I never had any interest in being in the same conference as the XDSU's, to me part of the perk of moving up was to separate ourselves from the old NCC teams. I would much rather play Montana and Montana St. as opposed to NDSU and SDSU twice a year in most sports and every year in football. It is still possible to have a rivalry without being in the same conference ( see Florida St. and Florida). Furthermore NDSU was begging to get into the conference when they got rejected, my question is what has changed these last 6 years to all of the sudden make it a second class conference to some Bison fans?
UND was the first university in the Dakotas' to have athletic prominence on a national scale, we have the largest athletic budget in the Dakotas, and have the highest ranking academics in the Dakotas. If you ask me, I am quite happy with the direction of the university.