89rabbit

Dave, I will bet you enjoyed this article (sub site but it is free): http://www.in-forum.com/Sports/articles/177182 Michigan loss not shocking to all Jeff Kolpack, The Forum Division I-AA football changed its name in the off-season, and people are having trouble getting accustomed to the name

You have now.

Congrats to UND and USD best of luck in '08.

You know Summit League sounds a lot better then . . . Independent.

Other NCAA D-I Leagues:

Well lets start with the reality that unless God works for ESPN, the network would have no idea who will be playing in a Championship game on any give year when they set the schedule so picking based on the teams is irrelevant (always love how UND fans use Centenary in any Mid-Con examples, is that a board rule or something? ). So one would think the determining factor would be interest at a given time slot. Since most of the Mid-Con is in the Central or Eastern time zone while most of the Big Sky is in the Mountain and Pacific time zones one might naturally conclude that the folks with the most interest in watching those games would come from the corresponding time zones and thus it would make sense for ESPN to broadcast the games during time slots that were most convenient for the greatest number of potential viewers. I think this would be the key driver in the discussion making process rather then what time zone the championship game was being played in. One of the reasons I was for the Mid-Con over the Big Sky for SDSU was due to time zones, I didn't want our games to begin at 9 pm CST because it is only 7 pm on the west coast. (another was based on where we get our recruits from). So even if the BSC Championship was played in Grand Forks, I doubt that ESPN would want it to start at 7 pm CST when it is only 5 pm out west and people in California and Oregon are just getting off work. Since I am not much for making predictions, one might look at this year's schedule to predict what ESPN might do in the future. http://sports.espn.go.com/espntv/espnTopic...atch=MNCAABBALL Mid-Con Championship - Tuesday March 6 - ESPN start time 7 pm ET (Eastern Time - remember it is all about the coasts when you are talking about National TV) Big Sky Championship - Wed. March 7 - ESPN2 start time 9 pm ET

Yea that is it. ESPN has wanted to feature the Big Sky Tourney on prime time but hasn't been able to because all their schools are in the Mountain or Pacific Time zones (you don

The field of Independents looking for a D-I conference home may get a little more crowded. http://www.siue.edu/news/ Chancellor Recommends NCAA Division I Status For Athletics (EDWARDSVILLE, Ill.) After nearly 40 years of a storied intercollegiate athletics program at Southern Illinois University Edwardsville, the Cougars are a step closer to applying for reclassification to NCAA Division I status for all sports in the SIUE program. SIUE Chancellor Vaughn Vandegrift presented his recommendation today to the SIU Board of Trustees to move the Intercollegiate Athletics program from Division II to Division I. The board will vote on the recommendation at its next meeting March 1.

You aren't really trying to suggest that a post by a USD supporter on a SDSU board is even remotely like proof are you? It is hearsay at best, and one might consider it closer to propaganda.

Not that I really want to join this little party, but UNI has scheduled NDSU in many sports over the past few years. Baseball Soccer Softball Volleyball Wrestling

http://www.argusleader.com/apps/pbcs.dll/a...349/1002/SPORTS SDSU to attend Gateway meeting Steffen verbally commits By Terry Vandrovec tvandrovec@argusleader.com PUBLISHED: January 4, 2007 South Dakota State and North Dakota State have not been invited to join the Gateway Football Conference, but they have been asked to attend league meetings on Feb. 19 in St. Louis, commissioner Patty Viverito said Wednesday. SDSU athletic director Fred Oien confirmed the invitation and said that he and university president David Chicoine plan to accept. Typically, the Gateway meetings are attended by athletic directors, football coaches and faculty representatives, according to Viverito, and in this case, six of the league's seven school presidents will attend, as well. They won't be required to vote on expansion, but they won't be precluded from doing so, either. . . . (read more)

The SDSU responses for BigDog42 . . . D-I Championship Sub-Division Polls http://www.i-aa.org/article.asp?articleid=80343 That and to remind you that SDSU along with our friends from NDSU have conference homes for all of our sports and are the only schools that the Gateway Football Conference is looking at for expansion according to Gateway Football Conference commissioner Patty Viverito. The Sioux had a very nice season in D-II (congrats on the playoff run and win against UNI) but from what I can tell it really hasn't gotten you much attention in your quest to become a D-I school or helped you gain much interest from conferences as you look to find homes for your teams. Or am I wrong? Best of luck to both UND and USD as you try and win favor with a D-I conference. I am sure once you raise some money and add some scholarships and become a D-I school that your team and mine will meet again on the field, someday. Then the Sioux can try and prove they are the better team, rather then do these lame score comparisons which everyone knows are ridiculous.

Since you don't seem to like USD, I have a dance partner for you guys, she is from Bismark and her name is Mary. What? You have already met, and she did what to you? Oh, I am so sorry I didn't realize. I can see why that won't work out. Never mind. [url="http://www.grandforksherald.com/articles/index.cfm?id=20809

Since you guys haven't started your transition to D-I yet, maybe you haven't kept up with things up here but let me educate you. SDSU just finished in the Top 25 in football (#20, 21, or 22 depending on which poll you like), our Women's Basketball team is 9-2 with wins over USC, Kansas, and Colorado, just to name a few (looking very good for a WNIT bid), and even our Men's Basketball team that has struggled split with the Bison last year. Fat chick, I think not. Sorry you got to the dance late, but it looks like USD is the only one left have fun with her. You are going to like her, she has a great personality.

