Week 6 EWU

[geaux_sioux]

Anyone who thought we were going to come into the Big Sky and dominate was kidding themselves. This is not the Great West. Heck..this isn't even the old NCC. This is the best FCS conference in the country!! And we ran into what looks to be one of the top teams in the conference this year. Does it suck that we lost...of course. Will we recover from it....time will tell, but sometimes you need a butt whooping like that to gain a little focus. This is what Big Sky football is all about boys. Either you adjust and work hard to get better and become one of those top teams...or you settle for how we played last night and become a Big Sky bottom dweller. This team has to much prove and tradition to settle for the play and effort we put out last night. Sometimes good things can come from bad situations. I am hoping it will happen. And I think it will.

The team needs to find consistency. They're capable of playing with anyone anywhere and have shown glimpses of that. The problem is that they have yet to put in a full 4 quarters. Portland St was a game that should have been blown wide open easily, but it wasn't. The San Diego St. game could've been won with a sharper start, but it wasn't. The Sac St. game was decent but not complete by any means. The Poly game was two solid quarters sandwiched between a horrible slow flat start and no finish. Last night was a great start which was followed by 3.5 quarters of the worst football I've ever seen at UND. We were making mistakes like we were Winona St. If this team finds a way to put together full games they can win any game they play in. They just haven't shown it yet.

[82SiouxGuy]

Although I believe UC-Davis would likely beat UND if the two teams played this year, that's really not the point I was trying to make. Rather, I believe the problems with the UND defense, particularly the run defense, are not simply a function of the increased difficulty of the schedule compared to the transition years.

There are definitely problems with the defense. But I'm not sure if anyone knows for sure what is the root cause of the problem. Key players were lost at several positions. Some of the returning players haven't performed to the same level as before. A lot of times the players have been in the right position, but haven't made the tackle. That means the coaches probably had the players in the right position but the player didn't do what they were supposed to do. Other times it appears that the player wasn't in the right position, but we don't know what caused that. We don't know if the player made a mistake on their assignment, or if they were put in the wrong position by the coaches.

Also, the team is playing a long stretch of quality teams. The last 3 teams are all higher in the Big Sky standings than UND and the game before that was a FBS school. They have NAU, Monanta, and MSU in the next 3 games. UND hasn't played a series of games with quality opponents like this in years, if ever. That will wear on a team. That may have contributed to last night. UND hasn't developed the depth they will need to compete in the Big Sky on a regular basis. As geaux_sioux says, we have seen that the team has the talent to compete at this level. They don't have the consistency yet to compete on a regular basis. The team is a work in progress. It will be interesting to see what happens during the next few games. Other than UND fans, most people expected UND to be in the middle to lower part of the Big Sky this year. That is where they are right now. There are 5 games left so we will see where they end up.

[Wilbur]

Anyone who thought we were going to come into the Big Sky and dominate was kidding themselves. This is not the Great West. Heck..this isn't even the old NCC. This is the best FCS conference in the country!! And we ran into what looks to be one of the top teams in the conference this year. Does it suck that we lost...of course. Will we recover from it....time will tell, but sometimes you need a butt whooping like that to gain a little focus. This is what Big Sky football is all about boys. Either you adjust and work hard to get better and become one of those top teams...or you settle for how we played last night and become a Big Sky bottom dweller. This team has to much prove and tradition to settle for the play and effort we put out last night. Sometimes good things can come from bad situations. I am hoping it will happen. And I think it will.

Very well put. The one thing I will disagree with is the whole focus thing. If our defense wasn't focused the games prior to this after getting pounded week in and week out giving up 500 yards a contest then nothing will wake them up.

[fightingsioux4life]

There are definitely problems with the defense. But I'm not sure if anyone knows for sure what is the root cause of the problem. Key players were lost at several positions. Some of the returning players haven't performed to the same level as before. A lot of times the players have been in the right position, but haven't made the tackle. That means the coaches probably had the players in the right position but the player didn't do what they were supposed to do. Other times it appears that the player wasn't in the right position, but we don't know what caused that. We don't know if the player made a mistake on their assignment, or if they were put in the wrong position by the coaches.

