{"id":334984,"date":"2026-06-13T13:46:29","date_gmt":"2026-06-13T13:46:29","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/334984\/"},"modified":"2026-06-13T13:46:29","modified_gmt":"2026-06-13T13:46:29","slug":"mcfeelys-tip-sheet-sam-houston-might-be-interested-in-playing-ndsu-temple-not-so-much-inforum","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/334984\/","title":{"rendered":"McFeely\u2019s Tip Sheet: Sam Houston might be interested in playing NDSU, Temple not so much – InForum"},"content":{"rendered":"

McFeely’s Tip Sheet is a compilation of notes, quotes, rumors, gossip and commentary by Forum columnist Mike McFeely. If you have a tip, a note or a hot rumor feel free to send it along to mmcfeely@forumcomm.com. Not all will be printed because of, you know, legal reasons. But they might lead to something. All tip sources will remain anonymous.<\/p>\n

FARGO \u2014 The Tip Sheet is spending time this summer catching up with some of North Dakota State\u2019s old foes in the FCS who\u2019ve made the move up to FBS, just to see what they\u2019ve learned from the move.<\/p>\n

Calls were made last week to old friends K.C. Keeler, who coached Sam Houston through its transition to Conference USA before moving to Temple of the American Conference last season, and Bobby Williams, who remains the athletic director for the Bearkats.<\/p>\n

You remember those guys? They got to know the Bison well as Sam Houston played NDSU seven times between 2007 and 2021 \u2014 including twice in the FCS national title game (when Willie Fritz was coaching the Bearkats) and three other playoff games (when Keeler was coach).<\/p>\n

\"050421.s.ff.kolpackcolumn.02.jpg\"<\/p>\n

North Dakota State quarterback Cam Miller targets Christian Watson in the fourth quarter against Sam Houston State on Sunday, May 2, 2021, during the FCS quarterfinals at the Bowers Stadium in Huntsville, Texas. <\/p>\n

David Samson \/ The Forum<\/p>\n

Sam Houston beat the Bison in the playoff quarterfinals at Huntsville, Texas, in the silly spring season of 2021 en route to the Bearkats first (and only) FCS national championship.<\/p>\n

Knowing the Bison are looking for entertaining nonconference games with the move to the Mountain West Conference, the Tip Sheet tried to do his part by asking Keeler and Williams if their programs would be interested in scheduling the FBS newbie to home-and-home series \u2014 one game at the Fargodome and the other at Temple or Sam Houston.<\/p>\n

An American Conference team coming to Fargo with a return trip to historic and interesting Philadelphia to play at Lincoln Financial Field, home of the NFL\u2019s Philadelphia Eagles? Heck, yeah.<\/p>\n

Are you interested, K.C.?<\/p>\n

\u201cNo interest whatsoever,\u201d Keeler said. \u201cIf I never see those uniforms again, that\u2019s fine. And then playing (at the Fargodome) \u2026 oh my God, that crowd. The great thing about North Dakota State is that they\u2019ve earned the chip they have on their shoulder and they play with that chip on their shoulder.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat program and those fans, they\u2019ve earned the fact they have something special going on and they live up to the standard. \u2026 That history, it\u2019s just absolutely incredible.\u201d<\/p>\n

Keeler\u2019s last trip to Fargo was a 55-13 thrashing in the FCS semifinals in 2017.<\/p>\n

\"bruce<\/p>\n

North Dakota State’s Bruce Anderson breaks away from Sam Houston State’s Adrian Contreras on a 37-yard touchdown run during the FCS semifinals at the Fargodome on Friday, Dec. 15, 2017. David Samson \/ The Forum<\/p>\n

He did say that with so many FBS teams on the East Coast the Owls don\u2019t have to travel far for nonconference games. Temple has home-and-homes with Penn State, Rutgers, UConn, Massachusetts and Delaware in future seasons.<\/p>\n

Your turn, Bobby. Any interest in scheduling a home-and-home?<\/p>\n

\u201cOh, man. I think both fan bases, with our history, that would be a positive. I know our fans would be good with that. That would be kind of neat to do that. Hopefully that\u2019ll happen. If I\u2019m still around, we can always have that conversation,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Williams told an interesting story about the last time he scheduled a home-and-home with the Bison.<\/p>\n

Missouri State canceled a game in Huntsville against the Bearkats, so then-NDSU athletic director Gene Taylor called Williams looking to schedule a game. They came to an agreement to schedule a home-and-home with a game in Fargo in 2007 and the return contest at Sam Houston in 2009.<\/p>\n

Usually that\u2019s the deal \u2014 one game at one place, the other at the other school. There was a twist this time. Taylor agreed to pay Sam Houston a $175,000 guarantee for the game in Fargo, Williams said.<\/p>\n

\u201cSo we got a game against them down here and when we went up there we came away with a little bit of money. That was unique,\u201d Williams said.<\/p>\n

Phil Steele picks Bison fifth in MWC<\/p>\n

The latest national prediction of where NDSU will finish in its inaugural season in the Mountain West Conference has the Bison in the middle of the pack.<\/p>\n

