Story Published: Sep 1, 2010 at 12:40 PM PST
Story Updated: Sep 1, 2010 at 12:40 PM PST
Idaho head coach Robb Akey. (AP Photo/Moscow-Pullman Daily News, Dean Hare)
The deer-in-the-headlight look for UND lasted only a few minutes. In the end, the Sioux left Lubbock with a decent performance in a 38-13 loss.
That was UND's first game against a Football Bowl Subdivision program. This season, the Sioux are playing two FBS opponents, starting with Thursday night's game at Idaho. In 2011, the Sioux will again play two FBS programs — Idaho and Fresno State.
Playing against bigger programs is now a fact of life for the Football Championship Subdivision Sioux.
But the FBS games still have special meaning.
"When this program decided to go Division I, and without any playoffs, these are the games you want to win," fifth-year UND senior nose guard Ty Boyle said. "You want to bring the program to the next level."
UND likely will play one or two FBS schools each season, at least until the Sioux find a stable conference home.
But back-to-back road games at FBS programs are a concern. After Idaho, the Sioux will prepare for a game at Northern Illinois — a team picked to win one of the divisions in the Mid-America Conference this season.
And that's why Sioux practices the next few weeks will be tempered.
"Between the Idaho and Northern Illinois game and between the Northern Illinois and Northeastern (Okla.) State game, we have to be careful in our practices," UND coach Chris Mussman said. We have to be smart with our practices. Some of the physicalness will be taken out of those practices to get the guys ready between Saturdays.
"At this level, that's what it's all about," Mussman said. "You can only bring 90 players into fall camp. And we saw how that affected things when we got some receivers hurt in fall camp. We had to back off some in our live reps."
The Texas Tech game also helped prepare UND for future FBS road trips.
"The guys who went on that Texas Tech trip benefited from it," Mussman said. "They won't be intimidated by the atmosphere we'll see. We know how good Idaho is and what we're up against."
Idaho officials earlier this week weren't certain how many fans will turn out for Thursday's game at the Kibbie Dome, which holds 16,000. But the Vandals are coming off an 8-5 season, one that was capped by a last-second 43-42 win against Bowling Green in the Humanitarian Bowl.
Regardless of the turnout, the chance to play another FBS team is appealing to Sioux sophomore running back Mitch Sutton.
"We're a growing football program," he said. "It's our third year (of Division I). These games are helping us mature and getting us to the caliber of program we need to be."
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Information from: Grand Forks Herald
