2019 North Dakota State Bison football team

2019 North Dakota State Bison football
MVFC champion
FCS Playoffs
Conference	Missouri Valley Football Conference
Ranking
STATS	No. 1
FCS Coaches	No. 1
Record	13–0 (8–0 MVFC)
Head coach	Matt Entz (1st season)
Offensive coordinator	Tyler Roehl (1st season)
Defensive coordinator	David Braun (1st season)
Home stadium	Fargodome (Capacity: 19,000)

2019 Missouri Valley Football Conference standings

	Conf							Overall
Team		W		L					W		L
No. 1 North Dakota State $^		8	–	0					16	–	0
No. 5 Northern Iowa ^		6	–	2					10	–	5
No. 7 Illinois State ^		5	–	3					10	–	5
No. 10 South Dakota State ^		5	–	3					8	–	5
Southern Illinois		5	–	3					7	–	5
South Dakota		4	–	4					5	–	7
Indiana State		3	–	5					5	–	7
Youngstown State		2	–	6					6	–	6
Missouri State		1	–	7					1	–	10
Western Illinois		1	–	7					1	–	11
$ – Conference champion ^ – FCS playoff participant Rankings from STATS Poll

The 2019 North Dakota State Bison football team represents North Dakota State University in the 2019 NCAA Division I FCS football season. They are led by first-year head coach Matt Entz. The team plays in the Fargodome in Fargo, North Dakota, for the 27th season as members of the Missouri Valley Football Conference (MVFC). They entered the season as defending national champions, having won seven of the prior eight FCS titles.

Previous season

Main article: 2018 North Dakota State Bison football team

In 2018, the Bison finished the regular season 11–0, the first undefeated Bison season since the 2013 campaign, and won their 8th consecutive MVFC Title. They received an automatic qualifying bid to the FCS Playoff Tournament and were seeded as the No. 1 Team. The Bison then went 4–0 in the FCS playoffs to finish 15–0 and FCS Champions.

Preseason

MVFC poll

In the MVFC preseason poll released on July 29, 2019, the Bison were predicted to finish in first place.

Predicted finish	Team	Votes (1st place)
1	North Dakota State	392 (32)
2	South Dakota State	348 (4)
3	Illinois State	289 (3)
4	Indiana State	279 (1)
5	Northern Iowa	266
6	South Dakota	176
7	Youngstown State	153
8	Western Illinois	128
9	Southern Illinois	89
10	Missouri State	80

Preseason All–MVFC team

The Bison had six players selected to the preseason all-MVFC team.

Offense

Zack Johnson – OL

Dillon Radunz – OL

Defense

Derrek Tuszka – DL

Jabril Cox – LB

James Hendricks – DB

Garret Wegner – P

Schedule

Date	Time	Opponent	Rank	Site	TV	Result	Attendance
August 31	3:00 p.m.	vs. Butler*	No. 1	Target Field Minneapolis, MN	NBC ND/ESPN+	W 57–10	34,544
September 7	2:30 p.m.	North Dakota*	No. 1	Fargodome Fargo, ND (Nickel Trophy)	NBC ND/ESPN+	W 38–7	18,923
September 14	12:00 p.m.	at No. 18 Delaware*	No. 1	Delaware Stadium Newark, DE	NBC ND/FloSports	W 47–22	14,489
September 21	2:30 p.m.	No. 4 UC Davis*	No. 1	Fargodome Fargo, ND	NBC ND/ESPN+	W 27–16	18,425
October 5	12:00 p.m.	at No. 10 Illinois State	No. 1	Hancock Stadium Normal, IL	NBC ND/ESPN+	W 37–3	13,391
October 12	1:00 p.m.	No. 10 Northern Iowa	No. 1	Fargodome Fargo, ND	NBC ND/ESPN+	W 46–14	18,178
October 19	2:30 p.m.	Missouri State	No. 1	Fargodome Fargo, ND	NBC ND/ESPN+	W 22–0	18,252
October 26	2:00 p.m.	at No. 3 South Dakota State	No. 1	Dana J. Dykhouse Stadium Brookings, SD (Dakota Marker / College GameDay)	NBC ND/ESPN+/Midco	W 23–16	19,371
November 2	5:00 p.m.	at Youngstown State	No. 1	Stambaugh Stadium Youngstown, OH	NBC ND/ESPN+	W 56–17	11,102
November 9	2:30 p.m.	Western Illinois	No. 1	Fargodome Fargo, ND	NBC ND/ESPN+	W 57–21	17,411
November 16	2:30 p.m.	South Dakota	No. 1	Fargodome Fargo, ND	NBC ND/ESPN+/Midco	W 49–14	17,844
November 23	2:00 p.m.	at Southern Illinois	No. 1	Saluki Stadium Carbondale, IL	NBC ND/ESPN+	W 21–7	5,423
December 7	2:00 p.m.	No. 19 Nicholls*	No. 1	Fargodome Fargo, ND (FCS Playoffs Second Round)	ESPN3	W 37–13	15,690
December 14	11:00 a.m.	No. 13 Illinois State*	No. 1	Fargodome Fargo, ND (FCS Playoffs Quarterfinals)	ESPN	W 9–3	14.132
December 21		No. 5 Montana State*	No. 1	Fargodome Fargo, ND (FCS Playoffs Semifinals)
*Non-conference game Homecoming Rankings from STATS Poll released prior to the game All times are in Central time

