All of my live experiences with Fargo Fans have been good. We need to remember that NDSU is the only game in town, unless UND smartens up and moves to the MVFC. This means a few things:
1. Great players from the state of ND will go to great collegiate programs. However, more great players come out of the Valley than the entire state of ND ...none of these OH, PA or ND guys even considered YSU or NDSU.
2. Good DI players from the Valley will consider YSU only until their first FBS offer arrives. At the very least they can drive 15-minutes to Kent or 30-minutes to Akron and be in the MAC ...an FBS conference. Yes I know that the chosen ones will berate the MAC, but at the end of the day it is a conference with highest number of NFL players than any other & it is the highest-level of football; so whether or or not an FCS team could beat them is irrelevant. This is something that NDSU fans have no idea about. It simply does not exist there.
3. Okay players can fill-up your roster, if you want teams like we have had for the past 5-10 years.
4. The largest program in Ohio is Ohio State, OSU has more people in their student section alone, than the Fargo-Dome holds. You do understand that this team has tickets starting at $80 (good luck finding one for less that 4 or 5 times that) & sells out over 104,000 seats per home game.
5. There are 2 DI programs in the state of North Dakota. There are 14 DI programs in the state of Ohio, with 3 not supporting football programs (Xavier, Wright State and Cleveland State). YSU is the smallest school on this list. We are at the bottom of the list for any government monies. Now you can argue the ND has a lower population, so the funds are less; but at least you get the vast majority of it. YSU receives practically nothing. We are one of the few schools in the nation that are self-funded.
In short, you recruit and raise capital for more easily. We enjoy NDSU & know what success that you have had. Also realize that you will be standing in the heart of Big-10 and MAC football this Saturday ...YSU has to take a second seat. In fact, as embarrassing as it may sound to you, we schedule our FB games around Ohio State & Notre Dame. It is simply smart planning by our Athletic Department.
All of this being said, we welcome you & you will not find a better group of fans than here at YSU. When you are here ...you are family. You will never go without a canopy over your head, food, drink or tickets for as long as you are here. 4 of the 5 families in my group actually bring extra food, chairs and canopies every week (including me). If you need any assistance feel free to post here or email me directly if you need recommendations for anything.
I encourage everyone to post your favorite things to do, places to see, and food to eat in the area.