NDSU/SDSU to Gateway

WYOBISONMAN · Post by **WYOBISONMAN** » Wed Mar 07, 2007 9:44 am

It sounds like the press conference is at 3pm today. NDSU and SDSU are in the Gateway.

http://www.bisonzone.com/index.cfm?page ... &id=158766

Post by **kmax** » Wed Mar 07, 2007 9:57 am

Congrats to the Bison and Rabbits and their respective fans. Both programs deserve a good homes for their all their sports with better chances for post season berths once they become eligible. Hopefully we can get some OOC conference games scheduled with you guys again in the future.

longhorn_22 · Post by **longhorn_22** » Wed Mar 07, 2007 10:00 am

A shame this headline isn't about the BSC. But congrats to NDSU and SDSU and good luck.

1BadBobcat · Post by **1BadBobcat** » Wed Mar 07, 2007 10:06 am

The Gateway was a pretty tough conference to begin with with N. Iowa, S. Illinois, Youngstown St., etc. But now throw a very good NDSU team and an up & coming SDSU team in the mix, the Gateway now becomes pretty powerful.

WYOBISONMAN · Post by **WYOBISONMAN** » Wed Mar 07, 2007 10:14 am

......my western bias......I would rather be in the Sky, but that horse rode a long time ago.

MTBobcatFan · Post by **MTBobcatFan** » Wed Mar 07, 2007 10:16 am

What will happen to the Great West Conference?

Post by **kmax** » Wed Mar 07, 2007 10:25 am

MTBobcatFan wrote:What will happen to the Great West Conference?

Just a guess, but I would bet it picks up UND and USD in 2008(I think that is the first year of provisional D-I play for them isn't it?) and continues on as it has been going for the most part, though severely drops the competitiveness of the Great West.

CARDIAC_CATS · Post by **CARDIAC_CATS** » Wed Mar 07, 2007 11:42 am

1BadBobcat wrote:The Gateway was a pretty tough conference to begin with with N. Iowa, S. Illinois, Youngstown St., etc. But now throw a very good NDSU team and an up & coming SDSU team in the mix, the Gateway now becomes pretty powerful.

I hate to see them go, but Gateway has also been top heavy some as well. This will hopefully help them beat each other down since the selection committee 'rarely' lets a team with 4 losses in the playoffs. Keep in mind I said RARELY

tcbison · Post by **tcbison** » Wed Mar 07, 2007 11:43 am

kmax wrote:Congrats to the Bison and Rabbits and their respective fans. Both programs deserve a good homes for their all their sports with better chances for post season berths once they become eligible. Hopefully we can get some OOC conference games scheduled with you guys again in the future.

From what I have heard in 2008 the Bobcats could come to Fargo. That would be a great game. I hope it happens

CARDIAC_CATS · Post by **CARDIAC_CATS** » Wed Mar 07, 2007 11:44 am

tcbison wrote:
kmax wrote:Congrats to the Bison and Rabbits and their respective fans. Both programs deserve a good homes for their all their sports with better chances for post season berths once they become eligible. Hopefully we can get some OOC conference games scheduled with you guys again in the future.
From what I have heard in 2008 the Bobcats could come to Fargo. That would be a great game. I hope it happens

I do as well

Bleedinbluengold · Post by **Bleedinbluengold** » Wed Mar 07, 2007 11:45 am

1BadBobcat wrote:The Gateway was a pretty tough conference to begin with with N. Iowa, S. Illinois, Youngstown St., etc. But now throw a very good NDSU team and an up & coming SDSU team in the mix, the Gateway now becomes pretty powerful.

They will now beat themselves up just as much as the Big Sky typically does...and the Southern and ACC will be the beneficiaries.

Post by **kmax** » Wed Mar 07, 2007 11:47 am

CARDIAC_CATS wrote:
tcbison wrote:
kmax wrote:Congrats to the Bison and Rabbits and their respective fans. Both programs deserve a good homes for their all their sports with better chances for post season berths once they become eligible. Hopefully we can get some OOC conference games scheduled with you guys again in the future.
From what I have heard in 2008 the Bobcats could come to Fargo. That would be a great game. I hope it happens
I do as well

As do I, I was really looking forward to making the trip out there for that game this year, hopefully that trip is just delayed one year.

1BadBobcat · Post by **1BadBobcat** » Wed Mar 07, 2007 12:04 pm

kmax wrote:
CARDIAC_CATS wrote:
tcbison wrote:
kmax wrote:Congrats to the Bison and Rabbits and their respective fans. Both programs deserve a good homes for their all their sports with better chances for post season berths once they become eligible. Hopefully we can get some OOC conference games scheduled with you guys again in the future.
From what I have heard in 2008 the Bobcats could come to Fargo. That would be a great game. I hope it happens
I do as well
As do I, I was really looking forward to making the trip out there for that game this year, hopefully that trip is just delayed one year.

