Bison Game Day September 30, 2023

Presents

BISON GAME DAY SATURDAY, SEPT. 30, 2023

SOUTH DAKOTA

►When: 1 p.m., Gate City Bank Field at the Fargodome ►TV: WDAY (ABC)

$3.00 (Suggested retail price) Copyright 2023 The Forum

NORTH DAKOTA STATE

►Radio: 1660-AM, 107.9-FM

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Photos by David Samson/The Forum

North Dakota State defensive coordinator Jason Petrino gives instruction during Bison football practice at the Nodak Insurance Football Performance Complex at an August practice.

PETRINO IS THE NAME, COACHING FOOTBALL IS THE GAME The first family of coaching football in Montana making impression in Bison program

BY JEFF KOLPACK The Forum FARGO he first three numbers of Jason Petrino’s cell phone number are 406, which are three numbers that are etched into the Petrino name in stone rather than just an electronic device. It’s the area code for the entire state of Montana, a place that produced one of the most notable names in college football.

It’s as if there are 406 Petrinos coaching football.

One of them is now at North Dakota State. When the Bison host the University of South Dakota on Saturday at Gate City Bank Field at the Fargodome, defensive coordinator Jason Petrino will be calling the shots in trying to defend the Coyotes.

It’s a family legacy that for sportswriter Scott Mansch dates back to the 1980s when he started at the Helena Independent Record and spent his last 33 years in the state at the Great Falls Tribune.

“I quickly learned the Petrino name was like the first family of football in Montana,” Mansch said. “I do know this: Jason is very, very smart and he’s just like all the Petrinos, they’re all about football and really not much else.”

The direct lineage starts with Mike Petrino, Jason’s father who was a longtime high school coach in eastern Montana towns like Saco, Wolf Point and Forsyth, with Saco and Wolf Point on the northern tier of Highway 2 and Forsyth on Interstate 94.

“We grew up around football and talking sports,” Jason said.

When Jason was young, the family decided to head toward the mountains and settled in at Kalispell. Mike’s brother Bob Petrino Sr. was a legendary head coach at NAIA Carroll College in Helena while his twin brother taught and coached in Glasgow, Mont., for 30-plus years.

Bob’s sons are Bobby and Paul Petrino, with Bobby of course carrying the most nationwide

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North Dakota State defensive coordinator Jason Petrino runs drills during Bison football practice at the Nodak Insurance Football Performance Complex on Thursday, August 3, 2023. notoriety having been the head coach at Louisville, Arkansas and the NFL’s Atlanta Falcons among other stops.

“When you think of the name Petrino, it’s football,” said Greg Rachac, senior digital content producer at MontanaSports.com.

“Throughout a handful of generations, they’ve been around and obviously some in more prominent positions than others.

They’ve coached pro, college, high school; all through different levels and they’re just prominent.”

Jason’s two brothers have extensive coaching backgrounds.

Jared was an assistant at Black Hills State (S.D.), Rocky Mountain, Carroll and Southern Illinois before getting out of the business.

In a testament that coaching is not all about football. Mike Petrino, Jason’s older brother, is an assistant women’s basketball coach at Boise State and spent time as an interim head women’s

basketball coach at the University of Montana. Mike graduated from Montana State-Billings, spent several years coaching high school hoops in Montana and Oregon before becoming an assistant at Wyoming.

“On my dad’s side, it’s a ton of teachers and a lot of coaches,” Jason said. “Usually the females became teachers and the males became coaches. It’s kind of crazy, especially on my dad’s side.”

And of the football coaches, it’s both sides of the ball. Bobby made his name as an innovative offensive mind and left the head coaching position at Missouri State last year to become the offensive coordinator at Texas A&M. His ascension started around 1994 when, as the offensive coordinator at the University of Nevada, he had the No. 1 offense in the country.

