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Posted
1 hour ago, bincitysioux said:

I swear must be the only one here that doesn't !@#$ himself on a daily basis at the thought of joining the MVFC..........

No, you are not. Have always thought the Big Sky was a great place for UND (and the other Dakota schools)

Posted
25 minutes ago, siouxfan512 said:

I mean they have some really good teams, but so did the Big Sky, especially the last few seasons.

NDSU is a different animal, so throw them out of the conversation. SDSU, Youngstown, UNI .... all comparable talent wise to teams in the BSC. Different style of course.

Seems that the MVFC team just tend to beat up on each other though. So apart from NDSU, and sometime SDSU, nobody really runs away with it. You have a bunch of teams that have a few good wins and a few good losses.

That being said, when I look at next year, it could be fun. It is just tough to know how UND will do on the road at some places they have never played. Obviously road play needs to improve, as we saw from the Nicholls game.

SDSU is the toughest home game, but that doesn't mean UND shouldn't be able to compete or win. USD at home is always interesting. Should win all other home games. No clue how to feel about Illinois St or Youngstown state. I just don't know enough about these MVFC teams yet.

 

When I think of the MVFC, UND is nearly guaranteed to play 4 of the top 5 teams every year. Yes, there are definitely bottom-tier teams that should be easy wins for any "adequate" team.

In the Big Sky, you could get super lucky with scheduling and find yourself playing the six lowest teams in a season with just a couple of higher level teams. The uneven scheduling is more magnified in a bigger conference, so the strength of the conference gets spread around. I think the top of the Big Sky is on par with the top of the MFVC. But more than half your schedule can be low-level teams that you should dominate. Unless they're ISU, in which case ????

Posted
1 minute ago, southpaw said:

When I think of the MVFC, UND is nearly guaranteed to play 4 of the top 5 teams every year. Yes, there are definitely bottom-tier teams that should be easy wins for any "adequate" team.

In the Big Sky, you could get super lucky with scheduling and find yourself playing the six lowest teams in a season with just a couple of higher level teams. The uneven scheduling is more magnified in a bigger conference, so the strength of the conference gets spread around. I think the top of the Big Sky is on par with the top of the MFVC. But more than half your schedule can be low-level teams that you should dominate. Unless they're ISU, in which case ????

Doesn't the MVFC usually get a higher percentage of teams into the playoffs, though?  Kind of like the NCHC - it's tough, but there is still opportunity.

Posted
4 minutes ago, nodak651 said:

Doesn't the MVFC usually get a higher percentage of teams into the playoffs, though?  Kind of like the NCHC - it's tough, but there is still opportunity.

That is very true. Look at SDSU getting seeded this year......Anyone who watched them after their QB went did could tell you they weren't a complete team BUT they played in the MVFC

Posted
4 minutes ago, nodak651 said:

Doesn't the MVFC usually get a higher percentage of teams into the playoffs, though?  Kind of like the NCHC - it's tough, but there is still opportunity.

Exactly. Maybe I didn't articulate well enough. I see the MVFC as the NCHC of FCS. and the Big Sky would be Hockey East. Without NDSU going on this run, I'd bet at least two other teams have titles in the past handful of years. There have been some damn good teams from the MVFC.

There have also been some good Big Sky teams but (and this is as a fan of the Big Sky for UND) I just never felt like any of the teams were quite the complete team. I'd take some of those SDSU teams over any of the Big Sky teams any day of the week and twice on Saturdays in January.

I loved the Big Sky. I went to more away games there than I will ever in the MVFC, and I'm a bit scared about how UND will fare against the MVFC.

Posted

We have more in common with Montana, Idaho and NC than we do with Western Illinois, Missouri State and Southern Illinois.

cant say I’m excited to see any of those games

At least going to the big sky games there were some nice cities and stadiums to go to.

  • Upvote 3
Posted
10 minutes ago, Kab said:

We have more in common with Montana, Idaho and NC than we do with Western Illinois, Missouri State and Southern Illinois.

cant say I’m excited to see any of those games

At least going to the big sky games there were some nice cities and stadiums to go to.

We have more in common with NDSU, SDSU and UNI than Sac St, Portland St and Southern Utah.

Can't say I was ever excited to see any of those games. 

At least going to MVFC games most fans don't have to drive 1,000 miles. 

Posted

Could have had the best of both if we stayed big sky but the 2 SUs has such a superiority  complex and wouldn’t play us

Posted
4 hours ago, Kab said:

We have more in common with Montana, Idaho and NC than we do with Western Illinois, Missouri State and Southern Illinois.

cant say I’m excited to see any of those games

At least going to the big sky games there were some nice cities and stadiums to go to.

I think the biggest benefit for UND will be playing more in or closer to the footprint of the recruiting base. Trying to recruit a kid out of Wisconsin or Chicago or Omaha and telling his parents he'll be playing his games in Missouia, Portland and Sacramento had to be tough. Now he/she will have a decent number of games within driving distance of those families. That should be good for a couple reccruits.

  • Upvote 1
Posted
7 hours ago, southpaw said:

We have more in common with NDSU, SDSU and UNI than Sac St, Portland St and Southern Utah.

Can't say I was ever excited to see any of those games. 

At least going to MVFC games most fans don't have to drive 1,000 miles. 

Not that many go to GF for games. 

Posted

From the most recent stats I could find UND was 26 out of 126 in attendance in 2018. That is in the top 20%. Not saying that is something to be satisfied with but it's also not that bad. 

Posted
On 3/6/2020 at 10:09 AM, siouxfan512 said:

I mean they have some really good teams, but so did the Big Sky, especially the last few seasons.

NDSU is a different animal, so throw them out of the conversation. SDSU, Youngstown, UNI .... all comparable talent wise to teams in the BSC. Different style of course.

Seems that the MVFC team just tend to beat up on each other though. So apart from NDSU, and sometime SDSU, nobody really runs away with it. You have a bunch of teams that have a few good wins and a few good losses.

That being said, when I look at next year, it could be fun. It is just tough to know how UND will do on the road at some places they have never played. Obviously road play needs to improve, as we saw from the Nicholls game.

SDSU is the toughest home game, but that doesn't mean UND shouldn't be able to compete or win. USD at home is always interesting. Should win all other home games. No clue how to feel about Illinois St or Youngstown state. I just don't know enough about these MVFC teams yet.

 

The biggest difference between MVFC and Big Sky is geography, obviously. UND will be accumulating far less travel miles, thus saving travel expense. The other difference is the MVFC contains juggernaut NDSU, but beating that team should fuel UND’s drive and passion. Disrupting the balance by beating NDSU would be significant, but of course, UND also needs to find consistency within the conference schedule.

The only perfect conference season for UND under Bubba in the BSC was 2016. But that season has asterisks in that UND didn’t play the co-conference champ EWU and also didn’t play the toughest road challenge offered at Montana. The MVFC will offer similar challenges for Bubba and staff. UND will have to play in tough environments in the MVFC, namely at the Fargodome, at SDSU and at UNI. Two of their 3 protected games (SDSU, USD, NDSU) are against the conference “top dogs”. It will be a challenge for UND, but it will make UND a better program. It will have regional intrigue and relevance. It will allow for easier fan travel to some away games. All in all, it is an exciting change for UND football, but much work yet to be done for Bubba.

  • Upvote 3

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