Bison Game Day October 15 2022

It will be a toss up between the FCS powerhouses A depleted roster filled with injuries for the Bison gives them a disadvantage in this matchup SDSU 21, NDSU 18

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Thinking about a new JOB?

Bison safety Dom Jones playing ‘all over the place’ for NDSU defense

By Jeff Kolpack and Eric Peterson The Forum Fargo

North Dakota State junior Dom Jones is listed as a safety on the Bison football roster, but that only accounts for part of his job description this season.

He has played free safety, outside linebacker and slot corner for NDSU. The 6-foot-3, 197-pound Jones is on board with the variety.

“It’s different from what I’m definitely used to, but I feel that I could make any play on the field, with my athletic ability, my speed, my length, that is why I have to make any play,” said Jones, who is from Duluth, Ga. “That just puts me that much closer to the ball and that helps the defense out a lot.”

Jones could be a key defensive piece against South Dakota State at 2:30 p.m. Saturday, Oct. 15, at Gate City Bank Field. The Missouri Valley Football Conference clash features the top two teams in NCAA Division I FCS football.

“He is all over the place,” Bison head coach Matt Entz said. “He’s too good to stand on the sideline so we’re trying to utilize him as a little bit of a slot area defender in some nickel situations. He’s still playing safety at different times.”

Jones has 15 tackles, including four in each of the past two games. He also had a fumble recovery against the University of South Dakota three games ago.

Jones said he’s getting more comfortable playing as a slot defender or outside linebacker, compared to his more familiar position at safety.

“I know as far as the secondary and the second level, the second level the plays get up on you that much more quickly and you’ve

got to register and digest plays that much faster,” Jones said.

“The game is starting to slow down for me. I want to get on the field, it doesn’t matter where I’m at. It was just another opportunity for me to make plays.”

The Bison defense is allowing 17.5 points and 148.7 rushing yards per game through six games. SDSU running back Isaiah Davis is averaging more than 100 rushing yards per game with 626 yards and five touchdowns on 116 attempts.

“I feel like we’re in a good space as far as knowing what we can do and knowing how we can affect the offense. I feel like we can always tackle better, we can take the ball away a little bit more,” Jones said.

Jones said he’s ready for the Fargodome atmosphere for a rivalry game that is being played for the Dakota Marker.

“I feel at the end of the day, we’re all playing football,” Jones said. “We’re just playing a kids sport. That’s how I simplify things. …I trust the guys around me.”

Fond du Lac, Wis. In his 52nd year as the head coach, Hyland took the St. Mary’s Springs job right out of college in 1971 and is the second active winningest high school coach in the country.

“Just not only in the number of games he’s won — 14 state championships — but in the thousands and thousands of young men and women he’s positively influenced over his career,” Entz said.

NDSU sent Hyland, whose grandson Isaac Hyland is a freshman defensive back for the Bison, a video lauding the accomplishment after Springs defeated Lomira 35-7 to improve to 8-0. Isaac’s father is former Bison quarterback Rob Hyland.

“I just think anytime we can acknowledge success like that we need to,” Entz said. “Congrats to him and congrats to his family because as you know it takes a village to operate a team at times.”

SDSU coach: Jacks vs. Bison best rivalry in FCS

Dakota Marker was born.

The Bison have a 10-8 lead in Marker games. Postseason games do not count toward possession of the trophy, a replica of the original quartzite monuments that were placed at half-mile intervals along the state border beginning in 1891. Some are still there.

“Yes the trophy, yes the location of where we’re at and the type of schools we both are, our identities,” Stiegelmeier said. “But in terms of its

evolution, we took a contingency of people up to the border, we went to a farm, we looked at a real marker that was still in the ground and we symbolically said, hey, we’re in this together.” NDSU won eight of its 17 national championships in the pre-Division I days. The Bison routinely owned the Jacks in their matchups. But the rivalry was born not only by the marker, but the fact SDSU has risen the profile of its program to FCS national standards.

