Matt

I recorded it so I'll rewatch it, but I don't recall Mooney's decision hinging on $. He told an embarrassing story about the ndsu recruiter which pushed him to choose Grand Forks. Also, as long was we are talking about the big picture here, a guy named Joe Glenn got the head job at Northern Colorado in 1989 and by 1996 was on the front end of back to back national titles. It wasn't just Roger Thomas that was building a program while Hager's program was declining.

True, but it also highlights which staff did a better job in picking correctly using the exact same number of scholarships. UND did it better in the 90s, NDSU did it better (than most anyone in the nation) in the 80s.

The top teams of the NCC were fully funded. That's the fatal flaw in the argument. Scholarship reductions helped prop up small d-2 programs that gradually rose to prominence in the late 90s-see UM-Duluth-but as it pertains to Roger vs Rocky, the programs were on equal scholarship footing. Roger and his staff were just flat out better recruiters. I've talked to too many guys with the same story: bison recruiter tells kid he's fortunate bison were recruiting him; sioux recruiter tells him we would be fortunate to have kid choose und. I think the arrogance caught up with them the further away from the glory days they got. Remember, the class with Satter was recruited in the fall of 86 when Solomonson was there. Rocky's first full year started in 87. Look at what started to happen 4+ years after that. Every recruiting class performed progressively worse, particularly vs und.

If SDSU were ranked, I'd say that would garner more votes, even with the loss. I think there will still be votes, but it will surprise me to get more than last week after this loss.

This is not the UND defense that any of us remember. When they lose but play a respectable game, everyone needs to remember the sky isn't falling. There's an entire conference schedule to go through.

http://aol.sportingn...tball/polls/fcs Coaches Rank Team (1st Place Votes) W-L Votes Last Week Next Game 1 North Dakota State (23) 2-0 645 1 PVA&M 2 Sam Houston State (2) 1-0 611 2 @ Baylor 3 Georgia Southern 1-1 597 3 Elon 4 Montana State 2-0 518 4 SFA ( #21) 5 Old Dominion 2-0 498 6 Camp 6 James Madison 2-0 469 8 @ WVU 7 Northern Iowa 1-1 466 7 @ Iowa 8 Appalachian State 1-1 434 5 Cit 9 Montana 1-1 428 10 Lib 10 Youngstown State 2-0 407 18 Albany 11 Eastern Washington 1-1 348 15 @ Web 12 New Hampshire 1-1 346 12 CentCt 13 Wofford 2-0 336 13 WCU 14 Lehigh 2-0 328 11 Prince 15 Delaware 2-0 300 14 Buck 16 Towson 0-1 290 9 W&M 17 Stony Brook 2-0 241 17 @ Syr 18 Maine 0-1 212 16 @ Bryant 19 Illinois State 2-0 157 20 EastIl 20 Central Arkansas 1-1 109 19 Bacone 21 McNeese State 2-0 102 - @ Web 21 Stephen F. Austin 1-1 102 24 @ MontSt ( #4) 23 Harvard 0-0 89 22 SD 24 Norfolk State 2-0 82 23 Howard 25 Eastern Kentucky 1-1 58 21 @ CoastC Other teams that received votes: Indiana State 57, Liberty 39, South Carolina State 34, Jacksonville State 32, Tennessee-Martin 25, Bethune-Cookman 17, Tennessee Tech 16, William & Mary 14, North Dakota 11, Cal Poly 7, Portland State 7, Albany 7, Alabama A&M 6, Cornell 2, Jackson State 2, Samford 2, Tennessee State 1, Pennsylvania 1

http://www.sportsnetwork.com/merge/tsnform.aspx?c=sportsnetwork&page=cfoot2/misc/tsn-div-1aa-poll.htm The Sports Network FCS Top-25 College Football Poll Team (First-place votes) Record Points Previous Rank 1. North Dakota State Bison (94) 2-0 3,946 2 2. Sam Houston State Bearkats (61) 1-0 3,897 1 3. Montana State Bobcats (1) 2-0 3,485 4 4. James Madison Dukes (1) 2-0 3,398 5 5. Youngstown State Penguins (4) 2-0 3,367 6 6. Old Dominion Monarchs 2-0 3,037 7 7. Northern Iowa Panthers 1-1 2,884 8 8. Appalachian State Mountaineers 1-1 2,796 11 9. Wofford Terriers 2-0 2,554 10 10. Eastern Washington Eagles 1-1 2,431 9 11. Georgia Southern Eagles 1-1 2,201 3 12. Towson Tigers 0-1 1,987 13 13. Delaware Blue Hens 2-0 1,900 15 14. Montana Grizzlies 1-1 1,756 12 15. Illinois State Redbirds 2-0 1,692 18 16. Lehigh Mountain Hawks 2-0 1,639 16 17. Stony Brook Seawolves 2-0 1,460 17 18. New Hampshire Wildcats 1-1 1,422 14 19. McNeese State Cowboys 2-0 962 22 20. Eastern Kentucky Colonels 1-1 704 21 21. The Citadel Bulldogs 2-0 649 NR 22. Indiana State Sycamores 1-1 571 23 23. Stephen F. Austin Lumberjacks 1-1 564 19 24. Jacksonville State Gamecocks 1-1 509 24 25. Maine Black Bears 0-1 472 20 Others receiving votes: Central Arkansas 462, Norfolk State 256, Bethune-Cookman 207, Harvard 159, Northern Arizona 158, Sacramento State 149, North Dakota 123, UT Martin 71, Tennessee Tech 64, Cal Poly 52, Albany 50, Samford 41, South Dakota State 36, Tennessee State 29, Richmond 24, Alabama State 23, Eastern Illinois 21, Penn 17, Southern Utah 16, South Carolina State 15, Western Illinois 11, Lafayette 9, Coastal Carolina 9, William & Mary 7, Southeast Missouri State 7, Georgetown 6, Liberty 6, Villanova 4, Alcorn State 3, Alabama A&M 2, Murray State 1, Monmouth 1, Drake 1, Cornell 1, Chattanooga 1

