North Dakota State Is The Team Of This Decade
By Cheval John
The Bison won their fifth consecutive NCAA Division I Football Championship Subdivision (FCS) National Championship after defeating Jacksonville State 37-10 in Frisco, Texas.
The five consecutive national championships won by the Bison is an NCAA record in football at any level.
It seemed as if they were not supposed to win anymore after their third national championship when Craig Bohl had left for Wyoming in 2014 and Brock Jensen had graduated.
But somehow, some way, North Dakota State have kept the winning streak going under coach Chris Kleiman.
The journey for North Dakota State was tougher this year than their previous championship runs.
The Bison lost to Montana in the opening matchup of the 2015 season.
Then their senior quarterback, Carson Weinctz went down with a wrist injury on October 17th during their 24-21 loss to South Dakota at the FargoDome.
Video courtesy of North Dakota State Athletics
That injury to Weinctz brought further doubt to the Bison faithful that they were not going to return to Frisco.
They even thought that they would have gotten their refund because they buy their championship tickets to the National Championship matchup in August.
However, the Bison football team believed that they were going to turn their season around because they have won before when nobody thought that they would win.
Freshman quarterback Easton Stick stepped up and led the Bison to an 8-game winning streak that includes securing their fifth consecutive conference championship and also keeping their playoff winning streak of 16 matchups in the Fargo Dome alive and well.
However for the championship matchup against Jacksonville State, the coaching staff decided to let Weinctz start after he was cleared to play football by the doctors.
And Mr. Weinctz went 16 of 29 for 197 yards and a touchdown and rushed for 79 yards and two scores on 9 carries.
The Bison’s mindset of believing that they can win despite the obstacles that they face is a testament to what the residents of North Dakota love about their team.
Did you know that the Bison is 8-3 against teams from the Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS) since they joined the Division I level?
Do you also know in those 8 wins against FBS teams, five of those wins are consecutive against the Big Ten and Big 12 combined?
The Bison football team also have a strong fan base in Fargo, North Dakota and probably in all of college football.
The Bison faithful travel well whenever the football team is on the road
That is evident whenever the Bison are playing in the championship matchup in Frisco.
North Dakota does not have any professional sports teams.
So the only sports teams that come close to professional is the collegiate sports teams from the different universities that are in the state.
And the fact that North Dakota State has a rich history of winning national championships when they were in Division II before transitioning to Division I tells a story of how they have captured the hearts of the residents of North Dakota.
Video courtesy of North Dakota State Athletics
The residents of North Dakota understands that hard work and dedication is what gets them to be successful in life for the better.
North Dakota State exemplifies the work ethic that the residents of North Dakota share that makes them proud for the better.
The Bison also showcases the importance of having a positive mindset and working hard to achieve your dreams for the better.
When a person have the positive mindset and the work ethic to succeed in their respective careers for the better, they will eventually have the same success like North Dakota State.
Houston Is Not “Kind” To Stephen F. Austin State
By Cheval John
Photo courtesy of www.gobearkats.com
The city of Houston has not been good to Stephen F. Austin State University in recent years.
The Lumberjacks were looking to snap their winless streak against their arch-rivals Sam Houston State University at NRG Stadium in Houston, Texas.
Unfortunately for them, they came out winless after a 34-28 matchup loss to the Bearkats that was played in front of record crowd of 26,990.
The Lumberjacks won the inaugaral “Battle of The Piney Woods” held at NRG Stadium (formerly Reliant Stadium) in 2010.
Since then, they have lost to the Bearkats.
SFA had everything going for them in the first half as they held the Bearkats to only 3 points and only 171 yards of total offense.
At the same time, the Lumberjacks has connected for two touchdowns to make it 14-3.
One might believe that SFA would have continued their momentum going into the second half.
That was not the case.
Sam Houston exploded for three huge punt returns, (two returned for touchdowns and another that set up a field goal by Luc Swimberghe) that gave them a 24-21 lead.
The two punt returned for touchdowns was courtesy of Gerald Thomas (78 yards) and Yedidiah Louis (53 yards).
The Lumberjacks could not recover from the punt returns and ended up losing to the Bearkats for the fifth consecutive year.
