UND-FB-FAN

Thought it possible we could start 2-4, but didn't think the lack of competitiveness and discipline would be there. I figured we'd lose 'close' games to the 'tough 4' and going 7-4 would still be realistic. Now, I'm not sure 7-4 is even possible.

All of that rings home; that's becoming very common now. Supporters of UND football for over 25 years that I know have actually swayed over to NDSU over the part couple years. It's gotten that bad. I'd like to state an obvious personal observation that I have a right to say: UND football has been disgusting since 2009 (Sioux Falls debacle). Has nearly 5 years of subpar competitiveness been long enough?

I don't think that snide comment was necessary. There's really no use speculating the coaching staff's future because a lot can happen between now and the UC Davis game to conclude the season. We could continue to see improvement and Mussman keeps his job, or of course, we could continue to see the same turnover issues and the remaining games aren't much better. I will say that the preseason expectations for this team were the playoffs. Several players and coaches said it, including Hardin and Mussman. There's no question in my mind that we won't make the playoffs. Thus, this season has been a failure. How many games we finish under .500 only will compound the problem.

Yeah, that 21 point loss was quite the effort.

Saturday's team entrance onto the field was the most unenthusiastic, lackluster team entrance I've ever seen. Motivation partly falls under the coaches' responsibilities. This team is not nearly confident enough to win big games.

And so you are implying that I believe the lack of success is entirely due to the coaches? I have football coaching experience, and trust me, I realize that players ultimately are the ones who win games but coaches most certainly can lose games. The duration of the problem is concerning. The issues present in UND football have been there for the past few seasons - it's just been a little less obvious because we had a DII dominated schedule in 2011 and 2012 was the first in the Big Sky, so the expectations were a bit curbed. When there's been little to no progress with a home schedule like we have this year, and I continually hear that the coaches have no answer but rather they are just hoping the next week will be better than the previous one, that is a definite red flag in my book. UND football has been mediocre at best ever since 2008, and I guess it has to be 2018 before some people finally think the program has been down too long. If there are no changes, UND football attendance will average all-time low numbers next season. There's a fine line between patience and ignorance. I expect this team to beat Sacramento State and Northern Colorado to close out the home schedule; however, they won't be easy games if we continue with the turnovers and penalties. So, I guess those games could go either way.

Considering how much the athletic department promoted this year's home schedule and the increase in season tickets, you would think the progressive decrease in attendance would be very concerning to Mr. Faison. At this point , I don't just want change at the end of the season, I expect it. Anyone else who cares about UND football should too.

Wisconsin and Minnesota each have only one FBS school whereas Illinois has several, and plus Chicago is just naturally recruited heavily due to it's size. I have no problem going into Chicago to pick up talented kids that are overlooked by Big Ten schools, as long as it doesn't take away from the recruiting emphasis in the Dakotas, Minnesota, and Wisconsin. Nevertheless, all this recruiting talk is sort of a moot point if we can't get anyone of value to commit. And that will be difficult this year given the current circumstances surrounding this team. To fix this thing, it all starts with new leadership.

Wisconsin kids are more familiar with UND, primarily through hockey but also just because it's more regional than Chicago. Ultimately, distance isn't the main factor; however, familiarity is. Chicago will never be converted into a UND town; that's Big Ten country. Like I said earlier, a few talented kids each year that slip through the Big Ten cracks are fine, but if you think we can build up a successful program through just Illinois kids, you're wrong.

I have no problem with UND picking up a few talented kids each year from Illinois, like Golladay, but if they try to make Illinois something they rely on, it won't work. Need Dakotas, Nebraska, Wisconsin and Minnesota as the main states, but I'm sure this staff realizes that already.

I guess I don't consider Illinois a regional state. Most of the recruits out of the Chicago area had never heard of UND before they were recruited. Plus, I can guarantee none of their personal top 25 schools included UND. Kids from the Dakotas, Minnesota, and Wisconsin do however value UND to at least some degree. It's that familiarity that breeds passion for playing UND football.

The fact they don't put in Shaugabay or Sparks behind Pecosky in 22 personnel and even attempt to run some power is upsetting to me. They should at least attempt to establish the run or incorporate some read option in the gun so Mollberg can get involved running and we have a running presence out of the gun.

Should be a good player. Can't teach height so the fact he is 6'10" is a plus.

Detroit Lakes and Big Sky football represent a night and day difference. I just think the sample size is too small for the conclusions you've jumped to. 5-star QBs across the county often sit for a year or two before making their first start. Playing quarterback is a complex PROCESS and immediate success or lack thereof is often not indicative of the long-term potential.

Yes, they are coaching ball security. Essentially, you're upset with the players' abilities while I believe the problem is more so on the coaching. There's not going to be a successful, play-off caliber, DI football team at UND until Mussman is replaced. We'll just agree to disagree.

Talent can hide coaching ineptness. When Hendrickson, Hansen, and Sutton were playing last year, they weren't making bad decisions or playing loose with the ball. Now, with younger players, we are seeing the lack of quality coaching. Why do you think ball security drills and skelly passing drills exist? To COACH the players up so that they don't fumble or throw into coverage during a game. Also, a good coaching staff reminds players throughout the game to be aware of ball security. Apparently that hasn't been happening thus far this season.

