UCF is #8. Haven't seen them play this year, but I'd put the 2018 Bison on a field with them and still put money straight up on the Bison.
Washington is #9. I've seen them play a few games this year. Pretty sure 2018 NDSU would match up fairly well against them. I wouldn't bet against the Bison.
Sagarin isn't the final say, of course, but it is a reasonable objective measure that has a good track record of determining the relative quality of teams. There is a top 15 team that we'd be favored against per Sagarin on a neutral field. There are a couple others that we'd essentially be a pick 'em against.
I think that there is a big difference in the top 5 or so and those around 8th and above. I don't think the Bison would compete closely with the top 3 teams, but those from 5-15 would have more than they'd want with this year's team IMO. Honestly think NDSU would win a very high percentage of the games of FBS teams outside of 8th place or so.
What are you smokin', man??? You must not actually watch college football! That's, like, waaay out there. Don't you know they are FCS? They can't compete at that level. No way!
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Not purple: But still... Until they actually accomplish such a feat (which will be never unless the fabled jump to FBS happens -- note that I'm NOT trying to get that conversation going again!), there will be lots of doubters, even among our own rabid fan base. But to think that it's not a legitimate question and ponder it is truly out of touch with reality.
I think we could hang with anyone outside the top 3. Once you get to Bama, Clemson, Georgia that's just a different animal.
And it's statements like these (and like those that I'm making) that make some people think this fan base is bonkers. (Well, we are bonkers. But not for thinking those types of thoughts.)
But there's not really any good objective arguments against such statements. It all comes down to perception for most college football fans -- especially those that aren't familiar with the Bison.
We've heard it all before. Beating #13 Iowa? Or a #25-26 K-State? Yeah... They weren't that good. They didn't deserve those rankings, and they proved it by losing to an FCS team.
I hope Oregon is ranked in the top 10 in a couple years. (Looking unlikely right now.) Same old excuses will come when we beat them.
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