Money Talks

There may not be a bigger coaching story in FCS football this year than the news that broke Saturday night with North Dakota State coach Craig Bohl leaving for Wyoming. A main reason: money. Bohl will make a base salary of $300,000 per year and will be guaranteed additional compensation of $450,000 in 2014, a total of $750,000 in year one. That figure will rise by $50,000 in each of the five years of his deal, to the point where he will bring in a total of $950,000 of guaranteed compensation in 2018, if he's still with the Cowboys at that point. Then there's the incentives, which will put him over $1 million if he rides out his contract. The Forum in Fargo had a good graphic on this that I'll refer to here.

The gist of it is this: NDSU had no chance of matching the deal and athletic director Gene Taylor said as much Sunday in a press conference. He also remarked that the school has not been near the top when it comes to compensating its football coach in the Missouri Valley Football Conference.

Bohl’s base salary is $206,500 with annual increases of 5 percent. His performance bonuses, media and appearance fees and ticket sales compensation added up to an estimated $360,000 or more. That is not at the top of the Missouri Valley Football Conference, Taylor said.

“We may structure it somehow differently in terms of how you get to the final number,” Taylor said. “But I don’t see us going back a great deal because we want to get the best coaching candidate out there.”

I found that hard to believe. Bohl has the clause in his contract that gives him 3 percent of the ticket revenue sold for NDSU home games, which is probably in the $30,000 to $40,000 range. There aren't many programs with a clause like that, it appears. He was getting a raise of five percent each year and from June 1, 2012 to May 31, 2013, Bohl made $367,843, according to state payroll records, making him the fifth-highest-paid public employee in North Dakota.

He was doing pretty good and I suspect he's one of the best paid coaches in all of FCS, not just the Valley. For comparison, I pulled up all of the salary numbers I could find for head coaches in MVFC. (Please note: Unless noted, these are base salary figures. Like Bohl, most coaches are being compensated for media appearances for winning conference games or playoff appearances and those figures are not included.)

Illinois State's Brock Spack

Illinois State – Brock Spack: $258,072 (2013), $268,080 (2014)

Age: 51 - Signed through: 2016

Bonuses: $10,000 per playoff game; owes ISU $25,000 if he leaves before the contract expires. $500/month car allowance. 

Indiana State: Mike Sanford: $180,000.

Age: 58 - Signed through: 2017. 5-year deal signed in December 2012.

Missouri State: Terry Allen: $108,211 per season. 

Age: 56 - Signed through: 2014. Was not extended by AD Kyle Moats in 2012 and Moats said the university couldn’t afford to fire/dismiss Allen in 2013. 

North Dakota State: Outgoing coach Craig Bohl: $206,500.   

Age: 55 - Signed a contract extension to stay at NDSU on Jan. 1, 2013 through 2021. His performance bonuses, media and appearance fees and ticket sales compensation added up to an estimated $360,000 or more. Leaving for University of Wyoming at season's end.

Northern Iowa: Mark Farley: $296,280. 

Age: 50 - Signed through: 2015. A previous contract was extended by five years in 2008.

South Dakota: Joe Glenn: $131,060 in 2013-14; one year contract. Age: 64. 

South Dakota State: John Stiegelmeier: $160,012 in 2013-14; one year contract. Age: 56.

Southern Illinois: Dale Lennon: $216,456 in 2012; one year contract.

Age: 52 - Signed through 2014: Received two year extension in 2011. Initially signed for five years in 2007 at $200,000 per year. Notes: If SIU fires him, they owe him a max of one’s salary. If he resigns or leaves for another job, he owes SIU $100,000.

Western Illinois: Bob Nielson: $206,892 in 2013.

Age: 54 - Signed through: 2017. Signed a five-year deal in December 2012.

Youngstown State: Eric Wolford: $200,000 base salary. 

Age: 42 - Signed through: 2014, the final year of his initial five-year deal.

Bonuses: $20,000 for winning a national championship; A $3,000 bonus for each year the Penguins win the Missouri Valley Football Conference; A $3,000 bonus for each YSU playoff game; A $12,000 bonus if the Penguins earn an Academic Progress Rate score of 925 or greater; $50,000 each year for “marketing income,” (TV, radio, speaking engagements, sponsorships); Car allowance worth about $400 per month and membership in a local country club.

Missouri State's Terry Allen

In order, it goes like this (with the years at the school and school record in parentheses): 

UNI's Farley: $296k (13th year, 111-50)

Ill St's Spack: $258k (5th year, 33-24)

SIU's Lennon: $216k (6th year, 42-28)

NDSU's Bohl: $206k (11th year, 101-32)

WIU's Nielson: $206k (1st year, 4-8)

YSU's Wolford: $200k (4th year, 24-21)

Ind St's Sanford: $180k (1st year, 1-11)

SDSU's Stiegelmeier: $160k (16th year, 111-81)

USD's Glenn: $131k (2nd year, 5-18)

MoSt's Allen: $108k (7th year, 33-56)

A few interesting things out of that I'll cover via bullet points:

• The top of the conference gets paid like coaches who could leave someday. That's especially true for Spack, Lennon and Bohl. Nielson got a very good deal for coming from Division II Minnesota-Duluth last year and while Farley has made his home at UNI, there's nothing saying he couldn't try an FBS job someday. 
• Captain Obvious here but South Dakota stands out with one-year contracts. Almost every coach in the conference has received a five-year deal and the one-year deals are an issue. Luckily, both SDSU and USD have stable coaching situations (We think.).
• When Joe Glenn was hired almost exactly two years ago, he was starting at $126,000, very close to what John Stiegelmeier was making at the time at SDSU. He told the Yankton Press and Dakotan that he wanted USD to have more money for assistants. Meanwhile, Stig has jumped up to $160,012 this season. It makes sense, with SDSU making the playoffs twice and having more athletic revenues than USD in each of those years. 
• Interesting to compare Glenn's deal to the one that Bohl will be getting at Wyoming, where Glenn was the coach from 2003 to 2008. Glenn's first deal had a base salary of $140,004 per year for five years. With all of the incentives, it would bring him up to as much as $550,000 per year. Bohl will make a minimum $750,000 this upcoming season, without accounting for any additional incentives.
• Wow. Missouri State is in bad shape. Terry Allen probably would have been fired twice by now if the Bears had any money. But they don't and he's likely a lame duck head coach heading into his final year of his deal. This is why they've had to play two FBS games per year and Allen has not fared well there. I'm shocked to see him so low on the list and while there's some bonuses in play, he's much further down on the salary list than I first thought.
• Seven of the ten coaches in the league are between the ages of 50 and 56. The only outliers are the considerably younger Wolford, and Sanford and Glenn, who have both made FBS head coaching stops.
• UNI basketball coach Ben Jacobson makes $512,151 per year, twice as much as colleague Mark Farley. But Farley didn't bring his team to the Sweet Sixteen in 2010. 
• NDSU, South Dakota, Western Illinois and Youngstown State are the four schools that spend more money paying their football coach than their men's basketball coach. Given that most of the schools are in the basketball happy Missouri Valley Conference in the winter, that's not much of a surprise. The widest margin between the two is probably in Macomb, where Jim Molinari makes about $117,000, $93k less than the football coach Nielson. SDSU coach Scott Nagy has a base salary of $200,000 per season.

