Kolpack and Izzo Podcast

It's an even numbered year, which means North Dakota State and South Dakota State must play in the playoffs. It's happened in 2012, 2014, 2016, 2018, 2022 and now this year. You can set your watch to it. NDSU has hosted all but one of those games, which was the national championship game in Frisco. The Jackrabbits have accomplished nearly everything in FCS football, except beating the Bison in Far...

The FCS quarterfinals kick off tonight and continue tomorrow in Fargo as North Dakota State hosts Southern Conference champion Mercer for a berth in the semifinals.   The Bears (11-2) advanced to the quarterfinals for the first time after beating Rhode Island 17-10 last week in the second round. They are led defensively by a team that has racked up 23 interceptions, including two separate players...

The first week of December was a busy one for North Dakota State football. It began with the news that Cole Wisniewski was going to enter the transfer portal after rehabbing a foot injury all season long. The former All-American safety has not played a down this season for the Bison. It continued with National Signing Day as NDSU added 32 high school players for its Class of 2025, highlighted by a...

North Dakota State returns to Vermillion, South Dakota Saturday with a chance to win the Missouri Valley Football Conference title outright and likely clinch a top playoff seed. The Bison will face fourth ranked South Dakota, the Coyotes are having another great season, coming in with an 8-2 record and 6-1 in the league. USD's two losses came to Wisconsin and South Dakota State, the latter in over...

North Dakota State returns to the field after its bye week Saturday as they will host surprising Missouri State.   The Bears enter on an eight-game winning streak after losing their first two games of the season. MSU is in its final season of FCS football after announcing this spring they are moving up to FBS and Conference USA in 2025.   Ryan Beard is in his second year as head coach of the Bears...

North Dakota State and Northern Iowa will play in a football game inside the Fargodome for the first time in three years Saturday afternoon.   The Panthers last trip to Fargo coincided with the last time UNI made the FCS Playoffs, 2021. The Panthers posted a 6-5 regular season record and lost in the first round to Eastern Washington.   Since that game in Cheney, Washington, the Panthers have poste...

It was an emotional win for North Dakota State last week against South Dakota State and it came at a cost.   The Bison lost two more defensive starters to injury in that game, linebacker Oscar Benson and safety Sam Jung. Benson will be back at sometime this year, while Jung's career is over with a torn pectoral muscle.   NDSU will press on, playing it's ninth consecutive game this Saturday as they...

North Dakota State and South Dakota State will meet for the Dakota Marker for the 21st time Saturday night at the Fargodome. This will mark the first night regular season game in Fargo since the 2016 season opener, when NDSU beat Charleston Southern in overtime. SDSU comes into this game with a 5-1 record, having won five straight after a season opening loss to Oklahoma State, that snapped a 29-ga...

North Dakota State hits the second half of the 2024 season this Saturday as the Bison will head to Southern Illinois to take on a struggling Salukis team.   SIU, which has made the playoffs three of the last four seasons, has had a run of injuries that's tough to fathom. Nick Hill will start a true freshman at quarterback this weekend in Jake Curry after his top three quarterbacks all suffered sea...

The eyes of North Dakota will be fixed on the Fargodome Saturday afternoon as North Dakota State will host the University of North Dakota in a large Missouri Valley Football Conference game.   The Bison come in ranked second, while the Fighting Hawks come in seventh. This is the second time in the last four years the two teams are ranked in the top ten, UND and NDSU were ranked second and fourth i...

North Dakota State returns home Saturday to welcome in Ohio Valley Conference member Tennessee State for a first-time meeting between the schools. This is the beginning of a home and home series, with the Bison returning to Nashville and Nissan Stadium next season, which is the home of the Tennessee Titans. That game will be played on Sept. 6. The Tigers are coached by former Heisman Trophy winner...

The road to the NCAA Basketball Tournament once again runs through Sioux Falls.   For the first time in a handful of years, the Summit League men's tournament is wide open. After back to back years where a team was unbeaten in the regular season, South Dakota State won the league this year losing four times.   North Dakota State enters with its lowest seed in six years, the Bison are seeded fifth...

The second half of the Summit League basketball season has arrived and things couldn't be more different on the men's and women's side. The men's race is a complete free-for-all, with the conference leaders each with three losses, South Dakota State and North Dakota. That's after North Dakota State went to Brookings and beat the Jacks 74-73, the fifth separate overtime game that the Bison have pla...

