2018 North Dakota State Bison football team

The 2018 North Dakota State Bison football team represented North Dakota State University in the 2018 NCAA Division I FCS football season. They were led by fifth-year head coach Chris Klieman, who also coached his final season with the Bison before heading off to take over for the retiring Bill Snyder at Kansas State. The team played their 26th season in the Fargodome in Fargo, North Dakota as members of the Missouri Valley Football Conference. They entered the season as defending National Champions and had won six of the last seven FCS titles. In 2018, the Bison finished the regular season 11–0, the first undefeated Bison season since the 2013 campaign, and won their eighth consecutive MVFC title. They received an automatic qualifying bid to the FCS playoff tournament and were seeded as the No. 1 team. The Bison then went 4–0 in the FCS playoffs to finish 15–0 and FCS champions.

2018 North Dakota State Bison football
NCAA Division I champion MVFC champion
NCAA Division I Championship Game, W 38–24 vs. Eastern Washington
Conference	Missouri Valley Football Conference
Ranking
STATS	No. 1
FCS Coaches	No. 1
Record	15–0 (8–0 MVFC)
Head coach	Chris Klieman (5th season)
Offensive coordinator	Courtney Messingham (2nd season)
Offensive scheme	Pro-style
Defensive coordinator	Matt Entz (5th season)
Base defense	3–4
Home stadium	Fargodome
Seasons ← 2017 2019 →

2018 Missouri Valley Football Conference standings

v t e	Conf							Overall
Team		W		L					W		L
No. 1 North Dakota State $^		8	–	0					15	–	0
No. 3 South Dakota State ^		6	–	2					10	–	3
No. 23 Northern Iowa ^		5	–	3					7	–	6
Indiana State		5	–	3					7	–	4
Western Illinois		4	–	4					5	–	6
Illinois State		3	–	5					6	–	5
Youngstown State		3	–	5					4	–	7
South Dakota		3	–	5					4	–	7
Missouri State		2	–	6					4	–	7
Southern Illinois		1	–	7					2	–	9
$ – Conference champion ^ – FCS playoff participant Rankings from STATS Poll

Preseason

Award watch lists

Award	Player	Position	Year
Walter Payton Award[1]	Bruce Anderson	RB	SR
	Easton Stick	QB	SR
Buck Buchanan Award[2]	Greg Menard	DE	SR

Preseason MVFC poll

The MVFC released their preseason poll on July 29, 2018, with the Bison predicted unanimously to win the MVFC championship.^[3]

Predicted finish	Team	Votes (1st place)
1	North Dakota State	390 (39)
2	South Dakota State	270
3	Northern Iowa	258
4	Youngstown State	248
5	Illinois State	248
6	South Dakota	206
7	Western Illinois	163
8	Southern Illinois	139
9	Missouri State	90
10	Indiana State	41

Preseason All-MVFC Teams

The Bison placed eleven players on the preseason all-MVFC teams.^[4]

Offense 1st team Bruce Anderson – RB Brock Robbins – FB Zack Johnson – OL Tanner Volson – OL 2nd team Easton Stick – QB Darrius Shepherd – WR

Defense 1st team Greg Menard – DL Aaron Steidl – DL Jabril Cox – LB Robbie Grimsley – DB 2nd team Derrek Tuszka – DL

Schedule

Date	Time	Opponent	Rank	Site	TV	Result	Attendance
September 1	2:30 p.m.	Cal Poly*	No. 1	Fargodome Fargo, ND	NBC ND/ESPN+	W 49–3	18,483
September 15	2:30 p.m.	North Alabama*	No. 1	Fargodome Fargo, ND	NBC ND/ESPN+	W 38–7	18,557
September 22	1:00 p.m.	Delaware*	No. 1	Fargodome Fargo, ND	NBC ND/ESPN+	W 38–10	18,883
September 29	2:30 p.m.	No. 3 South Dakota State	No. 1	Fargodome Fargo, ND (Dakota Marker)	NBC ND/ESPN+	W 21–17	18,846
October 6	1:00 p.m.	at No. 22 Northern Iowa	No. 1	UNI-Dome Cedar Falls, IA	NBC ND/ESPN+	W 56–31	9,899
October 13	6:00 p.m.	at Western Illinois	No. 1	Hanson Field Macomb, IL	NBC ND/ESPN+	W 34–7	2,709
October 20	2:30 p.m.	No. 8 Illinois State	No. 1	Fargodome Fargo, ND	NBC ND/ESPN+	W 28–14	18,553
October 27	2:00 p.m.	at South Dakota	No. 1	DakotaDome Vermillion, SD	NBC ND/ESPN+	W 59–14	9,589
November 3	2:30 p.m.	Youngstown State	No. 1	Fargodome Fargo, ND (Harvest Bowl)	NBC ND/ESPN+	W 17–7	18,028
November 10	2:00 p.m.	at Missouri State	No. 1	Robert W. Plaster Stadium Springfield, MO	ESPN+	W 48–7	5,224
November 17	2:30 p.m.	Southern Illinois	No. 1	Fargodome Fargo, ND	NBC ND/ESPN+	W 65–17	18,008
December 1	2:00 p.m.	No. 23 Montana State*	No. 1	Fargodome Fargo, ND (FCS Playoffs Second Round)	NBC ND/ESPN3	W 52–10	17,005
December 8	11:00 a.m.	No. 8 Colgate*	No. 1	Fargodome Fargo, ND (FCS Playoffs Quarterfinals)	NBC ND/ESPN	W 35–0	16,404
December 14	7:00 p.m.	No. 5 South Dakota State*	No. 1	Fargodome Fargo, ND (FCS Playoffs Semifinals)	ESPN2	W 44–21	18,286
January 5	11:00 a.m.	No. 3 Eastern Washington*	No. 1	Toyota Stadium Frisco, TX (FCS National Championship)	ESPN2	W 38–24	17,802
*Non-conference game Homecoming Rankings from STATS Poll released prior to the game All times are in Central time

