UND-FB-FAN

To a certain degree, I agree. There are several talented players on this roster (Hardin, Jackson, Golladay, Mollberg, etc.) but results speak for themselves. Recruiting philosophy along with development within the system is certainly an issue. Not many local kids on the roster because the staff doesn't have an emphasis on bringing in local kids and developing them into FCS caliber players. Instead they go around the country and bring in unfamiliar kids that don't play with enough passion and leadership. A lot of that is also the coaching staff's fault; a football team takes on the attitude of their coaches. And, because that's the case, UND's football teams for the past few years have been timid and undisciplined.

SDSU game was definitely a close game. UND had a shot to tie it up in the 4th. SDSU isn't as good as their preseason ranking suggested. UND is also not as good as the preseason rankings suggested (8th in Big Sky). Will know more when we play Sac St. Portland State No. Colorado, UC Davis, etc. but I currently see us in the 10-13 range.

Very excited for this season. Coach Jones has done a great job compiling a talented and deep roster and even adding experienced coaches such as Jason Shay. I feel this team has the potential to win the Big Sky regular season, host the conference tournament (which would be spectacular!), and even punch a ticket to the big dance! Should be a fun season with the experience of this roster.

I don't think there's anyway we win 7 games this season. Be lucky to get 5 wins.

Quality is good, but football is a team game, so quantity is also very important. A large part of UND's shortcomings are due to depth issues. That ties into the local recruits - there aren't enough local kids on the roster. Of course, the location is only half the story. The other is the program and how it prepares and shapes the players. It is easier to do that with kids that are passionate about North Dakota football and know about its tradition and importance to Grand Forks and the state. California, Florida, and even Chicago kids are very talented, but you have to be careful to not over saturate your roster with them or you'll lose leadership and certain sense of pride. Right now, over 90% of the local kids would rather go to NDSU than UND and the reason for that is quite obvious. So, the solution will have to come from within cause the good local kids are gonna be hard to come by. Need great coaching to best utilize the current talent on this roster, but right now that's not happening.

Sloppy victory. Nothing to be proud of unless the standards of this program have significantly decreased. Too many turnovers and penalties. Defense didn't end the game well; lucky Mollberg connected to Golladay on that 3rd down because I'm not confident the defense could've made the key stop.

Big connection #14 to #19. First down

UND could win today's game by 20 and still go 3-8 this year. Not putting too much stock in this one. EWU next week is another story.

I'm not against a freshman becoming a leader…I'm against this coaching staff and what they're doing to the freshmen's psyche.

That could possibly be one of the dumbest posts I've read on this site. A freshman, who had several offers, is supposed to buckle down and deal with this sh*tty coaching staff and situation? I'm fed up with this sh*t…unless the team improves on the field, which it won't, my mind is made up. Mussman and his staff are worthless. You can talk all you want about how the coaches have family, but so do the players! They deserve way better than this. I'm familiar with both UND and NDSU football programs and it's day and night difference between the two. Sick of this crap. Any ineptitude against ISU today and I'll lose it. Muss is on the shortest leash made as far as I'm concerned. D*mn clown is all muss is.

At this point, it's just patience my friends. If UND improves the rest of season and somehow finishes 6-5, then Mussman will likely stay. If Mussman finishes 4-7 or worse, then he will likely go. That 5-6 mark is a gray area - I'd like to see him removed if that's the case but I'm not sure how Faison would exactly react to that; heck, I'm not even sure how Faison would react to 4-7. But I do know attendance and alumni emails will ring home to Faison and eventually he would have to make the much-needed switch. So, let's just let the season play out and see what happens. If Mussman still has his job in December and we're coming off a 3-8 or 4-7 season, then I'll be concerned and distraught.

I'm sure there's some stuff being made up, but from my end I only mention things I've heard from people who are in or were in the football program. Although, the fact that supporters are going to such lengths to produce propaganda indicates to me that this situation is not good. Mussman has not only lost support of his team, but also the fans/alumni.

Based on Idaho States's 30-13 loss to UC Davis last weekend I'll take UND 38-28. Nevertheless, if UND loses this game, this season will almost certainly end up being the one that cures UND's football program of mediocrity by costing Mussman his job.

