NDSU is gone

[VandalPride97]

The 6 prior champions before the Griz in 1995 were Georgia Southern, Marshall or Youngstown State which all were still in the FCS in 1995.

And look how thrilling their lives are now

 

[Griz til I die]

This is really the only thing about this whole situation that worries me.

Money is POURING into that place, and at a certain point, if we can't keep up, they're just going to argue that we're holding them back.

If the BOR believes them and thinks they should move up, I could see them let them go without us if it is indeed true that we can't foreseeably afford to also do so.

And that would be the worst possible thing that could happen to our school.

I find it HIGHLY unlikely that would ever happen. There would be a lot of really unhappy people at the state capitol in Helena, and there would be some major politics going on. State lawmakers would get involved and prevent one from going without the other. Ya the governor is a cat fan but the Senate President and a host of others in the leadership are UM alums and big Griz fans. There's no way this would happen. The BOR would feel some serious heat from the Legislature.

Plus UM is on an upward trajectory and everything I've heard about Clay Christian's comments about the new president is he wants someone whose a fundraiser and will continue and accelerate UM's pattern of growth. There will be time to catch up. Nobody is going anywhere IMO in the next 2 years. We're gonna be fine.

 

[AnotherGrizFan]

Bully for you and your friends. Everyone has their own perception.

You must have missed the post where hoops declared that he has more friends than anyone else on egriz. I'm still wondering how he could possibly know that but he said it with conviction and none of his minions dared to call him out on it.

 

[5280Griz]

Bully for you and your friends. Everyone has their own perception.

My perception is the FBS is for fans who don’t really understand football and want to watch it as entertainment. They are more interested in things like the music being played in the stadium than the scheme being played on the field. The FCS on the other hand is more interesting to fans who are more knowledgeable about the sport.

 

[CDAGRIZ]

Hard science for me. Plenty of data to back up the "no they did not."

Not quibbling with your post at large. Just pointing out that JMU had no shot from the get go. Their Twitter game was title-worthy, however.

I agree they had no chance practically. Greater than 0% mathematically, though. Futures wise, you can pick them up right now at +100000 to win it all in 2026 .

 

[uofmman1122]

I find it HIGHLY unlikely that would ever happen. There would be a lot of really unhappy people at the state capitol in Helena, and there would be some major politics going on. State lawmakers would get involved and prevent one from going without the other. Ya the governor is a cat fan but the Senate President and a host of others in the leadership are UM alums and big Griz fans. There's no way this would happen. The BOR would feel some serious heat from the Legislature.

Plus UM is on an upward trajectory and everything I've heard about Clay Christian's comments about the new president is he wants someone whose a fundraiser and will continue and accelerate UM's pattern of growth. There will be time to catch up. Nobody is going anywhere IMO in the next 2 years. We're gonna be fine.

This seems a little rose-colored, but I do agree it's unlikely.

The problem comes if the trajectories of the two institutions continue over the next 5 years. Say MSU breaks 20k enrollment and wins a couple more nattys, dominating FCS. Not trying to doom and gloom here, but it's certainly in the realm of possible.

If it comes to be that it makes financial sense for MSU to move up, but not us, I don't think mad Griz fans in the legislature are going to prevent it from happening. It would piss off the ever growing number of cats in the government if they were denied, as well.

Again, not trying to doom and gloom, but acting like this situation could never happen seems shortsighted. "It can't happen" until it is, and then UM is screwed.

 

[Griz til I die]

This seems a little rose-colored, but I do agree it's unlikely.

The problem comes if the trajectories of the two institutions continue over the next 5 years. Say MSU breaks 20k enrollment and wins a couple more nattys, dominating FCS. Not trying to doom and gloom here, but it's certainly in the realm of possible.

If it comes to be that it makes financial sense for MSU to move up, but not us, I don't think mad Griz fans in the legislature are going to prevent it from happening. It would piss off the ever growing number of cats in the government if they were denied, as well.

Again, not trying to doom and gloom, but acting like this situation could never happen seems shortsighted. "It can't happen" until it is, and then UM is screwed.

There's a reason it didn't happen in 2012 when the shoe was on the other foot. And to act like UM is just gonna continue in a negative direction seems pretty far fetched IMO. Things are gonna get turned around at UM, likely as soon as next year as application numbers are looking very good. With an aggressive new president, UM could turn things around in a hurry. Plus I don't think msu will ever get to 20k enrollment, and if they do it won't be within the next 5 years. They've pretty much hit critical mass with their campus infrastructure/housing. They'd have to add 3k students in the next five years and with the challenges higher education is facing nationwide, it would take a major anomaly for them to pull that off. And I also don't think Tessman (so far) is the go getter that Cruzado was.

 

[GoCatsGo!]

