THIS WEEK: North Dakota State opens Missouri Valley Football Conference play this week when the No. 2-ranked Bison (3-1) travel to face 15th-ranked Illinois State (3-1) at 2 p.m. Saturday, Sept. 28, at Hancock Stadium (12,440) in Normal, Ill.
TELEVISION: Saturday’s game will be televised on ABC stations statewide in North Dakota with Dom Izzo (play-by-play), Kyle Emanuel (analyst) and Sam Goetzinger (sideline) handling the call. Illinois State’s broadcast will be available to ESPN+ subscribers on ESPN.com and the ESPN app.
RADIO: Statewide network coverage begins at 1 p.m. on all 25 stations across the Pioneer Seeds Bison Sports Network including Bison 1660 and 107.9 The Fox in Fargo with Sam Neidermann (play-by-play), Phil Hansen (analyst) and Noah Gindorff (sideline). Streaming is available on GoBison.com/allaccess and the NDSU Athletics mobile app.
WEEKLY SHOWS: Fans are invited to join the NDSU head coach Tim Polasek each Thursday night from 6:30 to 8 p.m. for the Bison Football Coaches Show live from Holiday Inn Fargo with host Sam Neidermann and other NDSU coaches and players. The show can be heard on Bison 1660 in Fargo, KSJB-AM 600 in Jamestown, KYCR-AM 1440 in Minneapolis, GoBison.com and the NDSU Athletics mobile app. On television, The Bison Football Show airs statewide each Sunday night at 10:35 p.m. on WDAY (Fargo), WDAZ (Grand Forks), KBMY (Bismarck) and KMCY (Minot).
THE SERIES: North Dakota State leads the all-time series 14-2 against Illinois State since 2007. NDSU has won 12 straight including a 24-7 victory in the last meeting Oct. 29, 2022. The Bison are 5-1 at Hancock Stadium and have allowed only 10 points over the last three visits, including a 20-0 shutout in the last trip Oct. 16, 2021.
PLAYERS OF THE WEEK: Redshirt freshman running back CharMar Brown was named Missouri Valley Football Conference Newcomer of the Week and freshman return specialist Jackson Williams was named Special Teams Player of the Week after last week’s performance in the 41-24 homecoming victory over Towson. Brown rushed 24 times for 126 yards and three touchdowns. It was NDSU’s first 100-yard rushing performance of the season and the most carries by a Bison player since March 2021. Williams took his first collegiate punt return 67 yards for a touchdown and had a game-high 169 all-purpose yards including four kickoff returns for an average of 21.3 yards.
LEADING RETURNERS: NDSU has two of the top returners in the FCS through four weeks of play. Jackson Williams leads the Missouri Valley Football Conference with 224 kick return yards and ranks second in the league and 11th in FCS averaging 28.0 yards on eight attempts. Williams has the two longest plays of the season for NDSU, his 67-yard punt return touchdown against Towson and a 55-yard kickoff return against Tennessee State, and two other kick returns (44 and 35 yards) among the team’s 10 longest plays of the year. Additionally, John Gores leads the MVFC and ranks seventh in the FCS averaging 16.8 yards per punt return on five attempts against Tennessee State and East Tennessee State. NDSU ranks fifth in FCS averaging 25.2 yards per punt return.
LATE RALLY: North Dakota State rallied from a 12-point deficit in the final two minutes to beat East Tennessee State 38-35 in Week 3. The Bison converted a 4th-and-10 with 2:20 left when John Gores caught a 38-yard pass from Cam Miller to the ETSU 3. TK Marshall scored on the next play to make it 35-30 with 1:59 to play. Darius Givance recovered the ensuing onside kick by Kaedin Steindorf, and the Bison went 58 yards in six plays going ahead on Miller’s 11-yard touchdown run with 50 seconds left. Bryce Lance caught the two-point conversion pass to make it 38-35, and linebacker Logan Kopp intercepted ETSU quarterback Jaylen King near midfield with 17 seconds left to seal the victory.
200-YARD GAMES: NDSU quarterback Cam Miller went 21-for-33 passing for 250 yards and one touchdown plus 47 yards on 15 rushes with two TDs in the win at East Tennessee State. Miller tied the Missouri Valley Football Conference record of 41 career rushing touchdowns by a quarterback set by former NDSU quarterback Easton Stick from 2015-2018. It was Miller’s 13th career 200-yard passing game, tied with Stick and Steve Walker (2004-2007) for second most in NDSU history behind Brock Jensen, who passed for 200-plus yards in 14 games from 2010-2013.
