Mountain west/NDSU

[MSU01]

I think the answer is a hard NO, but just for sake of discussion: Would there be a possibility of the MWC adding Montana and Montana State for just football with the rest of our sports joining the Summit League...assuming the Big Sky would boot us without football?

The Big Sky could just combine our non-football sports with Cal Poly or UC Davis and make a full member.

I don't think there's any realistic chance of Cal Poly or UC Davis leaving the Big West in which they get to compete against all the other California schools that are relatively close geographically and therefore relatively inexpensive to travel to compared to the far flung Big Sky cities they'd have to send all their teams to by becoming a full Big Sky member.

[coloradocat]

There is demand for tickets because we have a winning program. People seem to forget how dead the stadium was back in the days of the streak. Now people are lobbying to a return to meaningless football in Bozeman. Attendance will suffer if they get their way.

The '90s aren't coming back and the list of programs that have been able to maintain or increase their level of fan interest and attendance after moving up to FBS is growing longer by the year. It's crazy to me how pessimistic everyone seems to be about MSU being able to compete against a higher level of competition, when they showed in the first game of this season that they absolutely can do it even with the scholarship limitations of being in the FCS right now. And football doesn't all of a sudden become meaningless because there's no national championship to play for. Is the MSU basketball program meaningless because they'll never be able to win the NCAA Tournament? Of course, it seems to be a moot point right now since no invitation appears to be forthcoming any time soon for MSU to move up to the FBS level.

Get out of here with your use of logic. People are trying to be emotional!

Imagine the nightmare scenario where we can't play Mercyhurst and Stetson and San Diego and instead the competition is closer to Idaho and Montana and any of the Dakotas. Sure, we might lose 2 of our home games every year instead of 1 every four years but we'd also get 60 minutes of engaging football every week.

[tetoncat]

There is demand for tickets because we have a winning program. People seem to forget how dead the stadium was back in the days of the streak. Now people are lobbying to a return to meaningless football in Bozeman. Attendance will suffer if they get their way.

The '90s aren't coming back and the list of programs that have been able to maintain or increase their level of fan interest and attendance after moving up to FBS is growing longer by the year. It's crazy to me how pessimistic everyone seems to be about MSU being able to compete against a higher level of competition, when they showed in the first game of this season that they absolutely can do it even with the scholarship limitations of being in the FCS right now. And football doesn't all of a sudden become meaningless because there's no national championship to play for. Is the MSU basketball program meaningless because they'll never be able to win the NCAA Tournament? Of course, it seems to be a moot point right now since no invitation appears to be forthcoming any time soon for MSU to move up to the FBS level.

Get out of here with your use of logic. People are trying to be emotional!

Imagine the nightmare scenario where we can't play Mercyhurst and Stetson and San Diego and instead the competition is closer to Idaho and Montana and any of the Dakotas. Sure, we might lose 2 of our home games every year instead of 1 every four years but we'd also get 60 minutes of engaging football every week.

I disagree with the logic. Playing for a conference and tournament title as well as a chance to go to the ncaa tourne where there is national attention, interviews, hoopla is not the same as winning a conference football title and getting a better bowl bid. Boise State is good this year. Went to wire with Oregon, Heisman caliber RB, and if they stub their toe 1 game they are not ina 12 team field.

I do think other sports could improve in a bigger conference, but will 8-4, 6-6, keep the same excitement level. What will week night games do. Foundation is in place to succeed, but while Bozeman has grown it still tales whole State to get over 1 million people, some of these other programs that moved up have that within 1-2 hours.

[Bobcatsinmso]

5-6 years down the road MSU will be FBS IMO. In the meantime enjoy the ride.

[Bocephus]

24 team G5 playoff needs to happen.

[AFCAT]

There is demand for tickets because we have a winning program. People seem to forget how dead the stadium was back in the days of the streak. Now people are lobbying to a return to meaningless football in Bozeman. Attendance will suffer if they get their way.