 

A season of South Dakota football

I wrote about 14 high school football games this fall for the Argus Leader newspaper in Sioux Falls and it was a lot of fun. There's a certain excitement about the high school version of the sport that is exciting and that's on display in every small town on Fridays. Some games were close, most were not. The average margin of victory was almost 20 points and only three of the games were a one score game at the final gun. Such is the case in South Dakota for high school football.

The rundown of my visits:

Aug. 30: @West Central 49, Dakota Valley 6
Sept. 6: Avon 34, Gregory 14 (FCA SoDak Bowl - Sioux Falls)
Sept. 6: @Madison 39, Dell Rapids 12
Sept. 13: @Dell Rapids 15, Tea Area 0
Sept. 20: @Brandon Valley 16, Brookings 7
Sept. 27: Sioux Falls Lincoln 28, @Brookings 7
Oct. 4: Harrisburg 16, @Brookings 7
Oct. 11: @West Central 35, Dell Rapids 7
Oct. 18: @Harrisburg 26, Yankton 18
Oct. 29: @Howard 22, Hanson 16 (Class 9A 1st Round)
Oct. 31: @Harrisburg 27, Huron 20 (OT - Class 11AA Quarterfinals)
Nov. 4: @Howard 56, New Underwood 6 (Class 9A Quarterfinals)
Nov. 8: @Watertown 32, Yankton 14 (Class 11AA Semifinals)
Nov. 9: Potter County 22, @Howard 8 (Class 9A Semifinals)

The home team in those 13 games: 10-3. Two of those losses coming from mediocre Brookings and the end of the season shocker in Howard, where Potter County quarterback Chayce Hall foreshadowed his eight passing touchdown performance in the Class 9A championship game, with two passing touchdowns and a rushing score to lead the Battlers to an upset win.

Season opener in Hartford.

You'll notice I did two games Sept. 6 and that was probably as much as you could ask for. There were big plays all over with Avon defeating Gregory in a 1 p.m. game and then I motored up to Madison, where the Bulldogs hosted three-time defending champion Dell Rapids at 7 p.m. Everyone wanted to know if Madison was for real and the hosts had no problem making their case in a 39-12 win. As we all found out, the Bulldogs put together a valiant season, only to be upended by West Central for the title.

Avon at Bob Young Field in Sioux Falls.

Best game: I would go with Harrisburg defeating Huron in the playoffs in overtime, 27-20. That was two teams that wanted to win badly and it had a little bit of everything. Big Huron comeback and the seemingly go-ahead score late in the game. Great storyline in a senior linebacker blocking the ensuing extra point to keep the game tied and the home Tigers held on for the win in OT.

The Brookings High School Band

Most successful team in my presence: Harrisburg, who went 3-0. After defeating Huron in the playoffs, I told coach Brandon White that little tidbit and he asked if I was coming to Pierre when they played the No. 1 Governors. Couldn't make it, coach. (West Central went 2-0 in regular season games I was at and I was on hand for their 28-21 win over Madison for the state title.)

Most dominant player, single game: Brandon Kocmich, Avon. A lot of good contestants but I'll take the big running back for the Pirates. Against Gregory, he had 234 yards rushing on 16 carries and three touchdowns, including a 76 yard scoring scamper that opened the scoring. With the game still tight, Kocmich hit Cody Namminga for a 64-yard touchdown pass, Avon's only pass completion of the day. Against the No. 1 team in Class 9AA at the time, that was about as good as one could ask.

Homecoming at Brandon Valley

Best ticket takers: I visited Howard, S.D., three times in 12 days and it got a little . The ladies charging admission out of the back of the minivan knew who I was before I could even open my mouth to say that I was with the Argus Leader before Howard's final playoff game. They said "Yeah, we know who you are." Whoa, eerie. (Still awesome though.) (Also, if you believe a running gag created by Travis Kriens on the Sports Lounge radio show to which I contribute, I brought head shots of myself to Howard, signed them for $10 and donated the proceeds to a local charity.)

Warmups for the Dell Rapids Quarriers

Nickname breakdown: Arrows, Battlers, Beavers, Bobcats, Bulldogs, Bucks, Gorillas, Lynx, Panthers, Patriots, Pirates, Quarriers, Tigers (4), Titans, Trojans.

I like all of those non-conventional names and while I'm partial to Beavers (because ... well, beavers are cool), I would say Battlers and Quarriers are the most original.

Toughest mascot: The Gregory Gorilla. The cheerleader who was in the suit had to be dying inside a black fur costume on a 85-degree day on the turf at Bob Young Field in Sioux Falls. Brutal.

Best place to play: Tiger Stadium in Harrisburg. Sparkling facility only a few years old with a setup that plenty of small colleges would love to have with a nice scoreboard and artificial turf. Combine that with great staff and it's first class all the way.

Best position on the field: Running back. So many good ones this season. In addition to Kocmich, Luke Loudenburg for Howard was a terrific 9-man "fullback," as he was listed in the program. Rush Milne (Madison) and  Cole Tirrel (West Central) were difference makers for their 11A title runs. Shay Bratland ran wild for Watertown and Jonathan Kabambi had big games each time I covered Harrisburg. And while I only covered the Patriots once, Caden Quintanilla for Sioux Falls Lincoln ripped apart the Brookings defense for 215 yards and two touchdowns.

Best quirk: Brookings and its seven points. I covered the Bobcats for three straight games and in each contest Brookings scored just seven points. In the three contests against Brandon Valley, SF Lincoln and Harrisburg, the Cats hung around with some solid defense but their offense was sporadic all year.

Pitching mound and goalpost in Watertown

Most embarrassing moment: I actually have two in Howard. On my first trip to the city of about 850 people, I brought an umbrella in preparation for a misty night because not sure of what sort of press box setup they would have. After finding a spot inside, I forgot about the umbrella. In fact, I forgot that I left it there. It turned out I would be back just six days later, so I was able to get it back. That night, after Howard pounded New Underwood, I headed down to the field to interview the key players and coaches. When I came back to the press box, my computer and bag were locked inside. After some searching in the pitch black night, I found a janitor who thankfully unlocked the door and let me get my items -- and the umbrella -- out of the press box.