In his gargantuan “College Football ’26 Preview,\u201d<\/a><\/p>\n

veteran writer Phil Steele picks NDSU to finish in fifth place.<\/p>\n

Steele\u2019s outlook:<\/p>\n

New MexicoUNLVAir ForceHawaiiNDSUWyoming\u00a0NevadaUTEPSan Jose StateNorthern Illinois<\/p>\n

This comes after Brett McMurphy of On3 Sports pegged the Bison to win the Mountain West championship and be the Group of Six\u2019s while ESPN\u2019s analytics guru Bill Connelly has the Bison finishing third.<\/p>\n

Much of Steele\u2019s pessimism seems to stem from the Bison\u2019s tough league road schedule (at Air Force, New Mexico, UNLV and Hawaii) and returning production, especially at quarterback. He has the Bison\u2019s Nathan Hayes ranked as the eighth-best starting QB in the 10-team conference.<\/p>\n

However, Steele hedges his prediction by saying the Bison might surprise given their long history of success.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere is easily a scenario where the Bison win the league in their first year so that makes it very tough to put them here,\u201d Steele wrote.<\/p>\n

\"091625.S.FF.PrepsPlus\"<\/p>\n

Fargo South’s Drew Kessel heads upfield after a reception against Fargo North on Friday, Sept. 12, 2025, at Fargo North Field.<\/p>\n

David Samson \/ The Forum<\/p>\n

Something that probably won’t happen, but if it does I’ll look like a genius:<\/p>\n

\u2013<\/p>\n

With the addition of NDSU-bound Drew Kessel as a transfer from Fargo South,<\/a><\/p>\n

the Moorhead High School offense will be unstoppable in 2026 and the Spuds will win the Minnesota Class 6A state championship.<\/p>\n

There is a strong belief among Fargo and Fargodome officials that NDSU has to get some skin in the game if the school is serious about major renovations to the dome happening, either through fundraising or going to the state legislature to ask for money. \u2026 <\/p>\n

There is also a strong belief among Fargo and NDSU officials that the dome has to dip deeply into its reserve fund<\/a><\/p>\n

to help pay for renovations. \u2026 Watch for the Fargo City Commission to choose the Civic Auditorium site downtown for the new convention center at its June 22 meeting as a way to kill two birds with one stone \u2014 build the voter-approved convention center while saving the city the problem of finding a use for the vacant sports arena. \u2026 Former MSUM quarterback Jack Strand has become something of a folk hero among Atlanta Falcons fans because of his size, arm strength and small-school background. \u2026 Expect him to play a good amount in Atlanta\u2019s first two preseason games, against the Denver Broncos at home and at the Indianapolis Colts. \u2026 At the least, expect Strand to end up on the Falcons\u2019 practice squad if he doesn\u2019t beat out veteran Trevor Siemian for the QB3 spot behind Tua Tagovailoa and Michael Penix.<\/p>\n

\"NFL:<\/p>\n

Miami Dolphins quarterback Cam Miller (15) and quarterback Mark Gronowski (16) work during rookie minicamp on May 8, 2026 at Baptist Health Training Complex in Miami Gardens, Florida. <\/p>\n

Sam Navarro\/IMAGN IMAGES via Reuters Connect<\/p>\n

There were at least three single-game American Association records set in Fargo-Moorhead\u2019s 25-9 loss to Kansas City on Thursday afternoon at Newman Outdoor Field, according to the Tip Sheet\u2019s research. Kansas City\u2019s eight home runs topped the record of seven set by several teams. The Monarchs\u2019 55 total bases broke the former record of 53 set by Sioux Falls in 2010. The 25 earned runs allowed by the RedHawks topped the old mark of 24 set twice by Shreveport in 2008 and 2010. \u2026 Another astounding statistic from the game: Kansas City left 14 runners on base in the nine-inning affair. \u2026 KC was one run away from the league record for runs in a game (26 by Sioux Falls in 2008) and one RBI away from the league record in a game (25 by Sioux Falls in 2008 and Grand Prairie in 2011). \u2026 It should be a fun season at Jim Gotta Stadium at Moorhead High School. Woodbury, Minnetonka, Eden Prairie and Edina all visit the Spuds in football this fall. \u2026 Sports Illustrated predicts the Miami Dolphins will keep only two quarterbacks on its 53-man roster this fall, starter Malik Willis and backup Quinn Ewers. That leaves former NDSU signal-caller Cam Miller and ex-South Dakota State QB Mark Gronowski on the outside looking in. However, both Miller and Gronowski would be candidates for the emergency QB3 or a practice squad spot. \u2026 The prediction market website Kalshi has NDSU as the favorite to win the Mountain West championship with a 49% chance, followed by UNLV at 37% and New Mexico at 21%. … New Mexico completed a $7.5 million expansion to its weight room and training area, paid for by the state legislature. … Former Bison head coach Chris Klieman and athletic director Gene Taylor will be in Fargo for the Roger Maris Celebrity Golf Tournament.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"McFeely’s Tip Sheet is a compilation of notes, quotes, rumors, gossip and commentary by Forum columnist Mike McFeely.…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":334985,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[56,58,57,96291,96292,96293],"class_list":["post-334984","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-houston","tag-houston","tag-houston-headlines","tag-houston-news","tag-mike-mcfeely","tag-the-forum","tag-the-mcfeely-mess"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/334984","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=334984"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/334984\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/334985"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=334984"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=334984"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=334984"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}