Playoffs Second Round 12/6/25: UND @ Tarleton State

[ND-fan]

I agree with you on playing somebody different if they are hurt. Second when they chose Jerry it was said it was very close competition if somebody hurt and it’s effecting their performance it should be no brainer level of talent is higher may be in our backups.. Third everyone forgets that Jerry is sophomore and I think as season progressed more is required of quarterback because opposing teams are adapting to what you do. This when you need quarterback make correct reads and audible or go to alternative receiver but this wasn’t happening in second part of the season. This why I believe we came more predictable shorten playbook for Jerry to make it easier for him to make the reads but Jerry style for the big play which he had at beginning of season. My question has been how much of decision to continue to start Jerry was it  OC or Schmidt. My feeling it has been Schmidt and as glowing he talked about Simon he didn’t want him at the helm. I maybe wrong on this but that is why I have been critical of Schmidt he has done number great improvements to move UND forward but I also wanted point out for what ever reasons he may have passed golden opportunity for getting to the ultimate goal. Finally if we have become predictable we need scout department that scouts are team what they do playing to inform are coaches what we have become predictable on. I like Schmidt, but I think criticism is also needed but to often the coaches we have hired that having backing of guard of UND aren’t criticized  enough early to make them review what they are doing and then become stubborn to change and I have seen it pretty much in all sports over last 10 to 15 years. 

[fightingsioux4life]

I will be disappointed if Schmidt doesn't give the offense a total top to bottom makeover.

But I have a feeling he will do just that.

Schmidt has shown that accountability will matter with him in charge.

[Feff]

If Ike really was forced on Schmidt for a year, I would like to see that change come real damn quick. The only thing he has shown as an OC is that he can beat up on inferior competition to pad numbers. 

[iramurphy]

51 minutes ago, Long Snapper 92 said:

Didn’t Romfo play with an injury last year and that’s what everyone attributed the poor play to?

Maybe Jerry was dealing with the same thing. Let’s give him a fair shake like we gave the hometown kid 

Romfo had shoulder surgery in the off season.  I’m not sure he got a fair shake last year on this forum. Warranted when he struggled, but there  were a number of folks who were extremely critical and a number who continued criticism through the spring, summer and well into this season. I’d hate to see Jerry get the same treatment.

The mistake last year wasn’t starting Simon, it was not getting meaningful reps for Jerry and, I would argue, how we lost Feeney. That’s done and it’s time to say thanks to Simon and wish him the best and good luck to Feeney who had a great year. 

Looking forward, Jerry has shown great promise and will have months to recover. He, Jack and our RS freshman will have an opportunity to develop and improve over the next 9 months. Our Oline (as long as we have no portal losses should be very good).  We need help at receiver, Keep Farmer, and utilize Deng Deng and our TE’s.  All of that should bode well for Jerry, Jack and other QB’s. 
 

Right now we have to protect our returning roster, improve it with any portal upgrades, and continue to develop our players. The recruiting class is one of the best I have seen in many years. 
 

We took a step forward this year. Defense was markedly improved. Depth is better. We are bigger, stronger and improving our speed. We will see if there will be coaching changes but no reason not to be optimistic about the program moving forward. 
 

Lastly, we as fans also need to step up to do our part to move the program forward. The markets are up, so it’s a good time to contribute an extra whatever we can afford to our NIL initiatives. We can’t make coaching changes, but we can contribute to provide resources to invest in keeping players or hiring coaches. 

[F'n Hawks]

28 minutes ago, Feff said:

If Ike really was forced on Schmidt for a year, I would like to see that change come real damn quick. The only thing he has shown as an OC is that he can beat up on inferior competition to pad numbers. 

I really feel that Freuchte and Olson being forced to be on his coaching staff is untrue. 
 

I guess it’s speculation both ways and we will never know what actually happened. I just have a really hard time believing that Schmidt didn’t have 100% say. If he met with him and it didn’t feel like a good fit, you really think Chaves said they had to stay? Very unlikely.

 

Schmidt probably knew that the current offensive players really like Freuchte. After meeting with him, he decided to give it a shot for a sake of continuity and thought they could work well together.  

[UND-FB-FAN]

34 minutes ago, iramurphy said:

Romfo had shoulder surgery in the off season.  I’m not sure he got a fair shake last year on this forum. Warranted when he struggled, but there  were a number of folks who were extremely critical and a number who continued criticism through the spring, summer and well into this season. I’d hate to see Jerry get the same treatment.

