My ballot for this week’s Sports Network FCS media poll, which comes out on Monday:
- 1. NDSU
- 2. Youngstown
- 3. Montana State
- 4. Illinois State
- 5. Old Dominion
- 6. Citadel, I mean, The Citadel
- 7. Wofford
- 8. Cal Poly
- 9. Delaware
- 10. James Madison
- 11. Eastern Washington
- 12. Georgia Southern
- 13. Towson
- 14. Lehigh
- 15. Northern Arizona
- 16. Central Arkansas
- 17. Appalachian State
- 18. Stony Brook
- 19. North Dakota
- 20. Eastern Kentucky
- 21. South Dakota State
- 22. Northern Iowa
- 23. Sam Houston
- 24. UT Martin
- 25. Albany
I think SDSU is way too low on this list.
When the Jacks come to the Fargodome it is going to be a tough game. Go Bison!
The Who ranked higher than South Dakota State, Northern Iowa and Sam Houston….wow.
I think SDSU is the only team you can argue to be ranked higher than UND…well-placed Jeff. GO SIOUX!
Congrats on finally EARNING a ranking.
Jeff-
I would be interested to understand the rationale that you used when ranking UND? Last week they didn’t make your list and now with a win against Sac State they are higher ranked than UNI which lost a barn burner to your #2 ranked team???
Beat Sac State, which beat Colorado. Played San Diego State tough, both on the road in California. UNI does not have a countable D-1 win yet.
Those are valid points however the UNI schedule has been quite a bit tougher than that of UND. I don’t believe that UNI has lost any games that is was supposed to win yet this year (especially considering YSU is highly rated).
It appears however that you recognize “moral victories” and the who beat who game instead of evaluating teams based on performance. Two losses vs. Big 10 teams are certainly better than “hanging with” San Diego State and a win against Sac State (who happened to beat Colorado).
Booooooooooooooo
Can you imagine if the Bison host UND in the playoffs? That’s a pretty good to renew a rivalry…
That would be AWESOME! What an atmosphere that would be.
I said in the blog a few days ago that UND would play the Bison in the second round of the playoffs and someone said I was “Nuts” to say that. I agree with Jeff UND have played good football offensively and if they can get it going like they did defensively on Saturday they will be tough. I still say Bison 35-14 and the Fargodome. The Jacks have a good defense this year and also have a guy who can run the ball. Zenner looks like he is the real deal. Like Minnett a few years ago, fast and tought to bring down. Maybe NDSU, SDSU and UND all make the playoffs this year???Go Bison!
I’m a UND fan, and I agree if they met NDSU would likely win. But how UND is playing offensively right now, I don’t think NDSU could keep them to just 14 points. And, conversely, as UND has been playing defensively, I don’t think UND could keep NDSU to just 35 points. I think it would be in the 56-35 range.
I think UND’s best chance to keep it close would be to hold NDSU’s offense down and have it be a low scoring affair. Georgia Southern, Sam Houston State, Lehigh, etc all had huge offenses last year and were shut down cold by the Bison.
The BSC gets 3 teams in the playoffs. EWU, Cal Poly and MSU or UND.
I predict either MSU or UND in Fargodome 2nd round of the playoffs.
Yeah it would be fun watching UND beat the Bison in the Fargo Dome… I wonder if the Fargo Dome still has that obnoxious announcer…
He is annoying…but, the most obnoxious announcer is UNDs basketball announcer. He doesn’t shut up the entire game and he thinks he is Michael Buffer.
haha…he really does.
I am sure it would be fun for you. But its time to wake up. Dream is over.
So how about this weather?
Missouri Valley, best football conference in FCS from top to bottom, no doubt.
I cant stand UND but I think they earned a spot in the top 25 this week. Good win.
jeff, your picks are interesting but your golf shorts are loud
come on dude
I also think UND might be a bit high. They maybe earned a top 25 pick, but the Big Sky seems down to me as the west as a whole does including FBS- minus Oregon. The MVFC is by far the SEC of FCS.
“The MVFC is by far the SEC of FCS” Not sure there. The Colonial has more teams in the top 25 than the MVFC this week(5). Three in the top ten (OD, JM, Delaware)
Let the bantering stop. UND is not in the top 25
The Fighting Swallows will not make the playoffs. They are about to go on a 5-game losing streak to Cal Poly, EWU, NAU, Montana, and Montana State. The win over Sac State is meaningless notwithstanding the fact that Sac State beat Colorado. Sac State beat Oregon State last year, and finished in the bottom of the Big Sky. All of the upcoming opponents for the Swallows would have beat San Diego State. Enjoy the 3-1 start, because it’s about to go downhill fast.
Father of Football is dead on. If you recall last year at this time UND was hyping their win over then ranked Southern Utah, who ended up finishing last in the conference. Let’s see how they fare in the next five games.
There aren’t a lot of UND fans hyping the win over Sac State. Is it a good win? Absolutely. Is it a game-changer? No way. Coming into the season, most UND fans would easily have taken a 3-1 record at this point.
We are definitely excited about this offense but we know the D needs to get their act together soon.
You guys sure talk a lot about UND football. I thought this was a Bison football blog. What gives?
So, why are you on here?
This is a Bison blog and here we talk about other FCS teams. SDSU, USD, Northern Iowa and yes even the Sioux. The Bison are hitting the tough part of their schedule too. UNI and Youngstown will be tough. I still think the Jacks will be very tough. Should be a lot of fun from here on out! Go Bison!
UND was the far superior team last saturday, not even close. The QB played terrible and we still rolled them. Yards given up don’t matter if there aren’t any points to show for it by the way. Anyway UND will go 4-1 through these next games and will be right up on NDSU in the polls. NDSU will lose a game in that stretch and YSU will be #1. We’re as good as Bison fans feared we might be.
Everyone in the Big Sky is far superior to Sac State. Being far superior to Sac State means you’ll finish 3rd or 4th from the bottom of the Conference. By the way, when you beat Idaho State next year, don’t brag about it, no one else in the Big Sky does.
It must be hard to see UND with 3 wins already in the first year after the transition.
No, it’s expected when you play the teams they’ve played. They should be 4-0. They’ll be 3-6 soon enough and irrelevant just like they have been in the transition.
What will you tell yourself when that doesn’t happen?
Ethe more likely question is what will you tell yourself when it doesn’t. I will agree this is the best team they have had in 6 or 7 yrs, for what that’s worth.
I thought Ill. State was our toughest game last year.
Its clear from the polls that after the 8 or 10 spot the division is very weak, D2 weak. Not much there.
Hey guys, the last play in the Northern Iowa Vs Youngstown State game was called for offensive pass interference becuase Northern Iowa ran a pick route. Northern Iowa’s receivers #21 and #89 crossed paths and #21 blocked the YSU corner past the line of scrimmage in the end zone. That was the reason for the call.
UND is NOT going to the playoffs. I would love to see them in the FD but. FACT – you need seven countable wins to be elegible. I cound 5 on their schedule if they can beat Montana. They will have to beat either EW or Montana St to just get elegible for consideration.
Good luck to them, I want to hand them their posterior for their last game. Not going to happen though.
UND should make the playoffs. They’re a very good team and are just getting started. Think the Alerus would sell out if NDSU happens to make the playoffs and is hosted by big brother?
I think the lower 15 or so in this ranking are nothing but D2 or D3 teams. We know the NAIA and D2 teams can compete from at least #19 on down. At that point are we even talking Grand Valley State? We might be thinkg Augi or something from 18 or 19 on down?