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NDSU continues to have trouble with scheduling Power Four teams.
North Dakota State‘s aspiration to reach the College Football Playoff in 2026 just took a hit.
The Bison moved to the FBS recently after ruling the FCS for nearly two decades, but NDSU’s schedule will likely lack the strength to make the CFP, even if the NCAA postseason restriction gets lifted. NDSU will only play FCS schools for non-conference games, and those respective schools recently revealed those game dates on their respective websites.
NDSU will open the season against Incarnate Word in San Antonio on Aug. 29 and then visit Central Arkansas on Sept. 12. The Bison will then host Austin Peay on Sept. 19 at the Fargodome before kicking off Mountain West Conference play the following week. USC had an open date on Aug. 29 at the time of NDSU’s move up to the FBS, but it’s possible the Trojans had that game penciled in with another team, based on a report from Mike McFeely of the Fargo Forum.
FBSchedules.com has the full NDSU schedule minus the conference game dates because the Mountain West hasn’t released those yet. The Bison will visit Air Force, Hawaii, New Mexico, and UNLV. NDSU will host Nevada, Northern Illinois, UTEP, and Wyoming at the dome.
It’s not impossible for NDSU to make the CFP with that schedule, but the Bison would realistically need to run the table convincingly to have a shot. All three Group of Six teams to make the 12-team field over the past two years had at least one Power Four conference victory.
That said, NDSU still needs to obtain a waiver from the NCAA to compete in the postseason for 2026 and 2027. The Bison could play in a bowl game if there are not enough bowl eligible teams.
Bison’s Approach Won’t Change
NDSU will get a taste of what it’s leaving behind with a month of FCS opponents before getting into the Mountain West schedule.
That said, Bison head coach Tim Polasek told On3.com that he doesn’t expect his team’s approach to change in the FBS. NDSU dominated the FCS for 15 years with 10 national championships and three unbeaten seasons.
“You have to keep it really simple. You got to really hold onto the things that have created some of the success,” Polasek told On3.com. “And what I mean by that is, it’s the Chris Klieman, ‘We’re trying to go 1-0,’ it is Craig Bohl’s ‘We’re on a mission. This is how we do the job.’ All the great things Matt Entz did.”
“It’s really staying true to win the day, win the week, keeping the main thing, the main thing,” Polasek added. “And I don’t mean to give a bunch of coach speak here, the expectations are high outside of our building. The standards are high, but they’re higher inside these walls than they are from the outside.”
“We believe in our processes year-round. We understand how to practice,” Polasek continued. “If we can identify the spots where acquiring talent will need an uptick here or there, and we can do a good job with that, I really do like our chances to compete. To go in and fight, and most certainly win more than you lose.”
Tim Polasek Credits Old Conference For Being Ready
Polasek highlighted how the Bison’s former league, the Missouri Valley Football Conference, prepared the team to not only win big in the FCS, but make an impact in the FBS.
“There have been years where we’ve been seven deep, where you have to show up and play,” Polasek said. “In those types of years, I think we’ve been through something similar. But I am not naive enough, in my three years I spent in the Mountain West at Wyoming, there was never a time we weren’t in the games. But there was never a time they were just going to hand us a W.”
Matthew Davis covers the NFL, WNBA and college sports for Heavy.com. As a contributing writer to the StarTribune, he has also covered Minnesota prep sports since 2016. More about Matthew Davis
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