Dustin

https://undfootball360.com/und-prevails-in-a-wild-one-against-abilene-christian/ I felt Kelly didn't call out the defense too hard in his write-up. Is he too soft on them? Our inability to cover defensively when opposing offense goes max-protect is just so deflating.

I can't say I speak for everyone, but I would say that's the Tier 1 goal. "Make the playoffs" and see what kind of noise we can make (kind of like making the NCAA in hockey - doesn't matter how you're in, just as long as you're in). In my mind, Tier 2 goal would be host a playoff game (which we have done). Tier 3 goal would to be seeded (which we have also done), and so on and so forth. I am ok with the idea that this is a process that builds on previous accomplishments. So far, we've played in the quarterfinals twice, but lost each time. That would be my immediate goal for the remainder of the Tommy Schuster era - win the quarterfinal game and earn a spot in the semi-finals. But don't take being a semi-finalist as my stamp of "mission accomplished;" that can only be sated with an NCAA FCS championship.

That's even too much for me. I wanted 17 or fewer against ACU. I'll stick with that number.

I've been supportive of the coaches, but missing playoffs this year would be a huge red flag that there's a flaw somewhere in the coaching ranks and can't be ignored.

Same with me. I want to believe that our defense and special teams are still ascending to their season peak, but with nearly 3/4 of the season complete, is that a logical expectation? There have been multiple opportunities to show growth and it hasn't been shown. Disappointing to say the least.

Does anybody if there's something wrong (specifically an injury) with Brady Stevens? I don't think he kicked one touchback on Saturday. IIRC, he was getting touchbacks regularly earlier in the season. I didn't fully understand the importance of kickoff touchbacks until the season

Is this a recent development?

All right, 2 games into ‘second season’ and here are my thoughts: Offense - carrying the load for the team. Averaging 30 points and it’s saving our bacon. I wish we had one more consistent dynamic playmaker. Seems like consistent production drops off after Belquist and Hoosman. The absence of Skokna is really noticeable. Would also like someone like Elijah Kline to become our Kraft or Luepke. Defense - The offseason losses are absolutely killing our ability to put teams away. This year’s defense is a huge liability. I thought by now we’d be starting to figure things out, but a lot of work needs to be done here. IF we make the playoffs, we will be one and done if this defense doesn’t improve. Lots of glaring problems, but they’ve been identified elsewhere, so I won’t elaborate. Special Teams - Kind of the Jekyll and Hyde of the team. One minute their blocking punts for touchdowns and downing punts at 1 yard line, the next their allowing 90 yard kickoff returns and missing 40 yard field goals. So far, their assets have been stronger than their liabilities, but at some point they will end up losing the game for us at an inopportune time. Other thoughts - Impressed with the discipline of the team. It seems that most of the time there’s a flag thrown, it’s against the other team.

Thanks. So, it looks like #5 SOS in FCS. I presume this will go down after playing Indiana State and South Dakota?

Is there a place where strength of schedule is updated throughout the season? With UNI and YSU having decent records, what do those wins do for us?

The Indiana State and South Dakota games cannot be letdowns in any way.

I didn’t realize that NDSU was having a turnaround season as well. KC and ORU took steps in the other direction.

So far, no bad losses, and some decent wins to boot. Need it to stay that way.

Was wondering what is/was going on myself. Stage needs to be better.

Cardiac kids!! Not the type of victory I was hoping for, but it is a victory nonetheless. Get ready for a road battle now.

It looked like it could be a sweep, but it took 5. Anyway, take a road win anyway you can get it. Back home for a really fun stretch of games.

Almost incomprehensible compared to what we dealt with last year, but winning out from this point (though I will admit would be unlikely) would make them champs (or possibly co-champs) the for regular season. In that scenario, the best that USD, NDSU, or Omaha could do is tie UND at the top with a record of 15-3. UND would own the head-to-head tiebreaker with both USD and NDSU, but would still be tied with Omaha, with each team having won once. I am not quite sure what the next tie-breaker criteria would be, so it possible we could lose that one. Since that scenario seems unlikely, let's see what happens if UND splits its games with the upper echelon (USD, NDSU, Omaha, and Denver, which BTW, we play them all AT HOME over the next 2 weeks, so get your butts in the Betty!!) for the season (meaning at the end of the year we would 1-1 with all those aforementioned teams): UND would finish 13-5 and probably be about where we are now in the standings - 4th or 5th. Like I said, if we could get out of the 4/5 match-up, I see that benefitting us a lot. But to do that, we will have to win a couple matches we are not favored in. Can't believe we're talking conference tourney seeding scenarios, but here we are. First, finish up the road trip tomorrow with a win, and then 4 straight home games against the cream of the crop. Should be a lot of fun.

It would be nice to get into that #3 seed (or #2 seed, but let's assume #3 for this argument) and play #6, currently SDSU. At the moment, there appears to be a big drop-off from #5 (Denver) to #6, so getting your first game of the conference tourney out of the way with an easier match would be good for the team. And then, maybe we can catch the #2 seed a little cold in the semi-final and ride our momentum into the championship game.

Even as a person who's been trying to stay positive on all things football, this was an egregious error that sends a bad message short term. His former contract was not expiring at the end of the season, so that decision should have been held back at least one year. However, whether that was a poor decision can't be known yet, as much as some people wish that it would have manifested already.

So as it turns out the die-hard Bison fan was at this game with his brother (his brother went to undergrad at SDSU and grad school at UND), and he was definitely impressed with Schuster's first drive carving up the Jacks D. Made him nervous for the game in Fargo. But he's kind of a nervous Nelly and is always paranoid the Bison are going to lose but they never do, so that has to be taken with a grain of salt. Also, unbeknownst to me, my dad was at the game - his first in quite some time.

Ok. I understand that it's easier to plan when you know the venue and host a year in advance, but I feel like the reward is delayed and sort of cheats the best team of the current season.

I've been a little out of touch with the conference tournament since we've joined the Summit League, so hopefully someone can catch me up. It looks like the top 6 teams make the tournament. Seems a bit low for a conference tournament, but it probably helps avoid an unexpected upset and get the best team in the NCAA. Does that mean #1 and #2 seeds receive byes? I see the tournament is in Omaha this year. Does someone know how was that determined? I would love if the Betty could host the conference tourney again like they did in 2011 (Great West) and 2016 (Big Sky). Those tournaments are some of my best volleyball memories during the golden age.

Obviously getting the win is priority #1. But what will make me more confident in the team/season would be for UND to score a minimum of 28 and give up a maximum of 17.

Way to get a road win! 8-3 conference, and at .500 on the season.

Yep, that's the down I'm thinking of. Now that you reminded me of the distance to the line to gain, it seems more obvious why they didn't go through with it.