Herd

Now that the best class in NDSU history has passed through, I guess its safe for UND to again push for a game. Where is BF's indignation for not getting a softball game scheduled? Why isn't that getting done . . . the state of ND deserves to see some softball.

It is a little hard to understand the DI in DI hockey when Union destroys the field, and Union, RPI, Duluth and CO College are major players. Yes you have Mn, Wi, and MI too, but it's a coin toss when they face a DIII academic level school in the playoffs. College wresting has a few DIIs but they are not near the top. I certainly respect College puck, but you don't expect a no name to dominate and win a title, and it's becoming common as good 'teams' are better than good individuals. Adds some interest I guess.

Travis Beck walked 20 yards around the corner (see video tape), and I think that got an extra 40 pages on this site for his awful 'resisting arrest' action. Fleeing to avoid arrest is no big deal? It sure was over here with Travis, and he didn't run from the police at all. Police don't selectively enforce laws in parks and MIP's, those laws are consistently enforced. What is selective is whether MIP's end up in the newspaper, and I guess 4th place warrants an article. Or maybe is was the fleeing on foot that made it newsworthy.

I suspect for now that a new subdivision of DI would short term, allow for new rule making, but not fully dseparate the FBS championship. FBS-1 P5 85 Scholly combined FBS 4-Team Playoff/Bowls separate rule making body FBS-2 L5 85 Scholly combined FBS 4-Team Playoff/Bowls still at same basic champioship level as P5 for now FCS 63 Scholly 24 team Playoff This would be my suspicion. It could really be setup for all sports, not just fooball. Something like this would reakky hurt the concept of a level playing field, worse than it already is.

The ideal scenario for FBS . . . 12 Team Playoff; Each of the 10 conferences has a opportunity to be in the 12. Top 4 FBS Rated Conference Chamions IN: 4 Teams Bottom 6 Conference champions Play-In. 6 Teams Play-IN: 3 Teams In 5 At Large Berths: 5 Teams All teams seeded 1-12 Round 1: 4 Games 5 v 12, 6 v 11, 7 v 10, 8 v 9 (on campus of highest ranked team) Round 2: 4 Games 1 v 8/9, 2 v 7/10, 3 v 6/11, 4 v 5/12 (on campus of highest ranked team) Round 3: Final 4 site Round 4: Championship Site (3 games to a championship for 1-4 ranked teams; 4 games for 5-12 ranked teams) 12 Shares paid out to the conferences who are participating. Usually 7 of the 10 FBS conferences would be represented in the chamionship, 3 losing the Play-In games. Every FBS conference would have ACCESS to the championship. All teams not participating in the 12 team playoff are eligible for a Bowl, including play-In game losers.

Hoffner's wife and family are in Mankato where she was still working. I think the situation speaks more to that than wanting out of Minot State. His attorney's have been telling Hoffner and family that, you'll have your old job back if you want it. I'm sure that Hoffner did not want anything negative to happen at Minot State, but that's how it worked out. This decision does not speak to anything Minot State, other than it is a step down job vs. Mankato, not a step up job.

"Paying coaches the minimum possible". Another strong argument for the hockies/DII combo platter up nort.

Was. The key word is "Was". With Walseth and a new arena, that will change quickly. Overpaid? No, $150 allows you to bring in a quality coach and insure relative equity between the mens/womens programs. Good move NDSU.

Wichita right now is head and shoulders above anyone in the MVC/SL. The MVC is certainly superior right now due to the money from Creighton and Witchita.

Ha, Ha . . . that repulsive clown college (ORU) would kick your ass in BB, destroy you in Baseball (all of us), and run you over and take your lunch money in track and field. They are paying their men's BB coach just under a 1/2 million. UMKC is not in the Summit. Also, the time is coming soon where NDSU, SDSU, USD, Omaha, and Denver will not take a offer the MVC over the Summit. Speaking of throw away . . . Evansville, Drake, Bradley, Loyola. If Wichita and MO State leave the valley, the Summit is a better alternative than the MVC for the Dakotas, for sure. A beautiful 12,000 seat arena for the tournament next year is also a big selling point for the Summit. Football combined with MVC/Summit is great, and keeping these scholarship FB groups together is important. Would it be great to play BB with UNI, IL State, MO State, IN State, S IL . . . yes, but who cares about the rest. Staying in the Summit to build this league is becoming a priority for a growing group in the Summit.

Do you also have the link for page 3 from the Subbelt where it says they are also going to invite the rest of the BSC schools to the SBC through 2018. Then after 2018, the SBC will miraculously spin the BSC teams back to the Big Sky where that conference will be declared a full fledged FBS entity and live happily ever after? I missed that part. This link seems to include ID only.

"The Sunbelt agreed to make the Big Sky FBS"? Ha, ha, ha . . . You have a vivid imagination. The Sunbelt has no such authority .

