Sioux94

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!

I'm hoping it's loud the whole game, that means it is likely pretty competitive. If you are up 35-7 in the 3rd quarter your fans will probably lose a little interest being up that much against an FCS school. Montana fans like to quote Tony Romo who said playing in Montana was the loudest stadium he's played in, and Montana hates us almost as bad as NDSU does so I'm sure it was plenty loud in Montana when we played there two years ago. I think it's a given though that we will have at least one false start, which may have happened without the noise....but the noise certainly won't help. First game of year, big and loud crowd, if we only have 1 false start I'd call it a win for us.

I was hoping you guys would have stuck with Williams, as Huntley sounds like he is a better runner/scrambler. Those types of QB's can be frustrating to play when they end up making big plays out of nothing.

Did Eastern Washington and other FCS conference champions around the country get rings paid by their athletic departments? I have no idea, just asking whether or not it is the norm.

What are everybody's honest thoughts about the OL this year? Last you'd have to say our OL was average, and from that average OL we lost the best one who was good enough to get some looks from scouts. We did have a number of injuries last year that is for sure , which didn't help. So is one more year of experience for the other guys and also being healthy and having more depth, going to be enough to overcome the loss of our best lineman to not only be as good as last year, but better? I'm sure hoping having more depth and more experience allows our OL to take a step forward this year. But given we have the same guys as last year, minus one, what really is our peak potential? On a scale of 1 - 10 is 7 really about all we can expect out of the OL this year? And I'm not saying 7 is horrible, it's above average. Overall our RB's as a group I'd say would be about a10 or as close to it as you can get, they just need a few holes so if our OL is at least a 7 we can probably make some hay with that. If our OL can surpass expectations and get to an 8 this year......our offense will be rolling!

Damn....all of that looks pretty awesome!

What hotel are you staying at?

BOOM!! Just got my ticket and am going to the game!! Flying from Philadelphia on the 30th to Salt Lake City instead of back to AZ. I'll have to try and find some of you to party with as I'll be by myself lol. Not sure if I'm going to rent a car yet or just Uber it around. Tickets are in Section W8.

Utah is neither Wyoming or Bowling Green, much better program that is for sure. When we were DII, when we would play Crookston or Moorhead to start the year I'm pretty sure none of us were too concerned we weren't going to win those games. If I was them I would be expecting a win also, so I don't get too bent up about it. Although I haven't read the comments and if they think they are going to blow us out by 40 without breaking a sweat that is another thing. Either way, I'd rather them and their team completely over look us.

Thanks for the info RavenousUte! I am familiar with some of those bars if I need to go there to watch I'll have to double check if I get the Pac 12 Network, switched to Direct TV recently.

Thanks!

Thanks. Just learned of a work trip and would be flying back the night of the game, thought about going a day earlier and then possibly doing direct flight to Salt Lake City Wednesday night to catch the game. It's probably already been posted, but will the game be available to watch online?? I still might do the work trip a day early (even if I don't go to the game) so I get home Wednesday night and can watch the game Thursday night online, opposed to flying Thursday night and missing the game.

Anybody know if there are tickets we can get through UND to this game in the UND section yet?

That would be great, especially if he has more than one year left to play.

Only 6 INT's in two years is a great stat.

I think that picture is trying to portray that they are going to practices and keeping tabs on the football team during the week while no one else is around. That is my take anyway, I guess I don't have a problem with it.

#12 as in he committed to us I assume right?

Awesome write up Teeder, thanks! What are your overall thoughts on the OL? To me that is still a big question mark. Sounds like they started out slow, but did ok later? And that was against the 2's right as the first team DL was out (granted our 2's play a lot on the DL). Going up against Utah's stout DL may make for some really tough sledding in that first game.

Let's not for get Connor O'Brien lost this off season too, he was the leading tackler last year right? So in the off season we lost 1. Harris (pro prospect) 2. O'Brien (leading tackler if I recall) 3. Grady (potential pro prospect) granted he wasn't with us last year so hard to fully call that a loss. Regardless, come November/ December you can't tell me we wouldn't be a more solid team with those guys, 3 starters. This all before the season even starts, there will surely be other injuries coming. That said, thankfully we have built more depth and can absorb these injuries better than we could have 2-3 years ago but they still hurt. Injuries are part of the game though and everybody has them. I saw one NDSU fan on the FB FCS Fans nation page all but throw in the towel when Menard got hurt and out for the year, and they are probably one of the deeper teams in the FCS. Obviously that guy blew things way out of proportion, NDSU is still a favorite to win it all. I am still super excited about this year though, and the good thing about these is that they DID occur very early so the team can better prepare and move past it, other guys are getting more reps. I am already passed the Harris, Grady, and O'Brien not playing this year....but you can't deny the difference they would have made, especially if more serious injuries creep up.

I 110% agree with this!

Wasn't sure if I should put this here or the Adidas thread: http://www.ncaa.com/news/football/article/2017-08-09/fcs-football-10-best-uniforms-according-fans

Oh ya that's right, Studs was out that game too. I recall now that many of us were thinking they might put Joe in for the second half. And yeah that end of the first half was the killer. Really hoping we can wipe that bad taste from our mouth this year when we go back!