Game summaries

vs. Butler

	1	2	3	4	Total
Bulldogs	0	0	10	0	10
No. 1 Bison	15	21	14	7	57

See also: 2019 Butler Bulldogs football team

Overall record	Last meeting	Result
First meeting

North Dakota

	1	2	3	4	Total
Fighting Hawks	0	7	0	0	7
No. 1 Bison	14	7	10	7	38

See also: 2019 North Dakota Fighting Hawks football team

Overall record	Last meeting	Result
46–62–3	2015	W, 34–9

at Delaware

	1	2	3	4	Total
No. 1 Bison	10	17	6	14	47
No. 18 Fightin' Blue Hens	5	0	3	14	22

See also: 2019 Delaware Fightin' Blue Hens football team

Overall record	Last meeting	Result
1–0	2018	W, 38–10

UC Davis

	1	2	3	4	Total
No. 4 Aggies	7	6	3	0	16
No. 1 Bison	7	10	3	7	27

See also: 2019 UC Davis Aggies football team

Overall record	Last meeting	Result
5–2	2007	W, 35–16

at Illinois State

	1	2	3	4	Total
No. 1 Bison	16	7	7	7	37
No. 10 Redbirds	3	0	0	0	3

See also: 2019 Illinois State Redbirds football team

Overall record	Last meeting	Result
9–2	2018	W, 28–14

Northern Iowa

	1	2	3	4	Total
No. 10 Panthers	0	14	0	0	14
No. 1 Bison	15	3	7	21	46

See also: 2019 Northern Iowa Panthers football team

Overall record	Last meeting	Result
26–26	2018	W, 56–31

Missouri State

	1	2	3	4	Total
Bears	0	0	0	0	0
No. 1 Bison	8	7	0	7	22

See also: 2019 Missouri State Bears football team

Overall record	Last meeting	Result
9–2	2018	W, 48–7

at South Dakota State

	1	2	3	4	Total
No. 1 Bison	0	3	13	7	23
No. 3 Jackrabbits	6	0	3	7	16

See also: 2019 South Dakota State Jackrabbits football team

Overall record	Last meeting	Result
60–40–5	2018 FCS Playoffs	W, 44–21

at Youngstown State

	1	2	3	4	Total
No. 1 Bison	21	21	7	7	56
Penguins	0	7	3	7	17

See also: 2019 Youngstown State Penguins football team

Overall record	Last meeting	Result
9–4	2018	W, 17–7

Western Illinois

	1	2	3	4	Total
Leathernecks	0	0	7	14	21
No. 1 Bison	13	14	13	17	57

See also: 2019 Western Illinois Leathernecks football team

Overall record	Last meeting	Result
8–2	2018	W, 34–7

South Dakota

	1	2	3	4	Total
Coyotes	0	7	0	7	14
No. 1 Bison	14	14	14	7	49

See also: 2019 South Dakota Coyotes football team

Overall record	Last meeting	Result
53–25–3	2018	W, 59–14

at Southern Illinois

	1	2	3	4	Total
No. 1 Bison	7	0	7	7	21
Salukis	0	7	0	0	7

See also: 2019 Southern Illinois Salukis football team

Overall record	Last meeting	Result
8–3	2018	W, 65–17

FCS Playoffs

The Bison entered the postseason tournament as the number one seed, with a first-round bye.

Nicholls–Second Round

	1	2	3	4	Total
No. 19 Colonels	3	7	3	0	13
No. 1 Bison	7	7	10	13	37

See also: 2019 Nicholls Colonels football team

Overall record	Last meeting	Result
2–0	2005	W, 26–13

Illinois State–Quarterfinals

	1	2	3	4	Total
No. 13 Redbirds	0	0	3	0	3
No. 1 Bison	0	9	0	0	9

See also: 2019 Illinois State Redbirds football team

Overall record	Last meeting	Result
10–2	2019	W, 37–3

Montana State–Semifinals

	1	2	3	4	Total
No. 5 Bobcats					0
No. 1 Bison					0

See also: 2019 Montana State Bobcats football team

Overall record	Last meeting	Result
14–21	2018 FCS Playoffs	W, 52–10

Ranking movements

AP Poll

Ranking movements
Legend: ██ Increase in ranking ██ Decrease in ranking
— = Not ranked RV = Received votes

	Week
Poll	Pre	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	15	Final
AP	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	RV	RV	RV

FCS polls

Ranking movements
Legend: ( ) = First-place votes

	Week
Poll	Pre	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	Final
STATS FCS	1 (142)	1 (148)	1 (149)	1 (150)	1 (153)	1 (152)	1 (155)	1 (155)	1 (156)	1 (154)	1 (155)	1 (153)	1 (156)
Coaches	1 (23)	1 (25)	1 (26)	1 (26)	1 (26)	1 (26)	1 (26)	1 (26)	1 (26)	1 (26)	1 (26)	1 (26)	1 (26)