Dustin

So who are we cheering for in the XDSU game?

Were you and/or your sources sober?

Shouldn't this thread just be "2021 Football Season"? Or is that assuming too much? Or is because we will be playing in the championship game in January 2022? Let's just go with that.

Couple of thoughts on the championship game: Who are people pulling for in this one? Once UND is out of it, I cheer for the team whose school has never won one, or currently in the longest drought. In today’s case, we have guaranteed first time champion, which is good for the game, IMO. I’m glad the neither of the teams playing tonight advanced in the tournament due to a “no contest.” The champion will have to play and win all 4 games. I feel ESPN has stepped up their game with covering the Frozen Four. The championship game is on ESPN (with both semifinals on ESPN2), which isn’t always the case. Also of note, they’re doing an hour pregame, which to my knowledge has not been done before. During one of the semifinal games, Buccigross said doubleheader semifinal Thursday is one of his favorite days of the year, so he seems to be doing a good job hyping it. Enjoy the game, college hockey fans!

I don't buy the narratives that NCAA championships are easier to get than conference championships (regular or tournament) or that the best teams don't win the NCAA championship. First of all, you've got to put together a regular season resume worthy of being selected. Then once selected, you've got to win 4 consecutive games against the nation's best competition, with little room for error. Coaches also have to game plan for a new opponent every game, which is different from the 2-games series of the regular season. Yes, a hot team at the end of the season can run the table, but isn't that the point of playing the whole season...to work out all the kinks and play your best at the end of the year?

Minnesota in the '80s and '90s was like UND in the '00s and early '10s - chance after chance to bring home a title but never over the hump. The one thing that often gets forgotten by demanding fan bases - it's hard to win a championship!

When UND was in their 16 year title "drought," I had to remind myself of these very statistics. Even the most storied programs go long stretches without national titles. What made things so painful is how close we were during those 16 years without getting over the hump. But it definitely made the '16 title very very sweet. Of college hockey's "Big 7," UND's longest title drought (17 years) is the second shortest (only Wisconsin's is shorter, but we'll see for how long...)

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I was reading through the comments to see if someone eventually said it. You hit everything right on the head @siouxfan512

Still surprised a local outlet (i.e. Midco) hasn't been given the rights to broadcast a game only available on ESPN3. Maybe accessing ESPN3 isn't as big of a problem as it used to be, but in the old days, WDAZ or FSN North would get rights when UND was in this situation.

Agreed. I think part of the reason the defense looked bad was because of how much they played, and the offense is to blame for that. I don't why the offense was so anemic on Saturday. It didn't look like we had a very good offensive game plan. I hope Danny's had a chance to clear his head, because up until then, our offense was dictating football games.

I was a little disappointed they started the tear down the week leading up to the NDSU game. It kind of felt symbolic in a way, and now we know why.

Yes, I know we'll know the answer then. But how do feel now? I'm thinking there's quite a bit of hesitation on if we're capable of getting over the hump.

So how are folks feeling about the team's (players and coaches) ability to learn and grow from their first loss?

Sometimes it's hard to convey through written text how you'd actually say something out loud with all of its verbal inflections. I can hear what I think he's trying to convey in my mind. But yes, a straight "We should have won" doesn't really fly given the evidence that proves otherwise.

I don't want to put words in his mouth, but what I think he means is that we should have taken advantage of the situation and performed better to enable us to win. It was a lost opportunity in our minds.

It may not have worked out, as it turned out there were some critical pass plays that complimented your rushing offense. But to force more passing by the Bison QBs would have had a higher chance of UND defense success IMO.

This next week is a good test of whether we've turned the corner. If we have, we beat YSU by double digits.

I don't think people are saying the season is "normal," but it is the season we are allowed to play. I'll ask you this: why are the Bison playing?

Ironically, this is the precise game plan that I feel UND should have taken against NDSU.

I too felt that coaching adjustments could have helped our cause. We maybe wouldn’t have won, but the adjustments that seemed so promising in the other games weren’t there yesterday. We may have been outmatched at the line of scrimmage, but did we sell out to stop the run?

Was thinking the same thing. Or what if a fall season was going poorly, could you just forfeit the rest of the season?

At one point early on in the Midco broadcast they showed Danny upstairs with his hands on his head before a 3rd or 4th down and I was thinking he was very nervous.

I was going to ask about this. I've read on this board how NG is such an important position in the 3-4 defense, and that we are thin for depth there. Was Morrison going out when the tide turned against our run D for good? And who do we have coming in at NG for the fall?

Yes, I was deflated after that missed extra point. Gave me a bad feeling about the rest of the game. I wonder what the mindset of the team was this week. It seems like we thought NDSU's offensive struggles would basically hand the game to us and we wouldn't have to do anything special. Our defense, especially, seemed uninspired. We didn't bring any new wrinkles, offensively or defensively, that I noticed.