tjamz

Yep. One open date. We are going to have to give up either an FBS game or a home game, I believe that the Montana game was scheduled a while back (2009 is when it was scheduled IIRC). We are at least playing a higher end FCS school (traditionally) in Montana. Is it perfect? No, but it should be a great game that should be close (just like most of our FBS wins have been). I have no doubt that GT will fill the last spot with a home game from a cupcake FCS counter. As I said earlier the game was scheduled back in 2009. BEFORE we really hit our stride in FCS. Probably before the schedule format was perfected to what we'd prefer. Heck in 2009 we only had 5 home games.... we were a very ho-hum team that year (3-8) we didn't have the power to negotiate like we do now, though we did get a home & home out of the deal. Is it fair to say things have changed at NDSU since 2009? We lost more games that year than the following 4 years combined. Just as in business, things change. Contracts get renegotiated or pulled based on a number of factors. I send out bid's every single day, they are only good for a certain period of time (usually 90 to 180 days) after which my company has the option to no longer honor the offer.

Where did I say we never wanted BSC? We absolutely did. In hindsight we are better off where we are now.

Long term: mvfc. If UND were smart they would all to join. BSC is an economic drain for a team so far east of the footprint.

If they are willing to restart it sign the current offer on the table. Two games both in Fargo. Personally, I'd rather not see it for reasons stated above. As for the no DII's that happened after one of your conference mates bought out at the last moment. As for Incarnate Word.... well, they play Baylor in a few years so they mustn't be all that awful to schedule? I stated publicly that NDSU initially WANTED to go BSC. It didn't work out. Ultimately we ended up in the MVFC. In hindsight that was the best thing that ever happened to our program(s). Were we kinda forced into it? Yes, but you mention options. The BSC was (I believe) the only conference that would take UND because of the nickname controversy. I don't believe MVFC was an option. If it was then why didn't UND do what was best for the state and join so they could play against their traditional rivals (NDSU, USD, SDSU) on a regular basis? That seems logical to me.

If I had that kind of sway with him I would.

You are correct, however they fit our scheduling template even though we travel to them this year. It allows us to still have 6 home games, play an FBS game and play a cupcake game (actually two if you count them -Weber St- as a cupcake). Bringing in Montana as a good OOC game is nice as well. Any other year until 2019 (I believe and correct me if i am wrong) is an 11 game regular season. Traveling for an OOC game screws up our scheduling. At present UND does not have much in the way of negotiating power to demand a home game. At present NDSU is the defending champion and UND is essentially a cupcake based on the past few seasons. All of that may well change in the future at which time UND may have some leverage and NDSU may not. Personally. I don't want to play UND in any sports during the regular season. Nothing good will come from it for either school. In today's political climate it's just not a smart move to pit us against each other. There will be Sioux Suck !@#$ chants from at least some of the Bison fans regardless of what mascot is on your jersey in future years and there will be "!@#$ the Bison" chants coming from UND fans. None of which will play out well in the media. It's a political hot potato that both schools should do their best to stay the hell away from. You chose to go Big Sky, we ultimately ended up in the MVFC. Even though we wanted BSC to begin with I think NDSU ended up in the better geographic conference.

FWIW, I HOPE you guys get back to what you once were. Get back to winning games, back to having a defense. This year will be telling, not in the amount of wins/losses, but how the team comes together. I think Bubba can/will get his team together eventually, but who knows how long it will take. It MIGHT happen quick, it might take a while. Since this is an expectations thread I'll go with 3-4 wins against the bottom feeders and maybe 1 or 2 wins over better competition.

As you know Darrell, it was one of your conference mates that pussed out and didn't WANT to play us (I don't care what MSU says contrary). I truly felt that Ferris state was a good team. Good enough to win regularly in the MVFC/CAA? No. Probably not, but very well coached and played good ball.... good enough to beat UND. As for St Cloud State, I honestly don't know. I haven't watched them play in years so I can't speculate. I have watched a fair amount of UND though. Enough to know that you guys were BAD this year. Yes, you scored a bunch of points against SDSU (hats off to you for doing so) but I don't really think SDSU is the cream of the crop for defense in the MVFC (yes, I know... held NDSU to 21 points). Back to my point: If we somehow end up with St Cloud St on our schedule I'll give you my assessment at the end of that season.

Again, I based it on the few games I saw of theirs and the few I saw of UND. How Massey comes up with his numbers is his business but they're usually *fairly* accurate to gauge competition with especially after the season is over and the connections are done. Is it perfect? Hell no. If it were there was no way NDSU would have beaten KSU to start the year.

Not just me that thinks that. Massey has them rated 210 overall in college football and UND rated @ 313. http://www.masseyratings.com/rate.php?s=cf2013 Other stats: (throwing in NDSU just for the hell of it) Pwr: UND 313 Ferris 211 NDSU 22 Off: UND 308 Ferris 156 NDSU 38 Def: UND 310 Ferris 304 NDSU 5 (yes according to Massey 5th best Defense in all of college football) HFA: UND 1.74 Ferris 5.8 NDSU 2.24 SoS: UND 204 Ferris 251 NDSU 91

Fwiw I , I based my opinion on how UND performed and the level of play I saw from Ferris State. wish we had played Montana State, that would have been more interesting from a story line perspective, but we had to play those who wanted to play us. Ferris State stepped up and played respectable football against what many are considering one of the best fcs teams in history.

