BROOKINGS – Appalachian State. South Georgia. Jacksonville State. Sam Houston. James Madison. Kennesaw State. Delaware.
And now the state of Missouri.
The string of FCS to FBS defections continues, but the latest comes much closer to home here in the Dakotas, as the Missouri State Bears are the first team from the powerhouse Missouri Valley Football Conference to make the jump to the top of college football. classification.
The Bears are a dubious pick to go first, as they are a program that has arguably been one of the worst in the conference over the last decade. Since changing their name from Southwest Missouri State in 2005, the Bears have had only a few winning seasons, and only once since the turn of the century have they finished more than one game above .500.
That came in 2021, when Bobby Petrino led Missouri State to an 8-4 record and a berth in the FCS playoffs. They went 5-6 the following season, Petrino left and the Bears went 4-7 last year under Ryan Beard.
But the life Petrino brought to the program was enough to convince Missouri State brass that an FBS move could work, and the announcement came earlier this month that the Bears had accepted an invitation to join to Conference USA in the Football Bowl Subdivision. They will play one final season in the Valley in 2024 before moving up to the 85-scholarship level and joining a conference with teams stretching from New Mexico to Florida.
Unsurprisingly, Missouri State’s announcement sparked a strong reaction in Fargo, where many have long since grown bored of the FCS, its 63-scholarship limit and its dwindling list of serious contenders.
Amar Johnson (3) and Evan Beerntsen (61) celebrate a touchdown in Saturday’s SDSU win over Missouri State.
Matt Zimmer/Sioux Falls live
The Bison football dynasty reached absurd proportions in the 2010s, with NDSU winning eight of nine national championships at one point and beating virtually every FBS opponent who dared host them, so there’s no doubt they have the necessary to be successful in FBS.
That makes it understandable that Fargo fans and media will look at the list of schools moving up and demand the Bison do the same.
Jeff Kolpack, a longtime Bison reporter for the Fargo Forum, wrote after Missouri State’s announcement that “it’s time for NDSU to step up, any way it can.”
Fargo columnist Mike McFeely chastised the NDSU administration for not being more proactive in pursuing FBS membership.
McFeely: NDSU stuck in FCS for now
“Where was the vision?” McFeely writes. “Where was the sales pitch?”
There are surely fans in Fargo who share this frustration, and the NDSU administration will likely accept an invitation to an FBS conference if it arrives. But this seems more like jealousy than analysis. There’s a reason NDSU hasn’t received the FBS invite, and that reason is geography. The Fargodome is closer to Canada than any FBS conference would be a possible landing spot.
Tradition aside, Missouri State is the southernmost team in the Valley, and that’s the main reason they can go.
With the Bears bringing C-USA to 12 teams, the door to further expansion is likely closed. Unless an existing FBS league wants to go beyond 12 members, there will be no more FCS teams moving up in the immediate future.
North Dakota State’s Christian Watson catches a touchdown pass to lead Missouri State during their football game Saturday, Oct. 23, 2021, in Fargo. Michael Vosburg / Forum Photo Editor
Communications Forum Co.
All of which brings us to the state of South Dakota.
It took some time, but the Jackrabbits have reached NDSU’s level. They’ve won back-to-back national championships, routinely send players to the NFL, seen an increase in attendance, and are generally viewed by the college football world as an FBS-caliber program.
But so far, basically no one in and around the Jacks program is calling for SDSU to make the jump to the Bowl Subdivision.
What is the urgency? The Jackrabbits have never had more momentum as a program. They have the pieces in place to win a third straight title this fall, draw even more fans to Dana J. Dykhouse Stadium and add to their list of NFL alumni. SDSU coaches across all sports are often targeted by larger programs, as the athletic department as a whole is thriving and both basketball teams are coming off NCAA Tournament appearances. There’s simply no need for SDSU to worry about what other schools are doing, least of all the Missouri State Bears.
