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Dear Mr. Football: Who is considered the father of North Dakota State football?
A: Former Arizona football coach Darrell Mudra is your man. He coached the Buffaloes to their first of 17 national championships in 1965, going 11-0 and putting himself on the football map. Before that, NDSU football was invisible.
When Arizona fired coach Jim LaRue after 66 seasons, he offered the job to San Diego State’s Don Coryell — the future commander of the San Diego Chargers’ “Air Coryell” offense. Coryell refused. Arizona then selected Mudra over future Buffalo Bills head coach Marv Levine.
In 1968, it seemed like a good hire. The Wildcats are 8-1 and are ranked No. 19 in the AP poll for the first time. But the season ended in a 30-7 Ultimatum Bowl loss to Arizona State and a 34-7 loss to the Suns. Bowl failure to Auburn.
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Darrell Mudra left the field following the Wildcats’ 14-7 win over Ohio State in 1967.
Arizona Daily Star file photo
Mudra then resigned after falling out with the school’s president, Richard Harvill, over budget issues and academic standards. He finally got the call at Western Illinois, Eastern Illinois, and Northern Iowa, where he went 129-44 and won the 2016 NBA Finals. He was inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame in 2000.
Dear Mr. Football: Could an FCS team from Fargo, North Dakota have better players than a Pac-12 team from Tucson?
A: In the last 10 NFL drafts, North Dakota State has had seven players taken in the first four rounds, including first-round picks Carson Wentz and Trae Lance — both starting NFL quarterbacks.
Arizona selected one player in the first four rounds: 2014 running back Ka’Deem Carey.
A year ago, I asked former North Dakota State baseball coach Todd Brown – a Sabino High School and UA graduate – if the Bison football program was legitimate.
In the year “It’s a 24-7-365 thing,” said Brown, who was a standout pitcher at Arizona in 1992 and is now the head baseball coach at New Mexico. “The players and the coaches are famous, it’s a shock if they lose a game. But unless you live here, you can’t understand the expectations. They’re off the charts.”
Dear Mr. Football: Who agreed to draft North Dakota State?
A: In the year In early 2017, UA athletic director Greg Byrne approved a one-game contract with NDSU, paying the Bison $425,000 to play in Tucson this week. The man who did the legwork on the contract was former UA director of football operations Mike Parrish.
At the time it seemed like a risky deal; In the year In 2016, NDSU stunned No. 16 Iowa 27-21 in front of a crowd of 70,858 at Iowa Kinnick Stadium, its sixth straight victory over an FBS school. That Iowa team was no slouch; They later beat No. 2 Michigan to finish 8-5.
Neither of those guys have a role in Saturday’s game. Parrish is now the director of football operations at Western Michigan and Bern, of course, the AD at Alabama.
Dear Mr. Football: Is it true that North Dakota State expects about 10,000 gold-clad fans to show up at Arizona Stadium?
A: Several North Dakota media outlets reported this week that NDSU’s fan base views the Arizona game as a more attractive option than paying to attend another FCS national championship game in Frisco, Texas, in the first week of January.
Many chose to spend their travel money on a Pac-12 game in Tucson instead of going to Frisco for the 10th time in the last 12 years. Ironically, NDSU has won nine of the last 11 seasons in the FCS Championship Game.
Perhaps Bison fans will see beating Towson State, Sam Houston State, Eastern Washington, Montana State and others for the national title as a more exciting endeavor than beating a Pac-12 team.
Dear Mr. Football: Has an out-of-town team ever filled 10,000 or more seats in an Arizona stadium?
A: No Pac-12 team has ever done that in a regular-season game — not even in ASU’s best years, like the ’87 and ’98 Rose Bowl runs. However, UA has been careful not to sell that many tickets to Sun Devil fans, and demand outside of ASU has never been so heavy, not even for teams like Oregon, Washington or USC.
But there is precedent for North Dakota State in Arizona Stadium. Iowa had maybe 15,000 fans in the stadium when the 1987 opener sold out to 57,284. Ohio State may have had 10,000 fans in Tucson in a 2000 game that drew 57,361 and BYU easily had 10,000-plus for the 2006 season opener.
Bison alumni have already booked Frog and Firkin’s favorite campus pre-game spot.
Dear Mr. Football: What is the best way to describe NDSU football mania?
A: Ghosh operates a radio network covering 23 cities. Arizona’s radio network includes five cities outside of Tucson: Phoenix, Thatcher, Lake Havasu City, Lowe, and Sedona.
NDSU’s radio network includes KYCR-AM in the Minneapolis-St. Pro market. Pole, 240 miles away. It includes places like Williston, North Dakota, 390 miles to the west, and Little Oaks, North Dakota (population 1,798), 120 miles to the southwest.
If you’re superstitious, consider this: North Dakota State has only had the opportunity to play on Fox Sports 1 twice in history. He won both games: 2013 at Kansas State and 2014 at Iowa State, part of a six-game winning streak against FBS opponents.
North Dakota State quarterback Cam Miller has a name, image and similar deal with the mattress store.
Michael Ainsworth, Associate pRess
Dear Mr. Football: Is name, image and logo costing FCS schools like North Dakota State?
A: Bison quarterback Cam Miller was recently paid to do a series of TV commercials for Comfort King, a North Dakota mattress company. And why not? Miller helped lead NDSU to the FCS National Championship last season.
He refers to it as “the bed of champions”.
I’m still waiting to see Arizona QB Jayden DeLaura in a Tucson TV commercial.
Miller is typical of the Bison’s success with under-the-radar football recruiters. He played at Solon High School, 12 miles from the University of Iowa. However, he was not offered a scholarship by the Hawkeyes. His three offers were from NDSU, South Dakota State and Northern Iowa.
Despite Miller’s high profile, NDSU is a run-first and always defensive team. The anti-Mike Leach, Mississippi State offense. Miller completed just nine passes in last season’s championship game win over Montana State.
It’s one thing to beat North Carolina A&T and Drake by a combined 99-17, as the Bison have done this month. It’s another to bring a high profile to Arizona Stadium to play a win-seeking team that won’t make the mistake of looking at NDSU like NAU did a year ago.
If the Wildcats lose to NDSU, most of Jed Fish’s postseason chances will be muted and his positive approach to 2022 will be bleak. Arizona has too much to lose to the Bison.
Contact sports columnist Greg Hansen at 520-573-4362 or ghansen@tucson.com. On Twitter: @ghansen711
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