UND @ SDSU (Beat the bunnies)

[UND-FB-FAN]

1 hour ago, geaux_sioux said:

Bubba took a timeout before the first play of the second half in a game. Literally can’t get worse than that. I think it’s pretty easy to understand a coach using a bunch of timeouts in the last min of the game to keep things under control and trending positively.

USD game this season. God awful embarrassment. 

[siouxfan512]

I’m still high on this team going into next year. So close if they fix a few things; players and coaches.

would really love to see the Dennis kid be an immediate contributor next year. One of the biggest things offensive is we must throw the ball more than 2-3 yards down the field, it shouldn’t be that hard to add a few more yard to our passing game. Even if we aren’t throwing 20-30 yarders (which we should also be able to do) 7-8 yard passes should be a more frequent thing.

still a lot to like here. Worst part about today is having to wait so long before UND football starts again.

 

[Sioux>Bison]

Although I wanted to win this game and make the playoffs this season I don’t think we had a championship caliber team that could have went all the way. Yeah I wanted to make a deep playoff run but this team could lose in the couple first rounds. Dumping this coaching staff would dump everything this program has built up. We have really good players and recruits that we are on the cusp of building a championship team with. We CANT afford to start over from scratch! We learned many lessons this season and developed depth that will help us tremendously in the next season. Thank you seniors for bringing excitement to my life again this fall. It’s truly been an honor to watch you guys play the past seasons and I wouldn’t trade anything else other than to be a UND football fan! 

[gfNDfan]

4 hours ago, Midwestern Hawk said:

I’ve watched it several times, I still can’t get past we let almost half the time left expire on one play.

Tommy forced the throw because he felt the time pressure.  Everyone felt the time pressure, including the announcers.  

The time management over the last 1:30 is just stunning.   

 

 

THANK YOU!  They have a rush completing the 4th down play to keep the game going.   MAYBE take a time out there to take a breath but also DO run another play right way to take advantage of dissarray on the defensive side??   No go - disaster - we get sacked.   TIMEOUT!   Now we need to reset and win this thing.  Do we do that? - NO!!!!   That's the problem...Bubba put Tommy in a horrible pressure spot and he pressed - throwing to a receiver surrounded by 4 defenders.  Game Over - again.  This has been the case too many times this season - no further questions, your honor.

I love Bubba to death - was there when they won the D2 Championship in Florence and have been a supporter ever since but it's time to clear the slate and start fresh.   I can see Bubba doing a great job with the Alumni Association schmoozing old widows for endowment checks but his days as HC of UND Football need to be over for the good of the program in the DI Era.

 

[nodak651]

You all realize that SDSU's DE that was smoking our LT, and who sacked Tommy twice during the last drive, finally got off the field when you are complaining Bubba didn't call a time out?  Is that really a stupid coaching decision?  Bubba shoulda let the guy take a breather and not miss any snaps?  

It looked to me like Richter was pretty open for the interception as well (guy who intercepted the ball was behind Richter), and Tommy had time to set his feet and make a throw, but he was off by a few inches.  It happens.  Perhaps if Richter didn't slow down and hesitate as he was making his cut, the ball would have been right in his hands?  Watch the replay again and focus on Richter - the ball was right on the money if he doesn't slow down...

[Oxbow6]

[Midwestern Hawk]

19 minutes ago, Oxbow6 said:

Moving forward, that can't happen.  Whoever is the coolest under pressure needs to be in charge of clock/game management decisions.  It was NOT just yesterday.  Almost every MVFC game we played was decided by one score or less.  Most next fall will likely be the same.  A timeout at our 20 vs NDSU and a timeout yesterday late and this team may very well have 2 more wins just on those two instances.

[Wilbur]

1 hour ago, Oxbow6 said:

When everything gets thrown on the table and everything gets evaluated by the coaching staff at their post season meetings does the game management get discussed?

