This is part two of the Top 10 teams in NDSU football history. In part one, we revealed our first five teams. Now it is time to reveal the teams that left a lasting legacy on the program…
5. 2021: 14-1 (7-1) MVFC Outright Champion, National Championship vs. #8 Montana State
In 2021, North Dakota State faced a challenge foreign to them but not to any other Division I football program: a question mark at quarterback. The two previous seasons were met with the highest of highs and the lowest of lows. In 2019, redshirt freshman quarterback Trey Lance won the Walter Payton Award and led the team to a national championship. The weird 2020 and spring 2021 seasons were met with inconsistent quarterback play, as Zeb Noland and Cam Miller shared snaps, but the Bison fell in the quarterfinals at Sam Houston.
Heading into the 2021 fall season, head coach Matt Entz named former Virginia Tech quarterback Quincy Patterson the starter. Patterson led the team to six straight wins before a poor performance against Missouri State led to his benching for sophomore Cam Miller. The young quarterback would win three of his final four starts and guide NDSU to the #2 seed.
Behind a dominant run game powered by Hunter Luepke and a dominant defense that shut down every playoff foe, they dismantled Southern Illinois and East Tennessee State by a combined score of 65-10. Those two wins set up a clash of the Titans as NDSU would match up with postseason rival James Madison for a trip to Frisco. The Bison would lead 13-0 at halftime, but two JMU touchdowns put them in front to start the fourth. A 22-yard touchdown pass from Miller to Luepke put the herd in front 20-14. “Code Green” then held the Dukes in check for the final 15 as a Destin Talbert one-handed interception and a Logan McCormick pressure on the Duke’s final pass attempt of the game led NDSU back to Frisco.
The Bison would face #8 Montana State in the title game. If there were ringside judges for this game, they would have given the Bison the win by TKO as NDSU shut out the Bobcats in the first half 28-0 as three first-half touchdown runs by Hunter Luepke and a 76-yard sprint by Kobe Johnson put the game away before the half. Matt Entz’s team would take home the school’s ninth national title with a 38-10 stomping of the Bobcats.
The defense catapults the 2021 team into the top five. David Braun’s unit allowed 11.13 points per game, the fewest points allowed during a season among the 10 Division I championship teams. The ‘21 team is best known for its professional-grade talent, as eight players went on to play in the NFL. It is one of the deepest rosters that North Dakota State has ever put on the field.
4. 2017: 14-1 (7-1) MVFC Outright Champion, National Championship vs. #1 James Madison
For the first time since 2011, there was a sense of redemption in the air in 2017 for the Bison. Coming off a 27-17 loss in the semifinals to James Madison, the Bison were attempting to reclaim their top spot in the FCS college football world. They started off the season with an 8-0 record and only really came close to losing once against Youngstown State in a 27-24 win in overtime. After falling to them the previous year, the Bison would travel to Brookings for a clash with South Dakota State. This would be no different, as they lost 33-21 after turning the ball over five times.
They would win their next two to be 10-1 heading into the playoffs, which would be good enough for the #2 seed behind 11-0 James Madison, who was on a 23-game win streak then. The Bison ran through the preliminary rounds, beating San Diego 38-3, Wofford 42-10, and Sam Houston State 55-13, but it wasn’t close. The two best teams were left on every level, as it was 14-0 James Madison on a 26-game winning streak vs. 13-1 North Dakota State, which was looking to win its sixth title in the last seven years. The talent on the field in this game was at Big 10 level. NFL players and All-Americans were all over the place.
Brian Schor was back for his final season and final game with JMU as the only quarterback (to this day) to come into the Fargodome in the playoffs and beat the Bison. This was probably the first time in six tries in Frisco where the Bison weren’t considered the better team heading into the game. It was about as good of an atmosphere as ever in Frisco, and both teams’ fan bases showed up. The Bison led 17-6 after a 3rd and 17 touchdown pass from Easton Stick to Darius Shepard. Nate Tanguay, a defensive tackle, also recorded an interception, which doesn’t happen very often. JMU owned most of the second half as they were only down 17-13 with under eight minutes to go, but the Bison had the ball.
Cam Pederson was on for a field goal attempt to make it a seven-point game, but it was blocked. JMU would get stopped at midfield when it appeared the Bison were getting the ball back. Dukes coach Mike Houston called a fake punt, which worked like a charm. JMU was set up in the red zone with a chance to take the lead when “Code Green” came up with one of its most significant stops in program history, stopping JMU on a 4th and 16 to clinch it. The Bison got revenge and reclaimed their spot on top of the FCS world. This team is so similar to the 2021 team in that both had so much NFL talent and were trying to get back on top that they had to be next to one another in these rankings.
3. 2013: 15-0 (8-0) MVFC Outright Champion, National Championship vs. #7 Towson
The 2013 Bison were the pinnacle of what Craig Bohl had built at North Dakota State, as by the beginning of what turned out to be his final season in Fargo he had built a machine. His team was the back-to-back national champion and was looking to become the first program to three-peat since the Appalachian State Mountaineers from 2005-2007. The Bison sent a message to a national audience that they were one of the best teams in the country as they upset the defending Big 12 champion Kansas State Wildcats 24-21 behind an 18-play, 80-yard drive capped off by Brock Jensen’s one-yard touchdown was the exclamation point on the start to what would be a dominant season.
