onbison09
08-03-2007, 10:18 PM
Saw on the Forum "blog" the University to the North got into the great west for 2008. We will be gone by then. This was expected and I don't think anyone will care but it's official. Good luck finding games.
UND and NDSU are back in the same league, at least for a few days so to speak. The Sioux, as expected, joined the Great West Football Conference for the 2008 season -- the same year NDSU will begin play in the Gateway Football Conference.
It's obviously a good move, the only move, for the Sioux. So how will they find a league for their other sports?
It looks to be an uphill battle. The Summit League appears to be somewhat settled and the Big Sky Conference is in no mood to come east. Plus, UND may have some competition to get into a league that NDSU and SDSU didn't have. Southern Illinois-Edwardsville is making the D-I move and Utah Valley (Southern Utah travel partner?) will be D-I eligible in a couple of years.
But one thing we've learned on these conference searches is leagues change, especially the mid-majors. Stable one day, looking for members the next. It looked bleak for NDSU after the Big Sky rejected it. But it wasn't long before the Mid-Con (now the Summit) saw two members leave in Chicago State and Valparaiso and NDSU suddenly had hope again to shed independent status.
So the key is to make the jump and hope for conference defections. It's a risk, but one that has to be made.
UND and NDSU are back in the same league, at least for a few days so to speak. The Sioux, as expected, joined the Great West Football Conference for the 2008 season -- the same year NDSU will begin play in the Gateway Football Conference.
It's obviously a good move, the only move, for the Sioux. So how will they find a league for their other sports?
It looks to be an uphill battle. The Summit League appears to be somewhat settled and the Big Sky Conference is in no mood to come east. Plus, UND may have some competition to get into a league that NDSU and SDSU didn't have. Southern Illinois-Edwardsville is making the D-I move and Utah Valley (Southern Utah travel partner?) will be D-I eligible in a couple of years.
But one thing we've learned on these conference searches is leagues change, especially the mid-majors. Stable one day, looking for members the next. It looked bleak for NDSU after the Big Sky rejected it. But it wasn't long before the Mid-Con (now the Summit) saw two members leave in Chicago State and Valparaiso and NDSU suddenly had hope again to shed independent status.
So the key is to make the jump and hope for conference defections. It's a risk, but one that has to be made.