RARE KICKS: Redshirt freshman kicker Eli Ozick‘s 54-yard field goal at East Tennessee State was the second longest in school history, one yard shy of Ken Johnson‘s school-record 55-yard field goal at South Dakota State in 1997. Punter Kaedin Steindorf executed NDSU’s first successful onside kick since 2005 when the Bison recovered Cory Vartanian‘s kick trailing 20-7 in the fourth quarter of an eventual 20-14 loss at the Fargodome.
BIG KICKS: Prior to his 54-yard field goal at East Tennessee State, Eli Ozick‘s 51-yard field goal on his first career attempt against Tennessee State was the longest field goal by a Bison kicker in eight years when Cam Pedersen hit from 52 yards in the 2016 season-opener against Charleston Southern. Ozick has booted 27 of 29 kickoffs into the end zone with 26 touchbacks helping the Bison limit opponents to just 32 return yards through four contests.
FIRST-TIMERS: North Dakota State scored seven touchdowns in the home opener against Tennessee State and five players scored for the first time in their career. Junior wide receiver Bryce Lance had a career-high seven receptions and 106 yards with the first two TD catches of his career, scoring on passes of 14 and 6 yards from Cam Miller, who finished 14 of 18 passing for 181 yards and three TDs while also running for a 24-yard touchdown. CharMar Brown scored his first TD on a 3-yard run, John Gores‘ first career reception was a 12-yard TD pass from Miller, Mekhi Collins got his first TD on a 19-yard pass from Cole Payton, and quarterback Nathan Hayes‘ first career rushing attempt went for a 51-yard TD.
BISON PICKED SECOND: North Dakota State was picked to finish second in the Missouri Valley Football Conference behind two-time defending national champion South Dakota State. NDSU had 10 players on the MVFC preseason team. First-team picks were FB/LS Hunter Brozio, OT Grey Zabel, DE Dylan Hendricks, DT Eli Mostaert, LB Logan Kopp and S Cole Wisniewski. Second-team honorees were QB Cam Miller, TE Joe Stoffel, OT Mason Miller and K Griffin Crosa.
PRESEASON ALL-AMERICANS: NDSU led the country with eight preseason FCS All-Americans selected by Stats Perform. NDSU DT Eli Mostaert, S Cole Wisniewski and LS Hunter Brozio were on the first team, QB Cam Miller, OT Grey Zabel, DE Dylan Hendricks and LB Logan Kopp were second team, and K Griffin Crosa was third team. The Missouri Valley Football Conference had 24 of the 106 preseason honorees, the most of all 13 FCS conferences.
AWARD CANDIDATES: North Dakota State has six players on preseason watch lists for national player of the year honors. QB Cam Miller is listed for the Walter Payton Award, presented annually to the FCS Offensive Player of the Year. Miller finished 11th in the voting last year. DT Eli Mostaert, LB Logan Kopp and S Cole Wisniewski are up for the Buck Buchanan Award, presented to the FCS Defensive Player of the Year. Kopp tied for 22nd in the voting last year. Kaedin Steindorf is on the FCS Punter of the Year watch list, and Griffin Crosa is on the preseason list for the Fred Mitchell Award, presented to the top placekicker among the FCS, Division II, III, NAIA and NJCAA.
NON-CONFERENCE SUCCESS: North Dakota State is 84-6 against non-conference opponents since the beginning of its first FCS national championship season in 2011. Two losses were to FBS opponents (31-28 at Arizona in 2021 and 31-26 at Colorado in 2024) and two were in the playoffs to the eventual national champion (27-17 to James Madison in 2016 and 24-20 at Sam Houston State in 2020-21). Montana’s 31-29 double-overtime win in the 2023 FCS semifinals and 38-35 victory in the 2015 FCS Kickoff are NDSU’s only other non-conference loss the past 13 years.