If the 14 teams in the Big Sky join the Sunbelt, that does nothing to establish the BSC as an FBS League, nothing. It's a zero sum game. The BSC does not gain FBS status by its teams playing in the Sunbelt. Only the NCAA and FBS leaders can establish a new conf. The WAC could have been used for that purpose, but the ship has sailed. WAC FB be dead.

How do you equate your speculation of 8-14 Big Sky teams joining the Sunbelt with . . . "The Big Sky is Going FBS"?? Sorry, but if 8-14 Big Sky teams join the Sunbelt, it will be . . . "The Big Sky is Dropping Football". Sorry, but all your teams joining another conference does nothing for the Big Sky, it just eliminates football in the conf. I equate this situation to say . . . 6 teams from the the DII NSIC joining a DI conference, say the Summit League. After they would be accepted by the Summit League and completed their DI transition period, they would be DI. Could these six DI teams then leave the Summit league to form their own DI conference which they would call the NSIC?? No, they could not. If they left the Summit league, they would need to join an existing conference. This is why the NCAA does not allow large groups of teams from the same conference just merge into another league at a higher level to lift themselves up. They require each team to transition on their own merits.

What possible value would doing so have for the Sunbelt, which already has lots of mouths to feed? Why would the Sunbelt do this? Why would the Big Sky want to lose 5 or 6 of their best teams, serving to weaken or destroy football in the Big Sky? Can you make any sense of this for the readers? It's not like you can goto the Sunbelt for 2 years to learn the ropes, then go back to the Big Sky and declare it FBS. This makes no sense for the Sunbelt, and less for the Big Sky.

The NCAA has specific rules in place that protect the FBS level from a large influx of FCS schools, the same way that DI protects itself from the DII level move ups. DI FBS football will not allow entire conferences to move up enmass, but rather require conference invites to go through a review process, accepting them one at a time pending a legitimate conference invite. This thing SV has cooked up is not a legitimate invite situation. I can assure you, the Big Sky, as a whole, is not going to be allowed to move FBS (current structure), any more than the entire Northern Sun would be allowed to move DI as a group. Each school would be reviewed on its own merits and would require a specific conference invite from an existing conf. An entire conference trying to move up would quickly be shut down by both the NCAA and FBS governing bodies. I'm talking about now, today, not some future FBS that is a shadow of its current self. I can assure you

Wow, talking about the DI Manual and an FBS Big Sky in the same sentence. That's rich. Now that's a new lesson on talking out of both sides of your mouth. Not sure how you have any credibility after that slight of hand.

It matters some, but its not like were in the same conference. That's the way UND wanted it, so that what you got. UND seeking to be in the same conference as the other 3 dakota teams would seem to be a little to logical for the brass at UND. Your not, so, NDSU competes with UND in the same way NDSU competes with Montana . . . from a distance. That's your choice, and just the way it is. I don't think it warrents much discussion.

You are in a different conference. In reality, we are no longer competing in a meaningful way. Do the best you can in the Big Sky. Games vs NDSU are kinda meaningless, and there's no FB. Not sure how winning vs NDSU matters. NDSU is doing there own thing. Winning vs SDSU, USD, Denver, UNI (FB) matter for Bison. Games vs Big Sky, not really. Conf & post season matter. You want to compete with NDSU? Can't do it in the BSC.

So, it's not a fact that USD had a Big Sky offer? I would have bet $5000 in 2010 that SDSU, USD, and NDSU would have received a quick yes to a request for Big Sky Membership in any 1, 2 or 3 combination along with UND. No question. But you can go ahead and bury your head in the sand and act like UND is in an exclusive club if you'd like to. Likewise, in 2010 if UND would have pushed for a Summit/MVFC offer, it would have come. It would not have taken long for the Summit teams to apply the needed pressure to the MVFC, like they did for USD. That was just a matter of time,

NDSU wanted to get into the Big Sky during the time when they had no football conference home (aka Great West). After NDSU accepted an MVFC invite, they made no attempt to move to the Big Sky. Get YOUR facts right. In 2010, NDSU, SDSU, and USD could all have easily moved to Big Sky if they had any desire to do so. None of them did. Those are the facts.

And it had a Big Sky offer in hand.

Big Sky in 2010 = Low Bar. After NDSU, SDSU and USD got into their preferred leagues, UND was the only dakota left for the Big Sky to take. And the Big Sky in 2010 was taking anyone and everyone. USD had the choice on the table, Big Sky or Summit/Valley. They had both in hand, and it wasn't a hard choice for them. Why is that? If you think that any one of the 4 dakota schools couldn't have signed on with the Big Sky in 2010, you are an idiot.

The B1G is a P5 FBS school. It does what it wants. The Sunbelt is not, it asks permission. The B1G, P5 and NCAA, all of whom agree that the current FBS has too many teams and is already watered down, is not going to stand idly by while 13 more are added in one shot. Ummm, No. And please explain why the Sunbelt would even want to . . . Why?

Well then, good luck to you! May the best woma . . . Umm, Conf win.