It's an even numbered year, which means North Dakota State and South Dakota State must play in the playoffs.

It's happened in 2012, 2014, 2016, 2018, 2022 and now this year. You can set your watch to it.

NDSU has hosted all but one of those games, which was the national championship game in Frisco. The Jackrabbits have accomplished nearly everything in FCS football, except beating the Bison in Fargo in the postseason.

SDSU quarterback Mark Gronowski can break the FCS all-time wins record with a victory Saturday, taking the spot of former Bison great Easton Stick. Gronowski tied Stick's record with SDSU's win over Incarnate Word last week.

NDSU enters at 12-2, with wins over Mercer and Abilene Christian to reach its 13th semifinal in the last 14 years. The Bison enter as an underdog, much like they were in the regular season matchup in October, which was a 13-9 NDSU win.

It is the final game inside the Fargodome for Bison quarterback Cam Miller, who is trying to lead NDSU to its third trip to Frisco in his four years as the starting quarterback.

The Forum's Jeff Kolpack and WDAY's Dom Izzo preview the matchup and who has the inside track to win the game Saturday. 

The FCS quarterfinals kick off tonight and continue tomorrow in Fargo as North Dakota State hosts Southern Conference champion Mercer for a berth in the semifinals.

The Bears (11-2) advanced to the quarterfinals for the first time after beating Rhode Island 17-10 last week in the second round. They are led defensively by a team that has racked up 23 interceptions, including two separate players with seven picks.

They racked up individual postseason awards for their success; Mike Jacobs in his first season was named SoCon coach of the year, running back Dwayne McGee was named offensive player of the year, Bradyen Manley took defensive player of the year and defensive end Andrew Zock was the freshman of the year.

Mercer has a true freshman leading them at quarterback in Whitt Newbauer. Newbauer took over during the middle part of the season for DJ Smith. He's completed 57% of his passes for 11 touchdowns and three interceptions.

North Dakota State enters the quarterfinals for a 15th straight year after knocking off Abilene Christian last week. The Bison will face a SoCon team in the quarters for a fourth separate time. NDSU played Wofford in 2012 and 2017, East Tennessee State in 2021 and Samford in 2022.

The Forum's Jeff Kolpack and WDAY's Dom Izzo preview the matchup and look ahead to the other games in the quarterfinal round.

The first week of December was a busy one for North Dakota State football.

It began with the news that Cole Wisniewski was going to enter the transfer portal after rehabbing a foot injury all season long. The former All-American safety has not played a down this season for the Bison.

It continued with National Signing Day as NDSU added 32 high school players for its Class of 2025, highlighted by a pair of players that will enroll early and be in Fargo in January. 

Standout redshirt freshman running back Marty Brown brought home the Jerry Rice Award, which goes to the top freshman in FCS, the second Bison to win the award, joining Trey Lance in 2019.

Finally, there is a football game to chat about, as NDSU opens the FCS Playoffs with a first-time opponent in Abilene Christian.

The Wildcats (9-4); won their league the United Athletic Conference and knocked off Northern Arizona in the first round of the playoffs. 

They are led by standout quarterback Maverick McIvor, who missed last week's game with an injury. He is expected to play in Saturday's game against NDSU.

North Dakota State returns to Vermillion, South Dakota Saturday with a chance to win the Missouri Valley Football Conference title outright and likely clinch a top playoff seed.

The Bison will face fourth ranked South Dakota, the Coyotes are having another great season, coming in with an 8-2 record and 6-1 in the league. USD's two losses came to Wisconsin and South Dakota State, the latter in overtime.

USD has never won the Valley in it's decade-plus tenure in the conference, the Coyotes would grab a share of the championship if they're able to beat the Bison and put themselves into the conversation of a high seed.

NDSU is relatively healthy heading into this game, with senior wide receiver RaJa Nelson returning for his fourth game of the season. Nelson will be able to use a redshirt this season and return for a sixth season of eligibilty in 2025.

The Forum's Jeff Kolpack and WDAY-TV's Dom Izzo preview the game and look ahead to what the win would mean for each team. 

North Dakota State returns to the field after its bye week Saturday as they will host surprising Missouri State.

The Bears enter on an eight-game winning streak after losing their first two games of the season. MSU is in its final season of FCS football after announcing this spring they are moving up to FBS and Conference USA in 2025.

Ryan Beard is in his second year as head coach of the Bears, who has turned the reigns over to former Minnesota transfer Jacob Clark. Clark enters with 25 touchdown passes and over 3,000 passing yards.

The Bison offense has been electric this year, averaging nearly 38 points a game. NDSU's defense will get a challenge from a high octane offense.

It's set to be an emotional day with 25 seniors set to be honored before the game. It's a huge class of seniors as some sixth year and fifth year players will play their final regular season game inside the Dome.

The Forum's Jeff Kolpack and WDAY's Dom Izzo preview the matchup between the Bison and Bears.

North Dakota State and Northern Iowa will play in a football game inside the Fargodome for the first time in three years Saturday afternoon.

