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South Dakota Passes on Big Sky, Will Join Missouri Valley for Football

Nov
04
2010
By
Category: Featured News, Missouri Valley Expansion & Realignment, Summit League Expansion & Realignment

JNMKVBILUXHCJDO.20080606185139 South Dakota Passes on Big Sky, Will Join Missouri Valley for FootballIn a last second move suggested multiple times on this site, the University of South Dakota got their hail mary pass to keep them from leaving for the Big Sky.

USD had appeared in line to join the Big Sky, following former Great West football partners Southern Utah and North Dakota as full members of the Big Sky. North Dakota and South Dakota both hoped that the Missouri Valley Football Conference, which houses NDSU and SDSU, would extend a lifeline so that they could remain in the Summit with the Dakota St. schools, but gain a football home.

South Dakota Passes on Big Sky, Will Join Missouri Valley for Football
The MVFC did not make a move to keep North Dakota from making the move.
But they have done so to keep South Dakota in the fold.
South Dakota will require little transition. They will remain in the Summit League for the majority of it’s sports. For football, they will likely join the Missouri Valley after next season.
With South Dakota remaining in the Summit League, it leaves the Big Sky with 11 all-sports members, and 13 for football.
With no other current FCS level football schools available, the Big Sky will likely remain at the 11/13 number. If the Big Sky finds the 11 number difficult for basketball, they could always invite Seattle as the 12th basketball member. Seattle appears to be left out of the WAC plans at this time as Denver appears to be the only non-football school to get an invitation. The Big Sky might also lose Montana in the future to the WAC, which would bring their numbers down to 10 for all-sports and 12 for football.

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  • http://collegesportsinfo.com CollegeSportsInfo.com

    Reason is simple. The symmetry of adding all four might make sense to a fan. But it takes more for these moves to happen:

    Market: what does adding 4 schools in 2 of the least populated states do for the MVC? Not much.
    Politics: the MVC is a blend of private and public school, football and non-football. They have kept the political balance stable over the years. If you recall, MVFC is separate from MVC…just the Gateway conference renamed “MVFC”. Logistics: 11 football is not desired. It’s 10 or 12. Period. MVFC made that clear over the years. North Dakota would be in, had SUU not left for the Big Sky. The MVFC was also an option when UNO had football and was considering an upgrade…since the MVFC could then bring in UNO and UND. But UNO dropped football in order to fund their D1 upgrade. They were the only D2 school that was deemed MVFC worthy. With no other schools in the area strong enough for membership, it is what it is.

  • LF

    I never quite understood why the MVC did not offer the 4 Dakota schools (N. Dakota, N. Dakota St., S. Dakota and S. Dakota St.) full membership. That would bring the league to 14 teams in non-football sports and 11 for football. Only 2 of the 11 football schools (W. Illinois and Youngstown St.) would not be full-fledged members. You could further divide the conference into 2 divisions outside of football… North: N. Dakota, N. Dakota St., S. Dakota, S. Dakota St, N. Iowa, Drake and Creighton. South: Evansville, Indiana St, Bradley, Illinois St., S. Illinois, Missouri St., and Wichita St.

  • http://www.blogger.com/profile/07829911459870773896 Nathan Brice

    They need a place to place since all the other Great West Conference schools left. Summit League football is looking less and less likely.

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