2006 schedule

[dakotadan]

I was just wondering if anyone knows what next year's schedule looks like. Isn't Winona coming up to the Al for the return game? Anyone know who else we will be seeing?

[LeftyZL]

Normally you can just flip-flop the home/away schedule from the previous year to get a good gauge on who we will be seeing. That would mean we will have Mankato, USD, and Duluth at home and Omaha, Augustana, and St. Cloud on the road...

Edited November 29, 2005 by LeftyZL

[bigmrg74]

I wonder if Ferris is going to go to the Alerus again???

[Sioux27]

I thought both Central Washington and Western Washington would both be members of the NCC in 2006 or 2007. If that is the case that would be 8 games of the 11 we can count on next year. I certainly hope we play Ferris State again just so we can shut "bulldog" up again this year. Grand Valley or Saginaw would be two teams that we should try pursue also! Beating good quality teams is the key to making the playoffs as we have obviously seen the past two years. I wonder if USD will schedule the same weak teams as they have in the past and then complain about not making the playoffs yet again ?

[UND92,96]

I'm not 100% sure we can count on the location of all NCC games being reversed from this year's schedule. Somebody on the d2football.com board thought two of SCSU's games would be the same as this year. I don't know why the NCC would do that since it would be easy enough to simply reverse all NCC games from this year, and then add the two Washington schools as one home and one road. In any event, there should be just two games left to schedule for UND since Winona will be coming here, and with the two Washington schools that will be eight conference games. I wouldn't mind seeing Concordia-St. Paul on the schedule, as they'll likely finish above .700, thereby helping out our quality win index. But they seem to only want to play NCC teams they think they can beat, i.e. Augie and Mankato. They have traditionally played UMD also, but that could change now that the Bulldogs are one of the stronger NCC teams.

[RD17]

I'm pretty sure UND's season opener next year will be at Central Washington again. I believe the game is scheduled for the Thursday night before Labor Day (8/31?). Tough way to start with a conference game on the road against a solid team.

Winona State is also a definite on the schedule as they are making the trip to Grand Forks to fulfill the home-and-home contract. So with the eight conference games and Winona State, that only leaves room for one or possibly two additional non-conference games.

I don't believe there are any existing contracts at this time so I have no idea who they have in mind to schedule. I think its safe to assume that the 10th game will probably be at home for a 6/4 split and if there is an 11th game it would probably be on the road as part of a home-and-home deal with the other team making a return trip to Grand Forks in 2007.

Edited November 29, 2005 by RD17

[UND92,96]

I'm pretty sure UND's season opener next year will be at Central Washington again. I believe the game is scheduled for the Thursday night before Labor Day (8/31?). Tough way to start with a conference game on the road against a solid team.

Winona State is also a definite on the schedule as they are making the trip to Grand Forks to fulfill the home-and-home contract. So with the eight conference games and Winona State, that only leaves room for one or possibly two additional non-conference games.

I don't believe there are any existing contracts at this time so I have no idea who they have in mind to schedule. I think its safe to assume that the 10th game will probably be at home for a 6/4 split and if there is an 11th game it would probably be on the road as part of a home-and-home deal with the other team making a return trip in 2007.

With the apparent budget deficit, I wonder if paying guarantees for home non-conference games will be a thing of the past for at least the next few years? We may be looking at all home-and-home arrangements for non-conference games?

[RD17]

With the apparent budget deficit, I wonder if paying guarantees for home non-conference games will be a thing of the past for at least the next few years? We may be looking at all home-and-home arrangements for non-conference games?

I'm guessing what you'll probably see is one guarantee game per year where UND pays someone to come to Grand Forks. Then the other one or two non-conference games will be home-and-home contracts. With the way the playoff system works now, you're better off playing 10 games than paying a Minnesota-Crookston type team to come to Grand Forks as the 11th game.

[Air Force One]

What about Bemidji State, Tesch's squad has been making some noise recently.

[UND92,96]

What about Bemidji State, Tesch's squad has been making some noise recently.

Tesch has publicly stated in the past that he's not interested in playing fully-funded NCC teams. Maybe their success vs. Mankato the past few years will change his mind, as even though Mankato isn't fully-funded, they're probably in the high 20's or low 30's in terms of number of scholarships.

