No one in the Football Championship Subdivision of NCAA Division I has really solved the North Dakota State University Bison. In fact, the handful from the Football Bowl Subdivision that have tried haven’t solved them either – NDSU has won six straight FBS matchups, including one over a top ten ranked team in the Iowa Hawkeyes.
They have won all but two of the FCS championships since 2011. Of those, one was in the COVID fragmented season of 2020.
Of all the teams that have gone up against the Bison, however, the person that may know them the best will be on the sidelines Saturday in the form of Montana State University head coach Brent Vigen.
Vigen is one of the architects of what is now the most dominant football team certainly in FCS history, but perhaps all of college football history in relative terms. He played for the Bison. He came up the coaching ranks there with then head coach Craig Bohl to win three FCS titles in three years between 2011 and 2013 before leaving with Bohl for the University of Wyoming ahead fo the 2014 season.
Of all the attempts to bring the Bison back down to earth, this one seems to have as good or better chance of any, but despite all that Vigen also knows more than anyone just how difficult it will be.
“In NDSU we have an incredibly formidable opponent,” Vigen said following his team’s 31-17 win over South Dakota State in the semifinals of the FCS playoffs. “Their success over the past decade has been unmatched in college football. It just keeps rolling along up there. They’re so well coached. The players come into that program, and they learn how to do things really from the inside out. It’s a player driven deal from an expectation level.”
Despite leaving for Wyoming in 2014, Vigen has lived part of his life in and understands the historical significance of what NDSU has done. The Bison have won eight FCS titles, beating the likes of FCS powers Sam Houston State and James Madison – the only two teams that have won a title during the NDSU reign – twice each in championship games along the way. NDSU is 8-0 in title games, all played in Frisco, Texas. The Bison’s only playoff loss in the last 10 years came when James Madison posted a 27-17 win in Fargo in the semifinals of the 2016 playoffs. JMU won its second national title a few weeks later, posted a 28-14 win over a Youngstown State team that had upset a Cooper Kupp-led Eastern Washington squad in the semis.
Within its own conference teams like South Dakota State and Illinois State, which have both been in FCS title games, have tried annually to keep NDSU from gaining the inside track to Frisco, site of the last 11 FCS title game, to no avail. So, the best of the rest have given this a try and none have been able to fully stop NDSU.
“You gotta look at this from a decade-long perspective and know that the success they had is not just a one-year deal by any means,” Vigen said. “It’s a something that’s been built upon itself. The amazing thing is in all the championship appearances, they’re undefeated.
“Getting to the championship at a neutral site and continuing to win that game every year is something. I speak to that because there’s a sense of confidence that you have to have going into this game. There’s a sense of belief you have to have going into this game. I know full well that their kids have that. They’ve learned from the guys in front of them.”
Listening to Vigen speak about the Bison almost makes him sound in awe. But more than that, it sounds like he knows intimately about what makes their program tick. The attention to detail. The commitment. The discipline and dedication.
“I know, as far as what they do offensively and defensively, it’s principled, it’s run the football, stop the run to the nth degree,” Vigen said. “That’s been a hallmark of that program going back to when I was there (as a tight end in the mid-1990s). No matter who’s been coaching, three (head) coaches, a lot of different assistants, a lot of players for sure, there’s been a continuity that’s been incredible, that hasn’t hardly been matched in college football history.
“I know they’ve got some really good individuals on both sides of the ball, but it’s about the collection of talent and how hard they play and how well they’re coached. That’s the combination that I see, and I know a lot of things that they are we aim to bring to this program. I think we’ve done that in a lot of respects and that’s why we’re in the position we’re in and it’ll be a heck of a matchup down there in Frisco.”
MSU began moving to a NDSU-style of preparation from the time Vigen arrived. Namely getting players more apt to being ready if they’re forced into action due to a loss of a starter. That comes from an adjusted practice schedule, a high repetition style each week and a championship mentality.
“We shifted gears on how we practice going back to the spring and fall to try to get more guys ready,” he said. “That’s a formula that we went to back at NDSU back in 2009 and carried on at Wyoming. Just more guys on the field, more guys getting prepared, so on a day like (Saturday against South Dakota State) a guy like (freshman safety) Rylan Ortt can step in and start his first college game (in place of injured All-Big Sky Conference junior Ty Okada) and we don’t skip a beat. Many instances like that of guys being prepared sooner than later.”
Within the catacombs of Montana State Vigen points to one area that he noticed as a difference maker at NDSU, which was Jim Kramer’s strength program. MSU’s rise to gaining some prominence the past few weeks is recognized beyond the players and primary football coaches.
“A lot of credit goes to Sean Herrin and his staff,” he said of MSU’s strength and conditioning coach. “Over the course of this season, I think it’s shown that we’re a better conditioned team than most of our opponents. Sean and his staff prepared them to do more, and they bought into a different way of doing things with how we practiced and how we went about our summer, and I think it’s continued to show throughout the fall and, in particular, the last three weeks.”
And again, another homage to NDSU. Many familiar with the program would say that one of if not THE key ingredient for NDSU’s run has been the steady hand of strength coach Jim Kramer, who’s been bulking frames in Fargo since 2003.
Getting the Bobcats to the level of a team like NDSU over the course of just over one year is no small order, but knowing first hand what it takes is as good a start as you’re going to find. Vigen has that much to share with his Bobcats as MSU makes its first title game appearance in 37 years against the most prevalent championship team in the country.
“I know we’re going to have our hands full with North Dakota State,” he said. “They’re so well coached. They play so hard, much like you could say about South Dakota State. I think our programs are similar. I know that’s where we want to be. They’re (in Frisco) again and we’re there. It’s going to be a fun three weeks.”
