Tough break v the Jacks

[DMoo531]

I'm an old Montana State fan. I remember well the pre-'78 days when we played OOC most every year. I was glad to see UND join the Big Sky. Wished the other 3 Dakota schools had also, it could have been the Great West/Big Sky. But I understand geography & travel distances. I am from Montana where distances are large.

I'm curious why the BSC instead of the MVFC. I'm also confused about the Sioux nickname. I've been calling you the Fightin' Who? since '10. I wish you the best. Your '13 schedule is brutal. The Jacks, then UM OOC. Still have to face MSU & EWU in conference play. But you have 7 games in Alerus. Would love to see UND a football power to match hockey.

I am a MSU fan first, Montana football fan (I-AA or NAIA) second, BSC fan third and I-AA fan always.

[fightingsioux4life]

Thank you for the kind remarks. We are very happy with the Big Sky conference and believe it is a good, long-term home for our programs. We also are proud to be associated with top-notch schools like Montana and Montana State. Don't be a stranger on this forum, feel free to opine on whatever we are griping about!

[hm.grwn.grizfan]

Montana fan here. Looking forward to our game with you guys this weekend!

[fightingsioux4life]

Montana fan here. Looking forward to our game with you guys this weekend!

As are we! We've been waiting a long time to have quality programs like yours come into our house. You making the trip or watching at home?

[hm.grwn.grizfan]

As are we! We've been waiting a long time to have quality programs like yours come into our house. You making the trip or watching at home?

I'l be watching at home. I have to work that day and get off an hour before the game (thank god). This game should be interesting since both team's strengths play into the others weakness. You guys have a plethora of athletic receivers, and churn out hundreds of yards per game passing, while UM's secondary has been a huge question mark since last season. I think you guys had 20 million yards passing on us last year. UM has switched back to the Pro-set which we employed during our championship runs in the Hauck era. We have a monster O-line and several playmakers at RB, and from what I've read on your site it seems ND's achilles heel is their run defense. The two wildcards in this matchup might be both teams QB's. We return Jordan Johnson, who took us to the semi-finals in 2011 but missed last season due to legal issues (which I'm sure most of you know already); You guys will be playing one of two freshman QB's, or a combination of both. I watched your game vs SDSU, and both QB's seemed very talented, however, made a couple mistakes that may have cost you the game.

I'm really looking forward to this matchup, as many of you undoubtedly are as well. It should act as a good barometer for determining whether UM has returned to its winning ways after suffering its first losing season in over 2 decades, and whether ND has elevated its game to another level after joining the big sky conference. Looking forward to it!!!

[Dustin]

Getting back to your original post: Choice of conference was easy - Big Sky offered, Missouri Valley didn't. UND was being courted by the Summit League for non-football sports, but MVFC was not part of that deal. After UND accepted Big Sky offer, it looked as though South Dakota would too, and then MVFC made it a package deal with the Summit, and USD went there with the xDSU's. Overall, I think most UND fans are happy with the Big Sky over the Summit/MVFC. Live video of all football, basketball, and volleyball games is great, and at no cost to the fans. We also are happy with the conference stability over the Summit. I think Doug Fullerton has done a good job positioning the Big Sky for when the inevitable 3-tier D-1 football system happens. Adding the other Dakota schools to the Big Sky would be looked at favorably by UND, but I think the other Dakota schools love the MVFC. As for conference aspirations, I know full membership in the Missouri Valley would a dream come true for NDSU, although UND people are convinced that would never happen.

As for the nickname, that saga is long and drawn out. Long story short - Fighting Sioux was on the NCAA list of offensive names back in 2005. UND and various nickname supporters tried (how hard depends on who you ask) to keep the name without sanctions from the NCAA, but to no avail. After 7 years of oftentimes ugly disagreement, the issue was finally put to rest in 2012 when 2/3 of North Dakotans voted to retire the name. Most are sad that it is gone. Most are content with no nickname being better than a new nickname (at least for right now.)

UND overall is a proud athletics school with 11 national championship in 3 sports, including 1 in D-II football. I can assure you that contending for a national championship in FCS football is a high priority of the athletic department.