A couple weeks ago, the Argus Leader ran a story about South Dakota State Athletics. What a shock right? I look through the Argus and I don’t see an SDSU story in sports I have to pinch myself.
Anyways, in this story, Director of Athletics Fred Oien ran his mouth again about USD. What he had to say was his normal stupidity out of his mouth. He said that the reason SDSU doesn’t schedule USD for any sport is because USD cannot compete with SDSU.
Really? Where did Fred Oien pull that from? Is he still bitter that people said SDSU shouldn’t go Division I and most of that came from this area? Maybe he is still bitter about borrowing all of that money to save their athletic program this year after he said that everything was going GREAT!!!!!! in fund-raising. Oien even got the Argus to go along with his lie. Well once again he brought the Argus into it again.
Oien must have been out of his mind when he said that. Yeah USD has had its road woes this year but it is not like it is again bad teams. So we are playing top of the line competition in Division II and I know the score doesn’t reflect it, but we weren’t really overmatched against McNeese St in football.
The funny thing is that Oien can’t really use our road record against USD. All Oien has to do is look at his own football team. They are 2-4 right now and have yet to win on the road. How would they fare in the hostel environment of the DakotaDome again because right now hostel road teams seem to be taking it to the Jacks. Granted SDSU’s schedule is tough but they are 2-4.
USD’s offense is one of the best offenses in Division II so I think they could give SDSU a run for their money.
Now another thing Fred has to remember, his men’s basketball team is not good. It is going to STRUGGLE. Well, USD’s men’s basketball team was rated #1 by Sporting News. The only time SDSU’s basketball team will see a rating they will enjoy it will be the next rated R movie that they go to.
Even though it is club hockey, USD, which got pummeled by SDSU 13-3 last year, beat SDSU 5-3 this year. If our club hockey team can make the adjustments against the “ALMIGHTY SDSU,” why not our other sports?
Fred, I know SDSU is staying in Division I because of its women’s basketball program and even its volleyball program, but please start to open your eyes. realize that you should be scheduling USD in every sport possible because 1. you REALLY REALLY need the money that the rivalry will provide. Trust me, your science professors who you took the money from will appreciate it too. 2. It just makes sense to play your rival.
–Justin Rust
4 Comments
October 18, 2007 at 2:47 pm
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October 18, 2007 at 10:38 pm
I am one Jackrabbit fan who believes that the South Dakota State/USD rivalry will be renewed. But I have no knowledge or influence over when that will happen. I do have a bit of advice for you, though, on understanding how that might happen.
It has long been tradition that when two teams at different levels play that the lower level team travels to the upper level team’s home court or home field. Note that neither Central Arkansas or McNeese State came to Vermillion. NDSU played Minnesota last year in football and plays them again this year. Note that both games are at the University of Minnesota’s home field. Being in the same state doesn’t matter. When Youngstown State University plays Ohio State University the game is NOT in Youngstown. SDSU has a four year men’s basketball contract with the University of Minnesota. It isn’t two years in Minnesota and two years at South Dakota State. It isn’t even three years in Minnesota and one year at South Dakota State. It is all four years in Minnesota. Ask your own athletic administration if they have, during the South Dakota State transition to DI, ever declined an invitation to play South Dakota State in Brookings.
Also, know that it doesn’t end when the transition years are over. South Dakota State has a three year contract to play football against Delaware. The games in 2010 and 2011 are in Delaware and the third, and only game at South Dakota State, is in 2012.
South Dakota State isn’t being arrogant or strong-handed in not playing USD on a home and home basis. They are just following the traditions that other NCAA teams around the country follow, including USD when it travelled to the two Southland Conference football opponents these last two seasons. USD could get a lot further in re-establishing this grand old rivalry by showing a little humility and doing the same.
Oh yeah, don’t have the dome staff wearing shirts that say “buck the funnies” on the front and showing pornographic drawings on the back. It just pisses us off and makes us not want to play you that much more!
October 19, 2007 at 4:37 am
Just to refresh your obviously cloudy memory, no where in the Argus Leader article does Dr. Oien say USD cannot complete with SDSU. Here is an excerpt from that article that includes all the quotes from Dr. Oien (Link: http://www.argusleader.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20071004/NEWS/710040307):
Fred Oien, athletic director at SDSU, said several issues need to be resolved before planning a game here. SDSU, now moving to Division I athletics, has football set through 2010, he said. USD, just starting the jump to Division I, wouldn’t be in a position now to help the SDSU schedule, he said. “They will be someday,” Oien said.
“Seating could pose problem
A bigger issue is seating. SDSU drew 14,000 and 15,000 to its last two games in Brookings. Howard Wood fits 10,000. Oien can’t see temporary seating making up the difference. “I can’t imagine that there are 5,000 bleacher seats that are portable anywhere in our state, to be honest,” he said.
Unless I’m missing something, I don’t see anything in these quotes that can even be misinterpreted as him saying USD can’t compete with SDSU.
October 23, 2007 at 3:25 am
You are an idiot and you need to proof read your work. SDSU’s got plenty of money and you just need to stay in your bitter land and shut up.
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