NCAA Division II

[treble]

Anyone on here follow D-II football? I know Minnesota has at least 9 teams, there's got to be some of you out there that follow it pretty closely. I'm up for some discussions about the upcoming season.

[lawdog]

One of the guys I ref with on Friday nights does D-II games on Saturdays so we here about some of his games, but it really gets NO PUBLICITY. Its pretty good football too, its a shame its not more out there for people.

[treble]

Lawdog, Do you know which conference he refs? I cant believe there is noone on here that has any ties to D-II football besides me!

[wallmounter]

DT-

I follow D2 football (especially UND since I am an alumn). People are right it is some of the best football out there. You don't have to worry about all of the national talk and the champ at the end of the year is undisputable. I'm still not to happy with the thought of UND going D1 in all sports. I just don't understand giving up being a national contender every year to being a bottom feeder just for a few extra scholarships and some money. Anyways thats my rant on that.

[Double D]

I like following the NCC too.

Are they going to be replacing UND and SDSU anytime soon? I would think they will need to after losing Morningside a few years back. In my personal opinion, I think it was an even bigger mistake for SDSU to start the D-1 thing more so than UND. They will have to do a lot of building in Brookings to get up to the necessary standards of D-1 from what I hear.

DD

[treble]

There is a lot of changes going on in both the NCC and the NSIC. As far as replacing the two teams that the NCC lost, I dont think there will be just replacements. If and when anything does happen, I think it will be total reconstruction of both conferences. Another slight possibility is that both conferences merge and they split it up into North and South or something else. This probably wont happen any time soon though because of the difference in scolarships allowed. Many rumors about USD moving to D-1 also. We'll see what happens!

[Down to Earth]

DT,

Isn't Northern State in Aberdeen? I don't follow DII as much as DIII. I went to school at Eau Claire. Anyways, I was a student athletic trainer there and we took a trip out to play Northern State in football. We got kicked pretty bad. All I remember is it was cold and rainy the night we played.

Andy

[james_walleye]

My buddy played for NDSU back a few years when they were DII. He was a blocking tight end for Lamar Gordon for those of you who know the NFL running back is. Its a great brand of football.

[PierBridge]

So who is your favorite Wisconsin division 2 school?????

[treble]

Yeah Northern is in Aberdeen. I will be a senior this year for the Wolves and so thats why i have so much intrest in this subject. I am still hoping to find a few more people who follow D-II on this forum so we can talk about this a little more!

[zepman]

I played at NDSU back in the good old days of the late eighties and early nineties. I have followed ever since. It's been really interesting following some of the happenings over the last ten years or so. In my opinion, the reason you are seeing teams like NDSU, SDSU, UNC and possibly others leaving for the D-1 ranks is the loss of scholarships. Most of the old NCC teams were being forced to cut back on their # of scolarships thus forcing them down a road that they did not want to go. It took many years to build some of these programs and conference for that matter and the only real choice for them was to go up. I'm glad they decided to do so. The NSIC and NCC will work something out and combine conferences soon in my opinion. It is good football and I wish them all the best in their new ventures. Can't wait for the season to start.

[james_walleye]

Where did u go too HS zep?

[zepman]

Go Packers. Austin,Mn.

[Whisker Trout Slayer]

I don't follow D2 football much, but have a little now that my ala mater moved up from D3 to D2 so I have to get in a shout out for them. I don't know what conference they are in, I think it has Sun in it somewhere. It will take a couple of year to get things in place for us as athletic scholarships are a new thing, none in D3 that I know of.

GO PEACOCKS!!!! Upper Iowa University

[zepman]

I believe it's called the Northern Sun Conference.

[treble]

Close it Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference - NSIC

There has been a lot of Peacock fans on the D2Football HSOforum talking about how excited they are to be Division 2 and in the NSIC. From what it sounds like, they may have a decent future in Division 2 although I thinks its going to take several years. It will be interesting to see how well they do this year.

[Whisker Trout Slayer]

First thing is Upper iowa needs to get a coaching staff to stay for more than a couple of year and get something built up. Second which was tough being D3 is we recruited in Florida, Claifornia, Texas, Chicago, wherever. Yeah we would get some home grown Iowa boys, but the one swith better talent woudl go to the D1 schools or the powerhouse D3 schools. The out of state kids would be here one or two year and not be eligible due to grades, or they will become homesick and transfer out.

Now that we ahev soem scholarships hopefully things will change and we will be able to lure soem of the better Iowa talent here and fill in with the out of staters.

Like you mentioned it will take some time to get things turned around and get some type of tradition started.

Do you have any links to the D2 discussion boards you are talking about? Thanks.

Go Peacocks!!!

[treble]

All of this can be found on D2football.com This link will take you directly to the NSIC forum and there are a few different threads in there about Upper Iowa

http://www.d2football.com/board/index.php?s=43ea76f57d7759a06996e0f60463b8c9&showforum=12

I agree that Fayette would be a tough place to recuit good players, but the scholarships will help.

[Whisker Trout Slayer]

For most it is a culture shock to come from the big city and move to a town of around 1,500 people.

When I get a chance I will check out the link. Thanks!!

[hanson1287]

Well im just gonna have to give upper iowa a good chance this year cause they got two of my buddies outta my high school. They made pretty good choices in these two because they have really dedicated work ethics they love the game and theyre just plain powerhouses.

[Matt Johnson]

One of my best friends and old high school teammate (Digger Anderson) just graduated from UND so I followed his team on occasion. Digger sure knew how to lay a hit! I believe he holds several tackle records in NCAA D2 as well as MN state high school records.

I followed NCAA D2 football much closer when I was at MSU for a season. We played UND and all the other D2 schools in the immediate region (as well as some teams outside).

NCAA D2 is a good league, some awesome players in that division!

[Whisker Trout Slayer]

Checked out the HSOforum you mentioned and it was a pretty decent site. I got a user name and hopefully will be able to follow my Peacocks a little closer this year.

[treble]

Is Digger with an NFL team this year?? I know he was a hell of a linebacker for UND the past few years and I was kind of thinking he would make the League, but I haven't heard whether or not he got picked up.

[Matt Johnson]

Quote:

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Is Digger with an NFL team this year?? I know he was a hell of a linebacker for UND the past few years and I was kind of thinking he would make the League, but I haven't heard whether or not he got picked up.

---

As far as I know he's not on with any team, but there are rumors of a possible free-agency pick-up...

He is UND's all-time leader in solo tackles with 217, and holds the Division II single-season mark for solo tackles with 95, so he put up some pretty impressive numbers in college. Several of us here in Coon Rapids thought he would at least get asked to try-out for a couple NFL teams, but nothing has been official as far as I know.

Best thing about Digger is that he's not only one heck of a good player, but he's got a good head on his shoulders too. He's a real class-act and the NFL (or any league) could always use more players like that.

That dude tracks like a missile and hits like a frickin tank! I remember Digger hitting me one time in practice off the blind-side and the next thing I remember was that I could see out my ear-hole

I do know that Chris Kuper from UND got drafted by the Denver Broncos in the 5th round this year. He played O-line for UND...

[fishin58]

Hey Matt J did you play at MSU I played at MSU from 01 to 05> It has been a tough run as of late but I think things will start to turn around. fingers crossed. I am really excited for this year. we need to get the huge godzilla sized monkey off our back. mr. northern did go down for my freshman year before transferring out. great school but I am glad to see the ol coach was removed nuff said about that. but good luck on the year and is t. heittman still around in school?I will keep ya'll posted on the dragons.