Originally Posted by
StecMSU
I think using our two games with YSU this calendar year really illustrates the struggles that NDSU could have on Saturday. I watched the Penguins game in Springfield in person this past spring, they looked very slow, pretty unathletic, and very poor if I am being completely honest. No doubt the Bears went to Youngstown a couple weeks ago anticipating an easy game. The Penguins looked very different this time and defeated the Bears. I think NDSU will have a hard time taking Missouri State seriously after playing so well in Springfield in all three phases just a few months ago.
In the broader discussion of program building, I think you and others bring up good points about culture and a lot of other things. Missouri State was in a really rough spot when Petrino was brought in. The school president is very iffy on football and the athletic director is kind of a weaselly fellow who is hard to read. If we went a more traditional program building route, like Dave Steckel wanted, like Terry Allen wanted, like Randy Ball wanted, and like Del Miller wanted, the prognosis was not good. There are many on campus that would prefer Missouri State to be like Saint Louis, Wichita State, or Oral Roberts and focus on basketball with our beautiful arena. Petrino was a last ditch effort to get people to care about the sport and that path involved taking some shortcuts and having to deal with a little bad press. They even leaked Art Briles name to make the eventual hire seem more acceptable. So many had character concerns and were upset initially, but 20 months later you don't hear those people very much. Winning cures quite a bit and I know this will fall on deaf ears most likely, but Petrino gets more heat and bad press than he should. He's a good man who made a bad choice and it was public for the world to see. He isn't Dave Bliss.