THIS WEEK: (NDSU Athletics) No. 6/7-ranked North Dakota State will make its 11th consecutive NCAA quarterfinal appearance this Sunday, May 2, when the Bison (7-2) face Southland Conference champion and No. 2 seed Sam Houston (7-0). Game time is 2 p.m. at Bowers Stadium in Huntsville, Texas. The winner will advance to face either North Dakota or No. 3 seed James Madison in the semifinal round Saturday, May 8.
TELEVISION: Live coverage on ESPN will begin at 2 p.m. with Roy Philpott (play-by-play) and Tom Luginbill (analyst) describing the action.
THE SERIES: North Dakota State is 5-1 against Sam Houston including four straight wins, all in the FCS playoffs. The teams met in back-to-back championship games with NDSU winning 17-6 for the 2011 title and 39-13 for the 2012 championship. NDSU won semifinal games 35-3 in 2014 and 55-13 in 2017, both in Fargo. The Bison lost 48-45 in their only trip to Huntsville in 2009.
AGAINST THE SOUTHLAND: North Dakota State has a 14-1 record against teams from the Southland Conference including a 39-28 home victory over Central Arkansas in October. The Bison are 5-0 in the playoffs against Sam Houston (4-0) and Nicholls (1-0). SHSU has an 8-9-1 record against Missouri Valley Football Conference opponents with its last win coming in the 2017 second round 54-42 at home against South Dakota.
11th STRAIGHT POSTSEASON: North Dakota State is in the postseason for the 11th straight season dating back to 2010 when the Bison advanced to the FCS quarterfinals in their first appearance. NDSU has a 37-2 record in the FCS playoffs, including a 28-1 record in the Fargodome. This is North Dakota State’s 34th postseason appearance since 1964. The Bison are 72-15 all-time in the postseason including a 67-14 record in the NCAA playoff format since 1973.
Most Consecutive FCS Playoff Appearances
17 – Montana, 1993-2009
14 – New Hampshire, 2004-2017
11 – North Dakota State, 2010-2019
10 – Eastern Kentucky, 1986-1995
Most FCS Playoff Games Won
45 – Georgia Southern
37 – North Dakota State
33 – Montana
Highest FCS Playoff Winning Percentages
.949 – North Dakota State (37-2)
.793 – Marshall (23-6)
.777 – Youngstown State (28-8)
.776 – Georgia Southern (45-13)
FOUR VALLEY TEAMS STILL ALIVE: The Missouri Valley Football Conference represents half of the remaining playoff field after going 4-1 in the first round last Saturday. The only loss came in a head-to-head matchup with North Dakota beating Missouri State 44-10. No. 1 overall seed South Dakota State cruised past Holy Cross 31-3, Southern Illinois scored with 51 seconds left to win 34-31 at Weber State, and defending national champion North Dakota State rushed for 422 yards in a 42-20 home win over Eastern Washington.
BISON RUN PAST EASTERN WASHINGTON: North Dakota State rushed for 422 yards and scored 35 unanswered points to beat Eastern Washington 42-20 in the first round of the FCS playoffs. Freshman Dominic Gonnella rushed 20 times for 163 yards and his first two career touchdowns while redshirt freshman Jalen Bussey had 13 carries and 143 yards. The Bison ran the football on 57 of their 68 offensive plays including 26 straight at one point midway through the fourth quarter. NDSU held the ball for more than 35 minutes and converted 8 of 10 third down opportunities.
FIRST-TIME STARTERS: Three Bison made their first collegiate starts in the first-round playoff win over Eastern Washington. True freshman quarterback Cam Miller completed 6 of 11 passes for 50 yards and two touchdowns to tight end Noah Gindorff. Miller also rushed five times for 30 yards including a 13-yard TD in the first quarter. True freshman linebacker Cole Wisniewski made a team-high nine tackles in place of injured starter James Kaczor, and redshirt freshman right tackle Jake Rock started in place of All-American Cordell Volson, who moved to right guard with injuries to the top two right guards Zach Kubas and Grey Zabel.
DEFENSE SPARKS WIN: Redshirt freshman safety Dom Jones made his third interception of the season on a deflection by cornerback Destin Talbert on Eastern Washington’s first series of the second half, and the momentum-changing turnover led to a Bison touchdown three plays later for a 28-20 lead. EWU would only get the football back three more times the rest of the game punting twice and turning it over on downs. NDSU sacked Big Sky Offensive Player of the Year Eric Barriere five times, totaled nine tackles for loss, and the Bison were the first team this year to hold the Eagles under 400 total yards (307) while limiting EWU to 4 of 10 on third down.
