drmike

NDSU was much more successful at D2 than us; they won a couple national championships and lost a few others. Our emphasis on D1 football has been sub-par, in my opinion. Heck, we had a major fundraising project two years ago among us former players that resulted in $125k/year pledge for 5 years.....which almost offset the cutback in funding from the university. UNC surprises me also; again, that's a program that had more success than us at DII and seemed well positioned to be successful at FCS.

there is much discussion going on over this topic both on our message boards and on campus. the campus commissioned a study of the overall athletic department ('The Dempsey Report', chaired by a former NCAA president); one of the conclusions was that the football program, as currently structured is not in a good position to succeed at this level. we only fully funded scholarships a couple years back, and the results appear to be showing up now (we have alot of RFr and Soph's playing). We've been trying to run a D1 program the same way we did the D2 program. the campus has been reluctant to allow special admits, which limits the recruiting pool; we rarely get JC or D1 transfers; our coaches are also teachers; we have way too many sports for the funding we get; etc. i don't think these guys all the sudden forgot how to coach; we've had an influx of new blood on the coaching staff, several with high-level D1 experience. I'm hoping that, coupled with the recent better recruiting classes and some changes in the 'business model' of the football/atheletic program will result in success soon. i will point out that we have floundered to 3 straight wins over UND. just saying... ...also, for visitors, i like Sudwerk's after the game. Brewery with decent food. if anyone is here tonight, there's a country concert at the Grad. Christian Kane, who plays the 'tough guy' on the TV show "Leverage".

I agree wholeheartedly with Agalum. We dominated Poly for most of the game last week. We had an offensive PI take away a TD that would have made it 28-3 late in the 3Q (we missed a FG on the drive), and had a pick-6 called back on a questionable personal foul (blocking the QB on the return) that would have made it 31-10 late in the 4Q. Davis slowed Poly's strong run game, holding them to nearly 100 yards below their average. We established a run, which opened up the passing lanes. We played pretty well vs. South Dakota, losing 27-24 on the road DESPITE 5 turnovers. against, a solid run game opened up the passing game, and we bottled up their offense except for short drives after turnovers. if they play fast, hard and smart like those two game (well, withOUT the turnovers!), I think Davis wins a close one. If they lose focus on a game sandwiched between two rivalry games (Poly and Sac), its gonna be a sad Senior game. Hope to see some Sioux fans out there. You've had good showings in the past two trips, with many california transplants. weather should be okay, maybe some showers, but, nothing too bad.

seems to be working okay for Oregon! watching the game on TV back in Davis, I was surprised that the Ags won as easily as they did. Going into the game, I thought they had a chance if they could run (which they did), but i thought it would be close. Quarterback play in the first half for the Sioux was pretty bad. The replacement gave them some life in the 2nd half, but, he just didn't throw very accurately. without much of a running game, the offense wasn't too tough to stop. in our radio pregame, Coach Biggs was concerned about the QB scrambling because 'their passing game isn't very sophisticated, so if the first receiver is covered, he's likely to run'. it was very clear what he meant. the difference in the passing game between the two teams was very evident. my concern during the game was our penalties which kept giving you guys great field position. i thought it was a matter of time before our defense wore out, or gave up a short-field TD. i kind of understand your coach's thinking about punting on that 4th and short....he was probably thinking along the same lines as me. i was impressed by the Sioux last year in Davis....not so much this year. again, the QB play was really not good, and that makes it hard to sustain drives. i thought Landry was a pretty gritty QB, who kept them in the game every time we tried to pull away. This transition stuff is hard; we haven't exactly set the world on fire during our FCS tenure. it takes time to get the depth and playmakers to compete week in and week out. Getting into the BigSky, and gaining some exposure and stability will help us all!

i wish the 'BigSky' answer was a guarantee...but...look at the attendence numbers for the Big Sky teams not in Montana. Lots of 5-7K crowds, even at schools like EWU and NAU who are doing well. Attendence at Davis this year has been bad; combination of weather, poor record, competition with the World Series and less than exciting opponents. I'm hoping the BigSky and better records will get us back in the 9000-10000 range EVERY game; we'll see. the allure of the new stadium is wearing off on some of our seasoned alums, and they have been staying away all year (even homecoming).

I agree with you Stang, he was well respected by Davis fans. I remember him as a real gamer last year at Davis. Every time it appeared we would put them away, he made plays to keep them in the game. Hate to see a Senior get hurt like this. Sending best wishes on a speedy and heathly recovery.

his main gripe was over a fumble call, where he thought the QB was down and the Davis guy who recovered was out of bounds. Davis scored the go-ahead TD on the next play. i think he called out an interference call early in the game during another Davis scoring drive. also, the last play of the game was a bang-bang hit on a pass, with the passed dropped. the number of penalties were about the same. I don't know if the call was right or wrong.....in my opinion, its irrelevant. you do NOT go to the press calling the officials 'homers', and calling them the reason the Great West is disbanding (i don't remember either Davis or Poly mentioning Great West officiating when they announced the move to the Big Sky!). If a player said that, you could pass it off as a kid in the heat of the moment. For a coach to say something like that, is kind of ridiculous. on the yote board, the opinion was about 50/50 about his comments. many were embarrassed, others praised him for speaking his mind.

Congratulations to the Sioux from a UC-Davis fan! Nice win for your program, and the GWFC! I think this shows the GWFC is a pretty decent conference, and it will continue to get stronger. I've enjoyed interacting with your fans the past two seasons, and know you guys will show us a good time when we visit next year.