To celebrate 30 years of excellence in the Missouri Valley Football Conference, the league is recognizing some of its all-time top moments. We’ve divided these moments into 10 categories, and have selected the Top 3 in each … today, we take a look at some of our historically significant moments.
If not listed below, the moment you are looking for could be coming later in another yet-to-be released Top Moment segment (or has already been included in a previous segment). Still to come:
The Number Ones
Championship Clinchers
Streak Snappers
Individual Accomplishments
TOP 3
Sportsmanship (The Handshake) – In 2004, the league became the NCAA’s first conference to institute a full-team, pre-game handshake before all conference games. It continues to be a unique pre-game ritual to this day.
Aug. 30, 2014 – (The Streak) – North Dakota State beats Iowa State, 34-14, and sets the all-time FCS record with 25 consecutive wins. North Dakota State has kept on winning, starting the 2014 season at 8-0.
Sept. 21, 2013 (Game Day in Fargo) – For just the third time in its history, ESPN’s iconic college football pregame show visited an FCS site as the network took its Saturday show to downtown Fargo, North Dakota.
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2014 Dominance – No FCS league has ever been perfect, but in 2014, the MVFC had a non-conference season to remember, going 23-1 against FCS schools, which included 5 wins against top-25 teams.
Expansion – The Conference has expanded four times in its history; three ‘new members’ have won national titles, including Youngstown State (1997), Western Kentucky (2002) and North Dakota State (2011, 2012, 2013).
2003 Playoffs (MVFC has four playoff teams) – The 2003 season marked the first time any FCS league had four teams in the playoff field – then a 16-teamm bracket. Only two other leagues have matched that feat since.
Game Day in Fargo, Part II – Sept. 13, 2014 -- North Dakota State becomes one of four non-FBS schools to host ESPN’s College GameDay since 1993 and the first to do it twice. NDSU throttled Incarnate Word, 58-0, that day.
Dec. 7-14-21, 2002 – Western Kentucky became the first FCS team to beat the top three playoff seeds. WKU beat No. 2 Western Illinois, #3 Georgia Southern and #1 McNeese State in successive weekends.
Sept. 29, 2014 – Eight Valley Football teams crack the Top 25. Before 2014, the league’s high-water mark was six ranked teams. Six polls this year have had 7 or more ranked MVFC teams.
1982 – The Gateway Conference hires Patty Viverito, the league’s first and only commissioner. Football was added to the women’s sports league in 1985, and it became a single-sport league in 1992.
FOOTBALL TIMELINE
August 1985 -- Football added as a sport in the Gateway Conference. Eastern Illinois, Illinois State, Northern Iowa, Southern Illinois, Missouri State, and Western Illinois participate in the first season in 1985.
June 1986 -- Indiana State becomes seventh member of the Gateway Conference football division.
1995 – Eastern Illinois leaves the Gateway to pursue all-sport membership in the Ohio Valley Conference.
July 1997 -- Youngstown State officially admitted to the Gateway.
December 1997 -- Youngstown State wins national championship.
June 2000 -- Western Kentucky admitted to the Gateway, effective for 2001 season.
December 2002 -- Western Kentucky wins national championship.
November 2006 -- Western Kentucky announces it will leave the Gateway and join the Sun Belt Conference.
March 2007 -- North Dakota State and South Dakota State admitted to the Gateway, effective for the 2008 season.
June 2008 – League rebrands its name from Gateway Football Conference to the Missouri Valley Football Conference.
November 2010 – South Dakota admitted to the Missouri Valley Football Conference, effective for the 2012 season.
January 2012 – North Dakota State wins national championship
January 2013 – North Dakota State wins national championship
January 2014 – North Dakota State wins national championship