The '90s aren't coming back and the list of programs that have been able to maintain or increase their level of fan interest and attendance after moving up to FBS is growing longer by the year. It's crazy to me how pessimistic everyone seems to be about MSU being able to compete against a higher level of competition, when they showed in the first game of this season that they absolutely can do it even with the scholarship limitations of being in the FCS right now. And football doesn't all of a sudden become meaningless because there's no national championship to play for. Is the MSU basketball program meaningless because they'll never be able to win the NCAA Tournament? Of course, it seems to be a moot point right now since no invitation appears to be forthcoming any time soon for MSU to move up to the FBS level.

Get out of here with your use of logic. People are trying to be emotional!

Imagine the nightmare scenario where we can't play Mercyhurst and Stetson and San Diego and instead the competition is closer to Idaho and Montana and any of the Dakotas. Sure, we might lose 2 of our home games every year instead of 1 every four years but we'd also get 60 minutes of engaging football every week.

What teams do you think the Cats would play in non-conference games if they moved up to FBS? Mountain West teams this year scheduled lower level FCS teams in Montana State, Eastern Washington, Idaho, Utah Tech, Sac State, Texas A&M Commerce, Portland State, Northern Colorado, Delaware State, Northern Iowa, Robert Morris, and Merrimack. Certainly not at all a murderers row of competition for them. If the Cats move up, they would schedule at least one lower level FCS program for a non conference game every year, like they do now, probably a comparative FBS G5 program every year or two, like they do in the FCS now, and a money game against a higher level FBS program, just like they do now. I get that the conference schedule may or may not be more competitive, but non conference games wouldn’t be very dissimilar to what we have at the FCS level.

[utucats]

There is demand for tickets because we have a winning program. People seem to forget how dead the stadium was back in the days of the streak. Now people are lobbying to a return to meaningless football in Bozeman. Attendance will suffer if they get their way.

The '90s aren't coming back and the list of programs that have been able to maintain or increase their level of fan interest and attendance after moving up to FBS is growing longer by the year. It's crazy to me how pessimistic everyone seems to be about MSU being able to compete against a higher level of competition, when they showed in the first game of this season that they absolutely can do it even with the scholarship limitations of being in the FCS right now. And football doesn't all of a sudden become meaningless because there's no national championship to play for. Is the MSU basketball program meaningless because they'll never be able to win the NCAA Tournament? Of course, it seems to be a moot point right now since no invitation appears to be forthcoming any time soon for MSU to move up to the FBS level.

Basketball has support from Bobcat Nation but if the football program fell to the same level of interest as the basketball program that would be an unfortunate thing.

[catsrback76]

5-6 years down the road MSU will be FBS IMO. In the meantime enjoy the ride.

[Catprint]

While I don't pretend to have some sort of inside track, i have read dozens of articles and analysis pieces, spent many hours on it. MWC is considering NDSU because they want only ONE team right now and they are purposely not inviting MSU, UM, SDSU. In addition, the P4 conferences are actively trying to discourage conferences from adding any more FBS teams. It waters down everyone's share. A move-up invite from the MWC is NOT going to happen this year or next year. (No other conference is even an option). MVW is at 8 full football members (Added Hawaii and UTEP to the leftover 6 plus Grand Canyon in all other ). They just want one more for now so they have the ability to have an 8 game conference slate. (after being snubbed by Northern Illinois and Toledo).

Could it happen in 3-5 years? Suppose it is possible, but pretty much everything works against us - Have to take both Montana schools; extremely small TV market; geographic isolation, increase in travel costs for all members, cold and dark winters. Remember Idaho. And UMass. Both huge move-up failures. One school admitted it; the other is operates at the bottom of the pool after being competitive for years. Not saying which league would be better. Just recognizing the realities on the ground.

[lutecat]

I mean case in pointing when the griz had stitt for a coach....did attendance and support start to wane...? Oh it did? Well there you go.

So people can talk like the 90's isn't going to happen but yes I think if we aren't a dominant program attendance does wane. And for the griz too.

[MSU01]

I mean case in pointing when the griz had stitt for a coach....did attendance and support start to wane...? Oh it did? Well there you go.

