NDSU Kicks Off Major Change in College Football

College football kicked off on Thursday night with a notable absence, though no Power Four or Group of Six teams played a game.

The Football Championship Subdivision (FCS) of NCAA Division I college football kicked off its first season without North Dakota State.

Winners of 10 FCS championships since 2011, the Bison will kick off Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS) play instead on Saturday against Jacksonville State in Fargo.

NDSU’s departure leaves a massive void in the FCS, which garners attention similar to mid-major college basketball.

Championship teams have pulled off FBS upsets much like the mid-majors upsetting the blue bloods, and the difference lies in the postseason.

Mid-majors get the high-profile Cinderella moments in the NCAA tournaments on the national stage of March Madness.

The FCS playoffs crown its own champion in the shadow of FBS conference championships, bowl games and now the College Football Playoff.

With NDSU gone, the FCS takes on a new shape. South Dakota State, Montana and Montana State are the major contenders, and the overall competition is watered down with the exodus of top teams to the FBS in recent years. That includes Jacksonville State University (JSU), Sam Houston, James Madison, Kennesaw State, Missouri State, and Coastal Carolina.

NDSU outgrew the FCS more than any other former FCS power that has moved up to the FBS.

Most of those programs have only found more money and more brand recognition, but the winning hasn’t come with that.

JMU became an exception last year as a College Football Playoff (CFP) entrant with the Sun Belt Conference title.

The CFP committee chose JMU as the fourth conference champion since the ACC champion, Duke, had a 9–5 record.

JMU once rivaled NDSU for the championship throne in 2010 with a playoff upset in Fargo for the 2016 playoffs and a title later that season. NDSU then beat the Dukes twice in FCS title games for 2018 and 2019, and the Bison boasted a 16–0 record the second time around, which has only been matched by Indiana in the modern Division I.

Indiana, coached by Curt Cignetti, notably came to Bloomington after a successful run with JMU as a new FBS team. Cignetti brought numerous JMU transfers with him, and his 2025 Hoosiers team won the CFP along the way.

It doesn’t get publicized in Fargo, but the NDSU athletics brass couldn’t ignore what JMU did since joining the FBS in 2022.

The Bison finally overcame the geographic and financial hurdles to become FBS in February this year when the Mountain West Conference provided the invitation.

That came at a perfect time for the Mountain West, too, since five teams defected to the retooled Pac-12. The Mountain West lost perennial power Boise State in that process, and NDSU joining the league helps its brand.

NDSU has produced 16 NFL draft picks since the FCS dynasty launched, and that includes five quarterbacks drafted since 2016. Only Alabama and Ohio State have produced five quarterback draft picks in the past decade.

Bison quarterback Nathan Hayes looks to be the next one after he sat behind current NFL quarterbacks Cam Miller and Cole Payton for most of his college career. Hayes will get to do it against much stiffer competition, an advantage for him and his teammates, as the FCS label often hinders draft prospects.

Tougher competition is the hope for NDSU’s football future.

Fargodome attendance dwindled in recent years as the fans became accustomed to big leads by halftime, and playoff games were gaining that feel, too.

Only 10,000 attended NDSU’s final FCS playoff home game in December 2025, and the dome seats 19,000. Illinois State took advantage of a quieter venue that day and upset the Bison as the FCS era ended in stunning fashion.

The Bison will have a playoff-like atmosphere on Saturday with a near sellout against JSU, a team NDSU faced for an FCS title in the 2015 season.

Former Bison quarterback Carson Wentz led the way in that one, 30–17, and Wentz went on to become the No. 2 pick in the draft with the Philadelphia Eagles.

That win also capped a run of five consecutive titles, the longest streak in modern Division I football history.

NDSU has 18 national championships in all between the FCS and Division II before that, and the Bison will put that tradition on the line in the FBS.

That risk hasn’t panned out for other former FCS titans such as Marshall, Appalachian State and Georgia Southern. All three enjoyed dominant runs in the FCS, or Division I-AA at the time, before joining the FBS. None of those three have appeared in a New Year’s Six bowl or the CFP.

The Bison, instead, look to trend in the direction of JMU and Boise State, also former FCS and Division II programs, as a new era begins against JSU on Saturday.