2025 Non-UND FCS News/Scores Thread

[wheelsup]

Ndsu has to talk about football moving FBS..  because their enrollment has gotten so low pretty soon they are going to have to drop back to D2.  They do a great job fundraising and a poor job updating campus and recruiting students that actually want their majors. 
 

The Dakotas and Montanas need to stick together to keep football relevant up here and it would be nice if all of the mid teams that moved up over the last 10 years moved back down or we all moved up to make a great FCS again.. we could call its Division 1 AA.. 

i hate the idea of moving up to fbs.. I hate the idea of not playing our regional rivals more. 

[Johnny Five]

15 hours ago, JacksonW said:

Boise has sma population of 775,000 and student enrollment of 27,000. 

My bad...was meaning in relation to media market rankings.  It's something like 100 for Boise State and 115 for Fargo as far as that goes.  Nothing amazing for each but yes, I get your point, I will sit out for 2 minutes.

[Johnny Five]

16 hours ago, fightingsioux4life said:

I have always said that the best way to move up is to have the 4 Dakota schools and the 2 Montana schools move up together. There is strength in numbers and along with those numbers, bargaining power.

I 100% agree with this.  I could care less if NDSU goes up or not honestly.  But if they do and do it without a regional rival, it's a mistake.  

[AJS]

There are different tiers to this for me. I really liked @wheelsup last sentence. The idea of a G6 FBS isn’t very appealing, but, the FCS appeal is also hanging on by a string. The appeal is with the other Dakota / Montana schools. 
 

NDSU going alone, I’ve come to terms with. They’ve won. IF they go with say SDSU (which is who they would go w/) it would be devastating to UND athletics. 
 

NDSU fundraises extremely well, promotes themselves extremely well. Doesn’t Team Makers yearly make over 2X what Champions Club does? Like others have pointed out, their campus is a dump, low enrollment (which for G6 all Dakota schools have). There are risk factors. I wouldn’t bet against them, but seems difficult to double your athletic budget to get in line with G6 programs (not in MAC or Conf USA). 

UND needs to be treating this as if their athletic lives depend on it. Positioning themselves to move to G6. Which means fundraise fundraise fundraise.

[JacksonW]

41 minutes ago, Johnny Five said:

My bad...was meaning in relation to media market rankings.  It's something like 100 for Boise State and 115 for Fargo as far as that goes.  Nothing amazing for each but yes, I get your point, I will sit out for 2 minutes.

Major penalty reduced to a minor after review

[homer]

1 hour ago, AJS said:

There are different tiers to this for me. I really liked @wheelsup last sentence. The idea of a G6 FBS isn’t very appealing, but, the FCS appeal is also hanging on by a string. The appeal is with the other Dakota / Montana schools. 
 

NDSU going alone, I’ve come to terms with. They’ve won. IF they go with say SDSU (which is who they would go w/) it would be devastating to UND athletics. 
 

NDSU fundraises extremely well, promotes themselves extremely well. Doesn’t Team Makers yearly make over 2X what Champions Club does? Like others have pointed out, their campus is a dump, low enrollment (which for G6 all Dakota schools have). There are risk factors. I wouldn’t bet against them, but seems difficult to double your athletic budget to get in line with G6 programs (not in MAC or Conf USA). 

UND needs to be treating this as if their athletic lives depend on it. Positioning themselves to move to G6. Which means fundraise fundraise fundraise.

Well said. 
 

And again I would add aligning with the remaining Summit members that it’s off the table if they leave in their own.  Not sure how they do it but have to make it a challenge to move on their own.  Not having a bus league for Olympic sports makes it nearly impossible.   

[CMSioux]

1 hour ago, AJS said:

There are different tiers to this for me. I really liked @wheelsup last sentence. The idea of a G6 FBS isn’t very appealing, but, the FCS appeal is also hanging on by a string. The appeal is with the other Dakota / Montana schools. 
 

NDSU going alone, I’ve come to terms with. They’ve won. IF they go with say SDSU (which is who they would go w/) it would be devastating to UND athletics. 
 

NDSU fundraises extremely well, promotes themselves extremely well. Doesn’t Team Makers yearly make over 2X what Champions Club does? Like others have pointed out, their campus is a dump, low enrollment (which for G6 all Dakota schools have). There are risk factors. I wouldn’t bet against them, but seems difficult to double your athletic budget to get in line with G6 programs (not in MAC or Conf USA). 

