March Madness: America’s Unofficial Event
By Cheval John
I had the opportunity to cover collegiate athletics as a freelance journalist for the Huntsville Item for over two years in Huntsville, Texas.
As for those who might believe that they is nothing much to do in Huntsville, they will have to look deeper.
For starters, Huntsville is located just an hour north of the fourth largest city in the United States, Houston.
In reality, the small town is approximately 20 minutes from the Houston metropolitan area.
So for those who might want to see something different while living in Huntsville, they can just drive down to the Houston area.
Another thing that makes Huntsville unique is Sam Houston State University(SHSU) because a college campus is a “city” within a city.
And in any city or town, sports gives anyone the opportunity to be entertained for two hours or three hours if it is baseball, basketball or football.
The city of Huntsville can never be a home to a professional sports team because of the costs of having a stadium and a strong fan base.
The city of Houston has four professional sports teams because they have the infrastructure to provide the demands of what these organizations are looking for.
Case in point, the professional athlete making millions of dollars.
That is where collegiate athletics comes in for a small town.
The universities has to take care of their own departments.
And since collegiate athletics are under the umbrella of the universities, the places that these universities are based in don’t have to worry about the cost.
Which brings me back to Sam Houston State.
SHSU has 17 sports teams that competes at the NCAA Division I level.
And since the NCAA Division I level is as elite as professional athletes, Huntsville residents can see an elite level of competition that they would see at a major professional sports event.
I was fortunate to have covered the SHSU baseball team while they got three at-large bids to the NCAA tournament after winning three consecutive Southland Conference (SLC) regular season championships.
For any mid-major school, if you don’t win the respective conference post-season tournament, you will not get an at-large bid to any NCAA tournament.
I also had the opportunity to cover SHSU’s 2012-13 women basketball team that won their first ever SLC regular season title and finished as a runner-up in the SLC’s post-season tournament.
From the experience of covering SHSU’s sports teams, I will offer my answer to the question, “Are You Being Exploited By March Madness.”
I will have to say that I am conflicted to a large degree about the NCAA.
Beforehand, I would have disagree completely with the premise that college athletes are getting exploited by the NCAA because of the premise that they are going to school for free based on the scholarships that they are getting to play for their respective universities while the rest of the college student body have to pay a whole lot of money for classes and books in order to attend college.
However, I had a change of heart about the fact that the NCAA has taken advantage of the so-called “student-athlete” because they know that they don’t have to pay these same college students who are athletes due to the fact that they are college students.
I have always wondered why college athletics has been so huge in the United States like the major professional sports growing up.
I mean it is part of the student experience in college to participate in a sporting event.
The history of college sports in America is what makes the United States a unique country to live in.
At the same time, I feel a little disgusted by the fact that the NCAA and college coaches in the major universities are making millions of dollars while the same college athletes are not getting a single cent from the revenue that they are making.
Case in point, the NCAA are currently in their 14 year deal worth about 11 billion dollars with CBS.
The powers that be over the NCAA are being more profitable than ever.
The sad part is that the majority of college athletes come from low income families.
It is true that they get meals and “free tuition” due to scholarship.
But the fact that they can’t receive help from friends who can provide some funds while they are in college due to the fact that they might commit an NCAA violation.
This tells about the garbage rules that the NCAA has instituted and it feels to me at times that they want these college athletes to remain poor while they are attending college.
At the same time, these same college athletes should get a whole lot more compensation for the amount of money that the NCAA are making.
One thing that they can do is not make the scholarship a one year deal, but make it for the entire four years so that the college athlete will not have to feel the extreme pressure of succeeding on the field as well as in the classroom.
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.
“Johnny” Go Lucky
By Cheval John
So after months of all the hoopla on whether Heisman trophy winner Johnny Manziel “allegedly” received any payments for signing autographs during the BCS National Championship game, the NCAA decided to suspend Mr. Manziel for half a game when Texas A&M faces Rice on Saturday.
Really, half a game?
It’s asinine because it seems like Mr. Manziel got away with a violation that many others wouldn’t have been able to do.