That sounds good. But, as Reginald VelJohnson told Bruce Willis in Die Hard, "now that's a date, but your're gonna have to bring the ice cream."

There have been improvements since the move up, but I'm not sure the defense is one of them. That defense is not this defense.

I don't disagree UND has the ability to get an FBS win. The context here is home attendance. It's unreasonable to link whether or not fans show up to home games to whether a team wins a road FBS game. Sure it would be helpful, but the standard has to be success in the conference and future playoffs. Who knows-a UND FBS win may not come for quite a while. If the eggs are in the FBS basket, that's a mistake IMHO. The NDSU attendance trend was increasing before their first FBS win.

You think they will be disappointed with a 25 point win?

I don't think that's a reasonable expectation. FBS wins, while certainly not impossible, are relatively rare and most definitely shouldn't be linked to home attendance. It's difficult enough to win on the road against a team against whom you are on a level playing field let alone vs FBS teams where the deck is stacked against you, and those games are ALWAYS on the road. Big Sky wins should be enough. But then again, life ain't fair.

It seems someone is able to leverage hockey relationships to schedule football games. "New Hampshire's relationship with the Gophers in hockey led to the Wildcats stepping in as the replacement." http://www.twincities.com/sports/ci_21491256/gophers-football-tcf-bank-stadium-will-be-dakota

http://www.fcsfootballnetwork.com/polls/coaches-poll/ COACHES POLL NCAA FCS Coaches Top 25 Poll North Dakota State (23) Sam Houston State (2) Georgia Southern Montana State Old Dominion James Madison Northern Iowa Appalachian State Montana Youngstown State Eastern Washington New Hampshire Wofford Lehigh Delaware Towson Stony Brook Maine Illinois State Central Arkansas McNeese State (1) (T-21) Stephen F. Austin Harvard Norfolk State Eastern Kentucky Others receiving votes: Indiana State (57); Liberty (39); South Carolina State (34); Jacksonville State (32); UT Martin (25); Bethune-Cookman (17); Tennessee Tech (16); William & Mary (14); North Dakota (11); Albany (7); Cal Poly (7); Portland State (7); Alabama A&M (6); Cornell (2); Jackson State (2); Samford (2); Pennsylvania (1); Tennessee State (1).

http://www.sportsnet...oot225poll.aspx The Sports Network FCS Top 25 College Football Poll Team (First-place votes) 2012 Record Points Previous Rank 1. Sam Houston State Bearkats (87) 0-0 3985 1 2. North Dakota State Bison (65) 1-0 3947 2 3. Georgia Southern Eagles (4) 1-0 3651 3 4. Montana State Bobcats (1) 1-0 3457 4 5. James Madison Dukes 1-0 3269 5 6. Youngstown State Penguins (7) 1-0 2988 13 7. Old Dominion Monarchs 1-0 2842 8 8. Northern Iowa Panthers 0-1 2727 9 9. Eastern Washington Eagles 1-0 2505 12 10. Wofford Terriers 1-0 2488 10 11. Appalachian State Mountaineers 0-1 2484 6 12. Montana Grizzlies 1-0 2240 11 13. Towson Tigers 0-1 2236 7 14. New Hampshire Wildcats 1-0 2063 14 15. Delaware Blue Hens 1-0 1779 15 16. Lehigh Mountain Hawks 1-0 1530 16 17. Stony Brook Seawolves 1-0 1484 17 18. Illinois State Redbirds 1-0 1229 19 19. Stephen F. Austin Lumberjacks 1-0 1082 20 20. Maine Black Bears 0-0 743 21 21. Eastern Kentucky Colonels 0-1 689 18 22. McNeese State Cowboys 1-0 594 NR 23. Indiana State Sycamores 0-1 531 23 24. Jacksonville State Gamecocks 0-1 443 22 25. Central Arkansas Bears 0-1 356 24 Others receiving votes: Harvard 327, Liberty 213, UT Martin 173, South Carolina State 169, William & Mary 168, Norfolk State 146, Bethune-Cookman 134, Cal Poly 84, Chattanooga 76, Tennessee Tech 52, Eatern Illinois 48, Northern Arizona 43, North Dakota 43, Murray State 40, Albany 38, Portland State 34, South Dakota State 34, Penn 17, Samford 17, Alabama State 16, Tennessee State 16, Dayton 12, Morgan State 9, SE Missouri State 8, Idaho State 7, Southern Utah 7, Duquesne 7, Richmond 5, Georgetown 4, Furman 4, Alabama A&M 3, Alcorn State 3, Jackson State 3, Villanova 2, The Citadel 2, Cornell 2, San Diego 2, Western Illinois 1, Drake 1, Arkansas-Pine Bluff 1, UC Davis 1.

