North Dakota State‘s announced move to the FBS and Mountain West Conference came with a player reaction that resembled a March Madness Selection Sunday announcement, but with many more people involved.
The Bison football team is moving up with the college gridiron’s Big Dance in mind after dominating the FCS for 15 years with 10 national championships in that span and a 51-6 FCS playoff record. Those numbers that eclipse almost any blue blood in any collegiate sport.
“Everybody jumped out of their seats,” Bison junior linebacker Donovan Woolen told the Fargo Forum’s Dom Izzo about Sunday’s team meeting. “Everyone was making noise. I wish I could have that on video so I can relive it.”
Woolen, who had three interceptions last season for the 12-1 Bison, has been with the program for the final two years in the FCS. NDSU won the 2024 national championship but got bumped out of the playoffs in 2025 with a late upset by Illinois State.
“I don’t think it changes anything,” Wollen told Izzo about the move up. “We’re so focused on going 1-0 each week, and I think we’re just going to go out there and show what we can do every week. Unfortunately, we can’t go to a championship game. It is what it is.”
NDSU Gearing Up For FBS Competition
NDSU could change postseason eligibility if the NCAA grants the team’s waiver request for immediate access to the Mountain West championship game and the College Football Playoff. Former FCS rival, James Madison, made last season’s CFP out of the Sun Belt Conference and lost to eventual semifinalist Oregon.
“This is obviously been a dream to even do what I’ve done so far,” Bison junior offensive guard Griffin Empey told Izzo. “But now to sweeten the pie even more. It’s just living the dream.”
A third-year starter, Empey has earned All-American honors in a program that has regularly produced NFL offensive linemen such as Cody Mauch of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers and Jalen Sundell and Grey Zabel of the Seattle Seahawks.
Competition Saves Players From Transfer Portal
Empey and his teammates now have an opportunity to face tougher collegiate competition than the aforementioned players, an issue Bison head coach Tim Polasek has dealt with since taking the job in 2024.
“In my conversations with the 10 to 11 players that left through the transfer portal, competition level came up a lot during the regular season,” Polasek told Izzo. “We’ve erased that to some degree.”
“We have to move forward, if we put a delay in this, it would have a three-year process,” Polasek added. “I hope our seniors and juniors take a lot of pride into positioning this program. We’ve done it in the past and hopefully we can lean into strong character guys.”
Polasek previously coached on NDSU’s staff in the 2000s when the Bison transitioned from Division II to the FCS, and the program had a longer wait of five years for postseason competition because of NCAA rules that time around. The Bison had dominant teams in 2006 and 2007 but couldn’t play in the FCS playoffs, but NDSU made the most of playoff eligibility quickly with the first FCS championship in 2011, which started a run of five-straight titles.
North Dakota State Player Reveals Strong Reaction to FBS News