Chatter of North Dakota State and USC meeting for Week Zero lasted only a short time in February when the Bison moved up to the FBS, but the Trojans may not hear the end of what happened on Saturday.
The No. 14 Trojans beat San Jose State 42-26 before a half-empty LA Memorial Coliseum while NDSU throttled Jacksonville State 33-7 in a packed Fargodome. Fans reacted to the fan atmosphere dichotomy between the two on X.com.
Novig paired together a photo of the vast open seating of the LA Memorial Coliseum versus the NDSU team entrance at the dome, highlighted by flashing lights and a roaring crowd. The Bison nearly packed the 19,000-seat dome while USC only had a sparse 51,144 of a stadium that easily seats 77,500, which had room for more before the 2019 renovation.
“’Powerhouse football program’ USC vs new FBS member North Dakota State. There’s levels to diehard sports fandom,” Novig wrote via X.
One X user wrote, “can we swap NDSU and USC? USC is a disgrace to the Big 10,” in reaction to the post. Sports talk show host Gabriel Morency defended USC because of the stadium size.
“USC sold 51,000 tickets … problem is [the] stadium is so big so half full,” Morency wrote.
That said, USC likely would have had a vastly higher attendance with NDSU as the visiting team versus SJSU. The Bison fan base has been well known to travel for years.
Bison Coach Couldn’t Be Heard Amid Crowd Noise
NDSU defensive coordinator Grant Olson has seen both ends of things with the Bison crowd noise in the dome as a coach and a player.
Olson played for the Bison at the beginning of the FCS dynasty from 2010 to 2013. After an All-American career and three FCS titles, Olson went into coaching, which includes his current stint with the Bison.
NDSU middle linebacker Donovan Woolen, one of the team’s top defensive players now, admitted he had a challenge hearing Olson giving directions at the outset. The dome sounded more like Olson’s playing days than the dwindling attendance of recent years where blowouts and trips to Frisco for the FCS championship game had become routine for fans.
“It was a loud crowd. I couldn’t even hear Coach Olson on that first drive,” Woolen told reporters afterward via InForum. “That’s awesome. We love to play with 12 [counting the fans] and it definitely has an impact on the other team. It was definitely electric.”
That first JSU offensive possession resulted in a punt, so NDSU’s defense didn’t get thrown off at all by the crowd noise. JSU faltered with the crowd noise meanwhile with two turnovers and only 170 yards of total offense.
Bison, USC Have Common Opponent
While NDSU didn’t get to open with USC, the Herd could make the most of having a common opponent at the end of the regular season. The Bison close out the regular season with SJSU in San Jose on Nov. 27, and NDSU could be playing that game for a spot in the Mountain West Conference championship game and a College Football Playoff spot.
If the Bison outperform USC’s win over the Spartans in Week Zero, that could help the Herd’s cause. With the Trojans giving up 28 points in the season opener, the Bison will mainly need to lock down the Spartans offense, and the NDSU defense showed it’s quite capable of doing so after corralling a Conference USA contender in the dome.
USC Gets Brutally Trolled Amid NDSU’s FBS Debut