A BEER FOR MY HORSIES...   (11/3/2006) Off My Office Floor.... On the beach... I apologize for getting my column out late this week, but I think I have a very good excuse. I've been desperately trying to get all my work stuff taken care of this week in four days so I can hit the friendly skies with Bob Holiday to California. Why does one of the busiest weeks of the year always happen when your planning to only work four days instead of five? Anyway, I'm going to keep my column rather short (no UC Davis offensive or defensive stuff) this week, because getting to a Bison game always comes first. George of the jungle... The judgment pertaining to the George Ellis lawsuit against NDSU was handed down this week. Ellis, the fired NDSU Sports Information Director, was awarded $155,000 in damages; equal to four years pay, plus attorney fees and interest on back wages. NDSU has the right to appeal the ruling, but no decision has been made to appeal at this time. My take... and it may shock you. First, NDSU shouldn't appeal and put an end to the squabble. Second, and my opinion hasn't changed from the day Mr. Ellis was fired, good riddance to George. Reason being... the Sports Information Office under Ellis was as slow as molasses. If you emailed the office on Monday... you might get a response my Friday if you were lucky. If you called the office and left a message for George Ellis... forget it. The Sports Information Office was stuck somewhere back in the 70s and not adaptable to the fast-paced lifestyle of the 21st century. Don't take me wrong... George Ellis is a very nice man, but not a capable leader of a Division I Sports Information Office... Recruiting Watch... The Bison nailed down their first verbal commitment of the year last week in Chaska High School (MN) defensive end/tight end Garrett Johnson. And so begins my personal favorite time of the year... Bison recruiting season. As of yesterday, the nationwide Bison Insider recruiting network is in place... Thanks to the boys over at WisFootball.net, Edgy Tim, and Minnesotapreps.com for helping out. And from what I've heard, WDAY's Steve Hallstrom is right on the money when he writes... the Bison are really setting their sights high with this recruiting class. If the Bison land a dozen of the boys mentioned to me so far (rumors and I don't report rumors), this class is going to be lights out... You can be rest assured, that when I get something concrete it will be on Bison Insider or on the Bisonville/Bison Insider message board. No jinxing... and please use moderation for message board posts. Be smart. The new gateway... About three years ago my Big Sky Informant said, "The Bison will never be invited to join the conference." Nobody seemed to believe it at the time, but I'm sure glad my 'eye in the sky' was right on the money. Today, the Western Kentucky Board of Regents voted to make the transition from Division I-AA to I-A football and leave the Gateway Football Conference to join the mighty Sun Belt Conference. Excuse me... I'm not quite sure a person should ever use 'mighty' and Sun Belt Conference' in the same sentence. Anyway, last week the Gateway administration requested academic and athletic information from North Dakota State and South Dakota State, as a precursor to a Gateway Football Conference invitation. My first thought was, "Here we go again." So I started digging for info on the internet... and to my pleasing the possibility of the Bison joining the Gateway Conference looked quite promising. So I decided to dig further and make a couple of phone calls to guys I know in a couple of Gateway athletic departments. Both of them said the same thing, "It's a slam dunk." So I'm ordering my Gateway Football Conference athletic apparel now to beat the rush... One time... The North Dakota State University athletic department will host its first Tailgating Extravaganza on Saturday, Nov. 18, prior to the Bison football game against South Dakota State University. The event will run from 1-4 p.m. and will feature an open house of the tailgating area, known as Bison Fest, as well as a tailgating contest. It is free and open to the public. The tailgating contest will be limited to the first 20 entries with prizes awarded in five categories: Best Tailgating Setup, Best Food, Best Custom Vehicle and Fan Favorite. Winners will be announced at halftime of the football game. Entry forms are available on GoBison.com and also at the Bison Sports Arena. Deadline for entry is Saturday, Nov. 11... One more time... The Bison are among the top 10 teams in seven NCAA I-AA stat categories: rushing defense (1), scoring defense (3), net punting (4), total defense (5), kickoff returns (6), 3rd-down conversions (7) and scoring offense (9)... One last time... The Bison represent the fifth ranked opponent for UC Davis this year... The Aggies are 1-3 in their previous four games which all came during a string of five consecutive road games to start the season.. History.... UC Davis and North Dakota State are tied 4-4 in their all-time series. The teams played four times between 1982-85, all in the Div. II Playoffs, and have resumed their series with games the last four years. The