North Dakota State's fairy tale is coming to an end

 

NDSU has been on quite a ride since they made the leap to division 1. The football team built itself up from it's ascent to FCS, and 7 years after they made the leap, won their first national title in 2011. Aside from 2016 and 2020, they have won it every year since. They've had three quarterbacks go to the NFL - Carson Wentz, Easton Stick and Trey Lance, which is a better rate than many other schools out there. During that run, they've usually been ranked #1, and have nipped quite a few power 5 schools along the way.

This year, there is something off with the Bison. The scoring hasn't been as robust as in previous seasons, and they've dropped two games. They lost to Arizona, which is a pretty tough loss to take for any FCS school. They also lost to South Dakota State who is now ranked number 1. There is no shame in that, of course, unless you are accustomed to be #1 instead. Right now, North Dakota State is ranked 4th in FCS.

Ultimately, this may go down as one of the worst seasons NDSU has had in over a decade.

The men's basketball team has been more successful than average for a school of it's size as well, even securing an NCAA Tournament win in 2014, and stops in the Big Dance 4 times since their ascent to D-1. They would have made it 5 times were it not for the pandemic. 

This year has been one of turnover, though. Long time stalwart Rocky Krueser is now plying his trade in Germany, and left behind a young, unproven roster. Suffice to say at this point, it would be surprising if they were an NCAA tournament team. Again, it is South Dakota State looking strong in the Summit, while the Bison have started 0-4. They lost to Arkansas and Kansas, which make sense, but they also lost at home to Pacific and were blown out by Indiana State, which are not as impressive.

North Dakota State has been very good across the sporting landscape for quite some time. This is the worst year they have had since all sports have been postseason eligible at D-1 for the two revenue sports. The football team isn't perfect, and the basketball team is simply bad. The real signature of a quality program is showing that they can bounce back from down years like this.