2018 North Dakota State Bison football team

The 2018 North Dakota State Bison football team represents North Dakota State University in the 2018 NCAA Division I FCS football season. They were led by fifth-year head coach Chris Klieman, who also coached his final season with the Bison before heading off to take over for the retiring Bill Snyder at Kansas State. The team played their 26th season in the Fargodome in Fargo, North Dakota as members of the Missouri Valley Football Conference. They entered the season as defending National Champions and had won six of the last seven FCS titles. In 2018, the Bison finished the regular season 11–0, the first undefeated Bison season since the 2013 campaign, and won their eighth consecutive MVFC title. They received an automatic qualifying bid to the FCS playoff tournament and were seeded as the No. 1 team. The Bison then went 4–0 in the FCS playoffs to finish 15–0 and FCS champions.

2018 North Dakota State Bison football
NCAA Division I FCS national champion
MVFC champion
ConferenceMissouri Valley Football Conference
Ranking
STATSNo. 1
FCS CoachesNo. 1
2018 record15–0 (8–0 MVFC)
Head coach
Offensive coordinatorCourtney Messingham (2nd season)
Defensive coordinatorMatt Entz (5th season)
Home stadiumFargodome
(Capacity: 19,000)
2018 Missouri Valley Football Conference standings
Conf  Overall
Team W L    W L 
No. 1 North Dakota State $^  8 –0     15 –0  
No. 3 South Dakota State ^  6 –2     10 –3  
No. 23 Northern Iowa ^  5 –3     7 –6  
Indiana State  5 –3     7 –4  
Western Illinois  4 –4     5 –6  
Illinois State  3 –5     6 –5  
Youngstown State  3 –5     4 –7  
South Dakota  3 –5     4 –7  
Missouri State  2 –6     4 –7  
Southern Illinois  1 –7     2 –9  
  • $ – Conference champion
  • ^ – FCS playoff participant
Rankings from STATS Poll

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*No. 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.No. 8 Illinois StateNo. 1
  • Fargodome
  • Fargo, ND
NBC ND/ESPN+W 28–1418,553
October 272:00 p.m.at South DakotaNo. 1
NBC ND/ESPN+W 59–149,589
November 32:30 p.m.Youngstown StateNo. 1
  • Fargodome
  • Fargo, ND (Harvest Bowl)
NBC ND/ESPN+W 17–718,028
November 102:00 p.m.at Missouri StateNo. 1
ESPN+W 48–75,224
November 172:30 p.m.Southern IllinoisNo. 1
  • Fargodome
  • Fargo, ND
NBC ND/ESPN+W 65–1718,008
December 12:00 p.m. No. 23 Montana State*No. 1
NBC ND/ESPN3W 52–1017,005
December 811:00 a.m.No. 8 Colgate*No. 1
NBC ND/ESPNW 35–016,404
December 147:00 p.m.No. 5 South Dakota State*No. 1
ESPN2W 44–2118,286
January 511:00 a.m.No. 3 Eastern Washington*No. 1
ESPN2W 38–24 17,802
  • *Non-conference game
  • Homecoming
  • 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
See also: 2018 Cal Poly Mustangs football team

North Alabama
1 2 3 4 Total
Lions 0 0 0 7 7
No. 1 Bison 7 10 7 14 38
See also: 2018 North Alabama Lions football team

Delaware
1 2 3 4 Total
Fightin' Blue Hens 0 0 0 10 10
No. 1 Bison 28 7 3 0 38
See also: 2018 Delaware Fightin' Blue Hens football team

South Dakota State
1 2 3 4 Total
No. 3 Jackrabbits 7 0 10 0 17
No. 1 Bison 0 14 0 7 21
See also: 2018 South Dakota State Jackrabbits football team and Dakota Marker

at Northern Iowa
1 2 3 4 Total
No. 1 Bison 7 14 7 28 56
No. 22 Panthers 14 10 7 0 31
See also: 2018 Northern Iowa Panthers football team

at Western Illinois
1 2 3 4 Total
No.1 Bison 3 14 7 10 34
Leathernecks 0 7 0 0 7
See also: 2018 Western Illinois Leathernecks football team

Illinois State
1 2 3 4 Total
No. 8 Redbirds 0 0 7 7 14
No. 1 Bison 7 14 7 0 28
See also: 2018 Illinois State Redbirds football team

at South Dakota
1 2 3 4 Total
No. 1 Bison 21 14 7 17 59
Coyotes 0 7 7 0 14
See also: 2018 South Dakota Coyotes football team

Youngstown State
1 2 3 4 Total
Penguins 0 0 7 0 7
No. 1 Bison 0 7 0 10 17
See also: 2018 Youngstown State Penguins football team

at Missouri State
1 2 3 4 Total
No. 1 Bison 20 14 14 0 48
Bears 0 0 7 0 7
See also: 2018 Missouri State Bears football team

[20]

Southern Illinois
1 2 3 4 Total
Salukis 14 0 3 0 17
No. 1 Bison 28 16 7 14 65
See also: 2018 Southern Illinois Salukis football team

FCS Playoffs

Montana State–Second Round
1 2 3 4 Total
No. 23 Bobcats 3 0 7 0 10
No. 1 Bison 21 17 7 7 52
See also: 2018 Montana State Bobcats football team

Colgate–Quarterfinals
1 2 3 4 Total
No. 9 Raiders 0 0 0 0 0
No. 1 Bison 7 7 14 7 35
See also: 2018 Colgate Raiders football team

South Dakota State–Semifinals
1 2 3 4 Total
No. 5 Jackrabbits 7 0 14 0 21
No. 1 Bison 7 7 21 9 44
See also: 2018 South Dakota State Jackrabbits football team

Eastern Washington–Championship
1 2 3 4 Total
No. 4 Eagles 0 10 7 7 24
No. 1 Bison 10 7 14 7 38
See also: 2018 Eastern Washington Eagles football team and 2019 NCAA Division I Football Championship Game

Ranking movements
Ranking movements
Legend: ██ Increase in ranking. ██ Decrease in ranking.
NR = Not ranked. RV = Received votes. т = Tied with team above or below. ( ) = 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) 1 (160) 1 (163) 1 (160) 1 (158) 1 (155) 1 (155) 1 (156) 
Coaches 1 (23) 1 (26) 1 (25) 1 (26) 1 (26) 1 (26) 1 (26) 1 (26) 1 (26) 1 (26) 1 (26) 1 (26) 1 (26) 1 (26)

Players drafted into the NFL
See also: 2019 NFL Draft
RoundPickPlayerPositionNFL Club
5166Easton StickQBLos Angeles Chargers

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. "North Dakota State takes back FCS title with 17–13 victory over James Madison". latimes.com. Associated Press. 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
  20. http://www.espn.com/college-football/boxscore?gameId=401029753
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