UND-FB-FAN

That sounds about right. Go UND. This game might actually be uglier than the 2015 matchup in Missoula. So much for improvement. Hey, Studsrud missed that game too, but don't worry, remember that only in 2017 will injuries be an issue.

If someone would like to actually look back at my earlier comments this week, you'll see I gave UND a chance versus Montana only if Studsrud has a phenomenal game. Somehow, though, UND put their only hope in a situation to get banged up and miss the game. Perhaps the injury occurred versus UNC, but either way, the overall design of things needs to be questioned.

You should write a book and title it "How to Build a College Football Program in 20 Years (if your AD gives you that much time)."

Nice work jumping to that conclusion. Think a bit harder; take into account the entire situation.

Why doesn't NDSU sustain this level of injuries? Or why don't they buckle under such impeccable odds? Remember when the #2 overall NFL pick went down? NDSU really lost a lot of games then. Or when they lost their star middle backer, defensive end, and defensive tackle? Lost a lot then too, right? UND's football program has holes and I'm not blind to it.

This isn't just bad luck. The program is a joke this season due to poor planning, conditioning, and medical staff planning. The whole works is to blame partially. This type of injury situation isn't just misfortune. A section of the staff or perhaps even more needs to lose their job. UND deserves better than this choke job. Everyone in the GF area was finally ready to get on the bandwagon and bring UND football to new heights and then we get this !@#$. Unreal.

Everything the Gameday committee has implemented has been an improvement. The tailgates are better, the crowds have been consistently bigger, and the Alerus Center environment is much better for gameday: more UND signage and better field lighting system for presentation. The only thing missing this season is the most important thing: a winning football team.

No

The players UND has available are the present and future of UND football. Reyes, Disterhaupt, Harris, etc. are seniors and/or will have a lot to prove post-injury, so everyone needs to stop making excuses and accept UND is now - all of a sudden - a rebuilding team. The defense is young at this current point and it will be for the remainder of the season. Rebuilding teams don't win at Washington-Griz Stadium. If UND's senior QB wants to take exception to the "rebuilding" label, then maybe UND will have a shot. Need 200+ yards and a few tounchdown passes from Studsrud to win, and, most importantly, no turnovers. If UND wants to go on a run, they will have to let their senior QB get them there. Only shot given the current situation.

A win against a poor team, no matter how, is always better than a loss against a poor team. UND has ALOT of work to do yet, but that work is so much more doable after a win than a loss.

Sloppy win considering the yardage differential. The turnovers were awful and they made the game closer than it should've been against a poor UNC team. Either way, it's a must needed win that will provide confidence going into difficult Washington-Griz Stadium. The youth getting reps for UND now will likely pay dividends next season. As for now, it creates turnovers and lackluster defense. The secondary is quite horrid but those youngs kids (Blubaugh, Canadby, Hunt, etc.) are getting reps that will be very valuable moving forward. Montana Griz are nothing special this year. Still a very tough place to play but a win against Montana and UND could find some momentum in an otherwise youthful rebuilding year. Reyes and Disterhaupt back for the Montana game would be quite big.

I don't care, fire the whole staff, Kennedy, if this happens.

1-4 on a season where UND is preseason top 10 and is picked to win the Big Sky Conference and now this? Really disappointing year for UND football. Horrible. Not to mention we see the attendance finally get to where it should be only for it to likely all come tumbling down now. This is a horrible nightmare. Things needs to be changed. I expect Bubba, as the head man, to identify the necessary changes and get those damn things done.

Recruiting and receiving more local ND and MN recruits is a must for UND. NDSU obtains the vast majority of the well-known kids, but they also recruit and develop many under-the-radar recruits. UND needs to improve this. Too much attrition from out-of-state recruits of late which has now partially contributed to this current disaster.

Ha So what's your independent variable? Technically it depends on your setup. What you're describing is a single sample test, such as a Z-Test. T-test would compare injured vs non-injured but would require adequate size of each. This year, such size exists. I digress.

