Fire Muss

[Oxbow6]

Just to add some level headedness to this post game talk. Imagine before the game I ask if we have 3 turnovers 10 penalties for 100+ yards and Zenner goes for about 300 yards what do you think the score would be? Would anyone including myself have guessed we only lose by 7?

Hell no. Just think about what our young team is capable of. If the line can get it together and if we play some RBs other than Miller our offense can roll anyone. The defense that played in the second half was intense and desperate for every stop. If they play like that consistently, which they should, we will win alot of games.

We're 1-1 and have 5 more home games that we just proved are winnable. That's something to be excited about.

One word above tells all...consistently.

Tell me in the last 4-5 years when a Muss coached team has played consistently for an entire game much less a 3-4 game stretch. Very few. IMO the lack of consistency is due to a lack of overall discipline.

[sioux81]

My point is very simple, the hockey supporters do not support football and what they are trying to accomplish. In order for the football program to succeed everyone needs to be on the same page, supporting each others programs. There is a division that has taken place or better yet allowed at the University, this attitude must stop or all the well wishes for the football program will be for naught.

[Matt]

Agree 100%.

Like I've said before on here, patience. Last year, this year, and maybe the next year or 2 are all part of this process. It may be frustrating, but it's part of a process. The UND program is sound and building. The xDSU's have a headstart on us and makes it harder and adds to the frustration. I'm not giving anyone a "pass" or making excuses. Just stating reality. This team is still going to do some very good things this year, even with very young quarterbacks, and we will continue to build on that in the coming years

I know being negative is easy, but is it helpful in any way? I don't think so. I know second guessing decisions or personnel is easy, but is it based on knowledge of facts? I don't think so. It's easy to be an expert on Sundays from a distance. And, it's OK for fans to want UND Football to be better faster. I'm probably one of the oldest posters on here, but I'm enjoying watching the progress. I know it's coming.

Thats why the Ravens have to fire Harbough. They have't won all year and got blown out by 21 to the Broncos. He obviously doesn't know what he's doing and must be fired. Wow, that was fun. And so easy..

If Muss was coming off a national championship, I don't think you'd be seeing the same criticism. Conversely, if Harbaugh had Muss' record, I really don't believe he'd still be coaching there.

[darell1976]

If Muss was coming off a national championship, I don't think you'd be seeing the same criticism. Conversely, if Harbaugh had Muss' record, I really don't believe he'd still be coaching there.

Exactly. Muss's biggest accomplishment is being co-champs of the GWFC. Nothing too much to brag about there. Can UND afford to go another 5-6 or 6-5...or worse?

[petey23]

7-4 is the minimum expectation for this team with this schedule. I can live with 7-4 and missing the playoffs, but anything less than 7-4 and it is time for a change....and by change I mean national search and fresh approach.

[darell1976]

7-4 is the minimum expectation for this team with this schedule. I can live with 7-4 and missing the playoffs, but anything less than 7-4 and it is time for a change....and by change I mean national search and fresh approach.

That is the key...THIS schedule, 7 home games, crappy teams (minus NAU) on the road. No way should UND not win 7 games. When is UND going to have a schedule like this....at least never through 2018.

[southpaw]

That is the key...THIS schedule, 7 home games, crappy teams (minus NAU) on the road. No way should UND not win 7 games. When is UND going to have a schedule like this....at least never through 2018.

I get the importance of having seven home games but its like everyone is glossing over who those home games are against. SDSU, Montana, MSU and EWU are all top teams. Montana may be overrated a bit but its still going to be a tough game.

I fully expect wins in the two home games vs Sac St and UNC but if we go 1-3 vs these tough teams I will be ok with it.

The team doesn't seem to be quite there. They seem like the 4th or 5th best Big Sky team so I expect them to be close but probably lose to teams ranked in the top ten of FCS.

[dlsiouxfan]

If Mussman is let go, we'd likely have a field of extremely weak candidates to replace him with what we pay our head coach and assistants at UND. Why would any quality applicant want to coach at a school that invests more money in paying it's women's hockey coach than it does it's head football coach? It's a joke.

I'm not trying to defend Mussman because his performance hasn't been overwhelming by any means, but we probably should at least give him the benefit of the doubt since this program gets next to zero support from our administration.