So people can talk like the 90's isn't going to happen but yes I think if we aren't a dominant program attendance does wane. And for the griz too.

It's not like the Griz were playing in front of half empty stadiums when Stitt was coach. Of course fans will be more excited when the team is winning, but we'd have to be rather arrogant to assume that MSU will keep winning at the rate they have been so far under Vigen even if they remain in the FCS forever. They're still less than a decade removed from having sub-.500 teams although fan memory of those seasons is far more positive than it would be if not for Choate's 4-0 record against the Griz.

Anyway, whoever said that MSU will be in FBS in the next five years or so is probably right, so I'll just take their advice and enjoy the ride! Fans griping about playing mid-week home games on occasion aren't going to drive the decision anyway, I think by the time it happens it will have become inevitable due to changes in the fundamental structure of college football.

[coloradocat]

There is demand for tickets because we have a winning program. People seem to forget how dead the stadium was back in the days of the streak. Now people are lobbying to a return to meaningless football in Bozeman. Attendance will suffer if they get their way.

The '90s aren't coming back and the list of programs that have been able to maintain or increase their level of fan interest and attendance after moving up to FBS is growing longer by the year. It's crazy to me how pessimistic everyone seems to be about MSU being able to compete against a higher level of competition, when they showed in the first game of this season that they absolutely can do it even with the scholarship limitations of being in the FCS right now. And football doesn't all of a sudden become meaningless because there's no national championship to play for. Is the MSU basketball program meaningless because they'll never be able to win the NCAA Tournament? Of course, it seems to be a moot point right now since no invitation appears to be forthcoming any time soon for MSU to move up to the FBS level.

Get out of here with your use of logic. People are trying to be emotional!

Imagine the nightmare scenario where we can't play Mercyhurst and Stetson and San Diego and instead the competition is closer to Idaho and Montana and any of the Dakotas. Sure, we might lose 2 of our home games every year instead of 1 every four years but we'd also get 60 minutes of engaging football every week.

What teams do you think the Cats would play in non-conference games if they moved up to FBS? Mountain West teams this year scheduled lower level FCS teams in Montana State, Eastern Washington, Idaho, Utah Tech, Sac State, Texas A&M Commerce, Portland State, Northern Colorado, Delaware State, Northern Iowa, Robert Morris, and Merrimack. Certainly not at all a murderers row of competition for them. If the Cats move up, they would schedule at least one lower level FCS program for a non conference game every year, like they do now, probably a comparative FBS G5 program every year or two, like they do in the FCS now, and a money game against a higher level FBS program, just like they do now. I get that the conference schedule may or may not be more competitive, but non conference games wouldn’t be very dissimilar to what we have at the FCS level.

I don't think the Cats will continue to schedule non-scholarship teams or 1st/2nd year FCS teams if they move up, that's for sure. I'd be more than happy if our drop down game was against a team from the BSC (which made up half of the teams you listed). Preferably not UNCU/PSU/CP but any of the others would be fine opponents and more competitive from a MWC perspective than most of our current OOC opponents are from a BSC perspective. We also wouldn't have the SFA's of the world breaking contracts at the last minute if MWC money was involved.

Our OOC MWC schedule would be 1 FCS, 1-2 G5 and 0-1 P4 every year. That's not remotely close to what we do every year now. We currently play one FBS game per year at most. In the last 20 years we've played 2 FBS in a season one time (2008) and in 4 seasons didn't play any FBS teams (12, 15, 18, 23). We've only played 5 G5 teams over that period and one of them was Idaho in their last year there (I believe).

I know you hate the idea of moving up but you're just wrong if you think our OOC competition wouldn't improve.

[AFCAT]

There is demand for tickets because we have a winning program. People seem to forget how dead the stadium was back in the days of the streak. Now people are lobbying to a return to meaningless football in Bozeman. Attendance will suffer if they get their way.