[Sioux27]

Bemidji State ??? Regardless of any recent success they may have had in recent years who can get excited about playing a team clearly at least one level beneath the Sioux!! We need to strive to better our program and play high caliber teams that are more nationally recognized such as a Grand Valley or a Pitt St. The Sioux have nothing to gain by playing a team that will NEVER have a shot at being a playoff contender. If that is the road we are going down with future games we might as well schedule Upper Iowa and Panhandle State like USD .

[UND92,96]

With the NCAA's policy regarding Native American monickers obviously meaning UND won't be hosting any more playoff games (barring a successful appeal or litigation), does that, or should that change the way we schedule? Specifically, should we consider scheduling a game vs. a I-AA team (on the road, of course) since a loss wouldn't be that costly (see UMD's loss to Northern Iowa not keeping them out of the playoffs), and it would potentially be a decent payday? I think playing a Northern Iowa or a Montana on the road would be interesting.

[dakotadan]

I would much rather see that than a guaranteed win like UMC, MSU Moorhead, or even a slightly stronger team like Bemidji. There are only so many NSIC teams that I can handle seeing on all of our schedules.

[pepperoniking]

I would much rather see that than a guaranteed win like UMC, MSU Moorhead, or even a slightly stronger team like Bemidji. There are only so many NSIC teams that I can handle seeing on all of our schedules.

2006 schedule

9/2 cent. wash a - 9/9 mesa st.colorado a-9/16 winona st.h-9/23 west wash. h-9/30 augustana a-10/7 mankato h-10/14 omaha a-10/21 OPEN-10/28 duluth h-11/4 st cloud a-11/11 so.dakota h

[SiouxMD]

2006 schedule

9/2 cent. wash a - 9/9 mesa st.colorado a-9/16 winona st.h-9/23 west wash. h-9/30 augustana a-10/7 mankato h-10/14 omaha a-10/21 OPEN-10/28 duluth h-11/4 st cloud a-11/11 so.dakota h

Where did you find this information? Last years (2005) schedule wasn't announced until mid-January...

[UND92,96]

Mesa State was 5-6 this year, after a disastrous 0-11 2004. If this schedule is accurate, I think we could have done better in terms of finding a team for a home-and-home arrangement. And if we have to go to a 5 home, 5 road schedule, money must be pretty tight.

[SiouxMD]

Mesa State was 5-6 this year, after a disastrous 0-11 2004. If this schedule is accurate, I think we could have done better in terms of finding a team for a home-and-home arrangement. And if we have to go to a 5 home, 5 road schedule, money must be pretty tight.

...or they are saving up for a 2007-08 DI-AA transitional year.

[dakotadan]

2006 schedule as posted by pepperoniking:

A. Sept. 2 Central Washington

A. Sept. 9 Mesa State

H. Sept. 16 Winona State

H. Sept. 23 Western Washington

A. Sept. 30 Augustana

H. Oct. 7 Minnesota State

A. Oct. 14 UN-Omaha

Oct. 21 OPEN-

H. Oct. 28 UM-Duluth

A. Nov. 4 St Cloud

H. Nov. 11 USD

Home games.

Winona, Western Washington, Minnesota State, UM-Duluth, USD

Away games.

Central Washington, Mesa State, Augustana, UN-Omaha, St. Cloud

Would the Mesa State game still be part of a deal from when we played them before?

[RD17]

If this is indeed the schedule for this season, I think it is disappointing to say the least. If UND is going to be scheduling home-and-home series with other Division II programs instead of paying guarantees, they have to start doing better than Mesa State. You do not see the other elite D2 programs playing road games against the same time of competition.

Even though I knew Central Washington was the season opener in 2006, it is ridiculous to be playing a conference game in week one when it could have been avoided. Seems like lazy scheduling on the part of the NCC to me. I also know I have been told very recently (just can't seem to recall by whom ) that the CWU game is on a Thursday night and not Saturday so that is something to keep in mind.