We played well enough to win, for the most part, with the exception of maybe three plays, but that seems to be the same song, fifth verse,” Coach Conque said to the Houston Chronicle.
The lesson that can be taken away is that no matter how hopeless it seems to achieve your goals as a writer, podcaster, etc., you must continue to work hard to get that breakthrough.
Sam Houston kept on working hard despite being out of rhythm in offense and in the end, found a way to defeat their arch-rivals Stephen F. Austin.
And speaking of continuing to work hard to gain your breakthrough, I can finally share with you the What’s The Word? episode with guest Alissa Trumbull, co-founder of the #BizGalz Twitter chat.
The first two times in trying to air the episode, they were some wi-fi connections problems that caused me to put out the episode on a different time from the normal Monday night time slot at 8 p.m. eastern, 7 p.m. central.
Like they say, “Third Time Is A Charm.”
Here is the link to the video version of the interview with guest Alissa Trumbull.
And below is the podcast version of the interview with Mrs. Trumbull.
Ole Miss Created Their Own Luck In Win Against Alabama
By Cheval John
Photo Courtesy of www.al.com
Alabama were favored to win their matchup against the University of Mississippi last Saturday.
The Crimson Tide was No.2 in the Associated Press poll before their SEC mathchup with the Rebels.
They had the opportunity to show everyone that were watching on ESPN that they were going to make a statement and prove that they were on a mission to make it back to the national playoffs.
Also, they had a great record against Ole Miss over the years, but wanted to avenge last year’s loss.
Ole Miss had other ideas as they went into Bryant-Dennenhy Stadium and shocked the Crimson Tide 43-37.
The Rebels basically dominated the game from start to finish.
They blitz the quarterback, Jake Coker, who was starting as a senior after sitting out last year, held Alabama’s running game to a hault.
Ole Miss also had some luck in their win.
Alabama was trailing by seven points going into the third quarter and had brought the heat against Ole Miss Quarterback Chad Kelly.
Though Kelly mishandled the snap and threw a bad pass that would have been intercepted, the football hit off the helmet of Bama’s defensive player and found wide receiver Quincy Adeboyejo, who took the football to the house 66 yards to increase the lead by 14 points.
“I have never seen anything like that,” Alabama offensive lineman Cam Robinson said to AL.com. “It’s just kind of…I mean, honestly, it’s luck, just to be honest. No way in the world you plan that, but it’s kind of how it goes sometimes.”
That football play basically put a dagger in the heart of the Crimson Tide, though they made a furious push toward tying the ball game in the end.
In a lot of ways, Ole Miss created their own luck because they went into the matchup with a mindset that they can beat the mighty Crimson Tide at Dennehy stadium even though the place is one of the toughest places for an opponent to win in college football.
When someone has great success in their positive career journey, many will say that they were lucky to be enjoying their success.
What those same people need to understand is that they created their own luck and that is why there are successful.
And speaking of people creating their own luck, you should take a listen to the story of Kayla Chatkeiwicz on how she founded her company, Smylelin Media, Inc on What’s The Word?
She built awareness of MS by using social media and also creating a strong community through a Twitter chat she co-hosts called #MSChat
This episode was the first that was recorded on the live streaming platform, Blab.im.
You can watch the interview below
And you can also listen to the recording of the interview with Ms.Chatzkewicz below.
You can follow her on Twitter at @kaychatz and visit her website at www.keepsmyelin.ca.
Video courtesy of Ron Kiffin via ESPN
You Have To Believe To Succeed
By Cheval John
For many sport teams, it would be difficult for them to succeed if they are facing an opponent that seems better than them.
The opponent would have the bigger budget to have the quality players for their team like the New York Yankees.
Or in the case of college football, teams from the Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS) having more scholarships than teams from the Football Championship Subdivision (FCS).
When the teams from the FBS compete against teams from the FCS, it should be an easy conclusion that the teams from the FBS should always win.
It should be a warm up matchup for the FBS teams to get that easy win.
However, that is not always the case.
Like the time when Appalachian State, who were in the FCS at the time, defeated Michigan 34-32 televised in the inauguration of the Big Ten Network, that brought shock waves to the college football world.