Bison won three of the meetings in the 1980’s while the Aggies have won three times in the 21st century... NDSU, however, won in its last visit to Toomey Field in 2004, 25-7. Show Me the Keys.... * The inexperienced Bison offensive line has now established itself as a team strength. The offensive line had another fine effort against Southern Utah, but UC Davis is not Southern Utah. The Aggies defensive line is more on par with Minnesota... quick with good size. * I'll keep saying this until I'm blue in the face... "As Bison QB Steve Walker plays, so does the Bison offense." Steve Walker struggled early against Southern Utah, but as Steve Walker picked up his game... the Bison offense performed better. . Might not be a better "manager of the game" in all of DI-AA football. End of story. * The Bison return game (especially punt returns) is becoming a big part of the picture... Of late, the Bison returners have give the Bison offense some nice starting field position. Another priority this week against a good UC Davis defense... * Control... The Bison offense must finish what it starts... A key factor in the Southern Utah win was very good point conversion percentage in the red zone. Which is good to see as the NDSU offense can't afford to not convert red zone appearances into points against Great West opponents... * Kicking... Shawn Bibeau and Mike Dragosavich are nice weapons for the Bison and a pair of kickers other coaches would love to have on their roster. * This is a very big game for the Bison coaching staff. The Bison must keep that GWFC title dream alive going into the final two weeks of the season. * One word -- 'Consistency'.... from play to play; from game to game. The maturation of young players such as CB Derrius Colvin, CB Courtney Mitchell, CB Richard Bowman, DT Michael Fairbairn, LB Ramon Humber, OT Sam Laudner and others is so crucial to the success of the Bison program this Saturday. These young men must continue their progress to greatness... * As for the UC Davis game specifically... The Bison may be a little road weary, but I really believe these young men know what is at stake. A GWFC title... a loss this week and an outright championship will be tough to come by. I'd love to see a GWFC championship game the last week of the season in the Fargodome against South Dakota State. * Sacks, interceptions, fumbles... Goal for takeaways this week for the Bison defense? Three... Three turnovers forced by the Bison defense means a quality win is earned... Adding four sacks means the Bison win by 2 touchdowns. A Bison defensive touchdown this week is a plus against a quality Great West opponent... Jottings.... * The weight in the trenches: Offensive line: NDSU 300, UC Davis 293 Defensive line: NDSU 270, UC Davis 270 * Injuries this week: WR Shamen Washington - out; DE Nick Compton - out; OG Justin Buckwalter - out; RB Symeon Cabell - out; FB Tyler Jangula - out; OG Jerrod Wagner - probable. * The Bison are No. 1 in rushing defense (56.0), No. 3 in scoring defense (10.1) and No. 5 in total defense (236.2)... The Aggies are No. 7 in passing (266.2), No. 26 in total offense (364.5) and No. 28 in total defense (287.8)... * NDSU RB Kyle Steffes is averaging 114.6 rushing ypg., and with 917 yards is on pace for his third consecutive 1,000-yard season.... He’s scored 40 career touchdowns... * Opponents are converting just 29% of their third-down attempts against the Bison... * NDSU has 23 sacks, including 6 by DE Brian Dahl and 3 for DE Alex Kingsley... * UC Davis finishes its season at home against the Bison, Sacramento State and the University of San Diego after playing six road games covering nearly 14,000 miles... * UC Davis QB Jon Grant moved into the No. 2 all-time position for total offense last weekend, passing QB KEVIN DAFT (7,697 yds; 1995-98)... Grant now has 7,737 yards (7,467 pass; 270 rush)... Former Minnesota Vikings QB J.T. O’SULLIVAN (1998-2001) owns both the overall (11,544) and regular-season (8,743) marks.... * Aggies RB Marcus Nolan has 407 all-purpose yards the last two games after gaining 300 during the first six games... He’s averaged 24.5 carries the last two games while amassing 22 receptions for 216 yards... * If UC Davis can win at least two of its final three games, it will extend its streak of consecutive winning seasons to 37... Last season, the Aggies needed a win over Northern Colorado in the season finale to keep the streak alive... * Audio of UC Davis football games is available on the internet free of charge (must have Quicktime installed). Click Here to listen... * The Great West Football Conference is the top-ranked IAA conference in the nation for the seventh straight week, according to USA Today’s Sagarin Rankings as well as in Gridiron Power Index... * The Aggies have won five straight games at Toomey Field, dating back to last season... They’ve outscored their opponents 27.4-13.6 ppg during the run... * Poll Watch: The Bison are currently ranked #6 in the Sports Network, Football Gazette, Any Given Saturday and the Bison Insider polls. UC Davis is ranked #27 by the Football Gazette, and received votes in the Sports Network, Any Given Saturday and Bison Insider polls...