Bison_Kent

To me, it is funny to say that ND does not produce enough DI athletes when UND has a DI program in hockey. Apparently, there are enough DI athletes for that sport. Why woundn't there be enough for football and basketball as well?

I know Nebraska-Kearney pretty well (covering the West Region of D2 last season) and they only fund 20 or so football scholorships so the likelihood of them getting to the 30 minimum would be tough. The entire Rocky Mt. Conference has a maximum of 25 scholorships I think. As for the Mid-Con, two Texas schools would be under consideration in Texas A&M-Corpus Chrisi and Texas-Pan American. Other current indy's in DI basketball include Indiana-Purdue, Fort Wayne and Savannah State (Georgia). The two Texas schools have been DI indies for 5-7 years each so there must be some reason why they haven't been picked up yet. But those are the only SW schools.

The Sicatoka, While things don't look rosy for Sac State, they might be for NDSU and SDSU. It has been reported that the Big Sky wants more then 8 teams in the conference. If Sac State leaves, there is an opening to get to 9 with NDSU and SDSU. I am not saying it will happen but Sac State's loss might be NDSU's (and SDSU's) gain.

So much for the arguement that Roger made regarding having enough home games next year. To have 8 games at home is something I didn't think was possible. I am hoping for that D2 legislation to allow a D2 team to play a I-AA with no penality. This is suppose to happen in April. But if it doesn't Oh, well. NDSU will remember this when UND moves up.

Congrats UND. I have to admit that I am surprised in the results in both games but I will admit that I was wrong with my projections. Good luck next week and win another title for the state of North Dakota.

I will give you that REA is a top notch facility but playing second fiddle, I think not. Let's do a little comparison on sports: Football FargoDome Vs. Alerus Center Advatage FargoDome Basketball Bison Sports Arena Vs. Hyslop Sports Center Advantage BSA Baseball Newman Outdoor Field Vs. Kraft Field Advantage Newman Hockey REA vs. None Advantage REA Wrestling BSA Vs. None Advantage BSA Volleyball Benson Bunker Fieldhouse Vs. Hyslop Advantage Hyslop. I think with that total NDSU has 4 better arenas and UND has 2 better arenas. I wouldn't call that second fiddle for NDSU.

I am not bitter. I am just wondering what is best for D2 football. NDSU and UND hosting the Elite 8 tournaments is what was best for women's basketball those years. The only question I have is what is best having more people in Florence, Alabama or in Grand Forks, ND. Based on the first two playoff games attendences, the best would be to keep the game in Florence. This gives more revenue for the division and more fan base. UND had two games to prove that they should host. Two sell-outs would really go a long way to get the game in GF. But two sell-outs (or even close) were not seen. Good luck to Sioux and I hope you win as I am a fan of all the NCC teams in the playoffs when the Bison don't make it. If I were in your shoes, I would be glad to have another home game but I would be amongst the 19,000 that would show up at the FargoDome. I hope there are 11,000 fans in the Alarius Saturday. By not having a sell-out, it looks badly on the state of North Dakota. And when there is a next time, the D2 committees might just chose the other location.

I don't think it will matter whether N. Alabama has the home field or not next week. They are going to win big over the Sioux. My claims are for the sakes of D2 football. Why does a team with a better record and a better attendence average in the playoffs have to go on the road? N. Alabama will be the best team that the Sioux have played this year and will destroy them. I would say that N. Alabama will win by 21. The home field for the Sioux keeps them that close. If it was in Florence, it would have been worse.

Why is UND hosting??? North Alabama out drew UND and has a better record. I would be hoping mad if I was the Lions. They drew over 9,000 fans on a Thanksgiving weekend, while UND couldn't mustard up 8,000. That is simply pathetic. Now, I could see if UNA had only drawn 2,000 fans or something as the NCAA is all about money making abilities. But having UND host over a team that outdrew them and that team has an undefeated record has to rank, while UND has a loss is a worse descision of having the higher ranked Bison going to Delta State a few years back. All I can say is goodbye to D2. I am sure the I-AA playoffs have some similar problems but from what I have seen so far as if you draw great at the ticket gates you might get the benifit of the doubt to host but if you are a Top 4 team you will get to host regardless of ticket sales.

