next season

[UND92,96]

Question--considering the inexperience at quarterback and to a lesser extent on defense, who should UND be looking to play for non-conference games next year? Winona is definitely not on the schedule again, but what about another NSIC team expected to be at or near the top of their conference? I know Mary has an open date for September 1. That game may not be popular in many people's eyes, but obviously Dale Lennon did coach there, and it would probably be a good idea from a "strength of schedule" standpoint. It would also probably give a young quarterback a better chance to succeed and gain confidence than would playing against a I-AA or a traditional dII power. Just a thought.

[iramurphy]

Question--considering the inexperience at quarterback and to a lesser extent on defense, who should UND be looking to play for non-conference games next year? Winona is definitely not on the schedule again, but what about another NSIC team expected to be at or near the top of their conference? I know Mary has an open date for September 1. That game may not be popular in many people's eyes, but obviously Dale Lennon did coach there, and it would probably be a good idea from a "strength of schedule" standpoint. It would also probably give a young quarterback a better chance to succeed and gain confidence than would playing against a I-AA or a traditional dII power. Just a thought.

I would play U of Mary if we can't get anyone else for that reason. I would also use the game to get other kids playing time. If it is a matter of a bye week vs playing them I would play them. We also need to develop depth on defense and will need to get kids experience.

[RD17]

The problem with playing U-Mary is that they don't "count" towards the strength of schedule for making the playoffs since they are still transitioning to D-II. If UND plays another I-AA team (and they'd be foolish not to), playing U-Mary would make it two non D-II games on the schedule which would really hurt the playoff chances.

It's been well documented that Jeff Tesch over at Bemidji State doesn't want to schedule teams like UND. But if they can somehow be convinced to play this year, BSU is the perfect opponent from a strength of schedule standpoint. They should have a good team and being in a weaker conference will insure that their record is good. I say UND should take a guarantee from a I-AA school to play a game on the road and then turn around and use that money to entice BSU to come to the Alerus Center this year.

[UND92,96]

The problem with playing U-Mary is that they don't "count" towards the strength of schedule for making the playoffs since they are still transitioning to D-II. If UND plays another I-AA team (and they'd be foolish not to), playing U-Mary would make it two non D-II games on the schedule which would really hurt the playoff chances.

It's been well documented that Jeff Tesch over at Bemidji State doesn't want to schedule teams like UND. But if they can somehow be convinced to play this year, BSU is the perfect opponent from a strength of schedule standpoint. They should have a good team and being in a weaker conference will insure that their record is good. I say UND should take a guarantee from a I-AA school to play a game on the road and then turn around and use that money to entice BSU to come to the Alerus Center this year.

Thanks--I was thinking this was Mary's only season as a provisional dII member. As for BSU, maybe the fact that they didn't lose badly to Pitt State last week will convince Tesch that he doesn't need to be afraid to schedule a strong, fully-funded program like UND. Given the proximity of the schools, the connection between Tesch and Lennon, the fact that BSU will likely be the pre-season NSIC favorite, and the fact that the two schools play in every other sport, it seems like a no-brainer that these teams should play.

[UND92,96]

The Herald has a couple of articles today on the football season, and on the prospects for next season. Listed as newcomers to watch were Jake Landry, Kenley Wahlin, Nate Rambeck and Creighton Schroyer on offense, and Joel Schwenzfeier, Paul German, Ryan Kasowski, Ty Boyle and Dylan Glaser on defense.

[Important_Doggie]

The Herald has a couple of articles today on the football season, and on the prospects for next season. Listed as newcomers to watch were Jake Landry, Kenley Wahlin, Nate Rambeck and Creighton Schroyer on offense, and Joel Schwenzfeier, Paul German, Ryan Kasowski, Ty Boyle and Dylan Glaser on defense.

Dylan Glaser is an O-lineman. I have no idea what the Herald is talking about putting him on the defense.

[mksioux]

The problem with playing U-Mary is that they don't "count" towards the strength of schedule for making the playoffs since they are still transitioning to D-II. If UND plays another I-AA team (and they'd be foolish not to), playing U-Mary would make it two non D-II games on the schedule which would really hurt the playoff chances.

It's been well documented that Jeff Tesch over at Bemidji State doesn't want to schedule teams like UND. But if they can somehow be convinced to play this year, BSU is the perfect opponent from a strength of schedule standpoint. They should have a good team and being in a weaker conference will insure that their record is good. I say UND should take a guarantee from a I-AA school to play a game on the road and then turn around and use that money to entice BSU to come to the Alerus Center this year.

Count me as one of those who say neither Bemidji nor Mary would be a popular choice. The mere mention of UND playing Mary made me throw up in my mouth a little bit. I understand the playoff implication reasoning behind playing Bemidji, but is that really how we want to drum up interest in UND football at a time when interest in the program is going to be essential?

If UND were staying in DII indefinitely, then I suppose it would be okay to schedule teams just for the sake of making the playoffs. But let's look to the future and concentrate on building our program for DI-AA, not simply making the DII playoffs one last time.