The defense hasn't been elite for about 7 years now. The 2005 unit was the last one I would realistically call "great". There are long-term, systemic problems with the defense that haven't been solved. And until they are, we will continue to give up 30-40 points per game and get embarrassed like we did last night.

[geaux_sioux]

Last nights second half should be played at 2x speed with Yackity Sax as the soundtrack

[geaux_sioux]

The defense hasn't been elite for about 7 years now. The 2005 unit was the last one I would realistically call "great". There are long-term, systemic problems with the defense that haven't been solved. And until they are, we will continue to give up 30-40 points per game and get embarrassed like we did last night.

I've been wondering to myself if the 3-4 is still the right D for us? Maybe a 4-3 with Tampa two would help us avoid giving up the big play and put less pressure on our DBs

[tnt]

The defense hasn't been elite for about 7 years now. The 2005 unit was the last one I would realistically call "great". There are long-term, systemic problems with the defense that haven't been solved. And until they are, we will continue to give up 30-40 points per game and get embarrassed like we did last night.

I agree. Even last year they gave up a ton of yards, but managed to get out of it because the level of competition wasn't as good as we see now. So we either don't have the talent we need to be an effective defense, or the scheme isn't allowing us to be a competitive defense -- either way that is on the coaches. Do we have the right coaches in the right places? I guess time will tell on that. I will say that I don't think our defense has improved enough for the defensive coordinator to become an associate head coach. Maybe I'm old school, but I can't stand to see players that get burned 60% of the time getting in the oppositions face when they make one big play. Maybe that's just what is expected in college sports now, but if I were a coach, I would get into that players face and point out the number of times he's been burned in proportion to the big plays he's made.

[gfhockey]

Maybe Dale will get canned in carbondale and can be the d coordinator up here haha!

[Sioux95]

i feel so bad for marcus it makes me sick...starts out with a nice td drive and his reward? take a seat for a guy that can hardly run?

Marcus did a great job filling in when Hanson was out, but I don't find much wrong with what the coaches did with the QB position last night. Hendrickson's passing accuracy was starting to get to be an issue. So, Start Hendrickson and see if the O-line is capable of handling their D-line and protecting Hanson who was still not at 100%. Once that is established, see what Hanson can do. Hanson started out 4 of 8, and then went 12 of 14. Once the game is out of hand, get Hanson out of there so he doesn't over stress the leg when we have nothing to gain. Turnovers and poor defense took away from what I thought was a pretty good showing in his first real game experience. I think he is the clear choice right now, not because the coaching staff has shown no confidence in Hendrickson and somehow damaged Hendrickson's ability to lead the team, but because Hanson is clearly a better passer and will make defenses respect us as a dual threat offense.

Again, Marcus did a great job in his back up role, but on the first drive against EWU he had one incomplete pass and I think every other play after that was a run. it wasn't exactly like he was carrying the team on his shoulders...

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[SWSiouxMN]

Marcus did a great job filling in when Hanson was out, but I don't find much wrong with what the coaches did with the QB position last night. Hendrickson's passing accuracy was starting to get to be an issue. So, Start Hendrickson and see if the O-line is capable of handling their D-line and protecting Hanson who was still not at 100%. Once that is established, see what Hanson can do. Hanson started out 4 of 8, and then went 12 of 14. Once the game is out of hand, get Hanson out of there so he doesn't over stress the leg when we have nothing to gain. Turnovers and poor defense took away from what I thought was a pretty good showing in his first real game experience. I think he is the clear choice right now, not because the coaching staff has shown no confidence in Hendrickson and somehow damaged Hendrickson's ability to lead the team, but because Hanson is clearly a better passer and will make defenses respect us as a dual threat offense.

