On a day where the North Dakota State Bison fans and players celebrated raising the National Championship banner for the ninth time in 11 years, the team on the field came out firing on cylinders. The Bison offense looked like a Ferrari racing in a pinewood derby against Drake, beating the Bulldogs 56 – 14 and raising an interesting question in the process.
Drake came out of the gate strong, taking the opening kick and driving down the field and scoring on a nine play, 75 yard, drive that was capped off by an Ian Corwin touchdown pass to running back Dorian Boyland out of the back field. That would be the last time Drake would get score in the half. The Bison scored 42 unanswered points to go into halftime leading 42-7. The win was the most lopsided season opener since 2019’s 57-10 win over Butler.
The Bison were lead in rushing by Hunter Luepke’s 53 yards. The fullback was also able to find his way into the end zone for a score. Dominic Gonnella rushed for 47 yards and a score. NDSU’s passing leader was Cam Miller who had 108 yards and two touchdowns on only nine passing attempts and sat out much of the second half. North Dakota State had multiple pass catchers, lead by Tight End Noah Gindorff’s 44 yards and touchdown catch.
In a home opener where the game is decided decisively, quickly, the mind drifts to questions that cant’ yet be answered. Is THIS the best Bison team? (This is a question I ask myself every year to be honest).
I know the goal is always to bring a championship back to Fargo, but that has turned into the exception over the past decade. Anywhere else except for maybe Columbus, Ohio or Tuscaloosa, Alabama that’s an unrealistic bar for exceptions to be set at.
But that’s where the bar is for this NDSU team whose program has won five of the previous seven titles. The Bison aren’t “light years ahead” of their competition but it’s a big enough gap that it’s noticeable. Very noticeable. The comparison Bison fans have been begging for since 2013 is the University of Alabama and the almost 15 year dynasty that going on down south.
But at least the Tide have a the defending National Champs, Georgia in their Conference and teams like Ohio State and Clemson to push them, who does NDSU have?
With the FCS having some of its best teams leaving the divisions to play at the FBS level- it leaves an even bigger gap between NDSU and the competition. Who is NDSU competing against? Simple, themselves.
The 2022 version of the Bison has a real chance to be the best version of the type of team that Coach Matt Entz has tried to create. Last season, the Bison had zero rushers to gain over a thousand yards. This season, Hunter Lupke, Kobe Johnson, or Dominic Gonnella could hit that mark. (Last season, NDSU had three 700+ yard rushers including Johnson’s 705).
Cam Miller doesn’t have the size of Carson Wentz or a Trey Lance, but he has the chance to be the second ever three thousand yard passer if his coaching staff allows him to drop back and throw. When Wentz set the school record with 3,111 yards he did it on almost nine drop backs per game. The only thing stopping Miller is the fact that he might not play enough second halves to get that many attempts.
And even with the departure of Christian Watson to the NFL, the Bison have Senior WRs Zach Mathis and Phoenix Sproles who have been with this team long enough to know that this is their last chance to cement themselves into NDSU lore.
All I’m saying- when you are competing against Madden on easy mode, you try to put up the most amazing video game stats possible. That’s what this season could be for NDSU and their fans, video game numbers on their way to another trip to Frisco.
