Siouxperfan7

Give me a break. The Alerus is to far away?!!! Come on!! It's on and a half miles away from Wilkersson Hall. And it's not like Grand Forks is a big city!! If you drove your car from campus you would hit what...3 stop lights!! I am not going to let anyone get away with the fact that the Alerus is too far away. People drive downtown to the bars, to the southend of town to Target, ...they can drive to the Alerus. Heck...if they don't want to drive...there are shuttles going from the Chester Fritz to the Alerus all game day morning!!! Also...your telling me a college kid doesn't have 5 bucks to park their car? Get in a car with 4 other people from your dorm and that's one dollar a person!!

1) 3 - This last week was pathetic...but in he previous 4 home games there has been at least somewhat of an attempt by the students to fill their section. But as far as rating their "showing up, staying, and making noise....it has been awful. Sure there were times at the beginning of the Mines and Portland State game where the student section was pretty full. But after the kickoff...they pretty much just stood there with their hands crossed and only cheered on third downs. No enthusiasm whatsoever. Maybe in some of the students in the first couple rows, but overall they might as well been at a funeral! After halftime, the student section was half full..at best. 2) Being someone that has ripped on the student section and the overall fan support, I don't want to just compplain about the problem without offering solutions. Because it can be fixed. Here are a couple things I would suggest to improve the student attendance and overall student experience at football games. 1. Promote tailgating. I guess I am not sure if they charge students to tailgate or not....but they should give those tailgate passes away! The student tailgate lot is pretty big. Student government should be involved more in getting their organizations out there tailgating. Fraternities, Sororities, Basketball team, volleyball team, Med school, law school, etc. should have representation at the student lot. Maybe having a year long competition between student organizations throughout the year and the winner gets a prize. Say....use of the Engelstad suite for a hockey game or something!! 2. Better circulation of tickets for students. They should be handing out tickets to the game everyday the week before the game. Dorms, Dining halls, in the quad on campus....everywhere!! Get people excited about UND football and make it easier for them to obtain tickets. 3. One suggestion that has been brought up before is using 'Yell Leaders' that help the fans with cheers and chants during the game. Not cheerleaders, but students that can energize the crowd for the entire game!! As far as the atmosphere....students need to take ownership of the atmosphere they create at the game. Hanging more pictures in the concourse isn't going to get people to be more involved in the game. Students need to take pride in the fact that they are cheering for their University and their fellow classmates out there. the students need to decide if football is going to be a priority for them. they have already moved the student section down once. If the student attendance continues to go down, Don't be surprised if they move the student all the way to one side and sell the prime 50 yd line seats to the general public!!

How did this turn into a debate about NDSU??!! For crying out loud!! Why does every football post turn into a NDSU/UND debate!!! I thought this thread was about the Montana game??!!

How many current students were enrolled in UND when we lost to Sioux Falls? Seniors and older...that's it. I am sick of people blaming the Sioux Falls loss an excuse the attendance is down. That was 3 years ago!! This a completely different team and different opponents!!

Cal Poly just can't get a break!! They may have to go undefeated to be a seeded team!!!

Whiteys, Rumors, BWW, Southgate, Muddy Rivers....those are just a few that I know that I have taken in the past. Obviously more. I am sure others will list the ones I missed.

Kind of sad that the athletic department would have to go to these type of tactics to get students to a football game! But if if that is what needs to be to done to get students to the game...might as well do it!!

I think we are all aware of the skill that Hardin has and he has definitely showed it on the field, especially this year. You don't see too many 5'11" , 167 lb receivers in the NFL, but what do you guys think about his chances for playing on Sundays in the future?

This pic was sent to me of the West stands. This was in the fourth quarter when the game was tied!! If there were students that trickled in after the game started...they definitely abandoned ship before the game was over. Its not like this game was a blowout for wither team. This was a tie game in the 4th quarter with Montana!! And its not like the game wasn't entertaining!! Hanson had what 400+ yds passing in the first half?!!! I realize that student sections around the country have been down at some schools....but that is no excuse. Its not like the UND students have never supported this team and program. The Alerus used to be deafening back in the day. A game like this in 2004 would have been ridiculous!!! Just unfortunate that one of the most entertaining games in UND football history and that ended with an exciting game winning touchdown with 12 seconds left was sadly only witnessed live by about 8000 fans.

