fightingsioux4life

Just an FYI for everyone who hasn't been following the news, but pretty much the entire Upper Midwest (the Dakotas, Minnesota, Iowa, Nebraska, Wisconsin) will be slammed by a major winter storm during the upcoming Christmas weekend. Here is a link to the Grand Forks NWS Forecast Office web site and a link to the Winter Weather Monitor Page: Grand Forks NWS Forecast Office Winter Weather Monitor Page Simply put, if you don't have to travel, don't. Stay safe everyone. I want to be able to banter with you on hockey and whatever else in the future!

I still remember how quiet the Alerus Center was after that game. Stunned silence. I wear a headset radio to the football games and right before the first turnover that resulted in a UNO touchdown that started the comeback for them, Dan Hammer was talking about a 10-0 record and first place in the region. Everyone at that moment was looking forward to the playoffs at home and a run at a second National Title. And in one instant, that all changed. And the program really hasn't been the same since. The swagger still hasn't come back. It's kind of like the 42-10 playoff loss to the Bison at home in 1995; the program wasn't quite the same after that for several years. Fate is a very cruel thing, especially in sports.

I agree that this loss is unacceptable and should not happen. But don't ask Mike Berg or he'll simply say "We lost to a darn good basketball team tonight." Sorry, couldn't resist. Now getting serious again, this is much worse than the FB team losing to USF. The Men's BB team has been irrelevant (with the exception of the Jerome Beasley era) since the early 1990's. There is no tradition, no recent winning history to build on. The program is basically where the Women's Hockey program is! In fact, I would argue that Women's Hockey is on stronger footing at this point! For the first time, I am having serious doubts that Jones is the right person to build this program.

This is almost the exact format I have envisioned for an FBS playoff. The major bowls would be playoff games; the minor bowls could serve the same function as the NIT in college basketball. I do think that there are too many bowl games; almost every team with six wins gets to go to a bowl game. I would get rid of some of the weaker bowl games, if that means some six win teams don't go bowling, then so be it. Otherwise, I would leave the lower to middle bowl games alone. And one more thing, no more having polls decide anything. Have a computerized ranking system like they use for the NCAA Basketball Tournament and have a selection committee make the tough, borderline decisions on who gets seeded where and who gets at-large bids and who doesn't. Every team earns what it gets based on their record and who they beat. That would eliminate 99% of the controversy and put the focus on the teams and players, which is where it belongs.

I was thinking the same thing. The weather might have been a factor in the turnovers. It's possible that SFA was banged up by this point in the season and didn't have enough ammo left. Or it shows us just how far we have to go to reach the level Montana has reached in FCS. I think it's a combination of all three.

I second your rant and will repeat what I have said on this forum and other forums before: The Bull Crap Series is a joke. It's the biggest joke in competitive sports this side of the shootout in hockey. All the bowl games outside of the BCS title game (#1 vs #2) are glorified exhibition games that mean nothing. The college football "postseason" has none of the drama or passion of the NCAA Basketball Tournament (which is very profitable, by the way). And if anyone is ready to respond with the charge of "apples and oranges" to that, I think it's fair to point out that some of the non-BCS schools are beginning to close the gap with the BCS leagues a little bit. Boise State is one example of this. TCU this year could give the Floridas, Alabamas and Texas' of the world a good game, maybe even beat them. But because of the Bull Crap Series, we will never know the answer to that question. END RANT #2

Amen.

Pointing out the obvious is not "whining", it's telling the truth no matter how bad it tastes. Would you rather have a fan base that doesn't care if the team wins or loses or a fan base that is rabid, passionate and has high standards? I know what I would rather have. This has happened too many times this season, young team or not. I just hope by the time Denver rolls into town at the end of January that this problem is a thing of the past.

We could have moved into third place with a win tonight, which is where I would like us to finish the first half of the season. And we were minutes away from doing that. The sooner these young guys learn how to put teams away in the third period, the sooner we can start to make a run at keeping the MacNaughton Cup in Grand Forks. The Denver Post thinks "the stars are aligned" for the Pios; I would like to see this team show them exactly where they can stick that comment! If this team can get it together in time, they can be title contenders. But if they don't, it will be "wait until next year" again.

I think the QB position is unsettled as well. Landry has not pulled it all together as the starting quarterback and some of the interceptions have resulted from very poor choices (throwing into double and triple coverage for instance). His athleticism and running ability are big positives, but I imagine the coaches are teaching him to stay in the pocket and focus on throwing the ball and not running with it. Letting him run more could unleash his potential, but it might just cover up the problems better. One thing I am not pleased with is Mussman's stubborn stance that "Jake Landry is my quarterback", even after multiple interception game after multiple interception game. It sounds like Mussman is taking a page out of the Roger Thomas coaching manual that if it's a guy's "turn", you have to stick with him no matter what. That isn't how an FCS program should be run and I hope Mussman has the guts to make a change next year if the inconsistent play at the QB position continues.

I think St. Cloud will exceed expectations this year.

We are fortunate to not have given up several goals up to this point. We have to stay out of the box and get back off of our heels or this one will turn against us in a hurry.

For those of us fortunate enough to have Midcontinent Digital Cable, the game is on Fox College Sports Atlantic (317 in Grand Forks).

Basically what you are saying, if our football team was 0-11 every year, you would be fine with that as long as all of them were pulling 4.0 averages in the classroom and were reading to 1st graders every Friday morning? Sorry, but this isn't the FBS Ivy League, the FCS Pioneer League or the D-II version of Morningside College in Sioux City, IA. This is the University of North Dakota, where excellence in both academics and athletics is cherished and expected. Our Student-Athletes do a great job in the classroom and in the community, as well as in bringing home championships (both conference and national). Are they perfect? No (nobody is), but it's a false choice to suggest that you can't have excellence in both the athletic arena and in the classroom. It's just as much of a false choice as the false choice between hockey and football, but that's another topic. This is not meant to be personal or anything (you are an intelligent poster with good insights on things), but I think you should either promote joining the Pioneer League as a non-scholarship FCS program or rethink the low expectations you have for the football program (which is the reason we moved up in the first place).

Good point. I would suspect that Lennon won't take just any FBS job; he'll want to go to a school that is committed to football and will spend the money to make the program a success. I think if the Rodents dump Brewster and Lennon has success in the playoffs this year, it is not entirely implausible to think he could end up there. With that new on-campus stadium, I think he could recruit kids to go there.

Some teams do that regardless of how the weekend went. I think Anchorage does the same thing. Personally, I like our standard of not doing it unless we sweep.

After 30 years of being doormats, they have to try to save face however they can.

I think he will have to have more sustained success over a period of years before that happens (this is only Lennon's second year there). Winning an FCS title would definitely do it. And I do think Minnesota could be a potential destination for Lennon. Man, what a conflict for some of us, being fans of Lennon and disliking the team he coaches!

We are a young team (the youngest in the league), so I think the offense will come around as the season goes on. If we can finish 2009 in the top 3 in the league, we'll be in solid position for the second half.

With Denver continuing to win games, it is important early in the season to grab points whenever, whereever and however we can. Especially against lower division teams like Tech. Those two points we lost in Alaska last week might come back to haunt us later in the season. Let's not have a repeat of that tonight. UND 5, MTU 1 with a solid start in the nets by Aaron Dell. GO SIOUX!!!

That's right, because if they commit to North Dakota, that means the Gophers "didn't really want him anyway".

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