“No matter how much we dislike each other or how strong the rivalry was at that point,” the veteran Jacks coach said, “we needed each other and it’s evolved. How many times has it been two teams in the top 10? It’s been unbelievable and our program has benefited from it and I think theirs has also. It’s a fun, fun rivalry.” Etc, etc, etc

► SDSU has won the past two meetings in the series, including a 27-19 victory in Brookings last September. The Bison have a 10-8 series edge in game played for the Dakota Marker since 2004. NDSU has a 63-44-5 edge in the overall series that dates back to 1903.

► Will Mostaert was named Missouri Valley Football Conference special teams player of the week after blocking a 30-yard field goal attempt against Indiana State last weekend.

► SDSU has the most Division I wins at Gate City Bank Field at the Fargodome with three in 2008, 2016 and the spring of 2021. Youngstown State (2009, ‘11) and Western Illinois (2008, ‘10) are the only other FCS teams with more than one win in the dome.

► NDSU and SDSU joined the Missouri Valley in 2008. Since that time, the Jacks are the only team to not have a losing season in conference play.

gives shout out for milestone win

Entz

Entz began his weekly press conference this week with a congratulatory message to former NDSU player Bob Hyland, who recorded his 500th career win at St. Mary’s Springs High School in

Maybe it’s because John Stiegelmeier has a vested interest in SDSU vs. NDSU, a game that was not much of a contest in the Division II days but has become a heated rivalry since the day both made the transition to a Division I schedule starting in 2004. That’s when the

North Dakota State head coach Matt Entz, shown in a file photo celebrating during a Bison game, sent congratulations to former Bison player and longtime high school coach Bob Hyland at his press conference earlier this week.

Photos by David Samson / The Forum

North Dakota State safety Dom Jones (10) has been a versatile defender for the Bison defense this season.

IT’S BOOM TIME Athletic facilities on the NDSU campus come into focus

By Jeff Kolpack The Forum Fargo

The site of cranes, heavy equipment, dirt piles, stacks of construction materials and orange signs on the North Dakota State campus the last few years have been as common as students wearing backpacks. No corner is safe from a detour.

One of the most visible to the thousands of cars driving south on North University Drive is the Nodak Insurance Football Performance Complex, with its main phase having a grand opening this weekend. The main event for the Bison football team is Saturday’s 2:30 p.m. Dakota Marker game against South Dakota State at Gate City Bank Field at the Fargodome.

But make no mistake, the practice facility is a big piece of the glory days of building projects at NDSU.

Michael Ellingson, the director of facilities management at the university, said the last time the campus saw this magnitude of projects was probably in the 1960s.

The indoor football facility when Phase 2 is completed next spring is expected to exceed $50 million. Recently completed Sugihara Hall was $51.2 million. The agriculture-focused Peltier Complex that just broke ground is pegged at $85 million.

In all, Ellingson puts the ballpark figure of current projects just short of $200 million. The university’s “In Our Hands” campaign that raised $586 million contributed millions to the academic buildings. In the case of the football facility, all funds were privately raised.

“With the generosity that we as a campus have been able to get, we’re able to show results with it,” Ellingson said. “The indoor facility is going to show results not only for recruiting but for the athletes. All of the athletic programs can use that facility.”

Although never really finished, the addition of the indoor practice space, the renovation of the outdoor track and field complex, improvements to Dacotah Field for soccer and an indoor softball facility in its design stage means NDSU is at least in the late innings

of its overall athletic facility master plan.

Former NDSU athletic director Gene Taylor was in charge when the Sanford Health Athletic Complex began its renovation quest for basketball, wrestling and golf and Bentson Bunker Fieldhouse got a facelift for volleyball. But current athletic director Matt Larsen has been at the top chair for major facility improvements for football, track and field, soccer and softball.

What’s left? Good question.

City leaders have long talked

about a renovation or addition, or both, to the Fargodome. But that would be a city project and not a university issue.

The new indoor practice facility replaces the bubble over Dacotah Field that had to be put up late in the fall and taken down once the weather cleared in the spring. Nobody associated with the program is going to miss the portable nature of that facility, which had its issues the last few years.

