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SDSU fans readily admit NDSU has an enviable winning tradition in football. But how many know the history: when did NDSU's traditition start? Where was SDSU when NDSU rose to the top? Here's a little history (for those who apparently have nothing better to do with their time! 
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SDSU and NDSU have played 95 football games with the first game played in 1903. NDSU has a significant win advantage: 51 wins to SDSU’s 39 wins. There have been five ties. But since 1903, the fortunes of the two teams were not always NDSU on top. In fact, for much of the first 61 years in the series – taking us through the 1963 season, SDSU was the better team. I submit that the 1963 and 1964 seasons were the turning points for NDSU and SDSU. I also submit that the past five years, particularly the past two years, may signal another shift in football fortunes, equal to that which happened in 1963-64. At the very least, if not a shift, then perhaps a balance is being achieved.
To understand my point, one should go back to 1963 and a critical event in NDSU athletics: the hiring of the great Darrell Mudra.
As noted on GoBison.com, NDSU’s football fortunes changed dramatically with the hiring of Mudra in 1963. The prior season, 1962, had been ten-loss, no-win disaster and NDSU’s administration and alumni were resolved to build a winning football program. Mudra’s 1963 campaign ended 3-5-1. Then he worked his magic with a 10-1 record in 1964 and, in 1965, a flawless 11-0 record and the national NCAA College-Division title.
Mudra coached just three seasons for the Bison, hardly enough time to recruit his own guys. His combined three-year record: 24-6-1, an outstanding accomplishment considering he notched only three wins his first season. Mudra went on to coach at a total of eight institutions at all levels, compiling a win-loss-tie record of 207 – 88 – 4 over the course of 27 years, earning the nickname “Dr. Victory”. NDSU elected Mudra to its Hall of Fame in 1989.
By the time Mudra left NDSU, NDSU believed it was a football school. In three years – actually two years (1964 and 1965) -- Mudra set the tone for what we still see today in Bison football. The attitude of its fans, never willing to accept anything but a perfect season (sometimes to the point of appearing unreasonable to others), was created in the Mudra era. Before Mudra, NDSU was mediocre at best and often found itself in the bottom half of the NCC.
After Mudra, other great coaches took the helm at NDSU, along with some not-so-successful. Those less successful were viewed as the problem, the Bison faithful knowing full-well that the only thing wrong with Bison football was the darned coach. ‘Get rid of the coach so we can get back to chasing national championships’ was the attitude – an exaggeration to be sure but there was a certain swagger and, I think, some lessons to be learned about positive thinking.
Mudra’s first season at NDSU was also a turning point of sorts for SDSU. In 1963, SDSU beat NDSU, as it had in 1962. The 1962 and 1963 seasons are notable because 1962 was the last time SDSU would win in Fargo until 2008. The 1962 and 1963 seasons were the last time SDSU beat NDSU two years in a row until: 2007-2008. SDSU was the NCC champ, either outright or shared, in 1961, 1962 and 1963.
When Mudra came to NDSU, SDSU’s great gentleman coach, Ralph Ginn, started to struggle. After being at the top of the conference, Ginn had a series of losing records until he hung it up following the 1968 season. Those records include: 1964, 2-8; 1965, 1-8-1; 1966, 3-7; 1967, 4-6 and 1968, 4-6.
While 1963 was the year in which NDSU planted the seeds for its long run as one of the better programs in what was at first, NCAA College Division, and later, NCAA Division II, it was also the last year for SDSU’s consistency as a very good football school. The 1963 season was the last football conference championship until 2007 when SDSU won the Great West Football Conference title.
There were some good seasons for the Jackrabbits in the decades following 1963 (for purposes of illustration and not limitation, consider the following examples: John Gregory’s 1979 appearance in the Division II playoffs; or some Mike Daly-coached teams which on a good day could give just about anybody a run for their money) but it was difficult for the Jackrabbits to earn the accolade “outstanding”, let alone put together two or more outstanding seasons in a row.
I noted earlier the significant NDSU advantage in the SDSU series win-loss-tie record: 51-39-5. If we use 1963 as a pivotal season, how do the years 1963 and earlier compare to the post-1963 seasons? For the series since 1963, that is, starting with 1964, NDSU has dominated SDSU with NDSU claiming 35 wins to SDSU’s 5. So, that means that from the start of the series through the 1963 season, SDSU was dominant, winning 34 contests to NDSU’s 16, with the teams tying five times.
