Presents
BISON GAME DAY SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 11, 2023
NORTH DAKOTA STATE
►When: 2:30 p.m., at Gate City Bank Field at the Fargodome ►TV: WDAY (ABC)
$3.00 (Suggested retail price) Copyright 2023 The Forum
SOUTHERN ILLINOIS
►Radio: 1660-AM, 107.9-FM
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Photos by David Samson / The Forum
North Dakota State University quarterback Cam Miller, center, will return next season but several players are undecided on using a pandemic eligibility year.
ADD ‘ROSTER MANAGEMENT’ TO COLLEGE FOOTBALL DICTIONARY North Dakota State has 35 seniors on roster but not all will leave program after this season BY JEFF KOLPACK The Forum FARGO he week of practice for North Dakota State before its final regular season home game includes a series of speeches from departing senior players. That number has varied over the years, but usually ranges from 15 to 20. The Bison this year count 35 seniors on their roster, but that doesn’t mean there will be 35 speeches after practice this week. A new term has emerged in the last couple of years from the COVID-19 pandemic eligibility year and the emergence of the NCAA transfer portal: Roster management. Add that to the duties of a head coach, who before the pandemic mainly had to decide who was going to redshirt and who was not. “When I took the job in December of 2018, I don’t even know if the transfer portal existed at the time,” said NDSU head coach Matt Entz. “It has been unique. That extra year has enabled some kids and maybe encouraged some kids to go do something different. I think when kids leave it’s not a reflection on our program. Most of them who leave have a degree and won a ton of football games. I think they’re looking for something different.” Defined, roster management is a term mainly associated with handling employee shifts and hours. “Managing a roster or a shift includes a list of employees, their location, job roles, responsibilities, and timings for the period,” according to the human resources website Keka. “It is important to automate the process as it helps assign employees
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North Dakota State University offensive guard Jake Kubas, left, said returning for his sixth year was a rewarding experience. effortlessly.” In this case, NDSU’s football employees who redshirted in 2019 have the option to use the pandemic year for 2024. A player who came to the program in 2018 would not unless there was a medical hardship reason. This much is known: 13 seniors have confirmed Saturday’s 2:30 p.m. game against Southern Illinois will be their last regular season appearance at Gate City Bank Field at the Fargodome: Receivers Jake Lippe, Zach Mathis and Giancarlo Volpentesta; linebackers Julian Wlodarczyk, Dylan Taves and Cade Powers; offensive linemen Jalen Sundell and Jake Kubas; running back TaMerik Williams; cornerbacks Jayden Price and Jenaro Ocama; tight end Jacob Streit;
and defensive end Jake Kava. For Kubas, the annual Senior Day will end a Bison family lineage that started with his father Monte Kubas, a defensive lineman at NDSU from 1991-94, and his brother Zach, an offensive lineman during Jake’s first two years. “I’m sure it was a big day for both of them as well when their careers came to an end,” Jake said. “I think they’ll want me to experience it the way I’ll experience it, to have my own Senior Day.” It was about this time last year when Kubas made it known he was using his sixth year to play another season. “I wouldn’t trade it for the world,” he said. “We’ve had our ups and downs this season
obviously but it’s been a very rewarding experience for me personally from a leadership standpoint and a personal development standpoint. It’s been a very rewarding fall thus far.” Lippe originally said he was coming back but those plans changed. “I think he was kind of on the fence a little bit,” Entz said. “We encouraged him to come back but he recently got engaged, wants to get into coaching and I think he saw this as, ‘You know, I’ve loved every minute of it, I have my degree, let me walk out of here feeling good about what I’ve accomplished and go dive into the next phase of my life.’ ”
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BISON NOTEBOOK
Alyssa Goelzer / The Forum
North Dakota State wide receiver Eli Green avoids Western Illinois’ Bradyn Smith on Saturday, Oct. 21, 2023, at the Fargodome.
NDSU RECEIVER ELI GREEN GROWING CONNECTION WITH QB MILLER Bison sophomore Eli Green has 12 catches over the past four games BY ERIC PETERSON AND JEFF KOLPACK The Forum FARGO orth Dakota State sophomore Eli Green came into this season with six receptions in his redshirt freshman season, although he did show a spark of potential with a touchdown catch in the FCS national championship game. This year, he has emerged as one of the team’s top targets for quarterback Cam Miller. In his last four games, Green has 12 catches for 198 yards. “I feel our connection continues to build, game after game,” Green said. “I know we put in a lot of work in the offseason.” Green and the Bison host Southern Illinois at 2:30 p.m. Saturday in Missouri Valley Football Conference play at Gate City Bank Field at the Fargodome. The Bison and Salukis have identical 6-3 overall and 3-3 conference records with two games remaining in the regular season. NDSU — which closes the regular season with a game at Northern Iowa — could potentially need to win its last two games to earn a spot in the FCS playoffs. “We know that there’s no more second chances so we’re giving it all we got,” Green said. The 5-foot-11, 185-pound Green ranks second on the team with 22 catches for 375 yards, averaging 17 yards per reception. Senior receiver Zach Mathis leads the Bison with 37 receptions for 546 yards and five touchdowns. Green said he started to build a rapport with Miller near the end of last season. Green had a 44-yard touchdown catch during that national title game in which South Dakota State earned a 45-21 victory.
