It’s a stark difference: North Dakota State is making a 14th straight appearance in the FCS playoff quarterfinals, while South Dakota is doing so for the first time.

But there’s plenty more to the story in their all-MVFC matchup on Saturday: USD is playing at home after winning at NDSU during the regular season, and the visiting Bison are 0-2 on the road in their 13 previous quarterfinals (10-0 inside the Fargodome).

Following is a capsule preview of the NDSU at USD matchup:

North Dakota State (10-3) at No. 3 Seed South Dakota (10-2)

Kickoff –  2:30 p.m. ET Saturday at the DakotaDome in Vermillion, South Dakota (ABC)

Series – North Dakota State leads 58-27-2 (last meeting: South Dakota won 24-19 at NDSU on Sept. 30)

Coaches – North Dakota State: Matt Entz (59-10, fifth season); South Dakota: Bob Nielson (40-43, eighth overall; 226-123-1 overall)

3 Players to Watch – North Dakota State: QB Cam Miller (186 of 253, 2,321 yards, 17 TDs, 4 INTs; 640 rush yards, 12 TDs), RB TaMerik Williams (105 carries, 657 yards, 7 TDs), S Cole Wisniewski (79 tackles, 6 INTs, 5 pass breakups); South Dakota: QB Aidan Bouman (174 of 258, 2,352 yards, 14 TDs, 4 INTs), LB Brock Mogensen (110 tackles, 3.5 TFL, 1 INT), CB Myles Harden (51 tackles, 1 INT, 6 pass breakups, 1 fumble recovery)

Notable – Bouman threw two 50+ yard TDs to WR Carter Bell as USD jumped to a 21-3 halftime lead against NDSU (the Coyotes’ biggest of the season). The visiting Bison are coming off a second-round slugfest at Montana State, winning 35-34 by blocking an extra point in overtime. They surrendered over 500 yards in the win – a rare regular-season total for them, but something that’s occurred in three of their last four playoff games dating to last year’s semifinals. Miller is particularly dangerous running the ball, but he’s also No. 1 in the FCS in completion percentage (73.5). The Coyotes rely on the gritty running of Travis Theis (808 yards, six TDs), but redshirt freshman Charles Pierre Jr. provided a lift with a career-high 123 yards in a 34-24 win over Sacramento State in the second round. Mogensen, the MVFC defensive player of the year, is four tackles shy of 400 in his career. The place-kickers like dome life: USD’s Will Leyland is perfect this season (12 of 12 field goals, 36 of 36 PATs) and NDSU’s Griffin Crossa has enjoyed a big career (38 of 46 FGs, 195 of 197 PATs).  

Up Next – The winner will play No. 2 seed Montana (11-1) or No. 7 seed Furman (10-2) in a national semifinal on Dec. 15 or 16.

Prediction – North Dakota State 27, South Dakota 24