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NDSU dominated at the FCS level.

Amid North Dakota State’s move to the FBS, one college football analyst sees one thing lacking as the Bison join the Mountain West Conference.

ESPN’s Bill Connelly wished the move came a year earlier. NDSU’s final FCS squad simply dominated at 12-0 in the regular season, and an untimely upset by Illinois State in the playoffs may have been the only thing that stopped the Bison from an 11th FCS championship.

Connelly wrote “I’d love to have seen them make the jump with last year’s team.”

That squad featured potentially four NFL-bound players this year. The Philadelphia Eagles drafted quarterback Cole Payton, and the New Orleans Saints took wide receiver Bryce Lance. The Minnesota Vikings, meanwhile, gave rookie camp invites to running back Barika Kpeenu and cornerback Anthony Chideme-Alfaro.

NDSU dominated every game in 2025 with the exception of a couple one-score regular season games against Youngstown State and North Dakota in November. Illinois State upset the Bison on a last-second touchdown.

Payton threw for 2,719 yards and 16 touchdowns versus four interceptions, and he completed 72% of his passes. He also rushed for 777 yards and 13 touchdowns, as he led an offense that put up 40.8 points per game.

Kpeenu led the Bison in rushing with 1,005 yards and 20 touchdowns on 191 carries, and he impacted the passing game with 20 catches for 247 yards. Lance led the receivers with 51 catches for 1,079 yards and eight touchdowns, and he had 92 yards rushing and a touchdown on four carries.

Chideme-Alfaro served as one of the defensive leaders with 28 tackles, two interceptions and a forced fumble.

NDSU Looks to Follow Recent FCS to FBS Success Stories

James Madison likely tipped the scale for NDSU in 2025 when the Dukes broke into the College Football Playoff after winning the Sun Belt.

NDSU beat JMU twice for the FCS championships, and the former FCS titan rivals split a pair of playoff games in the Fargodome. As Connelly noted, other FCS programs have enjoyed success moving up.

That includes many other teams NDSU has faced over the years: Georgia Southern, Coastal Carolina, Sam Houston, Delaware, and Missouri State. NDSU will open FBS play with another of team in that category — Jacksonville State in a rematch of the 2015 FCS championship game.

All of the aforementioned program have won at least seven or more games in a season and made a bowl game at some point. JMU also produced a head coach, Curt Cignetti, and a plethora of players who were part of Indiana’s FBS championship team in 2025.

“If they can do it, surely North Dakota State can, too, right?,” Connelly wrote about comparing NDSU to the other former FCS programs. “The Bison were the behemoths of FCS for most of 15 seasons, winning 10 national titles between 2011 and 2024 and leaving FCS after a 2025 season that was, on paper, one of their most dominant yet.”

“They were upset by eventual finalist Illinois State early in their final FCS playoff appearance, but they finished the year 65th among all college football teams in SP+,” Connelly added.

NDSU Features a New Look in FBS

Connelly acknowledged that this year’s Bison squad will look drastically different with many key players gone, but he didn’t rule out the Bison having a big first year in the FBS.

“Tim Polasek‘s Bison start their first FBS season projected 72nd in SP+, and they bring back plenty of good players, including right guard Griffin Empey and super active defensive tackle Keenan Wilson,” Connelly wrote. “This program always produces more stars and seems ready to invest massively to make this FBS move work.”

“For as good as Payton turned out to be, he was relatively unknown at this point last season, and senior Nathan Hayes certainly looked solid as an understudy,” Connell added. “So maybe NDSU just keeps NDSU’ing right into the FBS.”