There are events, coaches, players, injuries, maybe facilities and likely countless other factors that have an impact on what, over time, we sometimes call tradition. Since Darrell Mudra coached the Bison, the Bison have had a great winning tradition. They did not always win but usually they did. And they ALWAYS expected to win.
The Bison won the first game against the Jackrabbits in 1903, 85-0. But, in those first 61 years of the series, from 1903 through 1963, SDSU had a great winning tradition over the Bison. The Bison had no real winning tradition in football until Mudra took over. Remarkably, they’ve held that winning tradition for the past 45 years! Sure, there have been a few down years but they are the exception, not the rule.
A tradition of winning, just like a tradition of losing, is always at risk for ending. The Bison’s tradition of sub-par football ended quickly when Coach Mudra stepped on the Fargo campus. SDSU’s tradition of consistent winning seasons and routinely competing for NCC titles, ended just as quickly in 1963.
In the past five years, SDSU is a program on the move and that move is unmistakably in one direction. Opponents who fail to respect the Jackrabbits have often learned a hard lesson (that’s not very profound: any team failing to respect any opponent often learns a hard lesson).
NDSU caught lightning in a bottle when Darrell Mudra put on green and yellow. Today, SDSU has caught on to something – it’s not the instant change Mudra caused but it has been, nonetheless, a relatively rapid improvement in just five years since the Jackrabbits moved to D-I. It’s a slower, building process that is producing remarkable results and, importantly, has set the stage for better things in the future.
SDSU’s success is not necessarily at the expense of NDSU. Two top programs can exist in the same conference. And I think they will.
SDSU’s relatively fast path to success in our ‘modern era’ of DI football is akin to constructing a strong foundation for a building -- it insures stability and success in the future. We’re now in position to attract top recruits. Facilities are in transition and for those who are impressed by a new building, we can start showing the plans for the future with cement being poured as these words are being read. Today’s outstanding high school athletes want to have a shot at playing time, playing for something, and being a winner. SDSU delivers all three.
1963: the end of an era for SDSU and the start of one for NDSU. 2004-2008: the start of a new era for SDSU.
)SDSU and NDSU have played 95 football games with the first game played in 1903. NDSU has a significant win advantage: 51 wins to SDSU’s 39 wins. There have been five ties. But since 1903, the fortunes of the two teams were not always NDSU on top. In fact, for much of the first 61 years in the series – taking us through the 1963 season, SDSU was the better team. I submit that the 1963 and 1964 seasons were the turning points for NDSU and SDSU. I also submit that the past five years, particularly the past two years, may signal another shift in football fortunes, equal to that which happened in 1963-64. At the very least, if not a shift, then perhaps a balance is being achieved.
To understand my point, one should go back to 1963 and a critical event in NDSU athletics: the hiring of the great Darrell Mudra.
As noted on GoBison.com, NDSU’s football fortunes changed dramatically with the hiring of Mudra in 1963. The prior season, 1962, had been ten-loss, no-win disaster and NDSU’s administration and alumni were resolved to build a winning football program. Mudra’s 1963 campaign ended 3-5-1. Then he worked his magic with a 10-1 record in 1964 and, in 1965, a flawless 11-0 record and the national NCAA College-Division title.
Mudra coached just three seasons for the Bison, hardly enough time to recruit his own guys. His combined three-year record: 24-6-1, an outstanding accomplishment considering he notched only three wins his first season. Mudra went on to coach at a total of eight institutions at all levels, compiling a win-loss-tie record of 207 – 88 – 4 over the course of 27 years, earning the nickname “Dr. Victory”. NDSU elected Mudra to its Hall of Fame in 1989.
By the time Mudra left NDSU, NDSU believed it was a football school. In three years – actually two years (1964 and 1965) -- Mudra set the tone for what we still see today in Bison football. The attitude of its fans, never willing to accept anything but a perfect season (sometimes to the point of appearing unreasonable to others), was created in the Mudra era. Before Mudra, NDSU was mediocre at best and often found itself in the bottom half of the NCC.
