UND @ SDSU Jackrabbits*

[JBB]

UND heads to Brookings with one of the worst football teams in memory for any Dakota school. I think they are leaving in the morning but with the weather they may start out tonight and stay in Hankenson.

In a season of pure futility the nameless UND football team has lost all GWC games. They have lost all games to the peer institutions in the Big Sky, lost to Idaho 45-0. The highlight, besides the win over Lamar, was the moral victory at University of Northern Illinois.

This ever growing collection of moral victories is getting to be such an embarrassment for them some UND fans have taken to declaring if a game was a moral victory or not. Thats always the mark of a strong and healthy program. That, and of course, they are now a peer institution, which is good, because it is just enough so they are now looking down their noses at former NCC member SDSU, calling them a Big Sky Reject:

bincitysioux:
So this weekend we play our first game against one of the Big Sky rejects and future star of the upcoming mini-series, "From the Ashes--The Return of the NCC". Director/Producer/Writer Tom Douple hopes to secure St. Cloud St. and UN-Omaha for an upcoming sequel

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This is the same guy that badgers folks on Bison Media Blog with the refrain: Back....Back....Back to the NCC but doesnt seem to realize that UND is now travel partners with University of Northern Colorado a peer institution in the BSC and an old NCC rival. bincitys IQ will be the over/under for tomorrows game: 47

The Jacks on the other hand are a team that is not counting moral victories and insulting the entire community of Colleges and Universities in the region with their open disdain. SDSU is a very good football team ending a very disappointing season. It started out on the wrong foot, they righted themselves and played some good ball in the middle but are finishing weak.

The futility of UND football is revealed in the statistics. They are simply not very good and have both the record and statistics to prove it. They have played a weak schedule and have earned a 3-7 record. Its not as impressive at it looks. I dont see any way they can stand up to the lineup SDSU will put on the field. Its a talented group of players. They looked good in Fargo and were certainly better than USD with or without Minett. The hope that SDSU has a poor passing game is red herring because they have been running Minett, one of the best backs in the country.

With the weather expecting to be tough it could favor the underdog, but the underdog is such a terrible team, from the head coach on down, that I see no way the 3 year spiral into obscurity can be stopped even against a hurt SDSU team.

I pick the Jacks in a game that will look like every other one-side affair that never really opens up, say 27-19.

[Theee Catrabbit]

Well...the Sioux have every chance to beat us tomorrow. If there is a stud player on the team he is out. Minett..out. Kjerstad...out. Fisher...out. Basham...out.
Only Cole Brodie and Derek Domino remain. Tyler Duffy will have something to prove as a senior in his last game, in front of his own hometown crowd. Dom Clare will need to make a case for him to shoulder the load next year. Kool will need to show why he is the most devastating player we have when he gets the ball.

O'Brien? O'Brien needs to step up and play and show he has learned a few things in the past 10 games. If he doesn't? It could be a long day for my beloved Jackrabbits and an even longer off season.

[Hambone]

Thank you for your continued interest in Fighting Sioux athletics, JBB

As for the game, even with Minett out I'm not sure the Sioux can win. They need to be able to score to win, and after being at the game in Montana last weekend, I'm not sure our QB's can take the offense on any sustained drives if they aren't able to hit any receivers. One thing they haven't done a lot of, that could get the QBs going, are screen passes to the RBs or bubble screens to the WRs. Of course, if they can establish the run and not go away from it, they could be able to do some things. I was impressed with how our RBs ran hard and did some good things last weekend, so maybe, just maybe, they will be able to shoulder the load and get us some points. Our defense has played very inconsistent this season, but I saw some bright spots against Montana. They got consistent pressure and had multiple tackles for loss during the game. They did a good job of swarming to the ball, and had some nice hits out there. However, there were some lapses in coverage, leading to some big passing plays, which has been a problem all season. If O'Brien can get going it could be a long day for the Sioux, but if he's off it could be a fun game of smash mouth football.

The one thing I'll agree with JBB on is that they are not a very good football team right now, but not the worst Dakota team in memory (good try though, JBB). I heard from countless Montana fans last weekend how they were very impressed with our young players, and that they think that we should be a very good team in the next couple years. After watching the game last week, I agree with this assessment. A couple really poor recruiting classes in a row (sound familiar Bison fans?) but a couple good ones since have made the future seem brighter to me. Hopefully even with the poor record we can have another good recruiting class.

[JBB]

Ive been watching UND football since before they quit.

Tyler Kool is a very good Wide out. He had over 130 yds and 1 TD against the BISON.

O'Brien had a bad day in Fargo because the NDSU pass rush was overwhelming. Even with that Kool was a huge factor. In a game where Kool has miss-matches and O'Brien is well protected a lot of damage will probably be done.

Montana is not playing great football. I dont know if they can crank it up. I would be surprised if they beat MSU today. SDSU is probably the same type of team as the Grizz. Certainly they are better than USD or SUU. They have a lot of speed and strong, hard hitting players. I think they are playing ball at a different level than UND.

UND is doing some good things. They have a little more team speed than in the past but the schedule is not as weak so its harder to hide. They have little going on at QB. They have the worst overall offense and defense in the GWC conference games only. When looking at all games the UND statistics are greatly improved which attests to the weak OOC schedule.

SDSU just looks too good, has the weapons to attack the weaknesses of the UND defense. I think the Jacks defense has all it needs to stop the anemic offense that UND will bring. I dont see much drama in this one. A routine Jacks win is what the cards tell me.

[JBB]

At least I got one call right today. Jacks had a great day. Kool had over 100 yds. Jacks rolled for almost 300 while holding the UND offense to under 100 yds total. I didnt see the great recruiting classes from the past 2 years step up and I didnt see much of a game plan. Did the team stay in Hankenson last night? It looked like you guys got a late start this morning.

Great effort by SDSU and a great way for the Jacks to end the season. Its a shame Minett was hurt but thats all part of the game. Ending it on a winning note is something I can only hope to understand.