OFFENSIVE LINE SHAKEUP: With injuries last week to its top two right guards, North Dakota State turned to All-America right tackle Cordell Volson to move inside and make his first start at right guard. Volson also started two games at left tackle this spring and played part of one game at left guard. Redshirt freshman right tackle Jake Rock made his first collegiate start against Eastern Washington, and freshmen Hunter Poncius, Brandon Westberg, Seth Anderson and Hayden Johnston also made their Bison debuts late in the first-round playoff win.
FRESHMEN CONTRIBUTIONS: North Dakota State has played 15 true freshmen and 16 redshirt freshmen this spring. Those 31 freshmen have accounted for 24 percent of the total offensive, defensive and special teams snaps played by the Bison this spring. Add in another 11 sophomores, and 39 percent of Bison playing time has been filled by underclassmen through nine spring games.
16-TIME NATIONAL CHAMPIONS: North Dakota State has won 16 football national championships. NDSU claimed three College Division national championships in 1965, 1968 and 1969 via the national polls, five Division II playoff titles in 1983, 1985, 1986, 1988 and 1990, and was the first team in college football history to win five straight national titles with FCS crowns in 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014 and 2015 before winning again in 2017, 2018 and 2019.
NINE STRAIGHT TITLES: North Dakota State set a Missouri Valley Football Conference record with nine consecutive league championships from 2011-2019, which is tied for fourth most consecutive conference titles in Division I football. The nine titles is second most in MVFC history. NDSU shared the league title four times and won five outright crowns in 2012, 2013, 2017, 2018 and 2019. North Dakota State has won 36 football conference championships including 26 in the North Central Conference (last in 1994) and one in the Great West Football Conference (2006).
Most Consecutive Conference Titles in Division I Football
14 – Oklahoma (Big 8, 1946-59)
12 – Montana (Big Sky, 1998-09)
10 – BYU (WAC, 1976-85)
9 – Florida State (ACC, 1992-00)
9 – North Dakota State (MVFC, 2011-19)
11 STRAIGHT QUARTERFINALS: North Dakota State has advanced to the FCS quarterfinals for the 11th straight season, the longest streak in FCS history. NDSU also has a record nine-straight FCS semifinal appearances and is one of only three teams to have made the FCS semifinals at least nine times joining Georgia Southern (13) and Montana (11).
Most Consecutive FCS Quarterfinal Appearances
11 – North Dakota State, 2010-2019
6 – Appalachian State, 2005-2010
6 – Marshall, 1991-1996
6 – Georgia Southern, 1985-1990
6 – Georgia Southern, 1997-2002
Most Consecutive FCS Semifinal Appearances
9 – North Dakota State, 2011-2019
6 – Marshall, 1991-1996
5 – Georgia Southern, 1998-2002
4 – Eastern Kentucky, 1979-1982
4 – Youngstown State, 1991-1994
Most FCS Quarterfinal Appearances
17 – Georgia Southern
14 – Northern Iowa
13 – Montana
12 – Appalachian State
12 – Delaware
11 – North Dakota State
Most FCS Semifinal Appearances
13 – Georgia Southern
11 – Montana
9 – North Dakota State
8 – Youngstown State
BISON AT HOME: North Dakota State has a 28-1 record in the Fargodome during the FCS playoffs since 2010 with the only loss coming to eventual national champion James Madison 27-17 in the 2016 semifinals. NDSU held home-field advantage through the semifinal round nine straight years from 2011-2019. Other than eight national championship games in Frisco, Texas, the Bison have only played two road games in the FCS playoffs winning 42-17 at Montana State in the 2010 second round before falling 38-31 in overtime at Eastern Washington in the 2010 quarterfinals. NDSU has won 70 of the last 72 home games over non-conference opponents and the Bison are 29-5 at home all-time against FCS Top 10 teams.
TOURNAMENT SEEDS: With the tournament field reduced from 24 to 16 teams this season, only the top four teams instead of eight earned a national seed and home-field advantage and there are no byes in the four-week tournament. This is the first year since 2010 that NDSU is not seeded. NDSU has been the No. 1 seed for five of its 11 FCS playoff appearances (2012, 2013, 2016, 2018, 2019) and was seeded No. 2 three times (2011, 2014, 2017) and No. 3 once (2015).
