The Football Championship Subdivision spring season has been chaotic and frustrating at times for coaches, players and fans alike.
North Dakota and North Dakota State missed games because of COVID-19 and opposing teams ended their season early.
Weekly press conferences turned into a doctor’s appointment, where a head coach was asked more questions about COVID-19 than anything football-related some weeks.
UND hosts Missouri State in the first round of the FCS playoffs on Saturday from the Alerus Center. It’s the Fighting Hawks’ first game since playing NDSU on March 20 inside the Fargodome. That’s 35 days where games with Missouri State, Illinois State and Youngstown State were either canceled or postponed then eventually canceled.
Maybe the FCS playoff committee has a sense of humor or really wanted to see UND and MSU play this spring. The Bears were scheduled to play at North Dakota on April 3 but with close contact tracing within UND the game was unable to be played.
NDSU only missed one game against South Dakota due to COVID-19, as the Bison were able to reschedule their contest with SDSU this past Saturday.
SOMETHINGS STAY THE SAME AND SOME CHANGE
The Bison host Eastern Washington on Saturday from the Fargodome in the first round of the FCS playoffs. NDSU has played a home playoff game every year since the 2010 season and been nearly unbeatable with a 27-1 playoff record inside the Fargodome.
The difference from the previous nine seasons, NDSU will entire the postseason as an unranked team for the first time since 2010. The Bison beat Robert Morris in the opening round at home, rushed all over Montana State in the second round and eventually lost to Eastern Washington in the 2010 quarterfinals.
It’s the first meeting between the two programs since the 2018 championship game in Frisco, Texas where the Bison beat the Eagles 38-24 in Chris Klieman’s last game as a head coach for NDSU.
“Since they’ve made the jump to FCS they’ve been nothing short of phenomenal. We all know that stats and trophies don’t lie and they got a lot of them,” said EWU head coach Aaron Best.
The Bison are 36-2 all-time in the FCS playoffs and have won eight of the past nine national championships.
ALL-TIME
The Fighting Hawks and Bears will meet for just the third time ever in the FCS. UND beat MSU 34-0 in the most recent game on September 9, 2017, from the Alerus Center. Missouri State shut out UND in Springfield, Missouri in 2014, 38-0.
Second straight year for UND to make the postseason and third all-time in the FCS.
2016 – Lost to Richmond 27-24 in the second round of the FCS playoffs at the Alerus Center.
2019 – Lost to Nicholls 24-6 in the first round of the FCS playoffs in Thibodaux, Lousiana.
Missouri State is making their first playoff appearance since 1990 and third all-time in the FCS.
The Bears’ deepest trip in the postseason came in 1989 when they lost to Stephen F. Austin in the quarterfinals.
KICKOFF & LINE
Eastern Washington @ North Dakota State
Kickoff: 2:30 p.m. from the Fargodome
Line: NDSU is favored to win by 6.5 points.
Missouri State @ North Dakota
Kickoff: 3 p.m. from the Alerus Center
Line: UND is favored to win by 7.5 points.