By Andrew Holtan | The Brookings Register
BROOKINGS – North Dakota State announced Monday that its football program will be moving up to the Football Bowl Subdivision and will begin playing in the Mountain West Conference immediately in 2026.
It is a football-only move for the Bison and South Dakota State Director of Athletics Justin Sell said he always knew that this day would come, but had no indication that it was coming as soon as it did.
“I think I’m still taking it in,” Sell said. “… I think NDSU has been clear for many, many years and their fan base certainly has been clear that they, you know, in terms of aspiring to play at the next level, that they were going to take that opportunity. So I don’t think any of that was a surprise.
“I think the timing just always is, oh, all right, this is happening today. Because I don’t think any of us really had any kind of notion that that was happening. … I just thought, you know, for them, they’re making the best decisions they can relate to for their university and their athletic program and where they want to be. And I respect that a ton.”
SDSU and NDSU both moved from Division II to Division I in 2004 and have played in the Football Championship Subdivision since then. The Bison have dominated the FCS, having won 10 national championships. The Jackrabbits have evened the playing field with the Bison recently, having won two titles in the past four seasons.
Jackrabbits next?
Some people thought if one school would move up, the other would follow. That wasn’t the case this week and it does not look like SDSU is in any hurry to leave the FCS.
“I feel really good about where we’re at,” Sell said. “… The FCS is pretty strong right now. And so you sit there and you go, we’re filling our building most every Saturday, right? We have fans that like our competition. We’re extremely relevant. I’m not afraid of that. Do we have to pay attention to the tea leaves? Do we have to understand where we need to position ourselves if that were to change? Yes. But for right now, I think our fan base loves making the opportunity to get into the playoffs and then make a run and then go win a national championship.”
It takes two to tango when it comes to moving up from the FCS to FBS. You cannot just declare that you want to move up. You have to receive an invite from a conference and NDSU received that invite.
The Bison will be the seventh FCS program to make the jump to the FBS in the past five years, joining James Madison, Sam Houston, Kennesaw State, Jacksonville State, Delaware and Missouri State. James Madison is now in the Sun Belt and the other five teams are in Conference USA.
SDSU has had no talks with any FBS conference and Sell said he and his staff have not reached out to any conferences, either. But he did note that should they get a call, the Jackrabbits would be prepared to have an answer.
“We have not received a call,” Sell said. “We have not been invited. I think, you know, look, our geography is a challenge. I think most of us know that. And so when you look at those options and what can come down the road, I do think we are very well respected as a program kind of across the board. … But we have not pursued [an FBS invite]. I would say we’ve definitely prepared.
“I have plenty of data and I understand all the schools and the leagues around us. Some of that’s been Summit League and trying to attract new members over the years. You just do that. Some of it is just if we were to get a call from Conference A saying, What’s your answer? Well, you can’t start trying to figure it out at that point. So we’re prepared for those things that happen, but we’re not pushing an agenda either.”
Paying to go up
NDSU will have to pay a $5 million fee to move up to the FBS and the Mountain West is also charging a $12.5 million entry fee. Sell said he thinks the donors at SDSU would be able to provide that kind of money should an offer be on the table, but he indicated that they do not have that money right now.
“I think you have to pencil it out. … If our donors were fully behind [a move to the FBS], I think we can move mountains and do big things. But I think our donors also are pretty thoughtful and want us to stay true to our role at this institution and understand the priorities that we have. … Now, it looks like we’re obviously not only having to pay to move up, which [the fee] moved from $5,000 to $5 million, which is pretty significant. Not only that, but you’re having to pay a pretty large entrance fee [into a conference]. I think that’s probably given a lot of us a little pause,” Sell said.
Dakota Marker ramifications
With NDSU’s move to the FBS, it will likely put a hiatus to the Dakota Marker rivalry, which the two schools have played in since the move to Division I. Sell said there could be a chance that the rivalry lives on, but if it did it would likely have to be played in Fargo as FBS teams never play at FCS schools.
“[I want to] play them in the non-conference every year. I will gladly do that. But I think we’ll still find a way to play and who knows, you know, four or five years down the road, [all of us Dakota schools will] all be playing again and reserve a spot for the Dakota Marker,” Sell said.
Sell said eventually NDSU and SDSU will be back together playing at the same level. He believes that at some point conferences like the Mountain West will be left out of College Football Playoff discussions because the power conferences like the ACC, Big Ten, Big 12 and SEC will want to have an exclusive playoff. He said when that happens, he believes those conferences will want to team up with the top conferences of the FCS like the Missouri Valley and the Big Sky.
“The fact is, if the Power Four does their own thing and they don’t tie in with the Group of Six at some point, then [NDSU has] to readjust, too. We talk about us and FCS is the one that has to readjust and we have to move up. Well, what if we all end up just coming together and it’s not so much about them moving down or us moving up. It’s like, here are the teams that can play together. Here’s who has facilities or budgets or opportunities where we could play at a level that’s competitive or hopefully maybe a playoff level instead of the bowl games. Some of those things I still think have to sort themselves out. So I don’t feel any pressure or worry about missing the ball,” Sell said.
— Contact Andrew Holtan at [email protected].
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