This is really pale compared to a year suspension that Dez Bryant, now wide receiver for the Dallas Cowboys, got while he was a college player for the Oklahoma State Cowboys.
No pun added.
Bryant’s violation? Lying to NCAA investigators, who questioned him about whether he had dinner with Deion Sanders.
That shouldn’t have constituted a year suspension.
What this says to me is that the NCAA will go after players ruthlessly who aren’t producing their bottom line: TV ratings and making money.
They also proved that getting student-athletes through the door to graduation is only secondary and their mission statement is only in words.
So congratulations, NCAA, you just gave the critics more amo to blast and criticize you even more.
With Manziel having the opportunity to play this season, everybody will forget about his “alleged” transgressions and maybe, lead the Aggies to win the National Championship.
They already won with this ruling.
An “Honorable” Way To Finish A Collegiate Career
Courtesy: Paul Ridings, Jr., SHSU Sports Information
Sam Houston’s Matt Johnson finished 15th in the men’s decathlon finals at the NCAA Outdoor Track and Field Championships at Hayward Field in Eugene, Oregon.
Johnson scored 7,697 points.
His 15th place finish earns the Bearkat senior honorable mention All-America honors.
Starting Thursday’s action with a sixth place 14.56 clocking in the 110 meter hurdles and a decathlon personal best of 156 feet 10 inches in the discus, Johnson climbed into seventh place overall after seven events.
He ended the day with a 16th place finish in the pole vault (14 feet, nine inches), 11th in the javelin (176 feet, five inches) and a 4:52.83 time in the 1500 meters.
The top eight finishers in the event were named as first team All-America and places nine through 16 were second team selections.
Johnson finished just 51 points out of the top 12.
Johnson started Thursday in 14th place after scoring 3,962 points in the initial five events held Wednesday afternoon.
Johnson started Wednesday placing fifth in the 100 meters with a time of 10.70.
He was 15th in the long jump with a leap of 23 feet, 3.25 inches.
In the shot put, Johnson placed 10th with a throw of 44 feet, 5.5 inches.
He was 22nd in the high jump, clearing 6 feet 1.5 inches. Johnson completed Wednesday’s action with a 13th place 50.10 in the 400 meters.
Charles White is the second Sam Houston track and field athlete who has earned a trip to Eugene.
White will compete in the triple jump Saturday evening.
North Dakota State Didn’t Move Up to Start Over
By Cheval John | Vallano Media
This article was created with the assistance of artificial intelligence.
The final version was reviewed, edited and fact-checked by the author
Graphics created with AI-assisted design tools.
Visual concepts, editorial direction, composition, and final creative decisions were developed by Vallano Media.
For more than a decade, North Dakota State stood between some of the best programs in the Football Championship Subdivision and a national championship.
Sam Houston knew that better than most.
Twice, following the 2011 and 2012 seasons, the Bearkats reached the FCS national championship game.
Twice, North Dakota State was waiting for them.
The Bison won both.
Those championships became part of one of the most dominant stretches in modern college football.
North Dakota State won 10 FCS national championships between the 2011 and 2024 seasons: five straight from 2011 through 2015, three straight from 2017 through 2019, and additional championships in 2021 and 2024.
Now the Bison are testing whether that success can travel with them.
North Dakota State accepted an invitation to join the Mountain West as a football affiliate and began competing at the FBS level this fall.
Four games into its first FBS season, North Dakota State is 4-0.
The Bison defeated Jacksonville State 33-7, shut out Fordham 38-0, won their first Mountain West game at Air Force 38-32 and defeated Sacramento State 31-10 on the road.
They entered their open week having outscored opponents 140-49, with two wins at home and two away from Fargo.
Four games cannot tell us whether North Dakota State will reproduce its FCS dominance at the FBS level.
But four games are enough to begin asking a different question.
What if the most important part of an FCS-to-FBS transition happens before the transition ever begins?
Moving Up Does Not Mean Starting Over
College football routinely describes the transition from the FCS to the FBS as “moving up.”
