2026 Non-UND FCS News/Scores Thread

[Bison06]

2 minutes ago, UND69er said:

JSU coach set them up for failure when not taking the FG with 3 mins left in 1st half to tie. Bison went down 

for a TD and JSU just folded after that. No confidence or discipline. 40 yrs of coaching and making $1M he should

be fired. 

Ego and environment got the best of him on that decision. I agree, should’ve taken the 3 there. Hard to know how the rest of the game plays out with that change, but I don’t think the outcome changes much if they do that.

I turned to my son in Q1 and replayed a zone run to the left where our Oline pushed back their entire Dline 7 yards and said this game is already over. If NDSU gets that kind of push in Q1, by the second half the Dline will be exhausted and break. That’s exactly what happened.

[SIOUXFAN97]

9 minutes ago, UND69er said:

JSU coach set them up for failure when not taking the FG with 3 mins left in 1st half to tie. Bison went down 

for a TD and JSU just folded after that. No confidence or discipline. 40 yrs of coaching and making $1M he should

be fired. 

true...take the points.

[SIOUXFAN97]

4 minutes ago, UND1983 said:

I think we all saw how good the G6 is on Saturday

izzo and kolpack have been docking all day on their breaks.....

[SIOUXFAN97]

6 minutes ago, Bison06 said:

Ego and environment got the best of him on that decision. I agree, should’ve taken the 3 there. Hard to know how the rest of the game plays out with that change, but I don’t think the outcome changes much if they do that.

I turned to my son in Q1 and replayed a zone run to the left where our Oline pushed back their entire Dline 7 yards and said this game is already over. If NDSU gets that kind of push in Q1, by the second half the Dline will be exhausted and break. That’s exactly what happened.

helps when their senior lb got hurt and the replacement was junk

[Bison06]

1 minute ago, SIOUXFAN97 said:

helps when their senior lb got hurt and the replacement was junk

Does that linebacker play offense too? That was an ass whooping, one player wasn’t making a difference, especially not at that position.

[fightingsioux4life]

2 hours ago, Bison06 said:

So talk your trash, have your fun, but don't talk out of both sides of your mouth. Either FCS is "JV" and FBS is a level up, or the top of FCS is very similar to G6 conferences and top FCS teams who want to make football a priority should move and a play "real schools" for "real D1 championships" how ever infinitely unlikely it may be for a G6 team to win it all. Can't have it both ways on that conversation.

The difference between G6 and P4 is huge and will continue getting bigger in the years to come. If there was a G6 playoff, I would support the other 3 Dakota schools and the 2 Montana schools moving up to G6. But playing for a G6 conference title and getting to go to a crappy mid-December bowl game on a weeknight with half the stands empty is not my idea of a good time.

And those lower tier bowl games are NOT huge money makers like some people like to believe. If you aren't playing on New Year's Day or in one of the CFP bowl games, you aren't getting a huge financial windfall from it.

A major realignment is coming with regard to college football. Until that happens, I don't think UND should make a reckless move up, whether or not they have the means.

[fightingsioux4life]

1 hour ago, NDRA said:

Agree, teams mentioned play quality football.

Say what you want about the AG school but their social media presence has exploded since Saturday's game.  According to said social media, they had 10 guys make NFL rosters.  Probably get a few more practice squad guys as well.  None of us have to like it but ya gotta respect it.

I don't have to respect anything. They will get the same level of respect that they give our hockey program when they win a national championship (slim and none). In 2016, newsstands in Fargo had the Grand Forks Heraldo front page facing backwards because the UND hockey team was on the front page posing with the national championship trophy. So I think I'll show them the same level of respect in return.

[NDRA]

2 minutes ago, fightingsioux4life said:

I don't have to respect anything. They will get the same level of respect that they give our hockey program when they win a national championship (slim and none). In 2016, newsstands in Fargo had the Grand Forks Heraldo front page facing backwards because the UND hockey team was on the front page posing with the national championship trophy. So I think I'll show them the same level of respect in return.

Fair enough.

[Bison06]

6 minutes ago, fightingsioux4life said:

The difference between G6 and P4 is huge and will continue getting bigger in the years to come. If there was a G6 playoff, I would support the other 3 Dakota schools and the 2 Montana schools moving up to G6. But playing for a G6 conference title and getting to go to a crappy mid-December bowl game on a weeknight with half the stands empty is not my idea of a good time.

