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No. 1 seed Montana State (15-0) and No. 2 seed North Dakota State (13-2) will battle for the FCS Championship tonight at 7 p.m. in Frisco, Texas. After this game, the FCS Championship is scheduled to move to Nashville for the 2025 and 2026 seasons.
The Bobcats and Bison won their respective semifinal matches on December 21 so it's been 16 days since either played a game.
Montana State is a 3.5-point favorite on FanDuel.com this morning, which is unchanged from when the line opened after the semifinal matches.
SEE: Odds, Computer picks, Scores
The game occurs two weeks before the FBS Championship game which awaits the winners of this week's College Football Playoff semifinal games on Thursday and Friday.
Montana State took care of business against 4-seed South Dakota with a 31-17 win at home in one semifinal game, and North Dakota State scored a 28-21 win over rival South Dakota State, the No. 3 seed, in the Fargodome. The loss ended the Jackrabbits' run at a National Championship 3-peat.
Three of the final four four teams were from the Missouri Valley Football Conference while Montana State is a member of the Big Sky Conference.
Montana State features the winner of the 2024 Walter Payton Award, quarterback Tommy Mellott. The award is the equivalent of the Heisman Trophy for FCS players. Mellott edged-out North Dakota State quarterback Cam Miller by a slim margin.
Name, School, 1st-2nd-3rd-4th-5th-Total
Tommy Mellott, Montana State: 16-12-3-4-2-147
Cam Miller, North Dakota State: 14-8-8-2-1-131
Mellott leads the nation in passing efficiency and points responsible for, while completing 68.8 percent of his passes (190-276, 2,564 yards) with 29 touchdowns and only two interceptions. He's also added 915 rushing yards and 14 touchdowns on the ground for the Bobcats who are the only defeated team out of 263 playing at the Division 1 level (134 FBS, 129 FCS).
Miller ranks second nationally in completion percentage (72.6), pass efficiency (179.2) and total touchdowns (41).
Mellott collected the FCS ADA Offensive Player of the Year Award and the Walter Camp FCS Player of the Year Award this week, and Vigen will be presented the 2024 Eddie Robinson FCS Coach of the Year Award at that event, as well. (Source Link).
Montana State's offensive line helped produce the nation's second-leading ground game while surrendering the fifth-fewest sacks in the FCS. MSU ranks sixth in the FCS in scoring defense (17.1 points allowed per game), 12th in total defense (306.0 yards allowed per game) and 17th in rushing defense (115.6).
The Bison defense remains stout. NDSU is 10th in the FCS in scoring defense (17.7 points a game allowed) and 18th in total defense (316.3 yards a game allowed).
On offense, NDSU boats tJerry Rice Award-winner (top FCS freshman), CharMar Brown, who has averaged 73.6 yards rushing. Meanwhile, Bryce Lance, younger brother of former QB Trey Lance, has 964 receiving yards and an FCS-best 16 touchdown catches. Trey, of course, just finished his fifth season in the NFL.
This is the second appearance for Montana State in the championship game since Brent Vigen became head coach for the 2021 season. The Bobcats lost that title game, 38-10, to the same opponent they face this year. Vigen played his college ball for the enemy as a tight end from 1993-1997. And upon graduation, he was an assistant with the Bison from 1998-2013. He then spent 7 years at Wyoming before he began his head coaching career in Bozeman where he is now 47-9 in four seasons, including a stellar 29-3 in Big Sky games. He replaced Jeff Choate who left after 5 seasons to become the co-DC at Texas.
Montana State is looking to capture its first national title since 1984 when the Bobcats defeated Louisiana Tech in Charleston South Carolina in just the 7th championship game since D1 split into two divisions.
North Dakota State captured 9 titles between 2011 and 2021. The 2022 title game loss to South Dakota State is the only time the Bison played for the trophy and didn't win it.
Montana State is 21-17 all-time vs. North Dakota State, but they hadn't met for 25 years before they faced-off in the 2005 season. Montana State won that year in a regular season game, but the Bison have won the last five, all in playoff games between 2010 and 2023.
Saturday, December 21
(3) South Dakota State at (2) North Dakota State. NDSU won 28-21.
(4) South Dakota at (1) Montana State. Montana State won 31-17.
