homer

You could be right Matt. I didn't mean to come off as I knew for sure. I was just going off of what I thought it looked like on TV. Either way I think we both agree that he's a tough kid and he'll definately give it a shot.

Minett was injured on his TD run in the second half. You could see when it looked like he pulled something. He never returned and SDSU completely went away from the running game. I think its a pulled muscle and depending on how severe will determine if he'll be back. He's a tough runner so it wouldn't suprise me if he played but I don't know how effective he will be.

No. I wouldn't have a problem with that.

If the Dutch farmer is who I think it is I'd rather keep Mussman around.

Lets see, this year we have had poor QB play, average DB play at best, only have one big play WR and coaching has been questionable. Seems pretty similar to the bison last year. Things can turn around pretty quickly in FCS football, look at your own conference for that. The difference between that haves and have nots in this league is usually qb play. I love the fact that your team is in the middle of a playoff run but you still have to come on a Sioux board and use a team you don't play anymore as a measuring stick for where your team is at right now. It sure is nice when a 3 win team gets as much coverage as a 7 win team thats in the hunt for a playoff spot. Was hunting out west this weekend and the Sioux vs. Montana game got more coverage than your win over your "rival"

He verballed to you a while back, I'm guessing you knew this. I'm also guessing you understand the importance of being in an AQ conference your comment was out of jealousy that UND is now in one. Just like most other ndsu fans are feeling a little threatened by UND to the Big Sky you had to come here and try to downplay it. Thanks for your interest in UND athletics though.

Well, I guess its a bad thing than that Kelly, Faison and the rest of the UND athletic dept. can see beyond one time zone. If flying over a time zone is what makes an ndsu athlete too tired to complete their homework than I really don't know what to tell you. UND has been flying all over the country for the last few years and continues to put all kinds of kids on All-academic teams and has athletes winning academic scholorships after graduation. I really don't know the key to thier success about this time zone travel that is such a drag on Fargo athletes. What you need to get into your head is that we really are excited about the Big Sky. I know you are trying to find any negative you can but in my mind the positives out weigh the negatives. You can take comments made by newspaper columns but we have yet to see anything from any school in the Big Sky who is disappointed by the admission of UND. Montana actually came out and talked about the positive of adding UND and since the rest of the Big Sky bows to Montana I'm sure they will tolerate it. As far as who schooled who I guess it just depends on what side of the fence you are on. We don't really know how everything went down and some of us may not want to know the discussions that went on after UND signed with the Big Sky.

Sounds like a quote from a president who is as pissed to have UND in the conference as bison and jacks fans want to believe.

Some of those schools may not have a choice pretty soon. Idaho has an athletic budget smaller than UND's. They are also paying for another 20 scholorships for football. If the WAC spreads itself out from Lousiana to Idaho with most schools being south the budget gets pretty tight. If Montana does not join the WAC than for every reason UND does not fit in the Big Sky, Idaho won't fit in the WAC. The Big Sky is providing a footprint for some of these schools to keep costs down and for them there are no other conference options. Since most conferences require a school to sponsor certain sports a school may hit a crossroads of do they bite the bullet and drop down a level for football or continue loosing money on athletics. I will say UND may eventually hit this point as well as all of this is purely speculation. UND has proven though that it can send its athletic teams all over the country in the Great West and still turn a profit. I'm not in the Idaho, SJSU or USt. athletic depts. but I'm guessing a lot more is hinging on Montana's decision than one thinks.

Aren't the over 100 pages of speculation of this topic on b'ville enough for you Danno. You have to come here to share your wisdom of what you think is going to happen. Thats right, I forgot you guys have moved on.

Kill filled a lot of his roster with JUCO and transfer players. We know Coach Lennon likes to have players for 5 years and has never been a real big in the JUCO or transfer route. SIU is kind of at the same point as UND right now where Lennon's first full recruiting class was redshirt freshmen this year. Next year as they get 3 classes into his system we will see what happens. I think the biggest cause of SIU's stuggles have been injuries. NDSU's wr coach who was at SIU last year even acknowledged that pregame saying that SIU is down 5 db's right now and its taking its toll. I can't imagine what most schools at the FCS level would look like minus 5 db's.