And those lower tier bowl games are NOT huge money makers like some people like to believe. If you aren't playing on New Year's Day or in one of the CFP bowl games, you aren't getting a huge financial windfall from it.

A major realignment is coming with regard to college football. Until that happens, I don't think UND should make a reckless move up, whether or not they have the means.

Financially, I agree. But you don’t go from FCS to P4 overnight. I have to assume many G6 teams who see football as primary, would love to be a part of the P4 long term, but that isn’t an easy transition. 
 

I see NDSU as a regional powerhouse who has gained some national recognition for their sustained success. Unless something drastic changes with population in the upper Midwest, NDSU should always be playing at the “second level” of college football. When NDSU moved to FCS, I don’t think the split between, at the time, G5 and P5 was as big as it is today. It was seen more as one I-A divisions, though there was still the haves and the have nots. Nowadays, FCS has transitioned into a true 3rd tier in my mind. G6 is now what the FCS From the late 90’s/early 2000’s was.

We’ll see what the future holds, but FCS has seen most of its historically great teams leave and to me, no longer fit the identity NDSU has for itself.

I think the Dakotas and Montana teams fit a similar mold, though NDSU seemed to separate itself from that crew in terms of support for football in the last 15-20 years.

 

[jdub27]

3 hours ago, Bison06 said:

FCS is not a joke. Though it has become significantly weakened over the years. I agree that if App St., GA Southern, JMU, Marshall, SHSU and a few other traditional powerhouses stay FCS, NDSU likely doesn't win as many championships in the FCS. However, if those teams had stayed, I also believe NDSU would have stayed FCS for much longer. Love NDSU or hate NDSU, they have messaged that football is priority in Fargo and they want to continue to rise in the ranks of the game. Nobody is expecting anyone from UND to hope for good things for NDSU as they make this move, but I do find the diminishing of this decision and some arguing that it isn't a level up to be odd. James Madison is proof that schools can make a transition up and be competitive, making the playoff within a few years of moving up. 

So talk your trash, have your fun, but don't talk out of both sides of your mouth. Either FCS is "JV" and FBS is a level up, or the top of FCS is very similar to G6 conferences and top FCS teams who want to make football a priority should move and a play "real schools" for "real D1 championships" how ever infinitely unlikely it may be for a G6 team to win it all. Can't have it both ways on that conversation.

I have always appreciated that you come here with a level headed take.

However your last paragraph definitely goes both ways. FargoU fans and media spent years pumping up FCS football and have immediately resorted to continuously denigrating it. No doubt, the bottom of the FCS is not good. However the top end is not a significant difference.

I think that it remains pretty obvious the top 10-15ish of the FCS would find some degree of success at the G6 level, though the AAC and possibly the new PAC may be a slight step above, but we'll see how the year plays out.
Jacksonville State is not a juggernaut. They would be a around the top 10 in FCS (Massey would have slotted them 9th last year, just behind UND and Sagarin would have had them 13th). A nice win? Yes. But to claim there is some giant step up in competition is amusing. Sagarin shows the MWC as a whole about 4 points stronger than the MVFC. 

Also remains to be seen how things will go as bills come due. Impressive large push at the beginning but the steam has worn out and while they gave themselves an extended window to reach their fundraising goals, some big checkbooks are going to have to open. Some early success could help with that though without a doubt.

[Bison06]

5 minutes ago, jdub27 said:

I have always appreciated that you come here with a level headed take.

However your last paragraph definitely goes both ways. FargoU fans and media spent years pumping up FCS football and have immediately resorted to continuously denigrating it. No doubt, the bottom of the FCS is not good. However the top end is not a significant difference.

I think that it remains pretty obvious the top 10-15ish of the FCS would find some degree of success at the G6 level, though the AAC and possibly the new PAC may be a slight step above, but we'll see how the year plays out.
Jacksonville State is not a juggernaut. They would be a around the top 10 in FCS (Massey would have slotted them 9th last year, just behind UND and Sagarin would have had them 13th). A nice win? Yes. But to claim there is some giant step up in competition is amusing. Sagarin shows the MWC as a whole about 4 points stronger than the MVFC. 

I’m sure there are many uneducated football fans who think it’s a massive step up. I’m not one of them, so I can’t speak for them. Also, MVFC in my mind is head and shoulders above every other conference in the FCS. Not indicative of the quality of play at the FCS level at large. As an example, LIU is an FCS school and if UND had kept the pedal down, that game could’ve been 80-0. Not a shot at UND, who I have a ton of respect for, but LIU is not a school that takes football seriously. There are many of them in the FCS and it got to the point where at times it was embarrassing for a school that takes football seriously to be associated with schools like that. USD against CCSU is another example.

