UND-FB-FAN

Exactly, which is why UND needs to expand their brand, particularly in football and basketball. UND hockey is without question the financial-engine and fan-stabilizer right now, but way more potential exists with football and basketball. If UND football and/or basketball grows to the point that it can compete against the big boys (like NDSU has done), then UND will gain far greater national recognition. That needs to be focused on, not the nickname. Whether or not UND possesses the nickname Fighting Sioux, or "no nickname" , or any nickname for that matter, has no bearing on the competitiveness of UND. The competitiveness should be the focus.

How can the Fighting Sioux logo be one of the most highly recognizable nicknames/logos in the NCAA when college hockey (the only UND sport that excessively wore the Fighting Sioux logo) is certainly not the most highly recognizable sport in the NCAA? The college hockey niche that exists in North Dakota and Minnesota is blinded by their passion to the point where their perception of popular opinion is strongly altered. I'm sorry, but the NCAA and the national supporters of college athletics are not in the utmost awe of the Fighting Sioux logo. Yes, the logo was unique, traditional, representative, and honorable, among other things, but it was not the Holy Grail. Yes, the logo was majestic and attention-grabbing, but it was not the foundation of the University of North Dakota athletics. Ultimately, I completely agree with the stance that the University of North Dakota and its athletic teams are way more than a logo/nickname. I would much rather see UND athletics gain national recognition through the winning of the titles and actual accomplishment rather than possessing a creative, airport-loving, golf course-attaching, random bar-adoring nickname/logo. With that said, North Dakota is not a nickname, but rather a proper identifier. And if every other DI school is going to have a nickname -- for marketing, national identification, etc. -- then it is in the best interest of UND to move on and acquire one as well. Blame the NCAA. Blame the legal settlement terms. Perhaps blame the administration for selecting an illogical procedure in order to select the new nickname. But do not blame the University of North Dakota for needing to do what's best for itself: move on. There are far more important battles (both academically and athletically) to be fought than living in the past of a nickname.

Tremendous story. Jahmere Irvin-Sill's piece starts at 6:15 in the video. He's been through a lot, but he appears to have great character and determination. I have the utmost confidence that the University of North Dakota and the people of North Dakota will be a great fit for Jahmere. And, lastly, he appears to be a good football player. Should help out UND football right away. Bubba has this thing building up.

Why do the masses want to have "no nickname"? Obviously, North Dakota is not a nickname, because its a proper identifier, the actual name of the state, and the actual name of the university. A nickname is a substitute for the proper term, not a redundancy. I can say with fair certainty the public favoritism towards "no nickname" exists not because having "no nickname" would be beneficial to the university as a DI school, because, clearly, no other universities of DI status claim "no nickname". It largely limits marketing and identification qualities on a NATIONAL scale (which should be the goal of any DI athletic program), not just a local scale. Also, the claim that the list contains no proper replacements is perhaps reasonable, but not catastrophic as some suggest. Roughriders or Fighting Hawks would do just fine. High schools athletics do not even compare to DI college athletics. Secondly, non-GF graduates and most outside of the Grand Forks area could care less what the local high school mascots are. Additionally, some logos suggested for the Fighting Hawks have been quite artistic and unique and would have positive marketing potential. In all reality, this entire emotional tirade is nothing more than a bunch of supporters having severe difficulty letting go. Blame the NCAA. Blame the legal settlement terms. But do not blame the nickname committee for having to do what their title suggested: select a nickname. Why should we condone the message "If we can't have this, then we should have nothing at all"? That is a societal fallback that is deplorable and problematic. Compromises need to be made in several contextual areas in life, and simply doing nothing is the emotional, irrational alternative to that; as a supporter of constructive criticism, procedural deliberation, and objective thought, I support the former rather than the latter.

http://bigskyconf.com/documents/2015/7/17//2015PreseasonPolls.pdf?id=3805 http://www.grandforksherald.com/sports/und-football/3801195-tom-miller-und-still-search-big-sky-respect UND picked 9th in both coaches' and media preseason polls. Honestly, although coach-speak may suggest that UND shouldn't care, this has to stop at some point in time. Respect has to be earned. I surely hope that 2015 is the season that Bubba and his players rack up some key wins, such as home games vs Montana State and Idaho State and road games vs Montana and Cal Poly, to put UND football on the Big Sky Conference's radar. After awhile, UND players needs to get ticked off that THE University of North Dakota is being overlooked by schools such as Southern Utah and Sacramento State; I don't mean any direct disrespect to those schools, but they don't belong in the same category as UND. UND now officially has some of the top facilities in the Big Sky Conference, with the HPC and the Alerus. UND needs to simply produce in the win and loss column, that's it. I hope respect is earned sooner rather than later.

They don't have them in yet. We'll see them when they receive them from Adidas. For example, Will Ratelle was wearing last year's Nike jersey at the media session.

Yeah, so do that. Winning games is important. I think the Big Sky Conference still thinks UND football is a middle-of-the-road program like Weber State and Southern Utah. Bubba and the boys need to change that, starting this season. It's getting old. THE University of North Dakota should be no different than schools like Montana State, Montana, and Eastern Washington. The facilities and fan base are in place, just need to win!

That game was just bad-timing. Only Studrud's second start and coming off a horrible game vs. Eastern Washington. Also, the offense was bare thin at most positions. Offense wont be any worse in 2015, thats for sure.

Absolutely. Throw in ILB O'Brien, OLB Harmston, OLB Labat, and New Mexico transfer ILB Baker and UND has solid depth behind the starters. Bubba ball is starting to take shape!