That’s not to say the Jacks should bury their collective heads in the sand and ignore what’s going on around them. They are surpassing the FCS level. Many of SDSU and NDSU’s peers are no longer doing what it takes to stay at the top end of the rankings (looking at you, UNI).
But even if the Jacks were eager to move up, they are in the same situation as the Bison. No real conference fits in mainly due to geography. They are stuck in FCS for the foreseeable future.
And guess what? Alright.
SDSU’s Randy Keumogne (90) faces off against Missouri State’s Jordan Pachot in Saturday’s win at Dana J. Dykhouse Stadium.
Matt Zimmer/Sioux Falls live
For several years now there has been rampant speculation that the FBS level is headed toward a landscape-altering split, with either the wealthiest blue blood programs breaking away from the NCAA entirely, or one that would greatly divide the the FBS between the power conferences (Big Ten, Big 12, SEC, ACC and what remains of the Pac-12) and the Group of Five conferences (MAC, C-USA, Mountain West, AAC and Sun Belt), with each side of the division playing for its own national championship.
Included in that speculation was the suggestion that elite FCS teams would be willing (and invited) to join the G5 level, to remain included in what would be the second tier of college football. In the event of such a split, the current FCS would be relegated to third-tier status. That would be a glorified Division II existence, and that’s not where flagship land-grant schools like those in Dakota and Montana want to be.
As others have noted, there is no guarantee that SDSU and/or NDSU will be invited to the newly formed G5 classification. But here’s the thing: this ‘Big Split’ won’t be the end of expansion, realignment and change within college football. No matter how monumental the redesign of the lines turns out to be, it will not be a definitive act. Schools will always be competing for greener pastures or, more specifically, a more lucrative home. So being left out of the FBS picture initially wouldn’t be permanent, not for the Jacks, not for the Bison, not for anyone else.
For years, SDSU athletic director Justin Sell has had to answer questions from the media and fans about how the Jacks would respond to the latest game-changing change in college athletics, and his answers have remained remarkably consistent.
South Dakota State, Sell has said, will not be reactionary as a program. They’re not going to worry about what other schools are doing. They will care about themselves because, as Sell has said time and time again, if your program is strong, someone (like at a conference) will always want it. The Jackrabbit program has taken very few wrong turns under Sell’s leadership. I would trust him.
A crowd of 19,357 made its presence felt as South Dakota State defeated Northern Iowa on Saturday, Oct. 14, 2023, at Dana J. Dykhouse Stadium.
Matt Zimmer/Sioux Falls live
SDSU plays in one of the best stadiums at the FCS level and they are starting to sell out the place regularly. They are about to open a new basketball court. Almost all of their teams are successful and the fan base continues to grow. Their coaches routinely have opportunities to advance to more lucrative positions across the country. Jackrabbits have become a nationally known brand. They’re probably peaking as an athletic department right now and it won’t always be as wonderful, but you’d be hard-pressed to name another university of similar size and profile to SDSU that is in a better place athletically. Maybe the state of North Dakota.
And that is the point.
SDSU and NDSU moving to Division I has been the best thing to happen to sports in the Dakotas. It has taken both states to places once thought to be out of reach of the supposedly empty plains of the Midwest.
When the ‘Great Divide’ occurs, eventually someone will welcome you with open arms. And that’s when SDSU should go: when the new second tier of college football has been established and the Jacks can continue to compete for a national championship decided by a playoff tournament.
Maybe Fargo is ready to give up the FCS playoffs and all-December games so they can play Miami of Ohio in the Myrtle Beach Bowl Christmas week, but I don’t know many Jackrabbit fans who are excited by that prospect. .
There is no doubt that the FCS has lost a large portion of its top programs. But the Dakota and Montana schools alone make up a formidable group of contenders. And those teams have significant rivalries and regional interests. There’s nothing wrong with being a big fish in a small pond for a little while longer. Both SDSU and NDSU can continue to play for FCS championships while maintaining their rivalries, and when the ‘Big Split’ happens, they will eventually find their way to where they belong.
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