Here is what the student section looked like at 2:25 on Saturday. That is 5 minutes before kickoff of one of the biggest games on our schedule. PATHETIC!!! Can I just say it one more time....THE UND STUDENTS ARE PATHETIC when it comes to their support of this football team. I am embarrassed of our fan support in general...but the students have really been the most disappointing. And this proves it! Pretty sad when fans of an opposing team 1000 miles away outnumber our students by 3-1.

2:40 CST

It is deffinitely going to be great to have Jameer and Galladay for 3 more years!! Probably the happiest person to see them around for 3 more years is Joe Mollberg!!

Looking at the tickets available on ticketmaster...it looks like (and I am estimating) that there are over 9000 tickets sold for Saturdays game. I really hope there is a large walkup crown Saturday. Hopefully people will realize the game is not on TV locally and they come out to the Alerus. I would love to see numbers close to 11000!! I pine for the old days at the Alerus where you couldn't hear the person next to you!! Hopefully I swill get to experience that just a little bit on Saturday!!

it's put up or shut up time!!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zMRrNY0pxfM

I agree. My point was it is not like we are getting beat like we did by EWU every game. We are right in these games with top 20 teams in the country. We aren't there yet, but the team isn't as bad as people want to say they are. I suppose after 3 straight loses people get a little frustrated. All I am saying is to put things in perspective.

Another point.....NDSU was crushing during their transition years before joining the Valley. They were 10-1 in 2006 and 2007 and ranked #1 in the nation. In 2008, they joined the Valley and were 6-5. the next year in 2009 they were 3-8. We all know the caliber of football they have down in Fargo. I will give them credit. But NDSU had teams that played in the Great West and were a 10 win team before they entered their new conference. And even they struggled out of the gate adjusting to their new conference, new teams, and new style of play. My point is schools that enter a new, and much better, conference are going to have to take our lumps. this is not the Great West anymore. this is the Big Sky. So while I know that our expectation were high this year and everyone wants to start pointing fingers , lets just calm down and realize that it may take a few games to adapt and adjust to the style of play in our new conference. These teams are an a much higher level than what we are used to playing in years past. We have things that we are doing good, and there are things we need to improve on. Just want everyone to just RELAX and realize that this is a process. Not going to go from 3-8 in the Great West to being a top 3 Big Sky team in 2 years. The team will get better. Just lgive them a chance to.

Everyone needs to calm down. Yes we had high hopes going into this season. But everyone that looked at our schedule said that it was probably the toughest in the Big Sky. Did anyone really think that we were going to walk into this conference and go 7-1, 6-2 in the conference? You can be optimistic, but I will be realistic. The team has played bad defensively....we all know that. But as bad as we have looked tackling and covering receivers We have had a chance to win all our games except for the E. Wash. game. 3 of our loses (SDSU, Cal Poly, N. Ariz.) we have been within a score in the 4th quarter. And those were all good teams!! Top 20 FCS teams. So looking at the loses we have, if we would have been able to close out in the 4th quarter of those game, it would be a totally different outlook on this season.

Wasn't that what was said about N. Arizona and they passed for 363 yards and 4 touchdowns? Montana has our tape of the games we have played. You don't need a lights out passer to be successful against our secondary. I anticipate Montana to pass plenty of times on Saturday.

UND students will be in sections 42 and 43. I assume that most of the UND fans will be in the General Admission sections (20,21,22,23) But there are still seats in the green reserved sections if you don't want to sit at the end.

Tickets are on sale today. Still good seats left. https://tkt.xosn.com/tickets/TicketHome.dbml?DB_LANG=C&DB_OEM_ID=2400&_MODE_=EVENTSELECT&SALE_TKT_EVENT_ID=301919

I think we know where the NFL replacements refs went when the real refs came back!!!

233 yards and 3 TD's for Hanson......I really don't see the controversy for who starts next week. If he is healthy, Hanson starts!

Oh and don't forget Mt. State!! I am sure they are top 10 as well. If this year was our initiation into the Big Sky Conference, I definitely feel like UND is Kevin Bacon at the Omega Theta Pi house saying "Thank you sir may I have another!!"

Nodak Nation updated their Facebook page to the following status: . "Free student tickets for the Homecoming football game will likely be gone by the end of the day! Get over to the ticket office in the Union to get yours now!" That reitterates my prediction of at least 10,000 people at the game tomorrow