Home team on bottom
| 12/7 | 12/14 | 12/21 | C'ship (Frisco) (1/6, 7 PM) |
|---|---|---|---|
| UT-Martin 17 1 Montana St. 49 |
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| 8 Idaho 19 1 Montana St. 52 |
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| Lehigh 13 8 Idaho 34 |
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| 4 So. Dakota 17 1 Montana St. 31 |
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| 12 Illinois St. 10 5 UC Davis 42 |
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| 5 UC Davis 21 4 So. Dakota 35 |
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| 13 Tarleton 31 4 So. Dakota 42 |
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| 1 Montana St. 2 NDSU |
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| 14 Montana 18 3 SDSU 35 |
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| 6 UIW 14 3 SDSU 55 |
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| 11 Villanova 6 6 UIW 13 |
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| 3 SDSU 21 2 NDSU 28 |
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| 10 URI 10 7 Mercer 17 |
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| 7 Mercer 7 2 NDSU 31 |
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| 15 ACU 31 2 NDSU 51 |
Friday. December 13
(8) Idaho at (1) Montana State. Montana State won 52-19
Saturday, December 14
(6) UIW at (3) SDSU. South Dakota State won 55-14
(5) UC Davis at (4) South Dakota. South Dakota won 35-21.
(7) Mercer at (2) NDSU. North Dakota State won 31-7.
All games December 7
Home Team in CAPS
Winner in BOLD
(14) Montana (9-5) 18, (3) SOUTH DAKOTA STATE (11-2) 35
(11) Villanova (10-4) 6, (6) UIW (11-2) 13
(10) Rhode Island (11-3) 10, (7) MERCER (11-2) 17
UT Martin (9-5) 17, (1) MONTANA STATE (13-0) 49
(13) Tarleton (10-4) 31, (4) SOUTH DAKOTA (10-2) 42
(15) Abilene Christian (9-5) 31, (2) NORTH DAKOTA STATE (11-2) 51
(12) Illinois State (10-3), (5) UC DAVIS (11-2) 42
Lehigh (9-4) 13, (8) IDAHO (10-3) 34
All games November 30
Home Team in CAPS
Winner in BOLD
UT Martin (9-4) 41, (16) NEW HAMPSHIRE (8-5) 10
Lehigh (9-3) 20, (9) RICHMOND (10-3) 16
(12) Illinois State (10-3) 35, SEMO (9-4), 27
Drake (8-3) 29, (13) TARLETON (10-3) 43
Tennessee State (9-4) 27, (14) MONTANA (9-4) 41
Eastern Kentucky (8-5) 17, (11) VILLANOVA (10-3) 22
CCSU (7-6) 17, (10) RHODE ISLAND (11-2) 21
Northern Arizona (8-5) 0, (15) ABILENE CHRISTIAN (9-4) 24
MONTANA STATE - Won 15 straight overall. Won 6 straight road games. Won 8 straight conference games (tied with UIW, Richmond, and Jackson State).
Last: No.1 seed won 31-17 at home over #4 seed South Dakota in an FCS Semifinal game on Saturday, December 21.
Next: Will play No. 2 seed North Dakota State for the National Championship on Monday January 6 in Frisco, Texas.
SOUTH DAKOTA STATE - 28-game home winning streak.
Last: No. 3 seed lost 28-21 at No. 2 seed North Dakota State on Saturday, December 21.
Next: Season complete.
NW STATE - Lost 20 straight over-all. Lost 10 straight home games (tied with Northern Colorado)
Last: Lost 62-24 at Houston Christian on Saturday, November 23.
Next: Season complete.
NORTHERN COLORADO - Lost 10 straight at home (tied with NW State, LA).
Last: Lost 45-13 at Portland State on Saturday, November 23.
Next: Season complete.
NORTH CAROLINA A&T - Lost 16 straight conference games.
Last: Lost 31-21 at home to Elon on Saturday, November 23.
Next: Season complete.
MURRAY STATE - Lost 18 straight road games. Lost 15 straight conference games (second to NC A&T).
Last: Lost 62-0 at Southern Illinois on Saturday, November 23.
Next: Season complete.
FBS schools were 115-6 in FBS-FCS games this season, and are a cumulative 1,915-158 (.924) since we began tracking this in 2003.
In 2024, there were 121 matchups scheduled between FBS and FCS schools with 119 playing one such game, while Hawaii and UMass each play two.
15 schools were not scheduled to play a FCS opponent. Of those fifteen schools, 5 are in the B1G (Michigan, Ohio State, Penn State, USC and UCLA). Texas is the only school in the SEC that will not play a FCS program. The same is true for Virginia Tech in the ACC. In fact, Texas and Virginia Tech, along with Michigan and Houston, were repeats from the list of schools in 2023 that played all FBS programs.
2024 FCS wins vs. FBS:
August 24: Montana State 35, New Mexico 31
September 7: St. Francis (PA) 23, Kent State 17
September 7: Idaho 17, Wyoming 13
September 7: Southern Utah 27, UTEP 24 (OT)
September 21: Monmouth 45, FIU 42
September 28: UT-Martin 24, Kennesaw 13
In 2023, FBS schools were 114-4. These were the FCS wins last year:
September 9: Idaho 33, Nevada 6
September 9: Southern Illinois 14, Northern Illinois 12
September 9: Fordham 40, Buffalo 37
September 16: Sacramento State 30, Stanford 23