How Long Will It Take, For All South Dakotans?

[JBNJBQ]

To Embrace SDSU?

There is a Freshman Class at Vermillion that never played SDSU in football or either men's or women's basketball.

Next year there will be two classes (half the student body)

The next year there will be three classes.

The next year (4 years total) the whole school will wonder why the old alums cling to their old beliefs and past prejudices. They will want to support the states "big school." The one they wanted to play for but didn't get asked.

Ironically that will be about the time that we are eligible for the playoffs.

[filbert]

Re: How Long Will It Take, For All South Dakotans?

You'll always have the small hard core of USD/Augie/etc. boosters, but the causal fans will migrate towards SDSU as time goes on.

This last year was the most difficult year of the transition. The schedule (basketball, especially) was a weird mish-mash of D-I, -II, and NAIA schools, and we were basically trying to compete with D-I schools with D-II talent. (Some very good D-II talent, granted - see women's basketball or volleyball).

Next year, the athletic schedules will more fully reflect SDSU's changed status. South Dakota will begin to see a steady stream of recognizable names visiting Brookings (or Sioux Falls), not to mention some of the big-name road games we'll have.

All of it will just reinforce that SDSU isn't competing with any SD schools, but with Illinois, Montana, Alabama, and NDSU. High school students won't remember anything else, and they're the ones who go to college.

[Rodentia]

Re: How Long Will It Take, For All South Dakotans?

I don't think it will take long. For younger people old rivalries between SDSU and D-II schools are going to look like quaint bits of ancient trivia. It might take longer for older people, but eventually people will embrace SDSU as the state's D-I team, even if they are also fans of a D-II school.

I went to a Bemidji State football game this fall, and then drove home and watched the Gophers on TV, for example.