Put me in that mix as well. It was a great game two years ago when we hosted NDSU. I would definitely go over to Fargo for that one!

twentythreeOh4 · Post by **twentythreeOh4** » Wed Mar 07, 2007 10:26 pm

MTBobcatFan wrote:What will happen to the Great West Conference?

It's toast. This will push UC Davis and Cal-Poly into considering I-A. The west loses the only other I-AA/FCS conference.

GOKATS · Post by **GOKATS** » Wed Mar 07, 2007 11:15 pm

twentythreeOh4 wrote:
MTBobcatFan wrote:What will happen to the Great West Conference?
It's toast. This will push UC Davis and Cal-Poly into considering I-A. The west loses the only other I-AA/FCS conference.

Highly unlikely (BTW, there is no I-A anymore). It'll make scheduling tough, but UND and USD will probably fill the two vacated spots- nothing changes until the '08 season. The Great West will still have 5 teams, but will be weak again- I just don't see UC Davis or Cal/Poly making the jump for awhile yet- they need to make a stronger presence in the FCS.

JMHO

89rabbit · Post by **89rabbit** » Wed Mar 07, 2007 11:25 pm

Just in case you want to see SDSU's Press Conference from this afternoon, here are a couple of links.

Part I:

Part II:

Back to top

Bleedinbluengold · Post by **Bleedinbluengold** » Thu Mar 08, 2007 10:23 am

The big hit for the Great West, with only 5 teams, is that the conference winner won't automatically get a playoff spot.

Davis has made it abundantly clear their goal is the FBS. I don't know about Poly, but it only makes sense for them to move up as well.

89rabbit · Post by **89rabbit** » Thu Mar 08, 2007 10:44 am

http://www.argusleader.com/apps/pbcs.dl ... 002/SPORTS

A Gateway home SDSU leaving behind Great West

By Terry Vandrovec
tvandrovec@argusleader.com
Published: March 8, 2007

BROOKINGS - There was a word embroidered on the bill of the Gateway Football Conference caps handed out Wednesday in Brookings: Champions.

And South Dakota State University felt like a winner, when it was granted entry into the Gateway, an NCAA Division I Football Championship Subdivision league successful enough to proclaim in blue cursive lettering that every program under its hat is championship caliber.

"One can justifiably argue the Gateway is the strongest, deepest and most respected FCS conference in the nation," league commissioner Patty Viverito said via conference call. "This decision to add North Dakota State and South Dakota State leaves no doubt."

The two former North Central Conference and current Great West Football Conference members were extended invitations Monday afternoon. They accepted shortly thereafter, agreeing to an eight-year contract with a $500,000 early-exit penalty and a $250,000 entry fee to join Illinois State, Indiana State, Missouri State, Northern Iowa, Southern Illinois, Western Illinois and Youngstown State beginning in the 2008 season. That is the first year the Jackrabbits will be playoff eligible.

The move has been in the works since September - Viverito said she contacted SDSU and NDSU the day after their other programs were accepted into the Mid-Continent Conference - and gained speed in February when Western Kentucky announced it was leaving the Gateway to reclassify in the Bowl Subdivision, formerly Division I-A. . . . (read more)

twentythreeOh4 · Post by **twentythreeOh4** » Thu Mar 08, 2007 11:51 pm

GOKATS wrote:
twentythreeOh4 wrote:
MTBobcatFan wrote:What will happen to the Great West Conference?
It's toast. This will push UC Davis and Cal-Poly into considering I-A. The west loses the only other I-AA/FCS conference.
Highly unlikely (BTW, there is no I-A anymore). It'll make scheduling tough, but UND and USD will probably fill the two vacated spots- nothing changes until the '08 season. The Great West will still have 5 teams, but will be weak again- I just don't see UC Davis or Cal/Poly making the jump for awhile yet- they need to make a stronger presence in the FCS.

JMHO

Even if North Dakota and South Dakota join the GW, it is still only 5 teams. That means only 4 conference games a year. Only 2 home conference games a year. That leaves 7 non-conference games to be scheduled every year. Where are they going to find that many games? We know it won't be the Montana schools since they don't have room in their schedules to do very many if any home and home games with other FCS schools. The rest of the Big Sky teams have only 3 non-conference games and most of those will fill at least 2 games between a $money game and a D-II game leaving only 1 non-conference spot open.