Everyone including the ESPN analyst were “upset” mentioned that Michigan should have won that matchup because they had all of the talent and the bigger budget.
What they should have understand is that Appalachian State were a team that should not have been taken lightly because they were at that time a two-time FCS champion.
Plus, they had the mindset that they could beat Michigan when they faced them.
And Sam Houston State had the same mindset that they could have beaten Texas Tech when they faced them last Saturday in Lubbock.
Even though they lost by the score of 59-45, the Bearkats kept Texas Tech on their toes.
The Bearkats had 671 yards, which is the most yards they have ever produced against a team from the FBS.
Sam Houston did not go into that matchup thinking that they would not win because they were from the FCS.
Instead, the Bearkats believed that they could beat Texas Tech and almost won.
The important lesson that everyone can learn is that even if you are not the most talented person in your industry like public relations, etc, if you have the mindset to believe that you can succeed, then success will come to you.
And even if you don’t win at your industry like public relations, etc. at least you gave it your all to be successful and did not allow doubt to stop you from achieving success.
Who knows, competing against a company that is larger than your company can allow you to eventually win in your specific market like writing, etc.
Video courtesy of Our Honor Defend
College Football Playoff’s Impact on Phoenix
By Cheval John January 11th, 2016
Tonight, the nation will see who will win the College Football Playoff National Championship matchup between No.1 Clemson Tigers and the No.2 Alabama Crimson Tide in Glendale, Arizona on ESPN.
Everyone will expect Alabama to win their 11th national championship in the sport of football and fourth in seven years because they have a tradition of winning.
Many can almost compare Alabama to an NFL powerhouse because of the way their head coach, Nick Saban run the program.
No one would expect Clemson, who is seeking their second ever national title, to beat Alabama despite being the lone undefeated team in the Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS).
History have a way of repeating itself.
Clemson’s last national title in 1981 has some similarities.
In that year, they opened the season against Wofford, an Football Championship Subdivision (FCS) opponent en route to their first championship.
In the 2015 season, the Tigers opened their matchup against Wofford.
Just maybe, Clemson will pull off the shocking upset.
What is really interesting is the way the coverage of the national championship game has been displayed leading up to the matchup.
ESPN, the world wide leader in sports, have been broadcasting the events and interviews with the football players and the coaches today.
You can at times have a sense of the atmosphere that the fans of both Clemson and Alabama are experiencing at the pre-championship football matchup events.
You might come to a conclusion that the events is almost like the Super Bowl.
And you can expect to see major corporations and non-profits capitalizing on the opportunities to promote their uplifting services and products during the national championship game.
Looking at these tweets below:
And even some are using this matchup to promote their causes.
Like this tweet from the U.S. Fish and Wild Life
And let’s not leave out the SEC Network:
And this tweet from the College Football Playoff
Now with all of the media attention that the national championship is getting, you can expect the Phoenix metropolitan area to benefit financially from this.
In a lot of ways, Phoenix is benefiting tremendously from the media exposure that they are receiving.
But from an insider’s perspective, the media attention that they receive is only when a major event like the Super Bowl or in this case, the national championship, happens in their surrounding area.
Monique Hoffmann, a.k.a. Q The Brand, shared with me on the live streaming platform called Blab, that many people don’t know about the positive offerings that the Phoenix area gives to businesses.
She also brought a bigger perspective on the fact that many large businesses are not taking advantage of social media to promote their businesses for the better.
She also mentioned that if they do use social media, they are looking for the quick return on investment (ROI) and not looking at the long term positive results due to their efforts from being on social media.
It is like they miss the boat on the fact that they have to build trust with their customers and fans if they want to be successful.
And the most interesting thing that was mentioned in the blab show about the College Football Playoff by Clair Wyant, a fellow Phoenix resident as Q The Brand, is that Clemson Athletics have been utilizing social media the correct way to build further trust and engagement with their students, faculty and alumni base.
So in essence, Clemson understands the true value of social media.
So if you can continue to use social media correctly to build a loyal audience, you can succeed in your business as an small business owner or solopreneur for the better.
As for my predictions regarding the national championship matchup, my intuition says that Clemson will pull off the shocking upset and win their second national championship.
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