You think green and yellow with North Dakota State and maroon and silver with Montana, but each FCS program bleeds blue blood.
Two of the more successful programs in college football history, let alone FCS history, will square off in a national semifinal on Saturday, and the stakes have never been higher in their matchups. The winner will advance to the championship game on Jan. 7 in Frisco, Texas.
NDSU, which eliminated Montana in the second round of the 2015 and ’22 playoffs, is a nine-time FCS champion and a 10-time finalist, with each total representing the most ever. Montana has captured two FCS titles and appeared in the title game five other times, with the seven total appearances tied for the third-most overall.
Following is a capsule preview of the NDSU at Montana semifinal:
North Dakota State (11-3) at No. 2 Seed Montana (12-1)
Kickoff – 4:30 p.m. ET Saturday at Washington-Grizzly Stadium in Missoula, Montana (ESPN2)
Series – North Dakota State leads 6-4 (last meeting: NDSU 49-26 at home in 2022 playoff second round)
Coaches – North Dakota State: Matt Entz (60-10, fifth season); Montana: Bobby Hauck (128-35, 13th season; 143-84 overall)
3 Players to Watch – North Dakota State: QB Cam Miller (199 of 268, 2,531 yards, 18 TDs, 4 INTs; 645 rush yards, 13 TDs), LT Jalen Sundell (first-team All-MVFC), S Cole Wisniewski (81 tackles, 8 INTs, 5 pass breakups); Montana: QB Clifton McDowell (122 of 205, 1,701 yards, 12 TDs, 3 INTs; 734 rush yards, 9 TDs), WR/Returns Junior Bergen (49 receptions, 707 yards, 4 TDs; 723 kickoff/punt return yards, 3 TDs), LB Braxton Hill (106 tackles, 5 TFL, 6 QB hurries, 2 INTs, 1 fumble recovery)
Notable – Entz has announced he will resign at the end of the NDSU season to become the assistant head coach for defense/linebackers coach at USC. It’s similar to the departure of the two previous Bison head coaches (Craig Bohl to Wyoming and Chris Klieman to Kansas State) during the program’s FCS dynasty. The way the Bison blew out South Dakota 45-17 in a quarterfinal reflects how they’ve scored the most points in the FCS in the first quarter (162) and the first half (319). Miller, who has a 31-8 career record as a starter, leads the FCS in completion percentage (74.3) and has a ever-developing receivers unit, and Cole Payton comes off the bench to eat up rushing yards (573 with 12 TDs). The Bison convert 51 percent of third down attempts (No. 3 in the FCS), and the average jumps to 61 percent on fourth downs. Wisniewski’s school record-tying eight interceptions mark the FCS high. Montana will have to handle the size of NDSU’s stout offensive line, with NT Alex Gubner (6-foot-3, 284 pounds) the biggest regular defender in the Grizzlies’ 3-3-5 base alignment. UM is 9-0 since McDowell became the starting quarterback, and he gets touches to a host of offensive weapons. Leading rusher Eli Gillman (901 yards, 10 TDs), the 2023 Jerry Rice Award recipient as the national freshman of the year, has yet to fire in two playoff games. Bergen was the standout of a 35-28 overtime win over Furman in the quarterfinals, accounting for 242 all-purpose yards and becoming the first UM player to score on both a kickoff and punt return in the same game since 2002. The Grizzlies are 34-7 (.829) at home in all-time playoff games, while NDSU arrives for a third straight road game for the first time since 2006.
Up Next – The winner will play either No. 1 seed South Dakota State (13-0) or No. 5 seed UAlbany (11-3) the FCS championship game on Jan. 7 at Toyota Stadium in Frisco, Texas (2 p.m. ET).
Prediction – North Dakota State 31, Montana 24 (2023 predictions: 4-0 last week; 130-56 overall)