AAC or bust. They need 4 teams, take a swing
AAC trying to raid the Mountain West so maybe shoot our shot there.
Oh, I don’t know. How ‘bout NDSU playing in the best FCS conference?
How about recent improvements by Missouri State, Southern Illinois, even the Fighting Hawks?
How about other improving programs like Cal Davis, East Tennessee, Monmouth and others?
How about interesting coaching hires? Montana bringing back their legend. Montana State hired the QB Whisperer. Deion Sanders. Eddie George. And probably more as I don’t follow it closely. Programs can be built. Or rebuilt like Craig Bohl did.
How about 5, possibly 9 legitimate FCS title contenders, as it sits now?
Hey! JMU @ Weber State this weekend, hope to check it out.
RANK…..SCHOOL…….RECORD…POINTS…PREVIOUS
1 Sam Houston (25) 2-0 697 1
2 James Madison (1) 2-0 657 2
3 South Dakota State (2) 2-0 641 3
4 North Dakota State 2-0 601 4
5 Montana 2-0 599 5
6 Eastern Washington 2-0 522 8
7 Delaware 2-0 521 6
8 Weber State 1-1 439 10
T-9 Southern Illinois 1-1 422 9
T-9 Villanova 2-0 422 11
11 Jacksonville State 1-1 397 17
12 UC Davis 2-0 383 12
13 Montana State 1-1 361 13
14 North Dakota 1-1 356 7
15 Northern Iowa 1-1 330 15
16 Southeastern Louisiana 1-1 298 14
17 East Tennessee State 2-0 269 19
18 Richmond 2-0 183 22
19 Missouri State 1-1 180 25
20 Monmouth (N.J.) 1-1 170 21
21 Austin Peay 1-1 131 18
22 Chattanooga 1-1 103 24
23 New Hampshire 2-0 71 NR
24 Central Arkansas 0-2 64 16
25 Furman 2-0 58 NR
Dropped Out: VMI (20), Kennesaw St. (23)
Others Receiving Votes: VMI, 53; Kennesaw St., 41; Jackson St., 19; Nicholls, 18; Alabama A&M, 17; South Dakota, 14; Duquesne, 13; Rhode Island, 13; Charleston Southern, 11; Stephen F. Austin, 8; Gardner-Webb, 5; Murray St., 5; Southern Utah, 3; Florida A&M, 2; Yale, 2; Princeton, 1.
At least she's not Lee Timmerman.
Lardsin must go!
Football competition on the field is one aspect of it. Teams competitiveness will ebb and flow. College football is about more than just the football on the field. What about atmosphere and excitement around a program? James Madison, Montana, Montana State. Those are really the only programs that have a similar feel to us. SDSU might get there but they aren't there yet. UNI is a shell of itself from a fan support standpoint. UND, maybe. They've shown they can get support in the past. The FBS games were also a way for us to get our fan excitement/atmosphere. Those games have become few and far between. I give the admin credit for the Target Field game and for trying it again at US Bank but I'm not sure that is going to be something that will be able to sustain excitement long term. They feel like gimmicks that will wear thin quickly. I think the frustration from most fans is the lack of energy around the program now compared to 7-8 years ago. The excitement just isn't there like it was. Maybe it never will be like that again but I for one believe that the administration needs to try to keep the momentum building. I don't have any answers but I can no longer convince myself that FCS football is exciting. We are not an FCS Football program. Not from a fan standpoint. Not from a funding standpoint. Not from a history standpoint. I am also not in favor of hurting the university as whole with a move to FBS but given the track record of recent move ups, I don't think that will be the case. That sentiment is continuing to grow within the fanbase and every year I see more and more people losing interest. People who just 5 years ago were going to multiple games per year and attending watch parties when they couldn't attend in person.
I should dig up all 20yo threads where this was discussed, but it's not nearly the same situation. The bang-for-the-buck for going from FCS to FBS is pretty minor compared to that of going from D2 to DI (Big Dance.)
I don't think that it's even debatable that college sports are regional in nature.
In our region, Bemidji State, Black Hills State, Concordia-St Paul, Crookston, UMary, Minn State-Moorhead, Minot State, Northern State, Sioux Falls, SD School of Mines, SW Minnesota State, Winona State had either moved to D2 or were on their way. We've had Augustana and St. Thomas and the UxDs move up to DI - not thrilled about Augie, but the other 3 are just fine even if I much preferred it when it was just us and SDSU. It's not like we're in JMU's shoes - they've seen a ton of schools in their area move to the FBS so they are being left behind.
Moreover, D2 was a complete clusterfuck. Delta State getting home field, regionalization, the uselessness and backbiting of NDSU's own conference, the Simple Rating System, scholarship drops, etc. There was not a single issue in which D2 was going in the right direction for NDSU.
I'm in a minority in that I wouldn't care all that much if JMU went FBS - it's not like we recruit against them for fans, eyeballs, or students. Now, if somebody in our region goes, that's a whole different animal (the Montana schools or, even worse, SDSU.)
The other thing is that people seem to have forgotten how much planning, commitment, and effort went into going DI. It was all hands on deck. What disturbs me is that too many people think that NDSU will go FBS and immediately win without breaking a sweat. Yeah, some big dog donors might say that they're withholding money now because NDSU is not FBS - but with that lack of commitment to NDSU, I'm not sure that they'd be reliable partners in either the short or long term for a difficult move to an FBS conference.
All that said, if the Mountain West calls, NDSU has to answer.
1. The FCS was the Best option for NDSU for a very long time.
2. As a general rule- the FCS sucks at football and has proven that is not committed to football at all.
3. It's time to go FBS
If NDSU stays in the FCS, then they need to embrace what FCS is and start funding their basketball team at a much higher level to get the fan interest maximized on that side. Take advantage of what FCS is. A place where mid major schools can control football costs in order to fund their basketball program at a higher level and gain more national notoriety through basketball which is less costly. I don't care if we remain in the Summit or not, blow the other schools in the conference out of the water and become the Gonzaga of the Summit and make the NCAA every year. That is the only way I see staying in the FCS as a viable decision for the Athletic Department and the School.