I wonder if the committe will look at past year's results. NDSU won the Midwest in 2000. UND won the Midwest Region in 2001. Northern Colorado won the Midwest a year ago. I think the NCC is deserving of two playoff teams. If winning the Region three years in a row doesn't show that, what will?? Plus, the MIAA has had two teams the past two years. It is about time they get just one.

I would think UND would want NDSU in the playoffs. I know as an NCC fan, I would rather have two NCC teams rather then two MIAA teams. I have read that column as I am a frequent looker at the columns since I am one of the writers (for the West Region). Strength of scheduling has worked in the West. Tarleton State is going to get the node over Chadron State even though Chadron has a better record. Tarleton is in a similar situation as NDSU. Tarleton is 8-3 (as is NDSU) and Chadron is 9-2. Sound familar. Tarleton scheduled a road game at I-AA Sam Houston State and won. Again, sound familar. For some reason they are ranked higher then Chadron. The reason being that they scheduled better in the non-conference play.

UND92,96; I would agree with you if a committee didn't meet and the only thing that playoff teams were decided by a point system (which is based on strength of schedule--the way that DII is set up). However, there is a committee of two members each from the three conferences that make their final decision. I would think the two members of the NSIC would choose NDSU after the Bison beat one of their co-champions. The MIAA members (one might have to sit out due to their team being considered) and the NCC member (minus NDSU's Gene Taylor since NDSU is envolved) would pick NDSU. With that, I would think that NDSU would have the committee's vote 3 to 1. Watch ESPN News tomorrow at noon to see the pairings. I know that I will skip the NFL to see what the committee thinks.

I agree that Pitt State should be in over NDSU but NDSU should be in over the other four teams. The other four teams had terrible out of conference scheduling. With NDSU, the Bison have wins at home to Tusculum (a 9-2 team), at Montana (a I-AA team), and a home win against the NSIC co-champion Concordia-St. Paul (8-3 team). NDSU and the other four teams from the MIAA all have two conference losses so there is pretty much a wash. It will be up to the committee to decide if wins over three top teams and a loss to another I-AA team is better then wins over DIII and NAIA and sub-.500 DII teams. I would think they would side with NDSU.

With NDSU still at #5 in the Midwest rankings, the chance at the playoffs isn't as bleak as we once thought for the Bison. However, a loss by Winona is almost a must for NDSU to get in.

In a game that went to overtime, anything could have happened. One dropped pass, one less penality, one more yard. If NDSU was on the other side, I wouldn't be too excited about meet UND in an opening round playoff match-up. Maybe the Alerius could sell that game out instead of having a several 100 open seats like this past Saturday.

That was a gusty call by Lennon to go for two. While listening I was wondering what he was doing going for the two. Hats off to the Sioux for this week. I can't wait until next Saturday. Two undefeated teams in the NCC and probably will be the #2 and #3 teams in the Midwest Region doing battle. I couldn't ask for a better way to play possibly the last Nickel battle.

Nice come from behind win for the Sioux. In a way, I hope that UND beats SDSU and NDSU beats UNO next week to have the two teams at 3-0 in the conference for the final DII Nickel Trophy battle. Of course, it looks like the defenses are the top squads for each team.

WYOBISONMAN, Kansas played pretty well from what I hear back here in Kansas last week against UNLV. The beat the Rebels something like 46-24. The Cowboys better be ready.

All I can say that not having NDSU on UND's schedule will hurt UND's attendence a lot more then it will hurt NDSU. With games against Montana and Montana State and other top I-AA schools on the schedule, NDSU will see a lot more fans in those games then UND will for scheduling the likes of Newberry and Mesa State. Sure, I would love to see the UND rivalry continue but the way I see it will hurt UND's attendence every other year a lot more then NDSU. Roger Thomas knows this and I am sure does not want to loose that one game revenue every other year. Eventually, he will sign the contract. As for scheduling, I will give UND another home game next year but will ask for two in a row in return to be played at Fargo. That is only fair.

