Bison Sports Update: August 28th

Another week of the Fall sports season has come and gone, but exciting things are directly ahead! In this week's edition of the Bison Sports Update, I will unveil my football preview in addition to soccer and volleyball updates.

Women's Soccer
NDSU Women's soccer had a split week this week. They hosted Austin Peay on Friday, and achieved their first win of the season, 4-1. Then on Sunday, they traveled to Iowa to play Drake, and lost for the second time this year, 2-0. 
This week, the Bison will stay on the road, this time heading out to the East coast to play Coastal Carolina on Thursday at 6 PM CT. Then, on Sunday, they will slide over to Charleston to play The Citadel at 12 PM CT.
North Dakota State Women's Soccer is 1-2-1 on the season.

Volleyball
NDSU Volleyball started their season off the right way! The Bison traveled out to Moscow, Idaho for the Vandal Volleyball Invitational. NDSU played UC Riverside, Seattle U, and Idaho, and beat all three of them to claim the invitational title! All three games were won in 4 sets. 
This week, the Bison travel a little closer to home to Dayton, Ohio for the Dayton Tournament. NDSU will play Butler and Dayton on Friday, at 10 AM and 6 PM. Then they will finish up on Saturday with Ohio at 10 AM.
North Dakota State Volleyball is 3-0 on the season.

*Thunderstruck plays*

Football
The football season is upon us once again! The Bison finished last year in rare air for the program, after losing the 2022 title game to arch-rival South Dakota State in decisive fashion. NDSU gave up 45 points, the most in almost 2 decades, in the loss. This is on everyone's minds at NDSU, whether its the players, coaches, staff, or fans. The FCS will be watching this year to see how the Bison react.
North Dakota State returns several key contributors from last year, including 4th year QB Cam Miller, 5th year RB TaMerik Williams, and Senior TE Joe Stoffel. Select defensive and special teams contributors also return in 5th year RS/CB Jayden Price, 5th year DT Eli Mosteart, and 5th year DE Jake Kava. However, the team lost lots of experience in OL Cody Mauch, TE Noah Gindorff, FB Hunter Luepke, CB Destin Talbert, and S Michael Tutsie. This year's team will have to rely heavily on younger talent on the defensive end, particularly in the secondary in which there is one returning starter from last year - Jayden Price. However, special teams will be fairly stable with 5th year place kicker Griffin Crosa entering his final season and redshirt senior punter Kaedin Steindorf returning to the team. 
The Bison offensive line is a little thinner on experience this year then is normal for a Bison team, but there are still stalwarts on the line in 5th year C Jalen Sundell (who already has NFL scouts keeping an eye on him), senior G Grey Zabel, and redshirt senior G Jake Kubas. 5th year FB Hunter Brozio will get his full time in the sun this year after backing up Luepke last year and splitting time as a long snapper. 

The schedule for the Bison is much kinder on the home slate then time away from Fargo. NDSU begins the year with four straight home games (3 if you don't count neutral sites), with only one against a team with a winning record last season. Then they hit the road for two straight weeks, first in Springfield, Missouri and then just to the North in Grand Forks. This will be the second season in 20+ years that NDSU and UND have played at the Alerus Center since entering Division I. Then, the Bison will play a couple home games against two MVFC bottom feeders in farewell tour Western Illinois and newcomer Murray State. After that is the always anticipated Dakota Marker matchup, this year featured in Brookings. It will have new air this year, with the typical roles reversed: North Dakota State the under-ranked team visiting the reigning champions. The next two weeks after will feature two teams that many think could make some noise this year. First, hosting Southern Illinois who hopes to have a more productive year then last year's slump, and then visiting former rival Northern Iowa in Cedar Falls. The Bison and Panthers last matchup in Iowa was back in the Spring 2021 season where NDSU squeaked out a victory on the back on Christian Watson.

What a fun season it will be!!

North Dakota State Football begins their season this Saturday, September 2nd down in Minneapolis, Minnesota at US Bank Stadium (home of the Vikings) where they face Eastern Washington at 2 PM CT.

​Go Bison!!!