MVFC Scheduling

[sealhall74]

I can't find the answer to this one so maybe someone here knows. How does the Valley determine what teams will take a two year hiatus from facing each other? Are there some pairs of teams that have guaranteed games every year (like Michigan and Ohio State) because of rivalry/other reasons? If yes, do we have guaranteed games with ISUr and SIU every year?

[letsgonecks]

Just did a real quick search and only found talk about this on anygivensunday's message board. Sounds like it simply rotates every 2 years and this keeps the match-ups home one year and away the next. Since there are 10 teams and they keep it an 8 game conference schedule, you don't have an odd game/team thrown in to throw off the home and home.

There was also mention that NDSU and SDSU will always be scheduled against eachother.

Again, this isn't 100%, just going off what I could find.

[tjbison]

I know NDSU will have SDSU, USD and UNI for sure every year

[wiu712]

Friday was Media Day for Western Football.
Story as seen on WGEM Sports with Ben Marth:
http://www.wgem.com/story/29739361/2015 ... pportunity

[Western_101]

Welcome TJBison. Active poster on Bisonville.com

[wrj]

Hello, a Jackrabbit fan here.

If I remember correctly, when the University of South Dakota was admitted to the conference, there were schools in the farthest east and south regions of the conference that had reasons not to travel to the Dakotas twice in one year, so it was agreed that the conference season would remain at eight games. If you watch the teams that do not play each other, it will generally involve a team from the Dakotas and a team far removed, geographically, from the Dakotas.

I am not an expert. I may be incorrect on this.

[wrj]

Hello, a Jackrabbit fan here.

If I remember correctly, when the University of South Dakota was admitted to the conference, there were schools in the farthest east and south regions of the conference that had reasons not to travel to the Dakotas twice in one year, so it was agreed that the conference season would remain at eight games. If you watch the teams that do not play each other, it will generally involve a team from the Dakotas and a team far removed, geographically, from the Dakotas.

I am not an expert. I may be incorrect on this.

The more I think about this, I realize it is mathematically impossible for me to be correct on this. There will have to be a couple of pairs of teams not playing that don't include a team from the Dakotas. But I think that geography generally will be a factor and that traditional rivalries will never take a year off.

I think, however, that I am correct that travel costs and logistics to the Dakotas was a major factor in limiting the conference portion of the schedule to 8 games and in determining which teams will not play each other in given years.

This begs the question for some of us in the northwest frontier of the conference, what traditional rivalries exist in the Valley?

[ST_Lawson]

Pretty sure you're right on that wrj. When the Dakota schools were brought in, it was agreed that travel would try to be minimized for the teams on the "outer reaches" of the conference.

As for traditional "rivalries", I think that there's a few:
UNI and SIU have a strong rivalry across most sports, due to being in the same conferences for all sports and both being fairly strong schools in many of the sports.
I think that the two ISU's have a similar situation, same conferences, also close proximity.
Western and Illinois State have something of a rivalry in football due to having played each other so often and for so long. If I remember correctly, there's only one year we haven't played them in football going back to 1923...this year will be the 97th meeting between us and them...also close proximity (~2 hours apart).

Not sure about who else has rivalries....seems like in general, the teams that are in both the MVFC and the MVC (UNI, ISUr, ISUb, MSU, SIU) have an extra "level" of rivalry beyond just a regular football-only conference-mate. And of course, the 4 main Dakota state schools have their own rivalries going back to the Div. II days (and before).

[sealhall74]

Hello, a Jackrabbit fan here.

If I remember correctly, when the University of South Dakota was admitted to the conference, there were schools in the farthest east and south regions of the conference that had reasons not to travel to the Dakotas twice in one year, so it was agreed that the conference season would remain at eight games. If you watch the teams that do not play each other, it will generally involve a team from the Dakotas and a team far removed, geographically, from the Dakotas.

I am not an expert. I may be incorrect on this.

The more I think about this, I realize it is mathematically impossible for me to be correct on this. There will have to be a couple of pairs of teams not playing that don't include a team from the Dakotas. But I think that geography generally will be a factor and that traditional rivalries will never take a year off.

I think, however, that I am correct that travel costs and logistics to the Dakotas was a major factor in limiting the conference portion of the schedule to 8 games and in determining which teams will not play each other in given years.

This begs the question for some of us in the northwest frontier of the conference, what traditional rivalries exist in the Valley?

I am not aware of any current "formal" (trophy-worthy) Valley rivalries this side of I35. ISUr and EIU have a long-standing thing going but that is not Valley. In fact, if we were not in the same conference with ISUr and SIU, we would probably see them in football about as often as we do in in basketball which is never. I am not sure either one even now qualifies as anything beyond the usual intra-state "my school is better than your school" kind of student thing. Attendance is a tad better when they do come to town, that is about it. Does increased attendance make for a rivalry? Not in my book. We need students pulling pranks on each other (stealing goats, etc.) to have rivalry.

[Tere North]

I'm not sure we want to promote "stealing goats." That begins to resemble hazing. Let's hope our students could come up with a little more amusing, but less potentially damaging means of showing their school spirit, while not hurting any goats or other critters.