The Sicatoka

No, just publicly admitting and embracing your rodential side ... not that there's anything wrong with that*. *quote Jerry Seinfeld

I wonder ... I wonder ... I know of a team that needs home games in 2013. Yeah, they need FBS home games, but haven't scheduled an FCS school in the five home games yet. All they have for home games so far is Northern Illinois and NMSU. And it's awfully late to be looking for 2013 games. That school? Idaho. If I'm right, UND could be turning a home and home with USD into a paycheck at Idaho (leaving another date in 2014 open for another paycheck). Or, Idaho will need games when other teams are in conference. Think if UND goes there on Sept 21, 2013, Faison could get Idaho here on Oct 18, 2014?

No Teeder, that's our beloved "DaveK". Like I've said, he's just a "coming out of the closet Gopher fan".

The most important thing on that field ... is the home team.

Go back to post 335 in this thread. I'm guessing the webcam at The Alerus has stopped working.

The debut of the blacks is with jersey number 40, not jersey number 83 (as in 1883, the year of UND's founding). Interesting. I wonder if that isn't a quiet, tip-of-the-cap acknowledgement to someone, a UND guy who wore "40" until just recently. (Suddenly makes me wonder who bought the new uniforms.)

Cratter for the win here. Yesterday (Thursday, three weeks) is when the Idaho AD tweets out that they're going to EXPLORE the option of the Big Sky.

I noticed Spear's emphasis on "EXPLORE" also in his tweet. Is suspect that was spin control because you know there has to be lots of turmoil and dissention in his fan base right now.

The current WAC - Denver: Faison worked with them to form the NCHC and knows them from the WCHA. Idaho: GF Herald story today has Faison saying their AD Rob Spear is an old friend. New Mexico State: Faison was the AD there before coming here. Seattle: No know Faison connection. That the end of today's "Six Degrees of Brian Faison". Then again, Hurd could be on campus because he's a Minot guy, he was the WAC's media coordinator (a position Sean Johnson just left at UND) for a long time before being named WAC interim commissioner, and he may be out of a job soon (if the WAC folds).

Watch the language. Next time I have to remove posts I remove people. Signed, The Management

Forgive my insensity toward Idaho, but they are just delaying the inevitable: - they'll bleed fiscally trying to put together five home FBS games and ultimately end up going FCS, or - the NCAA will shove them down to FCS for not averaging the FBS minimum 15k per home game* The outcome is the same. *You must average 15k home attendance once every two years (on a rolling two-year basis). Idaho has averaged 15k once in the last six, and not in the last three.

Idaho under this plan (just Olympic sports, not FB in BSC) would make 12 for Olympic sports / 13 for football. Adding in Seattle U and DU, non-football schools, would make for 14 playing the Olympic sports. That seems a little unwieldy to me unless they come up with some creative scheduling for BB.

Let's summarize Idaho: no WAC money and trying to play FBS FB in a very small stadium. Not a formula for success in my eyes.

Idaho leaving the WAC leaves too much money on the table, money Idaho can't affort to leave behind.

Indeed.

The Boise State president is making all sorts of statements today that his school is definitely in the Big West (for Oly sports) and a presidents' vote is now just a formality. What's that mean (if accurate)? If nothing changes, come July 1, 2013, the WAC is down to four: Idaho, New Mexico State, Denver, and Seattle U. If you've never seen a slow-motion train wreck before, you should be watching the WAC.

Leave PCM and Rick out of this.

Don't give Montana ideas. They have enough problems of their own making already.

From 1992 to 2011, the logo at mid-field in Fargodome was not an NDSU logo. It was the Fargodome wordmark and their star-thingy logo. There's the answer to your question.

And as I've said to you when you said that to me in the past: Blame the NCAA. They make the "minimum number of mens and womens sports" rules.

Color me not impressed. This just seems like a reason to keep colleges that should be shut down open. (I'm looking at Valley City, Mayville, Willston, Bottineau, and Devils Lake.)

NMSU probably has better options as an FBS indy given that they have relationships with UNM and UTEP for home games and they have a good sized stadium (gate revenues). Being next to all the programs in Texas doesn't hurt either. Idaho is in a world of hurt when it comes to trying to survive as an FBS indy. Small stadium. Small budget. To me, the keystone in the WAC becoming an FCS conference is Idaho admitting they need to move to FCS and reset and regroup for a few years. If they do that I suspect there is a group of BSC schools that'd make some moves.

There is an ongoing discussion on one board about how to interpret the NCAA rules as written. Basically, for a team to move FCS to FBS they must have an invitation from an FBS conference. (No disagreement on that.) However, the disagreements in interpretations starts with when does a conference lose FBS status and thus the right to give invitations to FBS. Basically, does the currently FBS WAC lose its FBS-making "magic wand" and if so, when.

Maybe UND should just adopt "Alerus" as the nickname. Problem. Solved.

OK, flip it around: What if midfield say "North Dakota" and the end zones said "Alerus Center". Would that be better?