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North Dakota State

Bison · Mountain West

Head coach Tim Polasek Year 1 with North Dakota State

Year-1 HCs (2015-2024) averaged -0.19 W vs. preseason expectation

Season Projection · 2026 W2

10,000 sims
8.0
Expected wins
8-4
Proj record
5 to 11
Win range (90%)
#62 (40–87)
Final rank (90%)
0%
Make playoff
31%
Win conference

Path to Glory

Tap a win or a loss on each pivotal game to see how the playoff probability shifts. Leave any game unset to average across both outcomes.

Make the playoff

0%

Baseline projection.

  • vs Fordham
    Home · Sep 5
  • vs Fordham
    Home · Sep 5
  • vs Fordham
    Home · Sep 5
  • vs Fordham
    Home · Sep 5
  • vs Fordham
    Home · Sep 5

Pivotal games are the 5 with the largest playoff-probability swing, ranked by the model. Math: chained Bayesian log-odds update from the conditional simulation set; gets the directionally right answer but won't perfectly capture cross-game correlations until the full Monte Carlo pipeline lands.

Returning production · 2026

46 score
  • Quarterback 12% (4/5 )
  • Offensive line 78% (14/18 players)
  • Skill (RB/WR/TE) 35% (25/36 )
  • Front 7 (DL/LB) 67% (27/38 )
  • Secondary 63% (16/21 )
  • Special teams 71% (2/5 )

Share of last season's production each unit returns. Higher means more continuity: 70%+ is healthy, 45–70% a normal rebuild, under 45% a major turnover.

Portal additions · 2026

-1.4 rating

8 proven transfers in, carrying the production below from their prior school.

  • Nyeoti Punni RB ← Holy Cross 31 impact
  • Keith Williams Jr. LB ← Cornell 16 impact
  • Kene Anene OL ← Kansas
  • Jordan McCants WR ← West Virginia
  • Jeremiah Patterson WR ← Arizona
  • Truman Griffith DE ← Kansas State

Impact scores offensive skill additions (QB/RB/WR/TE) — prior-season production normalized within position (100 ≈ a 90th-percentile producer at that spot) and discounted for non-FBS competition, so a top back counts alongside a top quarterback. Defensive and O-line additions count as transfers but aren't box-score measurable, so they carry no impact score. The rating figure is this class's portal contribution vs. the FBS average, capped at ±2.5.

Situational efficiency · 2025

FBS percentile rank
  • 3rd-down conversion 48.5% 98th — elite
  • Red-zone TD rate 17.6% 76th — strong
  • 4th-down aggression 44.0% 83th — strong
  • Late & close 3.0 yds/play 15th — bottom tier

Percentile is across all FBS teams with play-by-play data for the season. "Late & close" is yards per play in Q4+ with a one-score margin — a proxy for clutch offensive performance.

Schedule

Full 2026 slate. Tap a row for the matchup breakdown.

Latest Stories

  • Recap

    North Dakota State: 2025 Week 16 recap

    North Dakota State's 12–1 regular season came to an abrupt halt in Week 15 with a one-point home loss to Illinois State, a result that fundamentally reshapes their postseason picture. The Bison had built one of the nation's strongest…

More coming

Per-team pages get the full treatment in Phase 3: current rating, season projection histogram, schedule with win probabilities, and live overlays on Pylon stream days. For now, this page exists so stories and news have a permanent home as content rolls in.