Quote Originally Posted by semobison View Post
Competition wise it is a bit better than a lateral move. We have only gone Undefeated 3 times in FCS. I can think of one MAC team in the last ten years that made a NY6 bowl. I don’t see any teams in the current MAC that would excite me as much as playing SDSU. The conference is full of Youngstown States! Then, there is the weeknight games. I’m not driving over from Bismarck on a Wednesday to see us play Kent St. or Toledo. We need to take the Jacks with us for me to get behind this move.
My son will be a freshman at Western Michigan this Fall so I expect to see an occasional MAC game. The stadium is in a bowl and looks like it could be a fun environment. Talking with friends who have worked both the MVFC and MAC have said there is definitely a step up in competition overall. Less of a step for a team like NDSU and no doubt they would compete for championships. But the skill players overall are definitely better. Attendance/atmosphere on the other hand not so much. And WMU only has one mid-week home game. I think that's pretty standard. And they are hosting Pitt and playing at Michigan State this year. Last year they played at Michigan and Pitt and hosted San Jose State. 2019 they played at Michigan State and Syracuse. Going forward they travel to Syracuse, Iowa, and Mississippi State in 2023; Wisconsin, Marshall, and Ohio State in 2024; at Michigan State and Illinois and host Marshall in 2025. Those are definitely better non-conference but they don't host many of them. Their other home game appears to often be an FCS team (New Hampshire, St. Francis, Stony Brook).