could pull it off. South Dakota (5-6) (3-5 conf.) Finished 7th in the dreaded MVFC and somehow was not included in the 2015 FCS Playoffs (Rumor is next year all MVFC teams will get an auto bid) Key Wins: Beat NDSU in Fargo 24-21 Key Departures: Coach Joe Glenn WR Eric Shufford (45 Rec, 470 Yds, 2 TDs) LB Keyen Lage (50 solo tackles, 34 assisted, 10 solo TFL, 1 assisted TFL) Key Returning Players: QB Ryan Saeger (1984 yds, 12 TDs) WR B Van Roekel (33 Rec, 518 Yds, 6TDs) A Van Ginkel (9 solo sacks, 17 solo TFL, 2 assisted TFL) Rankings within MVFC Scoring – 9th – 21 PPG Rushing – 7th – 165.7 YPG Passing – 7th – 183.7 YPG Scoring D – 6th – 25.5 PPG Rushing D – 4th – 159.8 YPG Passing D – 3rd – 184.7 YPG My first inclination is that regardless of score, or how many points UND can rack up, the win (and an automatic playoff spot) should go to USD, purely for having the grapes to be a part of the amazing MVFC (sense the sarcasm). In reality, this is a very winnable game for UND, especially at home. Though USD has certainly shown they can play spoiler, go ask about it on bisonville, I dare you. This game is winnable, but will be a good measuring stick. While USD is not a top team right now, they are very capable, and they do play in a tough conference. I still take UND at home.