2018 North Dakota State Bison football team

2018 North Dakota State Bison football
Conference Missouri Valley Football Conference
Ranking
STATS No. 1
FCS Coaches No. 1
2018 record 6–0 (3–0 MVFC)
Head coach Chris Klieman (5th season)
Offensive coordinator Courtney Messingham (2nd season)
Defensive coordinator Matt Entz (5th season)
Home stadium Fargodome
(Capacity: 19,000)
2018 MVFC football standings
Conf  Overall
Team W L    W L 
No. 1 North Dakota State  2 –0     5 –0  
No. 24 South Dakota  2 –0     3 –2  
No. 12 Illinois State  1 –1     4 –1  
No. 2 South Dakota State  1 –1     3 –1  
Missouri State  1 –1     3 –2  
Northern Iowa  1 –1     2 –3  
Western Illinois  1 –1     2 –3  
Youngstown State  1 –1     2 –3  
Indiana State  0 –2     2 –3  
Southern Illinois  0 –2     1 –4  
Rankings from STATS FCS Poll

The 2018 North Dakota State Bison football team represents North Dakota State University in the 2018 NCAA Division I FCS football season. They are led by fifth-year head coach Chris Klieman. The team plays their 26th season in the Fargodome in Fargo, North Dakota as members of the Missouri Valley Football Conference. They enter the season as defending National Champions and have won six of the last seven FCS titles.

Previous season

The Bison finished the 2017 season 14–1, 7–1 in MVFC play to win the MVFC championship for the seventh consecutive year.[1][2] As a result, the Bison received the conference's automatic bid to the FCS Playoffs as the No. 2 seed.[3][4] In the playoffs, they defeated San Diego,[5][6] Wofford,[7][8][9] and Sam Houston State to advance to the National Championship game.[10][11][12] There they defeated James Madison 17–13 to win the school's sixth National Championship in seven years.[13][14][15]

Preseason

Award watch lists

Award Player Position Year
Walter Payton Award[16] Bruce Anderson RB SR
Easton Stick QB SR
Buck Buchanan Award[17] Greg Menard DE SR

Preseason MVFC poll

The MVFC released their preseason poll on July 29, 2018, with the Bison predicted unanimously to win the MVFC championship.[18]

Predicted finish Team Votes (1st place)
1North Dakota State390 (39)
2South Dakota State270
3Northern Iowa258
4Youngstown State248
5Illinois State248
6South Dakota206
7Western Illinois163
8Southern Illinois139
9Missouri State90
10Indiana State41

Preseason All-MVFC Teams

The Bison placed eleven players on the preseason all-MVFC teams.[19]

Schedule

DateTimeOpponentRankSiteTVResultAttendance
September 12:30 p.m.Cal Poly*No. 1
NBC ND/ESPN+W 49–318,483
September 152:30 p.m.North Alabama*No. 1
  • Fargodome
  • Fargo, ND
NBC ND/ESPN+W 38–718,557
September 221:00 p.m.Delaware*daggerNo. 1
  • Fargodome
  • Fargo, ND
NBC ND/ESPN+W 38–1018,883
September 292:30 p.m.No. 3 South Dakota StateNo. 1
NBC ND/ESPN+W 21–1718,846
October 61:00 p.m.at No. 22 Northern IowaNo. 1
NBC ND/ESPN+W 56–319,899
October 136:00 p.m.at Western IllinoisNo. 1
NBC ND/ESPN+W 34–72,709
October 202:30 p.m.Illinois State
  • Fargodome
  • Fargo, ND
NBC ND/ESPN+
October 272:00 p.m.at South Dakota
NBC ND/ESPN+
November 32:30 p.m.Youngstown State
  • Fargodome
  • Fargo, ND (Harvest Bowl)
NBC ND/ESPN+
November 102:00 p.m.at Missouri State
ESPN+
November 172:30 p.m.Southern Illinois
  • Fargodome
  • Fargo, ND
NBC ND/ESPN+
  • *Non-conference game
  • daggerHomecoming
  • Rankings from STATS Poll released prior to the game
  • All times are in Central time

Game summaries

Polls are based on the FCS STATS Poll

Cal Poly

1 2 3 4 Total
Mustangs 3 0 0 0 3
No. 1 Bison 7 21 14 7 49
Overall record Last meeting Result
4–3 2007 NDSU, 31–28

North Alabama

1 2 3 4 Total
Lions 0 0 0 7 7
No. 1 Bison 7 10 7 14 38
Overall record Last meeting Result
First meeting

Delaware

1 2 3 4 Total
Fightin' Blue Hens 0 0 0 10 10
No. 1 Bison 28 7 3 0 38
Overall record Last meeting Result
First meeting

