North Dakota State BISON FootbalL 36 Conference Championships | 16 National Championships 2019 Missouri Valley Football Conference & NCAA FCS National Champions 2020-21 Schedule North Dakota State Hosts Eastern Washington in (6-2 overall, 5-2 MVFC) Date Opponent Time 10/3 #11 CENTRAL ARKANSAS W, 39-28 First Round of FCS Playoffs 2/21 *YOUNGSTOWN STATE W, 25-7 2/27 *at Southern Illinois L, 14-38 THIS WEEK: No. 6/7-ranked North Dakota 3/6 *at Missouri State W, 25-0 State returns to the FCS playoffs for the 11th 3/13 *#22 ILLINOIS STATE W, 21-13 straight season this week when the Bison (6-2) 3/20 *#2/2 NORTH DAKOTA W, 34-13 host a first-round game against No. 9/8-ranked 3/27 *at South Dakota Canceled Eastern Washington (5-1). Game time is 2:30 p.m. NORTH DAKOTA STATE EASTERN WASHINGTON 4/10 *at #24/21 Northern Iowa W, 23-20 Saturday, April 24, at Gate City Bank Field at the BISON EAGLES 4/17 *#4/4 SOUTH DAKOTA STATE L, 17-27 Fargodome. The winner advances to the quar- (6-2, 5-2 MVFC) (5-1, 5-1 Big Sky) 4/24 ^#9/8 EASTERN WASHINGTON 2:30 p.m. Rank: 6/7 (STATS/AFCA) Rank: 9/8 (STATS/AFCA) #STATS/AFCA rankings *MVFC games ^FCS playoffs terfinals next Saturday, May 1, or Sunday, May 2, against either Big South Conference champion Last Game: April 17 lost to Last Game: April 10 def. Monmouth or No. 2 seed Sam Houston State, the South Dakota State 27-17 Idaho 38-31 Quick Facts Streak: Lost 1 Streak: Won 5 Location: Fargo, ND 58102 (pop. 124,662) Southland Conference champion. At Home: 4-1 (Lost 1) On Road: 2-1 (Won 2) Founded: 1890 Coach: Matt Entz Coach: Aaron Best Enrollment: 12,846 (fall 2020) TELEVISION: All first round playoff games Record: 22-2 (2nd) Record: 31-13 (4th) Nickname: Bison Colors: Yellow and Green (PMS 123, 343) will be televised on ESPN3 through ESPN.com Stadium: Gate City Bank Field at the Fargodome (18,700) and the ESPN app. Clay Matvick (play-by-play) and Rocky Boiman (analyst) will have the call of the Surface: AstroTurf GameDay Grass NDSU-Eastern Washington game. ESPN3 is available through participating internet and television Affiliation: NCAA Division I FCS service providers. Conference: Missouri Valley Football (MVFC) Last Year’s Record: 16-0, 8-0 MVFC (1st) RADIO: Coverage begins at 2 p.m. on the Peterson Farms Seed Bison Radio Network including Starters Returning/Lost: 14/8 107.9 The Fox in Fargo with Jeff Culhane (play-by-play), Phil Hansen (analyst) and Cole Jirik (sideline). Offense: 9/2 Defense: 5/6 Extended coverage locally on Bison 1660 and 92.7 FM includes “Bison Tailgate” from 11:00-12:00, “Bi- Basic Offense: Pro Style Basic Defense: 4-3 President: Dr. Dean L. Bresciani (Humboldt State, 1984) son Game Day” from 12:00-2:00 and the “Bison Hotline” call-in show following the network broadcast. Director of Athletics: Matt Larsen (Stony Brook, 1996) Athletic Department Phone: (701) 231-8981 ONLINE: Free audio streaming of all NDSU football games is available on NDSU All Access Ticket Office Phone: (888) 231-6378 through GoBison.com/allaccess and the NDSU Athletics mobile app. Live in-game statistics will be Football Staff available on NCAA.com. Follow along with in-game updates on Twitter @NDSUfootball. Head Coach: Matt Entz (Wartburg College, 1995) Record at NDSU: 22-2 (2nd season) DIGITAL GAME PROGRAMS: A new digital game day program will be available to fans free of Career Record: same charge through GoBison.com/publications and the NDSU Athletics mobile app available for down- Assistant Coaches/Staff: load in the Apple App Store and Google Play. The official NCAA Championship game program will be *Randy Hedberg (Minot St., 1977) ............... Assoc. Head Coach available online only at NCAA.com/gameprograms. Passing Game Coord./QBs *Tyler Roehl (NDSU, 2009) ...Off. Coord./Tight Ends/Fullbacks David Braun (Winona St., 2008) ...............Def. Coord./Safeties TICKETS: Due to NCAA restrictions limiting seating capacity to 25 percent for this year’s FCS Nick Goeser (UW-Eau Claire, 2003) .... Spec.Teams Coord./DTs playoffs, tickets were allocated to season ticket holders based on requests and NDSU priority points Joe Beschorner (Simpson, 2000) ..................... Running Backs rankings. A limited number of NDSU student tickets will be available for $6 each and must be pur- Dan Larson (UW-Eau Claire, 2003) ....................Offensive Line *Kody Morgan (UW-Stevens Point, 2012) ............ Cornerbacks chased at the Bison Ticket Office in the south lobby of the Sanford Health Athletic Complex. Grant Olson (NDSU, 2014) ................................... Linebackers Noah Pauley (Minn.-Duluth, 2012) ...................Wide Receivers PARKING AND STADIUM ENTRANCE: On game day, parking lots will open at 1 p.m. and stadium *Buddha Williams (U. of Charleston, 2009) ..... Defensive Ends doors open at 1:30 p.m. Tailgating will not be allowed while stadium capacity is less than 100 per- *Connor Senger (UW-Oshkosh, 2017) .........Off. Quality Control *Lee Pronschinske (Winona State, 2019) .. Def. Quality Control cent. Parking will be $5 per spot and there will be no recreational vehicles, buses or trailers allowed Nathan Bjoralt (NDSU, 2013) .......Dir. of Football Ops. & Equip. in the parking lots. Those with game tickets in Sections 1-6 or Sections 24-34 should park on the Josh Kittell (Jamestown, 2008) ....... Dir. of Football Recruiting east side of the Fargodome in lots B or C and enter through the north and east entrances. Those with John Riley (Arkansas State, 2008) .. Dir. of Football Video Ops. Jim Kramer (UW-La Crosse, 1989) ...Asst. AD/Ath. Performance game tickets in Sections 7-23 should park on the west side of the Fargodome in lots E, F or G and *press box on game day enter through the south and west entrances. Athletic Communications MASKS REQUIRED: Masks will be required upon entering the Fargodome and must be worn Contact: Ryan Perreault throughout the duration of the game. For those that do not have a mask, one will be provided. Failure Office: (701) 231-8331 Mobile: (701) 793-0521 Email: [email protected] to follow the directions of event personnel or failure to wear a mask (when not eating or drinking) Website: GoBison.com could result in ticket revocation and the loss of ticket privileges in the future. Facebook: @NDSUathletics Twitter: @NDSUathletics @NDSUfootball THE SERIES: North Dakota State has a 3-1 record against Eastern Washington dating back to Instagram: @NDSUathletics @NDSUfootball 2010 when the teams first met in the NCAA quarterfinals. EWU hosted and won that game 38-31 in YouTube: @NDSUathletics overtime en route to winning the FCS national championship. The teams most recently met in the national championship game of the 2018 season with NDSU winning 38-24 in Frisco, Texas. NDSU swept both games of a home-and-home series claiming a 50-44 overtime victory in Fargo in 2016 before routing the Eagles 40-13 in Cheney in 2017. BISON FOOTBALL 2020-21 PAGE 2 TEAM COMPARISONS NORTH DAKOTA ST. (6-2, 5-2 MVFC) E. WASHINGTON (5-1, 5-1 BIG SKY) NCAA RANKINGS BISON OPP EAGLES OPP NDSU EWU Points/Game 24.8 18.2 Points/Game 40.7 24.3 Scoring Off. 41st 6th First Downs 136 130 First Downs 166 122 Rushing Off. 16th 25th Rushing/Game 202.8 131.5 Rushing/Game 171.8 159.2 Passing Off. 80th 3rd Passing/Game 136.6 173.2 Passing/Game 386.8 208.0 Total Offense 50th 1st Total Offense/Game 339.4 304.8 Total Offense/Game 558.7 367.2 Passing Eff. 65th 11th VALLEY OVERALL Had Intercepted 8 4 Had Intercepted 6 7 Scoring Def. 18th 51st W-L Pct. W-L Pct. Fumbles-Lost 11-5 4-1 Fumbles-Lost 8-3 5-1 Rushing Def. 37th 60th South Dakota State 5-1 .833 5-1 .833 Penalties-Avg. Yards 23-28.9 33-34.2 Penalties-Avg. Yards 41-75.7 23-35.8 Passing Def. 22nd 54th Missouri State 5-1 .833 5-4 .556 Net Punt Avg. 42.4 38.0 Net Punt Avg. 34.1 40.5 Total Defense 23rd 57th Time of Poss./Game 29:44 30:16 Time of Poss./Game 31:16 28:44 Pass Eff. Def. 39th 40th North Dakota 4-1 .800 4-1 .800 3rd Down Conversions 39% 32% 3rd Down Conversions 47% 37% Net Punting 4th 62nd North Dakota State 5-2 .714 6-2 .750 4th Down Conversions 3/8 7/13 4th Down Conversions 13/18 4/15 Punt Returns 1st 70th Southern Illinois 3-3 .500 5-3 .625 INDIVIDUAL LEADERS INDIVIDUAL LEADERS Kick Returns 19th 50th Northern Iowa 3-4 .429 3-4 .429 RUSHING Att Net Avg TD YPG RUSHING Att Net Avg TD YPG Turnover Mar. 84th 57th South Dakota 1-3 .250 1-3 .250 Hunter Luepke 63 355 5.6 5 88.8 Tamarick Pierce 78 437 5.6 4 72.8 Pen Yds/Gm 4th 90th Illinois State 1-3 .250 1-3 .250 Dominic Gonnella 61 286 4.7 0 40.9 Dennis Merritt 62 259 4.2 4 43.2 Time of Poss. 53rd 27th Western Illinois 1-5 .167 1-5 .167 PASSING C-A-I Pct. TD YPG PASSING C-A-I Pct. TD YPG 3rd Dn Conv. 40th 17th Youngstown State 1-6 .143 1-6 .143 Zeb Noland 51-100-6 51.0 5 103.0 Eric Barriere 166-268-6 61.9 18 364.8 3rd Dn Def.