Quote of the year: I interviewed West Central coach Kent Mueller after the Trojans' 35-7 win over Dell Rapids Oct. 11. I asked the enigmatic coach about his offense and finding another gear in the second quarter and he said "Well, you've been covering West Central football long enough to know that's just who we are." That was the second time I'd ever seen Class 11A powerhouse but I'll took it as a compliment.

In all, I saw four of the state's seven champions during the year (Avon, Potter County, West Central and Sioux Falls Lincoln) and two more that made it to the Dome (Madison, Watertown). Congrats to them and let's do it again soon.

Quoted: Stiegelmeier on Nebraska

If there's one thing I want for Christmas, it's a person to transcribe interviews. But I can't have that right now for many reasons, including the fact I don't have a lot of money. So I transcribe my own and there's a lot of notes that come up that a journalist doesn't use and I figured I'd share that with readers. 

So in the first of what could become a series, I share my full interview with SDSU football coach John Stiegelmeier prior to the Nebraska football game Saturday. This took place Monday, Sept. 16, prior to much of the fallout at Nebraska regarding to Bo Pelini but some of the circus in Huskerland is touched upon. Very little of this made the actual story I wrote, so I felt like sharing.

On this game being hyped similarly to USD or NDSU with everyone looking forward to it but only playing Nebraska for the third time in school history.

“I think it’s natural to look forward to this game. I don’t think we’ve overlooked any of our opponents to this point. But I don’t think it’s the Super Bowl and you get so high that you lose track of how to play your game of football. It’s going to be a great test because we’re not going to face better athletes this year or a more storied program. Let’s go play our best football in a very storied environment.

You’ve talked in the past about eliminating awe from your players when the arrive in a place like Memorial Stadium in these FBS games. It's a nice idea but how do you go about that?

“I think it’s how you approach it. You don’t talk down about Nebraska or their program and make fun of the fact that they lost to UCLA. We’re not UCLA. And so I think the main thing is that when you walk into the stadium on Friday, you say “This is what’s going to happen. Get it out of your system,” your parents are going to be here and they’re only going to be excited about you playing your best football. You’re not here to be a tourist. I come by this naturally because when we went Division I everyone talked about “Look where you get to go play.” And the minute I heard that I thought, “That has nothing to do with it.” These guys work way too hard to go in and say look where I got to play. As opposed to, look how well I played.

Given that there’s been a couple Valley teams who have upset BCS teams, does that give your team confidence that they could be next?

I think it’s a unique year for that to happen. When Appalachian State beat Michigan, I did the math. One out of every 82 of those games was an FCS victory. This year is a little out of whack. All I care about is that we go in there and do what we’re capable of doing and not worry about what other teams have done. Being the football team can be what we can be.

On being 3-0 in 2013 going to play Nebraska, as opposed to being 0-3 in 2010 going to play Nebraska.

I think it does, yeah. Although we took the field in 2010, with a unique confidence. We were probably disappointment in where we were that year and we had to prove something against our toughest test. We were ranked high early in that season also, so there’s some similarities between the two. I think these guys because of the success so far, our guys have a little bit more mature attitude about what we can do this time.

On the importance of scoring early

It’s really important. Unfortunately, in our business, after Nebraska losing one game, there’s a lot of pressure on them. That’s an intense environment. Not against us but against them. That’s unfortunate. These are 18 to 22 year old guys and they work hard and there’s way too much importance put on yards and points and wins and losses.

You have a handful of players who got playing time in 2010 at Nebraska and are on the team now. Do you lean on those players to lead your team going down there again?

I may have some of those guys say something. I love the leadership of our football team. I’m sure a number of those guys will probably go to the younger guys on the bus and tell them “Hey, it’s just a football game.” It’s our toughest test and don’t overlook it but don’t get caught up in, “I mean Holy Cow!” It’s not any different from last week except there’s 10 times as many people and you know. [laughs] I’m not making light of the level of play. We just need to go down and play our best football. That’s all we can do.

On the keys to the game

“Put a lot of pressure on our offense. I’ve seldom, if ever, have done that. But we’re going to have to move the ball. They have given up some yards. Again, different matchups but our offense should be able to find its niche and find some advantages. They’re not going to be at too much of an advantage because they are sound but maybe the guy tackling Zenner is at a disadvantage. The guy tackling Cam Jones is at a disadvantage. We have to be better in special teams. We have stunk up the joint the last two games. We just can’t do that down there. Sometimes those are the biggest plays in football, we don’t want that to be big against us. We have to shore that up rapidly and I have faith we’ll do that. Defensively, if we continue to take the ball away, those are huge plays. I think we can do that. For whatever reason, this year has been magical in that regard. Don’t worry about yards, control their speed and take the ball away. 

You mentioned your team has been very strong in the takeaway-giveaway category this year. How do you continue that success against a better team like Nebraska?

We want to keep it going. It adds some belief to the fact that penalties and turnovers and mental errors are huge in the game. Sometimes you look at the box score and you wonder how a team lost the game and then look at those key categories that nobody talks about. There’s a lot championships won by the teams that make the fewest mistakes, as opposed to the ones that make the big plays.

Your defense has allowed a lot of passing yards. Nebraska has a couple of strong passing defense. How will you go about improving your team in that regard?

Coaching with confidence. Too often we’ve coached our guys not to give up the big play. We’re going to try to teach the technique and give them the confidence to make the play. Trust your reads and make the play. We’ll be coaching them up and giving them the best chance. There’s a bunch of matchups in football. If they beat you on a play, it’s one play.

"We'll see ya"

Publisher's Note: I started writing this June 25, 2012 and abandoned it for reasons I can't yet explain. There's a bunch of interesting thoughts tumbling around in the "drafts" part of this site and at some point, they will see the light of day. On to the blog ...

--

"We'll see ya later."

If you know me, you know I'm prone to say that particular phrase as I bid farewell.

It has been the source of friendly ridicule, especially for my colleagues at The Collegian. See, I say it usually whether I'm along or in a group or if I'm alone. For a while now, it has probably been my most common farewell phrase. Now, it's more of a habit than anything.

Grammatically, it would be inaccurate to say "we'll" when there's only one person in my party but I do it anyway. As someone who gets irked when someone misuses "to, too and two" or "their, there and they're," I do understand the problem here.

