UND game thread

[MarkL]

2 MAC East losses to FCS yesterday.
MU lost to Eastern Illinois. Not too embarrassing there. The Babers effect is probably still felt at EIU.
Kent State lost to NC A&T in four OT. That is embarrassing. Barring a turnaround, Haynes is on the hot seat. He has built a good MAC defense but has yet to find any offense. As a team Kent passed for 192 and rushed for 93 ... against an FCS albeit a team that went 10-2 last year ... with the additional 4 OT. They only scored 17 in regulation. That is embarrassing.

[apollo]

Maction.....not a great day for the conference.
Other than CMU earning a huge upset because of a Hail Mary and refereeing mistake, it was pretty embarrassing to see the final scores from around the conference.

Early returns are looking like WMU, UT and Central are only ones with a legit chance. NIU appears to be down this year and the entire MAC East stinks and this year that includes us.

[bgsufalcon24]

I think the MAC East is totally up for grabs. Aside from maybe Akron, it looks like every team has gotten worse from last year to now. 3 teams have already lost to lower division teams, we were very nearly the 4th. Of the others, Ohio lost a brutal game to Texas State week 1 that they had virtually in the bag, and Akron got trucked by 44 by Wisconsin yesterday.

Maybe I'm being naive, but I say we're the incumbent, and until somebody knocks us off we're still in it to win it...in spite of how poorly we played yesterday.

The West on the other hand, WMU, CMU, and Toledo are all looking very good, and BSU looks like they've improved. Luckily for us it looks like NIU has regressed big time. There will very probably be some new blood in Detroit this year, if not in the east then certainly in the west

Sidebar - to anyone bellyaching about attendance...we were playing a lower division team on a day where the weather didn't cooperate, which meant that nobody outside NW Ohio was coming, and it was also the day of the Black Swamp Festival, which meant a lot of townsfolk weren't coming either. It was a perfect storm.

Although honestly, we're surely going to struggle with attendance this year. MTSU was our best chance for a big crowd and we blew it by starting the game at noon. WTF?! The other opponents we have are teams that won't draw flies except maybe Miami.

[Schadenfreude]

I was really hoping we would have kicked the XP at the end and let our defense do their thing, but I can't blame the coaches for trying to get the win either. Their play call actually worked, receiver just didn't come down with it.

The Blade is reporting today that the ball was tipped by Alfonso Mack.

Regardless, that was the right call. North Dakota was the underdog. In that situation, it is usually best to go for the win, just like Bowling Green did at the Metrodome a few years back.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qjYQOluaPDU" target="_blank

Your team sure scared the hell out of us. You seem to have a solid defense. That bodes well for the rest of your season. Good luck the rest of the way. Hope North Dakota make the playoffs.

[Schadenfreude]

Maction.....not a great day for the conference.
Other than CMU earning a huge upset because of a Hail Mary and refereeing mistake, it was pretty embarrassing to see the final scores from around the conference.

Early returns are looking like WMU, UT and Central are only ones with a legit chance. NIU appears to be down this year and the entire MAC East stinks and this year that includes us.

Ohio manhandled Kansas. That Oct. 8 game suddenly looks a lot more interesting.

[MacGuy]

Maction.....not a great day for the conference.
Other than CMU earning a huge upset because of a Hail Mary and refereeing mistake, it was pretty embarrassing to see the final scores from around the conference.

Early returns are looking like WMU, UT and Central are only ones with a legit chance. NIU appears to be down this year and the entire MAC East stinks and this year that includes us.

Ohio manhandled Kansas. That Oct. 8 game suddenly looks a lot more interesting.

Kansas is just awful. Sagarin has them rated behind Harvard.

[MarkL]

Mack did in fact tip it. After listening to his press conference I went back and saw that he got a finger on it. He wobbled the spiral. The ball still got to the receiver but it was made harder to catch by the wobble.

Quite simply, Mack made the game winning play. Never should have gotten to a last second defensive stand but that's how it went.

[kdog27]

Yep Kansas football is about on the EMU level. Other than that being a power 5 win it means squat.

[transfer2BGSU]

What I really don't understand is how BG and other MAC schools can continue to get away with fake attendance numbers. I'd like to see the NCAA pick an attendance number and enforce it for FBS membership. Actual tickets sold...no buying your own tickets, or free giveaways. Make it 8,000 or 10,000 and enforce it. The schools that can sell the tickets stay FBS.

To watch MAC schools consistently lie about attendance in order to stay above 15,000 is beyond comical. Probably 4,000-5,000 people in the stadium today and we announce 15,000 and change. It's a joke.