LEAGUE-HIGH 12 ALL-CONFERENCE: North Dakota State had a league-high 12 spots on the 2020-21 All-Missouri Valley Football Conference team selected by a vote of the league’s media, head coaches and sports information directors. NDSU had eight first-team selections including FB Hunter Luepke, RT Cordell Volson, WR Christian Watson, LS Ross Kennelly, DE Spencer Waege, LB James Kaczor, CB Josh Hayes and P Garret Wegner. Watson also earned a spot on the All-MVFC second team as a return specialist and the Bison had four second-team picks including LT Cody Mauch, TE Noah Gindorff and SS Michael Tutsie. NDSU TE Josh Babicz, DT Lane Tucker and DT Eli Mostaert were honorable mentions. Mostaert and DE Brayden Thomas made the MVFC All-Newcomer Team.
NDSQBU: Stats Perform’s documentary ‘NDSQBU’ spotlighting Trey Lance and NDSU’s FCS dynasty debuted on TheAnalyst.com last week and begins airing on Bally Sports regional networks Monday. Each network has scheduled multiple airings. Check local listings for dates and times.
THREE BISON DRAFT PROSPECTS: The NFL Draft begins Thursday, April 29, and North Dakota State will have multiple draft picks for the ninth time in school history. NFL.com projects QB Trey Lance in the first round and OT Dillon Radunz in the second round. That would be the highest-drafted combination of NFL draft picks from NDSU since 2016 when QB Carson Wentz was the No. 2 overall pick and OT Joe Haeg went to the Colts in the fifth round. Wentz is NDSU’s only first-round pick. Lance will be the third straight quarterback drafted out of NDSU including Easton Stick, a 2019 fifth-round pick of the Chargers. NDSU’s third prospect is LB Jabril Cox, who graduated and played his final season at LSU. The Bison have had three in the same draft class once with LB Steve Nelson (2nd round, Patriots), TE Mike Puestow (10th, Browns) and DT Sanford Qvale (16th, Bills) in 1974.
FLIPPING THE FIELD: North Dakota State ranks fifth in the FCS in net punting and second in punt returns this year. The Bison are averaging 42.05 net yards punting and 22.12 yards per return. Senior punter Garret Wegner is fourth in the FCS with a 45.8 punting average with 13 of his 41 punts going for more than 50 yards and 18 punts downed inside the 20. Jayden Price‘s 85-yard punt return touchdown against Illinois State tied the third longest return in school history.
LIMITING PENALTIES: North Dakota State is first in the FCS this season in fewest penalties (2.78/game) and third in fewest penalty yards (28.44/game). NDSU’s season-high was seven penalties for 75 yards in the win at Northern Iowa and a season-low one penalty for nine yards in the home loss to South Dakota State.
39-GAME WINNING STREAK: North Dakota State’s 39-game winning streak snapped at Southern Illinois in February was the third longest in Division I football history behind Oklahoma (47 from 1953-57) and Washington (40 from 1908-14) and surpassed NDSU’s previous FCS- and school-record 33-game winning streak from 2012-2014. NDSU went 1,210 calendar days between losses and trailed in only 6 percent of minutes played over the 39-game span.
32-GAME HOME WINNING STREAK: North Dakota State’s 32-game home winning streak snapped by South Dakota State was the fourth longest in FCS history behind Georgia Southern (39, 38) and Eastern Kentucky (34) and topped NDSU’s previous Missouri Valley Football Conference-record 26-game home winning streak from 2012-15. The Bison had a 36-game home unbeaten streak 1964-71 including a 1970 season-opening tie with Eastern Michigan.
PLAYERS OF THE WEEK: North Dakota State had two Stats Perform FCS national players of the week this spring with punter Garret Wegner the special teams honoree following his performance at Missouri State and fullback Hunter Luepke the offensive award winner after his spring season debut against North Dakota. Six Bison players have combined for eight MVFC player of the week awards:
— Garret Wegner, Special Teams (3/7, 4/11)…Averaged 52.2 yards on five punts at Missouri State including a career-long 67-yarder…Also had punts of 54 and 59 yards, placed two inside the 20, and ran a fake punt 23 yards for a first down…At Northern Iowa, averaged 44.2 yards on four punts with a long of 48 and two inside the 5 including a 45-yarder to the 4 with 1:00 left in the 3-point win.
