Oct. 17—SOUTH DAKOTA STATE (5-1) AT NORTH DAKOTA STATE (6-1)
WHEN/WHERE: 7 p.m. Saturday at the Fargodome
TV: ESPN2
RADIO: WNAX-AM 570; Jackrabbit radio affiliates
LINE: SDSU by 2.5
RECORD LAST YEAR: SDSU 15-0 (FCS champions); NDSU 11-4
SERIES: NDSU leads 63-47-5
LAST TIME: SDSU won 33-16 last year in Brookings
LAST WEEK: SDSU beat Youngstown State 63-13; NDSU beat Southern Illinois 24-3
RANKINGS: SDSU is ranked No. 1 in FCS; NDSU is ranked No. 2
COACHES: SDSU — Jimmy Rogers (2nd year, 20-1); NDSU — Tim Polasek (1st year)
WHAT TO KNOW: The premier rivalry in the FCS returns for a national primetime audience. At stake is the three-foot, 78-pound red quartzite monument replica known as the Dakota Marker trophy.
South Dakota State took the Marker home with them in April of 2021 and it has resided in the main office of the Stiegelmeier Family Center on the SDSU campus ever since.
That win was the first of five in a row in this series, which includes four Dakota Marker meetings and the 2022 national championship game (playoff games are not part of the official Marker series), and overall SDSU has won six of the last eight games between these two FCS powerhouses.
The series is even at 10 wins apiece since they began playing for the Marker. The Bison and Rabbits have won 11 of the last 13 FCS titles (nine for NDSU, the last two for SDSU) and at least one of them has been in the championship game in 12 of the last 13 seasons.
SDSU has won 32 straight games against FCS opponents, and perhaps more remarkably, 21 of those conquered foes were ranked.
How evenly matched are the teams? Both are unbeaten against FCS foes with their one loss having come to a Big 12 foe (SDSU to Oklahoma State; NDSU to Colorado), and the stats are strikingly similar. The Jacks are scoring 39 points per game and allowing 14.5; NDSU is scoring 37.7 and allowing 17.6. The Jacks average 440 yards on offense to NDSU’s 445, and NDSU allows 302 per game compared to SDSU’s 298.
Cam Miller has completed 77 percent of his passes for 1,516 yards and 12 touchdowns with zero interceptions to lead the Bison offense, and he’s added six rushing touchdowns. CharMar Brown leads NDSU with 544 rushing yards, while NDSU also occassionally uses change-of-pace quarterback Cole Payton, who’s thrown for 123 yards and two touchdowns and rushed for 155 yards and a score. Bryce Lance (younger brother of quarterback Trey Lance) leads the Bison receivers with 35 catches for 418 yards and five scores.
The Bison defense is led by Logan Kopp’s 32 tackles and Eli Mostaert’s three sacks. NDSU will be without defensive end Dylan Hendricks, and were already playing without All-American safety Cole Wisniewski and fullback Hunter Brozio.
SDSU comes in averaging 245 rushing yards per game and an absurd 7.3 yards per carry, led by Amar Johnson (480 yards) and Kirby Vorhees (363 yards on 28 carries). Reigning Walter Payton Award winner Mark Gronowski has completed 62 percent for 1,103 yards and 11 touchdowns with five interceptions. Griffin Wilde is the Jacks’ leading receiver with 32 catches for 407 yards.
On defense, linebacker Adam Bock leads the team with 43 tackles. They’ve allowed just one touchdown over their last four games, and they’re allowing just 8.6 points in FCS games. They’ve also scored a special teams touchdown in three consecutive games.
Turnovers have loomed large in this series. The Jacks have not committed a single turnover during their five-game winning streak over NDSU, while the Bison have turned it over 10 times.
ETC: This is the ninth No. 1 vs. No. 2 matchup in FCS history, but six of the first eight have been in the national championship game. The only other two No. 1 vs. No. 2 regular season clashes were No. 1 Northern Iowa’s 27-26 win over No. 2 Idaho in 1992 and No. 2 SDSU’s 23-21 win over the Bison in 2022, the last time these teams met in Fargo. The Jacks ascended to the No. 1 spot in the FCS rankings the following week (for the first time ever) and have remained in that slot ever since….This week marks the 195th in a row that NDSU has been ranked, matching Montana’s record streak from 1998-2002. SDSU has been in the poll for 167 straight weeks….More than 15 NFL scouts are expected to attend Saturday’s game. NDSU currently has 12 alumni in the NFL; SDSU has six….NDSU is playing its first Saturday night home game since 2016. They are 16-1 in night home games since 2010….The game is sold out….On the call for ESPN2 will be Jay Alter on play by play and Rocky Boiman as color analyst….Polasek was an assistant at NDSU from 2006-2012 and again from 2014-16. He then spent four years as offensive line coach at Iowa and three years as offensive coordinator at Wyoming before returning this year to take over as head coach, replacing Matt Entz, who resigned last year to become an assistant at Southern Cal….Bison quarterback Cam Miller and SDSU linebacker Adam Bock were teammates in high school at Solon, Iowa, where Cam’s father, Kevin, was their coach….NDSU has four South Dakota natives on their roster — Grey and Jett Zabel of Pierre, Abraham Mayers from Sioux Falls Washington and Ryland Satter from O’Gorman. SDSU has one North Dakotan on their roster — offensive tackle Sam Hagen of Fordville, who transferred from the University of North Dakota before this season.
