MafiaMan

It's not like it'd be the first time a non-regional team played in a conference nowhere near its home. Utah and Colorado in the Pac-12? Nebraska, Rutgers, and Maryland in the Big 10? West Virginia in the Big 12? ACC from Miami all the way up to Boston? I totally agree with you though: colleges are throwing away long-time rivalries every other day in this day and age. It's a shame.

Great point, ranch-hand. Ole Miss and Mississippi State may as well leave the SEC too...they'll never be able to hang with Alabama, Florida, and Tennessee!

Please...the original post made it sound like it was Buffalo Bills over Houston Oilers 1993 material...

3 minutes after that, it was 27-13, hardly insurmountable.

LOL...Mrs Obama at Patrick Henry High School in Minneapolis today talking about the need to vote for Al Franken and Mark Dayton to "keep Minnesota on the path to PROSTERITY for decades to come." Just had to post it somewhere...you'll never hear the TC media pick that oops apart.

Then it shouldn't take long for you to come up with a list of top ten Hak replacements...

27-6 midway thru the 3rd quarter is now "just pounding" an opponent? I figured this must have been some epic comeback until I read the box score. Illinois State scored with over 2:00 left in the 3rd to make it 27-13 at the end of 3, certainly not out of the realm of possibility in terms of a comeback. That being said, it still must have been a crazy 4th quarter with ISU scoring 24 points to ISU's 7.

Completely agree. The Bison at FCS strength simply would not have the same position depth that a Big 10 school does. Injuries would be inevitable over the course of a full-time Big 10 schedule and that could have a great effect on NDSU's chances.

How recent is that picture, though?

Well, we can't all be cup-checking crotch-pointing Bruins fans, can we?

Actually, I had the Arizona Phoenix in mind...

Over in the FBS games thread (under NCAA News), Herd stated that NDSU would big a legitimate contender in the Big 10 and that the Bison would have no fear of a team like Michigan State. So the #6/7 rated team in FCS, Jacksonville State, got lit up for 38 first-half points by those same Spartans earlier this season. Either FCS is extremely weak after the #1 spot or Herd has lost his damn mind.

Rams move back to Los Angeles, allowing the Cardinals to move back to St Louis. Houston decides to move to Phoenix, making room for Jacksonville to move to Houston and re-brand as the Oilers 2.0. I love it when a plan comes together.

BTW, what's a "relection"?

And yet, plenty of other ND politicians have no problem at all taking that "ND" oil money out of the counties where it is extracted and "sharing" it with eastern ND counties...

"Setting the standard"? Remind me again how the NHL and the Avalanche handled the arrest of goalie Semyon Varlamov LAST October on felony kidnapping and misdemeanor assault charges...

