After a couple of years of discussion, a rewriting of the rules and bylaws, Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference commissioner Butch Raymond is ready for some football.

“I’m looking forward to playing some games,” he said Monday as the NSIC held its inaugural media day for football. “Let’s see what happens. There could be things that are good, there could be things that are not good.”

The NSIC, which has expanded to 14 teams, begins competition in seven sports later this month, with football games beginning Aug. 28. For Winona State, which has won eight of the last 12 conference championships, the challenge will be greater this season, with four well-funded programs from the defunct North Central Conference joining the league, but coach Tom Sawyer sees a tougher schedule equating to a better squad.

“I’ve been a proponent (of expansion) for a long time,” Sawyer said. “I’m really excited. I’ve been around a long time, and it’s kind of like getting the old (Northern Intercollegiate Conference) back together. I think this will raise (the play of) the whole league.”

Minnesota Duluth quarterback Ted Schlafke has started for three seasons, preparing to play the rigorous NCC schedule. Instead of being a middle-of-the-league team, the Bulldogs were chosen first in the Northern Sun preseason coaches’ poll.

“It’s a little different, being picked to win it,” said Schlafke, the preseason North Division offensive player of the year. “It’s a new conference, but we have the same expectations, that’s to win.”

He said there is a danger in overconfidence or overlooking some of the Northern Sun’s lesser teams, but he said the experience of the week-to-week battles in the NCC prepares you to not take any opponent lightly.

“It’s going to be a battle every week,” he said. “I’m excited.”

University of Mary coach Myron Schulz said his team’s normal road trip before joining the Northern Sun was about three to four hours, with just two overnight stays.

But this season, the team bus will put on many more miles, including consecutive road games against Upper Iowa and Minnesota State. Schulz said it took about nine hours to travel from Bismarck, N.D., to Mankato for media day, and Upper Iowa is another four hours or more down the road.

“People realize this is a different commitment,” Schulz said.

Schulz said that a large portion of the Marauders’ fan base is familiar with the former NCC schools, having attended North Dakota or North Dakota State, and can identify will potential rivals.

“You have to realize that competition makes you greater,” Schulz said. “It’s exciting to work to close the gap. It’s exciting that some day, we might have a Cadillac league.”