2019 Season

[Sioux>Bison]

On 9/30/2019 at 7:58 AM, Oxbow6 said:

Let's not try to pretend Bubba coaches this program beyond this season. This team won't make the playoffs as is. The MVC is a meat grinder. Bubba has no business coaching in that league. He needs to go. Get a new solid HC hire heading in the MVC and expect to try to rebuild again for a couple years.

He has already been coaching in the MVFC just not at head coach. His defensive system will be picked up if Bubba is ever let go. There will be a ton of teams trying to get Schmit for his denfense. Bubba is a good defensive coach but had not been able to get it done on offense.

[SIOUXFAN97]

12 minutes ago, Sioux>Bison said:

He has already been coaching in the MVFC just not at head coach. His defensive system will be picked up if Bubba is ever let go. There will be a ton of teams trying to get Schmit for his denfense. Bubba is a good defensive coach but had not been able to get it done on offense or special teams.

fixed

[OgieOgilthorpe]

9 hours ago, Longtime fan said:

Overall talent is not where it should be for an fcs team. They’re recruiting D2 for a D1 program with an occasional stud.  Just looking through the roster I see, imo,  9 guys that would have potential to crack into another teams two deep chart thats a top 10 team.  

McKinney, fort, jaxon, Caleb, Donnell, Bennett, maag, Siegel and Isaac Moore (as a OLB/ ILB)  would be the 9.   Donnell, Bennett, Siegel and fort could start with most any team.  

2 from the offense and 7 from D .  

recruiting needs a major kick in the ass!  

As well as coaching needs new coaches 

 

 

 

 

 

Noah Larson is the most well rounded player on the team IMO. I think he probably has the best chance at the next level, which is still slim. 

[shep]

7 hours ago, TBR said:

One could argue that top level talent doesnt want to play in North Dakota, but then one would have to explain away the success of NDSU. 

That's the ultimate issue with recruiting. 

You're a kid living in a significantly better climate than ND. You are good at football. If you decide to play in ND and suffer the hellish weather for 6 months of the year, do you go to the school that hasn't won a playoff game or the one that has won 6 titles. 

[The Fan]

10 hours ago, Longtime fan said:

Overall talent is not where it should be for an fcs team. They’re recruiting D2 for a D1 program with an occasional stud.  Just looking through the roster I see, imo,  9 guys that would have potential to crack into another teams two deep chart thats a top 10 team.  

McKinney, fort, jaxon, Caleb, Donnell, Bennett, maag, Siegel and Isaac Moore (as a OLB/ ILB)  would be the 9.   Donnell, Bennett, Siegel and fort could start with most any team.  

2 from the offense and 7 from D .  

recruiting needs a major kick in the ass!  

As well as coaching needs new coaches 

 

 

 

 

 

Don’t necessarily disagree but I think you missed some; Larson, Wanzek, Canady, JJ,  Toivonen to name a few.  They have all put up respectable numbers playing in the same league as the top 10 teams do. 

[SkoHawks]

I'm not sure it's necessarily a full blown talent issue, but more so not maximizing the talent we have had.  Most would agree our classes have seemed to have gotten better the last few years.  Hoping we can finish strong like we did last year, almost feel like we need to in order to match last year's class.  The main things that I feel have haunted us are in game management, special teams, and maybe playing with a lack of fire/urgency/emotion at times.

Also, an interesting look at scores quarter by quarter so far this season.

Quarter	US	Opp
1st	31	28
2nd	9	35
3rd	41	17
4th	20	23
Totals	101	103

[UND Fan]

10 hours ago, shep said:

That's the ultimate issue with recruiting. 

You're a kid living in a significantly better climate than ND. You are good at football. If you decide to play in ND and suffer the hellish weather for 6 months of the year, do you go to the school that hasn't won a playoff game or the one that has won 6 titles. 

Weather is an issue but as I have mentioned in the past, a bigger challenge is the distance GF is from the majority of the prospects we are after.  These kids (especially their families, GFs, etc.) want them to play at a school that they can easily travel to for all home games.  These same kids drive by NDSU, SDSU and USD to get to GF.  This is a major obstacle that won't go away.  Therefore, we need to rely on prospects wanting to attend UND due to the majors we offer, we need to have a successful program, we need to have as good or better facilities and do everything first class.  The last couple of "needs" require $ - that is a major challenge!

As has been discussed, getting talented kids out of the Winnipeg area turn some of those issues into an advantage for us.  That certainly won't solve the problem but it would help.