And throw UND into that mix and you just listed 5+ teams all fighting for exposure in an area of the country that is not that heavily populated. If UND can play this right and can offer something different we can seperate ourselves from just being one of the "Dakota schools" from the MVFC. I'm up for the challenge.

Your wrong. We are in another conference that supplies us a lot of exposure in those states. Granted its for a different sport but its not like UND is going to fall of the map all of a sudden and be completely forgotten. How did we have any coverage there before playing in a Great West conference? Now if no AQ was available and come postseason play we had no opportunity to be still playing than yes, exposure would be limited. I see having that opportunity as a good thing and if the Montana's stick around along with UNC and SUU a very good thing.

I keep forgetting Bison logic. The smack can only take place on one board. If its anything against the Bison program than its just drinking the Kool-Aid.

See SDSU in 2012? Also Central Arkansas is a good program coming to the Al. Also I'm guessing USD will get in a schedule rotation if we want to pursue it. The SD schools are on tight budgets and a bus non conference game are very appealing to them. NDSU we will have to wait on that.

You can have the Summit/Independent. I'll take the Big Sky for all sports. Sitting and waiting for the Summit offer and than being an independent in football is a lack of vision. That was the only given in this whole process. It has yet to be seen how the current set up will play out. Maybe it will be terrible but I still think we are better off being in the Big Sky. Others can laugh all they want, I won't lose any sleep over it. Bottom line is there are a lot of good things going on at UND right now, some that have not even been announced yet and a decision by USD is not going to change that.

I'd say the amount of money potentially involved in a buyout, location, ability to add sports and scholorships to meet BSC criterea, funding available in the athletic budget to ease some travel costs and one already having a signed contract to another conference. These are more than slight differences between UND and USD. Each has to do what is best for them while staying within their capabilities. Every post you have is like the sky is falling. Its not. UND is still in a pretty good situation.

Like a guy on Bisonville and my buddy Jack down in Sioux Falls. Neither has ties to USD.

Why is this such a bad deal. So we are not in a conference with a couple other schools, we are still in a pretty good conference that we weren't in last week. UND and USD where in two completely different situations. UND had no conference affiliation and when one was presented you have to take it. USD was in the Summit and had obligations to that conference. They had high costs in moving around and it maybe didn't work out. Good luck to them where ever they end up but I still believe that UND has an opportunity to create our own path in the Big Sky.

Saying that someone would be a welcome guest at the party and actually inviting them to the party are two different things. If its true though than good luck to USD. Like I said earlier I have no problem being the only one of the Dakotas in the Big Sky. Its another nonconference game we could schedule and doesn't affect our membership in the league. They may have a decision to make and thats a good thing for them.

As much as I would love to see USD continue with us I wouldn't lose any sleep if they stayed in the Summit/MVFC. The Big Sky how it is now set up offers UND the opportunity for a nice television market. It puts us with some schools who truely care about academics and want to align themselves with other schools that do as well. It puts us in a market that has a HUGE population base to potentially continue our growth. It gives us something different to offer recruits from around the region. Maybe travel will be more but there are is also more to gain by taking the leap. There is obviously vision within the conference. The presidents, AD and commissioner where not going to wait around as they see the potential that is there and I am glad UND is a part of it. The Summit/MVFC is a nice conference and one I would be happy with as well but I wouldn't mind being the odd man out in the Dakotas. There is a lot of potential having the opportunity in offering something different

Well said Dan. +++++++

This is a great idea and would give the BSC even more exposure that would cover a huge area and wouldn't even cost much to get going. Everything is already in place. This has been my thought on regional recruiting argument, sure the trips may be longer but the tv capabilities are so much better with the BSC its a huge plus for kids and families.

Both places are ok but I think Bison fans are trying to write off all kids due to location. I would use location as a recruiting tool. Play in front of 20,000 in Montana. Play a couple games in California. Travel to Colorado (cheap flight for family by the way). Its all relative to what the kid is loking for. Plus the huge positive of being able to expand your recruiting base into some great areas. Just like the Bison recruit more out of Illinois and Nebraska we will move further west. where there is a much, much larger population base. I know some are looking for negatives but you really have to grab at straws to find one.

But kids may like going to play in warmer climates in a pretty well known conference nationally. With travel, if the Montana's stay and the conference is cut into two divisions the travel isn't going to be bad.