The '90s aren't coming back and the list of programs that have been able to maintain or increase their level of fan interest and attendance after moving up to FBS is growing longer by the year. It's crazy to me how pessimistic everyone seems to be about MSU being able to compete against a higher level of competition, when they showed in the first game of this season that they absolutely can do it even with the scholarship limitations of being in the FCS right now. And football doesn't all of a sudden become meaningless because there's no national championship to play for. Is the MSU basketball program meaningless because they'll never be able to win the NCAA Tournament? Of course, it seems to be a moot point right now since no invitation appears to be forthcoming any time soon for MSU to move up to the FBS level.

Get out of here with your use of logic. People are trying to be emotional!

Imagine the nightmare scenario where we can't play Mercyhurst and Stetson and San Diego and instead the competition is closer to Idaho and Montana and any of the Dakotas. Sure, we might lose 2 of our home games every year instead of 1 every four years but we'd also get 60 minutes of engaging football every week.

What teams do you think the Cats would play in non-conference games if they moved up to FBS? Mountain West teams this year scheduled lower level FCS teams in Montana State, Eastern Washington, Idaho, Utah Tech, Sac State, Texas A&M Commerce, Portland State, Northern Colorado, Delaware State, Northern Iowa, Robert Morris, and Merrimack. Certainly not at all a murderers row of competition for them. If the Cats move up, they would schedule at least one lower level FCS program for a non conference game every year, like they do now, probably a comparative FBS G5 program every year or two, like they do in the FCS now, and a money game against a higher level FBS program, just like they do now. I get that the conference schedule may or may not be more competitive, but non conference games wouldn’t be very dissimilar to what we have at the FCS level.

I don't think the Cats will continue to schedule non-scholarship teams or 1st/2nd year FCS teams if they move up, that's for sure. I'd be more than happy if our drop down game was against a team from the BSC (which made up half of the teams you listed). Preferably not UNCU/PSU/CP but any of the others would be fine opponents and more competitive from a MWC perspective than most of our current OOC opponents are from a BSC perspective. We also wouldn't have the SFA's of the world breaking contracts at the last minute if MWC money was involved.

Our OOC MWC schedule would be 1 FCS, 1-2 G5 and 0-1 P4 every year. That's not remotely close to what we do every year now. We currently play one FBS game per year at most. In the last 20 years we've played 2 FBS in a season one time (2008) and in 4 seasons didn't play any FBS teams (12, 15, 18, 23). We've only played 5 G5 teams over that period and one of them was Idaho in their last year there (I believe).

I know you hate the idea of moving up but you're just wrong if you think our OOC competition wouldn't improve.

We shall see.

[BobcatBuiltTexan]

Stay where we are at....let them go. There is no benefit to moving up, it will literally kill this program. Maybe a good year every so often and the best you get is to go to some no name bowl with zero views and no real pageantry(and less money because you won't draw as much for mid week games).

For MSU it would better and more beneficial to be a big fish in a small pond vs a very small fish in an ocean....

Literally kill the program? Dozens of schools have made the FCS to FBS jump in the last 20 years and none have been "killed". Being a big fish in a small pond is fine if that's the best option available but if you think moving up would kill the program or diminish the fan interest that currently exists, I think you're very wrong in that take. The no-name FBS bowl games still draw a lot more viewers than the FCS playoff games do, and moving to a stronger conference could benefit the athletic department as a whole and not just football if MSU can figure out the financial aspects of how to fund the extra scholarships and sports they'll need to offer to move to FBS.

Yes it will kill the program as we know it. We'll it still exist? Yes, but THIS program would die a slow death. Whatever financial benefits we gain will be lost with the addition of 30 more FULL football scholarships, there are no partials in fbs football only full. The additional travel will take money away. Then you are now competing with all the other fbs schools for fbs level talent to come to a montana team that AT BEST plays in a no name bowl sooner or later. More than likely later. You'll start playing in the middle of the week so being able to get the in state fans to drive from 5+ hrs away to come watch on a Thursday dissipates, less money from ticket sales. Yes this storied program would die a slow death and we would become an irrelevant team/school. And for what???? A couple of dollars that we would never see because it would get ate up in operating costs?

