RD17

bisonguy, That's the inherent problem with the SSI. It doesn't take into account the relative strength of different opponents. It's obvious (not to mention proven on the field ) that an 8-3 NCC team is alot better than an 8-3 NSIC team. I can accept the fact that no playoff selection system will ever be "perfect", but what we have now is garbage. To anyone with common sense, a win over Montana should carry significantly more weight than a win over MSU Moorhead. What worries me is that the situation isn't going to get significantly better next season. There will be four conferences that comprise UND's region. As long as the conference champ is in the regional top 10, they're guaranteed a spot in the playoffs, leaving only two at large teams. If UND significantly upgrades their non-conference schedule (DL has talked alot about this, including mentioning teams like Grand Valley and Saginaw Valley), I could easily see the Sioux going 8-3 with one of the toughest schedules in the country and not getting into the playoffs because of this stupid SSI. What is really needed is some sort of BCS type formula for ranking the teams within their respective regions. I realize people cringe when they hear the letters "BCS", but it is the fairest system for evaluating teams on a grander scale. This was considered when the SSI was designed, but I can see it being very difficult to get passed now. Schools from the NE 10 and NSIC are obviously going to be reluctant to move away from the SSI because it gets their teams in the playoffs (not to mention home field!).

I realize the Big South doesn't have enough teams for an autobid (actually, I believe only 6 teams are necessary). What I question is why those teams are treated differently from some of the I-AA independents when it comes to points awarded in the SSI.

Wow, a negative 5.5 yards every time Stauss totes the ball? It looks like he had better start working on those "golden feet" or those I-AA defensive linemen are going to have him eating alot of turf next year!

I did some checking around before I calculated the strength of schedule index. I know it's confusing, but trust me on this. All of the I-AA schools, including those in transition from Division II count as 8 points for a win, 6 for a loss, EXCEPT members of the following conferences: Ivy League Big South SWAC Pioneer League Metro Atlantic The Pioneer League and Metro Atlantic are non-scholarship. The SWAC and Ivy League don't participate in the NCAA playoffs. I'm not clear as to why the Big South teams are considered different from transitional teams or current I-AA independent teams that offer limited scholarships (such as St. Mary's). The Big South is a scholarship league and many of its teams would compare fairly well to alot of the I-AA independents.

The one thing about 2001 is that in most games the defense so thoroughly dominated the game that the offense didn't have to do much to score alot of points. Anytime you're +20 in turnover margin and have 40-50 sacks in a year, the offense is going to get alot of short fields. This year UND has had to go 70 or 80 yards alot more often to score points. The other factor when comparing 2001 and 2003 is that I think alot of NCC offenses are better (or at least more diverse) than they were two years ago. NDSU had more talent in 2001, but they actually had a gameplan this year. SDSU was content to run Josh Ranek 35 times a game and that wasn't going to work against the Sioux defense of two years ago. UNO had absolutely no passing game two years ago but they threw the ball pretty well this year. St. Cloud is better now than they were in 2001.

I'd have to agree with Houston and SMU being pretty rough places to coach, but I'd still rather be there than Idaho. At least if you're in Texas and are a reasonably effective recruiter, you could win with the players the Big 12 schools don't want. Plus, at SMU anyway, you have a rather generous alumni base to help you get players.

After looking at the numbers and schedules, what ultimately is going to kill NDSU's chances for the playoffs is NWMSU beating PSU. Here's why if PSU would have won NDSU would have had a much better chance: 1) NWMSU would be 7-4 overall instead of 8-3. Emporia's loss to NW would only have been worth 4 points instead of the 7 it's worth now. Emporia would have had a 9.72 SSI vs 9.64 for NDSU making that very close. 2) Because of their win, NW will be in the last regional poll making both NDSU and Emporia 2-2 against ranked teams. You can see how a NW loss would have given the advantage here to NDSU. 3) If PSU would have finished 10-1 and won the MIAA outright, it becomes easy to justify them getting in over Emporia, and choosing a team from a different conference. As it stands now, with both teams losing to the same caliber of team, finishing with the same record, and Emporia owning a win over Pitt, you can't justify dropping Emporia from 2nd to out of the playoffs, while Pitt still gets in. Also figuring into this thinking is that it makes more sense to take co- champions from one league over a 2nd place team in another.