There is one very interesting thing to come of this:

Guess which GLIAC team also has an open date on 10/21? Saginaw Valley

Guess which GLIAC team had open dates in week two the past two seasons and didn't want to play anyone (including UND)? Saginaw Valley

I think I'm going to write about this potential match up in one of the final columns and try to put pressure on both schools to make it happen. It would no doubt be the type of non-conference game the fans would want to see.

[UND92,96]

If this is indeed the schedule for this season, I think it is disappointing to say the least. If UND is going to be scheduling home-and-home series with other Division II programs instead of paying guarantees, they have to start doing better than Mesa State. You do not see the other elite D2 programs playing road games against the same time of competition.

Even though I knew Central Washington was the season opener in 2006, it is ridiculous to be playing a conference game in week one when it could have been avoided. Seems like lazy scheduling on the part of the NCC to me. I also know I have been told very recently (just can't seem to recall by whom ) that the CWU game is on a Thursday night and not Saturday so that is something to keep in mind.

There is one very interesting thing to come of this:

Guess which GLIAC team also has an open date on 10/21? Saginaw Valley

Guess which GLIAC team had open dates in week two the past two seasons and didn't want to play anyone (including UND)? Saginaw Valley

I think I'm going to write about this potential match up in one of the final columns and try to put pressure on both schools to make it happen. It would no doubt be the type of non-conference game the fans would want to see.

While this may seem trivial, my other beef with the NCC is why it had to make UND go to Central Washington, not to mention making Western come to Grand Forks, two years in a row. Would it really have been that difficult to reverse those two games?

[Sioux27]

RD17.............You hit the nail on the head with your comments. I don't care about opening up with a conference game, but I'm sure glad its against a weaker team. I like the fact that the schedule seems to get a little tougher each week as the playoffs approach. But Mesa St???? Unless we have a home and home agreement what in the heck can we be thinking? I hope we can fill the bye week with a team like Saginaw. Those Chicken SH_Ts from the GLIAC have been running from us for years!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[johnnyroyale]

RD17.............You hit the nail on the head with your comments. I don't care about opening up with a conference game, but I'm sure glad its against a weaker team. I like the fact that the schedule seems to get a little tougher each week as the playoffs approach. But Mesa St???? Unless we have a home and home agreement what in the heck can we be thinking? I hope we can fill the bye week with a team like Saginaw. Those Chicken SH_Ts from the GLIAC have been running from us for years!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I know how regional playoff implications go but has UND ententertained the thought of playing a I'AA team? I know UMD played Northern Iowa this year and it didn't seem to hurt their playoff chances. Why won't NDSU schedule you guys? Are they afraid or too stuck up? I think you could give them a good game and even win.

[johnnyroyale]

As far as playing NDSU is concerned, I believe there are some negative's to playing I-AA teams who aren't a part of an automatic-qualifying I-AA conference. The NCAA's strength of schedule index makes such a game unattractive. Playing a Big Sky or Gateway team, on the other hand, would be okay.

What would be the advantages of playing a Big Sky or Gateway team as opposed to an in-state school? Does the fact that NDSU is not yet in a conf make a difference? This is interesting.

[johnnyroyale]

The fact that they are a part of the Great West, which does not get an autobid into the I-AA playoffs, makes a difference. It all has to do with the quality win index (f.k.a. strength of schedule), which awards power points for each game played based on a formula.

I still don't get it. I have been paying recent attention to the great west and they seem to have some pretty good teams. They've beaten most of the big sky teams and done decent nationally. How would that hurt your s.o.s.? Is it the simple fact that they are not an auto-bid conference? I would think that a D2 playing any recognized IAA and winning would bode well for the D2 and not hurt their s.o.s.

[FargoBison]

As far as playing NDSU is concerned, I believe there are some negative's to playing I-AA teams who aren't a part of an automatic-qualifying I-AA conference. The NCAA's strength of schedule index makes such a game unattractive. Playing a Big Sky or Gateway team, on the other hand, would be okay.

That is a myth, Carson Newman lost to NDSU last year and made the playoffs. Winona lost to SDSU last year and still made the playoffs, they even hosted a game. NDSU gave UND a sweet deal a few years ago but of course UND was too worried about not helping NDSU through their transtion so they declined, and that is why the two schools aren't playing.