[geaux_sioux]

If Mussman is let go, we'd likely have a field of extremely weak candidates to replace him with what we pay our head coach and assistants at UND. Why would any quality applicant want to coach at a school that invests more money in paying it's women's hockey coach than it does it's head football coach? It's a joke.

I'm not trying to defend Mussman because his performance hasn't been overwhelming by any means, but we probably should at least give him the benefit of the doubt since this program gets next to zero support from our administration.

If that happens I want Kotelnicki as HC. I don't care what people think about hiring from within. He and Schleusner are stud coaches.

[geaux_sioux]

Right now I feel like 8-3 or 7-4 are probable so this thread seems pretty pointless to me

[Oxbow6]

Right now I feel like 8-3 or 7-4 are probable so this thread seems pretty pointless to me

Probable?? That's your opinion on both fronts and very very optimistic record wise. 8-3...highly unlikely. 7-4 is possible. UND has to beat a MT school or EWU otherwise they have to run the table after EWU and win all 4 games on the road which will be tough to do regardless the competition.

[geaux_sioux]

Probable?? That's your opinion on both fronts and very very optimistic record wise. 8-3...highly unlikely. 7-4 is possible. UND has to beat a MT school or EWU otherwise they have to run the table after EWU and win all 4 games on the road which will be tough to do regardless the competition.

I'm thinking those records with beating 1 Montana school and splitting with EWU and NAU for 8-3. That's not outlandish. 7-4 is a real likely record.

[Hawkster]

You must be in love with Muss's coaching or something. I predict UND will lose to Montana, crowd won't be as big (maybe more Montana fans than SDSU fans), but we don't have Braden Hanson to throw for 600 yards, and our running is crap, on defense...see 2012. We also have Montana State and EWU. If UND can't improve on defense which this game proves the same problems we had last year they can't UND will be 2 (I predict a win over ISU) and 4.

^^^^^^^ What Darrell said.

The only reason we weren't blown out yesterday was that Stig took his foot off our throats long enough to get some wind.

[geaux_sioux]

^^^^^^^ What Darrell said.

The only reason we weren't blown out yesterday was that Stig took his foot off our throats long enough to get some wind.

On offense they did the same stuff. Our D just showed up and stopped them. They softened up on D and then we started rolling and there was nothing they could do other than the late INT. They were still aggressive on offense on their drives when we stopped them.

[Hawkster]

7-4 is the minimum expectation for this team with this schedule. I can live with 7-4 and missing the playoffs, but anything less than 7-4 and it is time for a change....and by change I mean national search and fresh approach.

Missing the playoffs is unexceptable. With the expanded field, it shouldn't be that hard to get in, especially with the likelyhood of three BSC teams playing.

No playoffs this year=no Muss next year.

[The Sicatoka]

Here's my issue: Nebraska or Iowa State.

I see an FCS coach in ND and he's a Nebraska alumnus. He carries that Nebraska "expect to win" attitude and it rubs off.

I see an FCS coach in ND and he's an Iowa State alumus. He carries that Iowa State "nice to be here, we competed hard" attitude and it rubs off.

UND Hockey fans (which admittedly I am one) would not stand for an Iowa State attitude at the helm of UND Hockey.

Nor should UND Hockey fans put up with that attitude in UND Football. Why? It rubs off.

Mussman's teams need to start showing up for an entire game, or he needs to stop showing up.

[fightingsioux4life]

On offense they did the same stuff. Our D just showed up and stopped them. They softened up on D and then we started rolling and there was nothing they could do other than the late INT. They were still aggressive on offense on their drives when we stopped them.

I agree with you on this point. They didn't kneel three times and punt on every possession. They kept pushing to get first downs and control the clock and our defense hung in there and made some stops. There are some positives from last night (and no, I am not declaring a "moral victory"). I am more than willing to wait until the season is over before passing judgment on where we are as a program. I do think we need to stop the run better if we are going to beat teams like Montana, Montana State and Eastern Washington.

[Wilbur]

On offense they did the same stuff. Our D just showed up and stopped them. They softened up on D and then we started rolling and there was nothing they could do other than the late INT. They were still aggressive on offense on their drives when we stopped them.

I respectfully disagree. They didn't run the football as much in the fourth quarter. Not sure why.

[Oxbow6]

Here's my issue: Nebraska or Iowa State.