OK, boys, let's add some actual facts to the 1997 equation instead of your pure speculation. Darell, I can assume you're in favor of this since you prefer to play the games on the field (i.e. UND vs NDSU) instead of speculating anyways... In 1997, Michigan played and defeated 7 ranked teams, including #2 and #4 on the road. Nebraska played and defeated only 4, Michigan: #8 Colorado 27-3 #15 Iowa 28-24 @ #15 Michigan State 23-7 @ #2 Penn State 34-8 @ #23 Wisconsin 26-16 #4 Ohio State 20-14 #8 Washington State (bowl game) 21-16 Nebraska: @ #2 Washington 27-14 #17 Kansas State 56-26 #14 Texas A&M 54-15 #3 Tennessee (bowl game) 42-17 Now, the Colorado game is bolded for Michigan because the Buffaloes were a common opponent of the Wolverines and Cornhuskers. Michigan played a highly-touted #8 Colorado team in their first game of the season. Colorado was coming in having already played a game, a 31-21 home victory over Colorado State. Michigan put a 27-3 whoopin' on the Buffaloes in Michigan Stadium. By contrast, a deflated, beaten-down Colorado team was 5-5 by the time they played Nebraska at home in their season finale, a game that an undefeated Nebraska team with everything to play for won by only three points, 27-24. Also of note, both schools played unranked Baylor. Michigan defeated Baylor at home by a score of 38-3. Nebraska went to Baylor and beat the Bears 49-21. 1997 was also the year of the now-famous "flea kicker" game between Nebraska and Missouri. Nebraska beat Mizzou by 7 in OT in Columbia thanks to the controversial play by Shevin Wiggins, a play that should have been a 15 yard penalty for illegal kicking (which would have resulted in a 38-31 Missouri win). Wiggins himself admitted after the game that he was intentionally trying to kick the ball in the air to himself - Matt Davison made a diving catch on the kicked ball in what was incorrectly ruled a TD on the final play of the game, turning the 7 point loss into a 38-38 tie. As already mentioned above, Nebraska would win in OT, 45-38. THE Ohio State University also happened to play Missouri in Columbia earlier that year, putting a 31-10 beat-down on the Tigers. That same Buckeye team lost to Michigan 20-14. Michigan caught flack for playing a "sub-par" bowl team, Washington State. Nebraska, as previously mentioned, defeated Washington 27-14 in Seattle. The Cougars of Washington State, meanwhile, lit up the Huskies for 41 points in their match-up in Seattle, winning by 6. Washington State's team put up some incredible offensive numbers that season. Here's a look at their total points scored in each game that season: UCLA: 37 @ USC: 28 @ Illinois: 35 Boise State: 58 @ Oregon: 24 Cal: 63 Arizona: 35 @ Arizona State: 31 (a loss) SW Louisiana: 77 Stanford: 38 @ Washington: 41 That prolific offense of the Cougars could only muster up 16 points against Michigan in the Rose Bowl on New Years' Day. Nebraska had the good fortune of playing Tennessee a day later and figured if they ran up the score on the Volunteers, they could leap-frog Michigan. Unfortunately, that's exactly what happened...and the coaches took the bait. At least the AP voters got it right. So, petey, I know that's a lot to chew on, but Nebraska over Michigan by 21-28 points? Seriously? No way.

I watch Georgia often and they have been most impressive this season. They're a dark horse!

Yes, they opened up the 3rd quarter with a FG to make the lead 27-18. Then it blew up.

A 46-27 final, yes, but that was a 32-27 game after 3 quarters and MSU played well. Oregon got a TD early in the 4th and another with less than 1:30 left after the Spartans turned the ball over at the 8:04 mark (INT) when they were at Oregon's 31. The Ducks almost ran the clock out with their last drive.

Woulda coulda shoulda...you're adding your own opinion on top of AP and coach poll subjectivity... Here are my two favorite Nebraska bowl memories... http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MoNs0mdKAO8 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YFyWCNAjxic

I don't care what Vegas would have given me or anyone else. The polls were highly subjective and Nebraska was the king of having starters hang around late in the 4th quarter of blow-out games so they could run up the score on opponents to "impress" coaches and AP pollsters.

I agree. People forget what a joke the coaches and AP polls were back in the day. #1 ranked Penn State gave Ohio State an epic beatdown in 1994. The Coaches Poll came out two days later and Ohio State coach Earl Bruce voted NEBRASKA #1. Nebraska would overtake Penn State in both polls and go on to win the national championship. Go figure... 1997: Michigan was #1 in both polls going into New Year's Bowl Day. The Wolverines win the Rose Bowl but the coaches poll flips and gives Nebraska's Tom Osborne a retirement gift by awarding the Huskers 1/2 of the national championship. It remains the ONLY time in poll history that the #1 team was dropped after WINNING its bowl game. And don't even get me started on the supposed "fix-it-all" BCS system...

Alabama already lost to Ole Miss. End of discussion as to who's "in" should Miss State beat Ole Miss in a close game.

Ummm...Georgia Southern has actually been one of Appalachian State's long-time rivals...