2025 North Dakota State Bison football team

2025 North Dakota State Bison football
2025 North Dakota State Bison football
MVFC champion
NCAA Division I Second Round, L 28–29 vs. Illinois State
Conference	Missouri Valley Football Conference
Ranking
STATS	No. 4 (tie)
FCS Coaches	No. 5
Record	12–1 (8–0 MVFC)
Head coach	Tim Polasek (2nd season);
Offensive coordinator	Dan Larson (1st season)
Defensive coordinator	Grant Olson (2nd season)
Home stadium	Fargodome
	Seasons ← 2024 2026 →

The 2025 North Dakota State Bison football team represented North Dakota State University as a member of the Missouri Valley Football Conference (MVFC) during the 2025 NCAA Division I FCS football season. The Bison were led by second-year head coach Tim Polasek and played home games at the Fargodome in Fargo, North Dakota. This would be their last season in the FCS before moving to the Mountain West Conference in the FBS.

ConferenceMissouri Valley Football Conference

STATSNo. 4 (tie)

FCS CoachesNo. 5

Record12–1 (8–0 MVFC)

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2025 Missouri Valley Football Conference standings
v t e
Team	W		L	W		L
No. 4т North Dakota State $^	8	–	0	12	–	1
No. 9 South Dakota ^	6	–	2	10	–	5
No. 2 Illinois State ^	5	–	3	12	–	5
No. 14 North Dakota ^	5	–	3	8	–	6
No. 18 Youngstown State ^	5	–	3	8	–	5
No. 13 South Dakota State ^	4	–	4	9	–	5
No. 25 Southern Illinois	4	–	4	7	–	5
Northern Iowa	1	–	7	3	–	9
Murray State	1	–	7	1	–	11
Indiana State	1	–	7	3	–	9

$ – Conference champion ^ – FCS playoff participant Rankings from STATS Poll

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Notably, the team received three votes in the Week 15 AP poll rankings.^[1] This was the first time since 2019 that the Bison received at least one vote from an AP voter.

The Bison finished their regular season with a 12–0 record (8–0 in conference) for the fourth time in the Division I era and the eleventh time overall. They were the top seed in the FCS playoffs and received a first round bye. However, they would fall to Illinois State in the second round,^[2] which snapped a 15 year streak of making at least the quarterfinal round and was the first time in NDSU's string of FCS strength that they failed to advance.

North Dakota State drew an average home attendance of 16,048, the 9th-highest of all NCAA Division I FCS football teams.^[3]

[1]

[2]

[3]

Date	Time	Opponent	Rank	Site	TV	Result	Attendance
August 30	11:00 am	at The Citadel*	No. 1	Johnson Hagood Stadium Charleston, SC	ABC ND/ESPN+	W 38–0	10,691
September 6	1:30 pm	at Tennessee State*	No. 1	Nissan Stadium Nashville, TN	ESPN+	W 59–3	8,569
September 13	2:30 pm	Southeast Missouri State*	No. 1	Fargodome Fargo, ND	ABC ND/ESPN+	W 41–14	17,354
September 27	1:00 pm	No. 17 South Dakota	No. 1	Fargodome Fargo, ND	ABC ND/Midco Sports/ESPN+	W 51–13	18,498
October 4	6:00 pm	at No. 6 Illinois State	No. 1	Hancock Stadium Normal, IL	ESPN+	W 33–16	9,829
October 11	2:30 pm	No. 8 Southern Illinois	No. 1	Fargodome Fargo, ND	ABC ND/ESPN+	W 45–17	15,812
October 18	12:00 pm	at Indiana State	No. 1	Memorial Stadium Terre Haute, IN	ABC ND/ESPN+	W 38–7	3,252
October 25	7:00 pm	at No. 2 South Dakota State	No. 1	Dana J. Dykhouse Stadium Brookings, SD (Dakota Marker)	ESPNU	W 38–7	19,477
November 1	2:30 pm	No. 18 Youngstown State	No. 1	Fargodome Fargo, ND	ABC ND/ESPN+	W 38–30	14,607
November 8	1:00 pm	at No. 13 North Dakota	No. 1	Alerus Center Grand Forks, ND (Nickel Trophy)	ABC ND/Midco Sports/ESPN+	W 15–10	12,749
November 15	2:30 pm	Northern Iowa	No. 1	Fargodome Fargo, ND	ABC ND/ESPN+	W 48–16	14,736
November 22	2:30 pm	St. Thomas*	No. 1	Fargodome Fargo, ND	ABC ND/ESPN+	W 62–7	15,278
December 6	12:00 pm	No. 17т Illinois State*	No. 1	Fargodome Fargo, ND (NCAA Division I Second Round)	ESPN+	L 28–29	10,464
*Non-conference game Homecoming Rankings from STATS Poll released prior to the game All times are in Central time

