North Dakota State Wins Their 10th FCS National Title

January 7, 2025

WACO, TEX.– North Dakota State survived a furious second half comeback from Montana State in the NCAA FCS national championship game to win, 35-32. The Bobcats outscored NDSU 29-14 in the final two periods, but the Bison recovered an on-side kick with a little over a minute left in the game and ran out the clock. This was North Dakota State’s 10^th national title in the last 14 years. The Bison end the 2024 season at No. 1 in the final AFCA FCS Coaches Poll, presented by Hudl. Montana State falls to No. 2.

South Dakota State and South Dakota both made appearances in the FCS semifinals, and finish at No. 3 and No. 4, respectively. UC Davis, UIW, Mercer and Idaho all reached the quarterfinals and end the season ranked five through eight. Villanova and Illinois State made it to the second round of the playoffs and round out the top 10.

Lehigh and Eastern Kentucky used playoff appearances to end 2024 ranked in the AFCA top 25 for the first time this season. Lehigh made it to the second round, finishing with a 9-4 record and ranked No. 21 while Eastern Kentucky lost in the first round and comes in at No. 25 with an 8-5 mark.

Search:

Rank	School (1st votes)	Rec.	Pts.	Prev.	Postseason	Head Coach
1	North Dakota St. (23)	14-2	575	4	D. No. 1 Montana St., 35-32, in national championship	Tim Polasek
2	Montana St.	15-1	552	1	Lost to No. 4 North Dakota St., 35-32 in national championship	Brent Vigen
3	South Dakota St.	12-3	529	2	Lost to No. 4 North Dakota St., 28-21, in semifinals	Jimmy Rogers
4	South Dakota	11-3	507	3	Lost to No. 1 Montana St., 31-17, in semifinals	Bob Nielson
5	UC Davis	11-3	480	5	Lost to No. 3 South Dakota, 35-21, in quarterfinals	Tim Plough
6	UIW	11-3	448	6	Lost to No. 2 South Dakota St., 55-14, in quarterfinals	Clint Killough
7	Mercer	11-3	418	9	Lost to No. 4 North Dakota St., 31-7, in quarterfinals	Mike Jacobs
8	Idaho	10-4	402	8	Lost to No. 1 Montana St., 52-19, in quarterfinals	Jason Eck
9	Villanova	10-4	351	11	Lost to No. 6 UIW, 13-6, in second round	Mark Ferrante
10	Illinois St.	10-4	350	10	Lost to No. 5 UC Davis, 42-10, in second round	Brock Spack
11	Rhode Island	11-3	336	12	Lost to No. 9 Mercer, 17-10, in second round	Jim Fleming
12	Tarleton St.	10-4	307	14	Lost to No. 2 South Dakota, 42-31, in second round	Todd Whitten
13	Montana	9-5	288	13	Lost to No. 2 South Dakota St., 35-18, in second round	Bobby Hauck
14	ACU	9-5	252	17	Lost to No. 4 North Dakota St., 51-31, in second round	Keith Patterson
15	Jackson St.	12-2	249	15	D. No. 18 South Carolina St., 28-7, in Celebration Bowl	T.C. Taylor
16	Richmond	10-3	238	7	Lost to Lehigh, 20-16, in first round	Russ Huesman
17	Southeast Missouri St.	9-4	223	16	Lost to No. 10 Illinois St., 35-27, in first round	Tom Matukewicz
18	UT Martin	9-5	173	20	Lost to No. 1 Montana St., 49-17, in second round	Jason Simpson
19	Tennessee St.	9-4	139	19	Lost to No. 13 Montana, 41-27, in first round	Eddie George
20	South Carolina St.	8-5	127	18	Lost to No. 15 Jackson St., 28-7, in Celebration Bowl	Chennis Berry
21	Lehigh	9-4	113	NR	Lost to No. 8 Idaho, 34-13, in second round	Kevin Cahill
22	Northern Arizona	8-5	102	22	Lost to No. 17 ACU, 24-0, in first round	Brian Wright
23	Missouri St.	8-4	73	21	DNQ Playoffs	Ryan Beard
24	New Hampshire	8-5	55	24	Lost to No. 20 UT Martin, 41-10, in first round	Rick Santos
25	Eastern Kentucky	8-5	51	NR	Lost to No. 11 Villanova, 22-17, in first round	Walt Wells

Dropped Out: North Carolina Central (23), Duquesne (25)

Others Receiving Votes: North Carolina Central, 30; Drake, 29; Central Connecticut St., 28; Stony Brook, 15; Duquesne, 14; Dartmouth, 7; Columbia, 6; Harvard, 5; Southeastern Louisiana, 5.

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North Dakota State Wins Their 10th FCS National Title

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