In the interest of full disclosure, I am a student at NDSU.  I can’t be, and won’t be, objective.

There are lots of rivalries in college sports that are legitimate.  Michigan / Ohio State.  Texas / Oklahoma.  North Carolina / Duke.  USC students hate UCLA so much that they are known to tie stuffed bears to rope and drag them around campus. 

However, in all of these rivalries, the teams actually PLAY AGAINST EACH OTHER.

The North Dakota State University and University of North Dakota rivalry is now such that they won’t play each other except for in a handful of minor sports.

How does such a thing happen? 

This is a rivalry that dates back to the 1890s.  This was the longest running division II college football rivalry in the nation.  There is real history, and very real bad blood, between these two schools. 

So what exactly made these schools turn away from each other?  Well, let us start with some background.

For as long as there had been sports at these proud universities, they had always been division II.  Eventually, as the years passed, UND became famous for their hockey program, which moved up to division I sports.  NDSU didn’t even have a hockey team.  This didn’t matter to NDSU, but UND always considered it a huge step over NDSU.

You see, UND was the larger school.  It was the richer school.  Every year they had more students, more money.  That was part of the charm of the rivalry:  it was the preppies up north vs. the ag school down south.  Doctors vs. Farmers. 

Though UND was bigger, NDSU did have their fair share or successes.  Division II National Football Titles were won many times.  Even then, though, it was only division II, and UND was winning division I hockey titles.

The UND Fighting Sioux and the NDSU Bison were huge rivals in football and basketball.  As the 80s closed and the 90s wore on, UND appeared to show it’s dominance in both sports.  NDSU just wasn’t having much success.  No playoff game had been played in Fargo for a long time.

Then came the year 1999.  Division II sports were dying.  Not only were more teams leaving (either up or down a division), but the quality of players was also dropping.  Ticket sales for these games were down.  Only NDSU vs. UND was drawing a crowd.  Something had to be done.

It was that year that NDSU looked into moving up to division I in all sports.  It was that year that many figured UND would do the same.  It was that year that the hatred and pettiness went up to another level.

There were questions on all fronts.  Moving up a division was going to be a huge financial investment.  More scholarships would be needed, better facilities would be built, higher standards all around.  Could NDSU afford this?  Could Fargo offer enough support?  Not only that, but by moving up, NDSU would be leaving a comfortable spot at the upper end of division II sports.  Is it worth risking being at the bottom of the barrel at the next level?

Then came the other side.  Division II is rotting, we can’t afford to NOT move up.  The investment must be made, but over time the move will offer more money for the university than ever before.  High risk, but high reward.

UND, however, was skeptical.  The more NDSU leaned toward going up, UND wanted to stay right where they were.  Division II was the place for them.  The risk was too great.  UND President Charles Kupchella and Athletic Director Roger Thomas saw a move up as a huge mistake. 

By 2001, NDSU President Joseph Chapman and new Athletic Director Gene Taylor were seriously considering moving up.  By 2002, it was pretty much official.  UND wouldn’t make the jump with them, so they found another partner, South Dakota State University, who was having a similar argument with their rival school, the University of South Dakota (SDSU and USD, respectively). 

Now, so far, it would seem that I am remaining fairly unbiased.  That is because, up to this point, everything I have put here is pretty much fact.  There is no denying how these events went down.  It is at about this point, though, that the rivalry got incredibly ugly, and sides were taken.

NDSU announced that they were leaving the division II NCC (North Central Conference) for division I.  However, they announced that they would be delaying their reclassification period to 2003 to give some of the other NCC schools time to jump with them, should they so choose. 

This was a generous move on NDSU’s part.  Reclassification is a process that takes five years.  What this means is that during this five year transitional period, no team is eligible for any playoff or postseason play.  Teams also use this time to build up to the required 63 scholarships for football, as opposed to the 36 in division II.  This is a long time for fans to wait, and NDSU was willing to extend this an extra year for the benefit of their rivals.

UND stated that they would not be pressured into jumping up.

The rivalry games were in serious jeopardy at this point.  A division I NDSU vs. a division II UND started looking like something that wasn’t going to happen.  It made little sense for NDSU to play UND at that point, since a victory over a lower division team meant nothing, and a loss would be catastrophic.  For UND, losing to a higher division team would hardly affect their standing since it would be expected, but a win would be a great boon, in theory.

Despite the fact that NDSU had nothing to gain and everything to lose by playing UND, they reached out and tried to make it work.  Both sides claimed they wanted the games to continue, but it is hard to believe UND was sincere. 