I know there are some relatively bad teams in the G6. Some of them are in the mountain west even, but they still are fully funded with scholarships and carry the DI-FBS designation, which means they will be for the most part a step up from the vast majority of FCS games. Outside of the traditional powerhouse programs.

NDSU will no doubt have some growing pains and some humbling moments in this transition, some of our fans could use some humbling. But FBS is where NDSU belongs, I wish we had made the move a decade ago.

[fightingsioux4life]

2 minutes ago, Bison06 said:

I know there are some relatively bad teams in the G6. Some of them are in the mountain west even, but they still are fully funded with scholarships and carry the DI-FBS designation, which means they will be for the most part a step up from the vast majority of FCS games. Outside of the traditional powerhouse programs.

I think the MAC is the gold standard for bad FBS conferences. It is weak from top to bottom. I think the MVFC is better than the MAC.

[Bison06]

Just now, fightingsioux4life said:

I think the MAC is the gold standard for bad FBS conferences. It is weak from top to bottom. I think the MVFC is better than the MAC.

I agree with you that the MVFC is better than the MAC

[Bison06]

Just now, Bison06 said:

I agree with you that the MVFC is better than the MAC

I think even without NDSU that is still true

[SIOUXFAN97]

1 hour ago, Bison06 said:

Does that linebacker play offense too? That was an ass whooping, one player wasn’t making a difference, especially not at that position.

tide turned when he went down...just saying.

[SIOUXFAN97]

54 minutes ago, Bison06 said:

Financially, I agree. But you don’t go from FCS to P4 overnight. I have to assume many G6 teams who see football as primary, would love to be a part of the P4 long term, but that isn’t an easy transition. 
 

I see NDSU as a regional powerhouse who has gained some national recognition for their sustained success. Unless something drastic changes with population in the upper Midwest, NDSU should always be playing at the “second level” of college football. When NDSU moved to FCS, I don’t think the split between, at the time, G5 and P5 was as big as it is today. It was seen more as one I-A divisions, though there was still the haves and the have nots. Nowadays, FCS has transitioned into a true 3rd tier in my mind. G6 is now what the FCS From the late 90’s/early 2000’s was.

We’ll see what the future holds, but FCS has seen most of its historically great teams leave and to me, no longer fit the identity NDSU has for itself.

I think the Dakotas and Montana teams fit a similar mold, though NDSU seemed to separate itself from that crew in terms of support for football in the last 15-20 years.

 

what?  going from fcs to p4 overnight?  how about never

define "some national recognition"? do you mean the rat infestation in the dorms or the old AD playing around with glory holes on NP ave.

[Bison06]

11 minutes ago, SIOUXFAN97 said:

tide turned when he went down...just saying.

Sure

[Undertherock]

1 hour ago, fightingsioux4life said:

The difference between G6 and P4 is huge and will continue getting bigger in the years to come. If there was a G6 playoff, I would support the other 3 Dakota schools and the 2 Montana schools moving up to G6. But playing for a G6 conference title and getting to go to a crappy mid-December bowl game on a weeknight with half the stands empty is not my idea of a good time.

And those lower tier bowl games are NOT huge money makers like some people like to believe. If you aren't playing on New Year's Day or in one of the CFP bowl games, you aren't getting a huge financial windfall from it.

A major realignment is coming with regard to college football. Until that happens, I don't think UND should make a reckless move up, whether or not they have the means.

I think (and hope) that the thoughts of the vast majority of SDSU fans and admin are in agreement with your first paragraph.  I believe SDSU belongs in the second tier of college football but I don't think its accurate to say, as @Bison06 does that the G6 is second tier.  If it were, there'd be a real prize to play for and right now, there isn't.

Sure, there's a remote possibility of reaching the CFP but for what, get shellacked in the first round?  You can be sure that after last year, the P2 will see to it that the G6 will get no more than one team in the playoff and its going to take a miracle to get a bid out of the Mountain West.  A team will need to play a demanding out of conference schedule that would might require no less than two road wins against ranked P4 opponents, and likely 3 OOC P4 games, total, leaving only one OOC home game, and/or the MWC to have a very high quality year with a number of OOC upsets against P4.  That will be almost impossible after UNLV and AF leave when the grant of rights are up. 