I see an FCS coach in ND and he's a Nebraska alumnus. He carries that Nebraska "expect to win" attitude and it rubs off.

I see an FCS coach in ND and he's an Iowa State alumus. He carries that Iowa State "nice to be here, we competed hard" attitude and it rubs off.

UND Hockey fans (which admittedly I am one) would not stand for an Iowa State attitude at the helm of UND Hockey.

Nor should UND Hockey fans put up with that attitude in UND Football. Why? It rubs off.

Mussman's teams need to start showing up for an entire game, or he needs to stop showing up.

This...^^^^^^^^!!!

[Hawkster]

On offense they did the same stuff. Our D just showed up and stopped them. They softened up on D and then we started rolling and there was nothing they could do other than the late INT. They were still aggressive on offense on their drives when we stopped them.

More like Stig wanted to see good his passing game is so he has something to use down the road if he gets behind, like at say Nebraska.

[geaux_sioux]

I respectfully disagree. They didn't run the football as much in the fourth quarter. Not sure why.

I'm sure Zenner was getting a little tired. We also started to stop the run so maybe they thought they could catch us off guard with throws. They had a couple openings late in the game on passes that were either dropped or miss fired. Is it possible that the players for SDSU got buried by big Mo? Their whole team was on their heals for a while in the 4th cause we were steam rolling them out of nowhere. I think the reason it looked like the coach took his foot off the gas was because they were getting stopped.

[geaux_sioux]

Here's my issue: Nebraska or Iowa State.

I see an FCS coach in ND and he's a Nebraska alumnus. He carries that Nebraska "expect to win" attitude and it rubs off.

I see an FCS coach in ND and he's an Iowa State alumus. He carries that Iowa State "nice to be here, we competed hard" attitude and it rubs off.

UND Hockey fans (which admittedly I am one) would not stand for an Iowa State attitude at the helm of UND Hockey.

Nor should UND Hockey fans put up with that attitude in UND Football. Why? It rubs off.

Mussman's teams need to start showing up for an entire game, or he needs to stop showing up.

And how many national championships has either won?

[Oxbow6]

And how many national championships has either won?

Bohl 2...working on 3.

Muss...Co-champs of GW

That gap is very very wide.

As a huge hockey fan...Hak is well overdue too.

[geaux_sioux]

Bohl 2...working on 3.

Muss...Co-champs of GW

Chasm is very very wide.

My bad I was talking about the end of the post with hockey involved. Hakstol to Muss. 0-0.

[fightingsioux4life]

Here's my issue: Nebraska or Iowa State.

I see an FCS coach in ND and he's a Nebraska alumnus. He carries that "expect to win" attitude and it rubs off.

I see an FCS coach in ND and he's an Iowa State alumus. He carries that "nice to be here, we competed hard" attitude and it rubs off.

UND Hockey fans (which admittedly I am one) would not stand for an Iowa State attitude at the helm of UND Hockey.

Nor should UND Hockey fans put up with that attitude in UND Football. Why? It rubs off.

Mussman's teams need to start showing up for an entire game, or he needs to stop showing up.

I remember when Dean Blais took over a moribund Fighting Sioux hockey program in 1994 and had a surprising amount of success his first season, despite not having time to recruit his own players and having very little talent to work with. Why? He brought an "expect to win" attitude to the program. A program usually takes on the attitude of the head coach (the CEO, if you will) and you saw a group of players work hard and achieve a .500 record and a two-game sweep at St. Cloud in the WCHA first round. It was then that I knew we had hired the right coach to turn the program around. Three years later, we had our sixth NCAA title in the trophy case.

While FU had some growing pains their first couple of years as a full FCS program, they also were competitive during their transition and rarely got blown out or failed to show up on game day. Look at what they did vs. Minnesota (a bad FBS program, but an FBS program nonetheless) during their transition period. All this probably helped in their recruiting during what is usually a tough time to get the players you want. It also instilled a winning culture and attitude, which had been lost during the disastrous Bob Babich era. Based on all those things, it shouldn't surprise anyone that they are having the success they are having right now. It all starts at the top, with the CEO. And right now, there is some question whether or not Mussman is the right CEO to lead this program to special things.

I am still on the fence with Mussman, but I do think finishing 7-4 would dramatically help him with recruiting and with instilling a winning culture and attitude in this program that we haven't had since the early to mid 2000's.