CaBisonFan
May 20th, 2008, 02:49 AM
After five or six years of waiting around, and having a couple of very solid teams, we have passed through the time warp of ncaa purgatory. And as an added feature, we are entering our first year in the Gateway Conference, along with our partner South Dakota State.
After the initial announcement of our move up to DI-AA, there was much skepticism in the land about whether we should do it. SDSU suffered a similar fate. The leadership at both universities deserve purple hearts for their vision & courage.
We leave the Great West Conference with some misgivings in terms of leaving Cal Poly, UC Davis, & Southern Utah -- three quality universities -- but the invitation to the Gateway couldn't be turned down.
NDSU returns 14 starters from a great team that went undefeated until our visit to SDSU to end the season. We've lost our wizard quarterback, Steve Walker, who I still believe deserves a look in the NFL -- along with some other great players, like Joe Mays (drafted by Philadelphia), our amazing punter - Mike Dragosavich (signed with New England), and Nate Safe, one of the best left tackles to ever wear a Bison uniform. There are others. So we have some retooling to do at some key positions. But that's college football.
My hat is off to SDSU for their win over us. It was really painful to lose that game, because we were ranked in the top 2 or 3 until that final game. But it was good for SDSU to get a title in the Great West before moving on. They are building a solid program at a great university.
We have heard (constantly) from a couple of our neighbors that the FCS is not stronger than DII. Over the past few years of watching some very good FCS teams, I would beg to differ. It may be true that a few of the stronger programs in DII can play with many of the FCS teams; however, the level of play across the board is much stronger in the FCS (can't get used to the name).
We look forward to playing one of our old DII playoff rivals in Youngstown State from years past. And we also look forward to renewing an old North Central Conference rivalry with UNI. Those will be automatic rivalries for us, along with SDSU. We've found that in some of our Gateway games (non-conference) that there are quality teams pretty much throughout.
We come out of a couple of years where we drubbed MAC Champion Central Michigan, defeated Ball State in a thriller, and to many the highlight -- defeated Minnesota in the baggie. We continue to hear that we beat the worst Gopher team in history, so from across the river we're not getting a lot of respect -- but the Bison gained 585 yards against the Gophers last year, a feat that even Ohio State couldn't accomplish. In fact, those 585 yards represent more than the Gophers gained on NDSU in the '06 & '07 games combined. Most Bison fans were shocked that we could stay on the field with the Gophers in '06 (a bowl team), only to lose by having a field goal blocked in the final seconds. So Minnesota has discontinued any future scheduling in football. We will be visiting Wyoming this fall, which should be very interesting.
It's been a sometimes frustrating, and sometimes thrilling ride through the transition period. Our players and coaches have been road warriors. We had 6 consecutive road games in 2006, with only one loss to some very solid teams. We're just proud as heck of our team, and the progress of the program. This proud tradition is glad to be back with some of its old rivals.
We feel fortunate to still have our head coach in Craig Bohl, the man who brought us through the transition and has taught the Bison a lot, along with a great assistant staff.
We don't anticipate an easy ride in the Gateway, or in any future playoff games. We understand that the FCS is full of very outstanding, proud programs -- many of which have gone into FBS stadiums and played 'very' well. We're not the only ones that have shown that the FCS is very strong.
The goal, from the beginning, was to bring our program back to national prominence and to play a very high caliber of football. In the FCS, to win means to have an outstanding team.
Most of our fans respect all of your programs, and are anxious to get going.
Free at last! We have a great schedule and some solid goals. Best of luck in the 2008 season. It can't get here soon enough. Maybe we will see some of you in regular-season & playoff games in the future. We welcome you to Fargo if the occasion should ever arise.
CaBisonFan
After the initial announcement of our move up to DI-AA, there was much skepticism in the land about whether we should do it. SDSU suffered a similar fate. The leadership at both universities deserve purple hearts for their vision & courage.
We leave the Great West Conference with some misgivings in terms of leaving Cal Poly, UC Davis, & Southern Utah -- three quality universities -- but the invitation to the Gateway couldn't be turned down.
NDSU returns 14 starters from a great team that went undefeated until our visit to SDSU to end the season. We've lost our wizard quarterback, Steve Walker, who I still believe deserves a look in the NFL -- along with some other great players, like Joe Mays (drafted by Philadelphia), our amazing punter - Mike Dragosavich (signed with New England), and Nate Safe, one of the best left tackles to ever wear a Bison uniform. There are others. So we have some retooling to do at some key positions. But that's college football.
My hat is off to SDSU for their win over us. It was really painful to lose that game, because we were ranked in the top 2 or 3 until that final game. But it was good for SDSU to get a title in the Great West before moving on. They are building a solid program at a great university.
We have heard (constantly) from a couple of our neighbors that the FCS is not stronger than DII. Over the past few years of watching some very good FCS teams, I would beg to differ. It may be true that a few of the stronger programs in DII can play with many of the FCS teams; however, the level of play across the board is much stronger in the FCS (can't get used to the name).
We look forward to playing one of our old DII playoff rivals in Youngstown State from years past. And we also look forward to renewing an old North Central Conference rivalry with UNI. Those will be automatic rivalries for us, along with SDSU. We've found that in some of our Gateway games (non-conference) that there are quality teams pretty much throughout.
We come out of a couple of years where we drubbed MAC Champion Central Michigan, defeated Ball State in a thriller, and to many the highlight -- defeated Minnesota in the baggie. We continue to hear that we beat the worst Gopher team in history, so from across the river we're not getting a lot of respect -- but the Bison gained 585 yards against the Gophers last year, a feat that even Ohio State couldn't accomplish. In fact, those 585 yards represent more than the Gophers gained on NDSU in the '06 & '07 games combined. Most Bison fans were shocked that we could stay on the field with the Gophers in '06 (a bowl team), only to lose by having a field goal blocked in the final seconds. So Minnesota has discontinued any future scheduling in football. We will be visiting Wyoming this fall, which should be very interesting.
It's been a sometimes frustrating, and sometimes thrilling ride through the transition period. Our players and coaches have been road warriors. We had 6 consecutive road games in 2006, with only one loss to some very solid teams. We're just proud as heck of our team, and the progress of the program. This proud tradition is glad to be back with some of its old rivals.
We feel fortunate to still have our head coach in Craig Bohl, the man who brought us through the transition and has taught the Bison a lot, along with a great assistant staff.
We don't anticipate an easy ride in the Gateway, or in any future playoff games. We understand that the FCS is full of very outstanding, proud programs -- many of which have gone into FBS stadiums and played 'very' well. We're not the only ones that have shown that the FCS is very strong.
The goal, from the beginning, was to bring our program back to national prominence and to play a very high caliber of football. In the FCS, to win means to have an outstanding team.
Most of our fans respect all of your programs, and are anxious to get going.
Free at last! We have a great schedule and some solid goals. Best of luck in the 2008 season. It can't get here soon enough. Maybe we will see some of you in regular-season & playoff games in the future. We welcome you to Fargo if the occasion should ever arise.
CaBisonFan