New uniform pictures should be surfacing soon, but for the time being, here's a photo of Will Ratelle holding the new matte helmets with logo: https://instagram.com/p/5VlhS5NcH3/

http://bigskyconf.com/news/2015/7/17/MBB_0717155020.aspx Big Sky Conference will have instant replay systems in place for football and basketball officials starting this season (2015). Will be huge for officiating of games, as the quality of the BSC in that category has been, well, lacking.

You bring up a very important point that has been touched on before. Attrition from non-local prospects had badly hurt UND football before Bubba got here as head coach and it will continue to hurt UND. The most important prospects are those from the Midwest, specifically ND and MN. They are the most likely to stick it out the full 4 - 5 years.

My original post was fueled by the over-the-top, vitriolic rhetoric recently displayed by some "NDSU faithful" on Twitter. If you wish to choose no association, that's fine; after all, I specifically chose not to state NDSU supporters as a unanimous group in my original post.

Ouch. Attrition is a bitch in college football. Sure hope there's enough depth to keep this thing moving in the right direction. Yet A LOT of question-marks for this year's team.

Right, because those other than NDSU's administration and athletic department have an actual say in the scheduling. Also, I was very specific in saying only some of NDSU's supporters are overwhelmed. Please read more carefully and comprehensively. After the game on Septmeber 19th, NDSU will understand why they should continue to schedule UND; that is, unless UND wins.

Matilus is now not coming, that I have heard. As for Hartley, I sure hope that's just a typo because he was looking like the real deal last spring.

The Twitter conversation that ensued after the article was released is absolutely asinine. Some NDSU supporters/morons believe it's okay to schedule Weber State and not UND? Then they go on to say money is not a priority at NDSU (complete bull$%!#) and that they enjoy winning championships. Behind the scenes, NDSU's administration does all it can to get wealthy ND and MN farmers to contribute year in and year out. What a bunch of crap. Lastly, the pitch is made that NDSU players don't care about playing UND and that no game should ever be played in the Alerus. It's all complete incompetence on the part of some NDSU bozos. I mean, I'm sure Ohio State would love to host Michigan every year, or maybe Iowa host OOC rival Iowa State every season, but it doesn't work that way, so some of the ignorant fools in Fargo need to try look at this a bit more objectively. What has happened in Fargo the last four seasons acts as quite the psychological experiment; the people who do not have the wherewithal to handle NDSU's success show their lack of mental fortitude through arrogance and illogical babbling. Congrats NDSU, you're fanbase officially contains "die-hard" idiots. Of course, that's common in many fanbases, but yet that does not make it entirely tolerable. UND and NDSU are long-time rivals at the same division classification. Yes, they are not in the same conference and in football they have not been even close in terms of competitiveness, but that should not stop either school from scheduling this. NDSU fans who don't want this are either too arrogant or too young (possibly both) to remember the kind of atmosphere this game breeds. It needs to happen, because as far as I can tell, what more does NDSU need to look forward to? Their 4-year championship run was/has been impressive, but it's time to move onto different things and think about the state they're supposedly representing.

Started at nose guard last season in UND's 3-4 defensive front and he will likely start there again this season. He brings a tremendous amount of energy and passion to the defensive side of the ball, and that's just what UND's coaching staff wants; that is, if it is controlled. If there's a negative to his game, perhaps he gets a bit too "amped up" at times. Nevertheless, he's a good football player and a starter on one of the best FCS defenses in the country.

UND and Rudolph's offense is going to live and die by the ground game, especially given the unknown factor at the quarterback position. When UND was running the football effectively against Northern Arizona and Northern Colorado at the end of last season, UND was a very competitive team that had the full offensive-defensive package. I agree with you that there's no reason the running game/offensive line will be any worse than it was during the 2014 season; just much better depth/numbers and better cohesiveness with that group now a year later.

Lawrence is an OLB at the DI level, not a RB.

The thing is that 100% of recruiting classes never work out. There's too many variables like academics, commitment issues, and even inadequate playing ability. I guess it's better to be closer to 100% than 50%, but those Canadian kids offer major talent at a nearby location. That's critical to program building in college football (pipelines). Hopefully if the staff goes back up into Canada for 2016 recruiting, the results are a bit better.

The ones who have stayed (Olivera and Bennett) will likely be 3-4 year starters as well. I think that's a decent success rate (2/4 or 50%) considering the talent there. Keep going after Canadian footnall stars, because they know the weather and are familiar with the area. I think the Canada recruiting hotbed is a good idea for UND football.

Things are getting boring down at Cowville...

You're simply referring to the law of averages, and in that case, it's needs sufficent sample size. And if you think anyone could've coached the 2014 UND football team to 5 wins and competitive games vs Montana and Montana State, you're mistaken. I suggest you take your grade school statistics - although you may have learned that at Fargo U and that wouldn't surprise me - elsewhere. After a single season, it is perfectly more reasonable to suspect improvement rather than it is to suspect simple regression, particularly given the circumstances of 2014 UND football. Regression to mediocrity occurs spontaneously due to natural phenoma, whereas improvement occurs through concentrated effort, such as hard work. Bubba and UND football are now putting in that hard work; improvement will happen.

I could give a sh*t if its 30 to 1. This is a UND board; our interests are independent of Moo U. In 2015, the only thing that will matter as far as UND-NDSU goes is who plays better on September 19th, not who had the bigger balls in 1990, 2011, or 2014.