Bison Sports Update: August 25th

Some exciting things to talk about this week!

Women's Soccer
NDSU Women's Soccer came home for their home opener this week against Alabama State. The Bison would emerge victorious, stifling the Lady Hornets in a 3-0 victory. 
This week will be a big one for the Bison women. They will head out to Hawaii for three games. On Tuesday they will play Hawaii Pacific, then on Thursday they will matchup with Grand Canyon, and Sunday they will wrap up with host Hawaii. 
North Dakota State Women's Soccer is 2-0-1 on the season.

Football
NDSU Football will begin their 2024 campaign on Thursday night against the Colorado Buffaloes of the Big 12 in front of a national audience on ESPN. This year's Bison have a lot in front of them this year, and a lot of hope amongst NDSU faithful. Last year's team finished 11-4 and fell to Montana in the FCS semifinals to miss out on a title for the second straight season - the first of its kind for NDSU since their dynasty began in 2011. There is a lot of reason to believe this could be a special year for the Bison. For starters - plenty of the team's highlight players return this year for what many will be their last season. NDSU also has a new coach this year, Tim Polasek, a former Bison offensive coordinator back in the Craig Bohl era. Polasek aims to restore NDSU to its former glory, and recapture the magic that propelled the team to 9 FCS titles. Lets break down their schedule.
The Bison will start the season with a rare FBS game, against Big 12 returner Colorado. The Buffaloes have been the talk of college football the last couple of years with former NFL great Deion Sanders coming over from Jackson State to be the head coach in Boulder. Last year, that hype fell short after a strong start with Colorado finishing the season 4-8 and missing a bowl game. Deion seems to be repeating the same formula as last offseason, kicking players out and pulling new ones in just as fast. Lots of questions remain about who will play for the Buffaloes in their first game against the Bison, as well as the Bison having issues of their own. Several NDSU mainstays are having injury issues early on, including defensive star Cole Wisniewski who will not play in Colorado. 5th year senior fullback Hunter Brozio, who was a dual first team preseason MVFC selection this season, will not play at all this year suffering a season ending injury. Top running back Barika Kpeenu is also questionable to appear in the opener in Boulder, but is expected to play this season.
After their tilt with the Buffaloes, NDSU come back to Fargo for the home opener against Tennessee State as part of the first year of a home and home contract. The Tigers hail from the Big South-OVC football association and went 6-5 last season. Then, the Bison will hit the road again and go play East Tennessee State of the Southern Conference. Many believe the SoCon has overtaken the CAA as the third best FCS conference. ETSU should be somewhat familiar to Bison fans, as the team bested them in the quarterfinals of the 2021 FCS playoffs en route to a national title.
NDSU will then return home to the Fargodome for a matchup against Towson of the CAA, that will serve as the homecoming game. NDSU previously beat the Tigers in Maryland also back in 2021. The Bison will then head back on the road to start their Missouri Valley Football Conference schedule, with a game at Illinois State. The Redbirds have a lot of hope behind them that they will improve upon their mediocre record from last season. 
NDSU will then come home to host bitter in-state rival UND for the series' 117th matchup. The Fighting Hawks gave NDSU quite the humbling last season for their first win in the series since 2003. The Bison hope to regain bragging rights this season against a slightly less powerful UND team. Then, NDSU will hit the road to play ever-potent Southern Illinois, who is currently ranked in the FCS Top 25. This matchup also proves to be great football.
After that, the Bison will come back home to host reigning two time national champion South Dakota State - this time in front of a national audience on a yet to be determined ESPN network. This is because of the MVFC's new media contract extension with ESPN that requires at least 2 league games appear on linear television a season. The Bison hope to reclaim the marker for the first time since 2019, as the Jacks have won 5 straight over NDSU. 
After that, the Bison will hit the road again to visit Murray State for the first time. The last matchup was a three touchdown win for the green and gold. NDSU will then come home to host somewhat dormant rival Northern Iowa, the Bison bested the Panthers in Cedar Falls last season. After a week off, NDSU will return to action at home against Missouri State which will be the final matchup between the two programs as FCS teams. The Bears plan to join Conference USA of the FBS after this season and are ineligible for the FCS playoffs in that time.
The Bison will wrap up the regular season with a road game at South Dakota, who hope to have a season replicating what they did last year. USD spoiled NDSU's homecoming last year, and then were blown out by the Bison in the FCS quarterfinals. 
That about does it for the NDSU Football season preview! The season begins on Thursday night against Colorado!!

Volleyball
NDSU Volleyball starts their 2024 season on Friday in Fort Myers, Florida! The Bison ladies hope to continue their newfound success from the last couple seasons, as they went 18-11 and 9-7 in Summit play last year. NDSU fell in the Summit League semifinals.
The Bison will begin their campaign with a visit to Fort Myers Florida for the Fort Myers Classic which will feature games against Albany, Florida Gulf Coast (host), and Illinois-Chicago. Then NDSU will begin September with the NDSU/UND tournament that they are co-hosting with their rivals to the north. The Bison will play West Virginia and SIU-Edwardsville for their part of the tournament. Then, NDSU will host Montana for a duel a week later. After that, the Bison will hit the road to the desert for the Arizona Wildcat Classic, hosted by the University of Arizona. They will play the Wildcats, and then Southern Utah. After that classic, the Bison will start Summit League play and finish up the month at St. Thomas. 
In October, the Bison will host Denver and Oral Roberts in a traditional Thursday-Saturday duel. Then they will hit the road for games at Kansas City and Omaha. After that will be a split week at home against South Dakota State and then on the road at South Dakota. NDSU will then have a quick turnaround to come back up to play UND in Grand Forks on a Tuesday. Then, they will finish that week with a home weekend against St. Thomas and Omaha. They will finish the month with the start of a road weekend, first at Oral Roberts.
November will start with a trip to Denver. Then, NDSU will host USD but hit the road to play SDSU. The Bison will finish the regular season hosting Kansas City and UND. The Summit League Tournament will be hosted by Kansas City this season, and will take place from November 24th-26th. 
NDSU Volleyball starts their season this Friday down in Fort Myers!

Fall sports will now be in full swing by the end of the week, college sports are back folks!
​Go Bison!