As far as the playoffs. Yes I know the excuses why they don't sell out but there is a lot of people saying they don't wanna move up because of the playoffs. If it means that much why don't they sell out. Not make excuses why. I do understand the excuses, travel, weather, last minute. But damn app st and ndsu come in on the semis. The excuses stop and the stadium is full. The excuses don't hold up if the playoffs are that important.
As far as d2 teams. There are a lot more d2 move ups that don't move the meter. No. Co, Portland st, Utah tech, S Utah. That is just the big sky. Not back east where missoula county stadium makes there stadium pathetic. Yes there is few great d2 team that move up but they don't plan to stay in the fcs forever. Liberty, coastal car., Tarleton, Ndsu, sdsu. They view the fcs as a stepping stone. Some make it, some don't. It take commitment from the program. But there is a lot more that don't do anything.

A stadium sellout may not be the correct criteria. This year's mighty Frisco Bowl had a remarkable 6500 in attendance where UNLV (one of the better MW teams this year) lost to Ohio. I didn't bother to look up UM's attendance for their playoff games, but I suspect all were significantly better and collectively, way better.

 

[uofmman1122]

There's a reason it didn't happen in 2012 when the shoe was on the other foot. And to act like UM is just gonna continue in a negative direction seems pretty far fetched IMO. Things are gonna get turned around at UM, likely as soon as next year as application numbers are looking very good. With an aggressive new president, UM could turn things around in a hurry. Plus I don't think msu will ever get to 20k enrollment, and if they do it won't be within the next 5 years. They've pretty much hit critical mass with their campus infrastructure/housing. They'd have to add 3k students in the next five years and with the challenges higher education is facing nationwide, it would take a major anomaly for them to pull that off. And I also don't think Tessman (so far) is the go getter that Cruzado was.

Maybe I'm being a little pessimistic here, but, and I'm sorry I don't want to come off as mean, but it seems like you have your head in the sand a little bit.

I'm hopeful what you say is true, but you seemed to be saying the same stuff over the last 5 years, and we're still not making up meaningful ground (we went backwards this last year).

If they nail the president hire, I'll feel better, but we're likely not going to feel the repercussions of that meaningfully until like 3-5 years from now.

However unlikely the scenario I'm suggesting might be, I want all hands on deck at UM to make sure it never happens, and acting like it's impossible seems ill-advised, to me. I think there is larger-than-we'd-like-to-admit faction of cat nation that would love to see it happen (and are possibly pushing for it).

 

[VandalPride97]

The money at NDSU is coming from large, private donations.

Yeah, but will that stream continue? How will it be in 3 years when they're .500 and dogfighting San Jose State in a stadium that only has one side of bleachers? Will they open their wallets if Jason Eck and New Mexico pound the rock down with 35+ minutes of possession?

This is the curse of a team that rarely loses. You guys have it too. You get so used to winning when you're having winning seasons and even when you're having a rough season. It's a great fucking feeling, but when you fall, the impact is massive. Other teams, like Nutsack State have tasted failure and are willing to risk it. NDSU has not tasted failure and it's going to be a very bitter pill.

 

[Skookum-Jim]

If i were him with posts like this, id be embarrassed to show my face around here but then again, hiding behind a screen name vomiting out nonsense is right up a trolls alley.

I know how bad you guys hate objective reality. Geezus H Christ!

 

[ElrodGrizzly]

I know how bad you guys hate objective reality. Geezus H Christ!

I think their point was that you were factually and objectively wrong.... Just saying....

 

[Griz til I die]

Maybe I'm being a little pessimistic here, but, and I'm sorry I don't want to come off as mean, but it seems like you have your head in the sand a little bit.

I'm hopeful what you say is true, but you seemed to be saying the same stuff over the last 5 years, and we're still not making up meaningful ground (we went backwards this last year).

If they nail the president hire, I'll feel better, but we're likely not going to feel the repercussions of that meaningfully until like 3-5 years from now.

However unlikely the scenario I'm suggesting might be, I want all hands on deck at UM to make sure it never happens, and acting like it's impossible seems ill-advised, to me. I think there is larger-than-we'd-like-to-admit faction of cat nation that would love to see it happen (and are possibly pushing for it).

Look I suppose anything is possible in today's day and age, but still there would be major backlash if that happened. And I don't believe there's any kind of major push by anyone at msu right now to go FBS at the moment, and I definitely haven't seen anything saying they will go FBS with or without UM. That's just not a thing right now. Could it be one day? IDK, but more likely they would want to work together on an FBS move IMO. Especially if they both keep killing it in the TV ratings.

And in regards to your second paragraph here, for the most part over the last 5 years we have gone forward. From 23-24 we had our largest single year enrollment increase in two decades. Yes this year the undergrad enrollment slid a bit, but even with that slide they still managed to grow the overall enrollment by about 100 kids because of grad school and Missoula College. IDK what happened this year with the undergrad enrollment, but having spoken with people who have talked to the Enrollment Director and their staff, they walked away feeling encouraged by what they heard. Now whether that comes to fruition or not remains to be seen, however I don't think we're completely fucked like some people wanna think. We just need a little more killer instinct. Bodnar did a good job of stabilizing UM, and now we just need someone who's gonna kick it into overdrive!

 

[CDAGRIZ]

Maybe I'm being a little pessimistic here, but, and I'm sorry I don't want to come off as mean, but it seems like you have your head in the sand a little bit.

I'm hopeful what you say is true, but you seemed to be saying the same stuff over the last 5 years, and we're still not making up meaningful ground (we went backwards this last year).

