Fire Muss

[The Sicatoka]

What I saw from EWU yesterday was not a top ten team. UM and MSU are better. SDSU and EWU are probably at par with each other.

[Boomer 40AAA]

There is no reason to continue to play a player like # 17.His only tackle of the game came 5 yards out of bounds.He is a senior and I would much rather see his minutes go to an underclassman.This team is playing for next years spots and he will be done.If you haven't figured out defense by now you never will.

[geaux_sioux]

There is no reason to continue to play a player like # 17.His only tackle of the game came 5 yards out of bounds.He is a senior and I would much rather see his minutes go to an underclassman.This team is playing for next years spots and he will be done.If you haven't figured out defense by now you never will.

He's better than the younger corners. It's their fault they aren't better than him. That's why he starts and they don't. Are you suggesting we throw games to get a better draft pick?

[gfhockey]

Think attendance will fall below 7,000 this year?

[Siouxperfan7]

Considering the last home game in deer hunting opening weekend and the very good possibility we will have 4 or less wins, I could see a crowd below 5000. At least Muss doesn't have to worry about hearing too many boos that day.

[Siouxperfan7]

When do we start seeing people with paper bags in their head at the Alerus?!!

[BigGame]

The fact we competed until late in the game just points to the concept that we have talented players but we don't utilize them correctly. The turnovers and penalties kill this team. If this team didn't turn the ball over consistently, they probably would've beat South Dakota State and/or Eastern Washington. When you have talent but can't win with it cause of a lack of discipline and motivation, it directly comes back to the coaching.

The last two games the defense has been a lot better overall and that alone tells me they are getting good coaching but it is has taken a while to sink in with the players. The tackling still isn't great but is dramatically improved over last season. I still see some talent issues all over the field for UND. They have the talent to hang but I don't think they have elite FCS talent which has been obvious in several games this season. I like some things Mollberg has done but after the pick 6 I really thought he should have been pulled, he continues to do this game after game and a lot of his throws are late getting to wide open WR's as well. He isn't ready yet to make the reads and get the ball out quickly enough. I doubt Bartels is either, but I would prefer anyone who doesn't give the ball away at this point because UND isn't good enough to win giving away point swings and momentum like this every game.

[geaux_sioux]

The last two games the defense has been a lot better overall and that alone tells me they are getting good coaching but it is has taken a while to sink in with the players. The tackling still isn't great but is dramatically improved over last season. I still see some talent issues all over the field for UND. They have the talent to hang but I don't think they have elite FCS talent which has been obvious in several games this season. I like some things Mollberg has done but after the pick 6 I really thought he should have been pulled, he continues to do this game after game and a lot of his throws are late getting to wide open WR's as well. He isn't ready yet to make the reads and get the ball out quickly enough. I doubt Bartels is either, but I would prefer anyone who doesn't give the ball away at this point because UND isn't good enough to win giving away point swings and momentum like this every game.

You've got to stick with Joe because Ryan is a sitting duck back there. That alone gives us a better chance since Joe is hard to sack. He can also make some throws that Ryan can't. Ryan struggles with the deep ball, Joe doesn't usually. He looked good for the most part yesterday and will look better next week and better again the week after.

[Bidago]

I agree that molberg looked better overall yesterday. I don't see the game by game improvement you are talking about. He had a bad performance last week vs a week Idaho defense and continues to have critical judgement breakdows

[geaux_sioux]

I agree that molberg looked better overall yesterday. I don't see the game by game improvement you are talking about. He had a bad performance last week vs a week Idaho defense and continues to have critical judgement breakdows

I'm looking at his games as a whole. Last week he made a lot of good throws he also had two bad picks, one being terrible. He played better in that game than he did against MSU though. And from last week to yesterday was a big improvement.

[Irish]

Well, we played much more like I thought we would this season - still have miles to go though. An interesting game in which some parts of our team started to play well. It was sure nice to see some tackling and not have our linebackers get run over. We were much more physical. I think Molberg looked good overall, but make a killer mistake with the pick 6 - I think the penalty on the previous play was the real game changer - Some of the coaching decisions continue to be head scratchers - Miller had a great run on the outside on our first posession, then apparently we decided to run up the middle with our 166 pound running back. With our defensive backfield no game is safe for us. If we have the best players out on the field, I'm not optimistic for the future even if we improve in other areas.

[BigGame]

You've got to stick with Joe because Ryan is a sitting duck back there. That alone gives us a better chance since Joe is hard to sack. He can also make some throws that Ryan can't. Ryan struggles with the deep ball, Joe doesn't usually. He looked good for the most part yesterday and will look better next week and better again the week after.

I disagree about him looking good, he makes reads to slow. Almost every pass was late getting to the WR in spite of how strong his arm is. On the comeback routes if he delivers the ball in time the WR get a lot more yards because they are crazy wide open but it's closed up by the time the ball arrives. He also has a problem with staring down his WR's sometimes. This can all be improved upon but he isn't ready to play at this level yet, UND just doesn't have many or any other options which is unfortunate.