	Week
Poll	Pre	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	15	Final
AP	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	RV	—	—

	Week
Poll	Pre	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	Final
STATS	1 (54)	1 (53)	1 (49)	1 (52)	1 (51)	1 (51)	1 (54)	1 (55)	1 (55)	1 (56)	1 (56)	1 (55)	1 (56)	1 (56)	4т
Coaches	1 (26)	1 (25)	1 (24)	1 (25)	1 (25)	1 (25)	1 (26)	1 (26)	1 (26)	1 (25)	1 (25)	1 (23)	1 (23)	1 (24)	5

Quarter	1	2	3	4	Total
No. 1 Bison	0	17	14	7	38
Bulldogs	0	0	0	0	0

Statistics	North Dakota State	The Citadel
First downs	25	8
Plays–yards	69–519	47–126
Rushes–yards	47–256	41–104
Passing yards	263	22
Passing: comp–att–int	16–22–0	2–6–0
Time of possession	36:03	23:57

2025 North Dakota State Bison football team

Schedule

Rankings

FBS polls

FCS polls

Preseason

MVFC poll

Game summaries

Regular season

The Citadel

Tennessee State

Southeast Missouri State

South Dakota

Illinois State

Southern Illinois

Indiana State

South Dakota State

Youngstown State

North Dakota

Northern Iowa

St. Thomas

NCAA Division I playoffs

Illinois State (second round)

Roster

References

Related Articles

Team	Category	Player	Statistics
North Dakota State	Passing	Cole Payton	11/17, 192 yds, TD
	Rushing	Cole Payton	11 car, 101 yds
	Receiving	RaJa Nelson	2 rec, 60 yds, TD
The Citadel	Passing	Quentin Hayes	1/3, 14 yds
	Rushing	Israel Benjamin	16 car, 54 yds
	Receiving	Javonte Graves-Billips	1 rec, 14 yds

Statistics	North Dakota State	Tennessee State
First downs	24	4
Plays–yards	62–433	46–131
Rushes–yards	39–191	28–70
Passing yards	242	61
Passing: comp–att–int	16–23–1	8–18–1
Time of possession	33:37	26:23

Statistics	Southeast Missouri State	North Dakota State
First downs	12	22
Plays–yards	57–217	61–562
Rushes–yards	32–64	37–214
Passing yards	153	348
Passing: comp–att–int	13–25–1	16–24–0
Time of possession	29:12	30:48

Team	Category	Player	Statistics
Southeast Missouri State	Passing	Jax Leatherwood	12/23, 145 yds, TD
	Rushing	Jax Leatherwood	10 car, 20 yds
	Receiving	Kalvin Gilbert	2 rec, 67 yds, TD
North Dakota State	Passing	Cole Payton	16/23, 348 yds, 4 TD
	Rushing	Barika Kpeenu	14 car, 84 yds
	Receiving	Bryce Lance	4 rec, 159 yds, TD

Statistics	South Dakota	North Dakota State
First downs	13	24
Plays–yards	48–296	69–547
Rushes–yards	27–88	50–274
Passing yards	208	273
Passing: comp–att–int	13–21–1	15–19–0
Time of possession	24:53	35:07

Team	Category	Player	Statistics
South Dakota	Passing	Aidan Bouman	13/21, 208 yds, INT
	Rushing	Reid Watkins	8 car, 39 yds
	Receiving	Tennel Bryant	2 rec, 50 yds
North Dakota State	Passing	Cole Payton	14/18, 273 yds, 2 TD
	Rushing	Cole Payton	11 car, 102 yds, TD
	Receiving	Bryce Lance	4 rec, 98 yds, TD

Statistics	North Dakota State	Illinois State
First downs	21	22
Plays–yards	50–407	66–328
Rushes–yards	36–213	31–137
Passing yards	194	191
Passing: comp–att–int	12–14–0	20–35–1
Time of possession	29:38	30:22

Statistics	Southern Illinois	North Dakota State
First downs	22	24
Plays–yards	61–313	62–540
Rushes–yards	32–123	43–264
Passing yards	190	276
Passing: comp–att–int	15–29–1	16–19–0
Time of possession	27:14	32:46

