Quarterback

[coachdags]

Frankly, I think we'd still be talking about how five turnovers in one game is pretty bad. I don't think anybody thinks that the ship is sinking, but clearly that was a crushing loss in terms of the way it happened and the ramifications of likely now having to win on the road at least once and perhaps twice in order to get to Florence. Losing is something that happens to nearly every team at some point during a season, but you kind of hate to just give the game away, which is essentially what happened last week.

I disagree...losing creates finger pointing and that is all you guys do...... Thank God that Coach Lennon ,his staff, and players,do not handle it that way.

I really take exemption to naming individual players or coaches as responsible,for a TEAM sport....We win again this week and you guys can all go back to worrying about the price of fuel oil this winter?

[UND92,96]

I disagree...losing creates finger pointing and that is all you guys do...... Thank God that Coach Lennon ,his staff, and players,do not handle it that way.

I really take exemption to naming individual players or coaches as responsible,for a TEAM sport....We win again this week and you guys can all go back to worrying about the price of fuel oil this winter?

I'm not going to argue with you, coachdags. I realize you feel that nobody should ever be critical of any UND athlete or coach. That's your right, and that's fine. But you also realize full well that most people don't share that sentiment. If nobody was ever allowed to post anything but positive comments about everyone and everything, this board would probably cease to exist because it would be incredibly boring.

[Cratter]

What I hate is people talking about all the interceptions Belmore threw/s. But when you look at the plays some of them were not his fault....he hits his man in strike, but the opposing player takes it away.

And fumbles.....the bad exchanges aren't necessarily his fault, but yet go against his fumbles count.

[coachdags]

I have alot of respect for u 92,96...You are one of the few that do your homework and know your facts, alot of time I am learning from you.. However,I do feel that indivdual criticizum of student athletes is crossing the line, we buy tickets support the school,watch the games to be entertained...they do not let me down...Now if we were talking Pro Sports, Pro Atlhletes, and Millions of dollars, that should be criticized.

[UND92,96]

I have alot of respect for u 92,96...You are one of the few that do your homework and know your facts, alot of time I am learning from you.. However,I do feel that indivdual critisizum of student athletes is crossing the line, we buy tickets support the school,watch the games to be entertained...they do not let me down...Now if we were talking Pro Sports, Pro Atlhletes, and Millions of dollars, that should be critisized

I mostly agree with you. I mean no disrespect to Belmore or any other Sioux player or coach. At no point have I or would I say that Belmore stinks or that Belmore doesn't give 100%. Where I'm coming from is more from the standpoint of I've always been a Manke guy since I saw him win a state title for Detroit Lakes, and I'd like to see him get a shot to play. I don't mean any offense to you, to Belmore, or certainly not to Lennon or Mussman. I was very disappointed in the outcome last Saturday, just as all Sioux fans were, but I also understand that everybody makes mistakes.

[coachdags]

Ive only seen us coach with our "heart" instead of our head and that was in last years uno game at omaha, even then we had chances to win the game at the end. I try to make it out to practice at least once a week,have a beer,play golf,and socialize with a few on the UND coachings staffs,in all sports..I really believe they all have a better handle on their situations, who to play,who to recruit, what to run, then we do...when they start telling me what to charge for beer..then the gloves come off...."Go Sioux"

ps . but your right that is what sports are about...second guessing...no matter how unfair?

[iramurphy]

I have alot of respect for u 92,96...You are one of the few that do your homework and know your facts, alot of time I am learning from you.. However,I do feel that indivdual criticizum of student athletes is crossing the line, we buy tickets support the school,watch the games to be entertained...they do not let me down...Now if we were talking Pro Sports, Pro Atlhletes, and Millions of dollars, that should be criticized.

Read the posts closer. Most of them are not unjustly critical of anyone. If you think just because UND's coaching staff is a great staff that they never make a mistake, I would respectfully disagree. I think what baffles a lot of people is that there is a guy on the team that many players, former players and even some former coaches think is a better QB. Manke has better numbers and has always performed well. Many people close to the program can't understand why he doesn't get a chance. Belmore had performed well until the last two games. Manke is that good that we should have had him in there when Chris struggled. These are legitimate questions at any level. This website is a vehicle for that discussion without having to meet at your place over a beer in order to have the type of discussion that goes on here. Without the fans and their interest we wouldn't have this discussion. I think there is very little inappropriate criticism of the coaching staff and Belmore. Some of the criticism has also been supportive of Belmore at the same time calling for Manke. I said the same thing this week I said at the start of the season. Both QB's need quality playing time. Manke didn't get it despite the fact that we were 9-0 going into the UNO game. Because of that we are in a pickle now and the staff doesn't seem to have the confidence to put Manke in in a situation where Chris is struggling. I think it is as simple as that and not disloyal to the program, the kids, or the staff.

