I’ll never forget the buzz around the region when NDSU announced in 2003 they would be going to jump from the ranks of NCAA Division Two up to D1. At the time there were two divisions of football called D1-A and D1-AA, now known as Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS) and Football Championship Subdivision (FCS). Many Bison fans and non-Bison fans thought the move was ridiculous because they thought the time it would take the athletic department to catch up with the rest of D1 would take a long time and the fanbase would fizzle away.
That attitude changed after NDSU defeated FCS powerhouse Montana that year, and almost 20 years later those skeptics have egg on their face. Not only has the football team dominated the FCS, but the men’s basketball team made the first shockwaves defeating a highly ranked Wisconsin team in January of 2006. They program has made the NCAA Tournament multiple times, including a win over Oklahoma that had the nation talking and match-ups against teams that are some of the top names in college basketball like Duke, Gonzaga and Kansas. The softball team, track and field and golf teams have impressed since the jump too.
The football national championships led to two years in a row of ESPN College GameDay coming to Fargo, which might have been some of the best free advertising the school and city could hope for. In my mind that was when I felt that NDSU had “made it.”
Well it seems the Bison have “one upped” themselves again. If Trey Lance starts for the 49ers, and Carson Wentz gets back from injury to start for the Colts, NDSU will only trail Oklahoma, having Baker Mayfield, Jalen Hurts and Kyler Murray as starting quarterbacks in the NFL. Pretty impressive considering Mayfield and Murray both won the Heisman trophy. If Mac Jones starts for the Patriots the Bison will be tied with the likes of Alabama and Clemson for starting QBs in the league.
All of those factors and having Easton Stick as a backup with the Chargers is amazing. Love them or hate them, NDSU is putting players in the NFL, and if you would’ve told me in 2003 they would have two starting QBs in the league I would have lost a lot of money on that bet. Nothing short of miraculous.
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