Top 25 countdown (games in the D1 era)

[Professor Chaos]

Yeah, this season isn't ideal playing in February/March/April instead of September/October/November but it looks like it's going to happen *knockonwood* and IMO that's the important thing. I think many of us are having a hard time getting pumped up for Bison football in February when we're used to just finishing a long season of cheering for our favorite college team.

Not everyone shares the feeling right now it seems but I miss Bison football. We had that little taste of it last October but, honestly, it didn't feel like a real game. That means as of today we're now 413 days since Jimmy Football picked off Dinucci down in Frisco to secure NDSU's 8th FCS championship in 9 years (and let's be honest there have been a lot of long days in that time).

So... in an effort to generate a little excitement for this spring season I wanted to take a look back at some of the great memories we've been able to make as Bison football fans in the last 15 years. Since as of today we're 25 days away from the kickoff for the YSU game on 2/21 I put together a list of my top 25 most memorable games/moments from the D1 era of Bison football. DISCLAIMER: I would go back longer but it's harder to find video for prior to the D1 move and I didn't follow Bison football as closely prior to the D1 move so, in an effort to not snub anything, I'm only going to go from D1 era (really 2006 and beyond).

It's not being played under ideal circumstances but who's to say that this spring season couldn't add a game or two worthy of being included in future lists like this one.


I'll add each day's game to this running list for ease of navigation:

1. Illinois St (2014) 2/20
2. Georgia Southern (2012) 2/19
3. Iowa (2016) 2/18
4. Kansas St (2013) 2/17
5. SHSU (2011) 2/16
6. Minnesota (2007) 2/15
7. JMU (2017) 2/14
8. Minnesota (2011) 2/13
9. Georgia Southern (2011) 2/12
10. UNI (2011) 2/11
11. JSU (2015) 2/10
12. SHSU (2012) 2/9
13. Iowa St (2014) 2/8
14. JMU (2019) 2/7
15. SDSU (2019) 2/6
16. Ball St (2006) 2/5
17. Towson (2013) 2/4
18. EWU (2018) 2/3
19. CMU (2007) 2/2
20. UNI (2013) 2/1
21. Montana St (2010) 1/31
22. SDSU playoffs (2014) 1/30
23. SHSU (2007) 1/29
24. Cal Poly (2007) 1/28
25. UNI (2015) 1/27
HM. Montana (2003) 1/27

[Professor Chaos]

#25

October 10th, 2015: Northern Iowa @ North Dakota State

This was Carson Wentz's only 300+ yard passing game of his NDSU career. There were 5 lead changes in the 4th quarter alone with the final coming with 35 seconds left on the infamous drop in the bucket from Wentz to freshman Darrius Shepherd in the left corner of the south endzone. Two fun facts on this game/play; on the play Wentz actually lines up (in shotgun) behind the right guard briefly before realizing it and shifting to his left to get behind Center Austin Kuhnert - Darrius Shepherd came into this game with a shoulder injury where he could only play one half after getting a pain killing shot for the injury... Chris Klieman and the Bison staff decided to use that in the 2nd half and Shepherd delivered catching two tough TD passes including the game winner in tight double coverage. The game was the 2015 homecoming game, ESPN's Sportscenter on the Road came to town and broadcast from inside the Fargodome that morning, and the Bison avenged a 2014 loss at the UNI-Dome that snapped a then FCS record 33 game win streak. It moved the #2/#3 Bison to 4-1 in the 2015 season.

Game highlights:


Game box score: https://gobison.com/sports/football/.../boxscore/6284

Game replay: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zUw2MYK31H8


As a side note for today's post these are my honorable mention games that just missed my top 25:
Colorado State (2012)
Kansas (2010)
SDSU playoffs (2018)
Montana playoffs (2015)
UNI playoffs (2015)

[Bisonator98]

Wow if that's #25 I can't wait to see the rest of the list. That game was unbelievable!

[heffray]

Great idea, Chaos! Looking forward to highly scrutinizing your top 5...

[scottietohottie]

#25

October 10th, 2015: Northern Iowa @ North Dakota State

This was Carson Wentz's only 300+ yard passing game of his NDSU career. There were 5 lead changes in the 4th quarter alone with the final coming with 35 seconds left on the infamous drop in the bucket from Wentz to freshman Darrius Shepherd in the left corner of the south endzone. Two fun facts on this game/play; on the play Wentz actually lines up (in shotgun) behind the right guard briefly before realizing it and shifting to his left to get behind Center Austin Kuhnert - Darrius Shepherd came into this game with a shoulder injury where he could only play one half after getting a pain killing shot for the injury... Chris Klieman and the Bison staff decided to use that in the 2nd half and Shepherd delivered catching two tough TD passes including the game winner in tight double coverage. The game was the 2015 homecoming game, ESPN's Sportscenter on the Road came to town and broadcast from inside the Fargodome that morning, and the Bison avenged a 2014 loss at the UNI-Dome that snapped a then FCS record 33 game win streak. It moved the #2/#3 Bison to 4-1 in the 2015 season.

Game highlights:


Game box score: https://gobison.com/sports/football/.../boxscore/6284

Game replay: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zUw2MYK31H8


As a side note for today's post these are my honorable mention games that just missed my top 25:
Colorado State (2012)
Kansas (2010)
SDSU playoffs (2018)
Montana playoffs (2015)
UNI playoffs (2015)

I got a 4 year old with a July birthday. Tint of ginger in that hair too.

[Professor Chaos]

Great idea, Chaos! Looking forward to highly scrutinizing your top 5...

Haha! I'm sure there's going to be some disagreement up there... really should have about seven #1s.

[heffray]

Haha! I'm sure there's going to be some disagreement up there... really should have about seven #1s.

Exactly, I don’t think I could narrow down an order to my top 5...

[HandoEX]

Now this is an awesome thread! So many great games to reminisce about, can’t wait to see the rest of the list

[Professor Chaos]

I feel like this game probably deserves a special call out since I kinda forgot about it putting together my initial list and I'd have to shift my already listed #25 game out to include it so I'll just give a bonus game today. Technically this was during the D1 exploratory year in 2003 so I can use that as my excuse.


September 6th, 2003: North Dakota State @ Montana

By their own admission in interviews given later the Bison were just hoping to keep it competitive against the 3rd ranked team in D1AA. With a new head coach in Craig Bohl and coming off of a 2-8 season in their final season in D2 in 2002 playing in one of the most unforgiving road environments in the country NDSU was a monumental underdog. It didn't look good early on as the offense could only muster 80 yards in the first half and trailed the Griz 24-2 at the break. But a 2nd half dominated by NDSU culminated when a fake FG was converted into a TD pass from RB Rod Malone to TE Mike Wieser to give the Bison a 25-24 lead with 2:13 to play. NDSU had racked up 263 yards of offense in the 2nd half at that point compared to only 18 for Montana but on the ensuing drive the Griz drove into position to kick a game winning 40 yard FG. After three timeouts their iced kicker sent the FG attempt wide right giving the Bison a most improbable victory. Athletic Director Gene Taylor said in the 2014 documentary "Those Who Stay Will be Champions" that this game essentially on it's own pushed the majority of the Bison fan base, who were undecided about the D1 move, to being in favor of the move and the rest, as they say, is history.

Game highlights: When all else fails good old Dom has something on Twitter to point to: https://twitter.com/DomIzzoWDAY/stat...23101126094849

Game box score: https://gobison.com/sports/football/.../boxscore/1349

Game replay: Highly doubt there's anything out there but I'd be grateful if anyone could prove me wrong.

[TAILG8R]

I have the hi-res original of the photo used on this page on my laptop.