Administratively, that description makes sense.
The FBS brings different scholarship demands, conference schedules, financial expectations, media exposure and roster challenges.
North Dakota State’s first FBS schedule includes eight Mountain West games, three additional FBS opponents and one FCS opponent.
But “moving up” can also create the impression that every transitioning program begins at roughly the same point.
Recent history suggests otherwise.
James Madison entered the FBS in 2022 and finished 8-3 overall and 6-2 in the Sun Belt, tying for first in the conference’s East Division during its first season.
Jacksonville State moved to the FBS in 2023 and finished 9-4.
The Gamecocks defeated Louisiana 34-31 in overtime in the New Orleans Bowl, becoming the first program to win a bowl game during its inaugural FBS season.
Sam Houston’s transition followed a dramatically different path.
The Bearkats went 5-4 during their 2022 transition season before beginning their first full FBS schedule with eight consecutive losses in 2023.
They finished that season 3-9.
One year later, Sam Houston went 10-3 and defeated Georgia Southern 31-26 in the New Orleans Bowl.
These are similar classification changes.
They are not identical circumstances.
The programs entered the FBS with different rosters, resources, conferences, institutional situations and competitive timelines.
Even the NCAA rules have changed.
James Madison, Jacksonville State and Sam Houston dealt with postseason restrictions connected to the reclassification process.
Jacksonville State reached a bowl in 2023 only through an exception created by an insufficient number of normally bowl-eligible teams.
James Madison finished atop the Sun Belt East in 2022 but could not represent the division in the conference championship because of transition rules.
Beginning with the 2026 season, the NCAA changed that policy.
Reclassifying programs that satisfy the applicable FBS and reclassification requirements can participate in postseason bowls and the College Football Playoff.
North Dakota State therefore enters its transition with postseason opportunities that earlier programs did not have under the same circumstances.
That difference reinforces the larger point.
There is no single FCS-to-FBS transition model.
North Dakota State Had Already Built the Program
North Dakota State did not spend the past decade trying to become an elite FCS program.
For much of that period, it helped define what one looked like.
The Bison’s 10 national championships came under multiple head coaches and across generations of players.
Craig Bohl coached the first three.
Chris Klieman won four.
Matt Entz won two.
Tim Polasek led North Dakota State to the 2024 championship.
Coaches left.
Players graduated.
Transfer rules and roster movement changed across college football.
North Dakota State continued returning to championship contention.
That does not prove one simple explanation for the program’s success.
It does demonstrate unusual continuity.
North Dakota State entered the FBS with something many transitioning programs would like to possess before playing their first game: a football operation accustomed to sustained expectations, coaching turnover and postseason pressure.
The Bison did not have to create that identity in 2026.
The question was whether it could translate.
Sam Houston Shows Why Translation Is Not Automatic
Sam Houston provides a useful counterweight to any temptation to treat North Dakota State’s early success as inevitable.
The Bearkats were hardly an unsuccessful FCS program when their transition began.
Sam Houston won the 2020 FCS national championship with a 10-0 record and followed that championship season by going 11-1 in 2021.
Then came the transition.
Sam Houston went 5-4 in 2022 and was ineligible for the FCS postseason.
In 2023, its first full FBS season as a Conference USA member, the Bearkats started 0-8 before winning three of their final four games.
Then they won 10 games the following season.
That progression matters.
An accomplished FCS history does not guarantee immediate FBS success.
At the same time, a difficult first FBS season does not necessarily mean the transition has failed.
Roster timing matters.
Recruiting matters.
Depth matters.
Finances matter.
Conference competition matters.
So does the condition of the program at the moment the transition begins.
That is what makes North Dakota State’s first month worth examining.
Not because 4-0 proves the Bison have already mastered FBS football.
It does not.
It matters because North Dakota State has so far shown that significant pieces of what made the program successful in the FCS have survived the change in classification.
The Infrastructure Had to Move Too
The transition cannot be measured only on Saturdays.