[UND1983]

UND needs to win.  Have success and better recruits will come.  put together several solid seasons.  

[AJS]

22 hours ago, Longtime fan said:

Overall talent is not where it should be for an fcs team. They’re recruiting D2 for a D1 program with an occasional stud.  Just looking through the roster I see, imo,  9 guys that would have potential to crack into another teams two deep chart thats a top 10 team.  

McKinney, fort, jaxon, Caleb, Donnell, Bennett, maag, Siegel and Isaac Moore (as a OLB/ ILB)  would be the 9.   Donnell, Bennett, Siegel and fort could start with most any team.  

2 from the offense and 7 from D .  

recruiting needs a major kick in the ass!  

As well as coaching needs new coaches 

 

 

 

 

 

@Longtime fan, I think you're giving way too much credit to an FCS Top 10 team. Outside of a handful of teams (usually NDSU / JMU occasionally one or two others), we aren't talking about juggernauts here. I guess we'll see in a couple weeks. The way I'm interpreting your statement, half of Montana State's backups will be better than half of UND's starters. What do you think the score difference will be? I'd bet on much closer than what your statement would indicate.

I just don't like when I think people go too far one way. Bubba is a very average coach (see record), this program isn't where we as fans would hope it would be and I personally don't believe Bubba and this staff are the people to get this program to the next level. I really do believe they are close to breaking through. What I mean is this wouldn't be a complete rebuild for the next coach, far from it. Now, to give Bubba credit, this program is in a much better position now than when he took over. 

[Dustin]

I've reserved commentary since the game, mainly to let the highly emotional packed posts have a chance to dissipate.  Not trying to talk anybody off a ledge, because I do see concerns, but let's have a fuller scope of the season as a whole:

Before the season started, if we were 2-2 after 4 games, I think most people would say that's about what could be expected.  People are frustrated because the last game was winnable if the QB hadn't had his worst possible game.  Given the circumstances, though, a great performance was probably not in the cards.  The decision to play your starter after injury was a dicey situation for the QB and coaches no doubt.  They gambled and lost, and hopefully lesson learned.  The starting QB for the next game will tell a lot about our coaches.

I still believe all remaining games on our schedule are winnable.  That would be 7 in a row to end the regular season if it happened.  Not out of the question.  2016 team rattled off 9 in a row to get to that same mark.  With another loss, that puts the regular season record at 8-3, which I think most everyone would be pretty satisfied.  It would be a playoff spot, and potentially a home game, perhaps even a seed.

Hopefully the deficiencies are corrected.  Like many have noted, the adjustments this season are better than previous ones.  Our special teams could stand some (ok, quite a bit of) improvement.  Not sure what the plan for the season is,  but this may be something that can only be fixed with recruiting.

Speaking of recruiting, many have mentioned our geographical recruiting challenges.  Those aren't new, and we've overcome those many times in the past.  I don't see why that won't be overcome again.

All in all, I still have hope for the season.  Hopefully the players and coaches prove my hope to be realized.  

  

[Nodak78]

8 minutes ago, Dustin said:

I've reserved commentary since the game, mainly to let the highly emotional packed posts have a chance to dissipate.  Not trying to talk anybody off a ledge, because I do see concerns, but let's have a fuller scope of the season as a whole:

Before the season started, if we were 2-2 after 4 games, I think most people would say that's about what could be expected.  People are frustrated because the last game was winnable if the QB hadn't had his worst possible game.  Given the circumstances, though, a great performance was probably not in the cards.  The decision to play your starter after injury was a dicey situation for the QB and coaches no doubt.  They gambled and lost, and hopefully lesson learned.  The starting QB for the next game will tell a lot about our coaches.

I still believe all remaining games on our schedule are winnable.  That would be 7 in a row to end the regular season if it happened.  Not out of the question.  2016 team rattled off 9 in a row to get to that same mark.  With another loss, that puts the regular season record at 8-3, which I think most everyone would be pretty satisfied.  It would be a playoff spot, and potentially a home game, perhaps even a seed.

Hopefully the deficiencies are corrected.  Like many have noted, the adjustments this season are better than previous ones.  Our special teams could stand some (ok, quite a bit of) improvement.  Not sure what the plan for the season is,  but this may be something that can only be fixed with recruiting.

Speaking of recruiting, many have mentioned our geographical recruiting challenges.  Those aren't new, and we've overcome those many times in the past.  I don't see why that won't be overcome again.

