UND-FB-FAN

The Alerus Center could be a much better gameday environment if the right people for UND and the Alerus Center were involved. Without going into a huge list which I have posted on this website numerous times over the years, the gameday environment has potential if the right amount of emphasis and dedication is placed. The gameday committee UND had a couple years back - following the Big Sky Championship which no doubt had an impact - was the right idea to get things going. Unfortunately that committee dissolved and UND is back to lackluster gameday production and management. The seating situation in the Alerus Center is another issue that I won’t again bring up at this time, but it also does contribute to a gloomy empty atmosphere, especially in the second half.

Neal - Athletic QB with size (6’2”) and has the blood lines (brother starts at Vanderbilt of the SEC). Plays against relatively good competition in Indiana. Schuster and Boltmann are a bit on the smaller side and haven’t shown anything to convince me they can throw deep balls (40+ yards) very well. Schuster had no DI offers and is a small kid, but he has the intangibles as demonstated in the win versus Sam Houston State. He was a great high school QB in the state of Michigan and his poise was on display vs SHSU. Boltmann also limited offers out of high school but very athletic. Just a bit on the smaller side. Turns out his arm talent was lacking but has great wheels which makes him such a great weapon currently at wide out and wildcat QB. All in all, Danny Freund has the QB room going the right direction with Schuster and Neal. Prior to Schuster commit this last class, UND under direction of Paul Rudolph was not recruiting the QB position well. There were years they would get no scholarship quarterbacks which is baffling to me. I love how Danny Freund is now emphasizing the QB position in both recruiting and with the offensive philosophy. It will pay dividends for UND. Great teams typically have good to great QB play.

Phase II would be game changer. Want UND to take the next step in terms of athletes? Get Phase II and show a legitimate emphasis towards football.

The UND offense was very good in the first half. A lot of credit to the offensive players and Danny Freund. The defense actually may have had the weakest performance (obviously as they gave up 36 points) but it is a team game and the 3 and outs by the offense in the second half and missed field goal are also huge factors to the 2nd half going the way it did. UND needs to find a way to put together a full 4 quarter game. When they do, watch out.

Enjoy the positives. Enjoy the win. I have. The fact is, as you alluded to, there are negatives too and this is reality. Be optimistic and have fun as you wish.

Penalties and turnovers ... the difference makers. UND has to come out on top in these two categories in order to come out on top in terms of the overall match up.

Your write-up is centered around expectations with an added swipe at my comprehension and background knowledge. Novel. Glad you are so easily satisfied with where UND is at. It is not good for UND football, though, to have such appeasable fans/supporters. Not sure why my opinion that playoffs 1 out of 5 seasons is unacceptable would be met with such harsh reaction. Perhaps YOUR narrative that I don't "have a clue" is misdirected and false. Never once did I state everyone should be angry and upset. I have clearly stated I am happy that UND has a winning record at 3-2 with 2 wins against ranked opponents; however, I have also mentioned areas of concern. Some on this fan board are too jolly to even consider criticism following a win; is that your concealed issue right now? Summary: Positives - UND has a winning record and 2 wins versus ranked opponents Negatives - wins versus ranked opponents have been close and UND has yet to win on the road. Pretty straight forward. So, in short, there are positives and in fact things to be satisfied with. I won't apologize for you simply not understanding my stance and having to instead waste time and energy on writing a post directed towards my assessment. I highly doubt your position is such that I should envy your thoughts and opinions and thus "stand down". GO UND

And, so, can UND withstand a loss to Idaho State and still make the playoffs? Mathematically, yes. Predictably, no.

Spot on. UND is where they are because of Danny Freund, not Bubba. Danny drew up enough plays to win with a 3rd string QB against Sam Houston and put on a first half show against UC Davis. Bubba’s philosophy has held the team back. UND does not yet have the players (offensive line, running backs) to line up and run downhill in order to run out the clock. UND needs to stay aggressive to win games with its current roster. Recruit better players, and this may change. UND is certainly not NDSU where they can line up in 22 personnel and bludgeon teams into submission.

With how UND had the momentum in the first half (admitted by UC Davis coach in postgame interview), it really is evident Bubba screwed up that decision. UND is not in a place where they can go conservative when up only two scores in the first half. They need to convince others. It is the reality of college football with polls. Although UND is 3-2 with two ranked wins, UND remains disrespected around the country as an unranked team with SHSU and UC Davis both ahead of UND. 2point and 4-point home wins are not good enough. Sure, you may make the argument that a win is a win, but I counter-argue that it is foreshadowing and setting UND up for inevitable collapse and choke jobs down the stretch run. UND will lose games they should win - per usual under the Bubba regime - if they continue to be too conservative. This current UND team doesn’t have a good enough running game for that.

There is a lot of work to do. I’m not crowning this UND football team quite yet. I am happy they have two ranked wins and a winning record, obviously. BUT, alternatively, they haven’t play a complete 4-quarter game yet or won on the road. You may call it pessimism, but I call it constructive criticism. UND needs to continue to improve throughout the season, day by day if you will, or else they will miss the playoffs. Missing the playoffs would be considered an epic failure since Bubba has only been there once in 5 seasons thus far. A 17% (1 in 6) playoff rate is fireable in my opinion.