Again, Marcus did a great job in his back up role, but on the first drive against EWU he had one incomplete pass and I think every other play after that was a run. it wasn't exactly like he was carrying the team on his shoulders...

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2 quibbles with this theory

1) That opening drive was a touchdown running the ball. If we were having success running the ball and they were having problems stopping the run, why throw?

2) Hendrickson was robbed by a crucial drop by Jackson in the 2nd series, if he just catches that ball perhaps that changes things a little bit. It could have been a little high, but Jackson had 100% no excuse for dropping that one. If you get two hands on the ball, you need to catch it.

Its a moot point anyway, Hanson will more than likely start against NAU. At the very least he did perform halfway decent in this game, and another week of healing and running the 1st team in practice will do wonder. Right now we have bigger fish to fry with this team.

[Ole in MSP]

2 quibbles with this theory

1) That opening drive was a touchdown running the ball. If we were having success running the ball and they were having problems stopping the run, why throw?

2) Hendrickson was robbed by a crucial drop by Jackson in the 2nd series, if he just catches that ball perhaps that changes things a little bit. It could have been a little high, but Jackson had 100% no excuse for dropping that one. If you get two hands on the ball, you need to catch it.

Its a moot point anyway, Hanson will more than likely start against NAU. At the very least he did perform halfway decent in this game, and another week of healing and running the 1st team in practice will do wonder. Right now we have bigger fish to fry with this team.

Jackson dropped the ball true, but Marcus has to learn some "touch" on the ball. Every pass does not need to penetrate a brick wall. Later in the game he had a guy wide open on the far side and overthrew him by 7 yards. I think that is what Muss saw early, Marcus seems to get so much adrenaline going that he just overthrows it too often. I think had Jackson caught that ball the early complexion of the game would have changed dramatically. Again, throw a catchable ball is just as important as fitting it in there when the guy is wide open.

[Risky]

I agree. Time to move on from the quarterback issue. That is NOT our problem. Consistent defense and definitely not like last night when we had no defense.

[fgoSioux]

Nothing's changed on this board. We accept mediocrity. Why should we? Why aren't we holding the coach and the administration to higher standards. The game last night was an embarrassment. EWU is a decent team. But not a team that should mop the red carpet with our asses.

I was listening to the radio and jack says we have so many good backs we had to leave Sparks in Grand Forks. Good backs?? What god damn team is he watching? Good against !@#!$ competition. Christ Icould have run for 200 yards against some of these horseshit teams. Our WR are good. But not as good as we think. I was reading how some of you think Harden is the best in FCS. He's good but let's put the Kelly green cool aid down. He drops bass and takes plays off. Not would I would call the best. The online is avg at best.

Don't even get me started on the defense. Seriously. That doesn't even deserve my rant. Yet we have people on this board saying well we shouldn't expect much out of this team. My question is why the hell not!!!

I wil tell you this. If SU lost a game like this the town of Fargo would shut down. Maybe we should start giving a !@#$ about the football team. If we don't expect excellence who will?

[geaux_sioux]

Nothing's changed on this board. We accept mediocrity. Why should we? Why aren't we holding the coach and the administration to higher standards. The game last night was an embarrassment. EWU is a decent team. But not a team that should mop the red carpet with our asses.

I was listening to the radio and jack says we have so many good backs we had to leave Sparks in Grand Forks. Good backs?? What god damn team is he watching? Good against !@#!$ competition. Christ Icould have run for 200 yards against some of these horseshit teams. Our WR are good. But not as good as we think. I was reading how some of you think Harden is the best in FCS. He's good but let's put the Kelly green cool aid down. He drops bass and takes plays off. Not would I would call the best. The online is avg at best.

Don't even get me started on the defense. Seriously. That doesn't even deserve my rant. Yet we have people on this board saying well we shouldn't expect much out of this team. My question is why the hell not!!!

