Best conference?

[FriscoOrBust]

TSN ranked the FCS conferences. The Missouri Valley is No. 1.

http://www.sportsnetwork.com/merge/tsnf ... /index.htm" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

[Ibanez]

The Big South isn't better off with Stony Brook out. Hopefully Monmouth will help raise our star.

[kalm]

Montana State has moved to the conference forefront during quarterback DeNarius McGhee's career, and Eastern Washington has a national championship and a national semifinal appearance in the last three seasons.

Not a big deal, but how does MSU occupy the forefront ahead of the team that's won a NC and been to two semifinals the last three years?

Anyhoo, I agree it's still the big 4 for now with a case being made for each until the defections are complete.

[EWURanger]

Montana State has moved to the conference forefront during quarterback DeNarius McGhee's career, and Eastern Washington has a national championship and a national semifinal appearance in the last three seasons.

Not a big deal, but how does MSU occupy the forefront ahead of the team that's won a NC and been to two semifinals the last three years?

Anyhoo, I agree it's still the big 4 for now with a case being made for each until the defections are complete.

Magic.


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[SuperHornet]

Montana State has moved to the conference forefront during quarterback DeNarius McGhee's career, and Eastern Washington has a national championship and a national semifinal appearance in the last three seasons.

Not a big deal, but how does MSU occupy the forefront ahead of the team that's won a NC and been to two semifinals the last three years?

Anyhoo, I agree it's still the big 4 for now with a case being made for each until the defections are complete.

The "forefront" doesn't necessarily mean the #1 team in the conference. It means that they're in the top tier and "in the conversation" for the best team. That ALSO includes an outstanding EWU team. UM is VERY close to getting back there, and CP is right on the cusp. But the top tier, as I see it, is EWU and MSU....

[kalm]

Not a big deal, but how does MSU occupy the forefront ahead of the team that's won a NC and been to two semifinals the last three years?

Anyhoo, I agree it's still the big 4 for now with a case being made for each until the defections are complete.

The "forefront" doesn't necessarily mean the #1 team in the conference. It means that they're in the top tier and "in the conversation" for the best team. That ALSO includes an outstanding EWU team. UM is VERY close to getting back there, and CP is right on the cusp. But the top tier, as I see it, is EWU and MSU....

Is that what it means?

[skinny_uncle]

Considering the thread title, how does it turn into a discussion of the Big Sky?

[uofmman1122]

Considering the thread title, how does it turn into a discussion of the Big Sky?

Maybe in the sense that the MVFC has become the new old Big Sky with one really good team and a bunch of meh teams?

Shots fired.

[kalm]

Considering the thread title, how does it turn into a discussion of the Big Sky?

Because the Big Sky has had 5 semifinal appearances in the last 5 years and a NC.

[Bison Fan in NW MN]

Considering the thread title, how does it turn into a discussion of the Big Sky?

Maybe in the sense that the MVFC has become the new old Big Sky with one really good team and a bunch of meh teams?

Shots fired.

The MV will have 5-6 good teams this year.

SDSU
UNI
SIU
Ill State
YSU
NDSU

[uofmman1122]

Maybe in the sense that the MVFC has become the new old Big Sky with one really good team and a bunch of meh teams?

Shots fired.

The MV will have 5-6 good teams this year.

SDSU
UNI
SIU
Ill State
YSU
NDSU

Sure, but apart from NDSU winning the last two NCs (and really not knocking you guys at all), the MVFC hasn't shown that it's any better than the Big Sky.

Like I said, the MVFC is propped up by NDSU. Outside of you guys, no other MVFC team has really done anything in the last five years, while the Big Sky has had a team in the semis every year, a team in the chipper 3/5 years, and a winner. Outside of NDSU, the MVFC has had only one semis appearance in the last 5 years.

Not to mention in that same time, the MVFC is 1-5 vs. the Big Sky in the playoffs.

So yeah, NDSU has been the class of FCS the last two years. Your conference? Meh...

I'd say a bit overrated.

[EWURanger]

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[Bison Fan in NW MN]

The MV will have 5-6 good teams this year.

SDSU
UNI
SIU
Ill State
YSU
NDSU

Sure, but apart from NDSU winning the last two NCs (and really not knocking you guys at all), the MVFC hasn't shown that it's any better than the Big Sky.

Like I said, the MVFC is propped up by NDSU. Outside of you guys, no other MVFC team has really done anything in the last five years, while the Big Sky has had a team in the semis every year, a team in the chipper 3/5 years, and a winner. Outside of NDSU, the MVFC has had only one semis appearance in the last 5 years.

Not to mention in that same time, the MVFC is 1-5 vs. the Big Sky in the playoffs.

So yeah, NDSU has been the class of FCS the last two years. Your conference? Meh...

I'd say a bit overrated.

Not going to disagree with most of this but SDSU could have been a semifinalist or maybe even better last year if they were not matched up with NDSU in the 2nd round.

MV teams beat the crap out of each other every week. All I am hoping for is a Montana State/NDSU match-up this coming year.

[SuperHornet]

MV teams beat the crap out of each other every week.

And Big Sky/CAA/SoCon teams don't?

[Bison Fan in NW MN]

MV teams beat the crap out of each other every week.

And Big Sky/CAA/SoCon teams don't?

I don't recall saying that.

MV traditionally is a running conference compared to the passing BSC.

Difference in philosophy as far as coaching. Bohl has stated many times that NDSU is going to run straight at you and stop the run on defense. Look at the MSU/NDSU playoff game in '10; NDSU wore down MSU and dominated them in the 4th quarter. MSU's coach even said after that game that they need to get bigger and stronger on both lines.