All in all, I still have hope for the season.  Hopefully the players and coaches prove my hope to be realized.  

  

Good post.   Let's start with a win on Sat.

[CMSioux]

7 hours ago, Dustin said:

I've reserved commentary since the game, mainly to let the highly emotional packed posts have a chance to dissipate.  Not trying to talk anybody off a ledge, because I do see concerns, but let's have a fuller scope of the season as a whole:

Before the season started, if we were 2-2 after 4 games, I think most people would say that's about what could be expected.  People are frustrated because the last game was winnable if the QB hadn't had his worst possible game.  Given the circumstances, though, a great performance was probably not in the cards.  The decision to play your starter after injury was a dicey situation for the QB and coaches no doubt.  They gambled and lost, and hopefully lesson learned.  The starting QB for the next game will tell a lot about our coaches.

I still believe all remaining games on our schedule are winnable.  That would be 7 in a row to end the regular season if it happened.  Not out of the question.  2016 team rattled off 9 in a row to get to that same mark.  With another loss, that puts the regular season record at 8-3, which I think most everyone would be pretty satisfied.  It would be a playoff spot, and potentially a home game, perhaps even a seed.

Hopefully the deficiencies are corrected.  Like many have noted, the adjustments this season are better than previous ones.  Our special teams could stand some (ok, quite a bit of) improvement.  Not sure what the plan for the season is,  but this may be something that can only be fixed with recruiting.

Speaking of recruiting, many have mentioned our geographical recruiting challenges.  Those aren't new, and we've overcome those many times in the past.  I don't see why that won't be overcome again.

All in all, I still have hope for the season.  Hopefully the players and coaches prove my hope to be realized.  

  

Wait a minute...optimism, not sure that is welcome here. Most projections had us at 2-2 at this point, most say 7-4 gets a playoff bid.

[UND-FB-FAN]

9 hours ago, UND1983 said:

UND needs to win.  Have success and better recruits will come.  put together several solid seasons.  

UND needs better recruits to win ...

This is the whole the chicken or the egg scenario. UND needs better recruiting and development and then the wins will follow. 

The coaching isn’t great, but I honestly don’t think the schemes UND runs (especially with Freund  as OC) are the issue.  The coaches, however, need to find a way to get better players. Or else, find better coaches that can recruit. 

The major factor independent of both coaches and current players is facilities. UND needs HPC Phase II in order to recruit the kind of players necessary to meet expectations of those on this website. 

[Siouxperman8]

27 minutes ago, CMSioux said:

Wait a minute...optimism, not sure that is welcome here. Most projections had us at 2-2 at this point, most say 7-4 gets a playoff bid.

adding to your comment -  2-2 is exactly where most thought we would be.  I vote we put the pitchforks away for a while and let the season play out.   

who knows - maybe the season will turn out to be a success.  I hope so but if not, there will be plenty of time to ask for a change later in the year.

[gundy1124]

57 minutes ago, Siouxperman8 said:

adding to your comment -  2-2 is exactly where most thought we would be.  I vote we put the pitchforks away for a while and let the season play out.   

who knows - maybe the season will turn out to be a success.  I hope so but if not, there will be plenty of time to ask for a change later in the year.

The measurement is fluid.  2-2 expectation was before Eastern W. got smoked by Idaho and had a lot of key injuries.  Our last game was a gong show coming off a bye week.

[Kab]

I had us pegged at 3 and 1 

[UND-FB-FAN]

3 hours ago, CMSioux said:

Wait a minute...optimism, not sure that is welcome here. Most projections had us at 2-2 at this point, most say 7-4 gets a playoff bid.

UND needs to go 7-4 or better this season. That is certainly still a possibility. 

Important home game this weekend against UC Davis, especially given how awful UND has looked on the road. 

UND went 6-5 last season and returned nearly all players at every position group other than RB and DL. UND cannot afford to go 6-5 or 5-6 and simply cite the "most difficult schedule of all time" as the reason why - doing so would continue to forward the mediocrity of UND football. 

[Midwestern Hawk]

On 10/1/2019 at 11:21 AM, Longtime fan said:

Overall talent is not where it should be for an fcs team. They’re recruiting D2 for a D1 program with an occasional stud.  Just looking through the roster I see, imo,  9 guys that would have potential to crack into another teams two deep chart thats a top 10 team.  

