THIS WEEK: No. 1-ranked North Dakota State plays its final road game of the regular season this week when the Bison (9-0, 6-0 MVFC) play 13th-ranked North Dakota (6-3, 4-1 MVFC) at 1 p.m. Saturday, Nov. 8, at the Alerus Center (12,283) in Grand Forks.
 
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. UND's broadcast on Midco Sports will be available to ESPN+ subscribers on ESPN.com and the ESPN app.
 
RADIO: Statewide network coverage on all 25 stations across the Pioneer Seeds Bison Sports Network begins at 12 p.m. including Bison 1660 and 107.9 The Fox in Fargo with Sam Neidermann (play-by-play), Phil Hansen (analyst) and Noah Gindorff (sideline) describing the action. Streaming is available on GoBison.com/allaccess and the NDSU Athletics mobile app.
 
WEEKLY SHOWS: Fans are invited to join 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: This is the 118th meeting between North Dakota State and North Dakota dating back to 1894, the 11th most played rivalry among current FCS programs. UND leads the all-time series 63-51-3, but NDSU has a 6-1 edge as Division I opponents since 2015 including a 41-17 victory in Fargo last season. The Bison are 1-3 in the Alerus Center with a 16-10 win in the 2021 season.
 
LAST WEEK: North Dakota State scored 14 points off two Youngstown State turnovers and Jackson Williams scored on a 100-yard kickoff return to highlight a back-and-forth second quarter in NDSU's 38-30 win. It was still a one-score game with 1:03 left and YSU starting from its 20 when Anthony Chideme-Alfaro forced a fumble and Zach Vanderpool recovered, and NDSU kneeled twice to end the game. Cole Payton went 17 of 24 passing for 194 yards and added 28 yards rushing on 12 carries, Barika Kpeenu had 15 carries for 74 yards and three touchdowns, and Chideme-Alfaro finished with a career- and team-high nine tackles. NDSU controlled the ball for nearly 21 minutes in the second half to slow down the Penguins and quarterback Beau Brungard, who went 19 of 30 passing for 203 yards and one score while rushing 15 times for 50 yards and two TDs. YSU's Andrew Lostovka converted three field goals from 40-plus yards, including a 49-yarder that cut NDSU's lead to 28-20 at halftime.
 
TITLE TALK: NDSU can clinch the Missouri Valley Football Conference championship outright with a victory over UND this week. NDSU has 11 titles in 17 previous years of MVFC membership winning six outright titles (2012, 2013, 2017, 2018, 2019, 2021) and sharing five (2011, 2014, 2015, 2016, 2024). Overall, the Bison have 38 conference championships counting 26 at the Division II level in the North Central Conference and its first FCS title in 2006 as a member of the Great West Football Conference.
 
WINNING STREAKS: North Dakota State's 17-game home winning streak is second longest in the FCS behind Villanova's 20. Rhode Island is third with 13 straight home wins. Overall, NDSU's 13-game winning streak also ranks second among current FCS streaks behind Tennessee Tech's 14.
 
REMEMBER NOVEMBER: North Dakota State is 9-0 for the first time since 2019 and the seventh time as a Division I program. While the 2007 Bison were ineligible for the FCS playoffs, the other five teams went on to win national championships in 2011, 2013, 2014, 2018 and 2019. Two of those teams (2011, 2014) suffered a November loss but maintained a top-four ranking and No. 2 seed for the FCS playoffs. NDSU is 50-11 in regular-season November games since 2004 including a 36-6 mark since 2011.
 
COMMITTEE RANKINGS: North Dakota State was No. 1 in the NCAA Division I Football Committee's first top 10 rankings released Oct. 15. The second release is this Wednesday, Nov. 5, during the 1 p.m. CT broadcast of College Football Live on ESPN2. The full 24-team playoff bracket will be announced on the FCS Selection Show scheduled for 11 a.m. Sunday, Nov. 23, on ESPNU.
 
MAKING THEM COUNT: North Dakota State leads the Missouri Valley Football Conference in nearly every offensive category, but the Bison are dead last in one. NDSU's 188 passing attempts rank 10th out of 10 teams, but the Bison still lead the league in total passing yards (2,194), yards per completion (15.9), yards per attempt (11.7) and yards per game (243.8). The Bison have 39 passing plays of 20-plus yards this season.
 
ELITE COMPANY: NDSU's Jackson Williams is currently the FCS active career leader and second in NDSU history with an average of 31.81 yards per kickoff return, and last week became just the sixth player in Bison history with two kickoff return touchdowns joining school record holders Tony Satter (1987-90), Shamen Washington (2004-09), Marcus Williams (2010-13), Bruce Anderson (2015-18) and Christian Watson (2018-21). Jackson Williams has two of NDSU's seven 100-yard kickoff returns.
 
PASS CATCHERS: Bison wide receiver Bryce Lance is currently sixth on the NDSU career list for receiving touchdowns with 21, the third most in NDSU's Division I history behind school record holder Zach Vraa's 28 TD catches from 2011-15 and RJ Urzendowski, who is tied with TR McDonald for fourth in school history with 22 TD catches from 2014-17.
 
NATIONAL LEADERS: NDSU quarterback Cole Payton leads the FCS in completion percentage (.744) and passing yards per completion (16.02) and per attempt (11.92) and ranks second in passing efficiency (192.5) through his first nine starts. Payton is also fifth in total offense (293.6 ypg) and 11th in yards per carry (6.40). Barika Kpeenu is fifth in the FCS for scoring (10.0 ppg) and ranks third with 15 rushing TDs and fourth in total touchdowns (15). Bryce Lance is 12th in yards per reception (19.53) and Eli Ozick ranks first among FCS kickers in scoring with 76 points and is second with 8.4 points per game.
 
