Agreed. I don't think the fans are quite ready to commit to being regulars again after the later Pryor years and especially the Tiffin years scared off just about the whole lot. Need to have these wins against USD at home to instill some confidence that fans who come out will see them on the winning end.
Maybe the reverse of last year will happen. Instead of a blowout victory over NDSU leading to a collapse, the blowout defeat will be a turnaround. Lots of things in UND's favor yet: a bye week at a strategic time, weak road opponents, high profile home games. Still hoping for 9-3 (or better).
THanks so much, nodak. I also found this on the Midco deal: "Midco Sports will broadcast most conference road games for the football program" key word MOST
https://fightinghawks.com/news/2022/8/4/general-und-athletics-midco-sports-announce-multi-year-television-rights-agreement.aspx
Changing the subject, didn't Midco's lastest deal with UND require football broadcasts of all away games? Indiana State and Illinois State are listed as ESPN+ - no Midco.
Other than the Bison game, none of the road games are ones I would consider to be a loss from the get go. If they are 7-5 after starting 4-1, that would be a huge collapse, IMO. Need to see minimum 8-4, and even that is a little underwhelming.
Now that we're through the first month of the season, what are people's (revised) expectations? Or is the sample size still too small? To me, 8-4 should be easily attainable and I would be very disappointed with anything less. 9-3 seems pretty realistic, but double digit wins is certainly obtainable - just need to pick off one the games in which we're not favored.