What, then, is there to play for?  That stooge McFeely wrote in one of his columns that the FBS move wasn't about the playoffs (tacitly acknowleding that meaningful postseason football is the thing of the past in Fargo) but about regular season games.  But if its about regular season games, and your conference mates are really no better than MVFC teams, then what's better?  Hoping for a single road game to a P4 school?  

SDSU was historically a basketball school and the fan engagement and support really almost unparalleled back in the NCC days.  Now?  Sure, both programs are arguably the best supported programs in the Summit League but the level of engagemetn and interest is a shell of what it used to be.  The reality is that even for the women, you're playing for a Summit League tourney championship and really nothing more.  I see a move to FBS for our schools as doing to FB what's been done to all other sports - the climax of your season is playing for a conference championship.  Is that satisfactory in football?

[Bison06]

8 minutes ago, SIOUXFAN97 said:

what?  going from fcs to p4 overnight?  how about never

define "some national recognition"? do you mean the rat infestation in the dorms or the old AD playing around with glory holes on NP ave.

I literally said, "you don't go from FCS to P4 overnight", you quoted and bolded it.

You're hatred for NDSU has blinded you to the brand recognition that NDSU has gained nationally in the last decade. Any objective viewer realizes NDSU is viewed favorably by people nationally who know football. Through my work, I'm in touch with a lot of former DI football players throughout the country, NDSU is known.

[Undertherock]

10 minutes ago, SIOUXFAN97 said:

what?  going from fcs to p4 overnight?  how about never

define "some national recognition"? do you mean the rat infestation in the dorms or the old AD playing around with glory holes on NP ave.

I'm not discounting the Bison's success at all.  Winning 9 of 11 FCS championships is a tremendous accomplishment.  The media took notice, as they should have.  And the media now will give the Bison some love with the transition and if, as they should, they quickly dominate the MWC.  But a big part of the media love the Bison have received is because its "cute" for lack of a better term and the pop culture association of bleak, snowbound, backwards people disposing of crime scenes with wood chippers.  A lot of folks in North Fargo I think have mistaken the media attention with the Bison somehow becoming a national brand.  While winning an unprecedented string of championships was cute, going 9-3 or 10-2, which should be the expectation each sason, and being rewarded with the Boca Raton Bowl won't be cute anymore.  

I don't buy the bored fan schtick.  The reality is that even Fargo, the Bison aren't that interesting.  They certainly aren't going to attract eyeballs and don't share too many institutional qualities of P4 schools that will ever garner a sniff from a P4 conference.  Hell, if they weren't willing to pay such a ridiculous ransom, they weren't getting an invite to the MWC.  

[Bison06]

6 minutes ago, Undertherock said:

I think (and hope) that the thoughts of the vast majority of SDSU fans and admin are in agreement with your first paragraph.  I believe SDSU belongs in the second tier of college football but I don't think its accurate to say, as @Bison06 does that the G6 is second tier.  If it were, there'd be a real prize to play for and right now, there isn't.

Sure, there's a remote possibility of reaching the CFP but for what, get shellacked in the first round?  You can be sure that after last year, the P2 will see to it that the G6 will get no more than one team in the playoff and its going to take a miracle to get a bid out of the Mountain West.  A team will need to play a demanding out of conference schedule that would might require no less than two road wins against ranked P4 opponents, and likely 3 OOC P4 games, total, leaving only one OOC home game, and/or the MWC to have a very high quality year with a number of OOC upsets against P4.  That will be almost impossible after UNLV and AF leave when the grant of rights are up. 

What, then, is there to play for?  That stooge McFeely wrote in one of his columns that the FBS move wasn't about the playoffs (tacitly acknowleding that meaningful postseason football is the thing of the past in Fargo) but about regular season games.  But if its about regular season games, and your conference mates are really no better than MVFC teams, then what's better?  Hoping for a single road game to a P4 school?  

SDSU was historically a basketball school and the fan engagement and support really almost unparalleled back in the NCC days.  Now?  Sure, both programs are arguably the best supported programs in the Summit League but the level of engagemetn and interest is a shell of what it used to be.  The reality is that even for the women, you're playing for a Summit League tourney championship and really nothing more.  I see a move to FBS for our schools as doing to FB what's been done to all other sports - the climax of your season is playing for a conference championship.  Is that satisfactory in football?

I agree with what you are saying, but you could even put 95% of of G2(as you appropriately name it) schools in this category also. 

