Bison06

Do you guys have a quarterback who is a shoe in for the QB spot next year or is it pretty wide open?

I agree with that point, but what would you have NDSU call themselves in the football scenario? They certainly aren't DII, they are somewhere in between. I have no problem with admitting that NDSU is not DI like Wisconsin in football, but they are in every other sport. It creates a problem with the naming. So until that gets taken care of the FCS/FBS is a very important distinction to make for recruiting. It is important to have the word Football in the name so people know it is only a distinction made in football. The old way, technically Gonzaga was a DI-AAA school as were Marquette and Wichita State. It was just a bad naming system. The change they made is not perfect by any means, but it is important as UND will see in recruting battles with some of the "Big Dog" DI schools. Also, I think that NDSU or UND saying they are DI in football without adding FCS on the end is just as backward and misleading as calling them I-AA schools.

I don't know how to say this without sounding condescending, you have completely missed the point. I know it's just for football, but that is the point of putting football in the name.(Football Bowl Championship)I am not saying ESPN uses it, I am not saying that all coaches use it, I am not saying that I use it all of the time. All I am saying is there is a legit reason for the changes to the terminology and to say that it's only because I want to be a big dog is incorrect.

Being a teenager that did take the time to look into my college selection I agree with this statement, but the recruiting process is competetive, unethical coaches will lie to gain an advantage. We have seen these unethical practices in so many situations over the years that it should not come as a surprise that they were going on in this situation. Also, I know that a lot of you don't follow basketball at UND, but to continue to refer to your whole school as I-AA is harmful to all other sports besides football. There is a distinction for a reason as I stated in my previous post. So if you call your football team I-AA I won't get mad, but made sure that people understand it is for football only. If you don't we will be right back to the problems we had before the name change with recruting. This is why I use FCS and FBS, not because I feel inferior in some way to the "Big Dogs", but because I don't want people to unfairly judge the level of competition that NDSU and UND compete at. I am not trying to make it more than it is, but I also don't want it to be viewed as less than it is either. As far as convincing DaveK, I am well aware that once he digs his feet in on a subject there is no changing his mind. I just want to make sure you all know there is a legitamate reason for the name change and not just small schools feel inferior. That and I must be extraordinarily bored today.

I realize we have been through this numerous times, but here we go again. I will use an example to make my point. If the University of Southern Illinois and the University of Illinois were recruiting the same player to come to their school and play BASKETBALL, what was happening before they made the change from I and I-AA to FBS and FCS was the University of Illinois coaches would sit down in this player's home and lie to them. They would say why would you go to The University of Southern Illinois when they are a I-AA school. Which we all know is only correct when referring to the football team. The kid, most likely 16-18 years old and uninformed, believes these coaches and opts to go to the University of Illinois based only on the fact that they were told that the University of Southern Illinois was inferior in some way. To guard against this behavior, the NCAA enacted the new naming system. It's purpose was to add the word football into the new name so recruits would know that the names only applied to football. Football Championship Subdivision and Football Bowl subdivision. So you see, the purpose of this new naming system is not some sort of inferiority complex that the smaller division I schools have. They were being screwed out of recruits by the big schools lying to teenagers. You can see how this would affect a school like NDSU, UND, UNI, SIU when trying to recruit athletes in other sports. UND has a strong hockey program. What if the University of Minnesota began telling unsuspecting recruits that you guys were somehow inferior to them and was winning recruiting battles solely on that. You would be pissed. This is what happened, and this is why they changed the names. SIU is just as strong if not stronger in basketball than some of the teams that would win recruiting battles over them, because teenagers were being lied to. Some might say "well the kids should be smarter than that and do research on the school on their own". I agree with that, but big schools shouldn't have a HUGE advantage over smaller schools because teenagers are too lazy to do research on which college to go to. For those of you who understood this before my rant, I apologize. Dave just seems to make it about an inferiority complex that FCS schools have and it just plain isn't true.

My point that our records were similar was only in response to DaveK saying we have done significantly better since moving up. I account for the similar records by saying that we have had better coaches, better players, better fan supports etc. to go along with the upgrade in competition. As I have said many times I expect UND to do very well through the transition, my point was only to say that NDSU doing well doesn't indicate how UND will do at all. They may do better, they may do the same, they may do much worse who knows? You can't compare the two situations because so many variables have taken effect since NDSU made the move. My qualm wasn't with the Sioux majority. I realize most Sioux fans are very level headed about things of this nature. Most, if not all, of the post was directed at DaveK.

Yes, I do think NDSU is ALOT better than they used to be. I am not sure what is being accomplished by comparing our scores against Southern Utah. I think time and time again comparative scoring has been shown to be a poor yardstick to measure two teams. Also, I don't think it is unreasonable to think that a team that was ranked #1 in FCS a good portion of the year and beat two I-A schools is better than all of DII. Do you?

The only one of those 3 teams that is considered to be at the top of FCS is NDSU, and IMO they haven't earned that yet. Also, I don't think to look at another team's success or lack of success proves anything about UND one way or the other. Look, I am not putting down UND or USD in any way. But, it's just not true when you continue to say it isn't a step up. I had a unique experience to play half of my career in D2 and half in FCS. I can say with no bias one way or the other, that the players in FCS are head and shoulder above D2 players. Bigger, stronger, faster at every position. The biggest difference is that with very few exceptions, every team you play at the FCS level has the talent to beat you. That is not the case in D2. This is just my experience with the two divisions. NDSU had some amazing recruiting classes come through in the last 6 years and that is a big reason for the success they have had, not the lack of competition.