UND needs to be treating this as if their athletic lives depend on it. Positioning themselves to move to G6. Which means fundraise fundraise fundraise.

Seems like UND is setting records every year on fundraising....for academics and infrastructure. Not sure that is a bad thing. 

[gfhockey]

Ndsu focuses on fundraising for athletics while UND focuses on fundraising for buildings

 

and und about to get a cut in state funding due to Fargo legislatures demanding a change in fundraising after und smoked them by in enrollment

 

 

[AJS]

48 minutes ago, CMSioux said:

Seems like UND is setting records every year on fundraising....for academics and infrastructure. Not sure that is a bad thing. 

See @gfhockey response. I would say, why not both? I think there was a missed opportunity not adding let’s say $25 million to the new stretch goal for athletic scholarships.

Btw, I don’t think UND is that far off. I would argue as of 2025, they are doing all the really difficult things extremely well. Campus, uptick in enrollment, athletic facilities. 
 

I do think athletic scholarships is a big need. Build the athletic endowment (believe UND’s is less 1/2 of NDSU’s). 50 million to 110 million. I want to see some fire, self promotion. Fundraise, fundraise, fundraise.

[southpaw]

1 hour ago, homer said:

Well said. 
 

And again I would add aligning with the remaining Summit members that it’s off the table if they leave in their own.  Not sure how they do it but have to make it a challenge to move on their own.  Not having a bus league for Olympic sports makes it nearly impossible.   

Und needs a stable Summit because where does UND put its olympic sports if too many teams leave or get kicked out?  Plus, maybe one day UND moves up to football only FBS too. There's so much realignment happening, why do something that negatively affects your own conference and builds a bigger divide with your closest school? 

[homer]

22 minutes ago, southpaw said:

Und needs a stable Summit because where does UND put its olympic sports if too many teams leave or get kicked out?  Plus, maybe one day UND moves up to football only FBS too. There's so much realignment happening, why do something that negatively affects your own conference and builds a bigger divide with your closest school? 

There will always be a school willing to move up.  Maybe it’s an old NCC school but if we aren’t going to invest in those sports, why does it matter?  Attendance will always be the same.  

For the remaining Summit schools, any additional money NDSU gets from FBS football will filter to these Olympic sports   You are also competing for fans across the state, why make that easy   

The approach from the school needs to be you are competing for students.  NDSU isn’t going to do any favors so why make it financially easier? 

[Siouxperman8]

16 minutes ago, homer said:

There will always be a school willing to move up.  Maybe it’s an old NCC school but if we aren’t going to invest in those sports, why does it matter?  Attendance will always be the same.  

For the remaining Summit schools, any additional money NDSU gets from FBS football will filter to these Olympic sports   You are also competing for fans across the state, why make that easy   

The approach from the school needs to be you are competing for students.  NDSU isn’t going to do any favors so why make it financially easier? 

Not sure there will be extra money after expenses to filter down. Entry fee to move up is $5 million up front and costs can only be higher. 

[gfhockey]

52 minutes ago, AJS said:

See @gfhockey response. I would say, why not both? I think there was a missed opportunity not adding let’s say $25 million to the new stretch goal for athletic scholarships.

Btw, I don’t think UND is that far off. I would argue as of 2025, they are doing all the really difficult things extremely well. Campus, uptick in enrollment, athletic facilities. 
 

I do think athletic scholarships is a big need. Build the athletic endowment (believe UND’s is less 1/2 of NDSU’s). 50 million to 110 million. I want to see some fire, self promotion. Fundraise, fundraise, fundraise.

Only so much cash and und keeps hitting up same boosters

[UND-FB-FAN]

3 hours ago, gfhockey said:

Only so much cash and und keeps hitting up same boosters

Need to expand the booster base or consequences will be detrimental. UND needs to think bigger. Evidenced by comments on this board, the idea that UND can’t or shouldn’t compete with current “FBS” programs (namely G6 programs) is far too prevalent and needs to be worked around by “leadership”. 

[KBH2010]

If only we knew somebody with big oil money that could get the word out to his big oil money friends.

[Wilbur]

17 hours ago, gfhockey said:

NdSu works the old ladies oil money hard

 

never seen a und fundraiser out here

This.  Mckenzie county, Williams, Divide.  Can't just show up in Bismarck and expect to collect checks at Hawktree.  

