FIRST LOOK: Battle-tested Bison make their way to Bozeman for first time since 2010
BOZEMAN, Montana — Ever since an upstart version of the Bison came to Big Sky Country and abruptly halted the Big Sky champions’ desired playoff run 13 years ago, North Dakota State has haunted Montana State.
And now, after MSU came out on the wrong end of a 37-7 rivalry pounding at the hands of Montana in Missoula, and after the Bison re announced themselves as contenders with a 66-3 win over non-scholarship Drake in the 1st first-round game, the Bison and the Bobcats will meet in the post-season for the fifth time since 2010 and the fourth time since 2018.
Back in 2010, North Dakota State earned its first FCS Playoffs win, rallying from a 17-14 deficit entering the fourth quarter to run away from the recently anointed Big Sky Conference-champion Bobcats, 42-17. The following week, NDSU lost 38-31 in overtime at Eastern Washington. North Dakota State didn’t lose a playoff game again until the semifinals of the 2016 FCS playoffs, ripping off an unprecedented five straight national titles.
This version of North Dakota State has lost multiple games during the regular season for the first time since 2010. NDSU’s 8-3 record includes losses to the other three Dakota schools (24-19 at home to South Dakota, 49-24 in Grand Forks to North Dakota and 33-16 at South Dakota State), three defeats that forced NDSU to play in the first round for the first time since its unprecedented run of nine national titles in 12 seasons began in 2011.
The Bison raced to 159 wins in the 2010s, capturing the FCS national title in 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014, 2015, 2017, 2018, 2019 and 2021. Last season when NDSU lost 45-21 to South Dakota State in the national title game, it seemed like a down season.
For North Dakota State to go on another run to the national title game in Frisco, Texas, the Bison will have to first win in Bozeman, then likely win at South Dakota in the quarterfinals and at No. 2 Montana in the semifinals.
That all starts with a matchup against a once-surging and now reeling Bobcat squad. Montana State lost two of its final four games of the season after being ranked at No. 2 in the polls for almost two months straight.
The Bobcats have seen their seasons end at the hands of North Dakota State in 2018 in the second round of the playoffs, in 2019 in the semifinals and in 2021 in the FCS national title game. Montana State has lost to the eventual national champion in each of its last four playoff appearances.
Where the Bobcats pivot from here will be an essential part of how this season is remembered. A playoff run could mean lofty expectations were accurate. A rivalry thrashing into a postseason fizzle will leave plenty of questions to be answered.
QUICK HITS
Nickname: Bison
Location: Fargo, North Dakota
Founded: 1890
Enrollment: 12,242
Stadium: The Fargodome seats 18,700 and has spent the last decade-plus as a haunted house for the rest of the subdivision. The Bison have lost just one playoff game in Fargo in their FCS history, 27-17 to James Madison in 2016. But Saturday’s game is in Bozeman, where MSU averaged more than 18,000 fans per game yet again.
Famous alumni: The non-football division doesn’t carry a ton of weight: Bob Backlund (professional wrestler) and Ilhan Omar (U.S. House of Representatives). The football guys you already know: Carson Wentz, Trey Lance, Kyle Emanuel, Gus Bradley, etc.
Last meeting: North Dakota State secured its 9th national title since 2011 with a never in doubt 38-10 win over Montana State in the 2021 national title game. The one part observers and fans still wonder about is how MSU would’ve fared had quarterback Tommy Mellott not gone down in the first quarter of that game with a leg injury that ultimately required surgery. Mellott and Sean Chambers are both healthy entering Saturday’s contest.
THE COACH
Matt Entz (fifth year at NDSU, 58-10)
Entz was the second straight NDSU defensive coordinator to take over the head coaching role when he ascended to that position in 2019, following in Chris Klieman’s footsteps. Entz didn’t break into the Division I ranks until 2010, but after three years at Northern Iowa and one at Western Illinois, Klieman, himself a UNI alum, brought him to Fargo when Klieman became the head coach in 2014.
