Woden

Hey D1 in Fargo- Help me out here. I'm trying to remember where a player on NDSU's team came from. I know he was the career rushing leader in his state, and his name is Mike Brower, but for the life of me, I can't remember where he came from. Oh well, hopefully you can remind me. It's amazing that a player of his level wouldn't end up at a big time D1 program. Now if I could only remember what state he came from. Other NDSU fans- you had to know this one was coming. Please denounce this fool, before he spoils your good name. The guy is a complete idiot, and offers nothing to either siouxsports or bisonville. Take care of him in your own way. We'll let you keep this one "in house." BTW- In case you couldn't figure it out, Brower is from Nebraska, so don't go wasting your time looking it up.

I think we're looking at more of a 10-15 year period for both schools.

I'm going to be the first to say it at risk of getting torn apart, but NDSU and UND will be known as I-AA for only so long before being known as I-A. Believe me, it will happen.

Come on buddy, it ain't that bad. Don't beat yourself up. Calling yourself an idiot won't fix anything. Besides, you need to have more self-confidence than that. Instead of explaining the answer to you, I will do you a favor and let you learn for yourself a little bit and maybe you won't have to call yourself an idiot anymore. Look up what a deficit is, and then look up what debt is. The two are not one in the same and you need to know that. FYI- when Bill Clinton had a surplus, the US was not out of debt. That may help you figure out the difference between the two. But, since you insist you are an idiot, I don't know if you will be able to or not. Good Luck!

Aff- I'd like for you to go back to my first post and show me where I said UND does not need to increase their budget. I did state they are at $10 millioni, which is what NDSU was targeting (not sure if they are there yet), but never once said they would not need to raise the current budget. I did say they could either raise it or keep it at the same level and start using their money more wisely, but I never said which one they should do and realize that an increase is the most likely scenario. And let me try to clear this whole thing up for you. This study was not a plan for UND to go D1. It was a study to find which universities UND is most like. Whether UND is similiar to D2 schools or D1 schools, and the averages that schools in these brackets have. With the information found, Buning has determined that UND is more like a D1 school, and UND should look that route. If Kupchella agrees, a plan of action will be laid out that will get UND to D1. BTW- I'm still looking for your source that the budget is $10 million. As others have posted, the REA adds an additional $7 million. If you think UND operates its entire athletic department which includes football, hockey, basketball, the Ralph, the Betty, paying for the Alerus, and the other sports at $10 million, I want what you are smoking. Shoot, from what I've heard, one away trip for the hockey team costs UND about 80 G's.

Yes, I do believe what I posted, because it is what Rob Bollinger said when he discussed the current affairs of the athletic department. If you would read the report, it says the same thing. 6.9 million plus 3.1 million in one time expenditures. Hockey does not fall into this category, and has a budget of $7 million to itself. Why is this so unreasonable to you? NDSU's pre-D1 budget was around $7 million for all sports, which is basically what UND's is, with the exception of the one time expenditures, which I have no idea what that is talking about. If you want me to come over and read the report to you, I can. Or you can keep being ignorant and believe anything not Bison is worthless. Although now that I think about it, I'm sure you have a way better idea on the current state of UND athletics than Rob Bollinger or the commision put together to study the move. Sorry, I apologize. Hail mighty Aff!

I can't give you any concrete answers to your questions, but I can tell you this. As of right now, the UND athletic budget is around $17 million, 7 of which is for hockey. That leaves around $10 million for the other sports. I don't know if UND spends more money on it's sports in D2 than NDSU did before the move up, but if I remember correctly, SU's D2 budget was around $7 million and they wanted it to be around $10 when they became a full fledged D1 institution. So, given these numbers, we can either surmise that UND will have to raise its overall budget to around $20 million, or find better ways to use their current budget and stay at around $10 million for all sports besides hockey, which is what NDSU is using for its budget. Not sure where the extra money would come from if we did indeed decide to increase the budget, but I can say this, the school just got the second largest contribution ever for the business department. And after listening to Bollinger speak about some other alumni, I believe some very large contributions are in the works. Don't think that UND hasn't been planning this move for some time. I think UND's goal was to have every base covered before moving up, and they have been working for the move up the last couple of years. That is why every position that has opened up (don't mention basketball, tough subject) in the last year or two has been filled with people with D1 knowledge (Buning, Ralston). The Bison-Sioux rivalry will continue shortly, just wait.

