NDSU

[Cataholic]

This game has made it pretty clear that the MVFC is the best conference in the country. As much as we would like to think otherwise that's the truth. Outside of Davis who somehow managed to play a close game with these guys the only teams that play NDSU close are MVFC teams. As long as NDSU is in the FCS, barring some crazy turn of events in the next couple years, no BSC team is going to win a national championship, because nobody in the BSC has, or will have the D to beat them.

The Bison have won 20 straight games over MVFC opponents dating back 2017. This game showed that NDSU is dominant, but not necessarily that the MVSU is dominant.

Go back through the last 5 years and tell me which conference has sent the most teams to the national championship game, the most teams to the semi-finals, the most national championships won and which conference has finished the season as the #1 rated conference in the Sagarin rankings.

Considering that NDSU has been in the championship game 5 years in a row, it only bolsters the fact that NDSU is an outlier in the MVFC. The other championship participants have been JMU 3 times, Big Sky once and OVFC once.

MVSU has regularly good programs like SDSU, Northern Iowa and Illinois State similar to the Big Sky with MSU, UM, EWU and Weber.

MVSU has the cyclical top teams where good seasons happen once in awhile with Southern Illinois, Western Illinois and Youngstown State. Big Sky has the same type of cyclical teams with UC Davis, NAU, Idaho, Sac State and others getting consideration like Portland State and Southern Utah making the playoffs in recent years.

Both conferences have perennial cellar teams like Missouri State, Indiana State and Northern Colorado.

The strength of conference obviously changes each year, but the Big Sky was stronger than MVFC this year with MSU, Weber, UM, Sac State, Davis and EWU. Admittedly, nobody was better than NDSU.

[2011BisonAlumni]

This game has made it pretty clear that the MVFC is the best conference in the country. As much as we would like to think otherwise that's the truth. Outside of Davis who somehow managed to play a close game with these guys the only teams that play NDSU close are MVFC teams. As long as NDSU is in the FCS, barring some crazy turn of events in the next couple years, no BSC team is going to win a national championship, because nobody in the BSC has, or will have the D to beat them.

The Bison have won 20 straight games over MVFC opponents dating back 2017. This game showed that NDSU is dominant, but not necessarily that the MVSU is dominant.

Go back through the last 5 years and tell me which conference has sent the most teams to the national championship game, the most teams to the semi-finals, the most national championships won and which conference has finished the season as the #1 rated conference in the Sagarin rankings.

Considering that NDSU has been in the championship game 5 years in a row, it only bolsters the fact that NDSU is an outlier in the MVFC. The other championship participants have been JMU 3 times, Big Sky once and OVFC once.

MVSU has regularly good programs like SDSU, Northern Iowa and Illinois State similar to the Big Sky with MSU, UM, EWU and Weber.

MVSU has the cyclical top teams where good seasons happen once in awhile with Southern Illinois, Western Illinois and Youngstown State. Big Sky has the same type of cyclical teams with UC Davis, NAU, Idaho, Sac State and others getting consideration like Portland State and Southern Utah making the playoffs in recent years.

Both conferences have perennial cellar teams like Missouri State, Indiana State and Northern Colorado.

The strength of conference obviously changes each year, but the Big Sky was stronger than MVFC this year with MSU, Weber, UM, Sac State, Davis and EWU. Admittedly, nobody was better than NDSU.

The Big Sky has had only one team, EWU, actually make it to the championship game. MVFC has had 3 in the last 5 years....and to be honest if NDSU was not playing, they would have 4 considering SDSU has been funneled through to Fargo on 4 different occasions this decade in the playoffs.

Go watch the NDSU post game press conference and listen to what Derrek Tuszka has to say about playing in the MVFC.

I'm not trying to be a dick, I'm just calling a horse a horse. The Big Sky is not a physical football league and it makes a significant difference come playoff time. I think your coach has MSU going on the right direction, but the style of play in the Big Sky is not where it needs to be in order to truly compete at a national level.

[Cataholic]

This game has made it pretty clear that the MVFC is the best conference in the country. As much as we would like to think otherwise that's the truth. Outside of Davis who somehow managed to play a close game with these guys the only teams that play NDSU close are MVFC teams. As long as NDSU is in the FCS, barring some crazy turn of events in the next couple years, no BSC team is going to win a national championship, because nobody in the BSC has, or will have the D to beat them.