I wil tell you this. If SU lost a game like this the town of Fargo would shut down. Maybe we should start giving a !@#$ about the football team. If we don't expect excellence who will?

We have good backs. No great ones. Three good ones, we'll see on Sparks later. They need better blocking though. The run blocking has been too inconsistent. Sure we're missing Kleason but we have other OLinemen that should be doing alot better and getting a push. Back to running back, we need a bigger back that is also dynamic. The only back that we have with moves is Garmin, Sutton and Miller have no wiggle. They are out there, we just need to do a better job of recruiting them. A guy 6' 210 and quick would do the job.

Thanks for not letting me be the only one to expect alot more than a average season.

[UNDColorado]

I've been wondering to myself if the 3-4 is still the right D for us? Maybe a 4-3 with Tampa two would help us avoid giving up the big play and put less pressure on our DBs

I have been wondering the same thing lately. If the 3-4 is designed to stop a veer / tripple option offense, then why would we run it in a wide open Big Sky?

[CMSioux]

Nothing's changed on this board. We accept mediocrity. Why should we? Why aren't we holding the coach and the administration to higher standards. The game last night was an embarrassment. EWU is a decent team. But not a team that should mop the red carpet with our asses.

I was listening to the radio and jack says we have so many good backs we had to leave Sparks in Grand Forks. Good backs?? What god damn team is he watching? Good against !@#!$ competition. Christ Icould have run for 200 yards against some of these horseshit teams. Our WR are good. But not as good as we think. I was reading how some of you think Harden is the best in FCS. He's good but let's put the Kelly green cool aid down. He drops bass and takes plays off. Not would I would call the best. The online is avg at best.

Don't even get me started on the defense. Seriously. That doesn't even deserve my rant. Yet we have people on this board saying well we shouldn't expect much out of this team. My question is why the hell not!!!

I wil tell you this. If SU lost a game like this the town of Fargo would shut down. Maybe we should start giving a !@#$ about the football team. If we don't expect excellence who will?

Well you know what I don't want to be like the fans in Fargo. It's a game, they're students. By saying that doesn't mean I don't give a (*&()*&, it means I have perspective.

[The Sicatoka]

Folks, I'm going to say it:

There was some irrational exuberance going into this season.

Sure, UND finished 8-3 and won the Great West last year. Sure, UND got a transfer QB to fill the overt shortcoming. But this is the Big Sky. This isn't a transititional schedule. The teams are better and the travel is tougher than last year. Knowing that, I expected some rough patches as the team adjusted.

What I didn't expect was fundamental breakdowns in how the team plays.

Quit trying to play "Big Sky" football. Cal-Poly isn't. Poly is doing what Poly does. UND should learn from that.

UND needs to do what it does: Balanced, ball-control offense and "make them snap it again" defense.

Just play UND Football.

[Matt]

Well you know what I don't want to be like the fans in Fargo. It's a game, they're students. By saying that doesn't mean I don't give a (*&()*&, it means I have perspective.

How about we be like the fans in Grand Forks-the hockey fans! How long would they tolerate this kind of play in the hockey program?

[geaux_sioux]

How about we be like the fans in Grand Forks-the hockey fans! How long would they tolerate this kind of play in the hockey program?

I'm not willing to hold my nose that high in the air. I'm a hockey fan too, but not one of 'those' ones. Why don't some of you get on the high expectations band wagon but also have yourself ground in reality? My expectations are through the roof with this program and as far as I'm concerned it hasn't even begun to scratch its potential. Part of that is due to investment, or lack thereof, and part of that is due to the transition. In 20 years we'll hardly be able to recognize the football program in terms of level of play and popularity. The hockey program can't get all that much bigger, football has almost unlimited growth potential.

Back to my point, high expectations are necessary to success.