Entz won the national title in each of the two full seasons NDSU, including an undefeated year in his debut campaign that saw the Bison go wire-to-wire as the No. 1 team in the country. After faltering to a 7-3 record and quarterfinal loss in the 2020 spring season, Entz guided NDSU to a 14-1 record and another national title in 2021, capped by a title game victory over the Bobcats.
Last year, NDSU lost to FBS Arizona and No. 1 South Dakota State by a combined five points in the regular season before falling 45-21 in the championship to SDSU.
Despite last year’s three losses and this year’s three losses, Entz has still won 58 out of his 68 games at the helm and has been in the Final 8 of the playoffs four years in a row, including playing for the national title in each of the last three fall seasons. A win in Bozeman could make that five straight quarterfinals for the Bison under Entz.
PLAYERS TO WATCH – OFFENSE
QB Cam Miller (6-1, 212, Sr.) — Back in 2021, Miller was an upstart freshman spitting time with former Virginia Tech transfer Quincy Patterson while guiding NDSU to its most recent national title.
Miller completed 9-of-13 passes for 126 yards and a touchdown in North Dakota State’s 38-10 national championship game victory over Montana State in the last matchup between the two national powers. That’s all the Bison needed as Kobe Johnson rushed or 106 yards and a 76-yard score, Patterson blasted his way to 89 yards and Hunter Luepke, now of the Dallas Cowboys, bulldozed in three touchdowns as the Bison rushed for 378 yards.
Now Miller is one of the most veteran players in the FCS. He will make his 46th career start at quarterback Saturday. This season, he has thrown for 2,255 yards and 16 touchdowns against just four interceptions, completing 75 percent of his passes along the way. He’s also rushed for 625 yards and 11 touchdowns.
Miller has quietly had an outstanding career, throwing for 6,037 yards and 45 touchdowns while rushing for 1,642 yards and 34 more scores.
WR Zach Mathis (6-7, 203, Sr.) — North Dakota State has won more than any team in college football over the last 15 years because of a powerful, consistent, and unstoppable power rushing attack.
While 227-pound senior running back TaMerick Williams has plowed for 495 yards and five touchdowns (and has nearly 2,000 rushing yards with 25 TDs in his career), the Bison have moved the ball with a stout quarterback run game including Miller and Cole Payton (the 6-3, 220-pounder has 488 rushing yards, 10 TDs) and more by committee, including on the perimeter, this season.
Mathis, who hails from Tampa Bay like Green Bay Packers wide receiver and NDSU alum Christian Watson, has been one of the primary targets. He has 41 catches for 580 yards and has caught five of Miller’s 16 touchdown strikes.
Eli Green, a 5-foot-11, 185-pound sophomore, has 600 yards receiving on just 31 catches and has complimented the lanky Mathis well. NDSU rushes for 240 yards and throws for 220 per contest.
PLAYERS TO WATCH – DEFENSE
SS Cole Wisniewski (6-4, 217, Sr.) – The team captain is the latest in a long line of long, rangy safeties with a penchant for contact that roam NDSU’s secondary.
His 63 tackles and five interceptions make him an All-American candidate and has helped the Bison force 23 turnovers, including 17 picks, so far this season.
DT Eli Mostaert (6-3, 287, Sr.) – The burly defensive tackle was a sophomore All-American after rolling up 7.5 sacks and 10 tackles for loss in 2021. He broke his leg three games into last season and has been fighting his way back ever since.
Still, his impact goes far beyond his numbers (three tackles for loss, a sack among his 30 total tackles) and he is the lynchpin of NDSU’s front seven.
LB Logan Kopp (6-1, 222, Soph.) – The native of St. Louis has had a breakout season for the Bison.
A year after landing on Phil Steele’s Freshman All-American team, Kopp is NDSU’s leading tackler with 68 total stops. He has 7.5 tackles for loss and 3.5 sacks among those tackles. He’s also forced a pair of fumbles and snared three interceptions for an NDSU defense giving up 18.1 points per game.