So, why or how did I start saying it?

I closely recognized that my grandparents -- one set that lives near Le Center and the other that lives in Luverne, Minn., both say "we'll see ya." That leads me to believe this has been passed down through generations. Now, I have no idea if that's actually possible but it sounds feasible. And I think my parents have probably said it before, although with all of their wisdom they've passed through the years, "we'll see ya" could have been lost in the shuffle.

Minnesota is a battleground state in the great supper/dinner debate.

I was hoping the folks in the Linguistics department at North Carolina State would take up my question among the more than 120 they surveyed about but alas, it wasn't meant to be. It didn't resolve the endless supper/dinner debate at the Sports Lounge either. (For me, lunch is the noon meal; supper is the evening meal; dinner is more formal meal, like Easter or Thanksgiving.) (Sidenote: They actually asked how people say the word "especially?" I swear there were 15 people in my class in high school who said "expecially" and while the map didn't really bear it out, I think Le Center High School was the epicenter of morons saying "expecially.")

I like to think I have a folksy way of talking. For starters, I use the term "folks" when talking about a group of people. I got into a feverish debate about a "hot dish" and "casserole" in my first year at SDSU, where it appears my current state is a battle line between the two terms for a warm meal from the oven. (FWIW, it's tater tot hot dish and I'll go to my grave saying it that way.) While I know it's wrong, I know I've pronounced milk as being "melk" before. And I'm sure my friends and family that read this will have a bunch to point out as well.

Either way, it's light-hearted fun. This is just sort of engrained in who I am and I don't think it's going to change soon. But we'll see, right?

The sadness of Internet credibility

Back on the blog after a month away ... sorry. 

I return to this forum for numerous reasons but as usual, it's again to get something off my chest. There's been something bothering me for the last year for sure and maybe a little longer.

It boils down to this: People will read anything on the internet.

The worst offender of this in the sports spectrum is the craptastic website called Bleacher Report. You might know them as the website with all the slideshows and the site that will have endless stories about the same subject just to fill the Google results to attract page clicks. It's garbage. Sometimes I'll go trolling on Twitter to look up people that are getting mentioned by others. If they are listed as a "Featured writer/columnist" on Bleacher Report, that's my cue to leave. When I see people reading this stuff on their computer or sharing it online, I want to shame those people publicly.

There's a lot of hard-working bloggers out there that do a pretty damn good job of writing and following a sport or team. But at the beginning of the Internet age, many of them were dismissed as being "people in their parent's basement." Bleacher Report deserves that kind of treatment from the public. There is no credibility and there's no effort to gain it either. But Turner Sports bought Bleacher Report for $200 million last year, proof that their saturation paid off some.

Bleacher Report is hardly the only group doing crap writing on the Internet but the epidemic localized recently when a former SDSU football player wrote a blog post, explaining why he thought SDSU was the most underrated Division I school in the country. This was on something called "The Dirty Mint," which doesn't exactly scream credibility and furthermore, he didn't mention that he was an alum until the final sentence of the piece. Even if you're one who puts stock in the number of followers someone has (I don't) you should be cautious, especially when 99 percent of them are fake. bunch of fake, spam accounts.) I advise against giving him the clicks, so I won't link the piece. Grammar and capitalization -- surely points of emphasis in the English department at said university -- were basically non-existent.

(The above screencap taken June 5 had him listed for 79,000+ followers. He's lost 15 percent of those since then and a quick look at the followers show a bunch of fakes.)

I will, however, excerpt this part. Pick it apart as you please.

Ill give you a hint. This schools abbreviation is SDSU. If you just guessed San Diego State sorry you are wrong. Although I must say San Diego State is doing very well in sports all around as well. The most underrated Division 1 college in the nation is the South Dakota State Jackrabbits.

Not good. The writer has done the same thing with Minnesota State-Mankato after they had a good year at Division II. Why? Probably because it gets people to his blog, which he touted had a lot of hits following the post.

This type of lowest-common denominator type of writing bugs me not because it is bad (obviously, it is) but because most people will read it and share it on social media, not caring at all if it was good or worth a damn. There's no credibility here and readers don't appear to care.

It also bugs me because as a young journalist, I'm taking the time to build some credibility at least with other news outlets in the state. Stuff like this undermines that objective but it gives me confidence that news outlets will never really go away. Someone has to separate facts from crap, if you will.

Do me a favor and read for credibility. Thanks. Take care of yourselves ... and each other. 

Catching Up

Hey guys.

Haven't written in a while and for my avid readers, I do apologize. Things get busy. You understand. Let's whip around to a bunch of things to catch up a little.

A third year is in the books in Brookings and I'm happy to be celebrating summer again in the Rushmore State. (I think that's misleading because Mount Rushmore is distinctly West River. In Minnesota, if I say "Land of 10,000 Lakes," I'm not really concerned because the whole state has lakes. (Except Rock County, which is the only county in the state that doesn't have a natural lake. There's some trivia for you.) If I say "Mount Rushmore State, I feel like I'm leaving out the rest of the state and really South Dakota is two different places when you consider West River and East River. The whole idea of "place" interests me. I should have went into a geography field. Always have loved maps.)

They said "Go further west, young man." So, I went to Pierre.

I'm in South Dakota for another summer, this time in Pierre working at the Capital Journal. I'll be here until the middle of July and so far, so good. Much like last summer in Mitchell, I don't know a single soul. That is more intriguing to me than anything else because it has forced me to truly get to know people. The staff at the paper is from further away than I am, with a pair of reporters from Arizona and Michigan.

Last week, I visited a ranch for a story. And I mean a true ranch. Driving 20 miles out of town, down a gravel road for five miles and then down another gravel road that was two miles straight to the ranch type of ranch. Now, I'm from farm country but this was pretty interesting given that the road just went to his house and that was it. Not like the back roads of Le Sueur County, where there is a gravel road on basically every other section line.

In the last month, I've been to Rapid City and the Badlands and Mount Rushmore and now to Pierre and its own interesting sibling Fort Pierre. Fort Pierre is smaller than my hometown, just a bit under 2,000 people. It is distinctly "west" if you will. They have a stockyard and a rodeo ring and at the county commissioner meeting last week, they were all wearing cowboy hats and boots. I was a bit out place in slacks and a polo shirt.

Pierre is interesting because it is in the confluence of newspapers. Both the Rapid City Journal and the Argus Leader are dropped off here but their focus is, of course, on their respective cities. Yet they make the effort to be a part of these communities. The Capital Journal is first and foremost, a community newspaper. The communities have a lot of pride in it and it's something to admire, really.

Congrats, class of 2013. You don't need my advice.