There are a lot of defensive players who want to go to UND because they know they will play. UND will start losing QB's if they are never going to get in the game unless they are the starter. I don't mean mop up duty when we are up by 40 points either.

[BigGame]

I disagree...losing creates finger pointing and that is all you guys do...... Thank God that Coach Lennon ,his staff, and players,do not handle it that way.

I really take exemption to naming individual players or coaches as responsible,for a TEAM sport....We win again this week and you guys can all go back to worrying about the price of fuel oil this winter?

That is where you are wrong, football is the ultimate team sport and requires everyone to do thier job in order to be successful. If someone screws up, believe me the coaches let them know about it and then move on trying to correct the problem. Why do you think they have individual assignment grades each game for the players? The team lost as a result of individual screw ups by several people, but some mistakes certainly caused more damage than others. If the big turnovers in the 4th quarter don't happen, UND wins the game. Maybe in ugly fashion, but the result would have been different.

[BigGame]

What I hate is people talking about all the interceptions Belmore threw/s. But when you look at the plays some of them were not his fault....he hits his man in strike, but the opposing player takes it away.

And fumbles.....the bad exchanges aren't necessarily his fault, but yet go against his fumbles count.

Once again the fumbled exchanged happen to often to put all the blame on the other guy as well. The INT's are typically on the QB responsibility, except in the instance when a WR has the ball essentially caught and then taken away by a DB. I hope Belmore does well and gets back into early season form, but if he struggles I would like to see the coaches make a move and give Manke an opportunity. It is a tough call, because you don't really know how a team will respond to replacing a starting QB, a lot of good or bad could come from it. I do think it's a little footish to pretend Belmore is playing fine and he doesn't have some responsibility in the mistakes he has made over the past couple of game. It doesn't really do any good to bury your head in the sand and pretend everything is OK. If the coaching staff did that, the mistakes wouldn't get corrected and UND would be in a lot of trouble this week.

I don't think anyone here wants Belmore to fail or do poorly, people here just want to see UND succeed. People are just voicing opinions about what they UND could or should do with the little knowledge we actually have about whats going on. We can see the games and highlights, but I don't think anyone here can claim that attend every practice and sit in on the meetings.

[Siouxman]

The thing that struck me the most in last Saturday's game was that the Sioux could not run the ball. And that came down to execution from a team perspective. The offense thus became very one-dimensional and bogged down. I couldn't tell if it was the 3-4 defense of UNO that was giving problems or that the blocking just was not lining up the blocks. Without a running game, that put pressure on every other phase of the game. Without being able to gain more than 2.5 yards a carry, the passing game became obvious and made it easier for UNO to focus on a few passing routes. The bubble screen, even though passes were completed, was shut down and there were literally no YAC. Yes there were turnovers. But the fact is that in the second half the offense was not able to move the ball effectively to keep the Sioux defense off the field for a rest. I haven't seen the time of possession for the second half, but I believe that it was strongly in favor of UNO.

Running the football is essential at this level, and is a team effort. It just did not happen against UNO.

[BigGame]

ps . but your right that is what sports are about...second guessing...no matter how unfair?

A lot of times coaches second guess themselves (like all people), they just aren't going to say it in public.

[teamsioux]

On Wednesday nights coaches show, Lennon stated he had pulled both qb's in to his office and told them he would not rotate qb's next year and he expected one of them to step up to take over the staters job. He stated that Manke would be the #1 going into spring ball though. He also thought that if UND/GVSU played 10 times this year, they would split. He was quite disappointed that the weather prevented UND's special teams from being a factor. As far as recruiting, once again a little of everything, especially secondary help being last years was small in that area.

[bincitysioux]

On Wednesday nights coaches show, Lennon stated he had pulled both qb's in to his office and told them he would not rotate qb's next year and he expected one of them to step up to take over the staters job. He stated that Manke would be the #1 going into spring ball though. He also thought that if UND/GVSU played 10 times this year, they would split. He was quite disappointed that the weather prevented UND's special teams from being a factor. As far as recruiting, once again a little of everything, especially secondary help being last years was small in that area.

Amen