North Dakota
When North Dakota State nearly beat Deion Sanders, Colorado it got Tennessee State football’s attention
![When North Dakota State nearly beat Deion Sanders, Colorado it got Tennessee State football’s attention When North Dakota State nearly beat Deion Sanders, Colorado it got Tennessee State football’s attention](https://www.gannett-cdn.com/authoring/images/smg/2024/08/30/SMGW/75017553007-USATSI_24107088.jpeg?auto=webp&crop=5680,3195,x0,y302&format=pjpg&width=1200)
Eddie and Eriq George talk about TSU’s season-opening win
Tennessee State claimed its first season-opening win in the Eddie George coaching era Saturday when the Tigers beat Mississippi Valley State.
Eddie George didn’t have to say much to his Tennessee State football team when it came to pointing out the challenge that awaits Saturday when the Tigers (1-0) visit North Dakota State (0-1) at the Fargodome (2:30 p.m., CST., ESPN+).
North Dakota State opened the season in a national spotlight when the Bison gave Deion Sanders and Colorado a scare in one of the first Thursday night college football games of the season. North Dakota State eventually let a halftime lead slip away in the 31-26 loss but showed why it has been an FCS power for many years.
Tennessee State watched Colorado-North Dakota State on ESPN
The No. 2 Bison, who have won 17 national championships including nine since 2011, certainly got TSU’s attention.
“Everybody watched that game,” TSU quarterback Draylen Ellis said. “I think a lot of people wanted to see North Dakota State upset Colorado and they almost did.”
The Colorado-North Dakota State game drew an average of 4.8 million viewers making it ESPN’s most-watched Thursday season-opener since 2017 (Ohio State vs. Indiana). The game peaked with 5.6 million viewers, according to ESPN.
Watching the game gave Ellis a preview of what to expect Saturday when TSU attempts to open the season 2-0 for the first time since 2018.
“They are very physical; they swarm to the ball,” Ellis said. “Their defense plays together as one. Everyone on the defense does their job. It means we just have to go in and not try to force too many plays. Just let the plays come to us. We’re going to have to play a perfect game.”
EDDIE GEORGE GETS FIRST OPENING WIN: Eddie George gets first season-opening win of his Tennessee State football coaching career
TENNESSEE STATE HONORING CHAZAN PAGE: Tennessee State football pays tribute to center Chazan Page, killed in April, with delay of game penalty
TSU’s Draylen Ellis presents different challenges than Colorado’s Shedeur Sanders
Ellis played the best game of his career last Saturday leading the Tigers to a 41-21 win over Mississippi Valley State. He completed 21 of 33 passes for 356 yards and three touchdowns.
Ellis’ performance got the attention of North Dakota State coach Tim Polasek, who said facing Ellis won’t be anything like facing Colorado quarterback Shedeur Sanders, who completed 26 of 34 passes for 445 yards and three touchdowns against the Bison.
“It’s much different,” Polasek said. “Colorado dropped back and threw like I thought they would. Drop back and pass, like the old days. Hitch and throw. This guy (Ellis) is all RPO (run/pass option). It’s all screens. Even on third downs they’re not afraid to throw screens to keep it one (step), two (step) ball out type of stuff. That’s where he’s really effective and accurate. This kid is accurate, capable and has a good arm. I respect him.”
The key for North Dakota State’s defense, Polasak said, will be to keep TSU in third-and-long situations where shorter pass completions will make it difficult for the Tigers to pick up first downs.
How did North Dakota State get on TSU’s schedule?
George, in his fourth year at TSU, has never backed down from difficult games. Last year the Tigers opened at Notre Dame and the year before at Eastern Washington, which was ranked No. 12 in the FCS at the time.
In George’s first season TSU opened against Grambling before playing Jackson State, which at the time was coached by Deion Sanders and quarterbacked by Shedeur Sanders.
So seeing a national FCS power like North Dakota State on the schedule probably didn’t surprise Tigers fans. North Dakota State will play TSU at Nissan Stadium on Sept. 6, 2025.
“A couple of years ago their AD (Matt Larsen) called and said, ‘Hey, do you want to get on our schedule for a home-and-home?’” George said. “I said, ‘Hey, let’s do it. Absolutely. Why not?’ We’ll take on any team anywhere.”
