WeAreNorthDakota

Osborne didn't have a major influence when Callahan was hired and I don't believe he'll have a major influence this time around. I'm sure Eichorst will ask Osborne for his input but I believe he'll stay out of it for the most part.

What does being in good with Osborne have to do with it?

Nebraska's not gonna bring back a guy they ran out of town just ten years prior. Especially as head coach.

I was pretty surprised last year when I learned that both NAU and ISU played basketball in their football domes. After seeing the game in the Fargodome last year I'm glad we have a more intimate venue. We're going to find out this year just how great the Betty can be as a venue when it's packed to the rafters. The Betty will be a great Big Sky venue even if its capacity is near the bottom of the conference. If we're ever lucky enough to host the conference tournament the Ralph would look pretty damn good on ESPN.

Well I have two very good friends who are UND grads and are jet pilots for the Navy and another who is a helicopter pilot for the Army. All 3 are under 25. I'd say that's relatively successful.

The UND Compliance twitter account periodically tweets reminders that it is an NCAA violation for fans to contact prospective student athletes or committed student athletes until that athlete has taken a class at the school. I imagine it's generally a very minor violation but lakes is likely close to the point where a flag could be raised.

He found positive things to say about 15-20 guys on the entire roster. That's not even enough for starters on both sides of the ball.

Well Mannausau was the defensive coordinator so I doubt him leaving has much to do with the offensive play calling.

Nothing Muss can do to save his job now and I think he knows it. Faison has to show us that he's committed to football and get rid of him right now. We just got throttled at home to an above average at best Big Sky team. When we joined this conference I was ready to wait a few years before we started contending but this is unacceptable. We're now the worst team in the Dakotas and we're looking at a matchup with UNC that could be for last place in the Big Sky.

I left out a part. If NAU finishes at 8-3 with a loss to us they would likely still get in ahead of us. Unless we blow them out but I don't see that happening.

The expanded playoff field would help our odds but I still don't think it's likely. NAU is our only remaining chance at a big win and if they win all but the game against us they'd finish at 8-3 with a win over Montana. If they lose another game and finish 7-4 then our win loses some luster and there would be a chance a team like SUU or Poly could grab the 4th birth from the Big Sky. Several dominos would have to fall our way along with winning out unless the Big Sky somehow gets 5 teams in the field.

I'm sure respondeding to your tweets is right at the top of their priority list.

Can't imagine a scenario where that would happen unless both us and NDSU were on a streak of making multiple NCAA tourneys and they scheduled that game for a Wednesday night.

It's been several years so the details are a little foggy but Chris was the student body president at the time and wanted to get involved with the arena once it was built. He was in Vegas for something and arranged a meeting with Ralph which took place in one of the bars at the Imperial Palace. After their conversation Ralph invited him back to grand forks on his jet and he was hired when the building opened.

Not an urban myth. He told it to my class when he spoke on event management.

SURPRISE! The season's not over! We're just four short days away from UND Football Gameday at the Alerus! Last year we were able to run on these guys when we couldn't run on anybody and we beat them 35-13 at their place. They had a disastrous start to the season getting shut out in their two FBS games to start the season and then got taken to overtime against Southern Oregon. They've rebounded a bit with a 16 point win over Northern Colorado at home and a 1 point loss to Northern Arizona at home. This is going to be a very telling game to start the softer part of our schedule to finish the season. We showed signs of life on defense last week but this week should show if that was real improvement by UND or just Vernon Adams being off his game. Sac St has a capable offense (30+ points the last 3 weeks against Big Sky opponents) but they're not nearly as explosive as EWU. Defensively they held Weber State to 3 points but have given up at least 21 points in every other game including 56 points to NAIA Southern Oregon. This is a game where real improvement needs to be shown. We need to see a dominating performance from someone on Saturday. Whether that means our receivers overwhelming their secondary, a rushing performance like we had last year in Sacramento, a big game out of one of the young guys on defense, or Mollberg showing us why there was so much hype with some big plays against a suspect defense. Despite the poor performances we've seen in our building so far we are still alive for a playoff birth if we win out. For me to believe that's a realistic possibility I need to see a score this week that looks something like 36-14. My official prediction: UND 27 Sac St 24

If Tibesar wants to stay in the NFL then I wish him the best. But that doesn't mean Faison shouldn't make a phone call. NFL coaches leave for college all the time and vice versa. He needs to be a candidate at the very least.

We should easily be able to pay market value or more to a legitimate, big time coach. Look at Saturday's game. Just under 8,000 fans paid for a ticket when there's potential for 12,000. At $25 per ticket that's $50,000 more in revenue if we get to 10,000 fans, $75,000 if we get to 11,000 fans, and $100,000 if we can sell out. If we bring in a coach who can make us a consistent contender and can get the fan support at least back to where it was under Lennon then we can afford to nearly double Muss's salary based on the increased revenue from ONE GAME!!! The size of the Alerus and the history we have with attendance when the team is successful gives us a huge opportunity for revenue growth but you have to spend money to make money. Based on my very crude breakdown of the numbers we could afford to offer up to $300,000/year if that's what it takes to get the right guy. If we don't have enough cash on hand then offer him a percentage of ticket revenue and give him an incentive to build back the fan base. With that said, Tim Tibesar is at the top of my list. He's an absolutely perfect candidate based on his connections to UND and his success as a defensive coach at several levels of football including the Big 12, Big 10, CFL, and NFL.

I saw improvement over the Montana games on Saturday but a 21 point loss on Homecoming is still unacceptable. IMO, Muss can still save his job but it's going to take 6 wins. That means winning our last 5 regular season games, getting a playoff birth, and winning the first playoff game. Anything short of that and I'm fully in support of Muss getting the boot.

I'm guessing due to the hockey game Saturday night they'll have people out in the lot directing parking for the volleyball game.

Sections 210-218 is the visitors sideline with 212-214 being the student section.

It's the calm before the storm. When we all watch the worst homecoming loss in school history this thread will reach new heights.

If we miraculously pull off a win next weekend it buys Muss a chance. He and the team would then have to prove that the two blowout losses were the flukes and not the EWU win. That means either winning out and making the playoffs or losing just one more to finish at 7-4 and having a shot at the postseason. That would likely be enough to show that the the games against the Montana schools were something of a fluke. If we beat EWU but then get beat on the road by NAU or someone else and lose another at home he's still gone. Making the playoffs, in my opinion, is the only thing that should be able to save Muss's job now and if he's at the helm of a 3rd straight home blowout loss he shouldn't make it out of the building on Saturday with a job.

Has anybody had a chance to watch an ISU broadcast on Watch Big Sky? I'll likely be watching on my phone so I'm hoping it's watchable on a small screen.

I'm interested to see the attitude of this board will be if we go out there and blow them out. There's been a lot of doom and gloom around here for the last few weeks and for good reason but I generally think this is a pretty optimistic board.