Absolutely agree. Faison isn't stupid; he will pay accordingly. Hopefully, at the end of this season, we see that checkbook open up.

Check out the recruiting thread. There you will see the consensus is no. Not a very good regional emphasis for recruiting. That being said, there is talent on this team (which is what recruiting directly addresses), but there's little discipline/structure in place once they get on campus.

When a 16-year old kid is learning how to drive, do you think it may be a little fast for him right away? And when that kid gets into his first fender bender, do you never let that kid drive a vehicle again? Absolutely not; you allow for learning via experience. Big Ten schools along with SDSU and NDSU showed interest in Joe not because he was some talentless gunslinger. He will improve, but there will be mistakes along the way because he's being asked to drive on a 75 mph highway when he should be driving on a 55 mph one (running game and solid defense). Hope you understand the analogy.

I respectively disagree with several points you brought up. 1) The past two games include Idaho State (3-3, 1-2), which is a team that consistently makes mistakes to make a defense look better. Kramer specifically said after the game that they had some uncharacteristic turnovers. Also, Eastern Washington made some unusual, unforced errors yesterday as well, including dropped passes and overthrows by Adams. Need to see the defense put together a good 60-minute game against Sac State next weekend before I can definitively say there's been defensive improvement. 2) I think the talent is currently present, even though a lot of that talent may be young and has room to improve. If that talent was properly prepared so that turnovers and penalties weren't the norm, then we likely would have beat SDSU and Eastern Washington yesterday. Then, in that scenario, we would be sitting pretty good. Against SDSU, the Bartels fumble and early interception killed the momentum, and Mollberg's late pick ultimately cost UND the game. Against EWU yesterday, the turnovers (4 of them) were all untimely and they cost us the game in the end. Throwing into coverage and not covering up the football are all technique issues that can be coached, regardless of talent. UND has talent- it's just raw talent that's not properly prepared. 3) You can't play musical chairs with the quarterbacks and expect them to improve, especially when you're dealing with a freshman. If you want to see Mollberg improve so that he can lead UND to victories during his sophomore, junior, and senior seasons, you let Mollberg learn through experience this season. Since being named the definite starter, I've already seen improvement from his first to second start. You can't blame him for his receivers and backs fumbling the ball. It's a coaching issue that the players aren't more secure with the ball. 3 different players fumbled yesterday (Mollberg, Golladay, Garmin). 4) Ryan Bartels is also a freshman who makes mistakes. Mussman tried to establish him as the starter, but that plan fell apart when Bartels starting turning over the ball vs. SDSU. Had a bad interception and fumble against the Jacks that probably cost us the game in the end. No matter which freshman starts, there's gonna be mistakes, you just have to limit them.

They did better, but they didn't compete for 60 minutes. Also, more so Eastern Washington making mistakes then UND making plays. Eastern Washington had a lot of dropped passes and there were some bad throws by Vernon Adams to wide open receivers. I'll admit we played better yesterday than I expected we would, but we still lost 35-14 at home. Add in the fact we lost 2 of the 3 home games before that by over 30 points and you just can't be happy with much of anything that is currently going on. At home this season, we've been outscored 198 to 148. Take out the lopsided victory (69-10) vs. non-scholarship Valpo and you have us being outscored 188 to 79 at home! That's horrendous!

We are competing at a high level? I don't know what team you've been watching, but it's not this year's UND football team. The reason this season has been such a disappointment is because we haven't been competing! Horrible blowouts at home to conference opponents we're gonna see year after year is unacceptable and not "competing at a high level".

I agree that the defense looked much better, but if the offense and defense don't complement each other, it won't matter. Turnovers killed the offense yesterday, and that's been an issue all season thus far. And also, I should mention that even though I think the defense looked better, they still need to improve. Still some big plays given up here and there. And it's best we don't jump to any conclusions; need to see this defense consistently look stout for a good stretch of games before I'm sold. That starts next week vs. Sac State. Hope the turnover problem is also fixed for next weekend.

No matter how you try to spin it, getting blown out at home against conference opponents is unacceptable and an embarrassment. The president and athletic director flux that was going on in 2007 is largely the reason Mussman was promoted, and that decision may go down as one of the worst management decisions in the history of UND athletics. I fully expect Faison to bring in new leadership at the end of this season, and it's desperately needed. If leadership decides to go the complacent and ultimately unproductive route at the end of the season and retain Mussman, I will be furious.

He's a freshman quarterback on a bad team with horrible leadership - what do you expect? A 10:1 touchdown-to-interception ratio, 70% completion percentage, and a 3000 yard season? Not gonna happen, even with the receivers we have because we can't run the ball and our defense always has us trailing. Mollberg is a physical specimen; he looks the part. Has good size, arm strength, and is mobile; there's nothing wrong with his fundamentals other than an occasional back foot throw and a jump pass here and there. Those mistakes will decrease with experience. Right now, all the issues are between his ears, but that will also improve with time. Be patient when it comes to Joe. It also helps that he will have Jameer Jackson and Kenny Golladay with him the next couple of seasons. Hopefully, after this season concludes, the ship will be righted and Joe gets some good coaching along with a more stable system that includes a power running game with a play-action passing game.