The Bison have won 20 straight games over MVFC opponents dating back 2017. This game showed that NDSU is dominant, but not necessarily that the MVSU is dominant.

Go back through the last 5 years and tell me which conference has sent the most teams to the national championship game, the most teams to the semi-finals, the most national championships won and which conference has finished the season as the #1 rated conference in the Sagarin rankings.

Considering that NDSU has been in the championship game 5 years in a row, it only bolsters the fact that NDSU is an outlier in the MVFC. The other championship participants have been JMU 3 times, Big Sky once and OVFC once.

MVSU has regularly good programs like SDSU, Northern Iowa and Illinois State similar to the Big Sky with MSU, UM, EWU and Weber.

MVSU has the cyclical top teams where good seasons happen once in awhile with Southern Illinois, Western Illinois and Youngstown State. Big Sky has the same type of cyclical teams with UC Davis, NAU, Idaho, Sac State and others getting consideration like Portland State and Southern Utah making the playoffs in recent years.

Both conferences have perennial cellar teams like Missouri State, Indiana State and Northern Colorado.

The strength of conference obviously changes each year, but the Big Sky was stronger than MVFC this year with MSU, Weber, UM, Sac State, Davis and EWU. Admittedly, nobody was better than NDSU.

The Big Sky has had only one team, EWU, actually make it to the championship game. MVFC has had 3 in the last 5 years....and to be honest if NDSU was not playing, they would have 4 considering SDSU has been funneled through to Fargo on 4 different occasions this decade in the playoffs.

Go watch the NDSU post game press conference and listen to what Derrek Tuszka has to say about playing in the MVFC.

I'm not trying to be a dick, I'm just calling a horse a horse. The Big Sky is not a physical football league and it makes a significant difference come playoff time. I think your coach has MSU going on the right direction, but the style of play in the Big Sky is not where it needs to be in order to truly compete at a national level.

We will probably have to “agree to disagree”. The results show this year that the Big Sky was better then the MVFC except for NDSU. You had 4 good teams this, Big Sky had 5 or 6 including UND which played a Big Sky schedule. We will see how UND does next year in MVFC, but I expect it will be similar to the Big Sky.

[2011BisonAlumni]

This game has made it pretty clear that the MVFC is the best conference in the country. As much as we would like to think otherwise that's the truth. Outside of Davis who somehow managed to play a close game with these guys the only teams that play NDSU close are MVFC teams. As long as NDSU is in the FCS, barring some crazy turn of events in the next couple years, no BSC team is going to win a national championship, because nobody in the BSC has, or will have the D to beat them.

The Bison have won 20 straight games over MVFC opponents dating back 2017. This game showed that NDSU is dominant, but not necessarily that the MVSU is dominant.

Go back through the last 5 years and tell me which conference has sent the most teams to the national championship game, the most teams to the semi-finals, the most national championships won and which conference has finished the season as the #1 rated conference in the Sagarin rankings.

Considering that NDSU has been in the championship game 5 years in a row, it only bolsters the fact that NDSU is an outlier in the MVFC. The other championship participants have been JMU 3 times, Big Sky once and OVFC once.

MVSU has regularly good programs like SDSU, Northern Iowa and Illinois State similar to the Big Sky with MSU, UM, EWU and Weber.

MVSU has the cyclical top teams where good seasons happen once in awhile with Southern Illinois, Western Illinois and Youngstown State. Big Sky has the same type of cyclical teams with UC Davis, NAU, Idaho, Sac State and others getting consideration like Portland State and Southern Utah making the playoffs in recent years.

Both conferences have perennial cellar teams like Missouri State, Indiana State and Northern Colorado.

The strength of conference obviously changes each year, but the Big Sky was stronger than MVFC this year with MSU, Weber, UM, Sac State, Davis and EWU. Admittedly, nobody was better than NDSU.

The Big Sky has had only one team, EWU, actually make it to the championship game. MVFC has had 3 in the last 5 years....and to be honest if NDSU was not playing, they would have 4 considering SDSU has been funneled through to Fargo on 4 different occasions this decade in the playoffs.

