Valparaiso @ UND 9/20/2025

[UND Football Fan]

Observation: offense was meh at the beginning.  Jerry is improving. Hopefully TE’s get healthy soon. My take on Z is he seems not as much of a bruising back as last few years (maybe lack of reps can do that), last two years he’s been injured down the stretch. I would rather see him play the whole season and have his biggest games during the playoff stretch of the season. 
 

Specials were solid, hopefully that carries through to Valley play. 
 

Defense gave up that big play, still too many. That being said we are takling better and playing fast. That is a huge improvement from last year. Defensively the challenge will be continuing building depth and continue improving in game adjustments, because with Valley play, once your exposed you need to fix or a season can become a slow death. This has happened a plethora of times over the years. 

 

 

[Siouxperfan7]

10 for 10 in kicks!  2 blocked punts!  1 kickoff return for a TD. Special Teams were on fire!!

[shep]

1 hour ago, Oxbow6 said:

No way there were as many butts in seats as PSU

I thought it was pretty evident there were more today

[Vegas_Sioux]

3 hours ago, Cratter said:

Valparaiso is the Crookston of FCS.

Hey now crookston doesn’t have football

[siouxweet]

32 minutes ago, fightingsioux4life said:

Kicking game was good today.

Lots of playing time for the twos and threes in the second half.

Aside from one god awful play early in the third quarter, the defense was good.

How could the defense not look good against this farce of a football team?   One of the local high school teams would have looked like world beaters as well.

[fightingsioux4life]

13 minutes ago, siouxweet said:

How could the defense not look good against this farce of a football team?   One of the local high school teams would have looked like world beaters as well.

Compared to last season's performance vs. similar teams, it's a clear improvement.

[shep]

No comparison to last years D. And I’m not just considering today’s game.

Not even close, it’s a whole new way 

[Nodak78]

2 minutes ago, shep said:

No comparison to last years D. And I’m not just considering today’s game.

Not even close, it’s a whole new way 

Offense, defense and special teams are better.  Watching UNI.  Let's heal up and kick a$$ in UNI.

[siouxweet]

14 minutes ago, fightingsioux4life said:

Compared to last season's performance vs. similar teams, it's a clear improvement.

Again what can you take away from playing a talentless team?  It's like playing against pylons and tackling dummies.   It would have been more beneficial to have an intra squad scrimmage.  Whoever scheduled this should be fired if they haven't been already.

[Sioux>Bison]

2 hours ago, ChrisUND1 said:

Fantastic confidence builder for CJ Elrichs today.  

To be fair JTJ had to throw a few of his throws away in the dirt because his slow WR’s were not open. Hard to blame that on JTJ for not forcing throws

[Sioux>Bison]

1 hour ago, siouxweet said:

Don't ever schedule this glorified D2 JV team ever again.    Nothing was gained out of this other than stat padding.  A bye week would have been more beneficial.    Nothing was learned about this squad today. 

We already have one of the toughest schedules in the FCS……

[Cratter]

44 minutes ago, Vegas_Sioux said:

Hey now crookston doesn’t have football

Shows my age i guess. Was unaware UMC dropped football.

They use to come to the Alerus as the usual opener.

[fightingsioux4life]

5 minutes ago, siouxweet said:

Again what can you take away from playing a talentless team?  It's like playing against pylons and tackling dummies.   It would have been more beneficial to have an intra squad scrimmage.  Whoever scheduled this should be fired if they haven't been already.

Lots of MVFC teams schedule games vs. Pioneer League teams. I get what you are saying, but I don't think these games are going away.

[siouxweet]

3 minutes ago, Sioux>Bison said:

We already have one of the toughest schedules in the FCS……

Then treat this like an exhibition and sit your starters because this isn't a D1 team you were playing.

[Sioux>Bison]

Did JTJ miss any wide open receivers? Nope. I like what I’ve seen out of JTJ and am glad he is our backup!

[Sioux>Bison]

1 minute ago, siouxweet said:

Then treat this like an exhibition and sit your starters because this isn't a D1 team you were playing.

Like the hockey team does against the U of Manitoba Bison? UND still has a bunch of new starters on both sides of the ball that need reps. Deng Deng was playing into the 4th qtr against PSU because he simply need more reps and it’s not like these guys are veteran seniors that have been playing in the system for 4 years. I don’t like boring games either but we need the practice to get ready for league games

[Cratter]

2 hours ago, fightingsioux4life said:

Compared to last season's performance vs. similar teams, it's a clear improvement.

Meh.

The team doesnt look much different than last year. (Edit for clarification....im responding to quote above vs "similar teams" aka "crappy teams.")

Lost close games last year and already lost close game this year.

Beat #4 Montana last year.

Opened the season 4-1 last year with only loss to FBS team.

Scored 72 last year on our "Valparaiso equivalent." (<---see im comparing "vs similar teams").

There was a fine line between good and bad season last year. (Edit: "Fine Line" means a few key plays)

And it feels like its the same thing this year.

Last year fell below that line.

This year..tbd...but that recent Montana game could be some foreshadowing...

 

[tnt]

7 minutes ago, siouxweet said:

Then treat this like an exhibition and sit your starters because this isn't a D1 team you were playing.

Brilliant. Don’t let guys that have only a few games under their belts reps and the chance to gain confidence.  Guess our kicker couldn’t use a confidence boost.  

[UND-FB-FAN]

4 hours ago, SIOUXFAN97 said:

just want a clean clean game.....just look the part for once under new "ownership".....

58-7… gave up basically no rushing yards … UND looked the part. Almost beat an FBS team in first game under new regime… and should’ve beat Montana. Montana beat Indiana State like 63-20 today. UND is 4 points away from being 4-0. You all need to just relax, and get out there and support the program. Let’s Go Hawks 

[Oxbow6]

2 minutes ago, UND-FB-FAN said:

58-7… gave up basically no rushing yards … UND looked the part. Almost beat an FBS team in first game under new regime… and should’ve beat Montana. Montana beat Indiana State like 63-20 today. UND is 4 points away from being 4-0. You all need to just relax, and get out there and support the program. Let’s Go Hawks 

2-2 going on the road to UNI

[fightingsioux4life]

Just now, Cratter said:

Shows my age i guess. Was unaware UMC dropped football.

They use to come to the Alerus as the usual opener.

We outscored them 222-9 in 4 total games from 2000 to 2003. Their only points were from a long field goal with a stiff south wind at their backs in 2000 (this was at Memorial Stadium) and a fumble return for a touchdown in the Alerus Center in 2001 vs. our backups. The PAT was blocked.

[Oxbow6]

Homecoming cupcake win. Want smiles after this game annually. 

[fightingsioux4life]

20 minutes ago, Cratter said:

Meh.

The team doesnt look much different than last year. Lost close games last year and already lost close game this year.

Beat #4 Montana last year.

Opened the season 4-1 last year with only loss to FBS team.

Scored 72 last year on our "Valparaiso equivalent."

There was a fine line between good and bad season last year.

And it feels like its the same thing this year.

Last year fell below that line.

This year..tbd...but that recent Montana game could be some foreshadowing...

I said before the season started that there would be growing pains early on.

-New head coach.

-New starting QB.

-New defensive system.

And there have been growing pains.

But if we can get better as the season goes on, it will be worth it.

Anybody who expected Schmidt to strike gold immediately in season one was asking to be disappointed.

This is not the exact same team as last year. But if you want to keep believing that, go ahead.

[Nodak78]

Please relax and take a deep breathe. Thus team is a contender.  In 2 weeks UND will stomp UNI.  

[gfhockey]

Doesn’t like watching Danny for our friends get smoked in the Big Ten