I mean 3 or 4 really questionable decisions this year in big spots.  Does the blame go around because we've got how many guys talking on the headsets, and somebody has to say "are we really QB sneaking into the teeth of NDSU's D on 4th and 1 from our 20"?  

A lot of tough losses for this group.  They battled, every game they lost they had a legitimate shot to win.  

[Irish]

9 hours ago, Sioux>Bison said:

Although I wanted to win this game and make the playoffs this season I don’t think we had a championship caliber team that could have went all the way. Yeah I wanted to make a deep playoff run but this team could lose in the couple first rounds. Dumping this coaching staff would dump everything this program has built up. We have really good players and recruits that we are on the cusp of building a championship team with. We CANT afford to start over from scratch! We learned many lessons this season and developed depth that will help us tremendously in the next season. Thank you seniors for bringing excitement to my life again this fall. It’s truly been an honor to watch you guys play the past seasons and I wouldn’t trade anything else other than to be a UND football fan! 

I agree that we have some good players and recruits.  My problem is that Bubba has learned exactly zero lessons this season.  

[Devils]

1 hour ago, Oxbow6 said:

Hindsight is always 20/20 as they say.  Sure, a timeout wouldn't have been a bad call but this quote is just Bubba deflecting the blame off of the QB onto himself.  

[Cratter]

Tommy finally started to get more comfortable running. 

Hopefully next year he continues right where he left off.

[UND-FB-FAN]

11 hours ago, siouxfan512 said:

 

still a lot to like here. Worst part about today is having to wait so long before UND football starts again.

 

This is the disappointment. At this point in the program with Bubba in charge, we should be hearing UND’s name every Sunday FCS Playoff Selection Show, but we’re still racking up losing seasons, letdowns and blatant playoff misses. Beyond frustrating. 
 

The mindset of this team/program and overall leadership of it has tons of room to improve. 

[UND-FB-FAN]

10 hours ago, Sioux>Bison said:

Although I wanted to win this game and make the playoffs this season I don’t think we had a championship caliber team that could have went all the way. Yeah I wanted to make a deep playoff run but this team could lose in the couple first rounds. Dumping this coaching staff would dump everything this program has built up. We have really good players and recruits that we are on the cusp of building a championship team with. We CANT afford to start over from scratch! We learned many lessons this season and developed depth that will help us tremendously in the next season. 

I strongly disagree with this. Would love to see the team play a couple more weeks - who knows what could happen?
Can’t afford to start over from scratch? What does that even mean? This team under the current leadership is having losing seasons and missing the playoffs. How much worse can it get? 

Having new leadership, new ideas, new approach to winning football games and growing UND football is certainly worth it if you can get the right guy. 
 

Being scared of upgrade should not be what holds this program back, but it will based on this kind of ridiculous sentiment.
 

of course, biggest obstacle is finances. As I said in earlier post, UND continues to be hockey, hockey, hockey and this will always make it difficult on non-hockey sports in the DI era. 

[iramurphy]

1 hour ago, Irish said:

I agree that we have some good players and recruits.  My problem is that Bubba has learned exactly zero lessons this season.  

I guess there are at least 3 or 4 threads to address these and similar comments. Most criticisms on fan blogs are similar to other fan blogs elsewhere at college and pro levels. So much of it shows no more insight than what we hear from sportscasters, sportswriters and others who never get beyond second guessing calls/plays/mistakes if the team doesn’t win.  We are getting much closer to our goals of Conference and National Championships. It isn’t as easy as we wish. We are starting to win more of the recruiting battles against top conference and FCS teams. We have made important strides evidenced by a Big Sky and a MVFC Championship. This is the first year in the FCS era we weren’t blown out by an FCS team. We could have won every one of those games. This staff has recruited players and coached them well enough to put them in a position to have won every one of those games. I agree there were calls I thought were nuts. We will always wonder about the stupid 4th down fake punt against the Bison and how that call affected the game and how a win that game could have changed the season. There are other calls that we could continue to bring up and beat to death.  Bubba and his staff have faced an uphill climb since day one. The players seem to want to play for this staff and they seem to like it here. They all need our full support until they are no longer here. To start over now would be a huge mistake. We can’t afford a step back when we are this close. If you want this program to succeed then contact the athletic department and ask how can I help. Bubba and his staff aren’t going anywhere so piss and moan a bit and let’s figure out how we as fans and supporters can help move this program forward. 

