The FBS newbies will face each other late Saturday night in California’s capital.
North Dakota State and Sacramento State have played just once before Saturday night’s matchup, a 42-20 win for the Bison in the 1988 Division II semifinals. That game featured three players running for over 100 yards on a freezing day at Dacotah Field.
The two schools are now locked together forever when they announced in February that each were moving up to the FBS. Sac State had made a very public charge to move up to the FBS and finally got the invite they were waiting for from the Mid-American Conference. Sac State’s first year in the FBS includes a new head coach, Brennan Marion left after one year for Colorado, as Alonzo Carter takes over after spending the last two years as an assistant at Arizona.
The Bison will play in the state of California for the first time in nearly 20 years. NDSU last played in the Golden State in 2007, an epic game that saw NDSU rally from 28-9 down in the 4th quarter to beat Cal Poly, 31-28, thanks to a Steve Walker to Kole Heckendorf 80-yard touchdown. The year prior saw NDSU’s biggest comeback in school history, down 24-0 at UC Davis, where Walker’s magic first was on display, throwing the game-winning touchdown to John Majeski with under ten seconds left, to win 28-24.
The Forum’s Jeff Kolpack and WDAY-TV’s Dom Izzo preview the matchup and look around the Mountain West Conference.
Dom Izzo is the Sports Director at WDAY-TV. He began working for WDAY in 2006 as the weekend sports anchor and was promoted to Sports Director in 2010.