UND-FB-FAN

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

i am thinking the same thing UND needs to start producing a few pro prospects every season....then, its time to bring scouts to the campus of THE university of north dakota fortunately, bubba has several talented young players who could be in the running for the next level if they keep working

Again, my thoughts exactly in terms of football, go to a Vikings game, gophers football game, or even NDSU football game and just pay attention to the little things that the marketing/gameday staffs do. UND does very little to none of it, and the stuff they do actually do is done with very little effort. It's all about the amount of work UND just wants to do. They are lazy with non-hockey sports and it can't continue if und wants div I success thankfully bubba is building a winning program...if UND marketing can't pick up on this current momentum then that's piss poor

Agree 100% und athletics and marketing needs to step up

Agree. Winning is the most important factor in producing large crowds. With that said, UND football marketing and game day presentation can certainly still improve.

I agree with all of this; however, why not host the spring football game at the Alerus Center where all amenities already are present?

That isn't entirely true. After the exciting win vs Montana State, how was the crowd the following home game vs. Northern Colorado? It was poorer than the crowd two weeks prior. Winning doesn't solve all problems, unfortunately. The athletic department and the Alerus Center need to still improve the general gameday atmosphere.

It certainly is important to not conveniently ignore the competive race that NDSU provides in-state. Many want to normalize the status quo, suggesting that NDSU's tremendous success doesn't affect UND football at all; however, UND does need to pick up coverage and support of its football program to keep up with NDSU. North Dakota and Northern Minnesota do not have a population that allows for blatant ignorance of NDSU's success. UND needs to aspire forward progress in football every season, and I believe media coverage is just one such way to facilitate improvement. Of course, consistent winning is also important, but what can be done by fans and UND athletics to help that? Fill the Alerus; improve marketing and game day experiences.

I do agree that hosting the game at Memorial Stadium does offer some positive aspects that would otherwise not be present at the Alerus Center. With that said, downgrading the hype surrounding Spring Games is not the current trend in college football, as the Alerus Center offers the ability for instant replay, in-game interviews, music, tailgating, etc. None of that will be present at Memorial.