BISON AT HOME: The Bison have a 191-29 record in the Fargodome, 33-6 at home against FCS Top 10 ranked teams, and winners of 84 of the last 86 home games over non-conference opponents. North Dakota State has a 35-1 record in the Fargodome during the NCAA playoffs and has won 17 straight home playoff games since the 2016 semifinal loss to eventual national champion James Madison. NDSU’s 32-game home winning streak September 2017 through April 2021 was fourth longest in FCS history.
CROSA ON RECORD PACE: NDSU’s Griffin Crosa is on pace to break multiple scoring records. Crosa, entering his fourth season as NDSU’s top placekicker and his sixth year overall with the Bison, ranks third in field goals made (46), second in PATs made (218) and fifth in total points (356). He is also within reach of the MVFC and NCAA FCS extra-points record of 261 set by NDSU’s Cam Pedersen from 2015 to 2018. His streak of 127 consecutive PAT conversions snapped in 2023 was the third longest in Missouri Valley Football Conference history. Crosa led the MVFC last season with 19 field goals, 70 extra points and 127 total points.
NDSU Career Points Scored
399 – Cam Pedersen, K, 2015-18
386 – Jeff Bentrim, QB, 1983-86
384 – Lamar Gordon, RB, 1998-01
359 – Adam Keller, K, 2011-14
356 – Griffin Crosa, K, 2019-23
NDSU Career PAT Kicks Made
261 – Cam Pedersen, 2015-18 (MVFC and FCS record)
218 – Griffin Crosa, 2019-23
191 – Adam Keller, 2011-14
NDSU Career FG Made
56 – Adam Keller, 2011-14
51 – Shawn Bibeau, 2006-09
46 – Cam Pedersen, 2015-18
46 – Griffin Crosa, 2019-23
42 – Aaron Pederson, 1998-01
FOURTH-YEAR STARTER: Quarterback Cam Miller has started 42 straight games for NDSU since the middle of the 2021 season. Miller has led NDSU to a 34-10 record as the starting QB, including two NCAA playoff games in the spring 2021 season.
RECORD SEASON: NDSU quarterback Cam Miller completed a school-record 72 percent of his passes last season going 208-for-289 with 19 touchdowns and four interceptions. That was the third best completion percentage in Missouri Valley Football Conference history. Miller set NDSU and MVFC records in 2023 with 23 consecutive completions against Central Arkansas (17) and South Dakota (6). He enters the Illinois State game with a streak of 10 games and 193 pass attempts without an interception.
TOP FIVE PASSER: North Dakota State’s Cam Miller is among the top five passers in NDSU history ranked fourth in passing attempts and touchdowns, and third in completions and yards. He also ranks first in career passing completion percentage (68.4%), third in pass efficiency (160.5), fifth in yards per passing attempt (8.9), and sixth in Bison history with 41 career rushing touchdowns, tying the Missouri Valley Football Conference record of 41 rushing touchdowns by a quarterback set by NDSU’s Easton Stick from 2015 to 2018.
NDSU Career Pass Attempts
1,124 – Brock Jensen, 2010-13
980 – Easton Stick, 2015-18
841 – Steve Walker, 2004-07
835 – Cam Miller, 2020-23
612 – Carson Wentz, 2012-15
NDSU Career Pass Completions
703 – Brock Jensen, 2010-13
598 – Easton Stick, 2015-18
571 – Cam Miller, 2020-23
534 – Steve Walker, 2004-07
392 – Carson Wentz, 2012-15
NDSU Career Passing Yards
8,693 – Easton Stick, 2015-18
8,598 – Brock Jensen, 2010-13
7,397 – Cam Miller, 2020-23
7,033 – Steve Walker, 2004-07
5,115 – Carson Wentz, 2012-15
NDSU Career Passing TDs
88 – Easton Stick, 2015-18
72 – Brock Jensen, 2010-13
60 – Steve Walker, 2004-07
54 – Cam Miller, 2020-23
45 – Carson Wentz, 2012-15
NDSU Career TDs Responsible For
129 – Easton Stick, 2015-18
107 – Brock Jensen, 2010-13
95 – Cam Miller, 2020-24
88 – Jeff Bentrim, 1983-86
85 – Kevin Feeney, 1995-98
NDSU Career Total Offense Yards
11,216 – Easton Stick, 2015-18
9,838 – Brock Jensen, 2010-13
9,201 – Cam Miller, 2020-24
7,230 – Kevin Feeney, 1995-98
7,144 – Steve Walker, 2004-07