Tim Polasek's first coaching staff is starting to come into shape. This week Polasek announced the hirings of Devin Klieman, the son of former NDSU head coach Chris Klieman as the safeties coach and Will Johnson as the new cornerbacks coach. Each have been graduate assistants at their previous stops and will be making their position coaching debuts in the 2024 season. Polasek has another hire to m...

It was a newsy week despite the fact that the FCS season officially came to a close last Sunday in Frisco, Texas. South Dakota State won the national championship with a 23-3 win over Montana, a second straight title for the Jacks. Less than two days later, Montana's quarterback was in the transfer portal and SDSU's offensive coordinator was on the way to Northwestern. NDSU's offensive coordinator...

The first podcast of 2024 is here, with plenty of news to discuss. North Dakota State's men's basketball team opened the new year with a loss to Montana in the Big Sky - Summit League Challenge 96-86. The Bison played without their leading scorer and lone senior, Boden Skunberg, who was benched by head coach David Richman for not meeting the team's culture expectations. The Bison have lost four st...

North Dakota State's football season has reached the semifinal round for the 12th time in the last 13 years.   The Bison (11-3) who were left for dead by the hosts of this podcast after a 49-24 loss to the University of North Dakota on October 14, are still playing football. They have a chance to make Frisco for the 11th time in the last 13 years Saturday afternoon in Missoula, Montana against the...

Nearly 38 years to the day of one of the biggest games in Bison football history, North Dakota State and the University of South Dakota are set to face each other again in the playoffs.   December 7, 1985 is a day that will go down in infamy for USD. The Coyotes had the Bison in the Dakota Dome, after beating NDSU 38-14 earlier in the season. The Bison had the last laugh, thanks to one of the most...

North Dakota State's 2023 playoff run will take it outside of Fargo for the first time during a fall season since 2010 Saturday, when they face Montana State.   Ironically enough, the last time the Bison had to go on the road for the postseason in a "normal" season was in Bozeman, a 42-17 win over the Bobcats. It was a monumental win for the program, that sent the Bison on to the FCS quarterfinals...

The FCS Playoffs kick off tomorrow in eight cities across the country and for the first time in 13 years, Fargo is one of them.   North Dakota State will face Drake in the opening round Saturday at 2:30 p.m. at Gate City Bank Field at the Fargodome.   The Bison (8-3) will face the Bulldogs (8-3) for the second time in the last 15 months. Drake came to Fargo for the 2022 season opener, a 56-14 NDSU...

The road ends in Cedar Falls, Iowa for the 2023 regular season of North Dakota State football.   For the first time since the 2019 season, NDSU ends the regular season on the road and in unfamiliar spot, needing a win to solidify its playoff standing. The Bison picked up a huge 34-10 victory last week against Southern Illinois to reach the 7-win plateau, but another win this week could potentially...

Saturday's North Dakota State game at the Fargodome may have the most at-stake during the regular season since the Bison championship dynasty began in 2011.   That final regular season home game in 2011, NDSU was matched up with Youngstown State and had a chance to clinch its first Missouri Valley Football Conference title. The Bison raced out to a 21-10 second quarter lead, only to see the Pengui...

The focus of the FCS world centers on Brookings, South Dakota this weekend as top ranked South Dakota State welcomes in rival North Dakota State for the 20th renewal of the Dakota Marker Game. This game may be unlike any other in the history of this series; with the Jackrabbits as prohibitive favorites over the Bison. SDSU has won four straight over NDSU, a fifth straight win will match a streak t...

North Dakota State wraps up the month of October with a first-time opponent, as Missouri Valley conference newbie Murray State comes to the Fargodome this weekend.   Murray State was a founding member of the Ohio Valley Conference and left in July as the school wanted to join the Missouri Valley Conference to enhance its basketball profile. The football team was added to the MVFC in April 2022, be...

The second half of the 2023 FCS college football season begins Saturday for North Dakota State and in essence, the Bison season really begins this weekend. NDSU after being flattened by North Dakota last Saturday, returns home to host winless Western Illinois at Gate City Bank Field at the Fargodome. This game centers more around how the Bison play and who plays for NDSU this weekend than anything...