McKinney, fort, jaxon, Caleb, Donnell, Bennett, maag, Siegel and Isaac Moore (as a OLB/ ILB)  would be the 9.   Donnell, Bennett, Siegel and fort could start with most any team.  

2 from the offense and 7 from D .  

recruiting needs a major kick in the ass!  

As well as coaching needs new coaches 

 

 

 

 

 

It’s not talent.  It’s development, personnel evaluation and in some cases coaching. 

Last Saturday we had a qb who was at least partially responsible for 6 turnovers.   We lost by 2 tds.  

If your personnel evaluation was correct EWU would have beat us by 50 with 6 TOS. 

Kett should have been pulled in the 2nd qtr. 

[UND-FB-FAN]

10 minutes ago, Midwestern Hawk said:

It’s not talent.  It’s development, personnel evaluation and in some cases coaching. 

Last Saturday we had a qb who was at least partially responsible for 6 turnovers.   We lost by 2 tds.  

If your personnel evaluation was correct EWU would have beat us by 50 with 6 TOS. 

Kett should have been pulled in the 2nd qtr. 

There are many factors. Obviously, UND needs to develop and coach up their players a bit better. More importantly, though, is the foundation which is the talent. UND does not have a top 10 foundation of talent and the players are the ones who win the games. Recruiting better talent is a huge need. 

You are right in that UND matched up well against EWU last weekend in terms of talent, but keep in mind EWU is down this year.  I agree that the intricacies of each position, including the quarterback position, need to be better emphasized and coached up. Having 6 turnovers is just not acceptable. 

 

[Midwestern Hawk]

2 minutes ago, UND-FB-FAN said:

There are many factors. Obviously, UND needs to develop and coach up their players a bit better. More importantly, though, is the foundation which is the talent. UND does not have a top 10 foundation of talent and the players are the ones who win the games. Recruiting better talent is a huge need. 

You are right in that UND matched up well against EWU last weekend in terms of talent, but keep in mind EWU is down this year.  I agree that the intricacies of each position, including the quarterback position, need to be better emphasized and coached up. Having 6 turnovers is just not acceptable. 

 

We will find out this weekend, but my hunch is there is NDSU talent, JMU talent and then about 20-40 teams at the next level including UND.  If UND keeps the TO to 3 and Kett does not play like he is a guy from San Diego playing in the snow UND wins.  I think out strength and development stinks and personnel decisions at QB especially have been bad to pitiful over the last few years.  We need to coach and develop our way to the top of that group of 20-40 teams and then we can set our sights on the Bison(unless they falter).

[Hawkster]

27 minutes ago, Midwestern Hawk said:

It’s not talent.  It’s development, personnel evaluation and in some cases coaching. 

Last Saturday we had a qb who was at least partially responsible for 6 turnovers.   We lost by 2 tds.  

If your personnel evaluation was correct EWU would have beat us by 50 with 6 TOS. 

Kett should have been pulled in the 2nd qtr. 

I have to wonder if the coaches really think that Kett is better than Boltman or Schuster?   It's hard to fathom that line of thought, but why else aren't they switching?    My only concerns on Schuster are the lack of experience and his 5'11" height, but I still think he deserves a shot.   Nothing ventured nothing gained.    And I have have no concerns on BB.    He's earned a chance.

[Midwestern Hawk]

1 minute ago, Hawkster said:

I have to wonder if the coaches really think that Kett is better than Boltman or Schuster?   It's hard to fathom that line of thought, but why else aren't they switching?    My only concerns on Schuster are the lack of experience and his 5'11" height, but I still think he deserves a shot.   Nothing ventured nothing gained.    And I have have no concerns on BB.    He's earned a chance.

If Shuster relieves in the 2nd quarter in Cheney, we likely win the game.   Not sure how Bubba and co stuck with Kett after it was getting painful to watch last Saturday.

[geaux_sioux]

1 minute ago, Midwestern Hawk said:

If Shuster relieves in the 2nd quarter in Cheney, we likely win the game.   Not sure how Bubba and co stuck with Kett after it was getting painful to watch last Saturday.

Chuck The Pigskin Guy would’ve started Schuster

[Hawkster]

20 minutes ago, geaux_sioux said:

Chuck The Pigskin Guy would’ve started Schuster

But is Schuster better than Boltman?    Just asking, not implying either way.

[geaux_sioux]

6 minutes ago, Hawkster said:

But is Schuster better than Boltman?    Just asking, not implying either way.

No idea. Brock has never played a full game and Schuster has played one. Nobody know much about either of them at this point.