[tnt]

He's better than the younger corners. It's their fault they aren't better than him. That's why he starts and they don't. Are you suggesting we throw games to get a better draft pick?

The fact that he is better than the other corners I am sure is very concerning to the majority of UND football fans to begin with, but if that is the case it seems like a message is being sent to the rest of the underclassmen that discipline isn't necessary if you are the better player. I would be putting my foot down at this point if I were a coach, telling the players that if you have a personal foul out of bounds, you will be sitting the rest of the game.

[geaux_sioux]

The fact that he is better than the other corners I am sure is very concerning to the majority of UND football fans to begin with, but if that is the case it seems like a message is being sent to the rest of the underclassmen that discipline isn't necessary if you are the better player. I would be putting my foot down at this point if I were a coach, telling the players that if you have a personal foul out of bounds, you will be sitting the rest of the game.

He did run into the qb but Adams acted like he got shot. Idk if they throw that flag if Adams doesn't flop. And I've heard that they aren't too high on Harris and Chris Brown for what that's worth.

I'm no fan of Mackey at all but at this point it's either him or a ham sandwich. We literally don't have another option if they're not going to play Konalowski.

[gfhockey]

what about the no call on roughing the punter?

[UNDBIZ]

Think attendance will fall below 7,000 this year?

The announced attendance is the tickets sold. All the tickets allotted to the students are counted as sold regardless of whether they're taken or not. I think there's enough student seats and already sold seats to keep us over 7000. The entire west side was empty yesterday save for the band and maybe one 100 others. I don't know how it could get much worse.

[UND-FB-FAN]

The last two games the defense has been a lot better overall and that alone tells me they are getting good coaching but it is has taken a while to sink in with the players. The tackling still isn't great but is dramatically improved over last season. I still see some talent issues all over the field for UND. They have the talent to hang but I don't think they have elite FCS talent which has been obvious in several games this season. I like some things Mollberg has done but after the pick 6 I really thought he should have been pulled, he continues to do this game after game and a lot of his throws are late getting to wide open WR's as well. He isn't ready yet to make the reads and get the ball out quickly enough. I doubt Bartels is either, but I would prefer anyone who doesn't give the ball away at this point because UND isn't good enough to win giving away point swings and momentum like this every game.

I respectively disagree with several points you brought up.

1) The past two games include Idaho State (3-3, 1-2), which is a team that consistently makes mistakes to make a defense look better. Kramer specifically said after the game that they had some uncharacteristic turnovers. Also, Eastern Washington made some unusual, unforced errors yesterday as well, including dropped passes and overthrows by Adams. Need to see the defense put together a good 60-minute game against Sac State next weekend before I can definitively say there's been defensive improvement.

2) I think the talent is currently present, even though a lot of that talent may be young and has room to improve. If that talent was properly prepared so that turnovers and penalties weren't the norm, then we likely would have beat SDSU and Eastern Washington yesterday. Then, in that scenario, we would be sitting pretty good. Against SDSU, the Bartels fumble and early interception killed the momentum, and Mollberg's late pick ultimately cost UND the game. Against EWU yesterday, the turnovers (4 of them) were all untimely and they cost us the game in the end. Throwing into coverage and not covering up the football are all technique issues that can be coached, regardless of talent. UND has talent- it's just raw talent that's not properly prepared.

3) You can't play musical chairs with the quarterbacks and expect them to improve, especially when you're dealing with a freshman. If you want to see Mollberg improve so that he can lead UND to victories during his sophomore, junior, and senior seasons, you let Mollberg learn through experience this season. Since being named the definite starter, I've already seen improvement from his first to second start. You can't blame him for his receivers and backs fumbling the ball. It's a coaching issue that the players aren't more secure with the ball. 3 different players fumbled yesterday (Mollberg, Golladay, Garmin).

4) Ryan Bartels is also a freshman who makes mistakes. Mussman tried to establish him as the starter, but that plan fell apart when Bartels starting turning over the ball vs. SDSU. Had a bad interception and fumble against the Jacks that probably cost us the game in the end. No matter which freshman starts, there's gonna be mistakes, you just have to limit them.

[gfhockey]

is the band smaller now days?

atleast I didn't notice any of theplayers goofing off or towel snapping yesterday.

[Boomer 40AAA]

He did run into the qb but Adams acted like he got shot. Idk if they throw that flag if Adams doesn't flop. And I've heard that they aren't too high on Harris and Chris Brown for what that's worth.

I'm no fan of Mackey at all but at this point it's either him or a ham sandwich. We literally don't have another option if they're not

going to

play Konalowski.

I don't understand why we don't have anyone to play other #17.We have a full alotment of scholarships so depth should never be a problem at this level.Dale never gave a full ride and always came up a good team.Are we recruiting the right athletes?

[UND-FB-FAN]

Are we recruiting the right athletes?

Check out the recruiting thread. There you will see the consensus is no. Not a very good regional emphasis for recruiting. That being said, there is talent on this team (which is what recruiting directly addresses), but there's little discipline/structure in place once they get on campus.

[BigGame]

I respectively disagree with several points you brought up.