• Source: Schedule

Game summaries

Polls are based on the FCS STATS Poll

Cal Poly

	1	2	3	4	Total
Mustangs	3	0	0	0	3
No. 1 Bison	7	21	14	7	49

See also: 2018 Cal Poly Mustangs football team

North Alabama

	1	2	3	4	Total
Lions	0	0	0	7	7
No. 1 Bison	7	10	7	14	38

See also: 2018 North Alabama Lions football team

Delaware

	1	2	3	4	Total
Fightin' Blue Hens	0	0	0	10	10
No. 1 Bison	28	7	3	0	38

See also: 2018 Delaware Fightin' Blue Hens football team

South Dakota State

	1	2	3	4	Total
No. 3 Jackrabbits	7	0	10	0	17
No. 1 Bison	0	14	0	7	21

See also: 2018 South Dakota State Jackrabbits football team and Dakota Marker

At Northern Iowa

	1	2	3	4	Total
No. 1 Bison	7	14	7	28	56
No. 22 Panthers	14	10	7	0	31

See also: 2018 Northern Iowa Panthers football team

At Western Illinois

	1	2	3	4	Total
No.1 Bison	3	14	7	10	34
Leathernecks	0	7	0	0	7

See also: 2018 Western Illinois Leathernecks football team

Illinois State

	1	2	3	4	Total
No. 8 Redbirds	0	0	7	7	14
No. 1 Bison	7	14	7	0	28

See also: 2018 Illinois State Redbirds football team

At South Dakota

	1	2	3	4	Total
No. 1 Bison	21	14	7	17	59
Coyotes	0	7	7	0	14

See also: 2018 South Dakota Coyotes football team

Youngstown State

	1	2	3	4	Total
Penguins	0	0	7	0	7
No. 1 Bison	0	7	0	10	17

See also: 2018 Youngstown State Penguins football team

At Missouri State

	1	2	3	4	Total
No. 1 Bison	20	14	14	0	48
Bears	0	0	7	0	7

See also: 2018 Missouri State Bears football team

^[5]

Southern Illinois

	1	2	3	4	Total
Salukis	14	0	3	0	17
No. 1 Bison	28	16	7	14	65

See also: 2018 Southern Illinois Salukis football team

FCS Playoffs

Montana State–Second Round

	1	2	3	4	Total
No. 23 Bobcats	3	0	7	0	10
No. 1 Bison	21	17	7	7	52

See also: 2018 Montana State Bobcats football team

Colgate–Quarterfinals

	1	2	3	4	Total
No. 9 Raiders	0	0	0	0	0
No. 1 Bison	7	7	14	7	35

See also: 2018 Colgate Raiders football team

South Dakota State–Semifinals

	1	2	3	4	Total
No. 5 Jackrabbits	7	0	14	0	21
No. 1 Bison	7	7	21	9	44

See also: 2018 South Dakota State Jackrabbits football team

Eastern Washington–Championship

	1	2	3	4	Total
No. 4 Eagles	0	10	7	7	24
No. 1 Bison	10	7	14	7	38

See also: 2018 Eastern Washington Eagles football team and 2019 NCAA Division I Football Championship Game

Ranking movements

Ranking movements
Legend: ( ) = First-place votes

	Week
Poll	Pre	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	Final
STATS FCS	1 (151)	1 (157)	1 (154)	1 (152)	1 (152)	1 (155)	1 (160)	1 (160)	1 (163)	1 (160)	1 (158)	1 (155)	1 (155)	1 (156)
Coaches	1 (23)	1 (26)	1 (25)	1 (26)	1 (26)	1 (26)	1 (26)	1 (26)	1 (26)	1 (26)	1 (26)	1 (26)	1 (26)	1 (26)

Players drafted into the NFL

See also: 2019 NFL draft

Round	Pick	Player	Position	NFL Club
5	166	Easton Stick	QB	Los Angeles Chargers

References

1. "FCS football: 2018 Walter Payton Award watch list". August 1, 2018. Retrieved August 1, 2018.
2. "FCS football: 2018 Buck Buchanan Award watch list announced". August 2, 2018. Retrieved August 2, 2018.
3. "North Dakota State Picked to Win 2018 MVFC Title".
4. "Preseason All-Conf and Team (PDF) - Missouri Valley Football Conference" (PDF).
5. "North Dakota State vs. Missouri State - Box Score - November 10, 2018 - ESPN".