South Dakota State

1 2 3 4 Total
No. 3 Jackrabbits 7 0 10 0 17
No. 1 Bison 0 14 0 7 21
Overall record Last meeting Result
60–42–5 2017 SDSU, 33–21

at Northern Iowa

1 2 3 4 Total
No. 1 Bison 7 14 7 28 56
No. 22 Panthers 14 10 7 0 31
Overall record Last meeting Result
25–26 2017 NDSU, 30–14

at Western Illinois

1 2 3 4 Total
No.1 Bison 3 14 7 10 34
Leathernecks 0 7 0 0 7
Overall record Last meeting Result
7–2 2017 NDSU, 24–12

Illinois State

1 2 3 4 Total
Redbirds 0
Bison 0
Overall record Last meeting Result
9–2 2017 NDSU, 20–7

at South Dakota

1 2 3 4 Total
Bison 0
Coyotes 0
Overall record Last meeting Result
55–25–3 2017 NDSU, 49–14

Youngstown State

1 2 3 4 Total
Penguins 0
Bison 0
Overall record Last meeting Result
8–4 2017 NDSU, 27–24

at Missouri State

1 2 3 4 Total
Bison 0
Bears 0
Overall record Last meeting Result
8–2 2017 NDSU, 38–11

Southern Illinois

1 2 3 4 Total
Salukis 0
Bison 0
Overall record Last meeting Result
7–3 2015 NDSU, 35–29

Ranking movements

Ranking movements
Legend: ██ Increase in ranking. ██ Decrease in ranking.
NR = Not ranked. RV = Received votes. ( ) = First place votes.
Week
Poll Pre 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 Final 
STATS FCS 1 (151) 1 (157) 1 (154) 1 (152) 1 (152) 1 (155) 1 (160)  
Coaches 1 (23) 1 (26) 1 (25) 1 (26) 1 (26) 1 (26) 1 (26)

References

  1. ↑ "North Dakota State football claims third outright Missouri Valley crown". Star Tribune. Retrieved 2018-01-18.
  2. ↑ "Bison Lead League With 11 All-MVFC Picks, Six on First Team". GoBison.com. Retrieved 2018-01-18.
  3. ↑ KVLY. "Bison earn No. 2 seed in FCS Playoffs". Retrieved 2018-01-18.
  4. ↑ "James Madison, NDSU are 1-2 in FCS playoff field". FOX Sports. 2017-11-19. Retrieved 2018-01-18.
  5. ↑ "San Diego vs. North Dakota State - Game Summary - December 2, 2017 - ESPN". ESPN.com. Retrieved 2018-01-18.
  6. ↑ "North Dakota State rolls past San Diego again, 38-3". USA TODAY. Retrieved 2018-01-18.
  7. ↑ "North Dakota State, behind Stick, throttles Wofford in FCS quarters". FOX Sports. 2017-12-09. Retrieved 2018-01-18.
  8. ↑ "Stick leads No. 2 ND State to FCS semifinals with 42-10 over No. 7 Wofford". USA TODAY. Retrieved 2018-01-18.
  9. ↑ "Lucky Seven: Bison roll Wofford, advance to seventh consecutive..." INFORUM. Retrieved 2018-01-18.
  10. ↑ "Sam Houston State routed by North Dakota State, falls short of FCS championship game". SportsDay. 2017-12-15. Retrieved 2018-01-18.
  11. ↑ "North Dakota State overpowers Sam Houston State to advance to FCS championship game". Argus Leader. Retrieved 2018-01-18.
  12. ↑ "North Dakota State returns to FCS title game with rout vs. Sam Houston State". USA TODAY. Retrieved 2018-01-18.
  13. ↑ "North Dakota State beats JMU in FCS Championship". SI.com. Retrieved 2018-01-18.
  14. ↑ Press, Associated. "North Dakota State takes back FCS title with 17-13 victory over James Madison". latimes.com. Retrieved 2018-01-18.
  15. ↑ "North Dakota State outlasts James Madison to claim FCS championship for the sixth time in seven years". SportsDay. 2018-01-06. Retrieved 2018-01-18.
  16. ↑ "FCS football: 2018 Walter Payton Award watch list". August 1, 2018. Retrieved August 1, 2018.
  17. ↑ "FCS football: 2018 Buck Buchanan Award watch list announced". August 2, 2018. Retrieved August 2, 2018.
  18. ↑ http://www.valley-football.org/news/2018/7/19/football-north-dakota-state-tabbed-as-favorite-to-win-2018-mvfc-title.aspx
  19. ↑ http://valley-football.org/documents/2018/7/31//2018_MVFC_Preseason_Team_and_Poll.pdf?id=41
This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.