If they nail the president hire, I'll feel better, but we're likely not going to feel the repercussions of that meaningfully until like 3-5 years from now.

However unlikely the scenario I'm suggesting might be, I want all hands on deck at UM to make sure it never happens, and acting like it's impossible seems ill-advised, to me. I think there is larger-than-we'd-like-to-admit faction of cat nation that would love to see it happen (and are possibly pushing for it).

Maybe we should just keep doing exactly what it seems like we've been doing for another 25+ years and wait for a conference to realize how fortunate it would be to have UM join. When I was like 11 or 12, I used to practice my low post moves (I was a guard) in the driveway in case college scout would drove by (dead-end street). Wanted to show I was the total package.

 

[argh!]

Maybe we should just keep doing exactly what it seems like we've been doing for another 25+ years and wait for a conference to realize how fortunate it would be to have UM join. When I was like 11 or 12, I used to practice my low post moves (I was a guard) in the driveway in case college scout would drove by (dead-end street). Wanted to show I was the total package.

geez, i was already winning the nba championship on a last second shot by 11 or 12 years old.

 

[uofmman1122]

Look I suppose anything is possible in today's day and age, but still there would be major backlash if that happened. And I don't believe there's any kind of major push by anyone at msu right now to go FBS at the moment, and I definitely haven't seen anything saying they will go FBS with or without UM. That's just not a thing right now. Could it be one day? IDK, but more likely they would want to work together on an FBS move IMO. Especially if they both keep killing it in the TV ratings.

And in regards to your second paragraph here, for the most part over the last 5 years we have gone forward. From 23-24 we had our largest single year enrollment increase in two decades. Yes this year the undergrad enrollment slid a bit, but even with that slide they still managed to grow the overall enrollment by about 100 kids because of grad school and Missoula College. IDK what happened this year with the undergrad enrollment, but having spoken with people who have talked to the Enrollment Director and their staff, they walked away feeling encouraged by what they heard. Now whether that comes to fruition or not remains to be seen, however I don't think we're completely fucked like some people wanna think. We just need a little more killer instinct. Bodnar did a good job of stabilizing UM, and now we just need someone who's gonna kick it into overdrive!

I mean this is kind of my point, though. There exists a plausible future where it makes financial and institutional sense for MSU and it's donors to push for a move to FBS (or whatever it becomes), while we are unable to financially make the jump. The tension goes both ways here. The way things have gone the last 10 years in the state, I think I have an idea of which ideological side is going to win that argument.

This is the importance of getting the president hire right, so we can stop celebrating 100 new students per year while MSU continues breaking attendance records. We need a leader who can figure out how to start taking students from MSU and bringing them here. That's how they surpassed us, and it's the only way to catch back up.

 

[Griz til I die]

I mean this is kind of my point, though. There exists a plausible future where it makes financial and institutional sense for MSU and it's donors to push for a move to FBS (or whatever it becomes), while we are unable to financially make the jump. The tension goes both ways here. The way things have gone the last 10 years in the state, I think I have an idea of which ideological side is going to win that argument.

This is the importance of getting the president hire right, so we can stop celebrating 100 new students per year while MSU continues breaking attendance records. We need a leader who can figure out how to start taking students from MSU and bringing them here. That's how they surpassed us, and it's the only way to catch back up.

I wish there was a way to get some intel on who some of the president candidates are and where they're coming from, but I have no earthly idea if there's even a way to look something like that up.

 

[CDAGRIZ]

geez, i was already winning the nba championship on a last second shot by 11 or 12 years old.

Now, that's just unrealistic.

 

[5280Griz]

Yeah, but will that stream continue? How will it be in 3 years when they're .500 and dogfighting San Jose State in a stadium that only has one side of bleachers? Will they open their wallets if Jason Eck and New Mexico pound them down with 35+ minutes of possession?

This is the curse of a team that rarely loses. You guys have it too. You get so used to winning when you're having winning seasons and even when you're having a rough season. It's a great fucking feeling, but when you fall, the impact is massive. Other teams, like Nutsack State have tasted failure and are willing to risk it. NDSU has not tasted failure and it's going to be a very bitter pill.

That stream is to get over the initial hurdle until the increased tv revenue kicks in to cover the cost.

 

[alabamagrizzly]

I can't speak for anyone else, but I would much rather watch Montana play in the MWC. The travel alone is reason enough for me.

Hawaii? Yes please and a little longboarding and Loco Moco to go with it.
UNLV? Uh yes... Fremont here I come!
UTEP? Great Mexican food.
UN-R? Why not hit Lake Tahoe.
Air Force? I can hit the BX while I'm there.
Not interested in the rest of the MWC.

The PAC12? First of all, Montana WAS in the PAC for 26 years. Better games for sure, but not as great for traveling. Really, who wants to go to Boise, Fresno, Corvallis, Fort Collins, Logan? No thanks.

Splitting hairs here but technically the Pacific Coast Conference and the PAC12 were not the same con. The PCC folded in the 50's i believe due to some sort of scandal and most of the remaining teams started a new con which later became the PAC8, 10, 12, and so on.