UND-FB-FAN

Statement win on the road and Brian Jones don't go together very well. Let's hope that changes tonight.

http://www.undsports.com/ViewArticle.dbml?ATCLID=210111402&DB_OEM_ID=13500 Austin Gordon, who redshirted during the 2015 season. He won the 2015 offensive scout of the year award. He has potential to contribute to an already deep RB corps (Santiago, Olivera, Norberg, Nevermann). Amazing what a year can do in terms of depth at tailback; last year this time, tailback was a concern. Now, it appears to be a strength. Need to get the new-look offensive line rolling now, though.

This may be the idea that catches the most momentum. Time to seriously consider it. Chelsea Dagger and pyrotechnics after every UND TD? Sounds good to me. Let's get some excitement in the Alerus, even if it has to be initiated with some music first. The Ralph has no problem including some audio to kickstart the place. I've notced many times that the atmosphere starts off well in the Alerus, only to simmer down by the 3rd quarter. Using music that already has a place within UND athletics could maintain some excitement throughout the game, among the other ideas.

Spring Football 2-Deep is interesting; may reflect the early favorites to start in 2016: http://www.undsports.com/pdf9/4572417.pdf QB Keaton Studsrud TB John Santiago FB Jacob Francis (spot to watch) TE Luke Mathewson (spot to watch) Z Clive Georges X Luke Stanley LT AJ Stockwell LG Dan Bell (spot to watch) C Grant Aplin (spot to watch) RG Demon Taylor (spot to watch) RT Matt Cox (spot to watch) LE Noah Johnson RE Brandon Dranka NG Tank Harris WOLB Brian Labat WILB Connor O'Brien SILB Taj Rich SOLB Jake Disterhaupt LCB Deion Harris RCB Tyus Carter Rover Cole Reyes SS Zach Arnell K Reid Taubenehim P Jacob Meeks (spot to watch) LS Jacob Holmen INJURED FOR SPRING BALL: 3 Tyus Carter (So., 5-11, 180) 5 Brady Oliveira (So., 5-10, 220) 8 Cole Reyes (Jr., 6-2, 220) 20 Zach Arnell (Jr., 6-2, 195) 32 Taj Rich (Sr., 6-1, 230) 61 Brandon Miller (Jr., 6-5, 315

More music in general. Kids and adults both appreciate music at sporting events because they're general atmosphere setters (see NDSU football, UM football, Vikings football, etc.). UND and the Alerus Center need to be aware of the need to "ripen up" the mood a bit, so they need to play more music pregame and during the game. I love the idea of ESTABLISHING a single TD song that can be used over and over again. It just has to be a good song. Just like how the "atmosphere setting" songs need to be workable and the intro needs to be correctly orchestrated (light off, buildup music on). UND and Alerus Center need to turn UND football into an enticing event for all ages. College football is the most popular college sport in America for a reason; unleash the potential!

I agree with this (maybe even this exact song). Build some tradition; find a song and stick with it for every UND TD. Also, continue investing in fireworks; they were a nice touch, I thought.

Correct. Can't expect Jones to ever elevate UND into the top 2.

I must admit, because I'm critical of head coaches due their responsibilities in both game management and player acquisition/development, I must give partial credit to Jones now that he has some players (namely Hooker and Crandall) performing at an all-conference level. With that said, this year's team still hasn't showed enough to convince me Jones can ever lead UND to a conference championship. Jones has yet to (ever) beat Weber or Montana on the road and this year's squad has had poor late-game let downs at home to NDSU and Montana. If you can't hold down home court or win big games on the road, tough to win conference tournament games and make it to the grand prize: the NCAA tournament. Nice/important opportunity on Thursday @ Montana.

Lights off for intro. Hands down. They have no excuse considering they had the lights off every season before last.

These numbers explain it. 2013 (Mussman's final season) - 891 yards rushing for UND; 15 passing TDs to 19 interceptions 2014 (Bubba's first season) - 1397 rushing yards; 6 passing TDs to 13 interceptions 2015 - 2645 rushing yards; 15 passing TDs to 5 interceptions

Tough situation. The team is better, but it has very little to nothing to do with Jones. Frustrating part of this whole situation is UND could potentially hire someone with a good track record as a head coach. Can you imagine a Bubba-type coach for UND MBB? Someone who is involved in the community and supports the entire university; it would do wonders in recruiting and, most importantly, the W column.

Unfortunately, when Mollberg was playing QB for UND in 2013 and 2014, the team did not have the running game necessary for the QB to thrive. I think there is plenty of potential for Mollberg to do nice things at the TE position in 2016 - best of luck to him! A cute little stat I like to use is total rushing yards on offense; it usually lines up quite nicely with QB play, as one would expect: 2013 (Mussman's final season) - 891 yards rushing for UND; 15 passing TDs to 19 interceptions 2014 (Bubba's first season) - 1397 rushing yards; 6 passing TDs to 13 interceptions 2015 - 2645 rushing yards; 15 passing TDs to 5 interceptions Basically, without a productive running game, its hard to prevent turnovers and have solid quarterback play (judged on TD:INT ratio, here). This is why its quite evident, in my opinion, that focusing on the ground game is absolutely what Bubba and UND need to continue to do. QB play will follow. Studsrud and his returning WR corps should do some nice things in 2016.

Very, very good point. Do not underestimate the loss of Zach Alder; he was a Swiss-army knife of sorts for the offense, playing both FB and TE. Having Norberg and/or Nevermann transition to that role could be key to the effectiveness of the offense in 2016.