Also i think that whatever conf we go to we will have to dramatically increase ALL facilities to lure recruits. No more buses for travel because no fbs program is putting their team on a bus to travel cross country.

It will not be a good look at all. Remember there is more to a move up then we get more money and more exposure. There's a huge commitment on so many levels and that commitment will cost loads of money. How many fbs schools are in a similar type location and how well do they do? It isn't worth it.

[BobcatBuiltTexan]

Stay where we are at....let them go. There is no benefit to moving up, it will literally kill this program. Maybe a good year every so often and the best you get is to go to some no name bowl with zero views and no real pageantry(and less money because you won't draw as much for mid week games).

For MSU it would better and more beneficial to be a big fish in a small pond vs a very small fish in an ocean....

Welcome back from your hiatus! Your knowledge was missed around here.

Been lurking around... just haven't been posting much.

[Marana CAT]

Stay where we are at....let them go. There is no benefit to moving up, it will literally kill this program. Maybe a good year every so often and the best you get is to go to some no name bowl with zero views and no real pageantry(and less money because you won't draw as much for mid week games).

For MSU it would better and more beneficial to be a big fish in a small pond vs a very small fish in an ocean....

Literally kill the program? Dozens of schools have made the FCS to FBS jump in the last 20 years and none have been "killed". Being a big fish in a small pond is fine if that's the best option available but if you think moving up would kill the program or diminish the fan interest that currently exists, I think you're very wrong in that take. The no-name FBS bowl games still draw a lot more viewers than the FCS playoff games do, and moving to a stronger conference could benefit the athletic department as a whole and not just football if MSU can figure out the financial aspects of how to fund the extra scholarships and sports they'll need to offer to move to FBS.

Yes it will kill the program as we know it. We'll it still exist? Yes, but THIS program would die a slow death. Whatever financial benefits we gain will be lost with the addition of 30 more FULL football scholarships, there are no partials in fbs football only full. The additional travel will take money away. Then you are now competent with all the other fbs schools for fbs level talent to come to a montana team that AT BEST plays in a no name bowl sooner or later. More than likely later. You'll start playing in the middle of the week so bring able to get the state fans to drive from 5+ hrs away to come watch on a Thursday dissipates, less money from ticket sales. Yes this storied program would die a show death and we would become an irrelevant team/school. And for what???? A couple of dollars that we would never see because it would get ate up in operating costs?

Also think that whatever conf we go to we have dramatically increase ALL facilities to lure recruits. No more buses for travel because no fbs program is putting their team on a bus to travel cross country.

It will not be a good look at all. Remember there more to a move up then we get more money and more exposure. There's a huge commitment on so many levels and that commitment will cost loads of money. How many fbs schools are in a similar type Latin and how well do they do? It isn't worth it.

Very well said, thank you.!!!

[coloradocat]

Stay where we are at....let them go. There is no benefit to moving up, it will literally kill this program. Maybe a good year every so often and the best you get is to go to some no name bowl with zero views and no real pageantry(and less money because you won't draw as much for mid week games).

For MSU it would better and more beneficial to be a big fish in a small pond vs a very small fish in an ocean....

Literally kill the program? Dozens of schools have made the FCS to FBS jump in the last 20 years and none have been "killed". Being a big fish in a small pond is fine if that's the best option available but if you think moving up would kill the program or diminish the fan interest that currently exists, I think you're very wrong in that take. The no-name FBS bowl games still draw a lot more viewers than the FCS playoff games do, and moving to a stronger conference could benefit the athletic department as a whole and not just football if MSU can figure out the financial aspects of how to fund the extra scholarships and sports they'll need to offer to move to FBS.

Yes it will kill the program as we know it. We'll it still exist? Yes, but THIS program would die a slow death. Whatever financial benefits we gain will be lost with the addition of 30 more FULL football scholarships, there are no partials in fbs football only full. The additional travel will take money away. Then you are now competent with all the other fbs schools for fbs level talent to come to a montana team that AT BEST plays in a no name bowl sooner or later. More than likely later. You'll start playing in the middle of the week so bring able to get the state fans to drive from 5+ hrs away to come watch on a Thursday dissipates, less money from ticket sales. Yes this storied program would die a show death and we would become an irrelevant team/school. And for what???? A couple of dollars that we would never see because it would get ate up in operating costs?