They are indeed. Nov 18, 2005 on ESPNU

YSU has already signed a home and home with SDSU starting next year with the Jackrabbits going to Ohio.

You got me James, I give up. Can I have a ride in your car that turns into a submarine? If it looks like a duck, walks like a duck, and quacks like a duck, chances are it is a duck. Have a nice weekend.

I can now see how your fantasies come about. I explain why the Mid-Con site visit team makes a trip to Spearfish to meet with SDSU's current President and talk to the Board of Regents in an effort to make sure that the person that the BOR hire to replace President Miller is also committed to D-I athletics and in your mind you think I am making a point about SDSU's financial well being. To "back up" your point you site a contract stipulation that now exists because we have been offered and did accept an invitation to join the Mid-Con but did not exist at the time of the meeting. Perhaps the very contract stipulation, that you site, was part of the very short meeting that took place in the Black Hills. Not only did all this happen but it is logical that the Mid-Con site visit team would like to talk with the current President of the University they are thinking about offering an invitation to and that they wanted reassurance that the next President would also be committed. I mean come on organizations never change after they get a new leader (that is sarcasm in case you are wondering). Instead you want us to believe that the South Dakota Board of Regents held the Mid-Con hostage and said we will only let you have SDSU if you agree to take USD in. I'll ask the board, which one seems more likely? Then you go off on a tirade and list almost every school that has received a conference invite in the past few years. Problem is most of us knew well in advance of the invite that the schools and conferences were talking about. You know why? . . . Because it was public knowledge, because there were no secret meetings. That is not to say that every contact made between the schools and the conferences was of public record but the overwhelming majority of the work was above board. You do have one on your list that I too believe happened due to "secret" meetings, I will give you Valpo moving to the Horizon League. Of all the schools you listed 1 had "secret" meetings all the others were discussed openly and above board. I have no doubt that UND and USD will find conference homes. You both are too good not to. I also have no doubt that when your invitations come it will be because of the hard work and open discussions that your administrations have with whatever conference you end up in. It maybe the Mid-Con, it maybe the Big Sky, it could be another conference yet to be determined. It is fun to speculate where your school my go, but do yourself a favor quite watching so may James Bond movies, and accept the reality of your situation no matter if you like it our not. UND's future is bright you just need to be patient. Remember, must things in life are what they appear to be . . . if it looks like a duck, walks like a duck, and quacks like a duck it probably is a duck.

The Mid-Con representatives met with the South Dakota Board of Regents because: 1. That was where President Miller was when they came to town, the meetings were previously scheduled. 2. President Miller is retiring at the end of this year and the Mid-Con wanted assurances that the next President of SDSU would also have a strong commitment to D-I athletics. From the Mid-Con's point of view this makes a ton of sense because the last thing they would want is to admit a new member and then the new President cuts the athletic budget in half. They received their assurances and the rest is history. 3.They spent just a few hours in Spearfish, hardly enough time to do what they came there to do let alone work the kind of behind the sense deal you envision, and from reliable sources USD was not discussed. Why in your world are there sooooo many "secret" meetings?

From the St. George paper (Southern Utah): http://www.thespectrum.com/apps/pbcs.dll/a...PORTS/611030327 Great West Football in for some changes By BEAU EASTES beastes@thespectrum.com CEDAR CITY - Changes are a coming for fans of the Great West Football Conference. As expected, Western Kentucky's board of regents approved the school's move from I-AA football to I-A on Thursday with a 7-2 vote. The decision means the Hilltoppers will leave the I-AA Gateway Football Conference for the I-A Sun Belt Conference, a league the rest of Western Kentucky's athletic programs already participate in. Like any move in college athletics, the move has ramifications beyond just the Gateway. The loss of the Hilltoppers leaves the conference with seven members, one school more than the minimum six teams required for an automatic bid into the NCAA's I-AA football playoffs. With that in mind, Gateway officials are expected to invite Great West Football Conference members North Dakota State and South Dakota State to join the Midwest-based league. . . . "It's not good for the (Great West)," Southern Utah athletic director Ken Beazer said last week when the possibility of losing the Dakotas was first brought up. "But the Great West has plans to move forward. Though the Dakotas would almost certainly participate in the Great West next season, 2008 could see several new teams in what is currently the top-ranked I-AA football conference in the country. The University of North Dakota will begin its transition from Division II to Division I/I-AA football next season and would be seen as a logical replacement for NDSU and SDSU. Additionally, on Monday the University of South Dakota received a recommendation from an intercollegiate consulting firm to make the move from Division II to I-A with a I-AA football program. Similar to when NDSU and SDSU moved classifications together, UND and USD could be seen as a package deal that would solve the Great West's membership problems, at least temporarily. "We're at the table with some other I-AA schools," said Mid-Con commissioner Tom Douple, whose conference governs the Great West. "But it takes time to develop a viable conference." (read more)

Man, I thought it was a sports board dedicated for the most part to the Fighting Sioux. I had no idea that it really was a board for high school English teachers to come and practice their critiquing skills. Well you better break out the big box of red markers for me.

I tend to doubt it as the good folks of South Dakota really took to the idea, but you never know. http://www.bartleby.com/59/4/hoistbyoneso.html hoist by one

USD helped push that through in an effort to block SDSU's move to D-I. I guess they were hoisted by their own petard.