THIS WEEK: No. 1-ranked North Dakota State (3-0) opens Missouri Valley Football Conference play hosting 17th-ranked South Dakota (2-2) in the annual NDSU homecoming game scheduled for 1 p.m. Saturday, Sept. 27, at Gate City Bank Field at the Fargodome (18,700).
 
TICKETS: Tickets may be purchased online at GoBison.com/tickets or by calling the Bison Ticket Office in the south lobby of the Sanford Health Athletic Complex at (701) 231-6378 weekdays between 8 a.m. and 4 p.m. Game day ticket sales, if available, begin at 8 a.m. in the east lobby of the Fargodome.
 
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. The broadcast will also 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 90th meeting between North Dakota State and South Dakota in a series dating back to 1903. NDSU holds a 59-28-2 all-time lead including 11-3 as Division I opponents. USD has won the last two regular-season meetings, 29-28 in last year's regular-season finale in Vermillion and 24-19 in the 2023 NDSU homecoming game.
 
HOMECOMING: North Dakota State has a 60-38-3 record in homecoming games dating back to 1921, including a 26-5 record in the Fargodome. NDSU had an 11-game homecoming winning streak snapped by South Dakota in 2023 but the Bison got back in the win column last year with a 41-24 homecoming victory over Towson. USD is 1-4 as the opponent for NDSU homecoming.
 
HALL OF FAME: The 53rd class of the Bison Athletic Hall of Fame will be inducted at a luncheon on Friday and will also be recognized at halftime of Saturday's game. The inductees are five-time All-America track and field athlete Andrew Aakre, national champion and two-time all-region softball outfielder Nikki (Almquist) Mead, four-time All-America sprinter and football wide receiver Allen Burrell, 10-time All-America jumper Crystal Cummins Schneider, nine-year NFL safety and Super Bowl champion Craig Dahl, all-region and two-time all-conference volleyball setter Janna (Ruebke) Engel, all-region and two-time all-conference basketball center Brian Sand, and former university president Joseph A. Chapman.
 
CODE GREEN: Fans in all seating sections are encouraged to wear green for the Code Green theme Saturday vs. South Dakota. NDSU will wear its green Harvest Helmet with green jerseys and green pants. The Bison are 7-0 in the all-green look since 2019 including two home wins last year over South Dakota State.
 
LAST TIME OUT: North Dakota State is coming off a bye week and enters Missouri Valley Football Conference play with a 3-0 record after beating Southeast Missouri State 41-14 in the home opener two weeks ago. Cole Payton went 16 of 23 passing for 348 yards with four first-half touchdowns in his first Fargodome start. Payton also rushed for 53 yards and one TD. The 348 passing yards and 401 total offense yards were both third most in NDSU single-game history. He completed passes to nine different receivers with Bryce Lance catching four for a career-high 159 yards including a career-long 75-yard TD, and RaJa Nelson scored on two of his four receptions.
 
NATIONAL LEADERS: NDSU quarterback Cole Payton leads the FCS in passing yards per completion (18.10) and per attempt (12.84) and ranks second in passing efficiency (214.7) through his first three starts. Payton is also seventh in total offense (293.7 ypg) and 13th in completion percentage (.709). RaJa Nelson ranks eighth in the FCS with four receiving touchdowns and Barika Kpeenu is 10th in the FCS with five rushing TDs.
 
TOP DEFENSE: North Dakota State ranks first in passing defense and total defense and second in scoring defense in the latest FCS statistics. NDSU is allowing just 78.7 passing yards, 158.0 total yards and 5.7 points per game through the non-conference schedule. The Bison also rank third in tackles for loss (8.3/game), fourth in sacks (3.3/game) and fifth in rushing defense (79.3 ypg).
 
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.
 
BISON PICKED FIRST: Reining national champion North Dakota State was picked first in a preseason poll of Missouri Valley Football Conference media, coaches and communications directors. NDSU received 39 of 42 first-place votes. South Dakota State was picked second and South Dakota was third.
 
WATCH LISTS: North Dakota State has three players under consideration for national player of the year awards. Wide receiver Bryce Lance is on the preseason watch list for the Walter Payton Award, presented annually to the FCS offensive player of the year. Defensive end Toby Anene and linebacker 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 center Trent Fraley and kick returner 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 200-29 all-time record in the Fargodome since 1993, including 35-5 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 was fourth longest in FCS history.