Also think that whatever conf we go to we have dramatically increase ALL facilities to lure recruits. No more buses for travel because no fbs program is putting their team on a bus to travel cross country.

It will not be a good look at all. Remember there more to a move up then we get more money and more exposure. There's a huge commitment on so many levels and that commitment will cost loads of money. How many fbs schools are in a similar type Latin and how well do they do? It isn't worth it.

I'm not saying you're totally wrong but I think you may have the wrong idea of where we are now and where we are talking about going.

We already fly to every away game except Missoula and Idaho State. It's not like we're about to get on a bus to drive to UC Davis next weekend. We're not Portland State. If we were to move up it would be to the Mountain West Conference which, outside of Hawaii, has essentially the same footprint as the BSC. We aren't joining the CUSA or AAC or another nationwide conference. As a result, travel and the costs associated wouldn't change (and we'd still bus to Missoula).

As far as game scheduling, the MWC plays more Saturday night games which will be annoying for many but they rarely play weeknight games. Again, we are joining the MAC.

Regarding facilities, we're already probably comparable with at least the bottom of the MWC, if not the middle, and if we moved up we would have more of an argument to attract larger donors.

Recruiting would become more competitive but as long as we don't completely fall apart in the first couple years I don't see why recruiting would fall off. If playing in a no-name bowl was so unappealing to high school kids we'd be beating out the MWC conference recruits all the time as an FCS team and that doesn't happen that often.

Finally, regarding irrelevancy: we're currently in the FCS. We're already irrelevant on a national stage. ESPN Gameday is a novelty tv show, not a sign that the rest of the country cares about us. If we moved up to the MWC we'd be less irrelevant, not more.

To me, the move up has nothing to do with money and everything to do with level of competition. The money is just so we can be competitive at the higher level. This 2024 team may be the best we've ever had, and the conference may be a little down, but we still shouldn't be 9 games into our FCS schedule with our starters only having to play 2 full games because we've so thoroughly dominated. I'd take 8-4 every year if it meant we were playing real teams. Sure, some years may be 6-6/7-5 but some years could be 9-3/10-2. We're not moving up solely for money like most teams have over the last dozen years. We're talking about moving up because we've outgrown the FCS.

[tetoncat]

Stay where we are at....let them go. There is no benefit to moving up, it will literally kill this program. Maybe a good year every so often and the best you get is to go to some no name bowl with zero views and no real pageantry(and less money because you won't draw as much for mid week games).

For MSU it would better and more beneficial to be a big fish in a small pond vs a very small fish in an ocean....

Literally kill the program? Dozens of schools have made the FCS to FBS jump in the last 20 years and none have been "killed". Being a big fish in a small pond is fine if that's the best option available but if you think moving up would kill the program or diminish the fan interest that currently exists, I think you're very wrong in that take. The no-name FBS bowl games still draw a lot more viewers than the FCS playoff games do, and moving to a stronger conference could benefit the athletic department as a whole and not just football if MSU can figure out the financial aspects of how to fund the extra scholarships and sports they'll need to offer to move to FBS.

Yes it will kill the program as we know it. We'll it still exist? Yes, but THIS program would die a slow death. Whatever financial benefits we gain will be lost with the addition of 30 more FULL football scholarships, there are no partials in fbs football only full. The additional travel will take money away. Then you are now competent with all the other fbs schools for fbs level talent to come to a montana team that AT BEST plays in a no name bowl sooner or later. More than likely later. You'll start playing in the middle of the week so bring able to get the state fans to drive from 5+ hrs away to come watch on a Thursday dissipates, less money from ticket sales. Yes this storied program would die a show death and we would become an irrelevant team/school. And for what???? A couple of dollars that we would never see because it would get ate up in operating costs?

