SUU @ UND

[darell1976]

Mussman happy with the way the defense battled. Talked about the four players that went down with injuries making it a shell of a defense. Problem with that is that they had all of those players in the first half and still could not stop Southern Utah.

How about making excuses on the coaching staff they lost the game. The players are only as good as they are coached. Mussman sucks as a coach...spend some money and get a good coach somewhere else.

[BobIwabuchiFan]

I just don't get why you play off of the receivers 10-15 yds when you have a 3 and 23 and you end up giving 27 yards to the other team almost every time??? How do you not make some kind of adjustment on the defense when you have given up multiple 3rd and long situations over and over??? Any ideas???

[WYOBISONMAN]

How about making excuses on the coaching staff they lost the game. The players are only as good as they are coached. Mussman sucks as a coach...spend some money and get a good coach somewhere else.

It does sound like UND is plagued with some key injuries though. There is nothing that can screw up a season like injuries creating some weak spots that another team can exploit.

[dmksioux]

I just don't get why you play off of the receivers 10-15 yds when you have a 3 and 23 and you end up giving 27 yards to the other team almost every time??? How do you not make some kind of adjustment on the defense when you have given up multiple 3rd and long situations over and over??? Any ideas???

They have been doing it all year in their games against fbs/fcs competition...I too don't understand. Perhaps the coaches don't trust their kids to make a play. Alot of the shortcomings by this years team are directly related to coaching, gameplanning etc. Hopefully our AD sees this and does something about it.

[dmksioux]

It does sound like UND is plagued with some key injuries though. There is nothing that can screw up a season like injuries creating some weak spots that another team can exploit.

Every team has injuries. UND was dominated in every aspect of the game today, especially in coaching department. The coaches did not put players in position to be successful or to make plays...IMO.

[dlsiouxfan]

They have been doing it all year in their games against fbs/fcs competition...I too don't understand. Perhaps the coaches don't trust their kids to make a play. Alot of the shortcomings by this years team are directly related to coaching, gameplanning etc. Hopefully our AD sees this and does something about it.

Quite frankly this team is soft and a big part of that is coaching. The secondary has gotten worse every year under Kelling and I swear a few of our seniors back there were better players as freshmen than they are now.

[WYOBISONMAN]

Quite frankly this team is soft and a big part of that is coaching. The secondary has gotten worse every year under Kelling and I swear a few of our seniors back there were better players as freshmen than they are now.

From what I saw it seemed like the secondary was out of position a good bit. I am not sure if it was a speed issue or just flat missing assignments.

[fightingsioux4life]

Quite frankly this team is soft and a big part of that is coaching. The secondary has gotten worse every year under Kelling and I swear a few of our seniors back there were better players as freshmen than they are now.

Kelling is one of the worst football assistants we have ever had here. The worst decision Lennon ever made was to make Kelling and Mannasau co-defensive coordinators. This arrangement does not work and as long as it is in place, the defense will continue to suck.

[dlsiouxfan]

Kelling is one of the worst football assistants we have ever had here. The worst decision Lennon ever made was to make Kelling and Mannasau co-defensive coordinators. This arrangement does not work and as long as it is in place, the defense will continue to suck.

They both have demonstrated that neither one of them should have the job. Both were great players in their day but both have left a lot to be desired as coaches. We need to bring in a new defensive coordinator and if that means the end of the 3-4 then so be it. Every year it seems to be new excuse with these guys and it needs to end. They can point fingers at the offense sustaining drives but they were beat on third and fourth down all game long and even the first series thoroughly got their ass kicked until the interception.

[UND92,96]

Maybe I'm way out in left field here, but honestly if I were Mussman, I'd do the following immediately, and see if it results in any improvement over the last five games:

1. Take over the offensive coordinator duties himself. He's the best offensive coordinator on the staff.

2. Let Kotelnicki take over the defense. At least he had some success as a coordinator at the dII level.

Let's face it--it's not like things could get any worse.

[BigGame]

Maybe I'm way out in left field here, but honestly if I were Mussman, I'd do the following immediately, and see if it results in any improvement over the last five games:

1. Take over the offensive coordinator duties himself. He's the best offensive coordinator on the staff.

2. Let Kotelnicki take over the defense. At least he had some success as a coordinator at the dII level.

Let's face it--it's not like things could get any worse.

