Siouxper Sized

The great hockey mind should stick with what he knows best. First of all, do you really think that NDSU has the upper hand in recruiting after the season they have put together? It's obvious that their two 10-1 seasons during transition didn't help with their recruiting either. They had better teams when they started the transition(which were primarily division II recruits by the way) than they do now. I know this post is about DI, but before the transition, UND consistenly had better football teams than NDSU. We defeated them 9 of the last 11 times we played them before they ran for cover in DI and we made the mistake of not chasing them. And during that time, guess what.......UND hockey had more support than football. If you think that NDSU is going to pull in better recruits this year by using their dusty championship trophies they paid for decades ago and the Fargo Barn, which has yet to EVER host a playoff game than you are wrong, but you can be damn sure that they will try. Coach Mussman and the boys know they have to hit the road hard in December to recruit players, but the 2010 recruits will realize that playing time early in their careers is a strong possibility, and they will be playoff eligible by the time they are sophmores if they are redshirted. The new recruits will also like UND's upcoming schedules that include some good competition. The Alerus Center is a recruiting tool as well! Have you been to any of these FCS stadiums? Besides the Fargo Barn, which I look at as being decent, what other FCS stadium in the north central part of the US can hold 13,000 people and has a 4 star hotel attached to it? As far as the crowds, better game time scheduling and a couple thursday games might help, but their is no doubt that better teams bring in bigger crowds. And don't compare NDSU, which has twice the population to draw from with us! I am sick of everyone being so damn pessemistic of UND's 2009 season. Everyone was proud of how we played Texas Tech. You can bet money that they didn't expect to have their starters in at the end of the game. The rest of our victories came by a group of overachieving kids with big hearts, and lets be honest, we have been battling injuries all year. As far as NAIA Sioux Falls, who cares!!! They were a good well coached and disciplined team that could have beaten alot of FCS teams! They have only lost 3 games in the last 3 years, and NAIA is a breeding ground for DII and Iaa stud rejects that could never meet NCAA standards. And besides, ask SDSU players now if their DIII losses in transition affected their decision to go there......... Everyone would love to imagine how much better we would be if we had Chappel, Murray, Stroup and Trenbeath, but besides Trenbeath, the others took care of themselves. Have we lost to some teams that we shouldn't have, yes! But keep in mind that we are still a DII team. Can anyone name more than one or two players that are actually contributing right now for the Sioux that are a direct result of our transition?............Just because you are paying DII recruits more money doesnt mean that you have a full blown FCS team. Give Coach Mussman, who is a good recruiter, some time to put together his team! There is no doubt that the transition is and will continue to be difficult, but 2012 is the goal, and that is when we need to be firing on all cylinders! Breakin Face, if you are a true Sioux fan, you would be optimistic of every program, not just hockey! Things will get better!

I think this says it quite well! The NCC from top to bottom obviously wasn't as strong recently as in the past but its top three teams every year were very talented. NDSU fans always try to water down our Northern Iowa win, when we went on the road and beat the #3 ranked 1aa team at the time, who was the National Champion runner up the previous year and returned most of its team that season, but did the Bison ever have a win that big when they were DII, and don't say Montana!? No doubt UND should have went D1aa when NDSU did, but the fact is that when NDSU left DII, UND had beaten them 9 out of the last 12 times they played and NDSU has NEVER hosted a playoff game in the Fargo Dome since it was built in 1992. Call it what you will, but NDSU was not on top of their game when they left, they were running for cover. They hadn't won, or better yet, bought a National Championship since 1990 and UND defeated them on the road in every game except the 2000 season. So much for calling it the Fargo Dome fellas. Besides, UND leads the all time series between the two schools 62-45-3. UND also has won the Nickel Trophy the most times, with 35 wins to 30 for NDSU. Yaya, go blow the dust off your trophies from when your grandpa played, the fact of the matter is that UND owned NDSU before they jumped ship, and who has a National Championship this decade? Brag about your victory over Minnesota all you want, but don't you think there is a reason why no Gopher fans were at the game? Seriously, the Gophers probably would have had a tough time cracking the top 25 in 1aa last year. And if you break it down, a 1aa team should be able to play a 1a team closer that a DII team can play a Iaa team because the difference in scholarships is less. (85-63=22 and 63-36=27) That being the case, the Northern Iowa win seems more impressive than the Gopher win. Throw in the fact that the Norther Iowa fans all but sold out that game with their fans, not the opposing teams. Whatever, I can't wait until UND and NDSU start playing each other again!

The old NCC days were extremely tough!!! The last year that the true NCC was intact, UND, NDSU, USD, SDSU, UNC, UNO, St. Cloud, Augustana and Mankato were battling for a 16 game playoff field that wasn't expanded to 24 until 2003. That meant that with only 4 teams going to the regional bracket, and 3 conferences per region, that if you lost more than a game, you probably had a good chance of missing the playoffs. If the NCC with those same teams was to become a 1aa (FCS) conference today minus Augie and Mankato, it would be a competitive 1aa conference. With 15 conferences in 1aa, the Gateway and the Big Sky seem to the most powerful conferences from top to bottom. Even though they haven't produced a champion for a while, they have been close. The NCC reflected what these two conferences stand for in hard nosed, defense orientated disciplined football. It is sad that these teams split up amongst untimely transitions into division one, but if you put NDSU, SDSU, UND, USD, UNC and UNO even though they are to remain DII, into a 1aa conference, they could easily be a top 5 conference in 1aa. NCC football was very tough, and even in the past few years, still a great conference.

While UND has a new and seemingly well qualified offensive line coach in Carey, there is no doubt that Coach Lotysz will be missed. His ability to get the most out of his players has been apparent by the number of all ncc and all american offensive lineman that UND has produced since the 2001 season. Most people don't realize his ability to motivate, his knowledge of the game, and how much he helps mentoring these players outside the football field. Not only does he help the football team, but he also helps the hockey team as well, and does it all from a volunteer standpoint. For anyone that thinks he doesn't put enough time in, or would never be able to make a good full time coach, they are seriously mistaken. Lets not forget that for many seasons now, Greg has relayed plays from the box to the field and has had a huge field presence, not only for the oline, but the entire team. Ask any of his current or former players and they will attest to that. While he had his reasons for stepping down, and no they did not deal with division one rules, we can only hope that he will continue to help as much as he can.