Team	Category	Player	Statistics
Southern Illinois	Passing	DJ Williams	15/29, 190 yds, INT
	Rushing	DJ Williams	15 car, 41 yds, TD
	Receiving	Fabian McCray	4 rec, 52 yds
North Dakota State	Passing	Cole Payton	13/16, 243 yds, TD
	Rushing	Bryce Lance	1 car, 75 yds, TD
	Receiving	Bryce Lance	4 rec, 79 yds, TD

Statistics	North Dakota State	Indiana State
First downs	26	10
Plays–yards	72–444	53–192
Rushes–yards	52–283	29–85
Passing yards	161	107
Passing: comp–att–int	13–20–1	14–24–1
Time of possession	37:19	22:41

Statistics	North Dakota State	South Dakota State
First downs	24	11
Plays–yards	73–500	47–166
Rushes–yards	49–257	28–43
Passing yards	243	123
Passing: comp–att–int	18–24–1	9–19–0
Time of possession	38:01	21:59

Statistics	Youngstown State	North Dakota State
First downs	21	18
Plays–yards	59–371	64–327
Rushes–yards	29–168	40–133
Passing yards	203	194
Passing: comp–att–int	19–30–1	17–24–1
Time of possession	26:45	33:15

Team	Category	Player	Statistics
Youngstown State	Passing	Beau Brungard	19/30, 203 yds, TD, INT
	Rushing	Jaden Gilbert	6 car, 63 yds
	Receiving	Max Tomczak	5 rec, 59 yds
North Dakota State	Passing	Cole Payton	17/24, 194 yds, INT
	Rushing	Barika Kpeenu	15 car, 74 yds, 3 TD
	Receiving	Bryce Lance	5 rec, 65 yds

Statistics	North Dakota State	North Dakota
First downs	10	23
Plays–yards	51–268	81–286
Rushes–yards	36–143	43–116
Passing yards	125	170
Passing: comp–att–int	8–15–1	21–38–3
Time of possession	25:18	34:42

Statistics	Northern Iowa	North Dakota State
First downs	13	24
Plays–yards	58–201	64–477
Rushes–yards	35–102	39–209
Passing yards	99	268
Passing: comp–att–int	9–23–2	18–25–0
Time of possession	29:47	30:13

Team	Category	Player	Statistics
Northern Iowa	Passing	Jaxon Dailey	9/23, 99 yds, TD, 2 INT
	Rushing	Harrison Bey-Buie	9 car, 62 yds
	Receiving	JC Roque Jr.	3 rec, 42 yds, TD
North Dakota State	Passing	Cole Payton	15/17, 212 yds, TD
	Rushing	Cole Payton	10 car, 74 yds, 2 TD
	Receiving	Bryce Lance	8 rec, 131 yds, TD

Statistics	St. Thomas	North Dakota State
First downs	12	23
Plays–yards	65–229	61–665
Rushes–yards	32–77	38–268
Passing yards	152	397
Passing: comp–att–int	17–33–2	17–23–0
Time of possession	31:06	28:54

Team	Category	Player	Statistics
St. Thomas	Passing	Amari Powell	14/26, 110 yds, 2 INT
	Rushing	Amari Powell	9 car, 66 yds, TD
	Receiving	JaShawn Todd	8 rec, 70 yds
North Dakota State	Passing	Cole Payton	9/12, 279 yds, 3 TD
	Rushing	Barika Kpeenu	10 car, 107 yds, 2 TD
	Receiving	Bryce Lance	3 rec, 106 yds, 2 TD

Statistics	Illinois State	North Dakota State
First downs	23	6
Plays–yards	91–422	46–179
Rushes–yards	39–173	27–59
Passing yards	249	120
Passing: comp–att–int	35–52–5	6–19–0
Time of possession	42:01	17:59

Team	Category	Player	Statistics
Illinois State	Passing	Tommy Rittenhouse	35/52, 249 yds, 3 TD, 5 INT
	Rushing	Victor Dawson	23 car, 137, TD
	Receiving	Daniel Sobkowicz	8 rec, 67 yds, 3 TD
North Dakota State	Passing	Cole Payton	4/12, 101 yds, TD
	Rushing	Barika Kpeenu	16 car, 55 yds, TD
	Receiving	Bryce Lance	1 rec, 78 yds, TD