North Dakota State also had to prepare financially and institutionally for a different operating environment.
The university launched a $50 million “Climb the Mountain” campaign built around four areas: scholarships, football operations, NIL opportunities and facilities.
During a July fundraising initiative, NDSU reported receiving $280,918 in cash gifts and $10.1 million in matching gift pledges.
At that point, the campaign had raised more than $28 million toward its goal.
North Dakota State has also said additional fundraising is intended to support 22 additional football scholarships.
Then there is exposure.
Ten of North Dakota State’s 12 games were scheduled for national television in its first FBS season: five on The CW, three on CBS Sports Network, one on FS1 and its game at Sacramento State on ESPN.
The other two were scheduled for the Mountain West’s streaming platform.
That represents another part of the transition that does not appear in a win-loss record.
Moving to the FBS means more than playing different opponents.
It means operating in a different financial, recruiting and media environment.
North Dakota State spent years proving it could win championships.
Now it has to demonstrate that the entire operation can scale.
Video Courtesy of NDSU Athletics YouTube Channel
Four Games Are Evidence, Not a Verdict
This is where perspective matters.
North Dakota State is 4-0.
That is significant.
It is not definitive.
Fordham remains an FCS program.
Sacramento State is navigating its own move into the FBS.
Jacksonville State has established itself at the FBS level, but one result against the Gamecocks cannot tell us how North Dakota State will perform over an entire season.
And although the victory at Air Force gave the Bison their first Mountain West win, it remains only one conference game.
North Dakota State has not yet experienced the cumulative effect of an eight-game FBS conference schedule.
That changes after the open week.
Wyoming comes to Fargo on Oct. 3. North Dakota State then travels to UNLV, hosts Nevada and visits New Mexico during three consecutive weekends.
That stretch should provide considerably more evidence.
Injuries accumulate.
Opponents gain film.
Depth becomes more important.
Adjustments require adjustments of their own.
A strong September can disappear quickly in college football.
So 4-0 should not become shorthand for “North Dakota State has conquered the FBS.”
What it gives us is an early indication that the Bison can compete there.
Whether they can sustain it remains an open question.
The Labels Can Hide More Than They Explain
North Dakota State’s start also says something about the way college football talks about subdivisions.
FBS and FCS are real classifications with meaningful structural differences.
They are not interchangeable.
But the labels can become shortcuts for evaluating the quality of individual programs.
An FBS label does not automatically guarantee organizational stability, strong player development, effective coaching or sustained winning.
An FCS label does not automatically mean those things are absent.
James Madison arrived from the FCS and immediately won eight games.
Jacksonville State won nine.
Sam Houston struggled through its first full FBS season and then won 10 games the following year.
North Dakota State has started 4-0.
These examples do not prove a universal formula, nor do they eliminate the structural differences between the subdivisions.
They illustrate something narrower.
The distance between a highly developed FCS operation and portions of the FBS landscape can be smaller than the classification labels alone suggest.
That may be especially true when a program has already spent years developing coaching systems, recruiting pipelines, donor support, fan expectations and organizational continuity.
North Dakota State did not become a serious football program when it joined the Mountain West.
It joined the Mountain West after already building one.
Now Comes the Harder Part
The open week provides a natural dividing line.
North Dakota State’s first month as an FBS program is complete.
The Bison are unbeaten.
Their first FBS victory is behind them.
Their first Mountain West victory is behind them.
Their first FBS road tests are behind them.
Most of the season is not.
That is why the story should not end with a declaration about what North Dakota State has become.
We already knew what North Dakota State had built.
Sam Houston knew.
James Madison knew.
South Dakota State knew.
Anyone who spent the past decade trying to get through the FCS playoffs knew.
The more interesting question is whether what North Dakota State built there can withstand an entire FBS season.
Four games have provided the first evidence.
The Bison changed subdivisions.
They did not leave their program behind.
Now we find out how far it travels.
Graphics created with AI-assisted design tools.
Visual concepts, editorial direction, composition, and final creative decisions were developed by Vallano Media.
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