“He’s always been that guy and a lot of it goes back to his dad,” Jason said, “and a lot of things

that I learned from my dad and uncle Bob when I played for him it was still about the fundamentals. It’s still about blocking and it’s still about doing all the little details right. The fun stuff is the creative stuff and Bobby’s done a phenomenal job on the offensive side of the ball. He is a little bit of a natural. He has an incredible memory, saw things and was able to visualize stuff and just found his niche.”

There’s a distinct age gap between Jason and Bobby (their fathers grew up 11 years apart) so Jason doesn’t remember a whole lot of Bobby coming up through the ranks. He remembers Bobby playing basketball at Carroll College.

A bit later, Mansch was covering Carroll College in 1986 when Bob Sr. was the head coach, Bobby was the offensive coordinator and Paul was a freshman starting quarterback.

Petrino on W5

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BISON NOTEBOOK

Photos by David Samson / The Forum

North Dakota State’s Luke Weerts snares Maine’s Jamie Lamson at the Fargodome on Saturday, Sept. 9, 2023.

LB LUKE WEERTS WILL USE EXTRA YEAR WITH HIS BROTHER ON THE TEAM The Weerts brothers plan on playing together for two years after Matt transferred from Arizona

BY JEFF KOLPACK The Forum

FARGO dd senior linebacker Luke Weerts and senior fullback Hunter Brozio to the growing list of North Dakota State football players who plan on coming back for an extra year of eligibility. In Weerts’ case, give a big assist to his brother Matt Weerts, who transferred to NDSU from the University of Arizona in the offseason.

It’s the second time they’ve been teammates, having played together at Batavia High School in Illinois when Luke was a senior and Matt was a sophomore. They were on the same field last year when NDSU played at Arizona.

“A lot of similarities to that,” Luke said of his high school days. “It’s so special.”

Luke also has an academic reason to play another year needing more time with his mathematics degree. On the field, he’s overcome injuries after missing most of the 2021 season.

He started five of NDSU’s 15 games last year.

“I think all of college football is a rollercoaster,” Luke said.

“Everyone has their own story and this is mine. I’m embracing it and I’m just excited to be playing.”

Matt, a defensive end, played sparingly in his two years with the Wildcats, appearing in four games. He’s bigger at 6-foot-1 and 239 pounds and has three years of eligibility remaining.

“I think me being more comfortable on the team and knowing the ins and outs, I think I’ve been able to show him the ropes a little bit,” Luke said. “He’s doing really well.”

Luke said he’s been leaning toward coming back next year for a while and didn’t want to have any regrets of not using the pandemic year of eligibility.

It means the Bison will have at least two returning team

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Former Arizona linebacker Matt Weerts (left) greets his brother Luke Weerts after the game at Arizona Stadium in Tucson, Ariz., on Saturday, Sept. 17, 2022. Matt and Luke are now North Dakota State teammates. captains coming back including quarterback Cam Miller. Captain and defensive tackle Eli Mostaert is eligible for another season but hasn’t said what his plans are.

Coyotes off to better defensive start It’s no secret that one of NDSU head coach Matt Entz’s mentors in the coaching business is South Dakota head coach Bob Nielson, who is entering his eighth year with the Coyotes and 31st overall.

The two first crossed paths when Entz played for Nielson at Wartburg College (Iowa) in the mid-1990s.

Nielson led two of those teams to NCAA Division III playoff appearances. Asked what a couple of traits of Nielson-led teams are and Entz pointed to the

discipline of the players. The Coyotes have lost one fumble and thrown one interception in three games.

“I don’t think they beat themselves,” Entz said. “You’re going to have to go in there and go win.

They don’t turn the ball over and there are very few intolerable penalties.”

USD, which gave up 29.2 points a game last year, is off to a better start on defense. The Coyotes have given up 13.7 points per game (sixth nationally in the FCS statistics) holding opponents to 3.1 yards per carry. They’ve given up just six points in the last two games against the University of St. Thomas and Lamar University (Texas).

“Defensively, he asks that what

you do you need to do it really well,” Entz said. “If you can do that and have great detail and discipline in how you approach it, you’ll have a chance to be competitive in the fourth quarter.”

