fightingsioux4life

Has Bubba been in charge for the last 10-ish years? No? Then take your ignorant comments elsewhere! I am not in the mood for nonsense today.

No, don't you understand? We have to run it up the middle over and over again! Anything else is too risky! (sarcasm)

Shhhhh, those are just "excuses"! (sarcasm)

I will argue that USD was in much better shape as a program than UND was. With all due respect, it IS the "major difference" I am making it out to be.

But not every coach who is hired is inheriting a college expansion team. That is what Bubba took over less than four years ago. The rest of this season will tell us a lot about this team and the coaching staff.

And as geaux_sioux pointed out, they have huge football budgets. And they are big name FB schools with lots of name recognition and historical resumes that help attract the best kids. Bubba essentially took over the college equivalent of an NFL expansion team. Started from square one. Not easy to do.

Are you suggesting that Alabama, Ohio State and Notre Dame were in as bad of shape as UND was when Bubba took over? Because if you are, I would like some of the stuff you are smoking. It must be good.

You said Bubba's cupboard wasn't bare, gave examples of why, and then noted that those players left the team once Bubba was hired. So yes, the cupboard was bare. You also are not discussing how much house cleaning he had to do when he took over. There were players with bad attitudes who weren't going to work out in Bubba's system and either quit or were kicked off the team. I didn't expect this team to do what they did last year, so I think Bubba is ahead of schedule despite what happened today.

That was a shot at Gophers FB, not him.

Which says more about the Gophers than it says about him.

Fair question. I think the next 2 to 3 years will tell us if Bubba is the answer or not. How the team responds to today will tell us a lot about Bubba and this staff, as getting a team to rebound after a bad game is an essential part of their jobs. George Steinbrenner changed managers almost as often as he changed underwear. And the Yankees wallowed in mediocrity for years, in part, because of that. We should not talk regime change this year or next.

A repeat of last year (with a different playoff result) would be nice.

Lennon took what Thomas built and took us all the way to the top. Thomas had to clean up the mess Pat Behrns left behind. Thus the difference. I will argue that the athletic department did not give Lennon the resources needed to be great year in and year out. If they had, we might have become what GVSU became during the 2000's (not to open up old wounds, but it's true). Now we have an administration that is committed to putting the necessary resources into the program (IPF, FCOA, etc.) to make it a perennial FCS power. It is just too bad that the athletic department was in chaos when Lennon left for SIU and we promoted Mussman from within. We are still paying for that right now. In basketball, you can have one player change the program overnight. Football is more of a numbers game and requires a lot more time to build a program into what you want it to be. NDSU did a good job building their program during their transition (their 3-8 year in 2009 notwithstanding) so that when they were playoff eligible, the program was ready to take off. UND meanwhile spent most of the transition losing to USF and getting blown out by established FCS programs. These aren't excuses, they are facts. And facts tend to be stubborn things. It is way too early to talk regime change.

It took Roger Thomas seven years to win a conference title and win a playoff game. Bubba is in year four, has won a conference title and made the playoffs. Now after one bad road loss, people are already hinting at regime change. Too early to have that conversation IMHO.

USD had Joe Glenn before Nielsen. Glenn stabilized the program and Nielsen has simply built upon that. UND had Mussman before Bubba. Mussman completely destroyed this program. I am not sure who would win between the 1985 team and the 2013 team. It takes longer than 4 years to build quality depth in a numbers-oriented sport like FB. Especially when some guys crap out on the team and program (yes Grady, I am talking about you!).

THIS! Especially when you consider what Bubba and company inherited. A team that probably couldn't make the Division 3 playoffs. There is no easy way to build depth. It just takes time. And in our 24/7 instant gratification culture, that isn't soon enough for most of us. Including myself.

I will argue it was over sometime in the 2nd quarter (sarcasm, I know what you meant).

Can't disagree with that.

The Steelers on the road. I am feeling much better about the Purple than I was a week ago. But it will be a tough game to win.

Maybe Mussman can come back and run the offense. He was very good at that. #thinkingoutsidethebox

The season isn't over. But this is the kind of game that can sink a FB team. Unless the players use this as motivation to run the table and win the conference again. And since everyone else will write us off after today, we won't have a target on our backs. Some teams might take us lightly.

Response of the Day!!!!!

I think most fan boards are.

I think it's more about not wrapping up on tackles and less about having big LBs.

Yeah, I like what you said better.