“Why are FCS teams in the Dakotas and Montanas so good?”

That’s been a popular question when HERO Sports does radio hits in SEC areas of the country. These stations spend 99.9% of their college football conversation talking FBS. So it’s an understandable question when they want to get the lowdown on the FCS and how the Midwest has had a stranglehold on it recently.

Only three states have been represented in the last three FCS title games, including this year’s: Montana, North Dakota, and South Dakota.

North Dakota State played Montana State two years ago, NDSU played South Dakota State last year, and SDSU plays Montana this weekend.

In each of the last three playoff brackets, 3/4 of the semifinals have been teams from Montana or the Dakotas. And the national title game has become the Mon-Dak Challenge.

Casual college football fans are generally surprised at the level of play in such rural states. They are even more surprised to learn some of the biggest contributors are from in-state players. This year’s participants, No. 1 seed South Dakota State and No. 2 seed Montana, both have 16 in-state players on their 2-deeps. In total, the Jackrabbits have 28 players from South Dakota. The Grizzlies have 48 players from Montana.

And plenty of them are the star players.

For SDSU…

Its top four pass-catchers are SD natives in wide receivers Jadon and Jaxon Janke (Madison), WR Griffin Wilde (Sioux Falls), and tight end Zach Heins (Sioux Falls). Mason McCormick (Sioux Falls) is a multi-year All-American offensive lineman. Gus Miller (Brookings) won this season’s Rimington Award as the best FCS center. Cade Terveer (Brandon) is a starting defensive end for the No. 1 FCS scoring defense. Tucker Large (Sioux Falls) is a dynamic safety and punt returner

For Montana…

The top five tacklers are Montana natives: LB Braxton Hill (Anaconda), safety Ryder Meyer (Fairfield), LB Tyler Flink (Missoula), LB Ryan Tirrell (Missoula), and LB Levi Janacaro (Missoula). Trevin Gradney (Billings) is a starting cornerback with a team-high five interceptions. Jaxon Lee (Missoula), TJ Rausch (Missoula), and Garrett Graves (Eureka) are part of a deep stable of safeties. Junior Bergen (Billings) is an electric wide receiver and punt returner. Offensive lineman Journey Grimsrud (Huntley) received All-Conference accolades this fall.

Why do these teams dominate a subdivision of 128 members?

Actually, being in such rural states is an advantage. FCS schools in the east and south are surrounded by FBS schools, fighting to sell tickets, keep alumni engaged in their product and not the P5 product down the road, get more media attention, and attract local and regional sponsors.

“I think the best football is played in the Dakotas and the Montanas,” SDSU head coach Jimmy Rogers said. “You look at FCS football, the couple states — well, we don’t have professional sports. We are the professional sport in a sense. That, I think is cool. … I think it’s cool to have a bunch of guys that take pride in playing for their home state. You can see it with the passion on both sides and how we both play. There’s a physicality to it. There’s an effort to it. It’s bigger than just playing college football. It’s representing something that they take pride in, and I think that you could see it.”

Pound for pound, Montana is as fervent of college football fandom in America. You’re either a Grizzly or a Bobcat, and there is a genuine dislike for the other side. NDSU is the lowest-subsidized public FCS-level athletic department, yet its facilities are FBS-level due to external support. And SDSU has more momentum than anyone in the FCS with newer facilities and growing external support after last year’s national championship.

You need to invest for national success, even at the FCS level where there is still a purity aspect of college football that’s been lost in the power conferences. It’s easier to invest deeply in football when you know there will be a return on it with such passionate support from fans and local businesses.

“It’s just a cool experience,” Hill said. “I’m the only one from my town [Anaconda] on the Griz. And then you have guys like Levi Janacaro and Tyler Flink. We go around the state of Montana [for recruits] and everyone kind of meets up and everyone is similar. Once you start developing a relationship with one another and you develop that team goal, it’s just fun. And then the fan base in rural communities is amazing. It’s special. You go to Missoula on Saturdays and half the town of Anaconda or wherever that player may be from is there and supporting you.”

Of course, several power FCS programs in the south and east have moved up to the FBS. That has seen the power shift to the Big Sky and Missouri Valley Football Conference, where before the CAA and SoCon had years of owning the subdivision. However, NDSU’s run of national titles began when teams like App State, Georgia Southern, and Coastal Carolina were still in the FCS. And recent move-ups Sam Houston, Jacksonville State, and Kennesaw State were rarely going toe-to-toe with top FCS teams in the playoffs.

Location also helps in recruiting.

The Dakota and Montana programs recruit regionally. But they also get players from the south or the west. Coaches at these schools will often say they just need to get recruits from out of the region onto campus and at a game. The towns, town support, facilities, investments, and gameday atmospheres can’t be beaten by other FCS schools and plenty of FBS G5 schools.

While the current age of recruiting has seen power programs dip into the Dakotas and Montanas more, there still are hidden gems in the states. Guys who would probably be 3-star recruits if they lived elsewhere are 0-star recruits because they don’t go to the big camps. Offensive linemen who are 6-foot-5 and 250-pound three-sport athletes are overlooked because they’re still developing and play in towns of less than 1,000 people. They’re then 300-pounders as college upperclassmen and NFL prospects.

“I don’t think a lot of people expect that out of us,” Heins said. “I think we’re a bit underrecruited. It goes to show the level of talent that we have here even if we aren’t in major cities. We’re hard-working kids in these states, we’re going to grow and be tough and know how to play football.”

There is also something to be said about playing for their home-state teams.

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For Montana kids growing up, sure they’d love to play in the NFL. But their football dreams are to play for the Grizzlies or the Bobcats. The heart and soul of the 2023 Montana team is the defense led by Montana guys, some of them former walk-ons who never faltered in their want to be a part of the team even though it took them four, sometimes five years to become a starter.

Montana star defensive tackle Alex Gubner is from California and said he didn’t know anything about Montana football when recruited. But he quickly learned as a redshirt.

“The moment I went in freshman year with coach Hauck and all the players, the team meetings and in the locker room, you understand that it’s a privilege and an honor to be on this team,” Gubner said. “Kids all over the state dream of putting on the Griz uniform. There are no pro teams here. We’re it. It’s either us or the neighbors. Guys like Braxton and Levi, it’s been their dream since they could walk to play for the Griz. And they’re living it out. It’s special to see so many guys want this for years and it’s finally coming to fruition.”

SDSU doesn’t have the decades-long tradition of Montana. But the Jacks’ rise in the 2010s from a playoff contender to a quarterfinalist to a semifinalist to now the juggernaut of the subdivision has brought new fandom across the state. And with that comes kids who grew up watching those former teams and are now current members. There is something to be said about keeping in-state recruits from getting out and also staving off the transfer portal when the core of your team has a unique sense of pride playing for your program.

“It’s big boy football up here,” Jaxon Janke said. “A lot of us are farm kids growing up. We learned what hard work is. It’s a testament to each school to recruit their areas. If you look at the comparison between SDSU and USD, we have way more dudes on the team from South Dakota and we’re more successful. We like to say that goes hand-in-hand. This team is super-connected, and being from the same state is a part of that.”