Matt

Statistically, the population of Cass/Clay counties alone should support 20k imho. I'd be interested to see what ndsu's internal potential attendance projections look like.

Let's give it some perspective. Fargo's 2010 population of 105,549 and the avg attendance ndsu reported to the NCAA in 2010 was 15,994 per game. Let's compare that to the Montana. The 2010 Census put the population of Missoula at 66,788. Yet they averaged 25,715 in their attendance. Even if I expand the parameters out, Missoula county is still only slightly larger than Fargo proper at 109,299. So, you can come here and smack talk UND fans about the ndsu attendance all you want. Beating UND in football attendance isn't a very high bar, never has been. Just don't break your arm patting yourself on the back for your freaking tenth place national attendance ranking. The facts show ndsu is nowhere near where it should be, and if you keep comparing it to where UND is at, they never will be.

I AM A SIOUX FAN YOU FOOOOOOOOOOOOOL!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Sometimes all a guy can do is shake his head and smile.

You guys, that was the irony in my post. UND has never been credited with a better recruiting class, no matter how often they beat ndsu.

Very nice facilities at JMU http://www.jmusports.com/ViewArticle.dbml?DB_OEM_ID=14400&ATCLID=205241033

You are bickering over scraps, these averages are way behind the national leaders.

There was disappointment with that playoff attendance both inside the athletic department, and with the fanbase. No use in rewriting that history.

I have never in my lifetime heard a media report, nor bison fan analysis, which said und had a better recruiting class than ndsu. I don't expect that to change, no matter what the head to head record says from year to year.

Re: woods, it depends on your information source. The BB people I talk to tell me woods' first choice sport is hoops. It's the sport he works on, and practices in the offseason. FB he doesn't put the work in to, he's just that much more naturally athletic and talented. It may come down to the decision of whether he is willing to significantly increase his commitment level to what is required to play football at UND or NDSU, or play the sport he likes better, but at a D2 school.

Having only internet coverage of the game will also significantly boost attendance. If I work in the ndsu ticket office, I don't think I bark too loudly for TV coverage.

If that is happening to them at this point in the season, after what ndsu did to them at home in the playoffs last year, I don't have much faith they will make a run this year.

Heard Jim O'Day on the playoff selection show today reiterating the importance of 7 division 1 qualifying wins. If you bring in Mines that's fine, but you damn well better get to 7 wins or don't cry on my shoulder if you end up like Delaware.:

I've never agreed with this line of thinking. The NCC beat each other up every year and all that did is sharpen whichever team made it to the playoffs. While you could make a case it made it more difficult to make the playoffs, you certainly can't make a case that it meant an NCC team was less likely to win the national title when they made the field.

Go read what the FB fans had to say about the BB program on the basketball thread at b-ville after the MSUM debacle.

Two division one recruits at playmaking positions, and DL didn't make it out of their section? I wanna see that Perham roster (i think it was Perham that beat them). There must at least be walk on talent there.

Sometimes the difference just comes down to the ability to sustain blocks on special teams I guess. I would have thought the difference between these two teams was a bit wider than that.

I was looking at this game as payback. Why do I still feel unavenged?

It also says something about the state of affairs that an opposing fan is giving the game updates...and doing an admirable job.

When did that become a zero sum, either or scenario? Or dependent upon the budget situation? Past legislatures sitting on budget surpluses have failed to pass a Vikings stadium bill.

How you, or the Sioux fans you speak with, choose to define UND (as a "hockey" school), is less relevant than whether or not the rest of the athletic department can compete for Big Sky championships in the same fashion it did in the NCC. The success of UND athletics outside of hockey speaks for itself, despite how anyone else chooses to label it, "hockey school" or otherwise.

I'm out there at least 2 days per week. Those trends are correct. It's happening and there's no end in sight.

I guess I would say its different because the regional MVFC/Summit teams have had kids from MN/WI up and down their rosters, and have for years. The Big Sky has no brand established east. That's why I'm eager to see the marketing plan rolled out as we go into next year.

You've lost me on something. You cite compelling census data as to why it indeed does make so much sense for UND to differentiate by turning westward, yet you then say the bulk of the recruits will always come from the east, where there is virtually no Big Sky media penetration? What did you have in mind for the western popluation data you cited if not the market for student athletes? Or were you just agreeing with my assertion that the UND marketing department will have a big job on their hands to compete for Big Sky share of voice in the east?

You are dead on with your data, but won't the recruiting philosophy have to change focus to go along with that? Looking at the media guide, about 60% of the football roster comes from states on the I-29/I-90/I-94 corridor or parts east. Overwhelmingly unbalanced MVFC-Big Sky media messaging (I didn't include kids from west of Jamestown or the Grand Forks kids in that estimate). There are definitely more kids from CA and AZ than there was prior to the D-1 move, but that's true for NDSU as well. It doesn't seem the recruiting base is changing much to coincide with a Big Sky media messaging focus to the west.