Go watch the NDSU post game press conference and listen to what Derrek Tuszka has to say about playing in the MVFC.

I'm not trying to be a dick, I'm just calling a horse a horse. The Big Sky is not a physical football league and it makes a significant difference come playoff time. I think your coach has MSU going on the right direction, but the style of play in the Big Sky is not where it needs to be in order to truly compete at a national level.

We will probably have to “agree to disagree”. The results show this year that the Big Sky was better then the MVFC except for NDSU. You had 4 good teams this, Big Sky had 5 or 6 including UND which played a Big Sky schedule. We will see how UND does next year in MVFC, but I expect it will be similar to the Big Sky.

Serious question. Do you really think any team in the Big Sky would have beat SDSU with a healthy Gibbs and Pierre Strong? How about Illinois State, who was a top 5 team throughout the year, not losing Brady Davis at QB and becoming one dimensional?

I'll be completely honest when I say this. I think if injuries hadn't decimated SDSU late in the season, you might be looking at SDSU playing in Frisco this year instead of NDSU.

My argument is really derived off of what I saw on the field. MSU was by far the most physical team in the Big Sky this year, but they were not even close to as physical as Illinois State or SDSU.

[Hammersmith]

I split the difference. I think the MVFC was clearly the best conference with about three weeks left in the season, but the Big Sky finished as the best. The best MVFC teams outside of NDSU just got riddled with injuries those last few weeks. Not all of the following injuries happened in the last three weeks, but all affected the teams at the end. And not to say the MVFC was the only conference with late season injuries, but it seemed to hit the key offensive players among the 2nd-5th MVFC teams particularly hard.

UNI - 2 TE, 3 WR, 4 RB among others
ISUr - QB, TB, 2 WR, RB
SDSU - 2 QB, RB
YSU - QB (maybe more)

Many of the RB and WR losses were the stars of their respective offenses.

[Hi-Line Bobcat]

This game has made it pretty clear that the MVFC is the best conference in the country. As much as we would like to think otherwise that's the truth. Outside of Davis who somehow managed to play a close game with these guys the only teams that play NDSU close are MVFC teams. As long as NDSU is in the FCS, barring some crazy turn of events in the next couple years, no BSC team is going to win a national championship, because nobody in the BSC has, or will have the D to beat them.

The Bison have won 20 straight games over MVFC opponents dating back 2017. This game showed that NDSU is dominant, but not necessarily that the MVSU is dominant.

Go back through the last 5 years and tell me which conference has sent the most teams to the national championship game, the most teams to the semi-finals, the most national championships won and which conference has finished the season as the #1 rated conference in the Sagarin rankings.

Considering that NDSU has been in the championship game 5 years in a row, it only bolsters the fact that NDSU is an outlier in the MVFC. The other championship participants have been JMU 3 times, Big Sky once and OVFC once.

MVSU has regularly good programs like SDSU, Northern Iowa and Illinois State similar to the Big Sky with MSU, UM, EWU and Weber.

MVSU has the cyclical top teams where good seasons happen once in awhile with Southern Illinois, Western Illinois and Youngstown State. Big Sky has the same type of cyclical teams with UC Davis, NAU, Idaho, Sac State and others getting consideration like Portland State and Southern Utah making the playoffs in recent years.

Both conferences have perennial cellar teams like Missouri State, Indiana State and Northern Colorado.

The strength of conference obviously changes each year, but the Big Sky was stronger than MVFC this year with MSU, Weber, UM, Sac State, Davis and EWU. Admittedly, nobody was better than NDSU.

The Big Sky has had only one team, EWU, actually make it to the championship game. MVFC has had 3 in the last 5 years....and to be honest if NDSU was not playing, they would have 4 considering SDSU has been funneled through to Fargo on 4 different occasions this decade in the playoffs.

Go watch the NDSU post game press conference and listen to what Derrek Tuszka has to say about playing in the MVFC.

I'm not trying to be a dick, I'm just calling a horse a horse. The Big Sky is not a physical football league and it makes a significant difference come playoff time. I think your coach has MSU going on the right direction, but the style of play in the Big Sky is not where it needs to be in order to truly compete at a national level.