UND has a history of undermining NDSU.  UND’s School of Medicine has tried to prevent a family practice residency program from being reestablished in Fargo.  They’ve tried to stop NDSU from getting new Ph. D programs by claiming “program duplication.”  They established a UND Center in Fargo to improve enrollment.  This incredibly petty turf war UND was waging made it almost impossible to believe they would be honest about this.

It was common knowledge that Roger Thomas had a hatred for all things division I.  It was common knowledge that UND wanted to see NDSU fail and lose money by moving up.  It was common knowledge that UND wanted NDSU to crawl back down, humbled and humiliated, and beg to be taken back by the NCC.

UND continued to make excuses.  They cited the scholarship difference the two schools would have, and said it would be an unfair game.  However, they did agree to games in 2003 and 2004, when the scholarship difference wouldn’t be as large. 

UND did have one argument in their favor, but it was only halfway valid.  The way the NCC scoring system is set up, UND would actually gain MORE points by beating a team in their division and in their region of the country than if they beat a team in a higher division.  Essentially, they get more points for thrashing no-name schools like Minnesota-Crookston than by trying to get higher profile wins.

The problem with this is that they would still get points for a victory over NDSU, and it would only be one game.  They could easily just dump a game against a division III team, which would also be worth almost nothing.  They also just didn’t notice the fact that NDSU was willing to give up a game against a team at their level to play them, which wouldn’t help NDSU at all.  In addition, NDSU vs. UND sells out in Fargo and in Grand Forks, the only non-hockey game UND sells out every time.  It is guaranteed money.

Oh, how guaranteed it was.  The 2003 football game came along, played in Grand Forks.  UND, in a cute little move, decides that hey, this is a division I team we are playing now.  Therefore, let’s up the ticket prices to match that.  For that game only, tickets went from a normal $16.50 up to $27.50.  UND said it was to offset rising tuition costs.  Yes, they actually said that.  One game was going to offset tuition costs.  I, and most everyone else, preferred to call it “price gouging.”

It became more heated from UND.  Basketball coach Rich Glas was particularly against playing NDSU.  He ended the men’s and women’s basketball games in late 2003, again citing the scholarship difference and the NCC scoring rules.  NDSU officials found out about this through the newspaper rather than by being contacted directly.

Fans were outraged at the thought of this storied sports rivalry coming to an end.  There was actually a movement started that tried to get the North Dakota legislature to step in and make them play each other.  Thankfully, this was laughed out of session.  I mean, really, getting the state to make them play?

Early 2004 saw another sign of UND’s immaturity.  The Bison and the Sioux had always battled for the Nickel Trophy in football, with the winning team keeping the trophy for the year.  With the game coming to an obvious end, NDSU’s Blue Key Honor Society offered to decide the fate of the trophy each year with a fund-raising challenge, which would go to charity.  UND, who currently held the trophy, declined.

With, as the paper claimed, “the Nickel out of circulation,” NDSU got together with SDSU and decided to start a new legacy.  The Dakota Marker trophy was created for these schools to fight over.  Many people balked at this move, claiming that you can’t just create a rivalry, especially when there was really no hatred at all. 

Late 2004 gave us information that UND was starting to look over the facts of going division I again.  President Kupchella wrote a letter to several that was quite revealing, stating that pride and emotion can override logic, and that he hates the idea of NDSU making headway over UND. 

Then came 2005, a major turning point.  Roger Thomas got something he probably always wanted.  As someone who has been a staunch supporter of division II football, he was offered the job of President of the North Central Conference.  Of course he took it.  UND needed a new athletic director, and eventually settled on Tom Buning, an assistant AD at Army. 

Just as a side note, because this of course has no relevance whatsoever in any complications that came later, NDSU’s AD Gene Taylor was an assistant at Navy.

Buning came into the situation with no agenda.  He went to UND, looked at the situation, and said to everyone, “Hey, why are we not division I?  And why aren’t we playing this team down south?  I mean, they’re 90 minutes away, we should be playing them.”  Buning encouraged all UND coaches to schedule NDSU. 

Taylor, and the rest of NDSU, declined.

Oh, how sweet it was.  We tried, UND, we really tried.  You’re the ones who made the choice.  Now deal with the consequences.  UND was nothing but rude and undermining, and now NDSU, tired of acting professionally, throws it right back.  It was about time.  