I watched both Pierre and Stanley County (Fort Pierre's) graduations on Sunday. They reminded me of two things. 1) I know I tweeted about it last graduation season but speeches at graduations by seniors are pretty much meaningless. It's nice to let the smartest kids in the class speak and impart their thoughts on me but what does it really matter. If I'm graduating, they are the same age as me. Do they really know anything more than I do? Whoever is speaking usually ends up talking down to their classmates and that's as much fun as it sounds. If you're speaking, you can share fun antidotes from your time in school with your classmates but 90 percent of the people in the crowd will have no idea what you're talking about. It's a big inside joke and you're leaving everyone out. Nobody knows your fourth grade teacher Mrs. James from a hole in the ground. Sorry. And I swear that I didn't remember half of the stories the speakers from my class told when they gave their speeches. We only had 40-some kids and I didn't know what these people were talking about. Three people spoke at my graduation and I only remember that one of them lit a candle while they were speaking. I don't remember anything else and I wasn't under the influence. It's ridiculous.

The same can be said for college graduation speeches. I'm hearing about Oprah and Robert Redford speaking to schools and I'm thinking that nothing they have to say applies to me. They're famous and better than all of the graduates. We get it. Next spring, I will probably be sitting in Frost Arena and someone will be telling me something that probably won't have anything to do with what I have to do. I hope I can speak to a graduating class someday because I will tell them that nothing I have to say to them matters and that they have to figure things out for themselves. That's it. That's all I would say.

/rant over

2) I'm thankful that Le Center had a gym with all of the seats on one side because then all of the ceremony for graduation is in front of you. You don't realize how nice that is until the commencement ceremony. With seats on both sides, you have to have the diploma distribution (that's what it should be called in the program too) on one end of the gym. That means the kids have to be on the floor and maybe some parents too and then they can't see what's going on. There's a lot of neck craning happening there. I've given this more thought than one person should.

The Office ended last week. It was a good finish and I was a bit worried about how they would close out all of the characters but it worked well. I was a bit sad about Kevin getting fired but it was a necessary move considering how badly he did his job for nine years. Last week was also the 15th anniversary of Seinfeld concluding and of course, everyone hated that finale because it was stupid. I've relived most of the show through reruns and the DVDs. I have some of the DVDs with me in Pierre and I'll probably skip watching the finale because I know I don't like it.

Oahe Dam power plant. Missouri River marvel.

I went up to the Oahe Dam last night and checked things out. I now understand why my friend Nick Lowrey rants and raves about it for fishing. There's a lot of places to try and catch a big one. Also, I've long liked dams and despite my lack of knowledge in the engineering fields, the Oahe Dam has to be a modern marvel. I'm calling the History Channel.

I golfed Saturday. The pros are so good at it. I am not.

Also, I'm writing this from a laundromat. I've never been to a laundromat before. There is a very heavy set man in front of me and his fat gut is hanging out at me. I'm not comfortable at all.

Busy Season

Hey guys. It's been a while and for that, I'm sorry. I know how incessantly some of you check this looking for updates.

I'll have more new posts this summer as time allows. You know where to find my work traditionally and I'm operating as the lead hockey writer over at sportsloungeblog.tumblr.com. That's where you can hear some thoughts on the Wild and the rest of the Cup chase.

I'll be in Pierre for 10 weeks starting next week. More blogs posts coming then.

Tourney Talk: Upset Special

Let's not forget how the NCAA Tournament usually works.

On the men's side, there's usually a Florida Gulf Coast or some sort of Cinderella-type that shocks the field and breaks brackets. That happens a fair amount, even though this year it's different to a unprecedented degree. You have your La Salle, who sneaks into the tournament and then busts off three wins to make the Sweet 16 or your Oregons and Wichita State, who seem to cruise to the second weekend.

You have the Harvards, who knock off New Mexico and get to the second round before meeting their match. This is usually what happens during the NCAAs.

Heading into the first game for South Dakota State against Michigan, I felt like while the Jacks were the trendy upset pick and a possible sleeper, I also got the sense that SDSU's fans and players would feel awful if the Jacks were bounced right away.

The air has been let out of the yellow and blue balloons.

People are probably devastated but this is what happens the tournament. The Jacks weren't favored and their chances of winning were probably close to the 9 percent figure that the NYT's Nate Silver threw out. They are upsets for a reason.

Look at the history of 13's winning in the tournament. It's not as easy as just showing up, winning and becoming Cinderella.

One thing worth mentioning: SDSU didn't play that bad. They didn't make the shots they are used to making. That was probably the most frustrating thing for the Jacks and they said as much. A tough break at a time when SDSU couldn't afford to have one.

Let's move to the women's side now, where SDSU absorbed its toughest loss ever in any postseason since moving to Division I. Similarly to the men, there was a feeling that the Jacks would play well mainly because they were not playing the host school on its home court. That didn't happen and South Carolina showed that they are the better team by a decent margin.

Again, these sort of games happen in the NCAA Touranment but with it being the fifth straight time the Jacks have made the tournament, SDSU followers are probably getting antsy about advancing. Even more so than the men's tournament, lower seeds don't advance in the tournament. It will take a truly special team to get to a Sweet 16. That or home court in the NCAAs. Speaking of which, I was reading through my collection of newspapers from my trip to Detroit last week (more later here) and I came across this AP story about the field and this quote from Notre Dame coach Muffet McGraw.

Notre Dame coach Muffet McGraw wasn't thrilled when the NCAA women's tournament bracket was released Monday.

Her No. 1-seeded Irish were the latest among the nation's top teams to be put on course for an early round game on an opponent's home court. It's something that's been happening frequently since tournament switched to predetermined sites a decade ago.

"I'm very disappointed that a No. 1 seed wasn't protected," McGraw said. "It makes the regular season seem like it doesn't matter. We earned the right to be a No. 1 seed. The way they had the designated sites is not a fair way to do it ... the top 16 teams need to host. We need to go back to the way that it was done before. But we've got to be able to win, no matter where we're playing."

You want to know how you get an advantage in the NCAA Tournament? Bid and win the first and second round pod. McGraw sounds like a complainer and that's probably because she is. Notre Dame didn't win the bid to host this year and they didn't get sent to Columbus, Ohio, which is the only site of the 16 that didn't have a home team playing there.

They had played at home in three of the previous four NCAA tournaments. They wanted to host this year but, due to circumstances outside the women's basketball office, they missed the deadline to apply.

All top 16 teams hosted the first couple of rounds in the past, but that was ditched in 2003 and there are no plans to go back to it.

