Ozzie82

Awful call. I'm trying to see it from the ref's point of view and the only thing I can see is what Siouxperfan 7 saw, too... maybe that's what the ref saw. Must be because man that's a tough call that completely changed the game. Great protection, great throw, great catch, awful call.

No reply, huh siouxfan97?

I don't know if Gee is injured, but it sure looks like Skokna has moved up to the #2 RB spot.

I assume you know that a kickoff is a live ball, right? So if it hits at the 5 and bounces away from the endzone, or to the side, we're screwed. Either they recover or we recover and we're tackled inside of the ten. You understand that, right?

Nailed it.

Great point. I hadn’t considered that. That kid is a stud and scared the crap out of me every time he touched the ball. PS: sorry to all about the large print in my previous posts (although helpful for people of a certain age)!

- Danny Fruend called a great game yesterday overall. Does anyone think that last year’s offense would have worked against the Weber DL? No chance. His playcalling mitigated the need to play smash mouth football, which would have played right into Weber’s strength. He gave us a chance to win. - That said, that one section in the second half where confusion reigned and they had to burn timeouts was frustrating. I don’t know what was going on there but having at least one time out on that last drive would have made an enormous difference, and having to hurry the field goal unit might have caused the missed field goal. That was a critical part of the game that was a missed opportunity. - To blame Kostich for the fumble is preposterous. If you don’t like him, fine, but he didn’t drop the ball. There have been ST issues in the past for sure, but I’m pretty sure that earlier in the Weber game we executed a crucial fake punt, and last week’s game was won on a blocked punt for a touchdown. If you’re going to rip the guy for the ST errors you should credit him for his role on those positive plays, too. - From my admittedly far away view, that should not have been offensive pass interference on UND on that trick play for a touchdown. They didn’t show the replay on the big screen and I understand it wasn’t clear on TV, either. From my vantage point it was not clear enough to make the call - plenty of contact from the defender, too. That TD made an enormous difference on the outcome. - Toivenin would have scored on that long pass play in the fourth quarter had the sun not been in his eyes. At that time of the day the sun was low in the sky, and the stadium is not positioned north/south as is normal, so he was looking directly into the sun and had to drop down to his knees to make sure he caught it. Advantage Weber in the fourth quarter with the sun. Had he scored there that would have changed the game as we settled for a field goal I believe (correct me if I’m wrong). - Wide receiver play continues to be stellar. We’ve come to expect it, so it doesn’t get mentioned often, but the top 3 guys are fantastic and are utilized so well in Danny’s offense. - What Schmidt continues to do with his young defensive line is amazing. On paper they have no business being as solid as they’ve been, especially missing Bennett, who is likely the best player on the team.

Thoughts on yesterday’s game (not all are original, I’m aware): - After Weber’s first two drives I thought we were going to get run out of the stadium. What this team did the remainder of the game, both from a scheme and effort standpoint, was incredibly impressive. That’s why it hurt so badly to lose. - To get that close to beating the #3 team in the US, on the road, really hurt. Man it was an incredible game, but boy did it hurt. I would have loved to have seen what the offense could do with 2:30 left on the clock in the fourth quarter... the line was protecting Nate, who was dealing, the receivers were playing at a high level... man I wish we had that shot. - The game ball goes to the offensive line. They won the line of scrimmage yesterday against one of the best D lines in the country. They really stepped up and continue to improve. - As others have noted, Turner’s loss has been significant. I hope he returns soon. Conversely, Galvin has been a welcome addition to the secondary and has played very well. - Kudos to Kett, who has been excellent for weeks. No INTs for three weeks, I believe. He has taken a lot of abuse on this board, much of it deserved, and he deserves credit for the improvements he’s made. - As tough as it was to see Boltmann’s fumble, I will never fault a playmaker like Brock trying to make a play to help his team. We don’t know what the returners were told or not told to do by the staff on that kickoff, so to project blame on the ST Coach is misguided at best, but I give my best playmaker a chance to make a play every single time.

General thoughts from attending yesterday’s game: - The stadium at Weber might be the most gorgeous and impressive in the Big Sky. I never thought anything would top Montana or Montana State but this just might. And they have the football facilities we want to have after phase 2. Very impressive. - As the afternoon turned into sunset the mountains changed colors and were spectacular. The stadium backed right up against the mountains and provided a gorgeous backdrop for football. - It’s the right move to leave the Big Sky, both for financial and regional rooting reasons, but there is no comparison between Ogden and Youngstown, San Louis Obispo and Vermillion, Missoula and Carbondale. Each away game in the Big Sky has felt like a vacation. This conference will be missed. - The Weber fans were the nicest away fans I’ve encountered. Unlike most comments on this board, everyone was incredibly impressed with UND and complimentary of their effort. Many acknowledged the game was decided on the KO fumble and said he game could have gone either way. Ran into a number of the Weber players after the game and they were as considerate as their fans. I will root for this team in the future when they don’t play us. - Jay Hill’s father is the mayor of that stadium. He walked around welcoming everyone, encouraging the UND players to “live their dream,” inviting people to a part of the stadium that serves free food, and generally being a friendly guy. What a character. - Ogden was a really nice town. Good microbrews, great restaurants, artsy, and a gorgeous setting in the mountains. Well worth the visit.

