I believe it was the tone of the initial question, which to me came off as "We gave up our nickname for D1 in all sports, and we're playing this team?" to me. Heck, even in the post right above yours, he says "I don't follow Sioux, er, North Dakota football" which to me seems a little more nickname related. I think that's where some of the attacks coming from. It seems like a hidden agenda posted in the form of an innocent question (whether intentional or not, that's how it came off to me).
In response to MM, I would encourage you to watch a few games on bigskytv - I too live in the MSP metro area and I catch most (if not all) games and keep myself up to date