I have heard the U of Mary in Bismarck is looking to move up to DII. Bismarck is a large market for the NCC to build on. Plus UM would give UND a North Dakota travel partner.

RiverMan, I would like nothing more then to see a Plains Conference with maybe some teams from near where I am living now like Pittsburg State in Kansas, Northwest Missouri State, Central Oklahoma, and Northeastern State of Oklahoma. All of these schools are top DII schools now. Pitt St., NW Missouri State, and Central Oklahoma are great football schools. Central Oklahoma is also a top wrestling conference. Northwestern State won the DII basketball title last year. These along with NDSU, SDSU, N. Colorado, and UND would make for a great I-AA conference. It would be similar to the Big 12 as far as location. It would be right down the central portion of the country, all in the Plains states But the fact is that most likely none of these other top DII schools have the revenue potential or facilities to be DI or DI-AA, at least not completely.

I agree that the NCC DI option would be the best but it will never happen. NDSU waited one year to move up to DI hoping it would bring more time for other NCC teams to access their athletic programs and buildings. SDSU was the only one that followed us. I think NDSU was very generous in waiting a year to allow studies to be made at each of the remaining NCC schools. UND, USD, the two Minnesota schools, and Nebraska-Omaha decided that DII was the place for them. A DI NCC (although would be the best) will never happen. Five years from now, NDSU and SDSU will be fine schools in whatever conference they are in. I won't discount UND being part of that conference but any existing conference will most likely only choose two schools and will choose a team that has been in DI the longest as with the long DI transition period will hurt that conference's RPI. UC-Davis (as was mentioned earlier) was in the right place at the right time. They are a state university that will be in all California Conference in the Big West. But most new DI schools have had to go through a couple of years of being an independent before getting into a conference.

I agree that D2 is not what it used to be. All the top teams have or are starting the process of going to Division I. As far as NDSU and SDSU being the lame ducks of DI, that will never happen. I will admit that in the provitial period many conferences will not look at us because it would hurt their RPI and chances of getting a second team in the NCAA 65 team tournament. But when those probation years are over there will be many conference looking at NDSU and SDSU. I velieve four years are the probationary period that we will have look at getting through. Divsion I regualations will not get any easier and most likely will be even tougher in future years. But I like the rules. These are the type of rules that DII should have implimented 10-15 years ago and there would have been very few teams moving up and probably would not have the DII teams moving up as we do now. I guess you can summerize if you want to stay on a sinking ship stay in DII. To get off the sinking ship, you have to go on a life boat. It may take a few years to see the impact of the jump but eventially it will be there.

I might think that the Northwest is second worst. With NDSU, Northern Colorado, and not so much SDSU leaving, it is basically UND and Grand Valley State. I believe those are the only teams in the region to have won a second round playoff game in that last 5 years (granted that those two have won tites but there aren't any other teams in the region). What other four teams will make it every year with the playoffs expanding to 6 that year? Central Washington was undefeated but was beat in the first round. I believe Saginaw Valley State made it one year and lost in the second round.

The Sicatoka, I thought UND had Central Washington in a home and home as well as this year has Mesa State on the road after being home last year. It seems like a combination of two home and one away games has been the history of UND non-conference play. To me, this seems like if UND would pay out a little more, they could have most of those teams just in a home games. You will see that NDSU over the past 15 years only played 3 road non-conference games. These games were against top notch opponents that would draw fans the next year; like Montana, UC-Davis, and from the 1980s Northern Michigan. I am not sure but what does MN-Crookston do for the Alerus Center attendence? Mesa State? Newberry? I would be very disappointed if these were NDSU's opponents and had home and home games with anyone of these teams. Schedule better home and homes and maybe just schedule pansies that just come to Grand Forks. This might be a solution to always have more home games then road games. It seems to have worked for NDSU. Why not copy something else from NDSU?