I agree they need to do something and Mussman is a very good OC. The problem on defense have been going on for a while but I personally don't have any confidence in either of the co-d coordinators.

I also think UND has some personnel issues that likely will not be corrected until next season, but things need to change. I am not at practice but maybe Mussman needs to change the way he is dealing with the players. Some guys respond better to a hard ass coach while other do better for a more relaxed approach.

[UND92,96]

I agree they need to do something and Mussman is a very good OC. The problem on defense have been going on for a while but I personally don't have any confidence in either of the co-d coordinators.

I also think UND has some personnel issues that likely will not be corrected until next season, but things need to change. I am not at practice but maybe Mussman needs to change the way he is dealing with the players. Some guys respond better to a hard ass coach while other do better for a more relaxed approach.

Just to clarify, Kotelnicki is not presently one of the co-coordinators, but does have collegiate defensive coordinator experience.

[Irish]

They have been doing it all year in their games against fbs/fcs competition...I too don't understand. Perhaps the coaches don't trust their kids to make a play. Alot of the shortcomings by this years team are directly related to coaching, gameplanning etc. Hopefully our AD sees this and does something about it.

Agreed that this is an every game occurance. They would rather give up 3 27 yard plays than one 80 yard play - a pathetic way to coach

[BigGame]

Just to clarify, Kotelnicki is not presently one of the co-coordinators, but does have collegiate defensive coordinator experience.

Yes, sorry I know but I just didn't make myself clear. I do actually know JK and MM somewhat from years past and I am amazed that MM has remained over JK in the coaching ranks this long.

[SiouxMD]

I don't know if I have ever read a more depressing article...

Seth Stanchik, a redshirt freshman defensive lineman, suffered the most serious injury

[bincitysioux]

That 100 yard INT return made it that way. If you think about it, it's a 14 point swing. It gacve us 7 points we would not otherwise have had and took away 7 points that they should have had. Without that one play it's a 38-14 game. Big difference between 38-14 and 31-21 in terms of perception. Yeah, SUU was without question the better team today.

Without the14 point swing created by that INT return, the final score could have easily been 52-14 when you consider that SUU had a 50 yard TD pass in the 2nd quarter called back for holding, and another sure 50 yard TD that was dropped by the SUU reciever who smoked by Belotti later in the game.

Total domination on both sides of the ball.

This year's squad is not performing nearly as well as the 2002 team did.

If this keeps up for an extended period of time, I can see the type of apathy setting in that has been plaguing the men's basketball program for the last 7-8 years.

Regardless of how it happens, the results on the field need to turn around.

[bincitysioux]

It looked to me like Sr. Paul German probably suffered a career ending knee injury.

[UND92,96]

Without the14 point swing created by that INT return, the final score could have easily been 52-14 when you consider that SUU had a 50 yard TD pass in the 2nd quarter called back for holding, and another sure 50 yard TD that was dropped by the SUU reciever who smoked by Belotti later in the game.

Total domination on both sides of the ball.

This year's squad is not performing nearly as well as the 2002 team did.

If this keeps up for an extended period of time, I can see the type of apathy setting in that has been plaguing the men's basketball program for the last 7-8 years.

Regardless of how it happens, the results on the field need to turn around.

I was going to make a similar point. The fact that attendance for Homecoming and Potato Bowl were both sub-par compared to most past seasons strongly suggests that fan interest is on a downward slide. Six horrible performances out of the past 15 games will have that effect, I guess.

[bincitysioux]

The worst decision Lennon ever made was to make Kelling and Mannasau co-defensive coordinators. This arrangement does not work and as long as it is in place, the defense will continue to suck.

I have never been a fan of the arrangement..................

I will say though that supposedly up until this year Kelling was calling the plays and now Mannasau is as far as I know. It seems like the team is getting more pressure on the QB, since they already have 16 sacks on the season whereas they only had 16 total in 2008 and just 15 in 2009. The problem is, the defense is giving up more yards passing and rushing than in either of the two previous seasons.

[82SiouxGuy]

Without the14 point swing created by that INT return, the final score could have easily been 52-14 when you consider that SUU had a 50 yard TD pass in the 2nd quarter called back for holding, and another sure 50 yard TD that was dropped by the SUU reciever who smoked by Belotti later in the game.