Is North Dakota State’s Cam Miller the best player TSU has faced under Eddie George?
Four-year starting quarterback Cam Miller’s 7-yard touchdown run gave North Dakota State a 17-14 lead in the second quarter against Colorado. Miller added a 20-yard touchdown run in the second half. He also completed 18 of 22 passes for 277 yards and a touchdown.
Miller, a Walter Payton (FCS best offensive player) finalist in 2023, has led North Dakota State to a 31-10 record as a starter. He has passed for 6,747 career yards and 49 touchdowns while rushing for 1,727 yards and 38 touchdowns.
“He’s the best player we have probably seen in my tenure here,” George said. “Cam is a remarkable leader. He can run, he can throw. He has a great deal of experience. He just makes the right plays at the right time. They’re always in the playoffs or competing for a national championship because of that position.”
Reach Mike Organ at 615-259-8021 or on X @MikeOrganWriter.
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North Dakota
EPA bureaucracy gets in the way of protecting environment, North Dakota official says
Jim Semerad, left, and Marty Haroldson of the North Dakota Department of Environmental Quality were part of a panel discussion Sept. 4, 2024, at a conference in Bismarck. (Jeff Beach/North Dakota Monitor)
Wildfire smoke wafted over North Dakota on Wednesday. For Jim Semerad of the Department of Environmental Quality, that will mean more work.
That’s because the department will have to show the federal Environmental Protection Agency that the smoke is actually coming from wildfires and not some other source of air pollution.
“We will go through a great deal of effort to prove something we already know,” said Semerad, who leads the department’s air quality division.
Semerad and others from the department were speaking Wednesday at a North Dakota Regional Environmental Conference in Bismarck. The conference was organized by the Air and Waste Management Association.
Semerad said staying on top of the ballooning amount of federal regulations can make it difficult for the agency to focus on what is really important — ensuring good environmental health.
The department sent a news release Wednesday morning advising the public of the air quality issues because of the wildfire smoke.
Semerad said EPA staff are well-intentioned but EPA bureaucracy gets in the way of protecting environmental quality.
“Our biggest problem might be the EPA,” Semerad said.
Chuck Hyatt, of DEQ’s waste management division, said one of the biggest roadblocks to working with the EPA is a lack of trust.
“They don’t necessarily trust what is going on in certain states,” Hyatt said. “And I wonder about that. Where does that come from?”
North Dakota has several ongoing legal battles with the EPA, including being the lead state challenging a mercury emissions rule that North Dakota officials have said threatens the state’s lignite coal industry.
Wednesday’s agenda included a session by Erik Wallevand, a lawyer in the North Dakota Attorney General’s Office, on tips for challenging federal regulations.
With factors such as federal regulations, retirements and other staff turnover, Semerad said something new for the department is struggling to keep up with clean air permits.
Semerad said there may be a request for more staff in the 2025 legislative session.
Semerad acknowledged that some of the workload comes from Mother Nature, with North Dakota being a state of extreme temperatures and weather and random events, such as wildfires.
“It’s kind of an invisible thing,” Semerad said of the work created by wildfires. “No additional inspections, no additional improvements to air quality. It’s just a reporting requirement.
“I guess that might be something that the Legislature needs to better understand.”
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North Dakota
How to watch the Montana Grizzlies vs. North Dakota Fighting Hawks
![How to watch the Montana Grizzlies vs. North Dakota Fighting Hawks How to watch the Montana Grizzlies vs. North Dakota Fighting Hawks](https://ewscripps.brightspotcdn.com/dims4/default/2757f81/2147483647/strip/true/crop/1920x1008+0+6/resize/1200x630!/quality/90/?url=http%3A%2F%2Fewscripps-brightspot.s3.amazonaws.com%2F68%2Fc8%2Fbfdfad164759add6209876282173%2Fmontana-grizzlies-hm.png)
GRAND FORKS, N.D. — The Montana Grizzlies hit the road for the first time this college football season for a top-25 matchup with former Big Sky Conference rival North Dakota.
The Griz, who opened their season last week with a 29-24 win over Missouri State, are ranked fourth, while the Fighting Hawks are ranked No. 23 after opening with a 21-3 loss at FBS Iowa State last week.
