Sioux94

I like that they are thinking a little out of the box and tinkering with putting Orlando or Beech as DE sometimes if some teams are just trying to power run it down our throats. Looks like Mcnaboe will likely start at one DE, he is only 240....pretty easy for him to get pushed around by 300 lb lineman.

If the OL doesn't get any better than last year, yes we can still have a good year. The margin for error drops significantly though. If we weren't on our backup kicker and if we didn't fumble late in 4th quarter last year could have been playoffs, so we could replicate that season but don't choke those crucial plays. If NDSU had 4th and 1 late in the game in that situation, they run it right up the gut and pick up that 1st down 95% of the time and game is over. We run a trick play...and boom, game over the other direction. Life is SO much easier when you can just consistently pick up short yardage when you need to. Our OL will likely be one of the youngest in the conference. If we can go at least 3-2 and then make the playoffs, they will have 11 games under their belt and should hopefully improve during the year and possibly make us a dangerous team in the playoffs.....if we can get there.

I agree that a more experienced Tommy will help this year and him picking up some key yardage on the ground at times will help. But as we've all said, it's really going to come down to if the OL is improved from last year. Once we got inside the 20 last year it was tough sledding for us on the ground. If it's 3rd and 1 from the 8 yard line, can we pound it up the middle for a first down, or do we have to run a trick play to pick up that one yard like last year.

I would guess he had us losing to UNI, SIU, and Missouri State. Then losses to NDSU, SDSU, and Nebraska. It's conceivable that happens, and especially if you are a hater......kind of like every person is other than UND fans. I think we win at least two of those games and go 7-4.

Under

Agree, especially if we didn't look good against UNI. Should we lose to UNI, we'd have to beat Southern Illinois on the road to remain on track for being at least 3-2 after the first 5 games.

I'd like for it to feel like it's still a game.....midway or at the end of the 3rd quarter, as in down by no more than 14, and have their fans feeling frustrated.

Totally agree with all of this. Particularly excited about Wilson being a playmaker. Also from Miller's write up's Caden Dennis has made some plays....he may finally be that deep threat for us. I could see them pulling his shirt this year. Also Miller mentioned Klein has been making some plays. Pretty excited overall about the WR group this fall, nice mix of guys who can do different things. Just read Miller's write ups for the Day 3 and Day 4 practice. Getting super excited about this team and this fall. It's easy to have the Kelly Green glasses on this time of year though

Definitely take the over on the missed FG Hope we are under on the Missed EP. I'll take the Under on the blocked kicks.

Maag - Over or Under 850 Receiving yards for the season?

Under, my guess will be 7 wins.

I'm going to take the Over. I think he could have 2-3 100 yard games. Assuming he doesn't get injured, I think he can do it even though others will be getting carries.

Yes it absolutely can become part of his game. As others have said, not necessarily designed runs, but when he is back to pass and something opens up and he can get 5-6 easy yards.....take it unless there is an open WR. As someone eluded too, he did that against SDSU last year.....think somebody said he ran 10 times. I do remember one time in one game, can't remember if it was last year or the year before.....I think it was 3rd and like 8 or something.......he scrambled out to the right....could have picked up 10-15 yards and a first down but he decided to make a throw 25 yards down field that was incomplete.

Agree with this. Hoping Nebraska wins that first game so they feel like they can just show up against us. Hope their first game is a dog fight though.

A few thoughts 1. Nice to see Smith listed at #1 RB as he is the most dynamic back. Hoping we can get off to better starts offensively this year. I think it took 4-5 game Weah's first year playing to get moved into the starting spot even though it was clear he should be the #1. 4 RB's with experience....we should have good depth there even if Mitchell is still out for a while. Could Ziebarth end up with as many carries as Skokna by the end of the year? Ziebarth looked pretty good in limited action last year and has more size than Skokna. 2. Feeney at #4 on depth chart, is Romfo that good....or is Feeney not as good as we thought? 3. We have 3 Kickers......are any of them capable of making a 42 yard FG 7 out of 10 times? 4. Surprised Navratil is listed as an Or with Ted Mullin at OLB. Figured Navratil would for sure be starter. Looks like we should have a good 2 deep at OLB. 5. Some previously unfamiliar names on the DB 2 deep, hopefully they will be solid. 6. Hoping Klein can emerge as a sneaky weapon at times with his height.

