After winning its first FCS playoff game in program history, football will travel to North Dakota State University to take on the No.4 ranked Bison in the second round of the playoffs.

The first-round win over Northern Arizona University came on the back of the defense which posted a shutout for the first time since 2021, holding the Lumberjacks to just 194 yards on offense. 

The second round game will feature the Bison’s No. 3 scoring offense as the team is scoring over 38 points per game. The team’s defense ranks eighth in the FCS, allowing just over 17 points per game to opponents. 

“They’re just typical North Dakota State,” said head coach Keith Patterson. “They play the game the way it’s supposed to be played. They’re big, physical, sound fundamentally and above all else, they protect the ball on offense and take it away on defense.”

Turnovers have been a key factor in NSDU’s success this season. Going into the second round of the playoffs, the team has a +17 turnover differential after turning the ball over just three times all season.

The Wildcats will look to build on their defensive success last week. They held the No. 23 ranked rushing offense to just 29 rushing yards, a season-low for both the Wildcats defense and the Lumberjacks offense. It was only the third time the Lumberjacks were held under 100 yards after rushing for 89 yards against Arizona University and 85 yards against Sacramento State University. 

They will face a dynamic Bison backfield on Saturday. NDSU Running back CharMar Brown has amassed 965 yards and 14 touchdowns on 189 carries this season, boasting 5.1 yards per carry while quarterback Cam Miller has rushed for 370 yards and seven touchdowns while throwing for 195 yards per game and 23 touchdowns. 

The Wildcats will hope to have quarterback Maverick McIvor back under center after missing last week’s victory with an undisclosed injury. He is averaging over 300 passing yards per game and has thrown 29 touchdowns and only five interceptions this season. 

With their star signal-caller out last week, the offense relied more on the running game offensively. Running back Sam Hicks had his fourth 100-yard rushing game in the last six weeks, rushing for 174 yards and a touchdown on 22 carries. He also added 64 receiving yards on five receptions. 

The Wildcats will need to take care of the ball on Saturday after turning it over three times last week. 

“The ball has got to be a priority,” Patterson said. “You can’t put it in jeopardy offensively and we need to take it away defensively.”

Patterson also said that having a multi-turnover game defensively “would be huge in a game like this.” 

A key stat for Patterson this season has come on third downs. The Wildcats are converting on third downs 47% of the time which ranks second in the FCS while the Bison defense allows opponents to convert just 44% of the time. The matchup for the Wildcat defense will be tough as they enter the game allowing opponents to convert 37% of third downs and the Bison enter the game converting 56% of their third downs offensively.

“We’ve got to be physical up front and do a nice job of stopping the run,” Patterson said.