My apologies if you are a statitician. I haven't taken the time, nor will I, to decipher whether this instance would be considered significant or not. I am merely saying, with my knowledge of football, that two four year intervals that are as similar as these two are should not be used as a marker as to the level of competition at the FCS level. NDSU consistently won 7-9 games a year every year leading up to the transition(except 2002). After the transition NDSU has won 7-10 games a year. I think a reasonable person would see these 4 year intervals as quite similar. The only reason I am met with any opposition whatsoever is because I am a fan of your rival school. If a loyal Sioux fan had presented this exact argument it would have been met with open arms. Sioux fans like to point to 2002 as an indicator as to the state of the program, as I said earlier it was a blip on the radar. If it makes you feel better to point at NDSU and say "They actually did better when they made the transition, FCS must be a joke" then by all means go right ahead. The facts just don't support that opinion. New coach, more funding, city re-investing as a fan base, these are the things that have gone right with NDSU's transition(SDSU also, for that matter), not the level of competition. I expect, as I always have, that UND and USD will come out of the transition very well, but it will have little/nothing to do with NDSU and SDSU's success. I think most of you would agree.

Don't I look foolish. Thanks for the correction.

I guess your UND math didn't teach you about statistically signifigant figures. I would call that a natural difference in records that could occur between any two 4 year periods. 6-7 wins or losses either way is pretty similar in my book, especially when you take into account one of those years accounts for 50% of the losses over the 4 year period.

I am curious how NDSU's records have improved, since the move up to DI. 2000...........12-2 2001...........7-3 2002...........2-8 2003...........8-3 2004...........8-3 2005...........7-4 2006...........10-1 2007...........10-1 The 4 seasons leading up to the official move to DI(2000-2003), NDSU was a combined 29-15. The 4 seasons since(2004-2007), NDSU was a combined 35-12. I would say those two are very comparable. It seems that you have taken the 2002 season as a good example of the state of the program. It was a blip on the radar. I expect UND and USD to well in the transition, but don't pull the "NDSU seemed to get better when they moved up, so the competition must be weaker argument". There are levels of competition in the NCAA for a reason. DIII<DII<FCS<FBS. There will always be a game here and there that speak to the contrary, but as a general rule moving up will bring more fierce competition.

All of that may be true, I really dont want to look it up or know if it's possible. But, this doesn't discount my original point that the current players have a rivalry with SDSU not UND. So when NDSU fans say our rival is SDSU I would have to agree with them.

My guess would be that the people from Bisonville that also have accounts here are people who attended the school or were a fan of the school when we did play UND and vice versa for Siouxsportsters over on Bisonville. I have never claimed to not care about what goes on at UND, I am from ND and have an interest in both teams. I only cheer for one. If you are saying that Bison fans having an account and posting on this website somehow proves that we are still "obsessed" or that it proves we are still rivals, I would like to point out I have accounts on SDSU, Minnesota, EGriz, and AGS. I like to contribute to conversations that my frame of reference might give a different perspective. Also I probably have way to much free time on my hands. Again, I conceded the fact that many fans still care about the other school. My point was that the players from both sides would probably not name the other as thier rival. I doubt many current Bison players post here very often.

Exactly my point, you can't have a rivalry with someone you have never played. So if we continue to not play each other, all of a sudden we have close to a decade of alums from both sides who have never seen a game played between the two schools.

Mcfeely is just trying to get everyone riled up and knows this is an easy way to hit a nerve with hot-heads from both sides. The fact of the matter is there isn't one player on either NDSU or UND's roster that has participated in a game between the two schools. So to alumni and fans maybe it will take more than 5-10 years of not playing each other for another school to be considered a "true" rival. But, I can guarantee you that if you were to ask an NDSU athlete who thier rival is, they would come back with SDSU 99% of the time. We have had some great games with them and it has picked up a great deal since this move up. Call it manufactured, call it convoluted, call it whatever you want in the stands or on a message board, but to athletes from NDSU and SDSU it's the real deal.

When that psychiatrist prescribes medication for these condition, they would have to get those from a pharmacist, from a pharmacy school, like at NDSU.

Thanks guys, I appreciate the responses

I have noticed that you guys seem to be hitting Canada pretty hard this year. Historically, have players out of Canada been able to make the transition to the American style game or is it difficult for them? Also, are there any Big-Time players that the general public has heard of that have come out of Canada?(i.e. been stars for UND or other colleges, or made it to the league)

There have been a lot of Bison fans laughing at the schedule you guys have coming up for next fall, but I am not one of them. Scheduling at the beginning of the transition is not easy. It isn't as though you wanted to schedule all of these teams, it was out of necessity. Your administration put a lot of hard work into getting great teams on the schedule and it just didn't happen. It will, no worries. So fight through the first year(maybe 2) and the schedules will be really exciting when you come out on the other end. Every fanbase has a-holes, we aren't all that way.

Wow, grammar police are on patrol.

Not that it may not be true, but he really throws whoever blocks for him under the bus with the blocked kicks comment down the page.

Maybe it is just me, but that doesn't seem like a great thing to say when you are starting at a new position.

I would say that it depends on whose perspective you are looking at the situation from. From a fan's point of view I would say UND is the better situation. Better facilities, more excitement about the program. But, from a coaches perspective it's a no-brainer IMO. Better paying job, and most importantly the ability to recruit to SIU is much, much easier, they are in the heart of a great recruiting area.

I agree some Bison fans got a little pissy about that, but if you notice more and more "major" sports authorities are becoming more accustomed to the terms.