bincitysioux

There are! I don't think we should really be talking about USD just yet, because we don't know what they're going to do. Personally I am really hoping they go DI with us. It would be a big help to UND, especially during those independent years to know we'll at least have one game to excited for in all the sports. But they could just as easily decide to stay DII. They've struggled for many years and are now getting to the point where they've become an upper echelon DII program, they might like to stay there. Of course there would be no bigger draw in basketball or football than NDSU. But games against Montana and Montana St. would nearly always draw more interest than either South Dakota school. There is also Idaho St. (flagship school) which is the original idea/opponent behind UND's Potato Bowl. And of course Northern Colorado who UND and our fans are very familiar with. Discounting the SU's, the only Mid-Con school that the majority of UND fans are probably familiar with is Oral Roberts, a recognizable school, but one UND has no history with.

Also from the blog: I'm sure that NDSU probably will make overtures to get into the Gateway, it is a wonderful football conference. But related to this is what Hallstrom said on the radio the day of the Mid-Con announcement. His comments that day showed what a great sports mind he truly is . To paraphrase he said the GWFC was not a long term answer because of few numbers and no autobid, but most of the schools in the Mid-Con that have football played in the Gateway so he figured that down the road Taylor and Chapman would work that angle. Western Illinois is in fact the only Mid-Con member that plays football in the Gateway. With the SU's now in, there are three Mid-Con schools in the GWFC. The Mid-Con controls, governs, and administrates the GWFC. It is essentially their football conference. I would think that Tom Douple and the Mid-Con will be more active in pursuing other members to join their football conference (the Great West), rather than brokering deals or doing favors to help schools get out of their football conference (the Great West), and into a different one. IMO, the future of the GWFC is in far better condition this week than it was a week ago.

Yeah there really isn't much to it. And really it isn't too difficult to set up yourself, especially if all you're interested in is getting the FSSN, you don't need a motor (which is a little more work). Pretty inexpensive too. A couple hundred bucks or less and no subscription fees!

The QB controversy is over. George was cut today.

I think all along that SDSU was more in favor of the Mid-Con than the Big Sky, but when they moved in 2003 the BSC was talking expansion and the Mid-Con was not. You're correct, basketball is far more important/popular at SDSU and USD than is football.

They can have one men's sport and one women's sport other than football or basketball. I'd assume that men's hockey would be the obvious choice for the men's sport. They do have women's hockey as well.

I don't think that there is a huge difference between the Big Sky and the Mid-Con. Both have their pros and cons. The reason I have been such an adamant backer of DI at UND is mostly because I don't like the direction the NCC is going. Personally, I think the Mid-Con just got alot more attractive this past week, but even before the additions of the SU's, I think it was really a toss up. Obviously the biggest draw of the BSC is the Montana schools. Those two schools are true peers of the Dakota schools in almost every area, academically, athletically, and demographically. Athletically, I think they are the model that the SU's tried to follow in their move up and the model that UND will try to acheive. There is also a history/rivalry with those schools from the college division days before the Divisional classifications were implemented that the Dakota schools would like to renew. The GWFC has been successful since it started, but there is no autobid, and even if membership grows to meed the requirements to be granted one, there is no guarantee that it will receive one. So the Big Sky is more attractive there. Contrary to popular belief, the BSC is a better basketball conferene than the Mid-Con. The Mid-Con had the third worst conference RPI last year. With Valparaiso leaving, the gap will only widen. On the other hand, that could mean that the autobid to the big dance from the Mid-Con is more up for grabs year after year. The Mid-Con sports offerings fits UND better than the Big Sky. BSC doesn't sponsor baseball or softball (although it has been debated whether or not these sports will survive the UND move to DI). More importantly, the BSC doesn't sponsor Swimming and Diving. These two sports are very important and successful at UND. Travel is better in the Mid-Con. Even before the additions of the SU's it was better. Timezone changes would have a larger effect on our athletes in the BSC as well as playing at altitude could be disadvantage. I think it is a real big "if" that UND winds up in either of these conferences in a timely fashion. Which ever one invites us (assuming one of them will at some point , that is the one that I think is the most attractive. I am thinking that the Mid-Con is gonna be our home around 2010-2012, somewhere in that area. The additions of the SU's places us within the Mid-Con footprint. The Mid-Con will be down to only six members that sponsor swimming & diving after this season. UND should designate these two sports as their "early qualifiers" and use the strength and quality of these programs to lobby for affiliate membership in 2009. We most likely will join the MidCon-governed GWFC in 2009. These three things will help establish ties to the conference and make UND a familar and known commodity the next time that expansion comes around. Hammersmith is correct that any conference is better than no conference. I'm sure we will find that out soon enough.