Kuper was just taken with the 161st (5th round) pick by the Denver Broncos. Congratulations and good luck Chris.

Well, I don't know what the purpose of your post is unless it is to spark a flame war, but to say Kuper is one of the top offensive lineman in college football is not really a stretch. Counting D1 (A &AA), D2, D3, NAIA, and JC, there are what, about 500 or so college football teams in America? For the sake of making the numbers easy, let's say each team carries six guards. That's 3000 guards playing football in America right now. Kuper is currently rated as the 16th guard in this year's draft. And like I stated in another post, that number can vary greatly depending on which team is looking at Kuper. Teams like the Broncos and Falcons would definitely put a better ranking on him due to his athletic ability. But, back to the point. Being there are about 3000 guards, and Kuper is the 16th rated, that means he is better than roughly 99% of the guards in college football. If that doesn't mean your one of the top o-lineman, I don't know what does. Just because he's called a development player by so called "experts" doesn't mean he isn't good. Hell, players that don't get drafted and sign as free agents are 10 times better athletes than you or I will ever be.

I believe S & S have him listed as the 16th rated guard in the draft. Of course, this rating is objective. Teams such as Denver and Atalanta would probably have him rated much higher than a team such as the Carolina Panthers. This isn't a knock on Chris, but he is more suited for the style of offenses the Broncos and Falcons run than the pound it out style of the Panthers. I think he'll end up being a 4th or 5th round pick.

One of my buddies on the football team told me they will be having a scrimmage this Saturday at around 9:30 am @ Memorial. This should be a good chance to go see some of the young bucks and the competitions taking place this spring. First chance to see the 2006 Fighting Sioux football team in action.

That is North Iowa Area Community College. They are a Junior College team originally from the Iowa Conference but combined with the Illinois Conference last season. The North Dakota you see on their schedule is North Dakota State College of Science out of Wahpeton. I'm pretty sure UND won't have them on the schedule this year.

Bomb-that was by far the best post I have ever read on the whole topic. Thank you. Someone with a little bit of sense finally decided to write on a message board.

Roland was recruited as a running back. He was tried a bit at safety when the coaches felt the backfield was a little crowded, but got a chance again when Miller went down and Riza had better things to do. Roland was recruited here with the intention of being a running back.

Just so no one gets their hopes up on signing Mertens... He will be going to Lake Region at the Metropolis known as Devils Lake to concentrate on honing his basketball skills. Sometimes one has to wonder what these kids think. He's too much of a tweener to play ball at any school bigger than UND in the future anyways, and could come here on a huge football scholarship and play a little basketball on the side. I guess if his heart isn't into playing football then he has to do what he has to do. Best of luck to him. I hope he doesn't regret this decision in the future, and enjoys his time at Lake Region.

This isn't football news, but I just wanted everyone to know that on Saturdy night the UND rugby team beat the D1 NDSU Rugby team 96-5. Way to go boys.

I'm not speculating one bit. I don't believe in comparing scores. I don't think it works out that way on the field. I was just pointing out the fact that Osunde didn't play for those who didn't know. And as far as the comments such as "undies." If you guys are so high up and so much better, please stay off our lowly D2 message boards. Let us have our fun. You obviously must be missing something at the 1AA level if you must constantly come back to talk to us. Good luck to you guys the rest of the way, you guys seem to be on your way to some great things. I'll be willing to wager a large sum of money that these two teams will see each other on the field within the next few years, and it might even be as two 1AA programs. Until then, let's just agree to disagree on what might be. BTW-in case you missed it, Roger Thomas isn't our AD anymore. We've got a new man in office, and he thinks a little differently.

