‘We’ve had enough of it’, Bison Football team looking for first win over South Dakota St. since 2019

FARGO, N.D. (Valley News Live) – The Dakota Marker trophy has become a familiar site south of the State line.

South Dakota State has dominated their rivalry series with North Dakota State, holding a five-game winning streak against the Bison. Four of those wins were regular season meetings with the Dakota Marker on the line, along with the National Championship game in January of 2023.

This ties the longest winning streak for South Dakota State in this storied rivalry. They also defeated the Bison five times in a row between 1910 and 1917.

Head Coach Tim Polasek, who is entering his first marker game as Head Coach at North Dakota State, made it very clear on Tuesday that it has to be them holding up the trophy on October 19th.

“They’ve had the dakota marker too long. So you go out there and what you’ve got to do is embrace the competition. This is two evenly matched teams. Somebody will lose.” Polasek said. “I want to be the team that runs over there and grabs the damn rock. I want to be the team that responds and says it’s our time.”

With the Jackrabbits winning this rivalry matchup in each of the last five seasons, that actually means that the majority of the roster has never held the Dakota Marker Trophy. As it stands, the only players currently on the roster are the sixth-year seniors who were on the roster in 2019.

“I’ve actually never touched the rock.” said Bison Defensive Lineman Loshiaka Roques. “As soon as I got on campus, that was the first year we started getting beat by SDSU. It honestly does mean a lot to me. I’d love to get the feeling that many others have felt.

Tight End Joe Stoffel is also looking to hoist the trophy for the first time, saying: “Being in my fifth and final year, it’s one of those deals where you have lost every single game against these guys. That’s unacceptable. It’s one of those deals where we’ve had enough of it and we’re just ready to go.”

In a game between two teams who traditionally dominate the trenches. The Bison will be without one of their biggest weapons on the defensive line, Dylan Hendricks. Hendricks suffered an injury to his knee in their win over Southern Illinois.

“Dylan is not going to be available this week and it’s unfortunate. It breaks my heart.” Coach Polasek said. “I don’t know that we’ll get him back.”

Coach Polasek also adding that: “That’s a sixth year guy who’s been through a lot. It’s a major knee, but if we can get the swelling out of there he could cowboy up and he’s tough enough to do it. It’s just life-long decisions now. It was much worse than the report we got coming out of the locker room without the MRI.”

The Bison defense will now have to rely on their next man up mentality to replace the production from Hendricks on what has been a solid defensive front since the start of Valley play. The Jacks boast the top rushing offense in the Missouri Valley Football Conference and the sixth best in the entire country. They also have reigning Walter Payton Award winner Mark Gronowski at quarterback, but the focus for North Dakota State will be on the run game.

“That doesn’t mean we’re nine guys in the box but we have to be conscious of what’s led to some of the success in the past two-three weeks.” said Polasek. “When you stop people on first and second down, and you’re playing in favorable situations like 3rd and 7, 3rd and 8, that’s a good deal.”

“I think it’s a long hard day if they can cultivate balance and do what they want to do when they want to do it.”

The Bison and the Jackrabbits will kick off their 116th all time meeting on October 19th at 7:00 P.M. in a sold out Fargodome.

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