UND-FB-FAN

The team isn't mentally tough enough to fight through the injuries, adversity, and pressure of being picked to win every conference game. They're packing it in after only 5 games.

Is Studsrud a 3rd stringer? How about Toivonen and Mercer? Santiago and Oliveira weren't expected to play much? Dranka, Tank Harris, and Greely are third string players along with Disterhaupt, Haas, Jade Lawrence, and Torrey Hunt? UND has a lot of "experienced leaders" still on the field but yet they've packed it in. It's disapponting. I'm glad there's some folks on this board who love excuses because it's sort of representative of this team right now - going all in on excuses.

UND has the worst backups in the FCS, apparently.

Half of those players are on the field right now and this defense is no where near "stud". I sure hope everything works out, but injuries shouldn't turn a team from #1 in the conference to a doormat.

Your stance is that UND would've been fine in 2018 because Rastas, Blubaugh, etc. would've miraculously improved with another year of prep? Yeah, they would've been more physically prepared, but the intangibles are what they are. We are seeing a preview of what the future holds. UND needs to have a level of fight and determination that doesn't allow this kind of collapse to occur, especially just following a conference championship season. The culture of this team is not adequate. What happened from last season to this season goes beyond injuries. After four recruiting classes, UND and Bubba need to have some depth that prevents this level of embarrassment and implosion from happening.

The injury situation is unfortunate, but these 2nd and 3rd string players aren't all true freshmen. Also, UND was picked to win the conference; a bunch of injuries shouldnt turn UND into a doormat! Maybe they should be less competitive, but they shouldn't turn into the bottom feeder of the Big Sky Comference. Bubba and his staff have shown deficiencies, now, in recruiting quality depth and adjusting on the fly when unexpected changes hit.

So we're basically seeing a sneak peak of the 2018 UND defense. If not this season, we would've been very disappointed next season. The depth of this program is not good; Bubba and his staff have messed up.

Blowouts aren't conspiracy theories; they're objective observations.

The culture of this program has taken a 180. Injuries are one thing, but you still have to fight and stand up for the culture of UND football. That isn't happening right now against mediocre teams ... Bubba and his staff are dropping the ball on this situation.

From first to worst ... There's some hidden problems that most can't identify apparently.

I guess the 2nd string and 3rd string players are all walk-ons on defense. I wont put up with the bull$%!# excuse that the injuries justify completely falling apart.

Bubba and Schmidty, Your defense is playing like horseshit. All on the injuries, though, right?

I don't foresee the diehards of this board jumping ship, so no real concern there. With that said, the fair weather fans are likely running the other direction by now. That is disappointing and I'm upset with the way this season has gone thus far also. Even the Big Sky Conference and FCS polls expected UND to perform well.

I'm never okay with #11 in the Big Sky Conference. It's been well established of late that the Big Sky Conference is quite weak relative to the MVFC and CAA. Bubba and UND need to get their !@#$ together and we need to stop blaming this entirely on injuries. The schemes and depth have been equaly as problematic.

Man, UND football really hurt themselves and the attendance situation with the Montana State loss. All that work by Bubba ends in a sold out crowd ... only to witness a blowout ... Need to get back to work to correct. Stings though as the work done by Bubba AND the Alerus Center had initially worked ...

Spot on

I'm focusing on results. We can baby the injury situation all we want, but the bottomline is UND hasn't even been competitive the past two games against two teams they beat just last season! That goes beyond injuries, period. Im not jumping off any ledges, but there's reason to be concerned with the lack of depth and the last two efforts. To ignore that is blatant negligence and I sure hope Bubba and his staff aren't doing that. Happy to hear the players had a players-only meeting to try right the ship. There are leadership and execution issues right now; let's just hope there isn't talent issues with the young guys out there now, too. This team can play way, way better with the players that are available right now.

They were initially recruited by Mussman and his staff. Mussman was fired, Bubba was hired, and those two came to campus during Bubba's first year as HC as Bubba honored their commitments/prior recruiting. Technically, Mussman contacted them and started the process.

Injuries are definitely hurting UND, but you don't go from 9-3 to 1-10 based purely on injuries. Recruiting is the lifeblood of college football; if UND fails to at least win more games than they lose, then thats a sign that Bubba's recruiting classes have been overrated (I apologize to the student-athletes of those classes, this is purely from a football standpoint). I'm doubting these recent recruiting classes at the moment - too much attrition and too much inability to execute on the field. In all honestly, the best players on this team are Mussman recruits - Reyes, D. Harris, Stockwell, Studsrud (all of which are injured minus Studsrud). Hell, as we saw late in the game vs Montana State, the backup QBs that Bubba and Rudolph have recruited are completely horrible. Just an example of depth holes along the entire roster. Need better coaching/teaching and recruiting so such collapses as the one we are witnessing don't happen when injuries go against you.

Injuries are definitely hurting UND, but you don't go from 9-3 to 1-10 based purely on injuries. Recruiting is the lifeblood of college football; if UND fails to at least win more games than they lose, then thats a sign that Bubba's recruiting classes have been overrated (I apologize to the student-athletes of those classes, this is purely from a football standpoint). I'm doubting these recent recruiting classes at the moment - too much attrition and too much inability to execute on the field. In all honestly, the best players on this team are Mussman recruits - Reyes, D. Harris, Stockwell, Studsrud (all of which are injured minus Studsrud). Need better coaching/teaching and recruiting so such collapses as the one we are witnessing don't happen when injuries go against you.

Dev Ferguson would barely make the 2nd team. Average across the board. Yes, all teams have attrition, just that the good ones have less. UND lost some backers to untimely injury, absolutely, but the offensive and defensive lines are also playing horrible.

Disagree. UND's backups are playing bad. Their starters are also playing poorly. The coaching staff is having lapses they didn't have last season. Injuries are a part of the problem, but Bubba has had 4 seasons to recruit depth. Why isn't it here? Disappointing.

True ... but why are the backups so undersized? Perhaps Bubba and Schmidt shouldn't recruit players that may take 3 or 4 years to build up to playing weight. I think what we are seeing with the injuries is certainly meaningful, but we are also seeing some major recruiting flaws along the way, also. Need better 2nd string guys to step in and also challange and compete. Schematics with the backup players hasn't blown anyone out of the water, either. All in all, the players that UND has received injuries to should not turn UND from the #1 Big Sky Conference team to a team that gets blown out at home. That, my friends, also includes holes in recruiting and piss poor schematics and game management.

UND pulls in over 12,000 for their first two home games ... only for them to get blown out. Figures... This is embarrassing. Tough situation. Go UND

If this game was on the road in Bozeman, I think the Bobcats would win hands down. The only thing going for UND is playing at home. If there is a good home crowd that gets behind UND, it may spike up UND's enthusiasm and work ethic to a level far above the ridiculous level it was at for South Dakota. Its a toss-up game for me, but being it's a must win (early in the season, I know, but given the recent circumstances) at home, I think UND can pull this thing out. Doesn't mean they will - have to be focused and execute on Saturday. Go UND