Before I say anything else, let me say this. Coach Bohl has done a great job of turning around NDSU from a 2-8 D2 program into an obviously talented 1AA team. I'm not going to argue whether or not they are more talented right now than UND is. There are no logical facts that either side could use to make a point. Here's the point I'm going to make. Even though NDSU may have a lot of D1 recruits, most of the players currently playing and making an impact were recruited before the D1 move. Let's take a look at the starting units Babich= D2 recruit Bohl= D1 recruit Offense QB Steve Walker (Babich) RB Kyle Steffes (Babich) FB/HB Andy Dellabare (Babich) TE AJ Cooper (Bohl) WR Travis White (Babich, I know he's injured, but thought I'd point out) WR Marques Johnson (Babich) WR Kole Heckendorf (Bohl) Little unsure who starts on the O-line, so correct me if i'm wrong LT Nate Safe (Babich) LG Jake Erickson (Babich) C Hugh Medal (Babich) RG Justin Buckwalter (Babich) RT Tim Popowski (Babich) Originally 10 of 11 starters were D2 Babich recruits. Now it is 9 of 11. My own ignorance of the offensive line could cause this to change by maybe 1. Defense DE Alvin Robinson (Bohl) DT Rodney Thompson (Bohl) DT Justin Frick (Babich) DE Isaac LaVant (Bohl) WLB Kole Zimmerman (Babich) MLB Joe Mays (Babich) SLB Maresh or Compton? (Bohl) CB Bobby Babich (Babich) CB Scott Walter (Babich) SS Craig Dahl (Babich) FS Nich Shommer (Bohl) This side is a little more of the Bohl recruits, but more still came from D2 Babich. 6 of 11 are D2 recruits. Special Teams P Mike Dragosovich (Babich) K Cory Vartanian (Babich) R Shamen Washington (Bohl) 2 of 3 D2 Babich Recruits. If you count Johnson as another returner, you get 3 of 4. So, looking at it all, at the beginning of the year, 15 of the 22 starters on offense and defense were from NDSU's D2 days. That number is now 14 of 22. Including ST, at the beginning of the year 16 of 25 of the players were D2 recruits. To go away from numbers, let's look at impact. According to you guys, Walker is the next Brett Favre, and he has so far put up numbers to back up your guys' claims. He was a D2 Babich recruit. Kyle Steffes, starting RB putting up great numbers. D2 recruit. Tim Popowski, top O-lineman on team, D2 Babich recruit. On defense, Ray Lewis (sorry, I mean Joe Mays), D2 Babich recruit. Steady Zimmerman, D2 Babich recruit. 3/4 of Seconday, D2 Babich recruits. The argument could be made that the D1 recruits have made the depth chart a little deeper. I have no reason or proof to dispute this. But the fact is, the players having the biggest impact on this year's team are actually those that were recruited while NDSU was D2. Is the talent level really that different? Please answer intelligently.

Remember, this was with Osunde (Westchester's starting RB), out with a knee injury. He was obviously the only thing that allowed WC to move the ball against UND. They put up more points against Delaware without Osunde than they did against UND with him.

Looks like GVSU will have to look for a new go-to-guy in the WR corps. Top one decided he doesn't like rules. Read the rest- http://www.mlive.com/sports/grpress/index....66020307100.xml

I don't know who gives you your information, but that is complete garbage. NDSU went right after the Carr report was finished (which told them to find a conference before moving up!), and never waited a second. If you are talking about the exploratory year, that is required by the NCAA. I'm not exactly sure what year you are referring to, please enlighten me.

There will be a scrimmage tomorrow. I believe practice starts at about 10 am.

Right now there is legislation in the NCAA that would allow a program to have D1 football without requiring all the other sports to also move up. If this passes, and I believe it eventually will, there is no doubt that football will move to 1AA or 1A (which is more realistic than a lot of people want to believe). This proposal will probably not be passed and take effect for another 5 years or so, however.

Apparently Glanville had bigger opportunities as he recently signed to be DC for the University of Hawaii.

Actually, from what I'm hearing, the ultimate goal is to go IA. SU is doing this for sure within the next 10 years or so, and don't be surprised if UND does the same.