MplsBison

Even if NDSU gets into the Sky and SDSU gets into the Mid Con, it's not all lost for UND. Sac State is looking for a way into the WAC. Who knows how many years we're talking about, but maybe 3-5 you could see Sac State leave the Big Sky with 9 and in need of another.

That would be just about our luck.

People plan ahead farther than a day or two. Probably a lot of people had vacations planned a long time before that assuming it would be cold.

Not so fast! Is a 62 degree day typical of late Oct.? No. It could very well have been that most people assumed it was going to be a cold, blowing day and just didn't want to sit outside for 4 hours. As, as it was mentioned, hunting could have played a role as well.

There are some key differences between NDSU/UND's and SDSU's football programs. 1) SDSU is outside. What were the attendance figures like at SDSU when it got cold? 2) UND and NDSU have more football fans than SDSU. To me, that means that any increase or decrease in UND's football attendance because of a move from DII to DI-AA would be more likely to follow NDSU's pattern vs. SDSU's pattern.

I'm greatly looking forward to the first and hopefully many installments of the DI Nickel Trophy game. Sooner rather than later!

We beat Wisconsin.

No way do we sacrifice basketball. I think NDSU men's basketball is eventually going to do what Northern Iowa is doing now. The other sports, I hope they do well, but I don't follow them that much.

Speaking of Soccer, the Bison's women's team has done quite well. The volleyball program hit a snag, true, but I have no doubt they'll bounce back. Not expecting DI championships, but I think they'll make the field of 64 eventually. Women's basketball had a rough year. But they will be in the NCAA DI tournamant. No doubt UND would be able to as well. How about NDSU men's basketball? Yeah, they did pretty good didn't they? Softball, well, it's tough when you have to play on the road for 90% of the season. Not sure if this sport will continue on at NDSU. Perhaps because of title IX. I have no doubt that attendance for basketball and football would increase at UND against DI competition.

I'm glad to have been proven wrong. I'm still suspicious, though.

Exactly the point I was trying to hint at. I'm telling you now: they only contacted hockey ticket holders. And it was done on purpose. That's my speculation.

No, I wouldn't. My answer would be: hell yes I'd be angry. Football is the main sport at NDSU. Therefore, football should have as many resources as it needs and then basketball and then after that I don't really care much. Which obviously means I can understand how a UND hockey fan would be mad about resources being taken away from their main sport. I'm just mad that UND isn't going DI because we can't play them in football and basketball anymore. Those were almost guaranteed sellouts and we can use that money.

So you're not going to answer the question about whether that would make you angry?

PCM, just out of curiousity, would you be angry if UND moved to DI and anounced that some of the resources that would've gone to hockey will now go to help the football and basketball teams with the transition?

Like many of you, I wouldn't trust this survey to be worth the paper it's printed on. But it does confirm some of my suspicion that there is a group at UND that will try to keep the hockey program above all, at any cost.

He did find a conference: http://greatwestfootball.cstv.com/

At this point, I'm doubtful of two things: 1) UND will announce a move to DI. I don't think this will happen until UND gets a new president. That could be sooner rather than later, but not this year. 2) Big Sky announcing that they will expand. I don't think the west presidents will allow it. Maybe when Sac State leaves for DI-A, but until then, probably not.

I already knew that DI is one unit in non football sports. The point is that in all non footbal sports, the BCS schools have a huge advantage in availible money to spend on those sports. There is a rift there, whether the NCAA wants to acknowlege it or not.

But the point is that schools that aren't in the BCS confrences (IE. "Mid Majors") would be able to play transfers from "Majors" programs right away. This is consistant with the NCAA transfer policy that if an athlete transfers down, they're eligible the next season. I consider transferring from a Major program to a Mid Major program to be as significant of a step down as transferring from DI to DII.

....With the last two seasons having gone to the Big Sky. The best team in the MCC (Oral Roberts) is not going to be close to Montana next season. So make that three years in a row.

What would you guys think about a rule change that says if a non football athlete transfers from a DI college that plays DI-A football to a DI college that doesn't play DI-A football, he/she wouldn't have to sit out?

Huh? The Mid Con champion (Oakland) did win the Mid Con Tournament. If you're trying to say that had ORU won the MC Tournament in 2005 they would've been seeded 16th outright, well then maybe that's right. Who knows?

And yet that season the Big Sky champion was seeded 16th outright while the Mid Con champion had to play the SWAC champ to earn a 16th seed. Last season, the Big Sky champion was seede 12th (and won) and the Mid Con champion was seeded 16th outright (and lost). RPI doesn't mean much from that perspective.

Illinois State had a nice game with them a couple years ago as well.

I was going to say that too. What are the odds of spending exactly what you brought in? Does that site also claim that USD has a budget surplus even though the athletic department had to cut sports because they were in the red?