Ranked Valley matchups rarely easy It’s never a given when two Missouri Valley Football Conference ranked teams play each other, meaning don’t overlook the possible outcome when No. 11 North Dakota plays at top-ranked South Dakota State on Saturday afternoon. It will be the 219th time two leagued ranked teams will play each other, but in the previous 218, the home team is only 124-92.

Notebook on W5

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NOTEBOOK CONTINUED from W4 That’s 92 times the road team has won such a matchup.

“The Missouri Valley Football Conference is a grind,” said Missouri Valley associate commissioner Mike Kern.

“Any of our top teams can beat one another at any time, regardless of venue.”

Moreover, the higher ranked team has a 136-82 record, not exactly the greatest percentage when it comes to the higher regarded team.

“That data supports the strength and balance of our conference over time,” Kern said.

Etc. etc. etc.

• It’s the 16th opener in the Missouri Valley for NDSU, which joined the league in 2008. After losing the first game in their first three years, the Bison have gotten off to a 1-0 start 12 straight times.

• NDSU has won 11 straight homecoming games since back-to-back losses to Illinois State in 2009 and Western Illinois in 2010. The Coyotes are a homecoming opponent

PETRINO CONTINUED from W2 He spent three years at the University of Mary in Bismarck. He worked under Joe Glenn at Wyoming and South Dakota.

His wife, Heather, is from Helena and is a special education teacher in the West Fargo school system. Asked if any of their three children or the next generation of Petrinos were born to be coaches, Jason said that won’t be his call.

“I could sit here and

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Any of our top teams can beat one another at any time, regardless of venue.

MIKE KERN, MISSOURI VALLEY ASSOCIATE COMMISSIONER for the first time since 1993, the first year the Fargodome opened.

• USD has beaten a ranked team every year since 2013 including a 24-21 win over the Bison at the Fargodome in 2015, USD’s first win in Fargo since 1978. The Coyotes have also won four of their last six conference openers and in an interesting twist have played their opening league game on the road in six of Nielson’s eight years.

• The Missouri Valley has nine of its 12 teams in the top 29 of the Sagarin Ratings power poll among FCS teams including six in the top 14, five of the top 10 and three of the top five. NDSU, South Dakota State and

say I don’t know if my mom ever wanted us to get into coaching,” he said. “Her most important thing is, because she never had a degree, she wanted the three boys to have a degree. We want them all to be involved in sports but I don’t sit here and say, hey, you have to be a coach. Now if they did it, understand that some people have a little bit of a smoother path than others but that’s all part of the journey and that’s what I’ve enjoyed.”

The journey with

Denny Medley / USA TODAY Sports

South Dakota Coyotes head coach Bob Nielson watches play against the Missouri Tigers during the game at Faurot Field at Memorial Stadium earlier this month.

Southern Illinois are gunning for 4-0 starts; the only time the Valley had three teams at 4-0 or better in the same season

was 2012 and 2017.

• NDSU will be looking to start a new streak after an open week. The Bison won 39 straight in the

regular and postseason before SDSU ended it in the national title game in Frisco, Texas last January.

You spend a lot of time with these players. You want them to succeed on Saturdays or within the play but ultimately it’s about the development of them as people.

Watching them become husbands and fathers and more importantly becoming successful in life and it’s fun watching guys’ journeys and things like that.

JASON PETRINO, NORTH DAKOTA STATE DEFENSIVE COORDINATOR

NDSU in a bye week last Saturday was not all about football, either.

Jason attended the wedding of Bison safety Cole Wisniewski.

“I know I create the competition but relationships are just as

Readers can reach Forum reporter Jeff Kolpack at jkolpack@forumcomm.com.

Twitter@KolpackInForum

important,” he said. “You spend a lot of time with these players. You want them to succeed on Saturdays or within the play but ultimately it’s about the development of them as people. Watching them become husbands and fathers and more importantly becoming successful in life and it’s fun watching guys’ journeys and things like that.”

Readers can reach Forum reporter Jeff Kolpack at jkolpack@forumcomm.com.

Twitter@KolpackInForum

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