— Hunter Luepke, Offensive (10/6, 3/21)…Scored on a 23-yard pass and 13-yard run in the final 8 minutes to help NDSU overcome its first fourth-quarter deficit in nearly two years to beat Central Arkansas…Finished with two carries for 27 yards and two catches for 29 yards…Returned from injury against North Dakota to rack up a career-high 28 carries, 190 rushing yards and three touchdowns in his spring debut…55-yard TD run on his first touch and later added 8- and 5-yard rushing TDs.
— Christian Watson, Offensive (4/11)…Had 229 all-purpose yards at Northern Iowa including a 100-yard kickoff return TD…Caught two passes for 86 yards including a 61-yard play in the final minute of the first half to set up a field goal…His 25-yard catch on third down extended a TD scoring drive in the fourth quarter.
— Cam Miller, Newcomer (3/14)…Accounted for 118 yards of total offense and led a key fourth-quarter scoring drive in the 21-13 win over Illinois State…Rushed for a team-high 57 yards on 11 attempts including a 6-yard TD run with 3:39 left to cap a 13-play, 84-yard drive that ate up 8:13 of the final quarter. He was 5 of 7 passing for 61 yards.
— Jake Reinholz, Special Teams (2/22)…Seven points against Youngstown State including a two-point conversion run and 28-yard field goal to help build an 11-0 halftime lead…Added two PAT kicks and averaged 62.8 yards on five kickoffs with two touchbacks.
— James Kaczor, Defensive (10/6)…Game-high 11 tackles against Central Arkansas…Had one QB hurry and scored a two-point conversion…Made two third-down stops as the Bison held UCA to just 2 of 14 on third down.
ENTZ REGION COACH OF THE YEAR: North Dakota State’s Matt Entz was named FCS Region 4 Coach of the Year for the second straight season by the American Football Coaches Association. Entz has led the Bison to a 23-2 record in two seasons as head coach including a 16-0 mark, conference championship and national championship in 2019. He was part of four other FCS national championships as the Bison’s defensive coordinator from 2014-2018. NDSU coaches have won 15 AFCA district/regional coach of the year awards, which is tied with Nebraska for second most among all schools behind Mount Union’s 18 since the annual awards began in 1960.
FOUR PRESEASON ALL-AMERICANS: North Dakota State offensive lineman Cordell Volson and safety Michael Tutsie were named to the HERO Sports spring preseason All-America team. Volson and wide receiver Christian Watson were named to the Athlon Sports spring preseason All-America team. Prior to the fall season, Volson and linebacker Jackson Hankey were named to the Stats Perform FCS preseason All-America second team and Tutsie was third team.
WEGNER ON WATCH LIST: North Dakota State’s Garret Wegner is one of 22 punters on the preseason watch list for the 2020 FCS Punter of the Year Award. Created in 2019, the award honors the nation’s top collegiate punter in the Football Championship Subdivision. Wegner, a senior from Lodi, Wis., averaged 40.5 yards on 53 punts last season and had nine punts of 50-plus yards. He ranked second in the Missouri Valley Football Conference with 22 fair catches. Wegner was a third team FCS All-America selection by Stats Perform and The Associated Press as a sophomore in 2018.
SUCCESS VS. THE FBS: NDSU has a 9-3 record against Football Bowl Subdivision opponents and has won six in a row against FBS foes since 2010 with wins at Kansas (6-3), Minnesota (37-24), Colorado State (22-7), Kansas State (24-21), Iowa State (34-14) and 11th-ranked Iowa (23-21). NDSU has two future FBS games against Arizona in 2022 and Colorado in 2024. NDSU’s first three FBS wins were against Ball State (2006), Central Michigan (2007) and Minnesota (2007).
LOOKING AHEAD: North Dakota State is scheduled to open the 2021 season on Saturday, Sept. 4, at home against Albany of the Colonial Athletic Association. It’s the first of three straight non-conference games including Sept. 11 at home against Valparaiso of the Pioneer Football League and a Sept. 18 road trip to Towson in another CAA matchup. NDSU has a bye week Sept. 25 before opening Missouri Valley Football Conference play on the road Oct. 2 at North Dakota.