Don't kid yourself - players HAVE left this program before because they don't get along with Mussman. He's not a "players coach" as you might say. Nevertheless, regardless of whatever excuse you associate with each of the QBs that have left over the past few years, the QB class distribution is not good on this roster. Always nice to have at least have one or two upper classmen for experience/leadership if nothing else. And the NDSU situation a few years back is NOT comparable to UNDs current one. NDSU had established themselves with a couple 10 win seasons before 2009, a No. 1 ranking, and compiled a roster with several future NFL players. UND with muss has done nothing remotely close to that. Plus, the 2009 recruiting class was simply just good enough to see playing time in 2010; it wasn't because NDSU had upper classmen attrition. UND hasn't had a top tier FCS roster since Mussman took over. Associate that with other excuses if you wish, but Mussman is simply not capable of assembling and leading a championship football team. 2011 was simply an outlier.

Freshman QBs can lead winning teams but they need to have a running game and/or a strong defense. UND has neither. If one of our QBs throws an interception, the defense doesn't bail them out because they let the opposing offense go right down the field. If we have the lead, we can't help them out cause they still have to throw all game cause we don't have a power running game. Bottom line: UND is not set up to support young QBs. If they had a running game and/or solid defense, these QBs would look much better. I do agree though that the QB class distribution on this roster is inadequate. Not having a single junior or senior QB is certainly negative. We would have some seniors if Comes, Delmer, and/or Bradley didn't quit because Mussman is a joke and no one can stand his arrogance and incompetence. Depth chart definitely had some impact also, but you'd think one of the aforementioned three would've stuck around if they liked the way the program was being run.

Football program down south is tremendous, not gonna argue, but UND is on the same path as NDSU in all other sports. Men's BBall at UND isn't as distant as the Ag School supporters think. We'll especially see that when the Bizzon's men's basketball team visits the Betty later this year…

We play 7 home games this season, so if this year's record is the same or worse than last year's record (5-6), Mussman should be gone. In order to pick up 5 wins this season, we would have to win 4 of the remaining 7 games - I'm not sure this team can do that. Once Mussman goes, then, and only then, does UND start competing for/in the playoffs (considering the subsequent hire is appropriate). That simple everyone.

I heard from a reliable source within the program that Nash will likely be our 2nd best player behind Huff this season. If his production is even close to that of Huffs, that would be huge for this team. From what I heard, he's a high flyer who should easily average double digit points. Should bring some entertainment to the court with some throw-downs too!

Two very straightforward points: 1) Mussman has a losing record against FCS opponents as a head coach: 19-22 Considering UND's standards (or at least what I think UND's FB standards are now with Faison at the helm), a losing record is unacceptable. 2) Do you think Hakstol would still have his job if after 5 and a part seasons he had a losing record against WCHA teams? I would think not.

Fine, he cares. But this isn't peewee football - you're judged on winning. Bottom line: Mussman sucks at winning. W-L record speaks for itself.

That's a good one. Don't compare an NFL coach, especially one in NYC, to an FCS coach who had no prior HC experience.

If this coaching staff can turn this season around, that would be quite an impressive accomplishment; however, I don't realistically see that happening. Players do need to care about improving in order for that to happen, but football is a team game, and the fact that the majority of the players are showing less than required effort is a red-flag to me that the coaches aren't properly recruiting and/or establishing a winning foundation. A collegiate football team has expectations and rules/regulations that either support or don't support winning. It appears, for whatever reason, that this year's team does not possess some critical values and discipline. If that continues for the rest of season, I will put the blame on the coaching staff as ultimately they select the student-athletes who represent UND's football team.

I agree; there are so many talented (or at least appear talented) football players that don't see the field enough. Sparks, Butler, and Edwards to name a few. There probably are a few more but I'm not completely sure on them because I haven't seen them in game action! Given the last two horrendous performances, there's no excuse for why some sophomores and redshirt freshman didn't get some game reps.

Let's wait a year or two before we anoint Iverson as the best ND player of 2013 class. I'm a bit skeptical of that claim.

The fact there was no mention of football during Hammer's interview of Faison tells me this is a delicate situation. Faison is likely sick of hearing complaints and just wants the season to play out; thus, he just told Hammer not to bring up the football. Also a sign that Faison is not very happy with the FB season thus far, which is a good thing for the entire program because we're that much closer to getting rid of the cancer that is a Mussman as a head coach.