[Siouxperman8]

1 hour ago, UND-FB-FAN said:

Need to expand the booster base or consequences will be detrimental. UND needs to think bigger. Evidenced by comments on this board, the idea that UND can’t or shouldn’t compete with current “FBS” programs (namely G6 programs) is far too prevalent and needs to be worked around by “leadership”. 

No snark here at all but I truly don't understand the attraction to playing with hopes to get to a low level bowl game. I'd much rather play in the FCS playoffs.  

I have visions of something like the 2024 Cricket Celebration Bowl (Jackson St vs. South Carolina St) or the Myrtle Beach Bowl (Coastal Carolina vs. UTSA) if you even make a bowl. 

Help me understand what I'm not getting.

[gfhockey]

57 minutes ago, KBH2010 said:

If only we knew somebody with big oil money that could get the word out to his big oil money friends.

Pretty hard when they don’t come out here

 

you should see the amount of bison swag out here

 

they have town hall open bar events smokers 

[90siouxfan]

Perhaps the "bowl" aspect will got the way of the dinosaur....   I assume its too much to hope for eventual FBS-1 and FBS-2

[wheelsup]

24 minutes ago, 90siouxfan said:

Perhaps the "bowl" aspect will got the way of the dinosaur....   I assume its too much to hope for eventual FBS-1 and FBS-2

We could call one division 1 A and one division 1 AA 😀.. 

[UND-FB-FAN]

1 hour ago, Siouxperman8 said:

No snark here at all but I truly don't understand the attraction to playing with hopes to get to a low level bowl game. I'd much rather play in the FCS playoffs.  

I have visions of something like the 2024 Cricket Celebration Bowl (Jackson St vs. South Carolina St) or the Myrtle Beach Bowl (Coastal Carolina vs. UTSA) if you even make a bowl. 

Help me understand what I'm not getting.

No one exactly knows what the future holds, but can’t afford what happened 20 years ago to happen again.
 

Need to be prepared to act regardless of what presents itself. Need to move up with regional rivals when the opportunity arises. FCS playoffs won’t mean anything if NDSU and SDSU and Montanas aren’t in it. Also, there’s no guarantee that a new subdivision isn’t formed in the future (G5 plus top FCS programs) that still features playoffs. 
 

All in all, UND and its boosters and supporters cannot afford to be closed-minded … at all. 

[tnt]

21 hours ago, Oxbow6 said:

Boots on the ground say this 7-year deal was not done to keep doing this FCS status quo thing through the length of the contract. 

Dark meat >>> white meat and sweet potato casserole is king.

Go Pack Go

Last time they leaped to the next level UND had already surpassed them, so after losing to Bubba a couple years ago, and surviving a couple weeks ago, they are getting ahead of the game this time.

[Siouxperman8]

2 hours ago, UND-FB-FAN said:

No one exactly knows what the future holds, but can’t afford what happened 20 years ago to happen again.
 

Need to be prepared to act regardless of what presents itself. Need to move up with regional rivals when the opportunity arises. FCS playoffs won’t mean anything if NDSU and SDSU and Montanas aren’t in it. Also, there’s no guarantee that a new subdivision isn’t formed in the future (G5 plus top FCS programs) that still features playoffs. 
 

All in all, UND and its boosters and supporters cannot afford to be closed-minded … at all. 

If, and that’s a big if, all of those things happen I’d be on board and we should be ready to move. 
- NDSU, SDSU, Montana St, Montana all move up

- new subdivision formed that has playoffs. This has been talked about since Lennon was coaching UND. It was part of the justification for not moving up.  The theory was that a new subdivision was coming so we’d wait for that to shake out first. 25 years later and I don’t think we are any closer to that happening. Haven’t heard anything recently about it.  
Like I said, I was wrong last time so probably wrong again. just don’t see the appeal and where the money would come from  

 

[Oxbow6]

2 hours ago, tnt said:

Last time they leaped to the next level UND had already surpassed them, so after losing to Bubba a couple years ago, and surviving a couple weeks ago, they are getting ahead of the game this time.

Yup.....I am pretty sure all of that is actually what they are thinking. 

[The Sicatoka]

When 14-1 and a January game is the norm, will 7-4 and a mid-December bowl be enough. (The teams around them in Sagarin average out about there.)