Disagree. Here's who I think will be in: 1 UND 2 Winona 3/4 Pitt St. Emporia Here's all the criteria: 1) SSI PSU 10.09 Emporia 10 NDSU 9.64 2) W-L record Overall PSU, Emporia 9-2 NDSU 8-3 Division II W-L PSU, Emporia 9-2 NDSU 7-2 Division II in region W-L PSU 9-2 Emporia 7-2 NDSU 6-2 3) Record against ranked teams (last regional ranking) PSU, Emporia, NDSU 2-2 Note: CSP will be out of the last top 10, NWMSU in. 4) Results against non D2 PSU, Emporia 0-0 NDSU 1-1 5) Head to head none 6) Results against common opponents PSU beat St. Cloud, NDSU lost 7) Division II W-L record against non-conference regional opponents PSU 2-0 Emporia 0-0 NDSU 1-0 8) Eligibility of athletes no issues The only advantage I see for NDSU over either of the other 2 teams is criteria 7. Emporia and PSU will get the nod.

Here's the current regional strength of schedule index: 1. North Dakota 9-1 10.4 2. Emporia St. 9-1 10.1 3. Winona St. 9-1 10.3 4. Pitt St. 9-1 10.3 5. NDSU 7-3 9.3 6. Central Missouri 8-2 8.7 7. UNO 8-3 9.36 8. Minnesota Duluth 8-2 8.3 9. Concordia- St. Paul 8-2 8.7 10. Missouri Western 7-3 8.9 Some thoughts: Both Pitt St. and Winona St. could finish with a higher SSI than UND, but UND will still retain the #1 seed based on the fact that they've won 8 straight and are undefeated within the conference and region. Pitt St., win or lose, is a lock for the playoffs. If NDSU wins and Emporia loses to Central Missouri, it is likely that both teams could finish with the same SSI (9.64). I believe that Emporia would still get in over the Bison because of having a better overall record and it would be difficult to drop them out of the top 4 behind a team with 3 losses. The interesting part is what would happen if NDSU wins and Winona loses to UMD. Winona would still have the better overall record and SSI (10.0), BUT they would finish in 3rd place in the NSIC! Would the committee select a 3rd place NSIC team over a 3 loss NDSU? I have no idea how that scenario might work out. Another interesting tidbit. The reason Concordia- St. Paul, UMD, and CMSU all have such low SSI ratings relative to their records is that they made a mistake worse that scheduling a I-AA school- playing a DIII or NAIA school. If those three schools had all played bad D2 teams instead, you could add .7 to each school's SSI. All three would have a very good shot at making the playoffs with a win on Saturday instead of already being out of it.

NDSU has moved on to what? The no man's land of a Division I independent? Chapman and Miller would cry tears of joy if the NCC decided to stay together and join NDSU in I-AA.

If you look at the player participation report in the UND football statistics, it indicates that Irvin played (but did not start) against USD. Hopefully he'll be back to 100% for the playoffs. It would be especially nice to have him in there if UND plays Pitt. St.

Idaho is probably the worst I-A coaching job in the country. They play in an antiquated 16,000 seat dome, are in a terrible conference (Sun Belt), and they have a Pac 10 school 10 miles away that they have to compete with for fans and media attention. A head coach (at any level) that is currently running a successful program would be putting a huge black eye on their resume by going to Idaho.

I disagree with just about everything you said. To suggest that that athletes should be cut some slack academically because they put alot of time into athletics is absolutely absurd. I know all kinds of people that worked 30 or 40 hours a week and went to school full time. Should those people also receive special treatment because they don't have a bunch of time for "fun"?

Augie was the homecoming game.

I was saying the exact same thing as you at the time. You just knew that UND needed another score to win the game and with the way UNO was moving the ball and the amount of time left, 30 yards of field position wasn't going to make that much of a difference. The other coaching decision that really perplexed me came just before the half. Why did Lennon call a TO on 3rd down when UNO was trying to run the clock? UNO then comes out and throws the deep ball to Krause for the 1st down and they eventually score to tie it up. If UND lets the clock run, UNO would have run the ball again on 3rd and 7, then we could have called TO and gotten the ball back at about the UND 40 with a minute left in the half and 2 TOs.

The point I was making is that there aren't rules for everything, but there are things in sports that are not acceptable to anyone with class or common sense.

There isn't a rule against throwing at a batter's head in baseball or undercutting a player driving to the hoop in basketball. Just because there isn't a rule against something doesn't make it an acceptable thing to do in a game. The bottom line is that some people can play a game with class and dignity and show respect for the opponent no matter what the circumstances and some cannot. I think it's pretty obvious which category Pat Behrns falls under.