Honestly... close game if they could contain Zenner. Not saying they could have but not out of the realm of possibility either. I'm not huge on sdsu (I was earlier in the season before we played them). I truly felt that Ferris was infinitely better then Delaware state as well. Maybe crushed was too big of a statement... but I truly believe they would beat UND. SDSU was (regardless of records) the 5th best team in mvfc this year. UNI, SIU and YSU were better teams. The best team doesn't always win though. SDSU lacked a solid defense and rested everything on the back of Zenner. As we've seen that only takes you so far.

Ferris state would have crushed UND this year (they were a good d2 program). But we were kinda forced to play them after Montana state chickened out.

True but I was sitting in the Mizzou section and they'd START chants when they were on offense. Every 15 seconds someone would yell "M-I-Z" followed by a loud "Z-O-U". Likewise OSU did their chant regularly when they were on offense. FWIW the crowd in Frisco was louder than the crowd at at&t stadium.

Without knowing the context of that statement here is what I "think"they may have been referring to: Noisy as hell on defense, can hear a pin drop on offense. I attended the cotton bowl the night before and both the Mizzou and OSU fans would get chants going while their teams were on offense.... managed to troll the Towson fans a couple times (I was in their section on the 50 yard line) and realized whenever my group started a "let's go bison" chant they'd try and one up us by chanting "let's go Towson!" So every time we were on defense I'd start that chant and they'd yell louder than me thereby making it harder for their offense to communicate. I was also successful (once early in the game) to silence their fans when we were on offense by doing the shhh... quiet down arm movement. So in that context I think our fan base as a whole is smart enough to know to yell loud and knowledgeable enough to know when to do it.

He didn't flunk out of UND, that may be why he likes you guys better (didn't attend UND either, but he did fail at NDSU according to my sources)

Bye week.

FSNorth has moved NDSU vs Illinois St to it's primary channel. http://www.gobison.com/schedule.aspx?path=football&tab=schedule2

I'm not the one saying we are top 25 FBS. In fact MOST of the people on BV would not make that statement (the Sportswriter on the other hand did.... and we'll take that compliment all day long). Could we play with the top 25? Yes. I think we could beat a few of them even, especially on a neutral field. Does that mean that I think we're a top 25 team? No. Top 50 probably, but not top 25.

As I understand it based on the very little light reading I've done on the matter: Dance team is a club level deal, and is not part of the cheer team (anymore) by their own choosing. Now, said club is upset that they cannot perform with the cheer team at school events so they continue to petition NDSU to make an exception. President & AD are frustrated and in one email says they are "on the war path again". !@#$ gets blown out of proportion and SS.com gets a boner over an out of context email. I think that covers it.

And you act like UND fans wouldn't do the exact same thing if the roles were reversed? Come on! I guarantee the first FBS win that UND has will be celebrated by each and every person on this board, and it doesn't matter if it's and SEC team or a Sunbelt team it will be regarded as a huge win and a great step forward for the team. Why? Because it IS. As for Sagarin specifically, yes, it's fun to see where the computers pick us once there have been more connections made. Do we have this grand idea that somehow we will get a bowl game because of those standings? No. Let me repeat that: NO! Do I personally think that NDSU could play competitive football with the majority of the teams in the FBS this year? Yes. Do I think they'd win all of them? No. But I don't think they'd consistently get blown out. Prior to the KSU game there were a number of posters on here stating that the KSU game wouldn't even be close, they are the returning Big12 champs, teams like that don't rebuild they reload..... etc.... Then all of the sudden a big come from behind win while grinding nearly 9 minutes off the clock against a traditionally very good FBS school is disregarded as "well, they suck this year" and that may be true, but until your team has done that against even a crappy FBS team I don't think you have much room to talk.

I still think that lakesbison would be a better coach than Muss and he can't stand UND

They did change it. It is now the equivalent of writing a $500 NSF check in the eyes of the law. The law also outlaws the organization who asked them to solicit signatures from setting a quota. Both are now Class C Felonies, but anyone with an understanding of the law must realize that you can't retroactively go back and recharge them with felonies. At the time of the case it was a Class A misdemeanor (and I was incorrect, you must write a $250 NSF check for that). I'm not making excuses for their behavior, I'm stating what the law was/said at the time of their charges (they were never arrested, just subpoenaed to appear). I have also said I would have been ok with a harsher penalty from the school. It didn't happen though and I can't go back and rewrite history. I think a 1 game suspension for all involved would have probably been fair (1/11 of the season).

Learn to read. That was but ONE of the criteria I mentioned. There certainly could be more. You mean like violating NCAA rules regarding being paid for autographs and receiving a 1/2 game suspension? I actually agreed that I can see both sides of it (the NDSU elections deal), and wouldn't have been opposed to a suspension (Ojuri was suspended due to previous things on record) but ultimately it wasn't like anyone was put in danger, no one was injured, etc.. (and they weren't acting like a jackass while representing the school which BY ITSELF is enough reason to suspend someone and is not the only criteria that should constitute a suspension) In legal terms it's about on par with writing a $100 check that goes to court for NSF. Illegal, but not dangerous activity.

For anyone who wants to know why I refer to my ex-wife as I did and missed the earlier post before it got deleted feel free to PM me for the details or you can go to BV Football Section titled "SDSU-NDSU not a big deal" and look at post #71. I'm hoping that this post doesn't get deleted as well as I feel it only fair that I get to tell my side of the story.