North Dakota State gearing up for the FBS has a little more color to it as of Tuesday.
The Bison social media team announced the color schedule for the football team’s home games this fall, the program’s first in the FBS. NDSU announced the decision to join the FBS in February after dominating the FCS with 10 national championships in 15 seasons and posting a 9-5 record against FBS teams.
To kick things off, NDSU will have a stripe out for the season opener against Jacksonville State on Aug. 29 at the Fargodome. NDSU and Jacksonville State once played for an FCS national championship in the 2015 season, which the Bison dominated, 37-10.
The Bison’s lone game against an FCS opponent this year will call for fans wearing yellow. That’s for the Sept. 5 game against Fordham, a late non-conference addition, amid the last-minute rescheduling after the FBS move.
For the Mountain West Conference home opener, NDSU will go Code Green for the Oct. 3 game against Wyoming. That game is being tabbed as a potential rivalry game since former head coach Craig Bohl coached at NDSU from 2003 to 2013, followed by Wyoming from 2014 to 2023.
Fans are asked to wear yellow for the Oct. 17 game against Nevada and Nov. 21 against Northern Illinois. The Bison have never played Nevada but played Northern Illinois twice back in the 1968 and 1969.
For the UTEP game on Oct. 31, the Bison will have a helmet stripe theme.
Tim Polasek Message to Fans
Bison head coach Tim Polasek enters his third season at the helm with the monumental task of transitioning the program from FCS titan to a competitive FBS squad.
It’s the move with an eye toward reigniting a Bison fan base that hasn’t filled the Fargodome regularly, which was the case in the early years of the dynasty. The endless blowout wins took a toll on fan interest, and Polasek wants to see things change this fall in Fargo.
“These are exciting times,” Polasek told Bison Illustrated. “I think there’s hunger from the community. They wanted to do this. So now it’s about Climbing the Mountain, together, to position us for the first five, six years of this transition. And there’s opportunity with other revenue streams too.”
“Let’s enjoy the competition,” Polasek added. “Saturdays in the Dome, we’re coming with intent. We’re going to put the ball in the air, and this is going to be competition. I don’t see any layups. It’s a competitive league.”
NDSU’s Home Field Advantage
NDSU has enjoyed a major home field advantage from Day One since the Fargodome opened in 1993.
The Bison have a 144-24 record at home in the dome all-time, and the Herd had a 38-2 playoff record in the FCS. It would take major breaks to ever host a College Football Playoff game there, but the Bison can at least draw quality FBS Group of Six teams to the 19,000-seat dome for new in the coming years.
Whether or not the Bison ever land a Power Four opponent, that looks like a long shot. It only happens once or twice a season to begin with across the FBS. The Bison for now will look to make the most of a historically strong home field advantage in the first year of FBS competition.
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