North Dakota State‘s aspiration to reach the College Football Playoff is taking a hit.
The Bison moved to the FBS recently after ruling the FCS for nearly two decades, but NDSU’s schedule will likely lack the strength to make the CFP, even if the NCAA postseason restriction gets lifted. At the moment NDSU may only have FCS schools for non-conference games, based on the other FCS schools’ respective websites.
NDSU athletics informed Heavy that the non-conference schedule isn’t finalized at this time, and three of the four FCS non-conference games originally scheduled for 2026 haven’t been officially decided yet.
For Week Zero on Aug. 29, Incarnate Word had NDSU on the schedule, Central Arkansas has a home game on the schedule against the Bison on Sept. 12. Lastly, Austin Peay has its road game and NDSU on Sept. 19 on the schedule. USC had an open date on Aug. 29 at the time of NDSU’s move up to the FBS, but it’s possible the Trojans had that game penciled in with another team, based on a report from Mike McFeely of the Fargo Forum.
FBSchedules.com has the tentative NDSU schedule minus the conference game dates because the Mountain West hasn’t released those yet. The Bison will visit Air Force, Hawaii, New Mexico, and UNLV. NDSU will host Nevada, Northern Illinois, UTEP, and Wyoming at the dome.
It’s not impossible for NDSU to make the CFP with that schedule if it holds, but the Bison would realistically need to run the table convincingly to have a shot. All three Group of Six teams to make the 12-team field over the past two years had at least one Power Four conference victory.
That said, NDSU still needs to obtain a waiver from the NCAA to compete in the postseason for 2026 and 2027. The Bison could play in a bowl game if there are not enough bowl eligible teams.
Bison’s Approach Won’t Change
NDSU will likely get a taste of what it’s leaving behind with at least an FCS opponent or more before getting into the Mountain West schedule.
That said, Bison head coach Tim Polasek told On3.com that he doesn’t expect his team’s approach to change in the FBS. NDSU dominated the FCS for 15 years with 10 national championships and three unbeaten seasons.
“You have to keep it really simple. You got to really hold onto the things that have created some of the success,” Polasek told On3.com. “And what I mean by that is, it’s the Chris Klieman, ‘We’re trying to go 1-0,’ it is Craig Bohl’s ‘We’re on a mission. This is how we do the job.’ All the great things Matt Entz did.”
“It’s really staying true to win the day, win the week, keeping the main thing, the main thing,” Polasek added. “And I don’t mean to give a bunch of coach speak here, the expectations are high outside of our building. The standards are high, but they’re higher inside these walls than they are from the outside.”
“We believe in our processes year-round. We understand how to practice,” Polasek continued. “If we can identify the spots where acquiring talent will need an uptick here or there, and we can do a good job with that, I really do like our chances to compete. To go in and fight, and most certainly win more than you lose.”
Tim Polasek Credits Old Conference For Being Ready
Polasek highlighted how the Bison’s former league, the Missouri Valley Football Conference, prepared the team to not only win big in the FCS, but make an impact in the FBS.
“There have been years where we’ve been seven deep, where you have to show up and play,” Polasek said. “In those types of years, I think we’ve been through something similar. But I am not naive enough, in my three years I spent in the Mountain West at Wyoming, there was never a time we weren’t in the games. But there was never a time they were just going to hand us a W.”
NDSU’s Hopes For College Football Playoff Takes a Hit