GRAND FORKS -- University of North Dakota football coach Chris Mussman said the rotation at quarterback will come to an end this week against Idaho State.
Mussman said Tuesday he plans to name a starter later in the week and give either Joe Mollberg or Ryan Bartels the full game against the Bengals on Saturday in Pocatello, Idaho.
"At a certain point, we have to make a decision," Mussman said. "We can't keep going back and forth. That's not fair to the kids or the rest of the team."
For the fourth-straight game, Bartels and Mollberg shared time at quarterback against Montana State. Mollberg received his second-straight start and was 2 of 8 passing for 23 yards and a touchdown with one interception. Bartels was 6 of 13 passing with one interception and 62 yards. Bartels was also sacked four times and Mollberg none.
"One of those guys will get the bulk of the reps in preparation," Mussman said. "That's the right thing to do at this point in time. Four games in, we've seen enough of both of those guys that we should be able to make that evaluation and make that decision final."
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On the season, Mollberg is 46 of 73 passing (59 percent) for 614 yards, four touchdowns and three interceptions. Bartels is 23 of 36 (59 percent) for 390 yards, two touchdowns and one interception.
With turnovers being the problem for the young quarterbacks, something has to give against Idaho State. The Bengals and UND are the only two teams left in the league without an interception.
UND passed for just 85 yards against the Bobcats and average 272 passing yards per game. North Dakota is coming off a 2012 campaign in which it set a number of school passing records, including 3,268 total passing yards that broke the previous mark from 2003 by more than 500 yards.
"We've got potential and this big-play ability," Mussman said. "But the last couple of weeks, we haven't seen it. We can talk about it all we want, but we have to go out and perform."
In an offensive league with a struggling defense, Mussman knows he needs bigger production from his offense.
"We have to score points," he said. "You can't score 14 and 17 in the Big Sky and have a chance to win."
