Bison Prepare For NCAA Division I Football Championship Game With Sam Houston State
12/20/2011 6:00:00 AM | Football
complete release attached
No. 2-seed and No. 4-ranked North Dakota State (13-1, 7-1 Valley Football) is scheduled to play No. 1-seed and No. 1-ranked Sam Houston State (14-0, 7-0 Southland Conference) in the 2012 NCAA Division I Football Championship game at 12:05 p.m. Saturday, Jan. 7, 2012, in Pizza Hut Park (20,000 / Bermuda Tifway 419) at Frisco, Texas ... North Dakota State dismantled Georgia Southern 35-7 in the semifinals Dec. 17 before 18,108 in the Fargodome ... Sam Houston State held off Montana 31-28 in the semifinals Dec. 16 before 12,367 in Huntsville, Texas ... The Bearkats are 5-0 against nationally-ranked opponents this season and won at FBS opponent New Mexico 48-45 in overtime in September ... The Bison are 14-2 over the past two seasons in the Fargodome and 6-0 vs. nationally-ranked opponents in 2011.
TELEVISION/RADIO: The game will be televised on ESPN2 HD and ESPN3.com ... Dave Neal will handle the play-by-play, and former Houston and NFL QB Andre Ware will provide the color analysis ... It will be broadcast nationally on radio through Westwood One Sports ... John Tautges will handle the play-by-play and former college and NFL head coach Terry Donahue will serve as the color analyst ... The Bison are 99-56-1 (.638) in TV games.
POSTSEASON HISTORY: North Dakota State is making its second straight NCAA Division I FCS playoff appearance and the program's 25th postseason overall including 17 in the Division II playoffs ... The Bison make the program's 8th appearance in a championship game, the previous seven coming in Division II ... NDSU is 5-2 in previous championship games and make its first appearance since the 1990 Division II title game against Indiana (Pa.) (W 51-11) in Florence, Ala. ... NDSU advanced to the 2010 NCAA FCS quarterfinals before falling 38-31 in overtime at eventual national champion Eastern Washington ... North Dakota State defeated Robert Morris 43-17 in the opening round, the program's first-ever NCAA playoff game in the Fargodome ... NDSU defeated Montana State 42-17 in the second round at Bozeman ... The Bison are 40-14 overall in the postseason including a 5-1 record in the NCAA FCS playoffs and 31-12 record in NCAA Division II ... North Dakota State has won eight national championships (1965, 1968, 1969, 1983, 1985, 1986, 1988 and 1990) and were national runner-up three times (1967, 1981 and 1984) ... The Bison also were third place five times (1970, 1976, 1977, 1982, 2000) ... Championships & placings prior to 1973 were determined by AP or UPI polls ... Championship & runner-up finishes after that were through the NCAA playoff format ... Third-place finishes after 1973 were the result of semifinal losses in the playoff system.
SERIES RECORD: This is the third meeting between North Dakota State and Sam Houston State ... Only six points have separated the teams in the first two encounters ... The Bison won the first meeting 41-38 at the Fargodome on a last second Steve Walker pass to Kole Heckendorf in 2007 and lost 48-45 on a last minute field goal to the Bearkats at Huntsville in 2009 (recap on page 4 of release) ... The Bison are 7-1 against current members of the Southland Conference (Nicholls State 2-0, Northwestern State 2-0, Stephen F. Austin 2-0 and Sam Houston State 1-1).
RADIO BROADCASTS: KFGO-AM 790, Fargo ... Veteran sports announcer Scott Miller will handle the play-by-play ... Former NDSU All-American and 11-year NFL great Phil Hansen will handle the color duties, while NDSU director of athletic broadcasting Jeremy Jorgenson is on the sidelines ... Air time is set for 11:30 a.m., kickoff at 12:05 p.m. (Central) on Jan. 7 ... Anchored by flagship, The Mighty 790, KFGO-AM, the Bison Radio Network has 11 stations including KFYR AM 550 (Bismarck), KPOK AM 1340 (Bowman), KRCQ FM 102.3 (Detroit Lakes, Minn.), KDVL FM 102.5 (Devils Lake), KHND AM 1470 (Harvey), KSJB 600 AM (Jamestown), KHRT AM 1320 (Minot), KZZJ AM 1450 (Rugby), KYCR AM 1570 (Minneapolis)and KEYZ AM 660 (Williston) ... The Bison gameday format includes a 30-minute pregame show with comments from Craig Bohl, in-depth analysis and features ... A complete 30-minute postgame show is covered from the press box and locker room areas.