It would make some departments/conferences be more realistic about football in general.

Why do attendance numbers mean anything to the NCAA?

If a school wants to be an FBS program, that is their responsibility to fund the program. If Bob Sebo wanted to purchase all of the tickets in DPS and then only he and his wife could watch the games, what would it matter to the NCAA that we had only two people at a game? Why does attendance matter to the NCAA?

I understand why we as fans might be concerned about attendance, but that 15K number the NCAA has established is a complete joke.

[Flipper]

Once you accept that the entire concept of "Division 1" football extending beyond 10 or so teams is a joke...things become much easier to understand

[jpfalcon09]

Attended the game and after a busy weekend can finally post a few thoughts about what I observed:

Crowd sucked but that's been addressed already. The pre-game and in-game events are still a disaster. Music blaring too loud, the woman with the mic screaming, things either mistimed or taking too long to get through. You'd think at this point the department could hire some sort of events management person to better organize gameday. We may have one of the worst experience in FBS.

The team is struggling to find an identity. Obviously with the losses to the roster and a new staff this was expected, but it's noticeable in person. The lack of engagement by the coaches on the sidelines doesn't help matters much. I know we're only two games in but I'd like to see Jinks and Co. be a little more involved with the team.

If Ronnie Moore is taken away every week the offense is going to struggle. Miller had a nice game and scored twice on the same play, but he largely just ran past an inferior athlete on both plays. The OL was disappointing as well, it would've been encouraging to see some bigger holes opened for Coppet and Cleveland.

Lastly, the defense I thought played admirably but got worn down late in the game. Kudos to UND for sticking with the run and pushing the BG front four off the line of scrimmage several times. We're going to have trouble again Ohio and Toledo if up front we can't do more.

[apollo]

What I really don't understand is how BG and other MAC schools can continue to get away with fake attendance numbers. I'd like to see the NCAA pick an attendance number and enforce it for FBS membership. Actual tickets sold...no buying your own tickets, or free giveaways. Make it 8,000 or 10,000 and enforce it. The schools that can sell the tickets stay FBS.

To watch MAC schools consistently lie about attendance in order to stay above 15,000 is beyond comical. Probably 4,000-5,000 people in the stadium today and we announce 15,000 and change. It's a joke.

It would make some departments/conferences be more realistic about football in general.

Why do attendance numbers mean anything to the NCAA?

If a school wants to be an FBS program, that is their responsibility to fund the program. If Bob Sebo wanted to purchase all of the tickets in DPS and then only he and his wife could watch the games, what would it matter to the NCAA that we had only two people at a game? Why does attendance matter to the NCAA?

I understand why we as fans might be concerned about attendance, but that 15K number the NCAA has established is a complete joke.

I completely get what you're saying...my point is that BG didn't sell 15,000+ tickets to that game. So they shouldn't be allowed to announce that number. I'd just love a year where they announced actual butts in the seats or real tickets sold. I think when the MAC would be quite embarrassed announcing crowds in the 2000-5000 range and some games in the hundreds. There should be some level of honesty about the lack of money being brought in by MAC football.

[Falconfreak90]

We have a lot of work to do but I'm not hitting the panic button yet. I have lowered my expectations for the rest of the season, however. We have a lot of holes with a new staff and a tough road schedule. I think we can be a good team but it's gonna take time. I was quite disappointed in the OL play. The running game was non existent and that won't work against the MAC. As much as I want to see Kman succeed, it may be time to start Morgan. The WR's still need a lot of work and our DL does not get enough pressure...although it was great to see Gus S back causing havoc.

If someone offered me 7-5, 5-3 MAC on the spot, I would take it in a heart beat.

Next two weeks we need to answer a lot of questions...GO FALCONS.

[jpfalcon09]

We have a lot of work to do but I'm not hitting the panic button yet. I have lowered my expectations for the rest of the season, however. We have a lot of holes with a new staff and a tough road schedule. I think we can be a good team but it's gonna take time. I was quite disappointed in the OL play. The running game was non existent and that won't work against the MAC. As much as I want to see Kman succeed, it may be time to start Morgan. The WR's still need a lot of work and our DL does not get enough pressure...although it was great to see Gus S back causing havoc.

If someone offered me 7-5, 5-3 MAC on the spot, I would take it in a heart beat.

Next two weeks we need to answer a lot of questions...GO FALCONS.

Jinks reaffirmed today that Knapke is the starting QB. I do believe however if this season goes south, Morgan will get starting reps later into October and November.