[UND-FB-FAN]

16 minutes ago, iramurphy said:

 To start over now would be a huge mistake. We can’t afford a step back when we are this close. If you want this program to succeed then contact the athletic department and ask how can I help. Bubba and his staff aren’t going anywhere so piss and moan a bit and let’s figure out how we as fans and supporters can help move this program forward. 

Always appreciate your comments, Ira. My concern is we have a sample size with Bubba of 8 seasons and only one playoff win to show for it. Simply asking for coaches to be fired is a sportscaster mindset, so I agree the solution is not that simple, and we need to be more constructive than that, but really it all comes down to $. We need more $ to complete phase II of the Fritz Pollard Jr. Athletic Center which will be crucial to securing more talented student-athletes. We need more $ in order to secure more talented assistant coaches and perhaps even a more talented head coach/voice of leadership. To say Bubba is not expendable would be a mistake in my opinion, regardless of how much he loves UND and how nice of a man he is. Approaching UND football with the concept that staffing is a non-issue and is immune to change is a mistake if you ask me. Overall, we need to be open-minded. UND lost all games close, yes, but they ultimately lost. Wins are wins and losses are losses. We will see what 2022 brings, but again, I think regression to the mean tells us a 0.500 season with a first round playoff exit is our current capability. 

Bottom-line, how can we as fans help this program? Simple, put up more $. the Athletic Department will quickly tell you that. And we need ensure all gifts go to football and do not continue to funnel their way into the REA and hockey program leaving the non-hockey programs in a state of constant catch-up to area competition. 

[iramurphy]

16 minutes ago, UND-FB-FAN said:

Always appreciate your comments, Ira. My concern is we have a sample size with Bubba of 8 seasons and only one playoff win to show for it. Simply asking for coaches to be fired is a sportscaster mindset, so I agree the solution is not that simple, and we need to be more constructive than that, but really it all comes down to $. We need more $ to complete phase II of the Fritz Pollard Jr. Athletic Center which will be crucial to securing more talented student-athletes. We need more $ in order to secure more talented assistant coaches and perhaps even a more talented head coach/voice of leadership. To say Bubba is not expendable would be a mistake in my opinion, regardless of how much he loves UND and how nice of a man he is. Approaching UND football with the concept that staffing is a non-issue and is immune to change is a mistake if you ask me. Overall, we need to be open-minded. UND lost all games close, yes, but they ultimately lost. Wins are wins and losses are losses. We will see what 2022 brings, but again, I think regression to the mean tells us a 0.500 season with a first round playoff exit is our current capability. 

Bottom-line, how can we as fans help this program? Simple, put up more $. the Athletic Department will quickly tell you that. And we need ensure all gifts go to football and do not continue to funnel their way into the REA and hockey program leaving the non-hockey programs in a state of constant catch-up to area competition. 

Good points. I understand Bubba as well as any other coach is expendable. I’m certainly not going to defend the egregious mistakes. One of my major disappointments is stacking positions like tight end and then for the players who don’t play at their initial position, not finding a way or other position where they can contribute if not start. Feeney is the first QB since Mollberg with arm and athletic ability to carry a team. Didn’t work out for Mollberg but if we can’t nurture and develop Feeney then we will not develop at a program. Right now I wouldn’t want to disrupt this group of players or staff. Unless someone is going to cough up a million buck we are kicking a dead horse. When his contract is up next year he won’t be brought back unless we win these close games and win a conference championship, National championship and beat the Bison. For me it’s timing

[Kab]

Will Feeney want to wait around for another 2 years if he can’t crack the straying job

these kids want to play

would only give him 2 years of playing 

 

[iramurphy]

13 minutes ago, Kab said:

Will Feeney want to wait around for another 2 years if he can’t crack the straying job

these kids want to play

would only give him 2 years of playing 

 

Feeney should be starter soon. One thing few understand is the job this staff did to maximize Schuster’s strengths and minimize his weaknesses. 

