And he went into full snark-mode, recording a "you're gonna lose" video. (My apologies to you who aren't able to play the video link below; Blogger.com apparently has some serious code limitations.)
In defense of Fales, the Football Bowl Series (Division I) Iowa Hawkeyes had a 12-2 season last year and made the Rose Bowl, where they lost to Stanford. North Dakota State University plays in the second-tier Football Championship Series (Division I-AA). The problem is that the NDSU Bison and have won the last five FCS championships and have a recent history of playing well against Division I / FBS teams, with a 9-3 record.
In 2006, the Bison beat Ball State 29-24 and narrowly lost to Glen Mason's Minnesota Golden Gophers. In 2007, the Bison went back to the packed Metrodome in Minneapolis and defeated the Tim Brewster-coached Gophers, 27-21. Marcus Fuller of the Saint Paul Pioneer Press suggested that it might have been the most embarrassing loss in Gopher football history.
But that was before Brewster's Gophers imploded at home against the University of South Dakota Coyotes, 41-38, on September 11, 2010. Even then, SBNation's Christopher Gates says that that was only the fifth worst loss in Gopher football history.
Anyway, after losses to Wyoming in 2008 and Iowa State in 2009, the Bison have defeated every FBS team they have played. In 2010, they knocked off the Big 12's Kansas Jayhawks, 6-3. In 2011, they returned to Minneapolis and convincingly beat the Gophers, 37-24. In 2012, they waxed the Mountain West Conference's Colorado State Rams, 22-7. In 2013, they edged the Big 12's defending champions, the Kansas State Wildcats, 24-21. In 2014, the Iowa State Cyclones face-planted to the Bison, 34-14.
Queue the highlights from the September 17 faceoff at Kinnick Stadium in Iowa City:
The Internet was abuzz about the Bison's shocking takedown of the 13th-ranked Iowa Hawkeyes, as was ESPN:
Iowa coach Kirk Ferentz was left to explain afterward:
To his credit, Fales issued a mea culpa. (My apologies to you who aren't able to play the video link below; again, Blogger.com apparently has some serious code limitations.)
The morals of the story: Don't get too big for your britches - and don't count your chickens before they've hatched.
As for the Hawkeyes, it turns out that the University of Iowa paid North Dakota State $500,000 to schedule the game at Kinnick Stadium. How delicious is THAT? :)
By the way, talk of expanding the Big 12 Conference has been busy this autumn. Given that the NDSU Bison have already won three football games against Big 12 opponents, the only remaining reason that NDSU joining the Big 12 is far-fetched is that the Fargodome only seats 18,700 spectators for football.
Full disclosure: My late father was a faculty member at NDSU for two years, so I have a soft spot in my heart for the university. And when the Bison knocked off the Hawkeyes, I was smiling like a butcher's dog.
As for the Hawkeyes, it turns out that the University of Iowa paid North Dakota State $500,000 to schedule the game at Kinnick Stadium. How delicious is THAT? :)
By the way, talk of expanding the Big 12 Conference has been busy this autumn. Given that the NDSU Bison have already won three football games against Big 12 opponents, the only remaining reason that NDSU joining the Big 12 is far-fetched is that the Fargodome only seats 18,700 spectators for football.
Full disclosure: My late father was a faculty member at NDSU for two years, so I have a soft spot in my heart for the university. And when the Bison knocked off the Hawkeyes, I was smiling like a butcher's dog.
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