Hambone

The Norsemen (Norse for short) has been my leader in the clubhouse for a long while. I really think I could get to like that one.

According to Dakotadan right above your post, UND will be at Idaho on January 3rd. Any confirmation on which date might be correct?

I guess I misinterpretted your crack......

I'd watch what you say about OOC schedules for teams coming in, as UND hasn't exactly been burning it down in that area with Stony Brook, Lamar and NW State, and the plethora of NAIA and DII teams coming through the Al. Your question did make me a little curious, though, so I checked and noted that they had NW State, Stephen F Austin, Sam Houston St, Northeastern, Weber State, Illinois State (prior to MVFC membership). These may not have been world beater teams when they played them, but they were all from reputable conferences. Granted, since the beginning of MVFC play they haven't had any teams like these (GSU backed out of this years return), but it's a better OOC home slate than UND has been able to put out. As for your Robert Morris crack - note that they are coming to UND as OOC in 2014. As for why GT might be turning it down now - sure it might be out of spite, but they have teams like Montana State and Montana coming in for some OOC games, so they might want to have a cupcake home game to get that extra home game and ensure an FCS win for playoff selection. I thought that Faison should have taken the every other year when presented earlier, and maybe GT is just making a point. He pretty much has all the power when it comes to getting this thing going again. Do the teams need each other - definitely no. Now that UND has a full conference schedule, they see what it looked like from NDSU's perspective to only need a handful of OOC games. Who knows, with the way they set up playoffs regionally we might see UND and NDSU battle it out in the playoffs if both teams manage to get there. But, I for one would like an every other year series so we can play other teams, but get the Bison every now and then, as I always enjoyed the games, and if they finally play we can see where the teams stack up against each other.

UND has an offer out to Stephen Arnold, a Center out of Arizona who also has offers from Bryant, Penn and Yale. http://recruiting.scout.com/a.z?s=73&p=8&c=1&nid=5476431

I'm very ready for Big Sky play to start. When those first football schedules came out; well, let's just say that's the most excited I've been as it relates to football in general in a long time. UND definitely needs the Big Sky at this point to increase the competitiveness of our athletic teams. I think the football team will be there by next year, and the basketball team may get there as well. Exciting times indeed!

Offer: WR Nic Henson 6'2" 200 Chandler, AZ (Hamilton HS) - offer from Montana http://recruiting.scout.com/a.z?s=73&p=8&c=1&nid=5612677

A recap by anyone able to listen would be much appreciated.....

I had these fears when the legislature rammed the bill through, but most people were giddy and thought the Big Sky didn't care. Well, they obviously do. Hopefully we can do what's right for our athletics teams and athletes and just change the name. I know it's not a popular decision, but it's what's best for our student athletes.

Per the SFI twitter feed, UND has offers out to Andrew Larson-RB (Eden Prairie), Brett Pierce-DE (Holy Angels), Taj Rich-LB (Robb. Cooper). We knew about Rich before, but the others are new.

New offer. TE Taj Rich Minnesota Robbinsdale Cooper Sr. 6'1" N/A N/A - no other known offers http://rivals.yahoo.com/ncaa/football/recruiting/player-Taj-Rich-128507 Can't find much online about him, but as a freshman (5'8", 165 lbs.) he averaged 7.1 tackles per game. Sounds like a smart kid as well, as he's hearing from the Ivy League.....

I'm assuming there are some others that had UND on their ballots, as NDSU only increased by 14 points, meaning UND probably still had 11 or so. Might be someone else with an NDSU mixup.....

http://www.anygivensaturday.com/showthread.php?84646-AGS-Preseason-Poll-2011 1 Eastern Washington Eagles 1182 (35) 2 Georgia Southern Eagles 1088 (6) 3 William & Mary Tribe 1081 (4) 4 Appalachian State Mountaineers 1059 (3) 5 Delaware Fightin' Blue Hens 978 6 Montana State Bobcats 884 7 Wofford Terriers 830 8 North Dakota State Bison 735 9 Northern Iowa Panthers 731 10 New Hampshire Wildcats 703 11 Jacksonville State Gamecocks 633 12 Montana Grizzlies 526 13 Villanova Wildcats 513 (1) 14 Stephen F. Austin Lumberjacks 496 15 Lehigh Mountain Hawks 429 16 Richmond Spiders 375 17 James Madison Dukes 365 18 Chattanooga Mocs 363 19 Liberty Flames 309 20 Cal Poly Mustangs 244 21 South Carolina State Bulldogs 230 22 Southeast Missouri State Redhawks 188 23 Southern Illinois Salukis 187 24 Central Arkansas Bears 163 25 Bethune-Cookman Wildcats 127 Other Receiving Votes: McNeese State Cowboys 125, Pennsylvania Quakers 114, Western Illinois Leathernecks 100, Southern Utah Thunderbirds 98, Indiana State Sycamores 60, Eastern Kentucky Colonels 57, Old Dominion Monarchs 47, Florida A&M Rattlers 45, Harvard Crimson 44, South Dakota State Jackrabbits 41, Furman Paladins 33, Robert Morris Colonials 27, Jacksonville Dolphins 26, North Dakota Fighting Sioux 25, Murray State Racers 22, Weber State Wildcats 19, Elon Phoenix 19 So, who all here votes? Hopefully no one here is a big enough homer to put UND in the top 25 as of right now. Wonder what caused UND to get 25 points, as I'm not sure how anyone would put them on the top 25......

UND has an offer out to Dylan Utter, a DL from Nebraska. http://kansas.scout.com/2/1070244.html

Assuming they don't buy it out......heard there was talk of that.

That's how I'm reading it.

Montana is not on the conference schedule for 2013. Only for 2012, 2014 and 2015.

So UND will be playing the Griz at home for three straight years? Two conference and one non-conference? Nice!

Mainly because other than MSU, they are right next to EWU (distance wise) and have had a pretty healthy FB rivalry for some time.

UND gets Montana at home twice before going back to WaGriz! That's a pretty good first year schedule. Home with Montana, Cal Poly, Northern Arizona and SUU, and on the road with EWU, Montana St, UNC and Sac St. I'll take it!

Just saw they got to my question - awesome! I can't wait to see what the conference schedule will look like! Hopefully some great home games!

According to the Big Sky on facebook, they're releasing the conference schedules for 2012 - 2015 "in a little bit". Not sure if that means a couple hours or a couple days..... http://www.facebook.com/?ref=home#!/bigskyconf

Here is a story not in the Herald or Forum, but from College Sporting News, who has a lot of FCS interest. Not sure if it was posted anywhere or not, so thought I'd throw here..... http://www.collegesportingnews.com/content.php?466-NCAA-Misses-The-Whole-Aircraft-Carrier-on-North-Dakota-Nickname-Issue

Great game to get. So, other than this game and the Bison game, what else is on the schedule for next year in non-conference?

Another new person of interest has shown up on UND's rivals page. RB Jacobi Owens Las Vegas, Nevada Centennial 5'11" 175 4.5 http://rivals.yahoo.com/ncaa/football/recruiting/player-Jacobi-Owens-96494