UND-FB-FAN

One hell of a goal line/short yardage offense coming up ...Norberg and Johannesson lead blocking for Oliveria with a possible jet sweep action to Santiago? Damn UND's offense has potential. Not to mention Keaton is a senior and has best receiver corps yet. Rudolph needs to be thorough and smart and get the job done this year with logical playcalling.

UND needs to be competitive and attempt to win this game. It would be a program-changing win. With those kind of stakes, you need to go all out. See NDSU vs Kansas State in 2013.

There were plenty of wide-open throws that Studsrud missed last season. I think the 70% mark is unrealistic, but Studsrud definitely can improve a few percentage points in 2017. A lot is on him. The receivers and offensive line will be more experienced and better in 2017. It's time for Studsrud to step up or UND will maintain the status quo or, even worse, have a disappointing 2017.

Ha, no to the damn reverses at this point. Yes to downhill tough UND football, which is what Oliveira and Johannesson in the backfield will provide. Santiago keeps the defense honest horizontally so him in the slot gets UND's talented big backs on the field more which is where they belong.

So UND is going to miss on all these recruits they've evaluated in-person? Get a grip man. Must be extra pungent in Northside Fargo this morning.

In terms of hockey dictating the choice, why not Nike or Under Armour then? The favorite has been Adidas but a surprise with Nike or UA would be welcome.

I agree with this and I'm quite certain Rudolph is going to try this some non-conference to see how it goes.

I completely understand that and appreciate that. My point is an obvious one: UND *must* have early afternoon games during the second half of their schedule due to hockey. That makes things difficult for folks who don't want to attend two games and thus opt for hockey and/or can't get to Grand Forks by noon/1 pm for football. Hockey will always be penciled in for late evening start times. UND football has to work around that. Not a big deal but a fact of reality that may affect attendance a bit on "double-header Saturdays".

I think games around 2:30 pm or later are the norm for "primetime games". Additionally, those games would possibly be better attended in Grand Forks considering large groups of attendees struggle getting to the Alerus by noon for some reason. Blame it on the drinking "have a good time" crowd

All around the country, college football plays primetime at late afternoon or evening. UND hockey interferes with UND football playing late afternoon/evening games; therefore, UND may actually need to do something unique such as attendance vouchers. UND hockey naturally soaks up the crowd due to the REA and their game times which isn't fair to Bubba and the UND football program.

It all comes down to UND's season at that point. If UND underperforms in prior games, the EWU game will have an inappropriately poor crowd due to deer season opener.

Of course. Needs to be done.

!@#$ All the games got tougher now. !@#$ Redshirt left yet for Harris fortunately. Next man up; team needs to rally around Deion and still strive for Frisco. Crazier things have happened. Go Hawks

Frisco or bust. NOTHING wrong with confidence and high expectations. That should be/now is the standard for UND football. Bubba, his staff, and the student-athletes have done a tremendous job over the past three plus years. Make 2017 a special, special year. Work hard and get it done. The respect for UND football observed today from the Big Sky Conference was earned the right way, as we all remember the Conference thinking the exact opposite of UND only a year or two ago. UND now needs to earn national respect, and Bubba and his program need to go about that the same way. I have confidence that UND football under Bubba will reach the pinnacle sooner rather than later. Go UND Fighting Hawks

Winning brings forth accolades. UND is the reigning Big Sky Conference champion and that is worth something. On to bigger and better things this season. Go Fighting Hawks!

Alerus Center definitely half-assed it for a long time ... the gameday atmosphere committee and new Alerus Center management seems to be making a difference so far, though (consider new sound system).

I provided a few posts on this within this thread a while back. I strongly agree this should be looked into.

Big thing that UND marketing/gameday staff needs to be aware of too is that these highlights should not be limited to only the opening intro video. Its perfectly okay and actually beneficial to play highlights at halftime or during quarter breaks to get the fans into the game. Many universities do this around the country. Biggest example would be previous game highlights so average fans are familiar with what the team has been doing/accomplishing in recent weeks ...

I completely agree. Need all those big moments from over the years to make up 50% of video with the other 50% coming from all the great 2016 highlights. The most recent 2016 team was very close and there's no use to remove fans too far from where Bubba has currently got this team! Tradition and direction both need to be included! Plenty of pick 6s and long runs from last year.

Montana will definitely present a challenge based on their homefield advantage. With that said, UND needs to be able to run the ball and get solid QB play from their senior QB; if they get that, UND should be able to pull out a hard fought game in Missoula. Always tough to win there.

UND can pull the upset vs Utah if they protect the football and ultimately win the turnover battle. UND will have more experience than Utah at some key positions. With all that said, it comes down to whether or not UND's players can play composed under the pressure of a PAC-12 venue. If so, UND has the talent to pull the upset. One game at a time and UND needs to focus on Utah for now.

Spectacular - good work Alerus Center. Fighting Hawks football will be quite the event this fall Go Hawks

Good. They best brainstorm and improve gameday. There is a lot of hype building around Grand Forks for 2017 UND football (evidenced by ticket sales), so UND best put on a show (including tailgating and pre-game).

He's talented so that's reason enough if there's even slight mutual interest.

Man, I strongly dislike NDSU. Thank President Kennedy for advocating and getting UND into the MVFC; only way UND can fix this run of dominance by NDSU (both on-the-field and off-the-field with recruiting) is by beating them head-to-head. UND will now have that opportunity (albeit in a couple years) to consistently best the Ag school head-to-head. Until people, including local recruits, see UND cares about football and can outduel NDSU on the field, the scale will continue to tip in the Ag school's favor. Go Hawks