FACILITIES: Page AA5

Mike McFeely / The Forum

The Phase 1 portion of the Nodak Insurance Football Performance Complex is being dedicated this weekend.

Entz was a first-year assistant coach when the Bison first got the bubble in 2014, something that former head coach Craig Bohl pushed for years only to see it come to fruition after he left for Wyoming.

“The bubble served its purpose and it was unbelievable for eight, nine years,” Entz said. “Believe me, we used the heck out of it. I think every sport did. But this is going to be on a whole different level when you compare it to the bubble. I think this has been done with a lot of class and we talk about it all the time at NDSU. One of the unique things about our university is we do it the right way.”

NDSU joins SDSU, North Dakota and Youngstown State in the Missouri Valley Football Conference as schools with permanent indoor practice structures. Illinois State started construction on an indoor bubble last month.

The University of South Dakota has the DakotaDome and Northern Iowa the UNI-Dome that both can use for practice. Last week, UNI announced plans for a $50 million upgrade over three different phases to the UNI-Dome, which opened in 1976. USD recently completed a renovation to the DakotaDome.

Entz, who turned 50 years old last Sunday, has been to a number of indoor practice facilities in his career and compares NDSU’s to the University of Iowa.

“It’s going to be in the same conversation as a lot of those facilities,” he said.

SDSU head coach John Stiegelmeier said this week building the indoor facility at SDSU was more important than the new Dana J. Dykhouse Stadium for games. The Jackrabbits opened the $32 million Sanford-Jackrabbit Athletic Complex in 2014 and the $65 million stadium was finished in 2016.

“I think there are so many things that it says,” Stiegelmeier said.

“It’s a must (in the Midwest) if you want to have a championship program but it not only says to your players and recruits but also your supporters: We’re committed to football. We’re committed to doing what we can for this program and in North Dakota State’s case give them what they need to win a national championship or make it easier to

win a national championship.”

At SDSU, Stiegelmeier says walking into his indoor facility never gets old.

“Because it’s a 365-day piece,” Entz said of the value of indoor practice. “That’s where a lot of development goes on in the offseason.”

Gone since the bubble was built are the days when spring practice

was sometimes interrupted with an April snowstorm. Gone is the thought of pushing the start of spring practice back as far as possible.

“When you live in the Upper Midwest, we all know Mother Nature is good for a spring snowstorm here in Fargo,” Entz said. “I can remember two years ago our fingers were crossed that the bubble wasn’t going to come down with a wet, heavy snow. Now we’ll have a facility that’s going to be there when we need it.”

Phase 2 that includes a weight room, locker room, equipment room, meeting rooms, recruiting lounge overlooking the practice field and sports medicine facilities is expected to be completed next spring. It’s currently under construction on the west side of the field facility.

“It will add not only to the recruiting but also to our current roster and the preparation and development that they have,” Entz said. “We have 400-andsome student-athletes to be able to spread us out over multiple facilities and we’ll all see the benefit of that.”

Some of those 400 athletes, football players, have been peeking through the windows in the last couple of weeks. They’re like homeowners waiting to get the keys to their new house.

“It looks sweet,” said senior linebacker James Kaczor. “I wish they would have done it like three years earlier but to have it even for just a little bit at the end of my career is pretty cool.”

Senior fullback Hunter Luepke did one better than Kaczor in the preview department. He walked into the indoor building and looked around.

“It’s spectacular,” he said. “That thing is massive. It’s really something special and I know everyone in the locker room is blessed to have that. It looks bigger than the average football field but it’s really sweet.”

Readers can reach Forum reporter Jeff Kolpack at jkolpack@forumcomm.com. Twitter@ KolpackInForum

Jeff Kolpack / The Forum

Phase 2 on the west side of the Nodak Insurance Football Performance Complex is expected to be completed next spring.

Jeff Kolpack / The Forum

North Dakota State has been practicing on the outdoor portion of the Nodak Insurance Football Performance Complex since August.