The Panthers last trip to Fargo coincided with the last time UNI made the FCS Playoffs, 2021. The Panthers posted a 6-5 regular season record and lost in the first round to Eastern Washington.

Since that game in Cheney, Washington, the Panthers have posted a 14-16 record, including six straight losses in 2024 after a 2-0 start. Inconsistent quarterback play and poor defense has plagued UNI in that stretch as they come to Fargo this weekend.

Panthers head coach Mark Farley has gone with sophomore Matthew Schecklman at quarterback over the last handful of games, he threw for 270 yards and three touchdowns last week in UNI's 49-42 loss to Missouri State.

The Bison enter on an eight-game win streak and are getting a couple of players back this week. Cornerback Jailen Duffie will return after missing the last two games with concussion symptoms, defensive tackle/end Will Mostaert will be back after missing last week's game with a hip injury.

Wide receiver Mekhi Collins is expected to return as well after missing last week's game.

The Forum's Jeff Kolpack and WDAY's Dom Izzo discuss the matchup with Northern Iowa, the potential return of Cole Wisniewski to the lineup and the upcoming renovation vote on the Fargodome.

It was an emotional win for North Dakota State last week against South Dakota State and it came at a cost.

The Bison lost two more defensive starters to injury in that game, linebacker Oscar Benson and safety Sam Jung. Benson will be back at sometime this year, while Jung's career is over with a torn pectoral muscle.

NDSU will press on, playing it's ninth consecutive game this Saturday as they travel to Kentucky to face Murray State, the newest member of the Missouri Valley Football Conference. The Racers are led by first-year head coach Jody Wright, a former South Carolina assistant.

MSU is 1-6 on the season and 0-4 in league play. They've allowed 72, 31, 59 and 40 points in its four league games, with only two of those games being single digit contests.

Former Bison quarterback Jayden Johannsen is the starting quarterback for the Racers, who transferrred to Murray after a great career at South Dakota Mines in Rapid City, South Dakota. Johannssen was a finalist for the Harlan Hill Award in 2022.

MSU play athe 50-year old Roy Stewart Stadium, which had nearly 16,000 fans in it last week for Homecoming when they hosted Illinois State. This is a new location for the Bison, who will fly in to Paducah, Kentucky, about an hour north of Murray, before busing there for the game on Saturday.

North Dakota State and South Dakota State will meet for the Dakota Marker for the 21st time Saturday night at the Fargodome.

This will mark the first night regular season game in Fargo since the 2016 season opener, when NDSU beat Charleston Southern in overtime.

SDSU comes into this game with a 5-1 record, having won five straight after a season opening loss to Oklahoma State, that snapped a 29-game win streak.

The Jackrabbits haven't lost a game to an FCS team since December of 2021, in the FCS semifinals at Montana State. 

They are trying to win in Fargo for a third straight time, something that hasn't happened since FDR was president.

North Dakota State has a six-game win streak after losing its season opener at Colorado. The Bison are a beat up unit on defense, losing three starters last week at Southern Illinois.

Preseason all-conference selection Dylan Hendricks is out and will miss the rest of the season with a knee injury, while middle linebacker Nick Kubitz is questionable after he suffered a concussion last week.

The Jackrabbits have won five straight in this series, forcing ten turnovers against the Bison, while NDSU hasn't forced any turnovers from SDSU.

North Dakota State hits the second half of the 2024 season this Saturday as the Bison will head to Southern Illinois to take on a struggling Salukis team.

SIU, which has made the playoffs three of the last four seasons, has had a run of injuries that's tough to fathom. Nick Hill will start a true freshman at quarterback this weekend in Jake Curry after his top three quarterbacks all suffered season ending injuries. Curry was inserted into the game last week against Illinois State, throwing two interceptions in the 45-10 loss to the Redbirds.

SIU has lost three straight games, with the defense being the biggest issue.

North Dakota State heads to Carbondale on a five-game win streak, including two dominant wins to open Valley play. The Bison have won three straight in this series, including a 21-18 win at Saluki Stadium in November 2022.

Quarterback Cam Miller is expected to play after suffering an ankle injury late in the third quarter last week against North Dakota. Miller has started 44 straight games for the Bison after being inserted into the lineup nearly three full years ago.

The eyes of North Dakota will be fixed on the Fargodome Saturday afternoon as North Dakota State will host the University of North Dakota in a large Missouri Valley Football Conference game.

The Bison come in ranked second, while the Fighting Hawks come in seventh. This is the second time in the last four years the two teams are ranked in the top ten, UND and NDSU were ranked second and fourth in the spring season of 2021.

Each team has high-flying offenses so far in 2024, NDSU has the eighth ranked offense in FCS, with UND coming in at tenth. Both teams are averaging 39 points per game.

Fighting Hawks running back Gaven Ziebarth has ran for 249 yards and four touchdowns, he scored three times against NDSU last October.

UND senior wide receiver Bo Belquist has found the endzone three times in four career games against the Bison, racking up 12 total receptions.

NDSU quarterback Cam Miller is on a different level in 2024, completing 78 percent of his passes, going 216 straight passes without an interception. His last pick came against South Dakota State last November, a span of 11 games.