"It's completely our fault that we're not hosting," McGraw said. "We could have. You have to play good teams and so we'll start out with a neutral game and see where we go from there."

Oops. If you blew it, don't blame the committee, Muffet. The top 16 seeds hosting would be interesting, for sure. I think there should be a neutral court element to the tournament, if possible but there should be some sort of regular season reward. Right now, the women's tournament isn't perfect but there's a balance between a home court advantage (for those schools with strong attendance) and locations that will support it, even if it means a low seed hosts (Iowa, Gonzaga).

Do it, SDSU. Do it.  / Collegian File Photo

It's for these reasons that I think South Dakota State should apply to host the first two rounds of the tournament. Not Sioux Falls. We're talking Brookings and Frost Arena.

I'm not sure if the SDSU big wigs read this (If you do, hi!), but the Jacks could totally do it. Obviously, the key would be to have SDSU in the tournament. Let's go pros and cons.

Pros

• There's money to be made for the NCAA and SDSU.
• National exposure for Brookings and SDSU.
• Tourism money for the city and region
• Sellout crowd if the Jacks are in it. 2,000? if SDSU doesn't make it. 
• Enough hotels and restaurants in Brookings. 
• I think the NCAA considers South Dakota somewhat "West."Subregional games like this are usually scheduled mostly in the East and South. They might like having the Midwest covered more. 
• Given their track record at the Summit League tournament, South Dakotans probably would want to volunteer and help out. 

Cons

• Not a good tournament if SDSU can't make it. 
• Difficult place to get to, not a large city. 
• Bid cost won't be cheap.
• Hosting requires extra staff and effort. It's tough stuff. 

Of course, I think Sioux Falls would be a viable candidate to host a pod for the women's tournament but I think SDSU could do it in Brookings. If Bowling Green could host last year and Delaware and Gonzaga are hosting this year, why not SDSU?

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More on Tubby Smith's time ending in Dinkytown and the NCAA Tournament experience in the next couple of days.

Sea Lions. Because they're fun.

I'm currently in San Francisco at the National College Journalism Convention. While work is being done, we've done some sightseeing and everyone likes to look at the sea lions at Fishermans' Wharf in the City by the Bay.

I'll post some here because they're awesome. And lazy. 

Measuring Statistics: Near and Far

Stats can be deceiving, or that's what they say. 

I have a few thoughts on SDSU's men's players and how they play at home and away. 

For example, I figured Chad White is a better player at home than on the road, while all-world Nate Wolters plays better on the road. Where is Jordan Dykstra a better player?

So, let's go to the stats. I selected SDSU's home, away and neutral location games, along with games where SDSU won or lost. Players with significant playing time are listed here.

All information is from the always reliable sports-reference.com. Go visit their sites. Sorry about the small print. 

3 Wolters, Nate 

Split            Value  G  MP  FG FGA  FG% 3P 3PA  3P%  FT FTA   FT% ORB DRB TRB AST STL BLK TOV PF PTS
Place             Home 12 438  78 164 .476 22  57 .386  71  90  .789  11  54  65  66  27   2  31 16 249
                  Road 12 466 104 206 .505 32  71 .451  69  81  .852  18  54  72  59  16   2  27 22 309
               Neutral  2  64  12  25 .480  2   6 .333   8  11  .727   2   7   9  16   3   0   1  3  34

Split            Value  G  MP  FG FGA  FG% 3P 3PA  3P%  FT FTA   FT% ORB DRB TRB AST STL BLK TOV PF PTS
Result             Win 20 734 140 290 .483 41 102 .402 115 144  .799  21  88 109 117  40   4  46 27 436
                  Loss  6 234  54 105 .514 15  32 .469  33  38  .868  10  27  37  24   6   0  13 14 156 

5 Prince, Taevaunn 

Split            Value  G  MP FG FGA   FG% 3P 3PA  3P% FT FTA   FT% ORB DRB TRB AST STL BLK TOV PF PTS
Place             Home 11 144 13  35  .371  0   4 .000 21  28  .750  11  12  23   3   4   0   6 10  47
                  Road  9 127 10  33  .303  2   9 .222 11  18  .611   8   8  16   5   3   0  11 22  33
               Neutral  2  60  7  19  .368  1   4 .250  5   9  .556   4   7  11   3   1   0   2  5  20 

12 Carlson, Brayden

Split            Value  G  MP FG FGA  FG% 3P 3PA  3P% FT FTA   FT% ORB DRB TRB AST STL BLK TOV PF PTS
Place             Home 13 422 28  83 .337 14  47 .298 30  39  .769   5  42  47  31  13   4   9 20 100
                  Road 13 466 42 103 .408 20  60 .333 15  22  .682   6  41  47  30  10   4  17 24 119
               Neutral  2  62  9  19 .474  6  11 .545  5   6  .833   0   6   6   7   1   0   1  4  29
Split            Value  G  MP FG FGA  FG% 3P 3PA  3P% FT FTA   FT% ORB DRB TRB AST STL BLK TOV PF PTS
Result             Win 21 694 55 137 .401 29  78 .372 39  51  .765   8  72  80  53  19   5  17 35 178
                  Loss  7 256 24  68 .353 11  40 .275 11  16  .688   3  17  20  15   5   3  10 13  70  

25 White, Chad 

Split            Value  G  MP FG FGA  FG% 3P 3PA  3P% FT FTA   FT% ORB DRB TRB AST STL BLK TOV PF PTS
Place             Home 10 310 35  71 .493 22  47 .468 10  14  .714   8  26  34  16   8   3  13 20 102
                  Road 11 340 28  81 .346 18  59 .305  9  13  .692   8  32  40  10   5   6  14 24  83
               Neutral  2  46  8  15 .533  4   7 .571  2   2 1.000   3   3   6   4   1   1   1  2  22
Split            Value  G  MP FG FGA  FG% 3P 3PA  3P% FT FTA   FT% ORB DRB TRB AST STL BLK TOV PF PTS
Result             Win 17 514 60 127 .472 36  80 .450 18  23  .783  15  47  62  26  12   6  21 30 174
                  Loss  6 182 11  40 .275  8  33 .242  3   6  .500   4  14  18   4   2   4   7 16  33 

32 Heemstra, Marcus 

Split            Value  G  MP FG FGA   FG% 3P 3PA 3P% FT FTA   FT% ORB DRB TRB AST STL BLK TOV PF PTS
Place             Home 13 154 19  37  .514  0   0     11  14  .786  14  23  37  12   4   6   9 24  49
                  Road 13 148 14  28  .500  0   0     11  12  .917  13  20  33  11   3   5  10 20  39
               Neutral  2  31  9  11  .818  0   0      2   3  .667   7   4  11   2   2   2   0  2  20