For non-conference games, I'd like to see UND schedule a DI-AA opponent and maybe a top-tier MIAA or GLIAC team. If UND is not good enough to make the playoffs with that schedule, then so be it. It would probably mean they weren't good enough to make a serious run at the title anyway.

[UND92,96]

Count me as one of those who say neither Bemidji nor Mary would be a popular choice. The mere mention of UND playing Mary made me throw up in my mouth a little bit. I understand the playoff implication reasoning behind playing Bemidji, but is that really how we want to drum up interest in UND football at a time when interest in the program is going to be essential?

If UND were staying in DII indefinitely, then I suppose it would be okay to schedule teams just for the sake of making the playoffs. But let's look to the future and concentrate on building our program for DI-AA, not simply making the DII playoffs one last time.

For non-conference games, I'd like to see UND schedule a DI-AA opponent and maybe a top-tier MIAA or GLIAC team. If UND is not good enough to make the playoffs with that schedule, then so be it. It would probably mean they weren't good enough to make a serious run at the title anyway.

UND probably has a guaranteed eight tough games right off the bat. SCSU was supposedly the worst NCC team this year, and we all know how close we came to losing that one. Assuming another game against a I-AA team, that's nine tough games. That leaves two more to be scheduled, since the Herald article yesterday indicated UND would like to get back to an 11-game schedule. To me, one of those two games has to be against a "lesser" opponent, to prevent a potentially suicidal schedule. Sure, we could theoretically get a game against a GLIAC or MIAA team, but it's very tough to get games against the GLIAC because they only have one open week from their conference schedule. As for the MIAA, other than NW Mo. State, it's questionable how good those teams are these days, given how Pitt State did against BSU, and the fact that Winona State actually beat two MIAA teams this year.

[mksioux]

UND probably has a guaranteed eight tough games right off the bat. SCSU was supposedly the worst NCC team this year, and we all know how close we came to losing that one. Assuming another game against a I-AA team, that's nine tough games. That leaves two more to be scheduled, since the Herald article yesterday indicated UND would like to get back to an 11-game schedule. To me, one of those two games has to be against a "lesser" opponent, to prevent a potentially suicidal schedule. Sure, we could theoretically get a game against a GLIAC or MIAA team, but it's very tough to get games against the GLIAC because they only have one open week from their conference schedule. As for the MIAA, other than NW Mo. State, it's questionable how good those teams are these days, given how Pitt State did against BSU, and the fact that Winona State actually beat two MIAA teams this year.

I didn't know UND was going back to an 11-game schedule.

Take my pro-DI biased opinion for what it's worth. I'm looking forward, not backward, and I have no interest in seeing UND play Mary, Bemidji, or anyone in the NSIC for that matter. Would it be possible to play two DI-AA games? If we have to have an "easy" game, I'd rather see a non or low scholly DI team with some name recognition to get people excited for the move up.

[bincitysioux]

I am also very pro-DI biased, but I would love for our football program to exit DII with a national championship trophy in tow. I would like to see a repeat of last year's schedule with the 11th game added. 8 conference games, 1 DI game (hello, Montana St.), 1 home patsy (while I wouldn't look forward to playing them, Bemidji or Tiffin would be good for strength of schedule), and then 1 out-of-conference clash with someone like Pitt St. or NW Missouri. Unfortuantely, since it will be our last year of DII, any out-of-conference home game is probably gonna be against a crappy team that we had to over-pay to get here, because there will be no promise of a return game by UND for them.

[UND92,96]

I didn't know UND was going back to an 11-game schedule.

Take my pro-DI biased opinion for what it's worth. I'm looking forward, not backward, and I have no interest in seeing UND play Mary, Bemidji, or anyone in the NSIC for that matter. Would it be possible to play two DI-AA games? If we have to have an "easy" game, I'd rather see a non or low scholly DI team with some name recognition to get people excited for the move up.

I wouldn't be surprised to see a non-scholarship I-AA team on the schedule in 2008, but I'm in no hurry to see it. The reason? They're generally terrible. Examples:

2004--NDSU 52, Valpo 0

2005--SDSU 69, Valpo 6

2006--UNI 49, Drake 7 (and Drake was 8-2 this year!)

San Diego is apparently pretty good (only lost by 10 to UC-Davis), but as far as I know the rest of the non-scholarship teams are worse than the top NSIC teams.

[mksioux]

I wouldn't be surprised to see a non-scholarship I-AA team on the schedule in 2008, but I'm in no hurry to see it. The reason? They're generally terrible. Examples:

2004--NDSU 52, Valpo 0

2005--SDSU 69, Valpo 6

2006--UNI 49, Drake 7 (and Drake was 8-2 this year!)

San Diego is apparently pretty good, but as far as I know the rest of the non-scholarship teams are worse than the top NSIC teams.

I'd much rather see San Diego on the schedule than Bemidji, especially with the San Diego/Great West rumors.