Boston College,California (Cal),Duke,Georgia Tech,Louisville,Miami (FL),NC State,North Carolina (UNC),Pittsburgh,SMU,Stanford,Syracuse,Virginia,Virginia Tech,Wake Forest,Illinois,Iowa,Maryland,Minnesota,Nebraska,Northwestern,Purdue,Rutgers,UCLA,USC,Wisconsin,Arizona,Arizona State,Baylor,BYU,Cincinnati,Colorado,Houston,Iowa State,Kansas,Kansas State,Oklahoma State,TCU,Texas Tech,UCF,Utah,West Virginia,Arkansas,Auburn,Florida,Kentucky,Mississippi State,Missouri,Oklahoma,South Carolina,Tennessee,Texas A&M,Vanderbilt.

Quick google of schools that have yet to make the CFP. Many of which have no reasonable reason to think they ever will. Playing football can't just be about winning the national title, otherwise 90% of the teams wouldn't field a team.

[Bison06]

2 minutes ago, Undertherock said:

I'm not discounting the Bison's success at all.  Winning 9 of 11 FCS championships is a tremendous accomplishment.  The media took notice, as they should have.  And the media now will give the Bison some love with the transition and if, as they should, they quickly dominate the MWC.  But a big part of the media love the Bison have received is because its "cute" for lack of a better term and the pop culture association of bleak, snowbound, backwards people disposing of crime scenes with wood chippers.  A lot of folks in North Fargo I think have mistaken the media attention with the Bison somehow becoming a national brand.  While winning an unprecedented string of championships was cute, going 9-3 or 10-2, which should be the expectation each sason, and being rewarded with the Boca Raton Bowl won't be cute anymore.  

I don't buy the bored fan schtick.  The reality is that even Fargo, the Bison aren't that interesting.  They certainly aren't going to attract eyeballs and don't share too many institutional qualities of P4 schools that will ever garner a sniff from a P4 conference.  Hell, if they weren't willing to pay such a ridiculous ransom, they weren't getting an invite to the MWC.  

For someone not discounting NDSU's success, you sure do a solid job of spending the rest of your post discounting their success. I travel everywhere in the US for work, it isn't just north Fargo thinking NDSU football has become a name people recognize in football circles as a high quality brand of football.

 

I think you should buy the bored fans "schtick", its very real.

[SIOUXFAN97]

10 minutes ago, Bison06 said:

I literally said, "you don't go from FCS to P4 overnight", you quoted and bolded it.

You're hatred for NDSU has blinded you to the brand recognition that NDSU has gained nationally in the last decade. Any objective viewer realizes NDSU is viewed favorably by people nationally who know football. Through my work, I'm in touch with a lot of former DI football players throughout the country, NDSU is known.

no one cares about fcs or g6 other than some casual fans and fans of said teams......

any casual fan watching that train wreck on satuday (either the one in the alerus or the fargodump) aint tuning back in anytime soon.

ndac football is about as nationally known as mount union and wisconsin-whitewater

[SIOUXFAN97]

5 minutes ago, Bison06 said:

I agree with what you are saying, but you could even put 95% of of G2(as you appropriately name it) schools in this category also. 

Boston College,California (Cal),Duke,Georgia Tech,Louisville,Miami (FL),NC State,North Carolina (UNC),Pittsburgh,SMU,Stanford,Syracuse,Virginia,Virginia Tech,Wake Forest,Illinois,Iowa,Maryland,Minnesota,Nebraska,Northwestern,Purdue,Rutgers,UCLA,USC,Wisconsin,Arizona,Arizona State,Baylor,BYU,Cincinnati,Colorado,Houston,Iowa State,Kansas,Kansas State,Oklahoma State,TCU,Texas Tech,UCF,Utah,West Virginia,Arkansas,Auburn,Florida,Kentucky,Mississippi State,Missouri,Oklahoma,South Carolina,Tennessee,Texas A&M,Vanderbilt.

Quick google of schools that have yet to make the CFP. Many of which have no reasonable reason to think they ever will. Playing football can't just be about winning the national title, otherwise 90% of the teams wouldn't field a team.

 

 

 

 

 

 

2 years ago you couldn've put indiana in there and look what happened...

problem with the current and the future mwc is ..........learn these words....

strength

of 

schedule

even if you "win" the mountain west conf title.....Poinsettia Bowl here we come

[SIOUXFAN97]

g6 power rankings 

american

pac12

sun belt

mwc

cusa

mac