North Dakota State won’t settle for the status quo as a new FBS program after unprecedented success in the FCS.
The Bison won’t get to play in the College Football Playoff nor any bowl game in 2026 due to NCAA rule that bans new FBS programs from postseason competition for two years. NDSU athletic director Matt Larsen plans to attack it two ways — a waiver request with the NCAA and/or abolishing the rule all together, the Fargo Forum’s Jeff Kolpack reported.
“I would argue that this one is a little antiquated in that it was put in place to help support a transitioning institution,” Larsen said via Kolpack. “To have no postseason opportunities for two years I think is really punitive now.”
NDSU won 10 FCS championships in 15 years, and the Bison produced many NFL players and drew College GameDay to Fargo twice. The Bison also dominated Division II before the move to Division I in 2004 and looked like an FCS championship contender before postseason eligibility arrived in 2008.
Unfortunately, recent FCS powers moving up such as James Madison and Jacksonville State didn’t get the waiver in 2023, as Kolpack highlighted. JMU notably reached the CFP in Year Three before a loss to Oregon.
NDSU is More Than Ready For FBS
As CBS Sports’ Brandon Marcello sees it, NDSU is more than ready for the FBS. Marcello also believes the Bison can get the ban lifted and compete for the CFP or a bowl birth in 2026.
“I think that’s the creative way to go about this,” Brandon Marcello, who covers football for CBS Sports, said on Dom Izzo’s Hot Mic show last week. “If you can make other people go along with this and not necessarily make it about North Dakota State, that’s the big question. I do think it’s a good plan of attack and I do think it’s a good idea because it’s true, this rule made sense five, 10 years ago.”
The NCAA wants to see two years of sustainability at the FBS level first, based on the Division I Board of Directors Administrative Committee statement in 2023, via ESPN, in light of the JMU and JSU request. A team such as NDSU has already committed a $5 million transition fee with the NCAA and a $12.5 million entry fee for the Mountain West Conference.
The Bison already have a 19,000-seat domed stadium that had a history of selling out during the 2010s, and the move to the FBS has re-energized a fan base accustomed to blowout wins and only a few close games each season. NDSU also has a state-of-the-art indoor practice facility and a history of recruiting like a Group of Six program.
NDSU Must Navigate the NCAA Maze
Larsen’s next step is very practical — finding the right channel within the NCAA to make this request work. As Larsen told Kolpack, that’s not as simple as just calling up the most likely NCAA departments to handle it.
“There’s been a significant change just in the governance of the NCAA,” Larsen explained. “It’s a little more streamlined. That’s the biggest thing we have to figure out is where is it going to?”
NDSU’s timing also may be limited if the request can’t happen until July 1 — the program’s first official date as an FBS team.
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