The mistake last year wasn’t starting Simon, it was not getting meaningful reps for Jerry and, I would argue, how we lost Feeney. That’s done and it’s time to say thanks to Simon and wish him the best and good luck to Feeney who had a great year. 

Looking forward, Jerry has shown great promise and will have months to recover. He, Jack and our RS freshman will have an opportunity to develop and improve over the next 9 months. Our Oline (as long as we have no portal losses should be very good).  We need help at receiver, Keep Farmer, and utilize Deng Deng and our TE’s.  All of that should bode well for Jerry, Jack and other QB’s. 
 

Right now we have to protect our returning roster, improve it with any portal upgrades, and continue to develop our players. The recruiting class is one of the best I have seen in many years. 
 

We took a step forward this year. Defense was markedly improved. Depth is better. We are bigger, stronger and improving our speed. We will see if there will be coaching changes but no reason not to be optimistic about the program moving forward. 
 

Lastly, we as fans also need to step up to do our part to move the program forward. The markets are up, so it’s a good time to contribute an extra whatever we can afford to our NIL initiatives. We can’t make coaching changes, but we can contribute to provide resources to invest in keeping players or hiring coaches. 

Reasonable and logical as always. 
We should all be excited to carry forward the momentum. 2026 has the potential to be a record setting season for UND football in the Division I era. Let’s do it.

[homer]

8 minutes ago, F'n Hawks said:

I really feel that Freuchte and Olson being forced to be on his coaching staff is untrue.  

Of course it’s not true……go back and look who said it. 

[F'n Hawks]

2 minutes ago, homer said:

Of course it’s not true……go back and look who said it. 

True. Probably shouldn’t have even engaged with it 

[Dustin]

Maybe not “forced” but probably a reasonable decision for the sake of continuity and not hanging a guy (or guys) out to dry after 1 season.  I don’t disagree if that was the strategy. I also don’t disagree to do something else if that strategy proved ineffective. Ultimately, Schmidt will now have to own whatever decision he makes in regards to Ike. 

[JacksonW]

1 hour ago, homer said:

Of course it’s not true……go back and look who said it. 

The old axiom- repeat lie often enough it becomes the new truth

[SIOUXFAN97]

6 minutes ago, JacksonW said:

The old axiom- repeat lie often enough it becomes the new truth

who literally broke the bubba newz within minutes?

i know what i'm talking about

[CMSioux]

IMO: if you aren't contributing financially to the football team in some manner you are an empty suit. We are going to lose some in the portal, but I am confident that Coach Schmidt and his staff have a strong pulse on the team. They just took one of the worst defenses in the conference to the top of the hill in one year using a majority of current players and mixing in talent they identified and recruited. Absolutely believe that the OC was given a chance for numerous reasons including continuity and keeping players on until they got to know the new staff. Also believe that Schmidt will make tough decisions on staffing. 

Reality is every year UND is going to face one of the top 10 toughest schedules in the country - every year. Much prefer that over Portland State, Idahos and road trips that are unattainable. I had a lot of fun at USD this year with their fans and now I am rooting for them to go all the way. 

This staff met my expectations and raised the bar. This site contributes nothing to the team's success or to my enjoyment of each season. 

 

[SIOUXFAN97]

1 minute ago, CMSioux said:

IMO: if you aren't contributing financially to the football team in some manner you are an empty suit. We are going to lose some in the portal, but I am confident that Coach Schmidt and his staff have a strong pulse on the team. They just took one of the worst defenses in the conference to the top of the hill in one year using a majority of current players and mixing in talent they identified and recruited. Absolutely believe that the OC was given a chance for numerous reasons including continuity and keeping players on until they got to know the new staff. Also believe that Schmidt will make tough decisions on staffing. 

Reality is every year UND is going to face one of the top 10 toughest schedules in the country - every year. Much prefer that over Portland State, Idahos and road trips that are unattainable. I had a lot of fun at USD this year with their fans and now I am rooting for them to go all the way. 

This staff met my expectations and raised the bar. This site contributes nothing to the team's success or to my enjoyment of each season. 

 

put the vodka down

[Und Princess]

9 minutes ago, CMSioux said:

IMO: if you aren't contributing financially to the football team in some manner you are an empty suit. We are going to lose some in the portal, but I am confident that Coach Schmidt and his staff have a strong pulse on the team. They just took one of the worst defenses in the conference to the top of the hill in one year using a majority of current players and mixing in talent they identified and recruited. Absolutely believe that the OC was given a chance for numerous reasons including continuity and keeping players on until they got to know the new staff. Also believe that Schmidt will make tough decisions on staffing. 

