As always, it’s good to be a Bison

North Dakota State football is back. The journey for another title is set to commence this Saturday at 3:00 p.m. against Butler. The first few weeks of the season look to be a time of adjustment for fans, as well as the players.

Coach Klieman took his talents to Kansas State, so it’s the Matt Entz show until further notice. The big question surrounding Entz and the team as the whole is who was going to be behind center for the Herd. Early last week Entz made it official, Trey Lance is the next man up for the Bison.

Lance and transfer Zeb Noland have been battling for the job for months. In the opening statements of his press conference on Monday, Entz emphasized that picking a starting quarterback was their “number one priority.” Entz also mentioned that since he’s told the quarterbacks who would be starting, everyone has seemed to relax. “I think there was a sigh of relief in the quarterback room.”

When further asked about how Lance as responded since becoming the starter, Entz said “(He’s put) less pressure on himself in practice… he’s making decisions at practice and just cutting it loose before I think he was trying to make everything perfect.” It will be fun to see Lance and the new look Bison attack in action against Butler.

Per usual, the expectations will be high for the Bison this year. Despite graduating in the most seniors in the team’s history, NDSU is still the top-ranked team heading into the year. A new coach, a new quarterback, and tons of roster turnover, yet the Herd is still top dog. I suppose after seven championships in eight years, that’s the respect the program gets. 

The Butler Bulldogs, on the other hand, are coming off a tough 4-7 season that ended in mid-November. However, Butler did give the Bison one reason to be sure they are not overlooked. In their season opener last year, Butler marched into Youngstown and took down the heavily favored Youngstown State Penguins. Coach Entz even mentioned he showed his players and staff the celebration Butler had after their game-winning field goal.

What makes the week one game even more interesting is the venue. Target Field in Minneapolis will play house for this game. This gives both the Herd and the Bulldogs a chance to showcase their talent on a very unique stage. Football is weird. Baseball is even weirder. Play football on a baseball field and just throw everything you think you know out the door.

Also, here is a stat that shows Bison fans the utter, legendary dominance the Bison have been able to sustain. Since 2010, the Bison have won 121 games. The next closest team is Sam Houston State with 92. The Bison are playing chess, the rest of the FCS is playing checkers.