We will probably have to “agree to disagree”. The results show this year that the Big Sky was better then the MVFC except for NDSU. You had 4 good teams this, Big Sky had 5 or 6 including UND which played a Big Sky schedule. We will see how UND does next year in MVFC, but I expect it will be similar to the Big Sky.

Serious question. Do you really think any team in the Big Sky would have beat SDSU with a healthy Gibbs and Pierre Strong? How about Illinois State, who was a top 5 team throughout the year, not losing Brady Davis at QB and becoming one dimensional?

I'll be completely honest when I say this. I think if injuries hadn't decimated SDSU late in the season, you might be looking at SDSU playing in Frisco this year instead of NDSU.

My argument is really derived off of what I saw on the field. MSU was by far the most physical team in the Big Sky this year, but they were not even close to as physical as Illinois State or SDSU.

Serious question, do you think injuries only happen in the MVFC?

Get yourself bud, your team is by far above MSU right now and you should be proud of that. We are working on getting to that level and I hope one day we can. With the atmosphere in Bozeman and the new building/buildings for the football program and all other sports programs, I’m confident we can get there.

[superbobcat]

A friend of mine that deals with NDSU football through his work give a ton of credit for their success to the strength coach who has stayed through three coaches. Big schools have tried to steal him, but he likes where he is at. He also indicated they are still peeved over the two cancellations in years past.

[Hammersmith]

A friend of mine that deals with NDSU football through his work give a ton of credit for their success to the strength coach who has stayed through three coaches. Big schools have tried to steal him, but he likes where he is at. He also indicated they are still peeved over the two cancellations in years past.

Jim Kramer and yes, yes, yes. Anyone who pays close attention to our program put him as maybe the most important part of our dominance. We're only going to be able to keep him for a few more years, but I hope he'll help us get a good replacement when the time comes. (he's been staying for family reasons)

I know Gene Taylor(our previous AD) was PISSED at you guys over the double cancellation. Viewed it as a serious stab in the back. It's possible there are still people in the department that were there at the time, or perhaps the view has carried over to the current staff.

[91catAlum]

This game has made it pretty clear that the MVFC is the best conference in the country. As much as we would like to think otherwise that's the truth. Outside of Davis who somehow managed to play a close game with these guys the only teams that play NDSU close are MVFC teams. As long as NDSU is in the FCS, barring some crazy turn of events in the next couple years, no BSC team is going to win a national championship, because nobody in the BSC has, or will have the D to beat them.

The Bison have won 20 straight games over MVFC opponents dating back 2017. This game showed that NDSU is dominant, but not necessarily that the MVSU is dominant.

Go back through the last 5 years and tell me which conference has sent the most teams to the national championship game, the most teams to the semi-finals, the most national championships won and which conference has finished the season as the #1 rated conference in the Sagarin rankings.

Considering that NDSU has been in the championship game 5 years in a row, it only bolsters the fact that NDSU is an outlier in the MVFC. The other championship participants have been JMU 3 times, Big Sky once and OVFC once.

MVSU has regularly good programs like SDSU, Northern Iowa and Illinois State similar to the Big Sky with MSU, UM, EWU and Weber.

MVSU has the cyclical top teams where good seasons happen once in awhile with Southern Illinois, Western Illinois and Youngstown State. Big Sky has the same type of cyclical teams with UC Davis, NAU, Idaho, Sac State and others getting consideration like Portland State and Southern Utah making the playoffs in recent years.

Both conferences have perennial cellar teams like Missouri State, Indiana State and Northern Colorado.

The strength of conference obviously changes each year, but the Big Sky was stronger than MVFC this year with MSU, Weber, UM, Sac State, Davis and EWU. Admittedly, nobody was better than NDSU.

The Big Sky has had only one team, EWU, actually make it to the championship game. MVFC has had 3 in the last 5 years....and to be honest if NDSU was not playing, they would have 4 considering SDSU has been funneled through to Fargo on 4 different occasions this decade in the playoffs.

Go watch the NDSU post game press conference and listen to what Derrek Tuszka has to say about playing in the MVFC.

