UND-FB-FAN

Exceeded expectations, albeit against inferior offensive linemen. Drake's OL isn't the worst in the Pioneer League, though. I was very very impressed with RFr DE #93 Jaelen Johnson. The starting Dline with #55 Mason Bennett, #97 Jalen Morrison, and #99 Jaelen Johnson is going to be just fine. The depth behind those guys is a work in progress. Like predicted preseason, if the starting 3 stay healthy, UND's defense may be the most complete in the Bubba/Schmidt era. Looking ahead to NDSU, they have a very talented offense but UND's defense has a shot to confuse the cow college's young wet-behind-the-ears freshman QB.

THIS WEEK'S MOTTO: OWN THE FARM, WIN BACK THE STATE!!! GO UND !!!!!

Rivalry week, baby! GO UND FIGHTING HAWKS! NDSU is No. 1 for a reason. This is a tremendous opportunity for the 2019 UND Fighting Hawks football team. Go out and win the game. Knocking off Goliath would be huge, obviously. It won't be easy, but that is the whole point of competition and rivalry! Win back the state!!!

Depth, man. It’s a good thing.

What are you talking about? Did you watch the game? Ketteringham did fine while he was in there. Did you see the drops from Wanzek and Maag? Not acceptable. They (receivers) played better in the 2nd half. With all that said, I think Zimmerman played very well also. The level of competition was poor against Drake, but it also was poor against MVSU last year and the offense was awful. So, all things considered, very happy with what Kett, Zim, and Freund did yesterday. UND is in a better place than they were a year ago.

Like I had hoped, Freund = wins. We’ll actually see how many over the course of the season, obviously. Certinly disappointing that Kett went down, but Zimmerman looked good. HUGE test next week for him, though. To be real, though, Drake doesn’t have the worst defense in the Pioneer League.

James is a North Dakotan, not from Minnesota. He ended up where he should’ve been (UND) from the beginning. Minnesota’s loss, not his.

Ha! drop downs from Minnesota? The same team that should have lost to SDSU? Not much on that roster worth having.

There needs to be more season ticket holders and general admission seating from the 40 to 40 yard line on the opponent side. Means moving the student section down from the 50 to the 30. Also, the effort towards gameday experience, just like the online roster, has faltered of late. It’s been sad to see under Chaves. Needs a kick in the ass, you could say. Send plenty of emails and also let your donations (or lack thereof) do the talking.

DL has promise. Looked good today.

this is now 100% false bring on andrew zimmerman, captain deep shot

Well, the season now rides on Zimmerman. It is what it is. He has the willingness to go deep, which isn't a bad thing. The offense is certainly run better with Freund. If Rudolph was calling this game, it would have ended 21-7 or maybe 24-7. We are in good hands with Freund. Defensive line looked fine today despite concerns from the "experts". Schmidt has some new wrinkles with his nickel defense, which should be good against more talented spread teams. I will say, though, that UND needs to find a solid QB for this system next year. Freund has some work to do in finding his star QB recruit for next season.

Well, in this very very early juncture, my optimism was well founded. FREUND IS SMARTER THAN RUDOLPH. Period. Go Hawks

The conservative nature of this fan base is probably reasonable considering what Bubba’s UND teams have done in terms of losing games they shouldn’t. With that said, if UND looks sluggish and plays this game close, I’m going to be concerned given they play NDSU, SHSU, EWU, and UC Davis up next.

UND is not in a position to hold back and be cute. If they end up playing like that, they will go into Fargo and get crushed by NDSU. UND needs to let it rip and beat Drake by as much as possible. When they barely beat Drake in 2015, it didn’t help the team in any way, shape, or form.

Based on this, I’m amazed by just how bad people think UND is going to be this season ........ If ya’ll are accurate, then that spells change for UND football leadership.

Size is important, but it sure as hell isnt everything. Let’s see how the new defensive linemen play with technique and toughness before we claim their “size” will cause them to be inadequate. UND has had “big” d-lines and o-lines before that have played like a bunch of powder puffs. It can go both ways.

If UND only beats Drake by 4 pts, the NDSU game will be a repeat of 2015 (which is bad bad bad).

38-13 UND

Very disappointing to think the online football rosters were not updated until less than a week before the first game - all because a regular every-day fan had to notify our AD via twitter. Does anyone else see the lapse here? Count me not impressed.

Or something else ... I kid, I kid.

It’s UND athletics department overall stance towards football (and lack of common sense) that is the issue. More apathy year after year. I digress now before I get in trouble referencing Canada and ice puck.

Cool. YSU is amazing ............. Minus the National Championship season, Bo and YSU have been nothing special.

Awesome. This team is going to be good.

I think both Austin Gordon and Cam McKinney are every bit as fast as JJ (with McKinney certainly faster). What JJ offers is strength behind his pads, surprising speed for his size, and just a physical running style. He will be a great change up (or technically the others will be a great change up since JJ will likely start). Overall, if all three stay healthy, I think UND will have a surprisingly good RB corps in 2019.