TEAM RANKINGS: In this week's FCS statistics, North Dakota State ranks first in total defense (237.8 ypg), second in passing defense (139.9 ypg) and scoring defense (11.9 ppg) and eighth in rushing defense (97.9 ypg). NDSU is also first nationally in completion percentage (.734) and passing yards per completion (15.90), second in passing efficiency (190.00) and third-down conversions (.545), fourth in scoring offense (42.3 ppg) and rushing offense (231.7), and fifth in total offense (475.4 ypg). NDSU is tied for sixth in FCS with a plus-10 turnover margin.
 
RECORD PACE: North Dakota State is on school-record pace in passing and total offense through nine games averaging 243.8 passing yards per game with a 190.0 pass efficiency rating and 73.4 completion percentage. Quarterback Cole Payton's 9.86 yards per play, 293.6 total offense yards per game, 222.4 passing yards per game, 11.9 yards per pass attempt, 74.4 completion percentage, and 192.5 efficiency rating would also be school single-season records. Payton has three of the top six single-game offensive performances in school history, and his 348 passing yards against Southeast Missouri State were third most in NDSU single-game history.
                NDSU Single-Game Total Offense Yards
                466 - Graig Gorder at Omaha, 11/9/2002 (50 rush, 416 pass)
                455 - Steve Walker at Ball State, 9/23/2006 (4 rush, 451 pass)
                401 - Cole Payton, Southeast Missouri State, 9/13/2025 (53 rush, 348 pass)
                382 - Carson Wentz, Northern Iowa, 10/10/2015 (47 rush, 335 pass)
                380 - Cole Payton, at South Dakota State, 10/25/2025 (137 rush, 243 pass)
                375 - Cole Payton, South Dakota, 9/27/2025 (102 rush, 273 pass)
 
GOOD WORKS TEAM: Senior linebacker Logan Kopp was one of 22 players in college football named to the 2025 Allstate AFCA Good Works Team. Kopp is the 10th NDSU player named to the team, which recognizes extraordinary commitment to community service. Read more about the team members at ESPN.com/allstate.
 
PLAYERS OF THE WEEK: North Dakota State has had five players earn eight Missouri Valley Football Conference player of the week awards this season:
                — QB Cole Payton, Offensive (9/29, 10/13, 10/27)...Had 375 yards of total offense and three TDs against South Dakota...Went 14 of 18 passing for 273 yards and two TDs with 11 carries for 102 yards and one score...Picked up six first downs in the run game including one on fourth-and-short and three third down conversions including a 21-yard scramble on third-and-17...Had 291 total yards and three TDs including a 41-yard scramble against Southern Illinois...Picked up eight first downs on 13 of 16 passing for 243 yards...Totaled 380 yards at South Dakota State rushing 17 times for 137 yards and four TDs while going 18 of 23 passing for 243 yards.
                — LB Nathaniel Staehling, Defensive (9/29)...Scored on a 43-yard interception return to end USD's opening drive of the second half, assisted on two tackles for loss and finished with a team-high five tackles.
                — RS Jackson Williams, Special Teams (9/29, 11/3)...Had 107 all-purpose yards including two 21-yard punt returns, a 21-yard kickoff return, a 35-yard pass reception from NDSU's 10 to spark a 90-yard scoring drive in the first quarter, and a 9-yard touchdown run...Scored a 100-yard kickoff return to extend a four-point lead against Youngstown State and finished with 194 all-purpose yards.
                — RG Griffin Empey, Offensive Line (9/29)...Played 66 snaps against USD with no penalties or sacks allowed and had a 94 percent overall grade with three key blocks to help the Bison rush for 274 yards, 5.5 yards per carry and four touchdowns.
                — C Trent Fraley, Offensive Line (10/26)...Played 67 snaps at SDSU with a 91 percent overall grade and three key blocks to help the Bison rush for 257 yards, 5.2 yards per carry and five touchdowns while going 9 of 16 on third down and controlling the ball for more than 38 minutes.
 
WATCH LISTS: NDSU has three players under consideration for national player of the year awards. WR Bryce Lance is on the preseason watch list for the Walter Payton Award, presented annually to the FCS offensive player of the year. DE Toby Anene and LB Logan Kopp are on the watch list for the Buck Buchanan Award, presented to the FCS defensive player of the year. Other preseason All-Americans from NDSU are C Trent Fraley and RS Jackson Williams.
 
18 NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIPS: North Dakota State has won 18 football national championships. NDSU claimed three College Division national championships in 1965, 1968 and 1969 via the national polls, five Division II playoff titles in 1983, 1985, 1986, 1988 and 1990, and was the first team in college football history to win five straight national titles with FCS crowns in 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014 and 2015 before winning again in 2017, 2018, 2019, 2021 and 2024. The Bison lost to the eventual national champion in the 2010 and 2020 quarterfinals and 2016 semifinals.
 
NON-CONFERENCE SUCCESS: North Dakota State is 90-6 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 losses the past 13 years.
 
BISON AT HOME: The Bison have a 203-29 all-time record in the Fargodome since 1993, including 36-5 against FCS Top 10 ranked teams and 77-1 against FCS non-conference teams with 33 straight wins over non-MVFC teams since 2017. North Dakota State has a 38-1 record in the Fargodome during the NCAA playoffs and has won 20 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 is fifth longest in FCS history.