I'm not trying to be a dick, I'm just calling a horse a horse. The Big Sky is not a physical football league and it makes a significant difference come playoff time. I think your coach has MSU going on the right direction, but the style of play in the Big Sky is not where it needs to be in order to truly compete at a national level.

We will probably have to “agree to disagree”. The results show this year that the Big Sky was better then the MVFC except for NDSU. You had 4 good teams this, Big Sky had 5 or 6 including UND which played a Big Sky schedule. We will see how UND does next year in MVFC, but I expect it will be similar to the Big Sky.

Serious question. Do you really think any team in the Big Sky would have beat SDSU with a healthy Gibbs and Pierre Strong? How about Illinois State, who was a top 5 team throughout the year, not losing Brady Davis at QB and becoming one dimensional?

I'll be completely honest when I say this. I think if injuries hadn't decimated SDSU late in the season, you might be looking at SDSU playing in Frisco this year instead of NDSU.

My argument is really derived off of what I saw on the field. MSU was by far the most physical team in the Big Sky this year, but they were not even close to as physical as Illinois State or SDSU.

Why do you only consider the injuries that happened to the MVC teams? Are you aware the Cats played without our superstar LB/RB and fastest player Troy Andersen yesterday? As well as our preseason all-conference CB Greg Filer? Did you notice our starting RB Isaiah Ifanse hobbling around with a knee brace?
I'd never use injuries as an excuse but if you're going to give credit for injuries to the MVC teams them do the same for Big Sky teams.

Injuries happen to lots of teams, not just ones in your conference.

[2011BisonAlumni]

This game has made it pretty clear that the MVFC is the best conference in the country. As much as we would like to think otherwise that's the truth. Outside of Davis who somehow managed to play a close game with these guys the only teams that play NDSU close are MVFC teams. As long as NDSU is in the FCS, barring some crazy turn of events in the next couple years, no BSC team is going to win a national championship, because nobody in the BSC has, or will have the D to beat them.

The Bison have won 20 straight games over MVFC opponents dating back 2017. This game showed that NDSU is dominant, but not necessarily that the MVSU is dominant.

Go back through the last 5 years and tell me which conference has sent the most teams to the national championship game, the most teams to the semi-finals, the most national championships won and which conference has finished the season as the #1 rated conference in the Sagarin rankings.

Considering that NDSU has been in the championship game 5 years in a row, it only bolsters the fact that NDSU is an outlier in the MVFC. The other championship participants have been JMU 3 times, Big Sky once and OVFC once.

MVSU has regularly good programs like SDSU, Northern Iowa and Illinois State similar to the Big Sky with MSU, UM, EWU and Weber.

MVSU has the cyclical top teams where good seasons happen once in awhile with Southern Illinois, Western Illinois and Youngstown State. Big Sky has the same type of cyclical teams with UC Davis, NAU, Idaho, Sac State and others getting consideration like Portland State and Southern Utah making the playoffs in recent years.

Both conferences have perennial cellar teams like Missouri State, Indiana State and Northern Colorado.

The strength of conference obviously changes each year, but the Big Sky was stronger than MVFC this year with MSU, Weber, UM, Sac State, Davis and EWU. Admittedly, nobody was better than NDSU.

The Big Sky has had only one team, EWU, actually make it to the championship game. MVFC has had 3 in the last 5 years....and to be honest if NDSU was not playing, they would have 4 considering SDSU has been funneled through to Fargo on 4 different occasions this decade in the playoffs.

Go watch the NDSU post game press conference and listen to what Derrek Tuszka has to say about playing in the MVFC.

I'm not trying to be a dick, I'm just calling a horse a horse. The Big Sky is not a physical football league and it makes a significant difference come playoff time. I think your coach has MSU going on the right direction, but the style of play in the Big Sky is not where it needs to be in order to truly compete at a national level.

We will probably have to “agree to disagree”. The results show this year that the Big Sky was better then the MVFC except for NDSU. You had 4 good teams this, Big Sky had 5 or 6 including UND which played a Big Sky schedule. We will see how UND does next year in MVFC, but I expect it will be similar to the Big Sky.