I think that quote tells the whole story about Ed's change of politics. He was PO'd when Hoeven got the nod from the Republicans in 2000 and he knows that if he wants to be governor, it won't be as a Republican. The only way Eddie was going to get a foot in the political door was by making an about face and crawling into bed with ND's three popular congressmen, who happen to be Democrats. WYOBISON, A Bison fan and to top it off, a liberal? Wow, some people do have it rough.

UND 92,96, I went back and double checked my numbers. You're right about Winona- I was off by two points on one of their games so they should be at 10. My numbers for the other three schools are the same as yours. I then have NDSU at 9.625, UNO at 9.55, and Central Missouri at 8.75. Here's the scenarios I was talking about before: If UND wins out: 10.2 If Pitt St. wins out: 10.636 If Winona wins out: 10.18 If Emporia wins out: 10.1 If NDSU wins out: 10.1 If UND loses to UNO, NDSU and UNO win out: NDSU 10.1 UNO 9.91 UND 9.6 The numbers above make some assumptions, of course, about the records that some of the other teams will finish with. I'm not counting on Concordia- St.Paul losing to Wayne St. or UMC or Central Missouri losing to Washburn, but I guess you never know. If UND were to lose to UNO, this is what it I think it would take for the Sioux to get into the playoffs: NDSU loses a game or Winona loses to either UMD or Northern St. Pitt St. beats Central Missouri Central Missouri beats Emporia St.

WYOBISONMAN, With the new strength of schedule index, the old way of doing regional polls where you stay on top until someone beats you is out the window. Like I said before, if both UND and Pitt St. win out, I can almost guarantee you that Pitt St. will get the number 1 seed. According to the NCAA, the SSI is only supposed to be one of several different criteria used, but in doing the calculations for two different regions, the regional rankings are based exactly on the SSI.

bisonguy, The reason Concordia- St. Paul is still ranked so low is that they played one of the Wisconsin D3 teams. It absolutely kills your schedule strength index when you play teams that aren't D2. The same goes for Central Missouri. They're 7-1, but still only ranked 7th in the Midwest Region, the reason being that they played a NAIA school. If they had played a terrible D2 team instead, they would be 5th in the region (ahead of NDSU) right now.

I got out my calculator tonight and crunched the numbers in the Midwest Region. If UND wins their last two games, they are a lock for one of the top two seeds in the region. The only team that could overtake the Sioux for the #1 seed is Pittsburg State, but PSU has the toughest remaining schedule of anyone in the region. If PSU wins their last three games, however, they will overtake UND for the top spot. If UND loses to UNO (or USD for that matter) they will need alot of help to get into the playoffs. If NDSU and UNO were to win out, I guarantee you that both of those teams will be ahead of a 2 loss UND team in the final regional poll. The Sioux would probably need Winona and Emporia St. to each lose a game, and Pittsburg St. to lose twice to get into the playoffs. Obviously, the UNO game is a must win. NDSU is in good shape, provided that one ofthe 4 teams above them loses a game. If PSU, Winona, Emporia, and UND win out, NDSU will not make the playoffs. Now before any of our Bison friends come here and say "see, playing I-AA teams doesn't hurt you when it comes to playoff selections", let me make it very clear that this couldn't be further from the truth. If, for example, NDSU had not played Montana and UC Davis and instead scheduled and beat MSUM and UMC, the Bison would be the #1 team in the Midwest Region right now and could probably even afford to lose another game and still get into the playoffs. The biggest reason NDSU still has a shot at the playoffs is because of their games against Tusculum and Concordia- St. Paul. A win against either of those two teams is worth 13 points in the poll, the win over Montana is worth 8! It simply does not make sense to play teams that aren't Division II.

I realize the Mountain West schools ditched the rest of the WAC a few years ago. There are two very good reasons for them to add schools back to the conference now. The first is the minimum home game requirement for I-A schools that starts next year. With only 8 schools in the MWC, every year half of the schools only have 3 conference home games making it necessary (and hard on the budget) to bring in other schools to fill out their home schedule. The other reason is bowl game tie-ins. Boise St. and Hawaii would bring bowl games (Humanitarian and Aloha) with them if they were to join the MWC. Another advantage to adding Hawaii is that if you play them on the island, the NCAA will allow you to play an extra game over the maximum in that year. Here's a good article from today's Boise newspaper that talks about MWC expansion: link