gabe01

I agree that SFA is an average D1AA team but they are sure better than the other first games we've played over the years like Concordia St Paul or Arkansas Monticello. Winning by 10 sucks. But it was the Bisons first game of the year and they did put up 600 yards of offense, ran for nearly 8 yards per carry, had 3 of the dumberst penalties ever, and turned the ball over 5 times to SFA's 0 and still managed to win. Take away the first game rustiness and they would have beaten SFA by 50. Watch them win next week by 30. BTW, how many D1 teams do the Sioux play? And if you want to compare the Big Ten and the Mac to D2... give it a shot. I wanna hear this.

Before everyone get's all excited for beating a D1AA team... remember this. SUU is NOT a decent FCS team. They haven't beaten a team in the current Great West since 2004 and the last time they played Stephen F Austin was in 2005 and they lost 40-17. SUU straight up is a crappy football team. Just because they are playing a tough schedule doesn't mean they are good. I mean, how many coaches consider losing to Montana 37-17 a morale victory?

SUU is NOT a decent FCS team. They haven't beaten a team in the current Great West since 2004 and the last time they played Stephen F Austin was in 2005 and lost 40-17. SUU straight up is a crappy football team. Just because they are playing a tough schedule doesn't mean they are good. I mean, how many coaches consider losing to Montana 37-17 a good thing?

I'm not trying to stir the pot here... the Sioux are are a great team and would probably be a ranked D1AA team just like NDSU is but let's take a reality check here. 1) The Sioux beat the worst team in the Great West Conference. NDSU is 3-0 vs them and they blew them out 31-7 on the road last year. How bad is SUU?? SUU hasn't won a conference game against anyone in the current Great West since 2004 and the last time they played Stephen F Austin they lost 40-17 in 2005. SUU would be an average D2 team at best. 2) The Bison were playing their first game of the season and didn't have a cup cake warm up game against a weak team like Concordia St Paul like they usually do. They beat SFA by 9 points despite turning the ball over 5 times to SFA's 0. They had numerous drops (2 led to picks) and ridiculous penalties and still managed to win. Can't remember ever seeing a team win despite a 5-0 turnover disparity. The Bison put up nearly 600 yards of offense, ran for nearly 8 yards per carry, and didn't punt until late in the game. They completely dominated and would have won any other week by 40. Oh...and they were missing 2 key starters due to disciplinary crap. So are the Bison good? Hell yeah. Are the Sioux good? Hell yeah. The most improvement from any team is from week 1 to week 2.

It's tough to say because the competition is so different now. It's like comparing apples to oranges. In the past, the Sioux would compete against a dominant NCC that included teams like NDSU, Northern Colorado, and SDSU. It was the toughest D2 conference on the planet and every game was tough. They have been replaced by much weaker teams like Winona State, Crookston, Minnesota Duluth, Western and Central Washington. Obvioulsy this is a good offensive team. They could move the ball against Northern Iowa. But the games against Winona and the other soft teams padded the stats. They only played 3 tough teams all year, UNI, UNO, and SD and came out of it with a 2-1 record and won both games by a combined 11 points. The fact that Winona actually made the playoffs shows the quality of play has dropped off BIG TIME! Man, those old NCC days were tough. You will never see a D2 Conference that strong again.

As for moral victories, they may not believe in them but they should. They need to realize their place in the pecking order of college football and appreciate the fact that they didn't get blown out yesterday. They hung in there for 4 quarters against a Big 10 team, which is amazing. That wouldn't happen on paper, therefore it should be considered a moral victory. We learned yesterday that a Division I team can play the worst game they've played in over 20 years and still come away with a "W" if the opponent is a I-AA. Ya know, thats what one would think but here's a stat you can't ignore. The Gophers did not committ any turnovers. It was the Bison who committed 2 turnovers plus 2 missed field goals. They had a TD taken off the board. The Bison should have blown them out of the water. I watched he game twice and the Bison dominated in every possible way. I honestly think that the Bison would be better than many of the weak Big Ten teams. They will probably beat them next year. For the record, I am a Bison fan. I think the Sioux could definately compete with the Bison right now but I'd have to give the Bison the advantage. It's clear that a top notch D2 team and D1AA team can compete with the big dogs. The Bison proved it when they beat Montana. The Sioux proved they can compete when they visited Northern Iowa. The Bison proved it when they played the Gophers. HOWEVER... The big advantage the Bison hold is in depth. When UND beat Northern Iowa, it was during week 3 and both teams were at full strength. The Bison beat Montana early in the year too. Clearly, the Sioux starters are as good as UNI's. The backups are not. If you guys would have played UNI torward the end of the season (or in the playoffs) when your banged up, that's where UNI would have beaten the Sioux. Let's face it, a D2 backup is not in the same league as a D1AA backup, getting a free ride. That's what impressed me about playing the Gophers. We are more than half of the way finished and have lost quite a few key players. Yes, the record of the teams the Bison played are below .500 but most of those games were on the road and any D1A team with 85 scholorships is pretty darn impressive. Beating up on Georgia Southern on the road is an impressive feat. Beating up on them at home is not. I get mixed results from o ther fans on playing the Sioux. I would love to see us play again. Nothing beat that game. (Although I had the same kind of fun atmosphere at the metrodome, even a little better) The Bison don't NEED to play the Sioux. We are averaging 16,000 per game not including the road game which pulled in another 15000-20000 fans. They want to see us play schools like Montana. I just don't want to go back to the days of playing Augustana and St Cloud.