Serious question. Do you really think any team in the Big Sky would have beat SDSU with a healthy Gibbs and Pierre Strong? How about Illinois State, who was a top 5 team throughout the year, not losing Brady Davis at QB and becoming one dimensional?

I'll be completely honest when I say this. I think if injuries hadn't decimated SDSU late in the season, you might be looking at SDSU playing in Frisco this year instead of NDSU.

My argument is really derived off of what I saw on the field. MSU was by far the most physical team in the Big Sky this year, but they were not even close to as physical as Illinois State or SDSU.

Why do you only consider the injuries that happened to the MVC teams? Are you aware the Cats played without our superstar LB/RB and fastest player Troy Andersen yesterday? As well as our preseason all-conference CB Greg Filer? Did you notice our starting RB Isaiah Ifanse hobbling around with a knee brace?
I'd never use injuries as an excuse but if you're going to give credit for injuries to the MVC teams them do the same for Big Sky teams.

Injuries happen to lots of teams, not just ones in your conference.

Nope I don't, but losing a star QB and arguably the best running back in the nation is going to really hurt a team. Troy Anderson is one heck of a player, but losing a star linebacker is not as detrimental as losing a star QB.

I don't think NDSU wins at SDSU if Gibbs doesn't go down. He was that good.

[Buckaroo Bonzi]

When you play a more physical style of Football as the Cats have and the Cats have become , more ice and injuries are
a side effect for opponents as well as for the Cat’s in general . So it is in the MVFC , if we want to compete we have to stay
On that physical trend . The Only good Caveat,is it’s crazy what a Body can get use to . Keep getting Bigger Faster and Stonger,
Stay Phyical Go Cats

[catscat]

Guess I can hardly believe it. NDSU kicks the crap out of us for the second year in a row and after the game their fans are on our board telling us how good their team is, how great their conference is, injuries in their conference are worse than they are in ours (or any others) and what a**holes we are for buying out a game 6-7 years ago and they'll never schedule another game with us. What poor self esteem they have. I'm glad some of our fans have reported that the real NDSU fans they met at the game are decent folks and have advised us that only the ********* (fill in your own expletive) NDSU fans are on here. The only thing that astonishes me almost as much is the willingness of some Cat fans to "discuss" their BS with them. Doesn't NDSU have a game in a few weeks with JMU? Why not go pester them for a while. Man, I'd almost rather read **** from some griz fan.

[2011BisonAlumni]

Guess I can hardly believe it. NDSU kicks the crap out of us for the second year in a row and after the game their fans are on our board telling us how good their team is, how great their conference is, injuries in their conference are worse than they are in ours (or any others) and what a**holes we are for buying out a game 6-7 years ago and they'll never schedule another game with us. What poor self esteem they have. I'm glad some of our fans have reported that the real NDSU fans they met at the game are decent folks and have advised us that only the ********* (fill in your own expletive) NDSU fans are on here. The only thing that astonishes me almost as much is the willingness of some Cat fans to "discuss" their BS with them. Doesn't NDSU have a game in a few weeks with JMU? Why not go pester them for a while. Man, I'd almost rather read **** from some griz fan.

Am I bragging?

I’m just stating the facts.

NDSU got their ass ****** handed to them during their first two years in the MVFC.

They owned it and adapted.

Saying a team isn’t as physical as another team isn’t badmouthing your team. It’s just a brutally honest statement. Saying a conference as a whole doesn’t play the same physical brand of football isn’t being cocky. It’s the truth.

If the roles were reversed I’d say the exact same ****** thing. NDSU was soft as hell when they first entered the MVFC and adapted.

The Cats are getting to where they need to be, but they need to have a significantly more physical offensive and defensive line. That and a QB.

[kwcat]

Just got home from Fargo. Haven’t read the thread.
Congratulations to ndsu and good luck.
Had a pretty good time other than the obvious.

[Cataholic]

This game has made it pretty clear that the MVFC is the best conference in the country. As much as we would like to think otherwise that's the truth. Outside of Davis who somehow managed to play a close game with these guys the only teams that play NDSU close are MVFC teams. As long as NDSU is in the FCS, barring some crazy turn of events in the next couple years, no BSC team is going to win a national championship, because nobody in the BSC has, or will have the D to beat them.