Montana and North Dakota are scheduled to kick off at 5 p.m. (MT) inside the Alerus Center.
The game will be broadcast by Midco Sports and air on the MTN channel across Montana. Coverage begins at 4:30 p.m. with the Scripps Sports Saturday Showdown Pregame Show. Learn more about the MTN channel and where to find it.
The game is also available to stream on ESPN+ or Midco Sports Plus.
Click here for details on how to watch Montana State’s game versus Maine.
North Dakota
North Dakota Museum of Art to display pieces from its permanent collection
![North Dakota Museum of Art to display pieces from its permanent collection North Dakota Museum of Art to display pieces from its permanent collection](https://cdn.forumcomm.com/dims4/default/c714d79/2147483647/strip/true/crop/1671x1381+0+0/resize/1290x1066!/quality/90/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fforum-communications-production-web.s3.us-west-2.amazonaws.com%2Fbrightspot%2F58%2Fd9%2F2f57fa554ce383d50e0d939c969a%2Fmelvinsmith.jpg)
GRAND FORKS — The North Dakota Museum of Art is planning to showcase more than 30 pieces of art from its Permanent Collection in an upcoming exhibition, officials have announced.
The public is invited to an opening reception for “Stories of Place: Select Recent Acquisitions” from 5 to 7 p.m. Thursday, Sept. 5, at the museum, 261 Centennial Dr., on the UND campus.
A public lecture by the exhibition’s curator Anna Sigridur Arnar is set for 7 p.m. on Oct. 8. A reception is planned for 6:30 p.m. Arnar, full-time curator of modern and contemporary art at the North Dakota Museum of Art, holds a Ph.D. degree, with honors, in art history from the University of Chicago.
Contributed / North Dakota Museum of Art
The exhibit, which will be on display through Dec. 1, “is another in our series showcasing the museum’s extensive Permanent Collection,” said Brian Lotfhus, membership and marketing coordinator. “Since the late 1980s, the museum has built a collection of over 3,000 pieces of contemporary art.
“The collection has grown, mostly from gifts from artists, pieces acquired from exhibitions the museum has curated, and through generous donors that want to help the museum build a world-class collection,” Lofthus said. “Most recently, an anonymous donor has contributed on a large scale, (these donations constitute) the majority of the current exhibition.”
The “Stories of Place” exhibit draws on the rich range of artwork recently acquired by the museum, Lofthus said. The artworks include collage, sculpture, photography, painting and quilts.
Contributed / North Dakota Museum of Art
The selected works provide opportunities to reflect on various meanings of the word “place” in the visual arts and storytelling.
“Fundamentally, ‘place’ is the wellspring of human (and non-human) relations; it is a site where stories are formed and reformed,” the announcement said. It is “a container of experience, memory and the imagination, thereby providing rich terrain for artists.”
The exhibition explores specific locations such as Midwest farmlands, the American South and the vibrant Rondo neighborhood of St. Paul, Minnesota.
Some pieces in the exhibit delve into the “spirit” of place, capturing not only the physical likeness but also abstract narratives tied to a place. Others encourage viewers to listen to the “language of the land,” especially when a place is at risk of disappearing, or becoming inextricably altered or damaged, according to the museum announcement.
Contributed / North Dakota Museum of Art
The artists featured in the exhibition “invite us to consider how place shapes and is shaped by personal memories, imagined realms and the evolving language of the land,” the museum said.
The artists whose work will be displayed include: Diyan Achjadi, Vancouver, British Columbia; LeXander Bryant, Nashville, Tennessee; Edward Burtynsky, Toronto, Ontario; Jamal Cyrus, Houston, Texas; Peter Jemison, Victor, New York; Carolyn Mazloomi, West Chester, Ohio; Teo Nguyen, Minneapolis; Wura-Natasha Ogunji, Lagos, Nigeria; Helen Oji, New York City; Eric-Paul Riege, Gallup, New Mexico; Cara Romero, Sante Fe, New Mexico; Rose Smith and Melvin Smith, Eagan, Minnesota; John Sonsini, Los Angeles; Suyao Tian, St. Paul, Minnesota; Margaret Wall-Romana, Golden Valley, Minnesota; and Joseph Yoakum, Chicago.
For more information, visit
https://ndmoa.com
or call the museum at 701-777-4195.
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