After Mudra, other great coaches took the helm at NDSU, along with some not-so-successful. Those less successful were viewed as the problem, the Bison faithful knowing full-well that the only thing wrong with Bison football was the darned coach. ‘Get rid of the coach so we can get back to chasing national championships’ was the attitude – an exaggeration to be sure but there was a certain swagger and, I think, some lessons to be learned about positive thinking.
Mudra’s first season at NDSU was also a turning point of sorts for SDSU. In 1963, SDSU beat NDSU, as it had in 1962. The 1962 and 1963 seasons are notable because 1962 was the last time SDSU would win in Fargo until 2008. The 1962 and 1963 seasons were the last time SDSU beat NDSU two years in a row until: 2007-2008. SDSU was the NCC champ, either outright or shared, in 1961, 1962 and 1963.
When Mudra came to NDSU, SDSU’s great gentleman coach, Ralph Ginn, started to struggle. After being at the top of the conference, Ginn had a series of losing records until he hung it up following the 1968 season. Those records include: 1964, 2-8; 1965, 1-8-1; 1966, 3-7; 1967, 4-6 and 1968, 4-6.
While 1963 was the year in which NDSU planted the seeds for its long run as one of the better programs in what was at first, NCAA College Division, and later, NCAA Division II, it was also the last year for SDSU’s consistency as a very good football school. The 1963 season was the last football conference championship until 2007 when SDSU won the Great West Football Conference title.
There were some good seasons for the Jackrabbits in the decades following 1963 (for purposes of illustration and not limitation, consider the following examples: John Gregory’s 1979 appearance in the Division II playoffs; or some Mike Daly-coached teams which on a good day could give just about anybody a run for their money) but it was difficult for the Jackrabbits to earn the accolade “outstanding”, let alone put together two or more outstanding seasons in a row.
I noted earlier the significant NDSU advantage in the SDSU series win-loss-tie record: 51-39-5. If we use 1963 as a pivotal season, how do the years 1963 and earlier compare to the post-1963 seasons? For the series since 1963, that is, starting with 1964, NDSU has dominated SDSU with NDSU claiming 35 wins to SDSU’s 5. So, that means that from the start of the series through the 1963 season, SDSU was dominant, winning 34 contests to NDSU’s 16, with the teams tying five times.
There are events, coaches, players, injuries, maybe facilities and likely countless other factors that have an impact on what, over time, we sometimes call tradition. Since Darrell Mudra coached the Bison, the Bison have had a great winning tradition. They did not always win but usually they did. And they ALWAYS expected to win.
The Bison won the first game against the Jackrabbits in 1903, 85-0. But, in those first 61 years of the series, from 1903 through 1963, SDSU had a great winning tradition over the Bison. The Bison had no real winning tradition in football until Mudra took over. Remarkably, they’ve held that winning tradition for the past 45 years! Sure, there have been a few down years but they are the exception, not the rule.
A tradition of winning, just like a tradition of losing, is always at risk for ending. The Bison’s tradition of sub-par football ended quickly when Coach Mudra stepped on the Fargo campus. SDSU’s tradition of consistent winning seasons and routinely competing for NCC titles, ended just as quickly in 1963.
In the past five years, SDSU is a program on the move and that move is unmistakably in one direction. Opponents who fail to respect the Jackrabbits have often learned a hard lesson (that’s not very profound: any team failing to respect any opponent often learns a hard lesson).
NDSU caught lightning in a bottle when Darrell Mudra put on green and yellow. Today, SDSU has caught on to something – it’s not the instant change Mudra caused but it has been, nonetheless, a relatively rapid improvement in just five years since the Jackrabbits moved to D-I. It’s a slower, building process that is producing remarkable results and, importantly, has set the stage for better things in the future.
SDSU’s success is not necessarily at the expense of NDSU. Two top programs can exist in the same conference. And I think they will.
SDSU’s relatively fast path to success in our ‘modern era’ of DI football is akin to constructing a strong foundation for a building -- it insures stability and success in the future. We’re now in position to attract top recruits. Facilities are in transition and for those who are impressed by a new building, we can start showing the plans for the future with cement being poured as these words are being read. Today’s outstanding high school athletes want to have a shot at playing time, playing for something, and being a winner. SDSU delivers all three.
1963: the end of an era for SDSU and the start of one for NDSU. 2004-2008: the start of a new era for SDSU.
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