The Bison have won 20 straight games over MVFC opponents dating back 2017. This game showed that NDSU is dominant, but not necessarily that the MVSU is dominant.

Go back through the last 5 years and tell me which conference has sent the most teams to the national championship game, the most teams to the semi-finals, the most national championships won and which conference has finished the season as the #1 rated conference in the Sagarin rankings.

Considering that NDSU has been in the championship game 5 years in a row, it only bolsters the fact that NDSU is an outlier in the MVFC. The other championship participants have been JMU 3 times, Big Sky once and OVFC once.

MVSU has regularly good programs like SDSU, Northern Iowa and Illinois State similar to the Big Sky with MSU, UM, EWU and Weber.

MVSU has the cyclical top teams where good seasons happen once in awhile with Southern Illinois, Western Illinois and Youngstown State. Big Sky has the same type of cyclical teams with UC Davis, NAU, Idaho, Sac State and others getting consideration like Portland State and Southern Utah making the playoffs in recent years.

Both conferences have perennial cellar teams like Missouri State, Indiana State and Northern Colorado.

The strength of conference obviously changes each year, but the Big Sky was stronger than MVFC this year with MSU, Weber, UM, Sac State, Davis and EWU. Admittedly, nobody was better than NDSU.

The Big Sky has had only one team, EWU, actually make it to the championship game. MVFC has had 3 in the last 5 years....and to be honest if NDSU was not playing, they would have 4 considering SDSU has been funneled through to Fargo on 4 different occasions this decade in the playoffs.

Go watch the NDSU post game press conference and listen to what Derrek Tuszka has to say about playing in the MVFC.

I'm not trying to be a dick, I'm just calling a horse a horse. The Big Sky is not a physical football league and it makes a significant difference come playoff time. I think your coach has MSU going on the right direction, but the style of play in the Big Sky is not where it needs to be in order to truly compete at a national level.

We will probably have to “agree to disagree”. The results show this year that the Big Sky was better then the MVFC except for NDSU. You had 4 good teams this, Big Sky had 5 or 6 including UND which played a Big Sky schedule. We will see how UND does next year in MVFC, but I expect it will be similar to the Big Sky.

Serious question. Do you really think any team in the Big Sky would have beat SDSU with a healthy Gibbs and Pierre Strong? How about Illinois State, who was a top 5 team throughout the year, not losing Brady Davis at QB and becoming one dimensional?

I'll be completely honest when I say this. I think if injuries hadn't decimated SDSU late in the season, you might be looking at SDSU playing in Frisco this year instead of NDSU.

My argument is really derived off of what I saw on the field. MSU was by far the most physical team in the Big Sky this year, but they were not even close to as physical as Illinois State or SDSU.

Why do you only consider the injuries that happened to the MVC teams? Are you aware the Cats played without our superstar LB/RB and fastest player Troy Andersen yesterday? As well as our preseason all-conference CB Greg Filer? Did you notice our starting RB Isaiah Ifanse hobbling around with a knee brace?
I'd never use injuries as an excuse but if you're going to give credit for injuries to the MVC teams them do the same for Big Sky teams.

Injuries happen to lots of teams, not just ones in your conference.

Nope I don't, but losing a star QB and arguably the best running back in the nation is going to really hurt a team. Troy Anderson is one heck of a player, but losing a star linebacker is not as detrimental as losing a star QB.

I don't think NDSU wins at SDSU if Gibbs doesn't go down. He was that good.

That MSU star linebacker only accounted for 7 TD this year. 21 last year. He meant a lot more to the team than just defensive tackles.

We already acknowledged that NDSU is better than everyone else. But I have zero problem taking MSU, UM, Weber, Sac State or even EWU over a Northern Iowa, SDSU or Illinois State. Heck, Weber actually beat Northern Iowa this year. One of the closest games NDSU had all year was against a Big Sky school with Cal Davis in Fargo.

[KittieKop]

Just got home from Fargo. Haven’t read the thread.
Congratulations to ndsu and good luck.
Had a pretty good time other than the obvious.

Don't worry. You didn't miss anything.