NDSU Football Fans Grow More Delusional with Every JV Championship They Win

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AMES, IA - AUGUST 30: North Dakota Bison fans cheer on their team in the second half of play against the Iowa State Cyclones at Jack Trice Stadium on August 30, 2014 in Ames, Iowa. North Dakota State defeated Iowa State 34-14. (Photo by David Purdy/Getty Images)

I took the weekend off from blogging because I finished up an ad deal on Friday night, that goes live today… and I’d rather get paid to do this starting Monday than do it for free over the weekend, so I took a break. But Twitter Eric never sleeps, and this weekend was no different. Most people claim they hate Twitter. Well if they do, they’re wrong. Behind MinnesotaSportsFan.com, Twitter is the greatest place on the internet (that I’m willing to admit in something my mom might read).

Ok… I know… this type of delusion looks bad for NDSU fans but let’s try to see things through their eyes…

What North Dakota State University did when they first hit the D-I scene in 2004, was impressive to say the least. Hell, the now legendary Craig Bohl took over the program just one year earlier and it had been 13 years since they last won a D-II National Championship (1990 – won DII titles from ’83-90). You have to respect a football program that’s willing to step up to the next level like that.  By 2006 though, Bohl’s genius was showing early. NDSU finished 10-1 to win the “Great West Conference” Championship and prepared for a move into the “Gateway Conference”, with South Dakota State for 2007 and beyond (The Gateway Conference became the Missouri Valley Conference in June 2008).

The Bison made their FCS Playoff debut in 2010 as a 16-seed, just 6 years after making the jump to D-I FCS… and they’ve never left. The next year (2011), they won their first FCS National Title, then again in 2012, and again in 2013, and 2o14, and 2015… 2016’s team sucked and only made it to the FCS semifinals, before losing to James Madison… but they picked up again in 2017, winning it all that season, then again in 2018, and just recently… in 2019 as well.

In case you lost count, here are their FCS Playoff Results in list form (since 2010):

Overall, the bison are a ridiculous 36-2 in FCS Playoff games all-time, with EIGHT FCS National Championships.

North Dakota State University Bison football fans are my new favorite group of people… because their delusion goes beyond any I’ve ever witnessed. It’s astonishing and impressive. I’ve had my Twitter fights with Iowa fans, Nebraska fans, and family-friendly Wisconsin fans. That’s before you even leave the CFB world and run into Yankee or Packer fans on the internet… but I’m pretty sure the NDSU faithful take the cake, as the dumbest represented on the World Wide Web.

I really believe these Bison fans think their 2-star athletes suddenly become 5-stars, when they arrive on campus. You step into the locker room, and coaches get to move all of your attributes to 99 just like you’re editing a player in Madden. What they don’t realize, is that they’re actually just playing Madden on the “Rookie” difficulty level.

For those who live under a rock, EA’s Madden NFL Football has been the only football video game to buy since the mid-2000’s when they received exclusive rights to NFL players and logs. The lowest difficulty level you can play on Madden is “Rookie”, where the CPU you’re playing against can be compared to wet paper bags floating around the field.

That’s what North Dakota State University is doing. They go and get all of the kids around the midwest, who couldn’t quite make the cut for the Gophers, Iowa, or Wisconsin. Some can make the cut with bigger schools, but would rather star for the Bison than have to struggle for playing time in the Big Ten. NDSU gets them all. Then, they take all of those hungry midwest kids, and they go beat the shit out of other small teams around the country.

There’s nothing wrong with that… You’re a small school too. Never apologize for winning…. unless you then win 8 of 9 National Championships and gamedays start to look a lot more like massacres, than competetive football games. In fact, it was time to start inquiring about moving up in competition, after winning 4 or 5 or 6 titles…. At what point do you feel guilty for not playing against better competition?

At what point do you say. ‘You know, we are way better than all of these other teams… I wonder if their is better competition out there…?’ If you then decide to remain on “Rookie” difficulty, wouldn’t you keep you mouth shut when talking to those who play at higher difficulties? If you are the best Junior Varsity team in the country, do you really lack the self-awareness to know you can’t compete with one of the top Varsity teams?

Look North Dakota State Bison fans, congratulations on your JV trophies… but here’s the thing:

You are still a little brother. The next time NDSU plays the Gophers, it will be a bigger game than the FCS National Title they will surely play in later that season. Playing the Gophers would be NDSU’s Super Bowl. You can tell just how much they cherish victories over even the worst Gopher teams of all time, by the tweets I received yesterday from their victories in 2007 and 2011. NDSU Fans and players would get up for another game at TCF Bank Stadium quicker than they have gotten up for any National Title game or ESPN appearance in the last 10 years….. and then, you’d lose…

…and the Gophers would turn around and look forward to an actual threat, like Ohio State, Wisconsin, Iowa, Penn State, Michigan, or even Nebraska… because any other football school that plays against the best possible competition week-in and week-out, would worry PJ Fleck & Co. more than your team, which beats up on JV teams every year.

Eric Strack | Minnesota Sports Fan

NDSU delusion was one of many topics tonight on MSF Daily – LIVE (streamed weekdays on YouTube):

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