St. Thomas' football opener as D1 canceled because of COVID-19 protocols at St. Francis (Ill.)

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BleedGopher

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per STrib:

The University of St. Thomas announced Thursday that its football opener against St. Francis (Ill.), which was scheduled for Sept. 4, has been cancelled because of COVID-19 protocols.

The COVID issue is on St. Francis' end, as St. Thomas said it is looking to reschedule another game for Sept. 4.

The Tommies, who are making the jump from Division III to Division I, are "searching for a replacement opponent to play at O'Shaughnessy Stadium on Sept. 4, or on a date later in the season," the St. Thomas news release said.

"Our players and coaches have a 100-percent vaccination rate as a team," St. Thomas athletic director Phil Esten said in the news release. "They continue to do everything they can to prepare and put themselves in a position to have a successful fall season. Coach Glenn Caruso continues stressing the importance of remaining physically and mentally ready to compete."

www.startribune.com

St. Thomas' football opener canceled because of COVID-19 protocols at St. Francis (Ill.)

The Tommies said they are looking to find another opponent to play Sept. 4, which was scheduled date for their first game as a Division I team.
www.startribune.com www.startribune.com

Go Gophers!!
 

NAIA school in the Chicagoland conference.

You'd think they could do better than that?
 



Kinda weird an Illinois team is the one with the issue, Illinois got hit early and had a lot of restrictions.


St Thomas requires the vaccine.....not St Francis?
 








I'm not sure if playing a NAIA school counts as "football opener as D1"
Like I could say "I'm a pro golfer" and have my buddy give me 10 bucks to go down and play the local mini golf course
 


Are they (UST) eligible for the FCS playoffs this year? I feel like there are at least a couple transition years involved.
 




Jordekorn said:
Morningside used to be 1AA.
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Morningside couldn't compete in the D2 NCC and moved to NAIA in 2000 or so. Pretty sure they were never D1. They'd give the Tommies a very competitive game. St. Francis IL, not so much.
 




FormerFatOL said:
Morningside couldn't compete in the D2 NCC and moved to NAIA in 2000 or so.
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This is correct. I don't know if they didn't offer scholarships or what their deal was, but they would get piss-pounded by the Dakota schools in the later years of the NCC.
 

SMPLSGopher said:
There's a 5 year transition period where they can't qualify for NCAA tournaments in any sports.
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I know this is true for recent move-ups from DII to DI-AA (Dakota schools).

There was supposed to be some very long (egregiously so) transition period for a DIII school trying to move to DI, but I thought they asked the NCAA for a waiver from that and got it.

So wasn't sure what their transition will end up being like.
 

MplsGopher said:
I know this is true for recent move-ups from DII to DI-AA (Dakota schools).

There was supposed to be some very long (egregiously so) transition period for a DIII school trying to move to DI, but I thought they asked the NCAA for a waiver from that and got it.

So wasn't sure what their transition will end up being like.
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It's supposed to be 7 years in D2 then 5 years in D1 until you can compete in NCAA championships (conference playoffs are allowed) or give the full slate of scholarships. They aren't giving scholarships since they're in the Pioneer League so that part is irrelevant, but I believe they're still held to the 5 year transition period for D1. PFL football is roughly equivalent to D3 though so the champ typically gets bounced first round so it's not a huge issue.

I imagine the hardest part of the transition period is recruiting these first couple years. How do you get someone to commit when there's no chance to compete for a championship no matter how slim?
 

SMPLSGopher said:
It's supposed to be 7 years in D2 then 5 years in D1 until you can compete in NCAA championships (conference playoffs are allowed) or give the full slate of scholarships. They aren't giving scholarships since they're in the Pioneer League so that part is irrelevant, but I believe they're still held to the 5 year transition period for D1. PFL football is roughly equivalent to D3 though so the champ typically gets bounced first round so it's not a huge issue.

I imagine the hardest part of the transition period is recruiting these first couple years. How do you get someone to commit when there's no chance to compete for a championship no matter how slim?
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You walk them around campus on a nice day and say do you want a 75% academic ride here or a half ride in Sioux Falls
 

The people in this state of Minnesota DO NOT give-a-rip about st.thomas. Honestly...don't they have their own message board to post crap regarding them?
 

harley_gopher said:
The people in this state of Minnesota DO NOT give-a-rip about st.thomas. Honestly...don't they have their own message board to post crap regarding them?
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I count 6 of the top 15 posts currently about Nebraska, I’m not sure why one about UST has you all riled up. People like to talk about college football, if it bothers you just move to the next thread.
 

harley_gopher said:
The people in this state of Minnesota DO NOT give-a-rip about st.thomas. Honestly...don't they have their own message board to post crap regarding them?
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The last time SJU and STU played there were around 35,000 fans at the game. Seems like a pretty good crowd.
 

harley_gopher said:
The people in this state of Minnesota DO NOT give-a-rip about st.thomas. Honestly...don't they have their own message board to post crap regarding them?
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Nice job bumping a thread you don’t like.

you better go bump all the NDSU, Nebraska, Iowa, Wisconsin, and CFP threads too
 

Some guy said:
Nice job bumping a thread you don’t like.

you better go bump all the NDSU, Nebraska, Iowa, Wisconsin, and CFP threads too
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bump what...? Truth hurts doesn't it? Seriously we're laughing..no one cares about little st.tomas. Don't you have your own message board to whine on?
 

Tommyboy said:
The last time SJU and STU played there were around 35,000 fans at the game. Seems like a pretty good crowd.
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you should create your own message board in your world. no one cares about your tommy's. not kidding. just saying and being totally honest. swallow it buddy.

oh man..let me edit this. if they had 35K at a game then geez hell yeah you should have your own message board. just shows that no one cares about your little team.
 


As long as this thread keeps getting bumped, it reminds me to ask…. Has St. Thomas found a replacement game yet? I’m real curious to see how they do in their jump to D1, and I wonder if they will also eventually make the jump to scholarship D1 football.
 

Schnauzer said:
As long as this thread keeps getting bumped, it reminds me to ask…. Has St. Thomas found a replacement game yet? I’m real curious to see how they do in their jump to D1, and I wonder if they will also eventually make the jump to scholarship D1 football.
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I would say no and no.
 

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