Don’t count on Bennett.

So we could have RBs named Isaiah Harris and Isaiah Smith in the same class? I love it!

Agree with you. I think it’s more likely that the committee takes into account UND’s three wins against top 25 teams instead of one bad game. But it could go either way. And that’s not a great place to be in. Let’s go beat Weber and make this discussion a moot point.

Some great commentary today. Lots of good points. I can easily see a Weber loss and two close wins at home - then advancing to the playoffs. I dont see a possible loss to Weber being a spiral downward. They’ve bounced back from every big loss they’ve had this year.

- Glad to hear Kett receiving praise on this board for his play the last couple of weeks. His SMH plays have decreased, as have his turnovers. It’s important progress, and it’s a big component for winning football. - It was hard to see the D playing this well. I was with the majority... if we were going to win it would take outscoring them in a shootout. Huge credit to the defensive staff and especially the young D linemen who stepped up. Donnell and Noah were fantastic again, and credit to Jade Lawrence, too, who has made many big plays this year. His sack at the end of the game was huge. - One unsung player is Nate Nguyen. The ability to backup every position on the OL is pretty unprecedented. Each position requires different levels of physical ability, not to mention knowledge. Playing center in this offense is difficult as it requires the ability to read the defense and make the correct call (the responsibilities are different than with the previous O staff). The fact that he can slide in to play backup center, then slide out to play LT is impressive as hell. Plus he makes the calls on the punt team. Tip of the hat to him. - props to Kostich, who has been justifiably ripped over the years, for putting the players in a position to make the two plays that won the game for the Hawks... the downed punt and the punt block. -Cloyd’s punt block, along with Cloyd’s TD against Cal Poly, are the two biggest plays of the year thus far. - Holm is a difference maker and having him back is a huge boost. He is a stud. - I love having the bye this week. It comes at a perfect time heading in to the final stretch of the season with all of the injuries. - The Hawks are capable of beating Weber. They are also capable of getting blown out by Weber. They’re also capable of beating or losing to the final two teams. It will an interesting final month of the season. - Man, it sure would be nice if they could win a game convincingly! #heartattack

Nothing is definite in football, especially with this team.

Congratulations to the lucky D2 team that beat a top 10 D1 team! We should be proud of these plucky D2 players!

Congrats to the D2 football team that beat the D1 football team on the road!

Please.

@Longtime fan asked a question in the "What's Wrong With The Alerus" thread, so I brought it over here to answer. "Hey Ozzie. Your thoughts on today’s game ? You are 100% positive with und football. ....thoughts ? Is und football average, below or above average? You usually wait 2-3 days to call out the negative responses but I’m sure your watching. Thoughts please." For the record, I'm not 100% positive on UND football. I understand it may appear that way with my posts. Most of my posts are meant to balance things when, in my opinion, posts have a subtext of "not only are you wrong, you're an idiot," or emotions cloud opinions significantly (we have headed in that direction with the "drop football" and "move to D2" posts, IMO). In general, I bristle when people disagree disagreeably. To directly answer your question, this program is currently average. The record the last two years bears that out. I felt 4-5 years ago that the strength program needed a change, and I posted it at the time. I still feel the same way and it's good to see others agree with me (not all did at the time). After talking with trainers who train professional football players, and (somewhat) closely following the S+C program at Ohio State (which is considered by many to be the benchmark), I think UND can/should do much better than Bakul. He's got a different philosophy my two examples, and while there are many ways to skin a cat, in talking to people that I trust we can and should do much better. I felt at the end of last year that Bubba was on shaky ground, but he deserved one more year. I believe he should finish this year out. Let's see where this goes for the remainder of the season... I believe they can still make the playoffs. But man it's tough to see them lay an egg in such winnable games as Idaho, Northern Arizona, and Idaho State. The highs for this program have been so high and the lows have been so low, and that's been discouraging for me as a fan. I understand why people believe the program needs a new direction. If they don't make the playoffs, I will join the chorus. I agree with most that Phase II is crucial. But the funding should not stop there. In general this program is woefully underfunded. That needs to be corrected in the near future in order for this program to reach its potential.

Change of plans; heading to Bemidji.

Please stop with these types of posts. Please. Anyone who disagrees with you "accepts average," "content with the status quo," or other such garbage. Aside from the fact that it's rarely true, there are many ways to skin a cat - and guess what - sometimes it may differ from your opinion. This line of thinking is so tiresome.

Kudos to the coaching staff for putting him in a position to succeed.

It may not have anything to do with Bubba's confidence in the offense. It may simply have to do with the head coach's philosophy. Head coach has veto power over everything. I don't know if that happened in this situation or not.

And this season.

I see the same logic on this board. When we beat a ranked team people say, "UC Davis hasn't beaten anyone; they shouldn't be ranked #12!" When we lose to an unranked team people say, "They aren't even ranked! How did we ever lose to them?" Hell, we just beat the #12 team in the country and we have a thread titled "We Got Lucky."