North Dakota State Elevates to FBS Against Jacksonville STate
North Dakota State rises to the FBS and gears up to take on Jacksonville State in this year's season opener. Kevin and Craig reflect on NDSU's potential.
Video Transcript
North Dakota State on their way up here to the FBS level, playing Jacksonville State, who not all too long ago made the same move, Craig.
And I know this is one of the games that's really interesting you today.
Yeah, and, and again, I, I really just wanna focus this on, like, big congratulations, man.
Like, this is It's pretty awesome for a school to move up like they have.
We saw UCF a few years ago, University of Central Florida here in my home state, move up to a bigger conference.
To see North Dakota State go to FBS I think is really cool as well.
This game is a nationally televised game on CBS.
Think about that for a minute, Kevin.
Like, that's pretty cool.
Like, they are, now in a conference that is gonna give them a lot of attention.
You know, you know, generally speaking, they've been that FCS team that's played for the national championship or close to it every year.
They've had really good players come out to the NFL.
Trey Lance played at North Dakota State.
Christian Watson, I think.
Mm-hmm.
They, they, they've produced some really big, you know, star players into the league.
And, and I, and I think that this is gonna be a fun game today between two teams.
So look, I, I know that it's not on the radar.
It is week zero.
If it was week one, let's be honest, we probably wouldn't be talking about this game as much.
But on this game tonight, I did want to mention and give my friend, some love who's on the play-by-play here as well, which is why I wanted to devote two minutes here on the show.
My buddy Rich Waltz, who is gonna be on the play-by-play game tonight.
And somebody that we talked about throughout the show is the color- one of the color analysts on the game on CBS tonight, Kevin, and that is none other than Brian Kelly.
He is the color- Oh, wow analyst on this game tonight.
It's his first TV game ever.
Look, I'm not saying it's gonna be awesome.
I'm not saying I, I don't know what it's gonna be.
Mm-hmm.
But it may be worth five minutes of saying, wait a second here, Brian Kelly, who has had had this illustrious media career.
I don't even know what to call the media career.
This off-season, I think it was Paul Finebaum said that it was the worst show that he's ever done on television, having to do this, thing with Brian Kelly for 30 minutes a week.
Said it was like his In his entire career was, it was part-- But meanwhile, Brian Kelly, when he was at Notre Dame, was like a k- like a fun guy.
Goes to LSU, all of a sudden he's got this crazy accent.
He is a character- in our game.
He's a character in our game of college football.
So that game, tonight with, North Dakota State headed over to the FBS, I just wanted to, you know, kinda say like, "Hey, is this the next Boise State?"
Like, right, may-maybe.
Is, is there, is there a chance of that here?
So again, there's gonna be better You know, starting after this week with this probably, a team like this flies under the radar, and certainly Jacksonville State will fly under the radar too.
But this is a chance for a team moving up to give some hope to some of the smaller schools as well to say, "Hey, look, if this team did it and they succeeded, why don't we give it a shot, too?"
Yeah, just to, you know, to your point here.
This is a North Dakota State team that has, I think, top two or three odds to win the Mountain West.
This is a team who's gonna be, you know, playing some real games this year.
And I, and I, when I say I'm not belittling what they did at the FC- When I, when I say real games, I mean, like, I think the Mountain West is gonna be in the mix for that final G5 spot.
Um- I do, too.
So that's what, like I, like I, I think we will still talk a little North Dakota when we're into the meat of the college- Of course football season, you know?
Yes.
And I, I think it's awesome that they're on their way up.
I think it's awesome that they're home for this game.
And I kind of, you know, when I was breaking this thing down, Craig, basically said, like, there's no way I'm not backing this team in this spot.
Yeah.
Like, I think this means a lot to them.
I really, really do.
I agree.
I'm not saying it doesn't to- I agree Jacksonville State.
Now I, I think that Jacksonville State are, like, a little tough to get a great read on here.
The defense is supposed to be awesome.
Not, like, super into the offensive side of the ball.
But I kind of, when I narrowed it down and, you know, said to myself that I, I do like North Dakota State here, and I'm in between the two.
Because now that they're six and a halfs popping, I may just lay the number as opposed to the team total.
But I am very interested in playing the team total over for the Bison, because we're obviously getting a number that adjusts the setting.
I know there's a ton of teams that they play at the FCS level that are nowhere near as good as them, so they can drill them.
But there's some continuity here, right?
Like, it's not like this is a, oh, new coach, new Like, yes, some people are go- you know, gone to the NFL, but, like, there's some continuity here.
This is a team that's averaged 34 points per game minimum in each of the last five seasons.
You can get a 26 and a half win total.
At 27, you're a touchdown under this team's normal output as a very proud program.
They were 41 points per game last year- Wow is what this school averaged.
So I may, I may split the bet, do 26 and a half and minus six and a half, but I think Craig's sentiment is spot on.
This is a North Dakota State spot here on a Saturday, no doubt.