Also think that whatever conf we go to we have dramatically increase ALL facilities to lure recruits. No more buses for travel because no fbs program is putting their team on a bus to travel cross country.

It will not be a good look at all. Remember there more to a move up then we get more money and more exposure. There's a huge commitment on so many levels and that commitment will cost loads of money. How many fbs schools are in a similar type Latin and how well do they do? It isn't worth it.

I'm not saying you're totally wrong but I think you may have the wrong idea of where we are now and where we are talking about going.

We already fly to every away game except Missoula and Idaho State. It's not like we're about to get on a bus to drive to UC Davis next weekend. We're not Portland State. If we were to move up it would be to the Mountain West Conference which, outside of Hawaii, has essentially the same footprint as the BSC. We aren't joining the CUSA or AAC or another nationwide conference. As a result, travel and the costs associated wouldn't change (and we'd still bus to Missoula).

As far as game scheduling, the MWC plays more Saturday night games which will be annoying for many but they rarely play weeknight games. Again, we are joining the MAC.

Regarding facilities, we're already probably comparable with at least the bottom of the MWC, if not the middle, and if we moved up we would have more of an argument to attract larger donors.

Recruiting would become more competitive but as long as we don't completely fall apart in the first couple years I don't see why recruiting would fall off. If playing in a no-name bowl was so unappealing to high school kids we'd be beating out the MWC conference recruits all the time as an FCS team and that doesn't happen that often.

Finally, regarding irrelevancy: we're currently in the FCS. We're already irrelevant on a national stage. ESPN Gameday is a novelty tv show, not a sign that the rest of the country cares about us. If we moved up to the MWC we'd be less irrelevant, not more.

To me, the move up has nothing to do with money and everything to do with level of competition. The money is just so we can be competitive at the higher level. This 2024 team may be the best we've ever had, and the conference may be a little down, but we still shouldn't be 9 games into our FCS schedule with our starters only having to play 2 full games because we've so thoroughly dominated. I'd take 8-4 every year if it meant we were playing real teams. Sure, some years may be 6-6/7-5 but some years could be 9-3/10-2. We're not moving up solely for money like most teams have over the last dozen years. We're talking about moving up because we've outgrown the FCS.

No championship and only 1 appearance since 1984. Competitive games in 2023 and lost some we maybe shouldn't have. Can't we enjoy how dominant this 2024 team has been without it meaning we are to good for FCS. Had we outgrown FCS in 2023 and will we have in 2025 if we go 8-4 or worse.

[Long Time Cat]

To me, the move up has nothing to do with money and everything to do with level of competition. The money is just so we can be competitive at the higher level. This 2024 team may be the best we've ever had, and the conference may be a little down, but we still shouldn't be 9 games into our FCS schedule with our starters only having to play 2 full games because we've so thoroughly dominated. I'd take 8-4 every year if it meant we were playing real teams. Sure, some years may be 6-6/7-5 but some years could be 9-3/10-2. We're not moving up solely for money like most teams have over the last dozen years. We're talking about moving up because we've outgrown the FCS.

We have been undefeated for less than one full season and we’ve outgrown the FCS? That’s one of the more arrogant statements that I have heard, even for BN. Last year we were eight and four. We haven’t won a national championship in 40 years. NDSU Has probably outgrown the FCS, but that’s it as far as I’m concerned.

[kmax]

To those that say we haven’t outgrown the FCS because we haven’t won a championship or can still lose games, I would just say that I feel you are taking a very narrow view of the FCS as a whole. There are probably somewhere between 5-10 programs in FCS (not counting any that are already in process of transitioning) that have all outgrown the FCS in terms of institutional and fan support. The Montanas and Dakotas do not fit in the FCS any longer. They have zero in common with the likes of the lower 2/3’s of teams in this subdivision. The only ones that have bounced MSU from the playoffs have been from that group. Just because MSU hasn’t won a championship due to not overcoming other schools that are in the same position as them does not change the fact that they clearly fit better with G5 schools than with 90% of the FCS. It isn’t arrogant, it is simply looking at things logically.