Sioux94

We are about to catch the Trax right now go the stadium. We have about 24 beers between the 3 of us that we are bringing, may possible barter for some grub.

You said you wanted some pics of everything.......UND Colorado doing game prep. We are about 4 beers in at the hotel right now.

My phone is showing high of 84 for here in Salt Lake City today, so not too bad.

Alright will do! I am excited and nervous for the game already. Cracking the first beer in about an hour and a half should help relieve the nerves

We have to limit their big offensive plays, no easy 70 yard TD's on blown coverages etc.. Make them earn every point they get.

Do you guys want me to post some pics of the atmosphere at the stadium before the game while tailgating?

I'm at Denver airport right now about to board connecting flight to Salt Lake City.

I'm meeting up with UND Colorado in Salt Lake City around noon for some pregame brews and tailgating, I'll be 6 deep by the start of the game!

Utah - 34 UND - 17 I agree with those that have stated it's about matchups, and this is just not the perfect matchup for a big upset, however I'm still hoping it somehow happens. Below are a list of my four things that if they went the other way would have given us a much better chance at the upset. (Of course #5 would have been if we had Grady, but I won't mention that ) 1. They didn't get an NFL caliber WR transfer 2. We didn't lose a possible NFL draft pick CB 3. They didn't change to more of a passing offense this year. I think if they ran the same offense as last year, which was more running we could have gave them a few problems with our experienced DL and their inexperienced OL. 4. They weren't starting the younger more mobile QB, he is going to make a few big scramble plays.

Wasn't really looking at starting a new conversation, just assumed there would already be a blog/thread started regarding this Thursday's game. Just wanted to see what your fans were saying about the game. I guess maybe there isn't a specific thread dedicated to this game. Looks more like just random posts on things.

I lost the link to your board about the game against us.....can you post a link from your board?

Do we know if JJ is going to be out for this game, or is there a chance he still might play? Would have been nice to have a big body like his running against Utah's tough defensive front 4. Are there any other notable injuries going into Thursday? (other than the obvious - Harris)

I agree, it should at least be an option for the players to purchase. Yes maybe all can't afford it, but if you are a senior and it is your last shot at you should be able to purchase one if you really want one. I mean if you are a redshirt freshman and didn't see the field at all, probably not as big of a deal if you can't afford to purchase one. Not that it wouldn't mean anything to you, but probably not as much as if you were an upper classmen. Being politically correct to say......"well they ALL can't afford to buy one, therefore nobody gets one or even the option to get one", is lame.

Just watched the Richmond game from last year. I should have stopped the tape with 4 minutes left in the 3rd quarter........Ugh that final 19 minutes is tough to watch. Remembered momentum shifting after the running into the kicker, forgot we also got a punt blocked in the 4th quarter as well which gave them 3 points. Sure hope the special teams figures sh*t out this year, because punt team last year was horrible. Think I'll need to watch some more positive highlights tomorrow or later this week.

Do they do a 50/50 raffle at the football games? Maybe do that with funds going towards the rings, may not cover it all but could help some and people might be willing to buy more than normal to help out.

I hope there will be a recorded version somewhere online after the game. I'll be at the game and am leaving town this Sunday so probably won't get it recorded, but would probably want to watch it again to hear some commentary etc.. Well unless we get completely blown out or something, then I don't think I'll want to re-watch

I don't think it has been the number of injuries, just the places the injuries have occurred are places where we aren't very deep. If we had two DE's and two WR's out for a few weeks, we have plenty of depth there. It sounds like Larson may have started at ILB. I can't say this for sure but I'm guessing a true freshman has never started or played a lot of reps at ILB in the past 25 years. If we had plenty capable ILB's a true freshman would not be playing a lot in this position. Granted he sounds like a stud, but still it's too bad that he can't red shirt, which he may end up doing now that he is injured, but we'll see I wouldn't be surprised if he still gets it pulled. Every team is going through it's share of injuries right now though, I do get that.....it's part of what happens. However coaches are having to move guys out of positions they wanted to have them in, and put them in other positions. Just have to trust we have the athletes to make plays when needed, which they usually do. On rare occasions it can be a blessing.....such as Santiago.

I'm surprised with all of these injuries and being so thin at LB we haven't heard more about Nevermann. He was recruited by Wyoming to play LB for them, and seems like he may have a hard time getting on the field for us at that position when we are thin at that position.

Man we are already treading on this ice for some of the defensive positions and we haven't even played a game yet. Really hope we can have a relatively injury free year the rest of the way.

I think you are being pretty fair and objective. The initial number I had in my head was to hope to rush for 120-130 yards and try to get at least that, and then maybe we'd have a chance. If we somehow got more than that.....that is just gravy. I don't think we will go over 150 yards rushing either, unless we break a big one. I could certainly see a scenario where we get less than 100 though, but hope that doesn't happen. We are going to have to use our jet sweep to get our guys outside, screens and other passes too. Our offensive coordinator is going to have to call a great game. We are going to also have to hope your offense is maybe a little rusty or out of rhythm from learning a new offense and having a first year starter and have our defense take advantage of that. We will need to win the turnover battle too. We will need a lot of things to go right to pull off the upset, but anything can happen. And at least the coach we have now will have our players in the mindset that we are going there to win the game, not just compete.

Well we can certainly relate to this.

I will let others smarter and more knowledgeable than me reply....but here is a quick reply. - We have three really good RB's, two are very powerful and strong inside rushers. The other is a really quick and fast guy that is good around the edge or once he gets through the hole, He is shorter and may seem small, but he has a mean stiff arm that takes defenders by surprise sometimes. - Yes we have a full back, and will probably hand off to him 3-4 times a game - Our OL has some decent experience this year, I'll let others talk about their ability to pick stuff up and the details of that. We are hoping experience pays off this year, but that said....our OL is also a concern going into the year as we were just average last year and the OL has started out slow the past couple of years. - Our QB is capable, but he's not light up the field type of guy because we are more of a run first offense. Our QB we are hoping is more consistent this year because we now have experience at WR. Last year we had several injuries to our WR's and we had some true freshman playing quite a bit, and our only speed guy broke his leg in the first game which caused us to see a lot of 8 in the box. We hope to take a step forward in the passing game this year, and quite frankly are going to have to be able to get some key completions against you guys to move the ball. We just decided to pull the red shirt off a freshman this year because he is quick and will really be our only burner, and he'll likely play against you guys to help us at least try to stretch the field. The one thing our QB usually doesn't do is turn the ball over, he's only had 6 INT's the past two seasons. We need to win the turnover battle against you guys.

How many rushing yards do you guys think we will get against Utah and their tough defensive front?

Absolutely! And sounds like he's had a great fall camp, seemed like he was in nearly every one of Teeder's updates so this seemed to be a no brainer as we needed at least one burner. Sounds like he is a smart, quiet, and hard working kid......hope he makes some big plays right away in game 1!