FARGO, North Dakota — The Missouri Valley Conference will have one less team competing for the league title next fall. North Dakota State University, a dominant force in the Football Championship Subdivision (FCS), is moving up to the Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS) and joining the Mountain West Conference for football.
The Bison have won 10 of the last 15 FCS championships. Their addition will bring the Mountain West Conference to 10 football teams. Last season, North Dakota State finished with a 12-1 record but lost in the second round of the playoffs to Illinois State, the eventual runner-up.
Matt Larsen, North Dakota State University Athletics Director, discussed the transition.
“It’s been a couple of years in the making,” Larsen said. “There have been a couple of overtures over the years. It really accelerated this fall. A lot of it had to do with there’s been so much change in the NCAA … some of those conversations began to pick up again in November.”
At a weekly University of Northern Iowa athletics press conference in Cedar Falls, UNI’s football coach expressed mixed emotions about the Bison’s departure from the conference.
“My gut reaction, I’m a little bummed out,” Todd Stepsis, UNI Football Head Coach, said. “When you lose a competitor like that, we talk about outrageous love on our team a lot. That’s love of your opponent because when you play great opponents, that brings out the best in you.”
North Dakota State’s departure leaves the Missouri Valley Conference with nine teams, allowing each team to play one another this fall.