fightingsioux4life

The Coyote defense has gotten lit up for most of the season up to this point and suddenly they are solid and stingy? I expected a shootout type game from both offenses, but only one showed up.

Jake Landry back to his old form.

They might have to go with an onside kick considering how little time is left (less than 5 minutes).

Does anyone else find it incredible that this same "vaunted" Coyote defense that was shredded by both the Bison AND the Gophers is virtually impenetrable by our offense?

This had better be something big and not naming a scholarship after someone that graduated in the 1960's. I hate it when there are teasers that end up being much to do about nothing. I really hope it's our long-awaited announcement that we have a conference home.

I think they'll have to wait until this NCAA moritorium on teams moving up to Division I is over, but I would love to have that happen. We owe them tons of payback!

Wacker was pretty inept, but I don't think he lost to teams like South Dakota and Northern Illinois. Mason had a lot of .500 teams that beat up on tomato can teams but could not beat the top teams in the Big 10. Brewster takes mediocrity and ineptitude to a whole different, sickening level. And it's a FINAL: Northern Illinois 34, Gopher Nation 23.

We are developing an offensive identity. That was something that was a problem last year.

He's Weston Dressler on Steroids!

Personal foul on NW State, Demon player ejected.

I am really glad Josh Murray decided to start going to class. Our RB situation would be critical without him.

I realize your post was tongue in cheek, but Canadian Major Junior hockey would never work in Grand Forks. I wouldn't give it the time of day and a lot of other fans wouldn't either. Major Junior is the enemy, the antithesis of what College Hockey is all about. I really don't care how talented the kids are in the CHL, the fact that Major Junior honchos would destroy the College game if they could and the arrogance of CHL fans make my decision to not set foot in one of their arenas easy. Unless REA got a bunch of Winnipeg residents to bus down for every home game, it would be a disaster for them financially and in every other way. UND and REA need each other; it's a symbiotic relationship that must be nurtured and strengthened as we move forward into the future.

Agree 110%. That's the same answer I would give NDSU if they offered that deal for football and the Gophers would deserve the same thing. But I think they would give us a fair 1 for 1 deal because we are a big draw for them and they need us as much as we need them.

This is what I was saying on another topic in the Football forum. The FBS wins are exciting and they garner a lot of positive media coverage. But the bottom line at both UND and NDSU is playoff success and championships (both conference and national). Without those, the FBS wins become nothing more than a curious diversion.

It should also help the program that the athletic department is promoting the football team about a month before the season starts and not waiting until the week of the first home game. That kind of neglect went on for years and I think it was part of the reason Dale Lennon isn't around anymore. We'll have to keep it up to get attendance to FCS levels. Everyone used to whine and complain that they didn't go to games because "I don't like the teams we are playing". Now that we are an FCS team, we'll get better teams on the schedule and that excuse won't hold water. I also think we need more 7pm games before hockey starts. We did that in the first year in the Alerus Center and it worked out really well. I am not a big fan of these 4pm starts; have them at 7pm when hockey is out of town and then 1pm when hockey is in town. Marketing our "triple header" weekends (Hockey Friday night-Football Saturday afternoon-Hockey Saturday night) as one big event would also help. Once we get into a conference and are playoff eligible, I think our goals of solid and consistent football attendance will be more attainable. But we have to build the foundation now or else we will never get there. And that means people have to get their butts out to the Alerus Center this season whenever possible; not keep coming up with excuses why they can't or don't want to.

I understand your feelings on this issue; I share them. But the President works for the ND SBoHE and the A.D. works for the President. Getting themselves fired by standing up to the Board would not have saved the nickname and logo. All they would have accomplished was losing their jobs and throwing the campus into chaos. There are major challenges in Higher Ed right now and UND needs a solid team of leaders to tackle them. I think President Kelley and Faison are doing the best they can with multiple challenges on multiple fronts and I think this move up to Division I in all sports will turn out good in the long run.

UND is a big draw in both Minneapolis and Madison. St. Cloud and Minnesota are big rivals every year, regardless of record. Rivalries do not always correlate across sports and especially across sports seasons. And it doesn't seem to matter if some of the hockey schools are D-II or III in other sports (St. Cloud, Colorado College), the crowds keep coming anyway. Just because Michigan and Ohio State are big rivals in football does not mean it will work in hockey the same way. And I am willing to bet that UND-Minnesota is a much bigger draw than Ohio State-Minnesota. Big 10 hockey will inflict irreparable damage to hockey at those schools. A six team conference where one or two teams are good cannot match a twelve team conference (WCHA) where all but a handful of teams are good. And the Final Five cannot be matched by some cheesy Big 10 "Final Four" tournament where one or two of the teams might have losing records in conference or even overall. I hope Sid "Grandpa Sports" Hartman gets his long-time wish for a BTHC, because I would love to see the look on his face when it is a disaster. And listening to him try to spin it would be even better!

At this rate, the Women's Hockey program will surpass the Men's Basketball program in overall strength and interest!

Comments like this must drive all the Major Junior boosters crazy! They would love College Hockey to have zero draft picks if it was possible. Sorry boys, not going to happen!

If this icing while shorthanded rule is adopted, you will see powerplay conversion rates of 40 to 50% by teams. I am all for cutting down on obstruction and letting the skill players showcase their skills, but this would change the nature of the game itself. It also would magnify bad officiating calls. But I suppose we shouldn't expect anything less from the NCAA.

I'm not so sure it's that simple. This is one of those chicken and egg questions; which one comes first and nobody can really come up with a 100% bone fide answer. Think about it like this: The media hypes the NBA to the point where you can't ignore it. But the on-court product is absolute garbage. I've tried watching NBA basketball when I wasn't busy watching something else and I had to turn the channel after 10 to 15 minutes because it sucked so bad. The skills of these "professionals" are so bad compared to the players of the 1980's and 90's that the only thing that keeps that league relevant is that ESPN (which should rename SportsCenter "The NBA Tonight" during the basketball season) and the rest of the sports media hypes the league as the greatest thing since sliced bread. The fact that so many francises are in financial trouble (according to numerous media reports I have heard this season) is proof that the national sports fanbase is onto the fact that the product the NBA puts out is not worth spending their hard-earned money on. I am kind of glad that hockey (both college and the NHL) doesn't get hyped like this. It would lead to a trivialization of the sport in general and bring in a whole bunch of novice, no-nothing fans into the equation. I for one like the fact that hockey has a smaller, hard-core group of fans that know the game and follow their team with passion. I would like to have some better viewing options for the hockey fan (especially during NCAA tournament time), but the game is in good shape right now and I don't think getting the ESPN hype machine involved would make it better.

Agree 100%. I think Darby Hendrickson will get it, with Gorg doing the player/coach interviews between periods and after the game.

I agree with you, you have to spend money to make money. And you have to spend money to get results. We have to pump money and other types of resources into these programs or they'll never turn into anything special.

You are correct about the Men's BB program, that program hasn't been relevant for about 15 years and counting. It's almost as irrelevant as Michigan Tech in hockey. I was thinking into the future of the Men's BB program, when we get it out of the deep hole it is in right now and get people excited about it again. Once that happens, we will have to step up marketing efforts or we'll waste a great opportunity. And while the Men's program is in the toilet, the Women's program is in solid shape and will probably compete for a spot in the NCAA tournament once they are tournament eligible in a few years. You are right, football should be marketed on it's own merits. It's the main reason we moved up and we can't keep treating it like a red-headed stepchild like we have for years. It's why Dale Lennon is at Southern Illinois and it's why we'll lose Chris Mussman in the future if we don't start treating football better.