[UND92,96]

I'd much rather see San Diego on the schedule than Bemidji, especially with the San Diego/Great West rumors.

I wouldn't mind seeing them in 2008, but I would have a problem travelling to play a non-scholarship team next year. I'm not aware of I-AA teams (even non-scholarship ones) playing dII teams on the road. If UND is going to play three non-conference games next year, and presumably one will be against a scholarship I-AA team on the road, I think the other two need to be at home.

[dlsiouxfan]

It also could be a wise move to start building some scheduling relationships with a few of the other schools or are currently transitioning. A home and home with North Carolina Central (SE REgion DII #1 seed who will also be DI on the same timeline as us) or possibly Central Arkansas would both be intriguing matchups.

[UND92,96]

Two prominent dII programs that have early-season open dates for next year (per d2football.com) are North Alabama and Catawba.

[mksioux]

I'm not aware of I-AA teams (even non-scholarship ones) playing dII teams on the road.

Didn't NDSU have a home game scheduled with Maine in 2001, which was cancelled because of 9/11? How did they snag that game?

Rather than concetrating on building an ideal schedule for making the DII playoffs again, I'd like to see UND use the 2007 non-conference schedule to help make the 2008 schedule a little easier (in addition to building public interest in DI). Everyone says Year 2 (if you count the exporatory year as Year 1) is the most difficult for scheduling. Off the top of my head, would it be possible to schedule a home-and-home series (road in 2007, home in 2008) with a I-AA school that UND has a relationship with, such as Maine? I think a home game with a school like Maine in 2008 would be something the public could get excited for. It wouldn't have to be Maine, but something along those lines... Just a thought.

[UND92,96]

Didn't NDSU have a home game scheduled with Maine in 2001, which was cancelled because of 9/11? How did they snag that game?

Rather than concetrating on building an ideal schedule for making the DII playoffs again, I'd like to see UND use the 2007 non-conference schedule to help make the 2008 schedule a little easier (in addition to building public interest in DI). Everyone says Year 2 (if you count the exporatory year as Year 1) is the most difficult for scheduling. Off the top of my head, would it be possible to schedule a home-and-home series (road in 2007, home in 2008) with a I-AA school that UND has a relationship with, such as Maine? I think a home game with a school like Maine in 2008 would be something the public could get excited for. It wouldn't have to be Maine, but something along those lines... Just a thought.

That is true about Maine agreeing to play at NDSU in 2001, although I believe that was a combination of NDSU throwing a very large guarantee at them, and Maine being somewhat desperate for money. While it would certainly be theoretically possible for UND to do something similar, the fact that the Maine-NDSU scheduled game is the ONLY one anybody seems to be able to recall where a I-AA scholarship program agreed to play AT a dII school leads me to believe that it's rather unlikely.

[mksioux]

That is true about Maine agreeing to play at NDSU in 2001, although I believe that was a combination of NDSU throwing a very large guarantee at them, and Maine being somewhat desperate for money. While it would certainly be theoretically possible for UND to do something similar, the fact that the Maine-NDSU scheduled game is the ONLY one anybody seems to be able to recall where a I-AA scholarship program agreed to play AT a dII school leads me to believe that it's rather unlikely.

I'm not necessarily saying the home game must come in 2007, although that would be nice if it could be pulled off. I guess I'm just saying I'd rather see a schedule that looks forward to DI rather than the status quo of scheduling a school like Bemidji just to make it easier to make the DII playoffs one more time. If UND needs an ideal schedule just to make the DII playoffs, they probably won't go all the way anyway. And in my view, making the DII playoffs and losing in the second round, just doesn't excite me as much as planning for the future.

[UND92,96]

I'm not necessarily saying the home game must come in 2007, although that would be nice if it could be pulled off. I guess I'm just saying I'd rather see a schedule that looks forward to DI rather than the status quo of scheduling a school like Bemidji just to make it easier to make the DII playoffs one more time. If UND needs an ideal schedule just to make the DII playoffs, they probably won't go all the way anyway. And in my view, making the DII playoffs and losing in the second round, just doesn't excite me as much as planning for the future.

I'm frankly not sure we're going to have enough on the defensive side of the ball to make a playoff run next year anyway, but assuming players are added who can contribute immediately, I think most UND football fans would like to see a good schedule, but one that gives UND a reasonable chance to make the playoffs and get a decent seed. We have a long enough period of playoff ineligibility coming up without making it one year longer by default. It's not like the schedules of recent years have been full of non-conference games against teams known or expected to be sub-par. For example, when the Winona State contract was entered into, we were coming off a last-second home victory over them in the playoffs. IMO, UND playing a team that isn't a "name", but which is expected to be regionally ranked (e.g. Bemidji or Humboldt State), is no worse than a BCS conference team playing a I-AA or a non-BCS conference team, e.g. Michigan vs. Ball State and Central Michigan, Ohio State vs. Northern Illinois and Bowling Green, etc.