As much as our friends at NDSU and SDSU say they want to keep playing Davis and Poly guess what? They are now in the same boat with a 9 team conference and only 3 non-conference games. Hmm, they are probably going to schedule a money game and a D-II just like the Big Sky leaving only 1 non-conference game open.

The Southland is the only other FCS conference even remotely near the west, and they are adding Central Arkansas and possibly another Texas school which will reduce the available non-conference slots in their schedule.

Obviously the Great West would like to expand, but who can they add? San Diego? Let's see, a private school that costs $30,000 year. That's a lot of fund raising for 63 scholarships. I don't think it's going to happen. Not too many other choices out west.

Considering all that, I think UND and USD will not want to go to the GW, but rather try to convince the Gateway to add them and expand to 11 or 12 teams.

Bye bye Great West. Davis and Poly will decide to go I-A (yeah I know its FBS). Southern Utah will either drop football or try to get into the Big Sky -- which would ease the basketball scheduling. And since there won't be many non-conference slots available to Big Sky football teams, the conference might consider expanding to 10 teams.

It's just too bad, because if the NDSU and SDSU had stayed, the Great West would have been a viable 7 team conference with the addition UND/USD. We would have had 2 solid FCS conferences out west. It's not going to happen now.

BisonBacker · Post by **BisonBacker** » Fri Mar 09, 2007 6:52 am

twentythreeOh4 wrote:
GOKATS wrote:
twentythreeOh4 wrote:
MTBobcatFan wrote:What will happen to the Great West Conference?
It's toast. This will push UC Davis and Cal-Poly into considering I-A. The west loses the only other I-AA/FCS conference.
Highly unlikely (BTW, there is no I-A anymore). It'll make scheduling tough, but UND and USD will probably fill the two vacated spots- nothing changes until the '08 season. The Great West will still have 5 teams, but will be weak again- I just don't see UC Davis or Cal/Poly making the jump for awhile yet- they need to make a stronger presence in the FCS.

JMHO
Even if North Dakota and South Dakota join the GW, it is still only 5 teams. That means only 4 conference games a year. Only 2 home conference games a year. That leaves 7 non-conference games to be scheduled every year. Where are they going to find that many games? We know it won't be the Montana schools since they don't have room in their schedules to do very many if any home and home games with other FCS schools. The rest of the Big Sky teams have only 3 non-conference games and most of those will fill at least 2 games between a $money game and a D-II game leaving only 1 non-conference spot open.

As much as our friends at NDSU and SDSU say they want to keep playing Davis and Poly guess what? They are now in the same boat with a 9 team conference and only 3 non-conference games. Hmm, they are probably going to schedule a money game and a D-II just like the Big Sky leaving only 1 non-conference game open.

The Southland is the only other FCS conference even remotely near the west, and they are adding Central Arkansas and possibly another Texas school which will reduce the available non-conference slots in their schedule.

Obviously the Great West would like to expand, but who can they add? San Diego? Let's see, a private school that costs $30,000 year. That's a lot of fund raising for 63 scholarships. I don't think it's going to happen. Not too many other choices out west.

Considering all that, I think UND and USD will not want to go to the GW, but rather try to convince the Gateway to add them and expand to 11 or 12 teams.
Bye bye Great West. Davis and Poly will decide to go I-A (yeah I know its FBS). Southern Utah will either drop football or try to get into the Big Sky -- which would ease the basketball scheduling. And since there won't be many non-conference slots available to Big Sky football teams, the conference might consider expanding to 10 teams.

It's just too bad, because if the NDSU and SDSU had stayed, the Great West would have been a viable 7 team conference with the addition UND/USD. We would have had 2 solid FCS conferences out west. It's not going to happen now.

I don't see that happening, not unless the Gateway loses two or more teams. Even then I don't know about how that would work out as it would add two more trips to the Dakotas for teams that were against it in the first place. The vote was not 7-0 so there were some fence sitters and it was reported that they needed to sway one university (don't know which one) at the last minute to change their vote. This is all what has been printed in the media no on internet message boards. Anyway I think immediate future for scheduling games for the UXD's just got that much harder. Oh and I don't see the Great West adding the two until the 09 season. Both Poly and Davis are post season eligible and there is no way they are going to risk not making the playoffs in the 08 season becuase they played two non-counters regarding a DI schedule. The first year the two UXD's can be counters is the 09 season. I wish them well but this weeks developments mean a much tougher road for them in the transition as well as conference search. On the other hand the Mid-Con/Great West commisioner has stated publicly that he has been in contact with two unnamed universities regarding membership to the Great West. Unknown if they are already DI's or move ups like the UXD's. I hope they can keep it together, FCS needs the Great West to continue.