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North Dakota State offensive tackle Jalen Sundell. Miller leads the FCS with a .739 completion percentage through nine games this fall, with Green being one of his top targets. “Starting this year off I knew that (Miller) had faith that I’d be in the spot where I needed to be and he could count on me and I think each week it keeps growing more and more,” Green said. Green also has rushed for 80 yards on six attempts. The Bison are set to face a stingy Southern Illinois defense, which is limiting teams to 16.3 points per game. “We have to keep executing and building off what we’ve been doing all year,” Green said. “I like the scheme we have and executing that will get the job done.”
Sundell gets Shrine Game invite Bison senior left tackle Jalen Sundell will play in the EastWest Shrine Game, putting him in some elite company with former Bison players who have participated in the allstar game. The Feb. 1 game will be held at a familiar area for Sundell: the Ford Center in Frisco, Texas. The indoor practice venue for the Dallas Cowboys is also used by Frisco area high schools and seats 10,000. Other Bison players who were selected to the game include Green Bay Packers receiver Christian Watson, Cincinnati Bengals offensive guard Cordell Volson and Los Angeles Chargers quarterback Easton Stick. Other Bison players invited
David Samson / The Forum
to the game in recent years were offensive linemen Zack Johnson and Austin Kuhnert, tight end Ben Ellefson and defensive end Derek Tuszka. Sundell was named to the Senior Bowl “watch list” in August.
Payton’s QB run game has slowed Backup quarterback Cole Payton, NDSU’s leading rusher for the first half of the season, has seen that role diminish in the last three weeks. The junior had two carries in a win over Western Illinois, one attempt against Murray State and two carries for minus-6 yards last week against South Dakota State.
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NOTEBOOK CONTINUED from W4 The fact the Western Illinois and Murray State games were convincing wins probably led to less of a quarterback run game. SDSU taking a first half lead altered NDSU’s game plan last Saturday. “When we got down, we had to start throwing the football a little bit more than maybe we had envisioned,” said Bison head coach Matt Entz. “We had plenty of offense that was for Cole during the course of the game as long as the score allowed us to stay within the game plan.” Miller is considered the better throwing quarterback. Miller has also taken over as the team’s leading rusher with 481 yards on 83 attempts. Payton is now fourth on the team behind running backs Barika Kpeenu and TaMerik Williams.
Etc. Etc. Etc. • The Bison have an 11-4 edge in the series, including winning the past two meetings. The Bison earned a 21-18 victory against the Salukis in Carbondale last season. • It’s the 48th annual Harvest Bowl that dates back to 1974. NDSU is 43-2-2 in those games and has won 12 straight. • Southern Illinois has the No. 3 defense in the FCS, allowing 272.2 yards per game. The Salukis are third in rushing defense, limiting opponents to 83.3 yards per contest.
Tim Sanger / NDSU Athletics
North Dakota State quarterback Cole Payton rushes for a 20-yard touchdown in the second quarter against Missouri State on Saturday, Oct. 7, 2023, at Plaster Stadium in Springfield, Mo.
school is not obligated to “We’ll have an answer ROSTER after the season,” Eli said pay the scholarship for a MANAGEMENT last week. player returning for his whose plans are sixth year, but the Bison CONTINUED from W2 notPlayers have yet to not honor yet known are wide As for the other 22, it’s mainly a guessing game if they’ll return with the exception of five players who have publicly said they’re coming back in quarterback Cam Miller, kicker Griffin Crosa, linebacker Luke Weerts, tight end Joe Stoffel and offensive lineman Mason Miller. Defensive linemen Eli Mostaert and Will Mostaert haven’t committed to their future plans yet.
receivers Braylon Henderson and RaJa Nelson, cornerback Marcus Sheppard, running back TK Marshall, fullbacks Hunter Brozio and Logan Hofstedt, safeties Sam Jung and Cole Wisniewski, defensive tackle Javier Derritt, defensive end Dylan Hendricks, linebacker Nick Kubitz and offensive linemen Hunter Poncius, Grey Zabel, Jake Rock and Brandon Westberg. Entz said the door is open for all to return. The
that. Any player using the extra year of eligibility does not count toward the FCS maximum 63 scholarships so at least that eases any potential roster management issues. The year 2025 probably can’t come soon enough for head coaches. That’s when the pandemic year will cease to exist with the exception of special circumstances. “It would be nice to get back to a five-year model that we’re all probably
accustomed to,” Entz said. “But what is ‘accustomed to’ mean in college football anymore. Things have changed so dramatically in the last five years.” Last year, other factors figured into a player coming back to NDSU. Fullback Hunter Luepke entered the NFL Draft, was signed by the Dallas Cowboys as a free agent and made the roster. Tight end Noah Gindorff potentially could have returned for a seventh year of college but he chose the same route as Luepke. When Kubas was making his decision, he
consulted with former Bison offensive linemen like Cordell Volson, Nash Jensen and Cody Mauch, all of whom are in the NFL. Their advice: don’t come back because it’s your best path to the NFL. “At the end of the day, they came back for the program,” Kubas said. “Obviously they went on and had careers but they weren’t focused on that when they decided to come back.” Conversely, Kubas has had current players ask him over the course of the past year on why he came back. He gives a response similar to what
Volson, Jensen and Mauch told him. “I just tell them, honestly, if you want to be here, be here for the program,” he said. “Don’t be here because you want to see what you can do in terms of football after here. Be here for your own personal growth for the program and try to become the best version of yourself for NDSU. Don’t do it for any other reason.” Readers can reach Forum reporter Jeff Kolpack at jkolpack@forumcomm.com. Twitter@KolpackInForum
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