Bison06

Actually, I directly addressed his argument with a simile and some hyperbole to drive my point home, so in no way is that a strawman argument.

Do you have a problem with Dickinson Trinity or Kindred or Lisbon claiming a state football championship?

If it bothers you that much, may I suggest that you petition your AD to make the move up to FBS.

What point are you trying to make that anyone is disagreeing with you about? It has been conceded that if NDSU wins this game, they won't be considered to be the best team in the country. That doesn't make the championship "not a true D-I championship".

Just because you keep saying that doesn't make it true. You can say it isn't the highest level of competition, but you can't say it isn't a true D-I championship. That's like saying your Division I hockey championships count for nothing because there is still the NHL that is a higher level. And wait the NBA championship is meaningless due to it not involving teams from all over the world. Olympics are meaningless because they only involve our planet, there has to better basketball teams in another solar sytem somewhere in the universe. We could do this all day. I haven't heard any NDSU fan claim that if we are fortunate enough to win the game on Jan. 7th that we will be the best college football team in the country.

One could also argue that NDSU is better than Alabama based on performances by both teams against Georgia Southern. Why do UND fans continue to degrade the level of competition that their athletes play at, and if I-FCS is the new Division II, how much validity does that give UND's national championship run in '01?

I guess I didn't know that there were NDSU fans that were claiming to be the best Division I football team in the country. The championship is what it is, a Division I football championship. Nobody is claiming to be anything other than the best Division I FCS football team when they win the FCS championship. It isn't anything more than that, but it certainly isn't anything less than that. Don't try to downplay the accomplishment by saying it isn't any better than an old DII championship.

I can't help but laugh at this comment, it is just so predictable that some UND fans would respond this way. If UND were in the championship you would not come on this forum and say it isn't a true D-I championship.

I remember when we used to play Cal-Poly we would always have a special scheme lined up for them because of their unique offensive sets. It always bit us in the butt, because we weren't as familiar with our responsibilities in that defense as we were our base sets. They had some pretty amazing personell back when I played, but even if they hadn't we blew so many coverages because we were unfamiliar with our responsibilities and out of our comfort zone. Hopefully UND doesn't make a similar mistake.

Ok...could you please elaborate slightly?

Honest question to Sioux fans, because I have said it and other Bison fans have said it, but I haven't really heard anyone who is a Sioux fan agree. Do you think UND can ever get back to being an elite team with the current head coach?

I'm not saying they didn't want him bad, for all I know he was their top recruit for next year's class. That doesn't change the fact that it is still only one guy, now if this becomes a trend, maybe it shows up on Bohl's radar. We have lost recruits to other schools besides UND before and I have no doubt that will continue to happen in the future. Losing a recruit here and there to another school doesn't strike fear into the heart of coach bohl I would imagine. It is a competitive game and losing a guy here and there is all a part of it.

I have no doubt Coach Bohl called many Minnesota high school recruits before and after the game, doesn't really mean anything.

UND gets one recruit that NDSU offered and now you are a force to reckoned with? UND doesn't have the coaching in place to EVER compete with NDSU at this point regardless of players in your system. Get a coaching staff that has the ability to win a big game and get back to me.

I used to think you were a pretty level headed poster on this and other boards, but lately you have really taken a serious turn in the LakesBison direction. To say that coach Bohl is worried about UND is beyond comprehension. What in his history would lead him to worry about UND. He has only played one game head to head with UND and then the series was discontinued. He thinks about UND about as much as Mussman thinks about NDSU, which I would assume is only when asked. I have no doubt in my mind that UND will eventually get back to being a nationally known team at the FCS level, but to say it has already happened is dilusional and any objective poster on this board knows that in the FCS world UND is a relative unknown at this point.

So when UND plays Minnesota, there are 15-20k people who would like to be at the game and can't get in. I am not saying UND hockey isn't popular, but that isn't even close to reality.

UND could not pack 30,000 into the Ralph on a regular basis or even once for that matter. That's as dilusional as NDSU fans thinking we had 30,000 in the metrodome. Like you said Hockey is popular, around here.

It's always interesting to hear the same talking points come out of UND and NDSU fans, but this one has got to go. You seem like a logical person, so you realize that UND hockey makes up the vast majority of that. NDSU doesn't even offer that sport so it only makes sense if you have an extra sport, which to UND's credit is attended quite well, that you will have a higher total attendance for the year.

Of course doing something more than once is more of an accomplishment than doing it just once. That doesn't make doing it once any less special. Northwestern has been trying for quite a long time to get into the tournament that "getting in with an auto-bid isn't that hard to do".

Is UND football not profitable?

Profitable to the NCAA maybe, I'll agree with that, I'd be interested to see the actual numbers but it seems logical. Why is it always argued about whether football or hockey is bigger in the state? What is the point? They don't even compete against each other for a fan base. I know plenty of NDSU football fans who are UND hockey fans, so why this constant dick measuring contest between the fans of these two? NDSU fans say we have more fans at each game, UND fans say well we have more total fans come to games throughout the season? It's the same as the Vikings arguing with the twins about who has more fans. Who cares, they don't compete against each other.

Honest question to you. What, other than having a school that has a great hockey team and being a hockey fan, makes you think that Division I hockey is more popular than Division I FCS football nationally?

You poopoo that like it's a no big deal thing. Getting the dance is a MAJOR accomplishment, if you weren't so blinded by NDSU hatred you would see that. So if recruiting is how you measure success during the transition, are you saying that UND has recruited to a level that you will be ready when the transition ends? From my limited time on this board I have heard a lot of complaining about your recruiting classes of late. In fact there is another thread on this board that a poster said he thinks UND had more talent 5-10 years ago than they do now.

I have followed the Sioux program for as long as I can remember and if you think that UND is on a similar path that SDSU was on you are dilusional. UND's football program is near rock bottom, the coach will be fired if not this year then next year and you will be starting over. IMO this will be a good thing. SDSU had stability during their transition with coaching and it just so happened that the recruiting they did led up to a great season the year they were eligible. NDSU's recruiting unfortunately culminated the year before they were eligible for the playoff. It's a long term race here and UND is not on a path that an objective fan would say is going to get the team to where you ultimately want to be.

I never said they are better because they went to Division I first, what I said is that if you look at what UND has done during their transition and compare it to what NDSU did in the same time frame, NDSU had more success.