The Bobcat Nation

I just pulled the following off of the I-AA.org with regards to a few western teams looking to move around conferences. What I wouldn't do to have 4 of those 5 teams in the BSC. With a twelve team STRONG conference we would be guaranteed 2 maybe 3 playoff bids a year!

CHECK THIS OUT from i-aa WEST report!!!

North Dakota State and South Dakota State have been asked to send institutional information to the Gateway Football Conference. The Gateway currently has eight members but likely will be losing Western Kentucky to the I-A Sun Belt Conference and be reduced to seven members. The Gateway includes Northern Iowa, Missouri State, Illinois State, Indiana State, Southern Illinois, Western Illinois, and Youngstown State. If NDSU and SDSU choose to go to the Gateway, the Great West Football Conference would be down to just three members; Cal Poly, Southern Utah, and UC Davis.

ESPN just reported that Western Kentucky will be moving up and bowl eligible by 2009. All of these teams would be good additions and if the Dakota schools go elsewhere we could take the Cal schools and Southern Utah. The Big Sky would be very competitive with the additions and should get 3 schools in the playoffs consistently.

I voted for Southern Utah for a few reasons. One, they create a natural in-state rival for Weber State. After Idaho and Boise State left the conference, that left just Cat/Griz as the only true rivaly in the conference. I think it would add excitement to the Big Sky, and the rivaly match-ups is something our conference needs more of. Two, they are very regional and would be an easy travel trip for most every team in the conference. Three, they have been playing many of the Big Sky teams already since moving up to 1-AA. They used to have a home-and-home with the Cats several years ago.

I like North Dakota State, but Fargo is just so far for the majority of BSC teams to travel to. They have great fans and travel well (I couldn't believe how many Bison fans were in Bozeman last year for the game). Also, if you let NDSU in, you will enevitabley have to constantly deal with requests from South Dakota St., UND, SDU, etc. for permission to join.

In a perfect world the BSC would add all three Dakota teams and Dump NAU, PSU and Sac.


But this isnt a perfect world. I fear that Fullerton step on his weener when he made the stupid choice of Northern Colorado. What a NOB!!!

I picked Cal Poly for a couple of reasons. One, they have a little more current activity with the BSC. Second, and the biggest one for me, I think NDSU and SDSU should be considered a package deal; both or none.

Both South Dakota State and Northern Arizona pose nightmare travel problems. North Dakota State makes good sense as a replacement for UNC.

Go Scats Go wrote:In a perfect world the BSC would add all three Dakota teams and Dump NAU, PSU and Sac.


But this isnt a perfect world. I fear that Fullerton step on his weener when he made the stupid choice of Northern Colorado. What a NOB!!!

I'd be pressed to believe Fullerton did anything for MSU athletics as its AD and refuse to believe he'll do much for the BSC either. His legacy here is that he brought in some of the biggest losers to ever coach at MSU....and I'm not referring to Coach k here. Now, he can frustrate us all with the officiating he brings us on a weekly basis. As a consequecne, I'd rather not to think about what input he might have on further expansion of the Big Sky Conference.

1BadBobcat wrote:I voted for Southern Utah for a few reasons. One, they create a natural in-state rival for Weber State. After Idaho and Boise State left the conference, that left just Cat/Griz as the only true rivaly in the conference. I think it would add excitement to the Big Sky, and the rivaly match-ups is something our conference needs more of. Two, they are very regional and would be an easy travel trip for most every team in the conference. Three, they have been playing many of the Big Sky teams already since moving up to 1-AA. They used to have a home-and-home with the Cats several years ago.

I like North Dakota State, but Fargo is just so far for the majority of BSC teams to travel to. They have great fans and travel well (I couldn't believe how many Bison fans were in Bozeman last year for the game). Also, if you let NDSU in, you will enevitabley have to constantly deal with requests from South Dakota St., UND, SDU, etc. for permission to join.

You aren't intimidated by the name of the city "Fargo"? Perhaps we might persuade them to rename their fair city to "Flagstaff II" that might make welcoming them to our conference easier to swallow. At least when the cats played there, we know they'd be playing bofore a large crowd.

UND is moving up shortly, isn't that right? i would love to see both NDSU and UND in the conference. these schools both have quality programs and would provide some instant "regional rivalry" for MSU and UM. only problem may be that nobody outside of Montana would see it that way and it would be a devil of a trip for most non-Montana teams.

also, would adding another 1 or 2 quality football teams end up hurting the BSC much the same way all the SEC teams beat up on each other?

torrybruce wrote:I just pulled the following off of the I-AA.org with regards to a few western teams looking to move around conferences. What I wouldn't do to have 4 of those 5 teams in the BSC. With a twelve team STRONG conference we would be guaranteed 2 maybe 3 playoff bids a year!