[UND-FB-FAN]

22 minutes ago, iramurphy said:

Good points. I understand Bubba as well as any other coach is expendable. I’m certainly not going to defend the egregious mistakes. One of my major disappointments is stacking positions like tight end and then for the players who don’t play at their initial position, not finding a way or other position where they can contribute if not start. Feeney is the first QB since Mollberg with arm and athletic ability to carry a team. Didn’t work out for Mollberg but if we can’t nurture and develop Feeney then we will not develop at a program. Right now I wouldn’t want to disrupt this group of players or staff. Unless someone is going to cough up a million buck we are kicking a dead horse. When his contract is up next year he won’t be brought back unless we win these close games and win a conference championship, National championship and beat the Bison. For me it’s timing

Understood. Let’s support the program, hope for a great 2022 season. Obviously, if 2022 does not go according to plan, big picture changes need to be considered. I suspect UND will be better in 2022, but how they do against NDSU or do in the playoffs, I am not as confident. Again, regression to the mean with our current sample size (8 seasons with Bubba’s program). 

[Midwestern Hawk]

4 minutes ago, iramurphy said:

Feeney should be starter soon. One thing few understand is the job this staff did to maximize Schuster’s strengths and minimize his weaknesses. 

No question,  Danny was working overtime to do just that.  No idea why Tommy would not run 'til yesterday.  Can live with a weak arm if he is an accurate passer and can run, for much of this season we made due with an accurate passer with a weak arm and no threat to run.

[petey23]

7 minutes ago, iramurphy said:

Feeney should be starter soon. One thing few understand is the job this staff did to maximize Schuster’s strengths and minimize his weaknesses. 

If Feeney beats out Tommy for next season I see that as a positive.

[Wilbur]

42 minutes ago, petey23 said:

If Feeney beats out Tommy for next season I see that as a positive.

I'm not Tommy's biggest fan, but if he gives us the best chance to win then give me a #2 jersey and let's roll.  Nice to see him run a bit yesterday.  Running QBs add another variable for a defense has to prepare for. 

[fightingsioux4life]

16 hours ago, UND1983 said:

We don't have anywhere near the expectations you have for the program.  You are a winner.  

And that is the problem with UND athletics right now. Winning is optional.

[iramurphy]

13 hours ago, gfNDfan said:

THANK YOU!  They have a rush completing the 4th down play to keep the game going.   MAYBE take a time out there to take a breath but also DO run another play right way to take advantage of dissarray on the defensive side??   No go - disaster - we get sacked.   TIMEOUT!   Now we need to reset and win this thing.  Do we do that? - NO!!!!   That's the problem...Bubba put Tommy in a horrible pressure spot and he pressed - throwing to a receiver surrounded by 4 defenders.  Game Over - again.  This has been the case too many times this season - no further questions, your honor.

I love Bubba to death - was there when they won the D2 Championship in Florence and have been a supporter ever since but it's time to clear the slate and start fresh.   I can see Bubba doing a great job with the Alumni Association schmoozing old widows for endowment checks but his days as HC of UND Football need to be over for the good of the program in the DI Era.

 

If team needed to be settled down QB was in huddle. He has final say as to whether or not they need a time out 

[Sioux95]

15 hours ago, geaux_sioux said:

It was a big deal. It was a perfect moment to calm everyone down and get a clear plan to win the game. 

If we call a timeout and then throw the interception, we would all be talking about how we had the momentum, SD just pulled their sack monster off the field,and Bubba made the worst decision ever.  Nothing like hindsight to make us all feel a little smarter.