There’s a lot to talk about with the 2024 FCS championship game between No. 1 seed Montana State and No. 2 seed North Dakota State. It’s the second time they’ve met in Frisco, Texas, in the last four seasons.
It’s been a fun experience for the teams at the FCS championship game, but it’s mostly a business trip to Frisco, Texas, and you can sense it getting more serious by the minute with Montana State and North Dakota State.
Their highly anticipated title game Monday night (7 p.m. ET, ESPN) is a rematch of the 2021 finalists, when NDSU captured a record ninth FCS national championship and denied Montana State of a second title.
While Montana State (15-0) is seeking to complete a perfect season, NDSU (13-2) has won all five matchups with the Bobcats in their FCS playoff history. That includes handing the Big Sky champion its most-recent loss in a 2023 second-round playoff game.
Here are some comments from the two teams leading into FCS championship game:
Brent Vigen, Montana State Coach
“Forty years is a long time (since MSU’s 1984 national championship). The 40-year reunion was this fall and Kelly Bradley, who was the quarterback of that team, came up to me and said, ‘You know, this has been great and all for us, but we need a new team to be remembered,’ and I think that goes a long way in how our fan base has felt. Certainly, there have been a lot of ups and downs over the last 40 years, recent history quite a few ups, but (we) just haven’t quite gotten over the hump.”
Bryce Lance, North Dakota State Wide Receiver
“I think we’re ready to put our best game on the field. We’ve had a really solid couple weeks of practice, and this group has been a ton of fun, honestly, playing together. We’re a really close, tight-knit group. So we’re just ready to go play a football game.”
Cole Sain, Montana State Offensive Lineman
“I would argue that’s kind of the most important thing with our success this season, just the perspective we’ve been able to gain throughout the years, especially this senior group. We’ve sustained a lot of tough losses through our career, mainly to the Dakota schools. But I think that each time, you look at 2021 versus now, and just how we’ve been able to change stuff and just continue to build and adapt and adjust. Every single year, we’ve been able to improve on that. So I do feel this is the year, and I feel like we absolutely have what it takes to make this thing happen and close it out.”
Tim Polasek, North Dakota State Coach
“But we’re going to go to a battle, 30 degrees or 20 degrees is nonsense. We’ve got experience in the cold. Anytime you get a chance, you go out and practice in the rain and practice in the elements. I’m not concerned about that. These guys have worked way too hard for some weather to get involved.”
Rohan Jones, Montana State Tight End
“I think they’re just a physical outfit. It’ll be a good game, especially physical up front (with) O-line, D-line, and blocking-wise. But I think being that we match up well with them, it should be a good game.”
Logan Kopp, North Dakota State Linebacker
“You see from years past, there’s always the same bubble of teams that are still playing in January, and NDSU and Montana State are commonly on that list. I just think it shows the tradition and the culture that these teams have. Both programs know how to win football games and they know how to win football games in November and December, too.”
For more on the FCS championship game: Numbers to Know and Tale of the Tape.
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