MafiaMan

Colorado's conference is as good as the ACC...so what? Colorado's terrible. I hope Bubba rights the ship. But a certain Notre Dame has had a slew of saviors come along since Lou Holtz....Bob Davie, Tyrone Willingham, Charlie Weis...I'll wait to see the on-the-field product before proclaiming to be on the "same level" as NDSU.

Speaking of laughable...let's look at the Notre Dame/Miami rivalry. After losing in Miami in 1989, Notre Dame almost immediately announced that the 1990 game in South Bend would be it - the rivalry needed a "cooling off period." The teams would not meet again in regular season play until 2012 - at Soldier Field. Notre Dame territory. A second game was scheduled for 2016. Where, you ask? Miami? Tampa Bay? Hell, how about Jacksonville? Nope. South Bend, Indiana.

And what better way to set the tone for a great relationship with your new head coach than by squashing his request to get a certain team on the schedule, right? Your Alabama/Auburn question doesn't make any sense unless Alabama were to move up to FBS1 and leaves Auburn behind in FBS2.

Well you see, darell, Alabama and Duke actually go back a long ways together. Alabama coach Wallace Wade left Tuscaloosa to coach at Duke way before our time. He's such a legend at both schools that the street that runs alongside Alabama's Bryant-Denny Stadium is Wade Avenue and Duke's stadium is actually NAMED Wallace Wade Stadium. In addition, Duke coach David Cutcliffe played at Alabama and was an assistant coach under some guy you may have heard of: Paul "Bear" Bryant. Call it a hunch...but I have a feeling that those are a couple of good reasons why mighty Alabama travelled to lowly Duke in 2010...

So now you're all IN FAVOR of this game despite posting a week or two ago that UND should forget about NDSU and get someone else on the schedule?

Kentucky's SEC in football...Indiana's Big 10 in football...Colorado's Pac 12 in football...do those schools carry the same amount of FBS "respect" as Alabama, Ohio State, and USC?

Yawn...I've explained my family NDSU-ology before, darell, and I won't do it again. And I think the word you are looking for is "pedestal."

I never said NDSU was a quasi-FBS team, but to their credit, their resume doesn't include a 15 point loss and a 2 point win over an NAIA school, does it? God help us all over an NDSU/UND football game? I think he's got bigger issues to deal with these days... It seems that Bubba wanted the game scheduled regardless of how, when, or where. You want him fired too?

Nice! Very under-rated player simply because of UND's poor record during his time in Grand Forks. He had a key role with the Red Wings as well...a shame that he was traded a year or two before Detroit won the Stanley Cup.

I'm talking program, darell, not conference. The second-best ACC team last season was Duke. That doesn't diminish the Seminoles' championship any, does it?

On the plus side, most Bison fans in attendance should be able to answer the tailgate-party question "who is NDSU playing today?".

...and Toledo's as FBS as Florida State...

The discount double-check guy? What does he have to do with NFL 2014?

I cannot wait to see the St Louis Blues' jersey unveiling today. Hopefully the piping mess is gone!

Pre-season musings... Adrian Peterson, on who the Vikings QB ahould be: "Going off of understanding the offense and who's running the offense better right now, you know, nothing to do with talent-wise, so that's why Matt has the edge..." I have no comment on the long, drawn-out, rambling sentence there but wow, talk about a back-handed endorsement of Matt Cassel... Does any QB have worse luck than the Rams' Sam Bradford? St Louis will regret investing in Bradford, unfortunately. Blake Bortles looks like the real deal. Tampa Bay's new uniforms are awfully tough to watch on TV. Anybody else think that Kirk Cousins just might be a better QB than RG III? I'm not a fan of Pete Carroll but there's no denying that he's done a heck-of-a job with the Seahawks. San Francisco must be hiding all of its offensive tricks until the regular season. If not, they're in trouble. Uttering a slur in practice gets a coach suspended for 3 regular season games. Video-tape showing a player dragging his unconscious girlfriend off an elevator gets him suspended for 2 regular season games. Go figure... Detroit's Nick Fairley looks like he ATE last year's Nick Fairley. Terrible draft choice. Miami's best shot at winning this season might be to bring back Dan Marino, Tony Nathan, Mark Clayton, and Mark Duper. And those uniforms are awful. Every time I look at Eli Manning, my immediate thought is Woody Harrelson in "White Men Can't Jump" going berserk yelling "Opie Taylor? I ain't your Opie Taylor!" OK, OK, I get it. You have a boatload of NFL titles. But when you've won 2 championships in the last almost-50 years, are you REALLY "Titletown, USA"? I see the Houston Texans...but I want to see the Houston Oilers. The San Antonio Raiders? Yikes. I like the Eagles in the NFC East. Denver won't make the Super Bowl. It's almost hard to believe that Matt Flynn was brought in to be Seattle's QB of the future. When I hear the name "Colts," I still think of Baltimore. Man, I'm old... Really hated to see the HHH Metrodome torn down. What an iconic stadium. Just kidding! That place had all the aesthetic appeal of a toxic waste dump. I bet Jerry Jones is a real prick to work for. The Atlanta Falcons will rebound this year and make the playoffs. The Steelers uniforms just scream "tough." Cleveland dumping Trent Richardson on Indianapolis was pure genius. That's enough for now...anyone else with some random NFL thoughts?

I'd probably start with Al Henry and Al Hangsleben from the early 1970's...

One thing is certain...it's obvious that UND's negotiating team included gfhockey and some of his good ol' boys...unfortunately, they were all coming off a 20 hour long pub crawl...

I never said Weber State had a better program at all. Based on last season's record though, they're quite comparable to each other - at least at the moment.

I already told you my theory behind NDSU scheduling Weber State over North Dakota...to poke the stick further into UND's eye socket. Of course, you "moved on" from playing NDSU weeks ago, right?

Yes, beating Valparaiso clearly makes UND the better program of the two...

The Weber State comparison is getting old. 2013: Sac State: 43-6 over Weber, 31-7 over UND Eastern Washington: 41-19 over Weber, 35-14 over UND Portland State: 45-24 over Weber, 14-10 over UND Montana: 42-6 over Weber, 55-17 over UND Montana State: 34-16 over Weber, 63-20 over UND Utah at least has some mountains to visit while on the trip...

As much as I don't like it, NDSU had handled this like a boss. They have ignored UND to the point that UND has practically become irrelevant. Brilliant move, in my opinion. UND jumps up and down ranting and raving "Play us! Play us! We're FCS!" and NDSU replies back "meh." Then, just to tweak UND some more, NDSU schedules the series with Weber State - and UND (the fans here in particular) predictably blows a head gasket. Bubba seems smart enough to know that the only way to fix the Muss-mess is to take on Goliath - on whatever terms - and defeat him.

That win over a FBS school was so huge that you've already forgotten who it was against...and Gameday came to Fargo based on the cumulative results of their past 2+ seasons.

A "manufactured rival" in South Dakota State University? You realize that they have played each other 101 times since 1903, right? And now you're telling me the FANS would be upset at a UND national title that included a regular season loss to NDSU?

I'm fully aware of the divisions of college football - the FBS/FCS error in my post was the result of my lack of concentration.