Hammerhead

The NCAA doesn't allow rematches in the first round so they could not send Drake to UND and regionalization in the first round left NDSU as the only possible opponent for Drake.

Which conference is going to invite NDSU?

My prediction. EWU 53, UND 24.

The Bison faithful (along with MSUM, Concordia, UND, etc.) will be downtown making ESPN look good.

Last year's Sagarin rating had the Bison rated similar to a middle of the pack in the SEC as the #35 team in the country and ahead of every team in some FBS conferences. http://www.usatoday.com/sports/ncaaf/sagarin/2012/conference/

I'm a Bison fan and give Jimmy his props. The only Bison player with a similar career I've seen play is Tryone Braxton who also played 13 seasons and was in 5 Superbowls. Steve Nelson was a little before my time.

Was Roger Maris a good basketball player? He returned 4 kickoffs for touchdowns in one game at Shanley and obviously was a good baseball player. From what I've read, he decided college wasn't for him although he did have interest from Oklahoma.

Attendance should go up with quality opponents. OOC games against NDSU would be a guaranteed sellout with TV revenue. SDSU would probably draw good crowds as well.

I'd like to see the team play every year just because there is still a natural rivalry since FCS teams are few and far apart in the western 2/3 of the country. As for who would be favored this year, it's got to be NDSU. They did make it to the semi-finals last year.

Stanford's nickname is cardinal -- their primary color, not the bird as in the St. Louis Cardninals.

I'm a Bison fan who thinks this whole nickname controversy is lame. Why not call yourselves the Pioneers? It would honor the settlers from the east and Europe who replaced the native populations. I just hope it's some made up name like river dragons.

During the transition years, I would get excited about playing any Division I non-conference game since scheduling is a big headache.

It's good to know that Sioux fans (at least some of them) are rooting for the Bison. Don't take it personally if we swear at the inevitable announcer/columnist/opponent who refers to North Dakota State as "North Dakota" like it is huge insult.

This is a good example of why schools like UND and NDSU should have left Division II many years ago.

I think it's stupid for teams to wear black jerseys when black isn't a school color. I wouldn't mind some black accents to go with the green jerseys.

I don't see Portland State football going anywhere soon. (I live 12 miles west of Portland.) It seems like they are just trying to generate the same buzz present when Pokey Allen was the coach and they made it to the D-II championship game (and lost to the Bison.) With all of the transplants from California living up here, it would be very hard to compete with the PAC-10 crowd when there are 3 PAC-10 teams within 3 hours of Portland.

I can't find any numbers for the Mid-Con championship, but the 1st round games in March Madness last year pulled in mostly 7 and 8 ratings while the highest ratings for the hockey championship are in the 0.5 to 0.9 range. http://www.ncaa.org/library/records/ice_ho...mentHistory.pdf BTW, I'd love to see the Bison-Sioux rivalry start up again. If we end up in different conferences, it would make for one exiting season opener.

I guess it is time for UND to move up to D-1 -- NDSU just set a new home attendance record.

I can't remember the game, but this call was for a substitution in a football game: "In goes Cox and out come Siemens." Followed by: "I can't believe I just said that!"

PSU hasn't fared too well so far because they take a back seat to the PAC-10 schools even though the nearest one is an hour from Portland. I can't see Seattle U. taking much of the limelight from U. W. which is practically in Downtown Seattle or the Sonics.

Fargo was also larger than Grand Forks before the interstate highways, athough it has been growing slightly faster since then. Population in 1950 (pre Interstates) Fargo 38,000 G.F. 29,000 Population in 1990 (last decade before the flood) Fargo 74,000 G.F. 50,000

Winter is the most important time to enforce the ban near the doors since the cold air rushes in when the doors are open.

Perhaps the Big Sky will give up on the large media markets. I live near Portland and the write-up of the PSU/Montana game was buried near the back of the sports section in The Oregonian. BTW, student body size doesn't matter in regards to media markets. PSU has more students than Oregon or Oregon State and is in a metro area that has about 1/3 of the state's population.