FARGO — It was around this time last year when the Cam Miller-to-Bryce Lance connection got even hotter than it was during the regular season. The North Dakota State quarterback and receiver combined for 25 receptions for 375 yards and seven touchdowns in four FCS playoff games.
Season 2 with the playoffs starts on Saturday in a second-round game against Illinois State, a noon kickoff at Gate City Bank Field at the Fargodome. Only this time, it will be senior Cole Payton at quarterback.
“He’s been the go-to guy all season,” Payton said. “So if we can connect a few more times, that will help us.”
Lance went over 1,000 yards for the season — by one yard to be exact — and has 50 receptions heading into the Redbirds game. He’s averaging 20.0 yards per catch with seven touchdowns.
It will be the second time this season the Bison will play Illinois State, with the first one ending up a 33-16 NDSU victory in Normal, Illinois. The ISU secondary did a decent job of keeping Lance in check; he finished with three catches for 45 yards, but one was a key 23-yard touchdown early in the fourth quarter.
“They did a good job,” Lance said. “I think a lot of teams have been showing different looks just to switch things up on defense. But I think Cole does a great job of identifying when I am in press-man coverage and things like that so I always trust Cole to make the right call.”
It’s been a different season in that regard for Lance, who came into 2024 relatively unknown with just one career catch. He’s gotten everybody’s attention this season.
“I think a lot of it goes into preparation,” Lance said. “But it’s definitely different than last year when nobody really knew me, maybe a little easier last year, but I think I’ve done a better job as the weeks have gone on.”
Bison head coach Tim Polasek said earlier this week his team will need to “find the vertical ball to Bryce.”
“As a collective, I think we play our best ball in December and January,” Lance said. “I think that’s how it’s been in this program for a long time and we’re going to try and keep that tradition going.”
Vigen: This time of year ‘complicated’
Montana State head coach Brent Vigen briefly addressed his flirtation with the job opening at Oregon State this week, saying the timing was not right.
“This time of year is really complicated,” he said at his weekly press conference in advance of his team’s second-round FCS playoff game against Yale. “As you can see it happened all across the country.”
Vigen said his interest in another position was gone by last Wednesday and he returned to MSU, with the university releasing a statement that Vigen will remain with the Bobcats.
“I appreciate the university stepping up with an increased investment and I’ll leave it at that,” he said. “Yeah these are complicated times and there is no really good, clean way to navigate any of it. … The support we get not only on Saturdays but throughout the year is what you’re looking for as a head coach. And we need to keep pushing the envelope, I know that.”
Word of Vigen’s connection to Oregon State first surfaced when The Oregonian newspaper in Portland reported Vigen arrived at Portland International Airport on a commercial flight from Bozeman.
The Beavers also talked with Polasek, flying to Fargo to meet with him.
5 Bison players honored by Valley
NDSU had five players named to the Missouri Valley Football Conference All-Newcomer Team this week in tight end Reis Kessel, running back D.J. Scott, left guard Nate Tastad, defensive tackle Zach Vanderpool and punter Aaron Bickerton.
Kessel came in third for the league’s Freshman of the Year award behind Illinois State wide receiver Luke Mailander and Indiana State defensive back Nic Yatsko. Kessel has been a big play threat this season with 15 receptions for 335 yards, an average of 22.3 yards per catch.
Scott has 487 yards in 91 carries and six touchdowns. Bickerton is averaging 45.6 yards per punt with a long of 64 yards.
- Polasek said this week that true freshman quarterback Preston Brown, who has played in seven games, mostly on special teams, may redshirt next season and compete for the starting quarterback spot in 2027. Junior Nathan Hayes is the heir apparent to Payton next season.
- The Bison lead the series with Illinois State 16-2, all in the Division I era. NDSU has won 14 in a row since 2011. The Redbirds are 1-8 in Fargo with the victory coming in the 2009 NDSU homecoming game.
- NDSU is 86-18 in NCAA playoff games including Division II and FCS games.
- Braden Atkinson, the record-setting quarterback at Mercer, was announced as the winner of the Jerry Rice Award, which goes to the best freshman in the FCS. The best finish by a Missouri Valley player in the voting was Yatsko, who finished 20th.
- NDSU is making its 16th straight FCS playoff appearance, which is one behind the subdivision record of 17 held by Montana from 1993-2009. South Dakota State is on its 14th in a row.
Jeff Kolpack, the son of a reporter and an English teacher, and the brother of a reporter, worked at the Jamestown Sun, Bismarck Tribune and since 1990 The Forum, where he’s covered North Dakota State athletics since 1995. He has covered all 10 of NDSU’s Division I FCS national football titles and has written four books: “Horns Up,” “North Dakota Tough,” “Covid Kids” and “They Caught Them Sleeping: How Dot Reinvented the Pretzel.” He is also the radio host of “The Golf Show with Jeff Kolpack” April through August.