Nice analysis.

2012 FCS Coaches Preseason Poll - August 22, 2012 Team (No. 1 Votes) 2011 Record Points Final 2011 Ranking 1. North Dakota State (19) 14-1 640 1 2. Sam Houston State (6) 14-1 623 2 3. Georgia Southern (1) 11-3 592 3 4. Montana State 10-3 540 7 5. Appalachian State 8-4 504 11 6. Old Dominion 10-3 470 10 7. Northern Iowa 10-3 466 5 8. James Madison 8-5 456 14 9. Towson 9-2 454 9 10. Montana 11-3 425 4 11. Lehigh 11-2 371 6 12. New Hampshire 8-4 337 12 13. Wofford 6-2 322 13 14. Delaware 7-4 294 20 15. Eastern Washington 6-5 248 NR 16. Maine 9-4 232 8 17. Stony Brook 9-4 228 16 18. Youngstown State 6-5 184 NR 19. Central Arkansas 9-4 157 15 20. Illinois State 7-4 148 22 21. Eastern Kentucky 7-5 127 21 22. Harvard 9-1 113 17 23. Norfolk State 9-3 72 NR 24. Stephen F. Austin 6-5 69 NR 25. Indiana State 6-5 66 NR Others Receiving Votes: Jacksonville State (54); Liberty (48); Murray State (32); Jackson State (30); Bethune-Cookman (21); Tennessee Tech (20); South Carolina State (15); Florida A&M (14); Grambling State (13); William & Mary (12); North Dakota (10); Albany (9); Northern Arizona (9); Cal Poly (8); Chattanooga (7); Portland State (7); Alabama A&M (3); Idaho State (3); Cornell (2); Pennsylvania (2); Alabama State (1); McNeese State (1); San Diego (1).

It's been reported that Sanford must be approached by someone for a "partnership". They don't take a predatory role in these mergers. Take MedcenterOne for example. They were in talks with Sanford several years ago, but broke down because, among other things, Medcenter didn't want to give up their name. Medcenter reconsidered years later, approached Sanford, and here we are. The string attached to funding a state of the art children's hospital is that it, understandably, will be called Sanford, not MedcenterOne. Likewise, should UND approach Sanford tomorrow, it wouldn't surprise me to find out on Sept 1st that the new Sanford indoor practice facility will break ground in the spring.

Until such time as "Sanford" is synonymous with "Mayo", yes, I suspect they-that is to say-"he", will be.

Why would a basketball facility be the requirement for a Sanford-UND partnership? I would think there are many other possibilities for UND to use a potential 20M Sanford partnership.

How long before UND kicks Altru to the curb and takes the money? Can they afford to stick with Altru? http://www.argusleader.com/article/20120808/NEWS/308080041/Argus-Leader-Exclusive-Sanford-giving-20-million-to-USD?odyssey=tab%7Cmostpopular%7Ctext%7CNEWS

For those of you that played, here's a question. When a poll comes out, and your team is ranked #6 instead of #4. Does that mean something to you? Not really. It's pre season and a lot of ranked teams have to play each other. Now, if your team receives ZERO votes, coming off a conference championship, you think that has no meaning? Hell yes that means something to me. It means a helluvalot of voters don't think much of my team. By extension they don't think much of me, or my achievement from last year. It means I want to remedy that by shoving a football down the throat of every opponent, and voter. Maybe I'm alone in that thinking. I don't know.

College Sporting News 2012 FCS Preseason Top 25 1. North Dakota State 2. Sam Houston State 3. Georgia Southern 4. Montana State 5. James Madison 6. Appalachian State 7. Towson 8. Old Dominion 9. Northern Iowa 10. Montana 11. Lehigh 12. Eastern Washington 13. Delaware 14. New Hampshire 15. Wofford 16. Stony Brook 17. Youngstown State 18. Illinois State 19. Maine 20. Eastern Kentucky 21. Central Arkansas 22. Indiana State 23. Liberty 24. Murray State 25. Stephen F. Austin Others receiving votes: Bethune-Cookman, Harvard, Chattanooga, Grambling State, Norfolk State, Southern Illinois, Villanova, Jacksonville State.

At a minimum it says this player would rather pay for his own education and play at UND than play on scholarship at NDSU. Any way you spin it, NDSU looks terrible in this. They should have gauged the kid's interest before making the offer because when he refuses...

I couldn't fault him for taking a scholarship offer somewhere, you don't say no to someone paying for your education, not in this economy. Now, if he leaves for just another preferred walk-on...