[fgoSioux]

I'm not willing to hold my nose that high in the air. I'm a hockey fan too, but not one of 'those' ones. Why don't some of you get on the high expectations band wagon but also have yourself ground in reality? My expectations are through the roof with this program and as far as I'm concerned it hasn't even begun to scratch its potential. Part of that is due to investment, or lack thereof, and part of that is due to the transition. In 20 years we'll hardly be able to recognize the football program in terms of level of play and popularity. The hockey program can't get all that much bigger, football has almost unlimited growth potential.

Back to my point, high expectations are necessary to success.

Exactly!!! I don't mind getting beat...but I'm tired of getting our asses kicked!! This isnt' the first time in the Mussman lead teams we have been embarrassed. What happened to our physical Defense!!! A good running game and a good defense and your in EVERY game.

This vertical passing game is NOT UND football!! Sure we have had some success against mediocore to crappy teams. When are we actually going to beat a good football team. That's what I'm waiting for.. My fear is this was just the begining of the ass kickings this year. And if I'm right where does that leave this football program....

[UND-FB-FAN]

We have good backs. No great ones. Three good ones, we'll see on Sparks later. They need better blocking though. The run blocking has been too inconsistent. Sure we're missing Kleason but we have other OLinemen that should be doing alot better and getting a push. Back to running back, we need a bigger back that is also dynamic. The only back that we have with moves is Garmin, Sutton and Miller have no wiggle. They are out there, we just need to do a better job of recruiting them. A guy 6' 210 and quick would do the job.

Thanks for not letting me be the only one to expect alot more than a average season.

At the FCS level, our backs are average at best. Furthermore, a team with average FCS players will NEVER win the Big Sky conference. We need to improve our talent or the training and coaching of the talent. One of the two needs to happen for this team to compete for a Big Sky title. I'll admit it, before this season I apparently thought this team was more talented than they now show they really are. Big Sky top teams like Cal Poly, Montana, Montana State, and EWU all have very talented FCS players. Right now, UND just doesn't have enough of those type of players.

I feel this PROGRAM has all the potential in the world of FCS football, also. But, the program is the constant, while the players and coaches are the variables. We haven't even concluded our first Big Sky season, so I don't want to propose anything too drastic, but variables need to be worked with to change results. Theres no question the first thing needing change is the talent. As the R.Fr and true Fr. classes get older, along with incoming FCS-caliber recruits and FBS drop-downs, this team will hopefully improve and work its way up the Big Sky. As for this season, next two games will determine the season's overall success or lack of.

[WeAreNorthDakota]

I think we need to wait till after the next two games to determine whether or not the sky is falling. Our defense is not very good and EWU has an explosive offense. That was a bad matchup and we couldn't afford to give them the huge momentum boost that was the kickoff return touchdown. Couple the bad matchup, the big early momentum shift, and our flip flopping of quarterbacks and you have a recipe for getting run out of the building.

We have two good teams coming to town the next two weeks. I don't think we have any chance of stopping them defensively but we do have a chance to get a full game of consistent quarterback play and to feed off the home crowd for some momentum. If we get beat up at home again, then I'll start to believe there are major concerns but we needed to expect some growing pains in our first year in the conference.

[Irish]

North Dakota is a small state - those of us who live here have to co-mingle with the fans of the farmers down south - we even have to put up with their trolls on this board. Even though we don't play them, we are often in comparison. It has been a long day already at work. While I don't expect us to be at the same point as they are, I don't expect what I saw on Saturday ever. We have had 5 years to prepare for the Big Sky. We need to raise expectations and right soon or we are in for years of mediocrity - remember how long it took us to recover from the Burns era.

[Matt]

Does anyone else notice Poly keeps being discussed as a top BSC team? Why are they so much more prepared for conference/national prominence than UND after the transition? If we want to fall back on the effects of the transition, needing more time, etc., let's compare apples to apples then.

[Eskimos]

Why aren't we holding the coach and the administration to higher standards

Because it is easier and more convenient to consistently throw 18-23 year old players under the bus.