Outside of a close call versus #4 Northern Iowa, on which two late touchdowns by Zach Vraa and Sam Ojuri were enough for a one-point win, 24-23. The Bison won their final six conference games by decisive margins and rolled into the playoffs as the #1 seed.
Once the Bison reached the playoffs, they dominated each game, outscoring Furman, Coastal Carolina, and New Hampshire by a combined score of 138-35. The team headed back to Frisco, a decided favorite over #7 Towson. The Tigers had been on a magic carpet ride all postseason as they defeated #2 Eastern Illinois and #3 Eastern Washington to reach the championship game behind the play of running back Terrance West. The FCS’ single-season rushing leader did find the endzone, but Towson was dismantled by NDSU 35-7 in Craig Bohl’s final game for the program, as he had accepted the head coaching job at Wyoming.
The legacy of the 2013 Bison was their dominance and the players who have become legends, such as Brock Jensen, Marcus Williams, John Crockett, and Kyle Emmanuel. This team also had two future head coaches, Chris Klieman and Brent Vigen, who were Bohl’s defensive and offensive coordinators. Each is now a head coach: Klieman is at Kansas State, and Vigen is at Montana State.
When it comes to all three undefeated teams, somebody had to be third. The 2013 team was dominant, but not as much as the final two teams on our list.
2. 2019: 16-0 (8-0) MVFC Outright Champion, National Championship vs. #2 James Madison
Chris Klieman is gone. Easton Stick is gone. Twenty-three other seniors are gone. Did it matter? Nope. The Bison were heading into a season of question marks as they were losing the winningest quarterback in FCS history along with one of the winningest coaches in FCS history, and they thrived. Matt Entz took over the ranks, going 12-0 for the first time in program history in the regular season and only coming close to losing once again to South Dakota State in Brookings, where “College Gameday” re-appeared on the FCS stage. Redshirt freshman Trey Lance looked to be the best quarterback based on talent to come through NDSU. It’s important to note that if Trey had stayed for all four years of eligibility, he would’ve most certainly broken almost every quarterback record at NDSU.
The Bison would dominate conference play and earn the #1 seed in the FCS playoffs. They opened up with Nicholls in the second round, who was better than most thought, but the Bison would eventually win 37-13. The quarterfinals brought in Brock Spack led Illinois State with future NFL running back James Robinson. The Bison offense stalled all day, and the game consisted of only field goals. The Bison came out on top in ugly fashion, 9-3. The semifinals would bring in #5 Montana State, which would be the Christian Watson show. Watson accounted for 174 total yards and two touchdowns, along with Trey Lance’s 223 passing yards and three touchdowns, which led to a dominating win over the Bobcats 42-14 to get back to Frisco for the eighth time in the past nine seasons.
Another clash with James Madison would be upon us as it was #1 NDSU vs #2 JMU. It was the third time in four years that these two would meet up in the postseason. Trey Lance accounted for 30 rushes and 166 rushing yards in this game, which shows why he won the Walter Payton Award the night before. A James Hendricks interception at the goal line would eventually end the game and put the Bison atop 28-20 for their third straight national championship and eighth in nine years. This team was a massive part of the 39-game win streak that ended in the spring of 2021.
1. 2018: 15-0 (8-0) MVFC Outright Champion, National Championship vs. #3 Eastern Washington
According to the Spectrum, the greatest football team in the history of the North Dakota State football program is… the 2018 team.
If the 2021 team was all about defense, then the 2018 team was all about Easton Stick and the offense, as the last team to be coached by Chris Klieman was undoubtedly his best team. Preceding this season was the #4 team on our list, the 2017 team. That team restored championship glory, but the story of the 2018 team is a tale of pure domination. During the regular season, NDSU won their games by an average of 29 points per contest, and only one game was within one possession when the Bison defeated #3 SDSU 21-17.
The rest of the regular season was met with no serious threat, as the team finished undefeated and received the #1 seed. The Bison were given one of the most challenging brackets to navigate for a top seed. On their side of the bracket were two familiar nemeses: James Madison, South Dakota State, an up-and-coming Montana State team, and Colgate’s top-ranked defense.
NDSU took the challenge in stride, as Montana State and #8 Colgate were met with 52-10 and 35-0 blowouts, respectively. The Bison then defeated South Dakota State again, this time by a more considerable margin than four, try 23 points. The Bison capped an unbeaten year by defeating #3 Eastern Washington 38-24. Darrius Shepard was named the game’s Most Outstanding Player, as he tallied 125 receiving yards and two touchdowns.
The 2018 team is the greatest in NDSU history because it scored the highest of the 10 national championship teams, scoring over 41 points per game and only allowing 12. This team’s pure domination, displayed weekly, makes it the greatest team in North Dakota State football history.
There you have it: the top ten teams in NDSU football history. Ethan and I will continue this three-part series with part two, which is the top 10 greatest games in program history.