From Miller's article on Day 1 practice: "One of the surprises of the depth chart was starting right tackle Jack Kuntz of Devils Lake." If he is good enough to start at tackle and they are able to move Kilty to Guard, which they are experimenting with that would be great. Sounds like they realize we need to be much better on the interior OL, which is true. Hopefully if we run it up the middle this year on 2nd and 2 we pick up 3 yards instead of losing 1.

I think a lot of us have been excited about Orlando since we recruited him, big, physical, and athletic. Having 3 NG's now at the proper weight should really help late in games when teams like NDSU want to try and run it down our throats. Hoping some other guys like Lennon etc. continue to improve. Seems like we are recruiting DE's now that are already bigger coming out of HS than before, some of our DE recruits are already 240-250 as high school juniors. Need that size to compete with the big OL's in the MVFC.

Every team ahead of us beat us last year except for Northern Iowa who we didn't play. And Northern Iowa.....is Northern Iowa, they are going to get the benefit of the doubt. As much as I'm hoping we can be done being the underdog/spoiler.....that is the mindset we need to take this year...at least at the beginning of the year. Looking for wins at a minumum this year against UNI, Missouri State, and USD as we have them at home. Hopefully another upset in there somewhere. To your point though, I think we will finish better than 7th this year too so in that regard I think we are too low. But we all have Kelly Green glasses, all of the other teams other than NDSU likely have expectations to finish higher than their ranking.

Other than the Nebraska game I believe all will be on ESPN + Nebraska game shows Big10 Network. I'm sure it will be able to be streamed somewhere.

Based upon preseason rankings and the first five games, if we went by that we would go 1-4. I think we could be anywhere between 4-1 and 0-5 after 5 games, but my prediction will be 3-2. Hoping we are at least 3-2 after those 5 games. Should we be 4-1 it would mean the OL is rolling for sure. A 2-3 start will make it an uphill battle the rest of the season to make the playoffs. What does everyone else think?

That sucks, sounded like he was killing it in those pre-camp practices.

I agree, some of the teams ahead of us likely wouldn't have much of a chance to finish in the top half of the MVFC. We did it to ourselves last year and screwed the pooch on those close games. Given our record I get outsiders not having us in their To 25.....but 37....seems to not be giving us much credit. We are under the radar to start the year this year for sure, time to blow that up by beating UNI. I think the two games I want to win most are the UNI and Missouri St. games next year. Need to beat UNI to get off to a good start and get some momentum, plus we all talk so much s**t about them if they beat us in our house I guess they get the last laugh. And Missouri St. all of the sudden thinks they are a top tier team and seem a little full of themselves. They do have talent and a good coach though. Here is to outcoaching them that game and getting the win.

Link to the FCS fans Nation podcast ranking all teams. Go to the 45 minute mark, they have UND ranked #37 and the only thing they say about us is to joke about us being the best DII team. We really need to beat Northern Iowa and some of these others this year, sick of not even being thought of as a Top 25 team. We need to start a run of good seasons to get some respect.

It will definitely be one of the more interesting fall camps in a while. With so many transfers expected to have an immediate impact, hopefully many of them are the real deal and end up cracking the starting lineup and/or 2 deep. QB may also be a little more interesting but not sure. With both Feeney and Quincy being in the program a little longer, will they actually give Schuster a run for the starting job? I'd say most likely it will still be Tommy. With hopefully having some more depth at QB they will advise Tommy to run a little more. I'm back from my 4 week stint back in ND.....and am ready for some football soon!!

I'm thinking OLB for Boll.