Perhaps it is not the Big Sky which UBC has their sights set on. UBC tantalizingly close to NCAA nod

Yeah I think it is a slam dunk. Cal-Poly and UC Davis have wanted the GWFC to be permanent and stable thing from the beginning, they would love to see it grow and will probably jump at the chance to have a quality program like UND join. With NDSU and SDSU joining the Mid-Con, that means their near-term future also lies in the GWFC. They may have Gateway aspirations, but that is many many years down the road, if at all. SUU, to my knowledge, has trouble getting quality programs to come play at their place. Plus, SUU has the Big Sky on speed-dial, so the other four members will need to guard against losing them, however unlikely it may be. I think UND will likely get a unanimous invitation when the time comes. The only hang-up is, I think alot of Sioux fans are expecting us to be in the GWFC in our first year in 2008. I think it is pretty likely it won't be until 2009. In 2008, we will still count to opponents as a DII. In that same year all five members of the GWFC will be eligible for the playoffs (only Poly and SUU are now). With no autobid, none of these schools are going to want to hurt their chances of getting an at-large bid by playing against a "non-counter". I think 2008 is going to be a really ugly year scheduling wise. I shouldn't say I think.....I know it will. Think of NDSU's schedules in 2004-05.

Oops, I just saw the FSSN schedule posted in the hockey forum. Maybe something changed regarding the UNI game in the last few weeks.

Hmmmm, I emailed Pat Sweeney a few weeks ago and he said that the rights fee that UNI was asking to televise the game was very high and WDAZ/FSSN declined to pick it up. Interesting indeed. The Feb 15 date is the night we play USD in basketball at the Betty. But Sweeney's email only mentioned the Northern St. and St. Cloud St. basketball games. Dec 2 is the actual date that hockey team plays the under-18 game, so maybe that is a misprint.

Sorry, but the FSSN is not carrying the UNI game. I guess they looked into it but UNI put a very high price tag on the rights fee. Stay close to your computer if want to hear this game.

I disagree. At the UNO fiasco in GF last year, it was pretty exciting in the last three seconds to know that UND was within a 50 yard field goal of winning the game, and with the Glas and Perterka, 50 yard field goals were very realistic. I'd hate to have the mindset that if we were down by 2 or three in the final two minutes of a game that we would need to get down to the 15 yard line to have a decent chance to win the game.

I listened to the University of South Dakota game on the internet tonight. They crushed NAIA Quincy 59-0. What impressed me most during the broadcast was the quality of the audio broadcast. I had it on the computer for 4 hours straight. And there was not one interuption. No "re-buffering" every 5 minutes or anything like there normally is with the Sioux audio webcast. And this feed was free, just as is the UND audio webcast (so there is no excuse for the problems we have on fightingsioux.com). So I have two questions. Would those of you that live afar and can't get the games on the radio or attend them, be willing to pay a small fee, say $10 or $12 per year, to have access to a decent audio feed? I sure would, I attend most football games but it is like pulling teeth trying to listen over the web to hockey and basketball. Second, for those of you that have experienced the wonderful world of Dataflix , would you be willing to pay more than the Dataflix fee for a reliable video webcast service? I would. I think offering such a media package would generate at least a little bit of revenue for the University, and if it was offered by a company that had a reliable product, that could do alot to keep alumni more in touch with university, hence making them perhaps more apt to give back to the university. If there are any Bison fans reading this that have the "Go Bison All-Access" subscription, I'd appreciate if you'd let us know what you think of the "All-Access" package, how it works, what you get, (I think they get video of all home games regardless of sport), and how much it costs. Most importantly, are the webcasts worth a hoot, quality-wise?