Statistics 101 If you have an injury or two, it's likely random chance. If you have 13+ injuries, that's perhaps enough of a sample size to reject the explanation of pure chance. There's an association somewhere with these injuries and it's possibly with strength and conditioning ...

Talent is a huge part of football, but mindset and scheme also make up a huge part of it. I understand UND has lost talent on the field with the injuries, but the players that are on the field now are consistently out-of-position and getting pushed around. Maybe the coaches can put the players in better position. Maybe the players can play with more aggressiveness and belief. Maybe the coaches can recruit more talented players. Maybe the injuries are just too much. It's likely all of the above.

Hell, this should be titled "defense against Cal Davis" ... The defense was far worse than the offense last night.

Let me explain: 45-7 loss @ South Dakota 49-21 loss vs Montana State 48-24 loss @ UC Davis

No impulsive decisions are going to be made this season or shortly after. Bubba and his team could lose the rest of the games this season and, yet, nothing will happen going into 2018. They've earned that based on UND's progress from 2014 to preseason 2017. With all that said, no one should accept blow out loses to conference opponents, regardless of circumstances, including injury. Your "standards" or "expectations" should always be questioned anytime excuses supersede concern and frustration. This is also true for the players - I don't see much anger or fight from the UND football players on the field and that is concerning and frustrating, also. Remember, small dogs with big fight can also go toe-to-toe in fights. Right now, these 2nd and 3rd string UND players are small dogs with small fight and that is upsetting. There's very little passion out there; the team's actions suggest they believe 1-10 is inevitable.

UND football has gone from 9-3 Big Sky champs to a rebuild? Good Lord, that calls for someone to lose their job right there. Im completely convinced the issue we're seeing is in recruiting. Yes, the injuries hurt, but to the degree where you lose all competitiveness is a huge exaggeration. We're seeing poor depth (lack of recruiting) and an inability to change schemes based on available personnel. I hear how UND still needs more time to build depth - that's nonsense. This isn't Bubba's second season. Instead of freshman and redshirt freshmen out there, we should be seeing some backup sophomores and juniors that Bubba's staff recruited. Instead, we see young guys that are like fish out of water. The staff has missed on many players and it is hurting this program now as unexpected injuries hit. Too much attrition from Bubba's first and second year classes.

3 of those 4 are Mussman recruits ... can Bubba's staff recruit? The jury is still out on that, in my opinion. Fair amount of attrition at DB and LB since 2014, too.

No, I am not. I am "hinting" at Bubba and his staff recruiting better players. Its hard when NDSU takes every decent player out of North Dakota; I'll give them that. It still needs to be better or else UND will have very little room for error in terms of injuries (like we are seeing now). Bubba went 5-7, 7-4, 9-3 in his first three seasons. Right now, in his fourth season, he is 1-4. I think he will probably end with only 4 or 5 wins this season, which is very bad relative to may standards for UND football. With that said, of course I support the regime continuing into 2018 based on the improvement from 2014 to 2016. If 2018 is a lost year also, then my "hinting" may actually be towards a direction change. For now, Bubba and his staff need to just keep working as they have and hopefully hit on some better players during the recruiting process.

If you hit on your recruiting classes, depth can be built relatively quickly. There's no set timetable. The way Thomas went about it in the 80s and 90s is completely different from the modern era of recruiting, not to mention UND is recruiting against DI institutions now. Its apple to oranges. Some coaches have gone 7+ years without ever building depth (and ultimately get fired) whereas some coaches arrive and the depth is built after only a year or two (because the classes are all successful in terms of quantity and quality). Its extremely variable. Is 3 recruiting classes enough for Bubba? Apparently not. Should it be enough? I don't know because its extremely variable in the world of modern DI college football. We'll see how the next couple seasons go for Bubba and UND football.

Be careful on your degree of "decimation". The injuries shouldn't turn UND from first to worst in the Big Sky Conference. That designation also belongs to below average recruiting from the past few years.