Reality is every year UND is going to face one of the top 10 toughest schedules in the country - every year. Much prefer that over Portland State, Idahos and road trips that are unattainable. I had a lot of fun at USD this year with their fans and now I am rooting for them to go all the way. 

This staff met my expectations and raised the bar. This site contributes nothing to the team's success or to my enjoyment of each season. 

 

I try to help promote the team on From The Stands To The Spotlight!!!! Recruits could read my blogs for all I know. 

[SIOUXFAN97]

is it true ike doesn't use the headset to call plays?

[geaux_sioux]

4 minutes ago, SIOUXFAN97 said:

is it true ike doesn't use the headset to call plays?

It’s true. He uses a can tied to a string 

[SIOUXFAN97]

6 minutes ago, geaux_sioux said:

It’s true. He uses a can tied to a string 

thats weird

[Dustin]

31 minutes ago, CMSioux said:

had a lot of fun at USD this year with their fans and now I am rooting for them to go all the way. 

I was thinking about this. It makes sense, but I also don’t like the fact that that particular outcome would make UND the last/only Dakota school without an FCS title. That doesn’t sit well with me. 

[Und Princess]

Just now, Dustin said:

I was thinking about this. It makes sense, but I also don’t like the fact that that particular outcome would make UND the last/only Dakota school without an FCS title. That doesn’t sit well with me. 

It doesn't sit well with me either @Dustin

Our time will come eventually.  We just gotta trust the coaching staff and players!!!

[Devils]

6 hours ago, Longtime fan said:

Do you really think it was addressed??  If it was talked about …can you tell me what they did to counter what wasn’t working….which was everything 

I noticed they quit using their TEs.  Noticed they quit spreading the ball around.  Noticed the opponents DC caught on to the couple plays Isaac was happy calling.   Noticed Deng wasn’t involved.  Noticed Z or Langama weren’t  given chances. Noticed Jerry couldn’t hit the broad side of a barn.  Noticed they couldn’t burn the game clock when they had a lead.  The football IQ on that side of the ball is not up to par. There are plenty more but those were the most glaring.  Those all =fail.  Every game they stuck with fail over and over again. No change.  Nothing.  So if they discussed it ….they had a funny way of addressing it and changing to counter the incompetence.  

I'd have to think Schmidt recognized the offense was struggling the last 5-6 games, but obviously don't know what he did to address it.  My comment meant that I can't imagine the coaching staff hadn't discussed those struggles.  I will agree with everyone that the offense stunk against the better teams, no arguing that.  Not sure what happened to the TEs, not sure how dynamic that group was and Hromadka only playing 5 games due to injury probably hurt.  It did seem like we struggled to get 3-5 yards rushing when we needed to against the better teams, which didn't help anything.  Jerry definitely struggled to throw accurately and really seems to lock in on his primary read.  

[Siouxperbb32]

49 minutes ago, geaux_sioux said:

It’s true. He uses a can tied to a string 

Doesn't need anything when run qb keeper up the gut on every 3rd or 4th n short or once in awhile throw in a 30-40 yd bomb instead

[JacksonW]

26 minutes ago, Devils said:

I'd have to think Schmidt recognized the offense was struggling the last 5-6 games, but obviously don't know what he did to address it.  My comment meant that I can't imagine the coaching staff hadn't discussed those struggles.  I will agree with everyone that the offense stunk against the better teams, no arguing that.  Not sure what happened to the TEs, not sure how dynamic that group was and Hromadka only playing 5 games due to injury probably hurt.  It did seem like we struggled to get 3-5 yards rushing when we needed to against the better teams, which didn't help anything.  Jerry definitely struggled to throw accurately and really seems to lock in on his primary read.  

Zone defense vs man to man coverage 

[JacksonW]

1 hour ago, SIOUXFAN97 said:

who literally broke the bubba newz within minutes?

i know what i'm talking about

Don’t hold your breath waiting for anyone to agree with this opinion 

[petey23]

5 hours ago, F'n Hawks said:

I really feel that Freuchte and Olson being forced to be on his coaching staff is untrue. 
 

I guess it’s speculation both ways and we will never know what actually happened. I just have a really hard time believing that Schmidt didn’t have 100% say. If he met with him and it didn’t feel like a good fit, you really think Chaves said they had to stay? Very unlikely.

 

Schmidt probably knew that the current offensive players really like Freuchte. After meeting with him, he decided to give it a shot for a sake of continuity and thought they could work well together.  

They did a good job of holding onto our recruits during the transition.

[petey23]

6 hours ago, iramurphy said:

They wouldn’t take the salary cut. 

Hear me out.......Chris Mussman