North Dakota State’s moving to the FBS comes with high expectations for head coach Tim Polasek and his team.
The 10-time FCS champion Bison are expecting to make an immediate impact on the FBS landscape and Mountain West Conference. Polasek isn’t even concerned about the current state of the roster after a 12-1 season where the Bison got stunned in the FCS playoffs.
“I like the football team,” Polasek told reporters on Monday. “I like our ability to go in and compete and not figure out as we go. We’re not doing that here.”
“This is about winning, it always has been, but there is going to be a process to figure out exactly where we need to improve and continue to attack that like always,” Polasek added.
His first game with the Bison showed that in 2024, when NDSU nearly upset Colorado, 31-26. The Bison didn’t lose another game that year with a 14-2 record and 10th FCS championship.
Overall, NDSU has a 9-5 record against FBS teams since joining the FCS in 2004. The Bison look to contend right away in the Mountain West, though the postseason may have to wait with the NCAA’s two-year transition waiting period.
“Nothing changes tomorrow,” Polasek said. “This is more about July 1 and beyond. We’ll be very methodical and true to our evaluation process this spring.”
North Dakota State More Than Ready to Recruit at FBS Level
NDSU luring higher level recruits to Fargo won’t be a problem as Polasek sees it, but the Bison have been recruiting above the FCS all along.
“I think we’ve always talked in terms of recruiting to a Group of Six level,” Polasek explained. “We’re in a position to be very competitive but make no mistake, that conference (Mountain West) has very good coaches and really good players.”
NDSU tends to recruit players from Minnesota, Wisconsin, North Dakota, South Dakota, Iowa, Nebraska, and Illinois. With the Bison moving up to the FBS, grabbing potential Big Ten recruits from those states becomes more plausible, and there’s only one other Group of Six team in those states — fellow Mountain West member Northern Illinois.
“I think we align very well with the Mountain West,” Polasek said. “I think where our skill levels are at, the improvements of that over the last four, five years, is better than it would have been 10 years ago in the skill area. So you just have to continue to recruit the best people you can.”
NDSU’s Past Success Against the FBS Timeline
Since NDSU’s dominant 31-10 win over Ball State in 2006, the Bison have only impressed against the FBS, whether a Group of Six or Power Four squad.
The Bison beat two FBS teams in 2007 with, first with a win over a Central Michigan team, 44-37, that had future NFL stars Antonio Brown and J.J. Watt. NDSU then beat Minnesota 44-27 later that season.
It only picked up when the FCS dynasty began in 2011 with another win over Minnesota followed by wins over Colorado State in 2012, Kansas State in 2013, Iowa State in 2014, and then-No. 13 Iowa in 2016. FBS programs generally stopped scheduling the Bison, and the wait for another FBS game ended in 2022 against Arizona, another game where the Bison came short of an upset, 31-28.
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