1) The past two games include Idaho State (3-3, 1-2), which is a team that consistently makes mistakes to make a defense look better. Kramer specifically said after the game that they had some uncharacteristic turnovers. Also, Eastern Washington made some unusual, unforced errors yesterday as well, including dropped passes and overthrows by Adams. Need to see the defense put together a good 60-minute game against Sac State next weekend before I can definitively say there's been defensive improvement.

2) I think the talent is currently present, even though a lot of that talent may be young and has room to improve. If that talent was properly prepared so that turnovers and penalties weren't the norm, then we likely would have beat SDSU and Eastern Washington yesterday. Then, in that scenario, we would be sitting pretty good. Against SDSU, the Bartels fumble and early interception killed the momentum, and Mollberg's late pick ultimately cost UND the game. Against EWU yesterday, the turnovers (4 of them) were all untimely and they cost us the game in the end. Throwing into coverage and not covering up the football are all technique issues that can be coached, regardless of talent. UND has talent- it's just raw talent that's not properly prepared.

3) You can't play musical chairs with the quarterbacks and expect them to improve, especially when you're dealing with a freshman. If you want to see Mollberg improve so that he can lead UND to victories during his sophomore, junior, and senior seasons, you let Mollberg learn through experience this season. Since being named the definite starter, I've already seen improvement from his first to second start. You can't blame him for his receivers and backs fumbling the ball. It's a coaching issue that the players aren't more secure with the ball. 3 different players fumbled yesterday (Mollberg, Golladay, Garmin).

4) Ryan Bartels is also a freshman who makes mistakes. Mussman tried to establish him as the starter, but that plan fell apart when Bartels starting turning over the ball vs. SDSU. Had a bad interception and fumble against the Jacks that probably cost us the game in the end. No matter which freshman starts, there's gonna be mistakes, you just have to limit them.

I don't hang turnovers on a coach, it's on the player. I don't think Tom Coughlin is at fault for Eli Manning's INT's or the RB's fumbles in the first game that resulted in him no longer playing. This hasn't been an issue with past teams and I doubt the coaching staff has changed how they coach which has led to problems this season.

The Freshman QB are going to make mistakes but the INT Mollberg throws have been really bad. I agree about the musical QB thing but it's frustrating to watch because decent QB play would dramatically change what UND looks like this year. Until I see passes from Mollberg get out and to the WR quicker, I am not convinced he is the future at the position.

[UND-FB-FAN]

I don't hang turnovers on a coach, it's on the player. I don't think Tom Coughlin is at fault for Eli Manning's INT's or the RB's fumbles in the first game that resulted in him no longer playing. This hasn't been an issue with past teams and I doubt the coaching staff has changed how they coach which has led to problems this season.

Talent can hide coaching ineptness. When Hendrickson, Hansen, and Sutton were playing last year, they weren't making bad decisions or playing loose with the ball.

Now, with younger players, we are seeing the lack of quality coaching.

Why do you think ball security drills and skelly passing drills exist? To COACH the players up so that they don't fumble or throw into coverage during a game. Also, a good coaching staff reminds players throughout the game to be aware of ball security. Apparently that hasn't been happening thus far this season.

[BigGame]

Talent can hide coaching ineptness. When Hendrickson, Hansen, and Sutton were playing last year, they weren't making bad decisions or playing loose with the ball.

Now, with younger players, we are seeing the lack of quality coaching.

Why do you think ball security drills and skelly passing drills exist? To COACH the players up so that they don't fumble or throw into coverage during a game. Also, a good coaching staff reminds players throughout the game to be aware of ball security. Apparently that hasn't been happening thus far this season.

Do you honestly think they aren't coaching ball security?

Hansen was good and Sutton was as well and he spent his entire career at UND under Coach Mussman and staff. Hendrickson had a couple unbelievable games but his decision making and accuracy were not consistently good, he excelled at making plays with his feet which our QB's don't do now. Mollberg is very capable of running around and making things happen but doesn't do it. He might be coached not to do and if so I think it's a mistake because it would help the offense if scrambled a little more.

[Oxbow6]

...next Saturday I'm not going to carve out time to drive up. Too frustrated...

Will be hunting during NC game.

Bottomline... got 4 tickets in 205 to both games and they are yours if you want them. Just PM me an address and they go in mail tomorrow.

Bump

Anyone?

Buehler...Buehler...

[UND-FB-FAN]

Do you honestly think they aren't coaching ball security?

Hansen was good and Sutton was as well and he spent his entire career at UND under Coach Mussman and staff. Hendrickson had a couple unbelievable games but his decision making and accuracy were not consistently good, he excelled at making plays with his feet which our QB's don't do now. Mollberg is very capable of running around and making things happen but doesn't do it. He might be coached not to do and if so I think it's a mistake because it would help the offense if scrambled a little more.

Yes, they are coaching ball security.

Essentially, you're upset with the players' abilities while I believe the problem is more so on the coaching. There's not going to be a successful, play-off caliber, DI football team at UND until Mussman is replaced.

We'll just agree to disagree.