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North Dakota State won the recent Football Championship Subdivision. Somewhat unbelievable when one takes into account NDS is in Fargo, ND, the Siberia of North American. I am curious as to how they get around that when recruiting. I would imagine the possibility of playing for a national title mainly?

To start they play in the 19-20,000 seat FargoDOME and it is about always packed, plus the North Dakota oil and agriculture $$$ are very good to them. They also have a GREAT baseball stadium, but travel a LOT. I believe the closest D-1 school to them is Minnesota, which is a 4 hr drive.
They are mainly "home grown" (ND, SD, MN, WI), but have a few from FL and even Hawaii.

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Who cares?

factman wrote:To start they play in the 19-20,000 seat FargoDOME and it is about always packed, plus the North Dakota oil and agriculture $$$ are very good to them. They also have a GREAT baseball stadium, but travel a LOT. I believe the closest D-1 school to them is Minnesota, which is a 4 hr drive.
They are mainly "home grown" (ND, SD, MN, WI), but have a few from FL and even Hawaii.

Interesting, thanks.

If only BG could get that kind of support, right?

NDSU football is the only show in town or anywhere nearby and is the biggest football team in the state. There is no real fan competition. We have to compete with seven other FBS teams in state, one of which is twenty miles away, another of which is the biggest team in the state and one of the biggest few in the country. Add to that NDSU plays football away from the elements so the literal fair weather fans are not an issue. Apples and oranges if you try to compare fan support.

Demographics are not in BGs favor. It maybe the major factor affecting most MAC schools. And with OSU and Michigan as the centerpieces it becomes even more of an uphill climb.

MarkL wrote:NDSU football is the only show in town or anywhere nearby and is the biggest football team in the state. There is no real fan competition....Add to that NDSU plays football away from the elements so the literal fair weather fans are not an issue.

Very true. We can also ask our new DC what he thinks about it as he coached there in 2010.

We are playing the University of North Dakota, not NDSU.

There's more than one college in North Dakota?



Why?

Flipper wrote:There's more than one college in North Dakota?



Why?

One for hockey, one for football...

My questions are about their schedule. Are all their games on Saturday? Are they all at a consistent time? Is this the advantage of not being in the MAC without an ESPN deal that creates the scheduling mess? And could we get that attendance for indoor football with a consistent schedule that wins?

My initial gut reaction is that if we had a powerful DI-AA football program playing in the Doyt Dome we would have better attendance. We would still suffer from being in the shadow of the top T-shirt selling programs in the region. Even without an ESPN contract we would not be able to keep a consistent time for games on Saturday or see the effects of a big game being on TV.

Interesting point, FalconTurf.
Saturday autumn afternoons in BG was football ! ! AT University Field & then the Doyt. It was part of the town's Saturday afternoon identity for decades. During the months of September, October and November it was usually understood going to the game at the end of the week was automatic. I still recall my father doing end of summer chores around the yard with WFOB tuned in on his transistor radio listening to away games - from Oxford, Athens, Kent, Kalamazoo, Huntington. He would usually take me to Toledo and it was the exception - a night game in the Glass Bowl.
It seems now well into the summer the football schedule more times than not has TBA for game times.