34 Fiegen, Tony 

Split            Value  G  MP  FG FGA   FG% 3P 3PA 3P% FT FTA   FT% ORB DRB TRB AST STL BLK TOV PF PTS
Place             Home 13 396  67 109  .615  0   0     20  32  .625  35  45  80  20   6   3  16 23 154
                  Road 13 431  48 103  .466  0   0     16  23  .696  22  44  66  17   6   4  16 23 112
               Neutral  2  34   6   8  .750  0   0      0   0         1   9  10   3   0   0   4  4  12
Split            Value  G  MP  FG FGA   FG% 3P 3PA 3P% FT FTA   FT% ORB DRB TRB AST STL BLK TOV PF PTS
Result             Win 21 626  96 164  .585  0   0     30  45  .667  47  80 127  35   9   4  25 38 222
                  Loss  7 235  25  56  .446  0   0      6  10  .600  11  18  29   5   3   3  11 12  56 

42 Dykstra, Jordan

Split            Value  G  MP  FG FGA  FG% 3P 3PA  3P% FT FTA   FT% ORB DRB TRB AST STL BLK TOV PF PTS
Place             Home 13 417  67 142 .472 24  45 .533 39  52  .750  28  88 116  23   6   9  26 32 197
                  Road 13 415  49 119 .412 20  53 .377 18  22  .818  26  60  86  14  10   9  28 36 136
               Neutral  2  52   6  14 .429  2   5 .400  1   2  .500   1  10  11   4   0   0   0  4  15
Split            Value  G  MP  FG FGA  FG% 3P 3PA  3P% FT FTA   FT% ORB DRB TRB AST STL BLK TOV PF PTS
Result             Win 21 657 100 211 .474 38  78 .487 46  63  .730  35 131 166  35  11  12  41 56 284
                  Loss  7 227  22  64 .344  8  25 .320 12  13  .923  20  27  47   6   5   6  13 16  64

--

The takeaways: 

• Look at the difference in the performances from Dykstra and White in losses. 

• Granted, SDSU lost those games for reasons that go beyond those two but it shows how 

   important those two are to the operation.

• Fiegen is a much better shooter at home, converting 15 percent more shots in home games. 

• Heemstra is scary consistent in his game. This is a good sign going forward for SDSU. 

• Carlson has better numbers in road games and even better in the two neutral games this year. He has

  14 games this year where he's scored 10 or more points and five of those have come in Brookings. 

• Wolters' numbers are pretty nuts in both losses and on the road, shooting 29 percent better away from Frost. 

Sometimes your hunch can lead to something after all. 

--
High frequency of basketball posts because there's lots to talk about. If you have an idea, drop me a line in the various mediums to reach a 21-year old college kid. 

Crowdsourcing with students

Eat crow, Traxler.

I might have to do that with regards to my previous comments about the student section relocation at Frost Arena. In a crucial conference game at Frost Saturday against Western Illinois, the students made a difference. That was the word when students were moved from their better (I don't think anyone can argue this) to behind the baskets on each end.

WIU, who normally shoot 65 percent at the free throw stripe as a team, went 3-of-11 from the line against the Jacks.

"That’s one of our weaknesses," Leatherneck head coach Jim Molinari said. "We shoot a good percentage as a team but we’re not a great shooting team. That's something we need to be better at."

I feel this was mainly because of the students, who would either all jump forward as the player was shooting the free throws or sit down at the same time. It worked. Either that or the Leathernecks suck at free throws. Both are theories.

This much I know: No team has shot that poorly against SDSU over the last 12 seasons and that's all the farther the records go.

But how much of a difference have the students made on the free throws this year? Let's go to the grid.

There's the last two seasons worth of home games at Frost Arena and the free throw shooting of SDSU's opponents. The 2012-13 shooting is a blip better than than last year and while the end of the season (when the students got more involved with the free throw distractions) are low, the numbers don't show a ton of difference. SDSU allowed far less free throw attempts in 2012-13, however.

Hats off, students. You did what college kids should do. I'll be impressed if it happens next season as well and more importantly, what kind of student turnout is in Sioux Falls. It's not over Spring Break this year, so I'm expecting a lot. 

I think the move has worked out fine and students have responded positively but I HATED the way it was done. Basically, the administration said, "We're moving you. If you don't like it, too bad."

The point I brought up on The Sports Lounge show Monday(which can be listened to on demand here) is that SDSU might want to consider moving its "renovate Frost Arena" plans up in the grand scheme. Honestly, maybe ahead of Coughlin-Alumni Stadium.

There's no doubt that CAS needs to be rebuilt but if the Jackrabbits want to reach the next level as a mid-major, they need the budget and the facilities to do it. Frost may not need more seats but they certainly need more good seats, as many of the wood bleachers are at tough viewing angles.

A lot of elements added up to get three sellouts in Brookings this season, mainly No. 3 at point guard. But the program is only going to grow and, if nothing else, both facilities should be worked on at the same time.

--

It's hard not to think about the Summit League tournament, especially when there's a local media ad for the four-day dance airing every three minutes. In advance, I wrote this for the Sports Lounge blog earlier today about what sort of tourney is shaping up. 

For much of the season, the race to become the Summit League’s top dog has been cloudy. However, I have looked at the crystal ball and the future is becoming clearer.

SDSU’s men’s basketball team is the team to beat when the conference converges on Sioux Falls in March for the Summit League tournament.

There’s a lot of candidates — and honestly, who would have thought there would be four legitimate teams challenging for the conference title when the season started — but the Jackrabbits have emerged as the odds-on favorite.

Sure, there have been a fair amount bumps along the way. Those ugly performances the Jacks had in December seem so far away and even in last weekend’s loss to Oakland at the O’rena, SDSU looked like a team that could be in the field of 68 again.

But as Brett Favre famously said during the Vikings’ 2009 season, “the pieces are in place.”

Their defense (more on this later) has been quite good, the Jacks are a strong three-point shooting team (especially at home) and SDSU has the best player in Nate Wolters, who is taking over games once again.

Of course, one of the biggest parts of the Jacks chances’ is having a decidedly home court advantage in Sioux Falls. In each of their games (regardless of opponent), there will be at least 5,000 people screaming in their favor and riding each up and down. To me, this is the biggest part for the Jacks. Western Illinois has seen this atmosphere twice now — last season’s conference title game and Saturday at Frost Arena.

“You can’t win a game in this atmosphere unless you play perfect basketball,” Molinari said after the Leathernecks’ loss at Frost Arena.

