FARGO -- It was about a year ago when the North Dakota State players and coaches were throwing around words and phrases like "improving" and "playing better." A year ago, the Bison football team was 3-8.
This week, they have something much different to throw around: the possibility of the Division I Football Championship Subdivision playoffs. A win Saturday at Missouri State and the Bison will most likely hear their name called Sunday morning when the pairings are announced on ESPNU.
Their 7-3 record sounds a lot better than last year's 3-7, said defensive end Coulter Boyer.
"When you have a chance to possibly reverse your won-lost record, that feels good," he said.
Boyer and the rest of the defense have been the catalyst behind the late-season surge that has seen the Bison win three straight to get to this point. NDSU has given up just four touchdowns in the last three games in a period of time in the Missouri Valley Football Conference when scoring was rampant.
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"We know that if we want to be the team we want to be," said cornerback Marcus Williams, "that we need to research and have a good game plan for it."
A 10-year drought
NDSU last sniffed the playoffs in 2000 when it reached the semifinals of the NCAA Division II playoffs. The Bison began a Division I reclassification in 2004 and were ineligible for postseason until 2008.
NDSU was on the doorstep for the D-II playoffs in 2003 -- coach Craig Bohl's first season with the Bison -- but a late-season overtime loss at St. Cloud State kept the Bison out.
"We know what's on the table, but we try not to think too much about it," said safety Daniel Eaves. "We have to treat it like another game but it's not really so we're just trying to be as focused as we possibly can. . . . It's not over yet and we have to keep working at it."
The home schedule may not be over yet. Considering the bid system of the FCS playoffs, it's possible a win and the Bison could host a first-round game.
It would be quite the turnaround from 3-8, something even a true freshman in the program, safety Colten Heagle, senses.
"We just feel like we had to be better than 3-8," he said. "That was what we strived to improve on, and 3-8 is a tough thing to go through. To be where we're at now, all we can do is go after it."
