College GameDay and the CFP? North Dakota State faces a defining month

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North Dakota State’s FBS experiment has gotten off to a tremendous 5-0 start. Some have already begun hypothesizing about a College Football Playoff run in their first year at the highest collegiate level, and October will determine if that’s a realistic possibility.

The Bison have begun the season with wins over Jacksonville State, Fordham, Air Force, Sacramento State, and Wyoming. Outside of a hard-fought battle against Air Force on the road, none of their games have been close, and the Falcons are the only opponent currently ranked within the top 100 of ESPN’s Football Power Index (FPI).

Real test at UNLV

Tim Polasek’s team will be officially introduced to FBS football this week with a tricky road game against UNLV. The Runnin’ Rebels were viewed as one of the best Group of Five teams before the season, but a 3-2 start changed that. They’re quietly coming off a 39-31 win at Cal, and Dan Mullen has his team playing at a high level.

Air Force is the highest-rated opponent NDSU has faced so far, and the Falcons are 91st in ESPN’s FPI. UNLV is 75th, and the major sportsbooks currently favor the Bison by three points to leave Vegas with a win.

Led by former five-star quarterback Jackson Arnold, UNLV has the pieces to give NDSU some trouble. Those CFP talks would get awfully quiet with a loss this week, or they could heat up even more with a win.

NDSU hosts a struggling Nevada squad the following week in a game in which the Bison will be favored to win by a comfortable margin. They might have their most challenging test of the regular season when they go to Albuquerque the following week to face New Mexico, which is led by one of the brightest young coaches in college football, Jason Eck.

Potential College GameDay?

Longtime ESPN College GameDay host Rece Davis floated the possibility of bringing the show to Albuquerque for the Oct. 24 matchup between NDSU and New Mexico. The Lobos are 4-1, with their only loss coming against Oklahoma on the road, 14-6.

“I need North Dakota State to win this game. We don’t root. We don’t root for teams. Pete [Thamel] says this often. We root for the story. They got a game in New Mexico in a couple of weeks. That could be really, really attractive,” Davis said on his podcast.

The Bison notably hosted College GameDay in Fargo in 2013 and 2014, when they were dominating the FCS level. Being involved in the show during their first year at the FBS level would be more evidence of how strong their football brand still is nationally.

If NDSU survives road trips to Las Vegas and Albuquerque, a Mountain West championship game appearance and a potential CFP berth would become a real discussion. They also have home games against UTEP and Northern Illinois, along with road trips to Hawaii and San Jose State looming.

Midwest college football fans have known how good a program NDSU has been for decades. The Bison have shown that they can compete at the FBS level, but the next month will show whether they can win championships.

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This story was originally published by Bring Me The Sports on Oct 9, 2026, where it first appeared in the College Sports News and Rumors section. Add Bring Me The Sports as a Preferred Source by clicking here.

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