2016 UND football roster has been released in time for spring football via undsports.com: http://www.undsports.com/SportSelect.dbml?DB_OEM_ID=13500&SPID=6399&SPSID=58641&DB_OEM_ID=13500 Some things of note: 16 Torrey Hunt DB 6-1 185 RFr. Madison, Ala. (Navy Prep) (Bob Jones) 10 Jawon Johnson DB 6-2 210 Sr. Johnson still listed as DB and not OLB (he played at the end of 2015). He may still be playing at OLB. 30 DaQuan Baker LB 6-0 240 So. Baker played some DE last season; he may be moving back to LB apparently, or just not updated as with Jawon Johnson. 38 Dijon Murray LB 6-0 225 Jr. New Orleans, La. (New Mexico Military Academy) (St. Augustine) 97 Jacob Meeks P 6-0 220 Jr. Corinth, Miss. (Northeast Mississippi ) (Corinth) 14 Joe Mollberg TE 6-2 235 Sr. Detroit Lakes, Minn. (Detroit Lakes High School)

I respect your current conflict; however, I believe you should gather a bit more information before proposing Grady "quit" on his teammates and coaches. Personally, I feel it is quite premature to state "the reason why [he quit] doesn't matter". Yes, it is true that from a purely football perspective Grady has a ton of potential, but with that said, he's also a good kid from what I hear.

This sums up where my thoughts on UND MBB are, as well.

Not going to say this will happen or will not happen, but let's remember that the entire Elijah Grady situation is complex in that there are external personal matters at play. With that said, let's not overly-criticize whatever decision Grady and Bubba eventually come to.

The TEAM needs to play better. Relying on only Hooker will result in nothing but losses during the conference tournament on a neutral court. TEAM defense, TEAM passing (assist:turnover ratio), TEAM free-throw shooting, TEAM rebounding, etc. all trump individual statistics in any game. With that said, glad UND got the win and congratulations to Hooker on reaching 1000 points and playing superbly against PSU. He's a tremendous player and an even better person.

Agree. The best players on UND's team need to play like the best players, especially at home.

Bubba has shed light on something that many others have overlooked. If you want to make UND athletics great again as a whole, you need the students to support the other students. That is, the student body really is the starting point of pride and energy within the stands. By telling his own players to get out there and support the other student-athletes, Bubba has increased both the level of support and competition on the court, field, and ice. I surely expect this to be reciprocated by the other programs/student-athletes in the fall, and coupled with the hype of last season's 7-4 record, 2016 should be a real fun year of UND Fighting Hawks football!

To consider the next two weeks a success, UND (13-12, 8-6, 6th BSC) needs to go 3-1 and finish in the top 4. Final four games: vs. Portland State (9-16, 5-9 BSC) vs. Sacramento State (11-14, 4-10 BSC) at Montana (17-8, 12-2 BSC) at Montana State (12-14, 7-7 BSC) Defeating Montana in Missoula will be difficult, but UND cannot afford to lose the other three. If UND goes 2-2 or worse, they will not receive a top 4 seed for the Big Sky Conference tournament. If UND falters down the stretch, Coach Jones' job status needs to yet be questioned. There is a lot of young talent on this team; they all deserve to be properly coached.

Yes, and also the University of Minnesota's pro day. If NDSU doesn't want to help out, there's always the U of M (Ratelle is from the Twin Cities). Do not take what I said out of context; I was simply implying that hosting a UND pro day in the HPC without NDSU would not be perceived as a bad thing by most UND fans (i.e., cooperation with NDSU is not needed for a pro day). Pro scouts regularly make their way up to Grand Forks throughout the football season to watch UND players practice and/or play games.

Two major observations from yesterday's ball game and, unfortunately, they both are negative: 1) Shanks is not a good basketball player right now. He should not start and should be demoted to a low-minutes bench player. He looks horribly uncomfortable when he touches the ball and is a huge turnover liability. Sit him down, Jones. 2) What is with Jones' teams not knowing how to finish? Saw it against NDSU. Saw it against Montana. Saw it against UNC on the road. And, now again, see it against UNC at home. Fortunately, this time UND pulled it out, but just barely. I'm sorry, but all this does is yet fortify by belief that Jones is not a top DI basketball coach; however, some of this players (Hooker, Crandall, etc.) fortunately are more than capable. I will add in one positive to even the observations a bit: The atmosphere in the Betty was tremendous. The recent home wins obviously help, but so does the "fun atmosphere" produced by the students and football players. Countless times yesterday the crowd was entertained by the football players just as much as the action on the court. This shows how important the little things are to general crowd building. The Alerus Center is where this is desperately lacking. Hopefully next football season this is improved with quality effort from the UND marketing/game day staffs.

And that's just fine. We could careless if UND hosts other institutions' players. Thanks for the pointless clarification.

it's painful to bring back bad memories, but let this serve as a reminder to what UND needs to work on this off-season and spring ball. This right here is some of the worst 1-on-1 pass defense I've seen... This needs to improve ... and i would like to think it will because all of these players will have the opportunity to learn from this and come back next year better and prepared also, UND QB play was atrocious in this game...emphasizes the importance of QB depth and QB play Studsrud's last three games of 2015 were very good, so spring ball should really have the spotlight on: 1) defensive secondary coverage technique and execution 2) QB play and QB depth - Studsrud, Bartels, and Heidlebaugh need to work on decision-making and chemistry with receivers .... HPC should help with this 3) offensive line play... obviously 4 of 5 2015 starters are gone which will make the offensive line a key position group in spring ball