NDSU Opens 2025 Football Season Saturday at The Citadel

THIS WEEK: North Dakota State opens the 2025 football season this Saturday, Aug. 30, against The Citadel from the Southern Conference. Game time is noon ET at Johnson Hagood Stadium (11,427) in Charleston, S.C.
 
TELEVISION: Saturday’s game will be televised on ABC stations statewide in North Dakota with Dom Izzo (play-by-play), Kyle Emanuel (analyst) and Sam Goetzinger (sideline) handling the call. The Citadel’s broadcast will be available to ESPN+ subscribers on ESPN.com and the ESPN app.
 
RADIO: Statewide network coverage on all 25 stations across the Pioneer Seeds Bison Sports Network begins at 10 a.m. CT including Bison 1660 and 107.9 The Fox in Fargo with Sam Neidermann (play-by-play), Phil Hansen (analyst) and Noah Gindorff (sideline). Streaming is available on GoBison.com/allaccess and the NDSU Athletics mobile app.
 
THE SERIES: This will be the first meeting between North Dakota State and The Citadel. NDSU is 10-0 against Southern Conference teams including a 38-35 win at East Tennessee State last year and a 31-7 home win over Mercer in last year’s NCAA quarterfinals. This will be The Citadel’s first game against the Missouri Valley Football Conference.
 
SEASON OPENERS: This is the 129th season-opening game for the Bison. North Dakota State is 90-32-6 in season openers. NDSU had won eight straight lid-lifters before last year’s 31-26 loss at Colorado.
 
ON THE ROAD, AGAIN: Including next week’s road trip to Tennessee State, this is the fourth time as a Division I program North Dakota State is opening a season with back-to-back road games. The last time was 2014 when the Bison beat Iowa State 34-14 and Weber State 24-7. Others were in 2009 (losing 34-17 to Iowa State and 48-45 to Sam Houston State) and in 2010 (beating Kansas 6-3 and losing to Northern Iowa 16-9).
 
BLOCK PARTY: Kick off the season with the annual Scheels Bison Block Party this Thursday at Scheels, 1551 45th Street South in Fargo. Fans are invited to a tailgate party from 3 to 6 p.m. in the Trek Lot with a cornhole tournament, games and activities for kids, the Gold Star Marching Band, NDSU cheer team and Thundar. Limited-edition Scheels and NDSU yard signs for the first 500 fans will be distributed starting at 6 p.m. The first Bison Football Coaches Show of the season will broadcast live from Scheels on Bison 1660 from 6:30 to 8 p.m.
 
CAPTAINS NAMED: North Dakota State’s six captains for the 2025 football season are quarterback Cole Payton, wide receivers Bryce Lance and Chris Harris, defensive tackle Jaxon Duttenhefer, and linebackers Logan Kopp and Nathaniel Staehling.
 
BISON PICKED FIRST: Reigning national champion North Dakota State was picked first in a preseason poll of Missouri Valley Football Conference media, coaches and communications directors. NDSU finished 14-2 last season and tied for first in the league with a 7-1 record. The Bison won their 11th conference title and 10th NCAA FCS national title. NDSU received 39 of 42 first-place votes. South Dakota State was picked second and South Dakota was third.
 
ACADEMIC AWARD: North Dakota State earned the Missouri Valley Football Conference All-Academic Award for the fourth time in school history. NDSU’s 3.398 average team GPA during the 2024-25 school year was the second highest in MVFC history. The Bison have posted 3.0 or better team GPAs in 13 straight semesters and are coming off their two highest semester GPAs since beginning Division I competition in 2004.
 
WATCH LISTS: North Dakota State has three players under consideration for national player of the year awards. Wide receiver Bryce Lance is on the preseason watch list for the Walter Payton Award, presented annually to the FCS offensive player of the year. Defensive end Toby Anene and linebacker Logan Kopp are on the watch list for the Buck Buchanan Award, presented to the FCS defensive player of the year.
 
PRESEASON ALL-AMERICANS: North Dakota State had five players named to the Stats Perform FCS Preseason All-America Team. Center Trent Fraley and wide receiver Bryce Lance were named to the first team. Defensive end Toby Anene, linebacker Logan Kopp and kick returner Jackson Williams were second team.
 
HALL OF FAME: Two former NDSU football standouts will be inducted into the Bison Athletic Hall of Fame on Friday, Sept. 26. Tickets to attend the luncheon and induction ceremony are on sale at GoBison.com/tickets. Among the eight inductees are wide receiver/return specialist Allen Burrell (2002-2005) and safety Craig Dahl (2003-2006). Burrell, an honorable mention All-North Central Conference receiver in 2003, also starred in track and field as an eight-time conference champion and four-time All-America sprinter. Dahl was a three-time all-conference safety and went on to a nine-year NFL career with the Giants, Rams and 49ers, winning a Super Bowl with the Giants his rookie year.
 
OFFENSIVE RETURNERS: North Dakota State returns 11 starters this year, including five on offense. Center Trent Fraley and guard Griffin Empey are back to anchor the offensive line, which graduated two NFL tackles in first-round draft pick Grey Zabel and undrafted free-agent signee Mason Miller. In the backfield, the Bison return fullback Truman Werremeyer and running back Barika Kpeenu is the top returning rusher after averaging 5.5 yards per carry with 725 yards and seven touchdowns. Wide receiver Bryce Lance made 75 catches for 1,071 yards (the second most catches and third most yards in NDSU single-season history) and led the FCS with a school-record 17 touchdown catches last year.
 
DEFENSIVE RETURNERS: North Dakota State returns six starters on defense, including cornerbacks Anthony Chideme-Alfaro and Jailen Duffie, safety Darius Givance, linebacker Logan Kopp, defensive end Toby Anene and defensive tackle Jaxon Duttenhefer. NDSU led the FCS in turnover margin last year at plus-19 with five interceptions and 14 fumbles recovered. Kopp led the Bison with 73 tackles and three interceptions last year, and he was second on the team with 8.5 tackles for loss.
18 NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIPS: North Dakota State has won 18 football national championships. NDSU claimed three College Division national championships in 1965, 1968 and 1969 via the national polls, five Division II playoff titles in 1983, 1985, 1986, 1988 and 1990, and was the first team in college football history to win five straight national titles with FCS crowns in 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014 and 2015 before winning again in 2017, 2018, 2019, 2021 and 2024. The Bison lost to the eventual national champion in the 2010 and 2020 quarterfinals and 2016 semifinals.
 
NON-CONFERENCE SUCCESS: North Dakota State is 87-6 against non-conference opponents since the beginning of its first FCS national championship season in 2011. Two losses were to FBS opponents (31-28 at Arizona in 2021 and 31-26 at Colorado in 2024) and two were in the playoffs to the eventual national champion (27-17 to James Madison in 2016 and 24-20 at Sam Houston State in 2020-21). Montana’s 31-29 double-overtime win in the 2023 FCS semifinals and 38-35 victory in the 2015 FCS Kickoff are NDSU’s only other non-conference losses the past 13 years.
 
BISON AT HOME: The Bison have a 198-29 record in the Fargodome, 37-6 at home against FCS Top 10 ranked teams, and winners of 86 of the last 88 home games over non-conference opponents. North Dakota State has a 38-1 record in the Fargodome during the NCAA playoffs and has won 20 straight home playoff games since the 2016 semifinal loss to eventual national champion James Madison. NDSU’s 32-game home winning streak September 2017 through April 2021 was fourth longest in FCS history.