I will pull for the Bison wholeheartedly to win the FBS Championship, without a doubt, for a number of reasons:
1) Any win they get is a reflection on not only themselves, but the entire upper Midwest, where many of their players come from, including Minnesota. They did beat us, remember. If they lose in the first round of the FCS playoffs, that makes us look bad. If we lost to the FCS Champion, it's not nearly as bad of a loss as it looks. Shouldn't lose to them, but losing to the champion is a lot better than losing to the flop.
Wrong, it has no reflection on the midwest. If Massachusetts St. wins it all, do people think, "wow, they really play some good football in the northeast." Keep fooling yourself with this if you want, what one school accomplishes has no bearing on the region. I didn't even know NDSU had a football team until they played the Gophers back in 2007.
2) To not cheer for them would be foolish...they are not our rivals. It's like saying you're not going to cheer for the Milwaukee Bucks in basketball. Now, God only knows why anyone would ever actually want to do that, but it sure as heck has nothing to do with any perceived rivalry with the Timberwolves. Wait...there is no NBA, is there. Oh well...strike analogy.
I don't cheer for any of these teams, nor do I care. I've never watched a game, and couldn't name a single player in their conference. I have been to North Dakota one time in my life, because I had to drive through it to get to Montana.
3) They're local. I pull for them the same way I have pulled for Minnesota-Duluth in D-II and St. John's in D-III, and will do the same for St. Thomas this year. I am a Gopher fan through-and-through, but it's always great to see the local teams win. Again, we are not competing with them.
Wrong again, we've played them 3 times in the last 5 years. They have players that may have attended the U as walk-ons in NDSU was terrible.
4) If Jerry Kill can get things rolling, we will get those preferred walk-ons that were mentioned as going to NDSU over Minnesota. If we start winning, we won't be competing with them for players. And frankly, if a player is caught in the quandary of playing at NDSU or Minnesota, it's either that they don't want to play in the big city, or we're not winning. One we can't fix, and the other is our own house's fault. Again, not a reason to not cheer for them in the post-season.
It would still help our odds if they weren't successful.
5) I pull for Big Ten teams in bowls and the NCAA basketball tournament (with exceptions tending to be Iowa and Wisconsin), so why wouldn't I pull for other opponents? Again, it's a provincial thing.
I don't pull for Big Ten teams at all and don't understand why people use this as a source of "midwest" pride. Who cares if Ohio St. beats LSU in a bowl game? Do you think that somehow validates the Gophers? I cheer for the Gophers because they're my team, and would do the same if they played in the Pac-12.
6) My dad played football for the Bison. It's a family matter too...
Can't argue with that reason, it's personal for you.
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