[uofmman1122]

Sure, but apart from NDSU winning the last two NCs (and really not knocking you guys at all), the MVFC hasn't shown that it's any better than the Big Sky.

Like I said, the MVFC is propped up by NDSU. Outside of you guys, no other MVFC team has really done anything in the last five years, while the Big Sky has had a team in the semis every year, a team in the chipper 3/5 years, and a winner. Outside of NDSU, the MVFC has had only one semis appearance in the last 5 years.

Not to mention in that same time, the MVFC is 1-5 vs. the Big Sky in the playoffs.

So yeah, NDSU has been the class of FCS the last two years. Your conference? Meh...

I'd say a bit overrated.

Not going to disagree with most of this but SDSU could have been a semifinalist or maybe even better last year if they were not matched up with NDSU in the 2nd round.

MV teams beat the crap out of each other every week. All I am hoping for is a Montana State/NDSU match-up this coming year.

And yet that's the way the cookie crumbles. They didn't. If Weber and Cal Poly had been in different brackets than each other and Montana in 2008, there could have been 2 big sky teams in the semis or even an all-Big Sky championship that year.

Every power conference's teams beat each other up in the regular season. You can talk hypothetical all you want, but the facts don't back it up.

Don't like it? Welcome to how Big Sky fans felt the last 10 years.

[EWURanger]

MV traditionally is a running conference compared to the passing BSC.

I don't even know if I would agree with that one, either. The Big Sky, on the whole, is probably a little bit more pass-heavy than the majority of the MVFC teams, but we're not talking early 90's here where teams were lining up 4 and 5 wide and putting up 60 points on the board. Montana, PSU, Cal Poly are all run-first type teams, and outside of Idaho State, the majority of the other teams try to be fairly balanced.

But anyway, back to the original point. Is the conference that the back to back National Champion comes from necessarily the "best"? I'm not sure. I kinda agree with the above poster, outside of NDSU, none of the other teams have done much recently. 1-5 against the Big Sky in playoff games the past few years kind of illustrates that.

Anyway, we used to hear the same thing from fans of other conferences back when Montana was basically dominating the Big Sky every year. The difference is that the past few years EWU, and MSU to a lesser extent, have stepped up and done some things. In the MVFC, it seems like you have NDSU, and then everyone else.

[GoTigers]

My ass. The Ivy League is the best there is, the best there was and the best there ever will be.

74 National Championships.

The most out of any conference in intercollegiate athletics.

Not only does the Ivy League have the hardware, the players actually have brains and aren't from some thug city.

[uofmman1122]

My ass. The Ivy League is the best there is, the best there was and the best there ever will be.

74 National Championships.

The most out of any conference in intercollegiate athletics.

Not only does the Ivy League have the hardware, the players actually have brains and aren't from some thug city.

We're talking about the best conference now, not 60 years ago, grandpa.

[Grizalltheway]

My ass. The Ivy League is the best there is, the best there was and the best there ever will be.

74 National Championships.

The most out of any conference in intercollegiate athletics.

Not only does the Ivy League have the hardware, the players actually have brains and aren't from some thug city.

Typical Ivy Leaguer.

[Bison Fan in NW MN]

My ass. The Ivy League is the best there is, the best there was and the best there ever will be.

74 National Championships.

The most out of any conference in intercollegiate athletics.

Not only does the Ivy League have the hardware, the players actually have brains and aren't from some thug city.

Well.....when did a Ivy win their last NC in football......in the 20s or teens?

[Mvemjsunpx]

My ass. The Ivy League is the best there is, the best there was and the best there ever will be.

74 National Championships.

The most out of any conference in intercollegiate athletics.

Not only does the Ivy League have the hardware, the players actually have brains and aren't from some thug city.

Is this a real-life Ivy League troll!?

I figured they would pay a poor person to do that…

[kalm]

My ass. The Ivy League is the best there is, the best there was and the best there ever will be.

74 National Championships.

The most out of any conference in intercollegiate athletics.

Not only does the Ivy League have the hardware, the players actually have brains and aren't from some thug city.

Is this a real-life Ivy League troll!?

I figured they would pay a poor person to do that…

[Gil Dobie]

Let's get back to recent history as the article is talking about this season. Last year the Southern Conference was probably the 2nd best conference, but with GSU and App St not playoff bound, they drop. The best team that I saw NDSU play last season was GSU, followed by Wofford. Sam was either a shadow of it's former self or NDSU just got better. The Big Sky was EWU, and annual playoff disappointment Montana St, a good Cal-Poly, NAU, Montana in a state of flux, and then the rest. Illinois St gave the best Big Sky team a good game in the playoffs. SDSU lost to the eventual NC. Going into this season, MVFC followed by the BSC looks like a fair ranking. The season results may say different, but that's why they play the games.

[SuperHornet]

Let's get back to recent history as the article is talking about this season. Last year the Southern Conference was probably the 2nd best conference, but with GSU and App St not playoff bound, they drop. The best team that I saw NDSU play last season was GSU, followed by Wofford. Sam was either a shadow of it's former self or NDSU just got better. The Big Sky was EWU, and annual playoff disappointment Montana St, a good Cal-Poly, NAU, Montana in a state of flux, and then the rest. Illinois St gave the best Big Sky team a good game in the playoffs. SDSU lost to the eventual NC. Going into this season, MVFC followed by the BSC looks like a fair ranking. The season results may say different, but that's why they play the games.

You're forgetting about the team that beat Colorado....