Head coach: Tim Polasek, 1st season

2023 season: 11-4, 5-3 Missouri Valley; reached FCS semifinals

Series with CU: First meeting

The Game

Who: NDSU Bison at Colorado Buffaloes

When: Thursday, Aug. 29, 6 p.m. (TV: ESPN)

Where: Folsom Field in Boulder

5 guys to watch

DE Dylan Hendricks: Had a breakout season in 2023, earning first-team all-conference honors. He finished second on the team in tackles for loss (10.5) and sacks (6.5). He’s the top returner in both of those categories. He also had 40 tackles and three pass breakups.

LB Logan Kopp: Earned first-team all-conference honors last season. He was second on the team in tackles with 85. He also had 7.5 tackles for loss, 3.5 sacks, three interceptions, four pass breakups, three QB hurries and two forced fumbles.

QB Cam Miller: Back for a fifth season, Miller has started 38 consecutive games for the Bison. He’s coming off the best year of his career, posting personal bests in completions (208), attempts (289), completion percentage (.720), passing yards (2,688), touchdown passes (19) and rushing yards (629). He also ran for 13 touchdowns and threw only four interceptions.

QB Cole Payton: Although he is NDSU’s backup quarterback, he’s also one of the top rushers on the team and sometimes used like New Orleans Saints quarterback/utility player Taysom Hill. Last year, he threw for 289 yards and three touchdowns, while also ranking third on the team with 615 rushing yards and tying Miller for the team lead with 13 rushing touchdowns.

S Cole Wisniewski: Back for a bonus year because of the COVID pandemic, Wisniewski was a consensus FCS first-team All-American last year and first-team all-conference performer. He led all Division I players (FBS and FCS) with eight interceptions and also led the Bison with 92 tackles, while adding five pass breakups and two tackles for loss.

Good to know

• Head coach Tim Polasek was the offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach at Wyoming the past three seasons. Prior to that, he was the offensive line coach at Iowa for four years (2017-2020). From 2006-16, he was on the NDSU staff for 10 of 11 seasons (all but 2013). He’s coached running backs, tight ends and fullbacks and was the NDSU offensive coordinator from 2014-16.

• Former head coach Matt Entz left NDSU after last season to become the assistant head coach for defense and linebackers coach at USC.

• Jake Landry will be the offensive coordinator. He was the offensive coordinator at St. Thomas the previous two seasons and coached quarterbacks at Temple in 2021.

• Linebackers coach Grant Olson and defensive tackles coach Nick Goeser will share coordinator duties on defense. Olson, an NDSU alum, has coached NDSU linebackers the past five years. Goeser has been on the Bison staff since 2010 as defensive tackles coach (as well as four years as special teams coordinator).

• NDSU is 9-4 all-time against FBS teams, including a six-game winning streak from 2010-16. The Bison have played just one FBS opponent since 2016, however, losing at Arizona, 31-28, on Sept. 17, 2022.

• Fullback Hunter Brozio doesn’t put up a lot of numbers on the stat sheet, but he’s a key part of what NDSU does. He was first-team all-conference as a fullback and long snapper in 2023 and was second team as a long snapper in 2022. He’s carried the ball just once in his career but caught nine passes for 43 yards and a touchdown last year.

• A star throughout his career, defensive tackle Eli Mostaert was first-team all-conference last year after posting 37 tackles, four tackles for loss, an interception and five QB hurries. He missed most of 2022 with a broken leg but was all-conference honorable mention in 2020 and 2021.

• Kicker Griffin Crosa and punter Kaedin Steindorf are both back for the Bison. Crosa made 19 of 22 field goals last year, with a long of 44 yards. He was also 70-of-71 on extra points. Steindorf averaged 43.7 yards per punt and landed 12 inside the 20-yard line.

Portal movement

It’s been a very quiet transfer portal offseason for North Dakota State, although a couple of key players have left the program. Receiver Eli Green, who led NDSU with 877 receiving yards last year, has transferred to Iowa State. And Javier Derritt, a 15-game starter on the defensive line, is now at Kansas. NDSU also lost backup defensive end Matthew Weerts to the portal. The only transfer addition for the Bison is cornerback Anthony Chideme-Alfaro (from Cornell), who should compete for a starting job.