Idaho State has a solid team? They lost 59-20 to Montana last week ... UC Davis lost 45-20 to Montana the previous week. UND hasn’t won on the road this season yet. Please discuss.

Curbing the overall expectations in typical good ol’ fashion, huh? The Alerus Center is not an awful facility by any stretch of the imagination. It isn’t great, but certainly not awful. Look around the country before being critical. Have you been to the DakotaDome in Vermillion? Even UNI’s dome is nothing special. With that said, UND does need HPC Phase II desperately - the locker room situation for UND football is not good. And although the Alerus is average for football, there are always pipe dreams out there for something better. There are perhaps renovation type projects that the Alerus Center could look into to try boost the environment for UND football. Have to show they’re committed first.

Very good analysis in terms of run/pass. I do think the issue is more mindset/philosophy based rather than just run/pass. The types of plays called changed quite a bit in the second half. Also, the drive before halftime was really quite telling what UND was thinking philosophically. Based on how close the game got, I can’t say Bubba made the right decision there. You need to get points anytime you can get them. I absolutely agree, though, on penalities and turnovers. Always the two biggest factors in these games. If UND is more disciplined and Ketteringham doesn’t have that interception, the game is probably won much more handily rather than by only 2 points. Work to be done. Bubba needs to continue to stress ball protection and discipline while also maintaining aggressive play. I did not like the overall feel to the play calls in the second half. The first half was very well done (kudos to Freund) minus the drive before halftime

Run/Pass Ratio? That’s what you’re getting caught up on? Meh First of all, UND still needs to get better athletes. Barely hanging on and winning 38-36 at home against a banged up UC Davis isn’t going to change my mind on that. How many plays over 20 yards has UND’s offense had? Not nearly enough. Second of all, UND was far more aggressive in the first half of the game and took the foot off the gas in the second half. UND ran WR passes, Brock Boltmann ran it in the first half, play action TE crossing routes, multiple screens to Cam McKinney, etc. in the first half that were cut out in the second half. You can defend the situation all you want but UND still has some identity issues going on that will continue to limit their success until they figure it out.

Bubba ball - “going into the shell” too soon.

Competition on the field will determine who plays. You need to get the players in the program first. One step at a time people. But yes, I feel Reid Neal is a better QB prospect. He has the bloodlines and looks good on highlights. The intangibles won’t be apparent until he competes head-to-head and plays for UND, though.

The 2017 season definitely set UND back, agreed. They started top 10 FCS and ended the season 3 - 8 ...... it really soured a lot of support that was growing back at that time. The second part of your comment makes no sense to me. Places like UND? UND and their staff needs to recruit well or else they won’t win. Simple - get talent to come to grand forks. It starts with recruiting. That is college football 101 and anyone trying to convince themselves of something different is delusional. Development within the program is important, but you need talent upfront. This is well established in college football. I do think the 2020 recruiting class is coming together nicely.

Danny Freund got a real QB commit for UND! Awesome.

UND consistently plays down to their competition. After 6 seasons, I am almost certain it is due to the coaching style, specifically Bubba. It will continue to cost UND games until Bubba looks himself in the mirror and changes or else UND moves on. You can’t get a 14 point lead and then just go into your shell. It is quite embarrassing and really it has been going on for all 6 years. Too many close games based on this. There have been games where UND could blow it open but they get complacent and ask for the other team to get back into it. They need to develop “killer instinct” and it starts with the head coach committing to this. No more nice guy Bubba and toe to toe. This quote after the UC Davis game makes me cringe. Crazy? Like going up 3 possessions before half? C’mon man, try elevelate UND football a bit more. We tried to pop one more run to get better field position, but we felt like, 'let's not get crazy here and give them some momentum late in the half,'" Schweigert said. "We popped one good run and tried another. If we got to midfield, you would have seen us get into a different mode."

@UNDBIZ you like empty seats on the west side, eh? I know it certainly doesn’t look impressive to prospective student-athletes watching a game in the Alerus Center for the first time.

2 back to back road wins would be huge for this team. UND has 0 road wins thus far. If they protect the ball and play disciplined, they definitely have the talent/ability to do it.

Bubba needs to learn from it, also. UND had full control of the game in the first half with an agressive offensive mindset, up 28-14. Right before halftime, though, for some unknown reason other than it’s the staff’s style, the switch was flipped. UND went ultra conservative on offense and UC Davis got right back in the game. I don’t care if UND is up 14, up 30, tied, or down 14, Bubba and Freund need to adjust and realize this version of UND football (that is, the 2019 team) is at its best when they are being aggressive and creative on offense. Please, for the love of God, stay away from offensive Bubba ball. It is football poison, as evidenced over the past 6 years. That is the adjustment and lesson needed to be learned from the UC Davis game. Now, let’s see if Freund and Bubba adjust.

And the west side was nice and sparse as usual. I still call for re-distribution of seats; that is, if someone in UND’s athletic department will stop being lazy and do their damn job.

Especially since UND won with true freshman QB Tommy Schuster ... kudos to Danny Freund for having him ready to do that. Still quite unbelievable to me.