UND tried to play it both ways.  First, they painted NDSU as the bad guys for leaving the NCC and forcing them to end the rivalry.  Now, they paint NDSU as the bad guys for not accepting starting up the rivalry again.  But TAYLOR DID NOT BITE.  He deserves so much credit for that.  The public knew this was a big mindfuck from up north, and the public will support you, Gene. 

Instead, Taylor came out with statements saying that NDSU has so much going on right now, that it doesn’t help the Bison’s standing (despite the fact that they can’t make the playoffs anyway), and that it wouldn’t be fair to UND with the scholarship difference.  Just classic stuff.

2006 led to UND announcing the move to division I.  Led by AD Buning, they finally realized that they had to do it.  NDSU claims a game is still years down the road, if at all. 

I’d like to point out now how ludicrous it is that UND didn’t jump with us just based on the fact that THEY HAD BETTER TEAMS ALL AROUND.  When NDSU decided to move up, UND had superior teams in just about everything except women’s basketball and wrestling.  THEY WERE BETTER.  THEY COULD HAVE COMPETED ON THE SAME LEVEL.

Which just underscores what happened in the 2006-2007 seasons.  NDSU football went 10-1, with that one loss being to the Minnesota Golden Gophers by 3 points.  Their only loss of the season was to a BIG TEN SCHOOL BY A FIELD GOAL.  Not only that, but the men’s basketball team got a ton of national coverage by defeating the then ranked #3 in the nation Wisconsin Badgers IN THEIR HOUSE.  The Fargodome and the Bison Sports Arena were selling out left and right.  NDSU had the hottest ticked in town.  Money was practically being minted on campus as donations were flooding in. 

This success and coverage lead to NDSU surpassing UND in research grants.  NDSU also, for the first time that I can recall, practically matched UND in new students.

In 2007 UND had to replace President Kupchella, who planned to leave in 2008.  They decided on Robert Kelley, a dean from University of Wyoming.  The hope is that this new regime can mend fences with NDSU’s President Chapman, who obviously clashed with Kupchella on many occasions.

2007 also gave us signs that Buning and UND were not getting along.  He complained about not being given the tools to go up to division I.  He was understaffed and his department was in debt, yet he was the one being hung out to dry in the court of public opinion.  This does not even touch the fact that UND and local tribes have been fighting over the Fighting Sioux name for the teams.  UND just wasn’t supporting Buning, and he was getting tired of it.  He resigned in November.

The 2007-2008 seasons for NDSU was huge yet again.  NDSU football again went 10-1, this time BEATING the Minnesota Golden Gophers quite handily.  Minnesota has since refused to play NDSU in the foreseeable future.  The only loss came in the last game of the season to SDSU in their house.

I was at that game.  For those of you out there who say this is a made-up rivalry between NDSU and SDSU, I’ll tell you this.  This new rivalry isn’t one of hatred.  This is a fun, friendly rivalry.  We jumped up with them, and we are connected to them.  They have a good program with awesome fans and a great outdoor field.  That game and those fans were fun, despite the fact that we lost.  We heckled each other, but we were laughing the whole time.  I guess maybe that makes this an artificial rivalry to some.  I guess I just don’t care about that because, bottom line, SDSU and their fans are FUN TO PLAY.  I look forward to this game every year now, and so should you.  We should be friends with SDSU, and this rivalry should be friendly, because we took the leap together.  Just enjoy it, because we are evenly matched and will continue to have close, exciting games.

NDSU men’s basketball again made national news by taking down Marquette.  Again, huge.

April of 2008 gave us a stroke of genius.  The video below was denounced by both UND and NDSU.  As far as I know, the creator(s) have not stepped forward, but I take my hat off to them.

April also saw UND get yet another athletic director, Brian Faison, who had division I experience with New Mexico State, Indiana State, Louisville, and Illinois State.  Maybe he can deal with crap UND will throw at him, or maybe new President Kelley will help him out.

That brings us to present day.  NDSU has now completed the 5 year waiting period and can make the playoffs.  UND is still waiting it out, making changes to facilities, academics, and scholarships to catch up. 

Many people hope that with the changing of the UND guard that the rivalry will be reignited.  I think it will.  We will play again someday.

I wish we wouldn’t.  That’s my opinion.  I hate what UND did.  Not just the sports stuff, but that they tried to hurt NDSU academically for all those years.  That just pisses me off so much.  I HATE UND.

And that, my friends, is a rivalry.

And that is why, when we do finally play again, it will be brutal.

StretPharmacist is a lot like the Undertaker:  A gimmick that should have never gotten over, but was taken to unbelievable heights.  Also, he is constantly injured.