CHECK THIS OUT from i-aa WEST report!!!

North Dakota State and South Dakota State have been asked to send institutional information to the Gateway Football Conference. The Gateway currently has eight members but likely will be losing Western Kentucky to the I-A Sun Belt Conference and be reduced to seven members. The Gateway includes Northern Iowa, Missouri State, Illinois State, Indiana State, Southern Illinois, Western Illinois, and Youngstown State. If NDSU and SDSU choose to go to the Gateway, the Great West Football Conference would be down to just three members; Cal Poly, Southern Utah, and UC Davis.

Good for the Dakota States if they get in the Gateway. That would be better fit for them than the Big Sky. The Big Sky presidents really blew the opportunity to get those schools.

I don't think we should be too hard on Fullerton for Northern Colorado. UNC was the only school that all the Big Sky presidents could agree on-even Gamble and Dennison. It's the presidents who get to decide.

Right now there aren't any schools that everyone in the league can agree on unless Idaho and/or Utah State decides to drop to 1-AA (never happen).

The addition of NDSU would be nice. They are a complete team that would make the conference very strong.

I like adding NDSU, but I don't like the idea of trying to drop one of the coastal schools. It would be great if could have all Rocky Mountain based teams, but a lot of our recruiting is done in CA, OR, and WA so we need those schools in the conference. Just not enough talent in Montana and the Dakotas to go around.

Go Scats Go wrote:In a perfect world the BSC would add all three Dakota teams and Dump NAU, PSU and Sac.


But this isnt a perfect world. I fear that Fullerton step on his weener when he made the stupid choice of Northern Colorado. What a NOB!!!

The presidents are sure going to be pissed when they find out it's not them making all the decisions anymore. Little did I know it was Fullerton.

1BadBobcat wrote:I voted for Southern Utah for a few reasons. One, they create a natural in-state rival for Weber State. ...

I voted for Southern Utah for purely selfish reasons. It would be a nice short trip from Vegas every other year.

But, honestly, my heart lay with NDSU. Go Bison!

USD & UND will be D1AA also.

If NDSU and SDSU choose to go to the Gateway, the Great West Football Conference would be down to just three members; Cal Poly, Southern Utah, and UC Davis

If it's left to those three: Cal Poly, Southern Utah & UC Davis, I don't know how it would be to have two BSC opponents like Sacramento St. & UC Davis; they're only like less than thirty miles apart aren't they?

I wouldn't know how that would work out really. I'd hate to see something like the rivalry between the Oakland Raiders & the 49'ers here. That's where they shoot real guns at each other just for being a fan of one or the other.

It isn't going to matter a pinch of s... in hell, we're going to go by the wayside and the state institutions all around us are going to be in Major Wannabe Conferences while we're stuck with a bunch of directional third tier schools as long as Foolerton has the ear of our presidents. Give it up, we're not going anywhere and we'll continue to watch second and third tier schools continue to tell us "We've outgrown the Big Sky" as Boysee, Nevada and Udaho already has...Watch ISU get pulled up with the rest of the Idaho schools in your short lifetimes.

1BadBobcat wrote:I voted for Southern Utah for a few reasons. One, they create a natural in-state rival for Weber State. After Idaho and Boise State left the conference, that left just Cat/Griz as the only true rivaly in the conference. I think it would add excitement to the Big Sky, and the rivaly match-ups is something our conference needs more of. Two, they are very regional and would be an easy travel trip for most every team in the conference. Three, they have been playing many of the Big Sky teams already since moving up to 1-AA. They used to have a home-and-home with the Cats several years ago.

I like North Dakota State, but Fargo is just so far for the majority of BSC teams to travel to. They have great fans and travel well (I couldn't believe how many Bison fans were in Bozeman last year for the game). Also, if you let NDSU in, you will enevitabley have to constantly deal with requests from South Dakota St., UND, SDU, etc. for permission to join.

I agree. I did not vote for UND because they are too good!!! We have enought problems with the Griz, Having anouther powerhouse team like UND will only make it that much harder for the Cats to become a future powerhouse team.

Although a complete pipedream, I'd love to see the Big Sky conference look like this:

MSU
UM
Weber State
Utah State
Wyoming
Idaho
Idaho State
Gonzaga
E. Washington
Boise State

Our conference has gotten extremely dilluted, and the rivalry now is not that high. Rivalry is what draws fans to follow the games. I think adding northern colorado made our conference bush league. IMO, the above conference would be awesome, travel would be reasonable for everyone and the rivalry would be INTENSE with each team.

We might get whipped for a few years but think we would rise to the occassion with facilities, fan support, sponsorship, and everything else.

The only problem I have with your conference is that Gonzaga doesn't have football.