NDSU Receives Big Postseason Update Before New Mexico Game

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North Dakota State has a slightly better chance at the College Football Playoff after James Madison's loss on Thursday.

North Dakota State enters the New Mexico showdown on Saturday on the outside looking in when it comes to College Football Playoff hopes, but things are looking a little better than before.

Group of Six contender James Madison lost for the first time this season on Thursday in a 34-31 overtime defeat against Appalachian State. That dropped the Dukes to 7-1, which leaves no more unbeaten G6 teams.

In addition, JMU will likely slide behind the winner of the NDSU-New Mexico game since both the Bison and Lobos have tougher schedules. That said, both the Bison and Lobos have a mountain to climb to pass Boise State, the front runner for the G6 playoff spot.

NDSU has a 6-1 start to the season with the only loss coming against UNLV, and New Mexico has a 5-1 start with the only loss against Oklahoma. Both the Bison and Lobos have two of the top defenses in the country, and Saturday’s game figures to be a soggy defensive battle with rain in the forecast.

Turnover Battle Will Be Key on Saturday

NDSU committed three turnovers in that loss to UNLV, and the Bison can ill afford to have anything close to a repeat performance of that against New Mexico.

“This is a team that’s plus-17 in the turnover margin. …Video game numbers,” Bison head coach Tim Polasek told reporters on Tuesday. “We’re like [sixth] in the country at plus-eight; they’re plus-17, so they’re doing a great job there.”

“I think they’re an aggressive staff by nature, meaning that they’ll pick some spots to try to win the game or to end the game. I think we have to be on our toes that way. We’re going into a hostile environment, so all our players respond to that,” Polasek added.

It will likely top the UNLV environment at Allegiant Stadium, where there was 33,516 in attendance. The Bison had around 10,000 fans at that game, but New Mexico head coach Jason Eck has been aggressive about getting Lobos fans out for Saturday’s game.

Tim Polasek Expects Lobos to Bring the Noise

NDSU has thrived on raucous home environments for years, and few FCS venues on the road matched that over the years for the Bison.

New Mexico will be a new challenge, and Polasek did his homework with a former Mountain West Conference team. He expects the toughest road environment the Bison have seen in years.

“I made a call to San Diego State and Coach [Sean] Lewis over there, and he just said, “Yeah, it was 31,000 people, and down in the one end is really, really loud, and so decision-making on what end zone we play and doing those kind of things will matter,'” Polasek said. “Got to make sure our players keep their helmets on as they go into the locker room and after the game, so we’re on top of that as well.”

While there are odds stacked against the Bison for Saturday, NDSU has pulled off big upset wins in FBS venues before. The Bison have past Power Four victories over Minnesota, Iowa State, Iowa, Kansas and Kansas State. The Herd will look for similar moxie in a massive G6 game on Saturday.