Molinari said something almost exactly like this after his team lost in the championship game last year. It stuck out like a sore thumb because I believe the quotes were so similar.

“This was a road game,” WIU head coach Jim Molinari said. “Don’t get me wrong, I’m not making excuses. But I think you have to be 10 points better to win here and we weren’t tonight. I knew because of the crowd that they would never let the game get away from them.”

Ah, yes. There it is.

Western Illinois is just a good team, said SDSU head coach Scott Nagy. He’s right. Summit Leaguers like to stress WIU’s defense but they are good on offense and have pretty talented players like Ceola Clark III and Terrell Parks underneath the hoop.

Nagy said he stressed that the Feb. 16 game wasn’t the conference championship but I wouldn’t be surprised if the ‘Necks and Jacks play for the title March 12 in Sioux Falls. That’s my pick for now.
We are two weeks away from knowing the seeds but it’s hard not to look ahead. So, as for the rest of the tournament …

North Dakota State is a confusing bunch right now. They posted 36 points against Western in a loss but have effectively defeated everyone else they’ve needed to beat and convincingly. They have a defensive style that is similar to WIU and can effectively stop teams. I can’t get away from the fact that they have been an early out from the tournament in the last three seasons. The X-factor remains to be Marshall Bjorklund, who still leads the country in field goal percentage but the Jackrabbits and Leathernecks have effectively shut him down in the two most recents meetings. He had four points on five shots against Western and four points against SDSU in late January. Since scoring 23 points against USD Jan. 3 (a game where he shot 11/13 from the field), he’s had nearly as many games in single-digits scoring (5) as he has in double digits (7). Maybe Taylor Braun is the difference but Drue and I agree that the problems seem to go further than the return of Braun.

Oakland is certainly capable of winning the tournament but there’s a few things standing in their way: 1. They don’t exactly play great defense. That’s not new. 2. They are far too reliant on Travis Bader and their three-point shooting.

This is actually the big one. Oakland has good players, including Corey Petros underneath the basket but I don’t feel like they have been utilized as much as possible. Considering Drew Valentine’s profile two seasons ago in the Summit League, he has been as quiet as anyone as a junior or senior. As Bader goes, so go the Grizz.

Depending on crowd turnout, USD could be a semifinal candidate and for sheer interest and atmosphere’s-sake, I hope they are in the final four. Say what you will about the Coyotes (and as a student at the Brookings school, I hear plenty of people say bad things about them), it would be great to have them win a game at the tournament. That would increase interest in the 2014 tournament, in my opinion and show the red fans what the event is really about.

I would also laugh if Kansas City makes a run for the finals, considering they are leaving the league for a trash heap and it would show that they can win in the conference. They’ll be out right away, though. It’s a bad year for Omaha to be out. They would be in the 4/5 game if they were eligible.

Defense

Our friend Travis Kriens always digs up the stats. He says the Jacks have been giving up 65.1 points per game, the lowest average since 1984-85, when the Jackrabbits allowed 64.4 PPG. Over the last 58 seasons of SDSU basketball, it is the second-lowest PPG allowed season average.
He says the defense story hasn’t received the coverage it should, so here’s some coverage, Travis.

The cash cow is going dry

The days of Jackrabbits sacking Nebraska quarterbacks could be numbered.

If you have been closely watching the tea leaves of college football, I guess you could figure this day was coming.

On Tuesday, Wisconsin athletic director and Rose Bowl football coach moonlighter Barry Alvarez said the Big Ten Conference has decided to stop scheduling FCS football games. Closer to home, North Dakota State athletic director Gene Taylor said he knows not every athletic director in the Big Ten is fully aboard.

A lot of teams have a bunch of FCS games scheduled out for the next five seasons or so. You can check out the Missouri Valley's list on the right side of this page or click here.

With the addition of Maryland and Rutgers and the near inevitability of the conference to go to nine or 10 games of Big Ten play, we should not be surprised by this move.

The games are somewhat beneficial for Big Ten teams because they provide an extra home game and a 98 percent chance of winning. What more do you want, Purdue?

But the reality is that outside of die-hard fans of the Wolverines and Hawkeyes and the fans of the FCS schools playing in the game, nobody cares about these games. Everyone is always complaining about how every SEC team plays an inept SWAC team in early November and it's not because people don't like Alabama State, another great institution of higher education in America. It's because Alabama State sucks. (Tavaris Jackson too.)

At the same time, there is a good reason why the games are played from the FCS end. These games are often times a serious way for schools to fund their athletic programs. Savannah State made $860,000 last year to get its proverbial butts kicked at Florida State and Oklahoma State. That can be worth it, if it pays for tennis, soccer and softball. Missouri State has been known to come out well financially from these games and perennial power Northern Iowa played at Iowa and Wisconsin last year to help the bottomline.

If you win, even better. We all know about Appalachian State because of their ability to knock off Michigan in the Big House to open the 2007 season. North Dakota State has regularly won these games but that's not the norm. SDSU's 13-10 loss at Minnesota in 2009 and 17-3 loss at Nebraska in 2010 represents the good in the recent "money games." They don't celebrate the 55-0 rear kicking at Illinois in 2011 and for good reason.

Plus, the games provide some much needed visibility for recruiting and otherwise. South Dakota has played at Central Florida, Air Force and Northwestern in recent years and those three states -- Florida, Colorado and Illinois -- have high school talent that the Coyotes would love to have. The same can be said for when Montana opened the season at Tennessee in 2011. That's tremendous visibility, both nationally and for local recruits to connect the team on the field with the colorful stationary that pops up in their mailboxes every day.

This post at footballscoop.com raises some pretty good points in favor of FCS but I think there's a chance the lower-level schools benefit some from this. Because there will be no incentive to pay D-II or NAIA schools to come play, it could force teams to play other FCS teams, which can only help for competition and selections come playoff time. For SDSU, it might open up more teams that could come up to Brookings for a September game, much like UC Davis last year.

Speaking of the Jackrabbits, they could get some money out of Minnesota if the Gophers and the Big Ten have to buy out their scheduled opponents past 2016, which is believed to be the start date of this new policy. I would rather see the two teams on the field but I guess that can't be the case.

What I do know is this: The large schools usually get what they want and the SEC has some pull. I could see those teams playing FCS opponents going forward because their conference is so good. The Big Ten doesn't always have that particular luxury. They're going to need better non-conference scheduling to make the new playoff system. In that instance, they can't afford to play the Indiana Teachers Colleges of the world.

If the Big Ten is out, that's bad news for the Missouri Valley Football Conference and more importantly, its school's budgets.