Total domination on both sides of the ball.

This year's squad is not performing nearly as well as the 2002 team did.

If this keeps up for an extended period of time, I can see the type of apathy setting in that has been plaguing the men's basketball program for the last 7-8 years.

Regardless of how it happens, the results on the field need to turn around.

If you are going to count the 2 long passes they missed on you also have to count the long pass Harden dropped that he probably would have scored on. I agree it was a bad loss, but misses on long plays happened both ways. SUU was the better team on the field yesterday.

[UND92,96]

If you look at where the SUU program was as recently as 2007--a season in which I believe they were winless and were hammered at home by dII UND--they were essentially starting over as a program at the same time UND started its dI transition. It certainly seems like they have done a better job. And while they are located much closer to major population centers compared to UND, they're also probably only the fifth-best college football program in the state of Utah, and have minimal media attention, tradition and probably money compared to UND.

[Matt]

This loss hurts on a few levels:

1) Injuries-Muss is in a bad spot right now. With so many performance and scheme problems it can come off as an excuse for him to dwell on injuries, but they are legitimately a mess in the training room right now. Ask Bob Babich how injuries can turn a season into a disaster and push you out of a job, only to have a new coach come in the next year with those players back healthy and perform well again.

2) Bye week-It sucks BIG TIME to go into a two week layoff after a loss like this. Coaches will walk a fine line of being hard on the players for blown assignments, yet keeping morale up with injuries (see above) and the record (see below).

3) Bad record-now 0-2 in the conference with a trip to Poly, which may just be a flat out better team than you, as your reward for losing a conference homecoming game, and looking bad doing it. This game is key because another loss drops you to 0-3 in the conf, with a no namer at home to meet you. At 2-5 and on losing two straight, what fans show up for that game? Winning at poly shows signs of life and maybe helps the gate.

4) The future is tough-this loss makes it very difficult to go into Brookings with a shot at a winning record. Not where you want to be going into recruiting season.

[Ole in MSP]

I was going to make a similar point. The fact that attendance for Homecoming and Potato Bowl were both sub-par compared to most past seasons strongly suggests that fan interest is on a downward slide. Six horrible performances out of the past 15 games will have that effect, I guess.

A P A T HY ! Unfortunately, I am catching it! And I am a very long time loyal Sioux fan. I just do not see enough signs of improvement in several programs including FB which I thought had turned the corner. The embarassing performance at Idaho and the last two weeks offensive performances just are too frustrating to maintain any interest in this program. One running back and one wide receiver do not an offense make.

[ticklethetwine]

A P A T HY ! Unfortunately, I am catching it! And I am a very long time loyal Sioux fan. I just do not see enough signs of improvement in several programs including FB which I thought had turned the corner. The embarassing performance at Idaho and the last two weeks offensive performances just are too frustrating to maintain any interest in this program. One running back and one wide receiver do not an offense make.

I am a UND alumn and I have never fully embraced UND football. Don't get me wrong I want nothing but the best for that program. I am more of the college hockey fan then college football. So this is coming from someone kind of looking from the outside. I have really seen no improvement from this team since Lennon left. It appears as though we have gone backwards as a program. Granted we probably face tougher teams then before but you should see some progression throughout a season. I am not pointing my fingers at anyone but just an honest observation. Thoughts?

[mizzou/sioux]

I, too, remember some of the down years of the past. The 1980s were not very kind to UND football as a whole. Yet, we rebounded with a furor in the 1990s, one of the best decades of Sioux football ever. I think part of the problem is the whole transition thing. Whoever said it would be easy? Plus, we're playing in general a better caliber of opponent. Southern Utah narrowly lost to San Jose State. Score, I believe, was 16-11. South Dakota beat the Big Ten Minnesota Gophers. Yes, the Gophers are down, but they still are Big Ten. UND almost pulled out a win at FBS Northern Illinois before losing 23-17. I believe this shows we can compete. Definitely we're going to have some down games, but what team doesn't when they're in transition? What about our wins over Cal Poly and Central Arkansas a year ago? I don't believe in throwing the proverbial baby out with the bath water. Keep the faith.