They are playing right now on KSTP against James Madison in Frisco Texas for the National Title. Since 2010 only 2 teams have won the title. NDSU and James Madison. Pretty good game right now. NDSU leads 14-10.
Looks like snow on the field in Texas. 
National Champions again.
Time for Div I
It’s pretty crazy what they’ve accomplished there, especially thru like 3 or 4 different Head Coaches.
Time for Div I
They are DI FCS.
Roll Herd!!
That was some kind of game. They could have beat the Vikings!
Time for Div I
I’m assuming you mean a move from D1 FCS to D1 FBS. It could be done, but I don’t think they should or will.
1. Funding for scholarships – While NDSU has a very strong overall athletic department budget compared to most schools of their size, they still need to increase funding from 63 scholarships at the FCS level to 85 scholarships at the FBS level. I’m going to guess that at about $350,000/year.
2. Funding for travel – Right now NDSU can take the cheaper end of travel by at least bussing to a few games (SDSU, USD, UNI, UND). Moving to FBS and a new conference would require flying for all road games. You’d also be traveling with an increased roster size as well, more food, hotel rooms, etc.
3. Winning – Would you rather play in half empty stadiums on a Tuesday night in the MAC on ESPN, and make the Toilet Bowl in Detroit to play in front of 1,500 fans on a Thursday in mid-December for winning your non power 5 conference? Or work your butt off to be a National Champion through a playoff bracket?
4. Conferences to join – which would they join? They aren’t going to the Big 10. Would they be the top dog in the MAC? Yes. WAC? Up there. But now you are also going to have to move all of your sports out of the summit league to that conference, which again is an added travel expense because each sport you have is now losing their more local competition.
5. Title IX – adding 23 football scholarships is going to require adding more women sports or cutting a few men’s sports programs.
6. Revenue – One thing I am not familiar with is which FBS conferences have TV deals and the revenue generated from them. Potential that your worthless Tuesday night MAC game on ESPN is generating enough TV revenue for them.
FCS Football is a very quality type of football, especially the Missouri Valley Football Conference (it’s the SEC of the FCS). Any of the top 5-10 FCS teams could compete to win the non power 5 conferences.
FCS teams that have moved to FBS have almost become irrelevant. The exception would be Boise State, and a little more recently Appalachian State making a few bowl games and being ranked around 25th. Other programs like Western Kentucky, Georgia Southern, UMass, Coastal Carolina, etc. have gone from decent FCS team to almost unheard of now.
Well said mnrabbit. I’m an alum and I hear many fans eagerly stating after a championship that it’s time to move up, we can take on Ohio, Michigan, Alabama. Many of them of course do not know the facts as you have listed them. Your paragraph about the FCS teams that have gone to FBS lists some teams that NDSU has met in the FCS playoffs. NDSU fans should remain happily restrained about the team where it is. The tailgating at a home game is amazing and wonderful. A winning team insures that will contnue.
FYI The next game for NDSU is at this years Rose Bowl winner, OREGON.
Yes, to the real Div 1 (FBS) Of course any team dominating would fight it tooth and nail, for all of those reasons.
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