Congratulations to NDSU

I agree, IA football at UND doesn't interest me in the slightest bit.

Actually, I only know of one member of this board that regularily refers to the sport as "bouncyball" and routinely trivializes the game's popularity or importance. That's his perogative. Some people like certain sports more than others. I'm sure it is safe to say that not every NDSU alum/fan is a die hard wrestling fanatic either. I admit that basketball is the tertiary sport at UND. But as someone who is a season ticket holder for football, and goes to just about every home hockey game, and makes it to two or three basketball games every season, I agree with the Sicatoka that any sporting event against Denver is gonna make Sioux fans of any sport take notice, simply because of our historic rivalry with them. I don't follow college basketball real closely but if Denver were playing the Sioux in GF in basketball, that would definately be one of the two or three games I'd go too. I don't have any reason to believe that any Sioux alumni or fans living in Colorado would feel otherwise if the UND basketball team were visiting Denver.

Nope. The only football games that will be on FSSN this year are UM-Duluth and South Dakota.

According to this, the Sioux football coaches show will be hosted by Dan Hammer on WDAZ? Dale Lennon on WDAZ It is on page 5. Anybody else heard anything about this? Why the change? I can't see Hammer being on both the payroll of Clear Channel and Forum Communications. Was he hired by the University? When is the last time someone other than Pat Sweeney was the regular host of the football highlight show?

Hey Iceberg, do you also have a C-band setup? I always thought AA was on C-band. Could I pick-up the Sioux-Anchorage series from Alaska on my Ku-band? That would be great even if was tape-delayed.

Money is exactly why. The reason they always do the Duluth series is because UMD broadcasts some of their home games locally, just like FSSN. So WDAZ just pulls in the Duluth station's feed, sends Pat Sweeney and Jeff Bredahl to call the game, and redistributes over the FSSN using the Duluth stations cameras. Same thing when they did CC and I think Alaska-Anchorage a few years ago. If the away team doesn't air their game locally, then WDAZ has to send their satellite truck and a full production crew. On the brightside, for those of us that have DirecTV with the "Sportspak", you can pretty much count on at minimum six road games being on TV each year: Minnesota, Wisconsin, and Denver (they all have agreements with the regional Fox Sports Network stations you get with the "Sportspak"). Plus their could be a few on CSTV or ESPNU.

They show every home game. In the past they've aired one or two road series. Normally the series at duluth is one of them, but unfortunately we don't play at Duluth this year. I know they've also done the games at CC in the past. Unfortunately, Pat Sweeney emailed me last week and said this year, FSSN isn't going to broadcast any away games. This year there are two home football games (Duluth & South Dakota) and two home basketball double-headers (Northern & St. Cloud). They also broadcast all the football playoff games (normally). You can get an FTA system for about $200, and there are no subscrption fees.

Since the home opener is two weeks into the season this year, is also the Potato Bowl, the opponent is a recognizable and successful regional team, and coming off a monumental upset over UNI , the crowd will be around that 11,500 area.

I think this game could be closer than some people think. CWU has one of the best quarterbacks in the NCC returning this year, and I wasn't especially impressed with our secondary during the final 4 games of last season. On the plus side though, the Wildcats lost their top two receivers and top rusher from last year. They'll have an experienced defense with 10 starters returning. There are alot of new faces on both sides of the ball for UND, but a good mix of new and old. My biggest fear is that the Sioux will be looking past CWU to UNI the next week. UND 33 CWU 21 Dressler will return a kick for a TD in the first half.

No, you can't get it on DirecTV. If want to get the FSSN and have DTV instead of basic cable, you have to purchase an extra satellite dish and receiver called an FTA system. PSB Satellite can help you out.