Bison Road Trip

A few weeks ago, after overpowering the team from Georgia Southern, the NDSU Bison won the chance to play in their first championship football game since moving up to Division 1 FCS a few years ago. The location for the FCS championship game changes every couple years, and this year's game was to be held in Frisco, Texas. Frisco is almost 1100 miles from Fargo and almost 700 miles from Des Moines. My college roommate (Andrew) and I decided we were going to road-trip down for this amazing opportunity despite the incredibly long distance. Andrew left early in the morning from Fargo, drove south through North Dakota, South Dakota, western Iowa, and into Omaha, Nebraska where I met up with him. From Omaha, our route took us through Nebraska, Kansas, and Oklahoma. Most if the drive (at least the parts we saw in the daylight) looked like this:

 

We arrived at our hotel just outside of Frisco around 10pm. The long, flat, godforsaken drive was absolutely worth it in the end. The stadium where they held the game is actually a soccer stadium that was built when the US was hosting the World Cup awhile back.

 

The Bison were facing Sam Houston State Bearkats (Seriously. That's how they spell it. Not my fault. Illiterate Texans.) Their offense was ranked first in the nation in scoring, and their defense was ranked 2nd--behind the Bison defense. After a dismal first half for both teams, the second half of play got things rolling for NDSU and they put a couple touchdowns on the board including this one on a QB sneak by Brock Jensen.

 

The Bearkitties' "top-ranked" offense was squashed and pummeled all game by NDSU's defense. Their team only scored twice--two field goals in the first half of the game. As time ran down in the fourth quarter, NDSU's secondary stepped up with two great interceptions to lock up the 17-6 win for the Bison. As soon as the final whistle marked the end of the game many of the 10,000+ Bison fans in attendance rushed down onto the field to celebrate and congratulate the team and watch the trophy presentation ceremony.

 





North Dakota really did invade Texas that weekend. The crowd at the game (just over 20,000 people) was split pretty evenly between NDSU and SHS fans. The biggest difference is that those Bison fans had to travel a lot farther than the Bearkat fans (who only had to go about 200 miles).

 







As the Gold Star Band played NDSU's fight song at the end of the trophy ceremony, Senior Safety John Pike (who had one of those two interceptions to close out the game) took over as acting director of the band. A new career for Pike maybe?

 

The drive to Texas, early morning tailgating, the actual game, and the long drive back home were all part of an awesome weekend adventure. Here's to hoping the Bison can work their way to the championship again next season!