FARGO -- It got to the point where the Generation X Bison football fans wondered if they would ever see a North Dakota State playoff game in Fargo again. The Millennial Generation was on the verge of not thinking about the idea at all.
But for the first time in 18 years, NDSU will be at home in the playoffs. The Bison host Robert Morris University (Pa.) on Saturday night and the Bison players say they are starting to get a grasp of the significance.
"We're making history right now," linebacker Preston Evans said. "It's almost overwhelming to be a part of it, but we want to make our mark on Bison history."
The last home postseason game was a 42-7 win over Northeast Missouri State in the 1992 NCAA Division II first round. The attendance at Dacotah Field was 6,230.
A much bigger crowd is expected Saturday at the 18,700-seat Fargodome.
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"The community is great and the opportunity to play in front of them is real big," running back D.J. McNorton said.
There is some experience in the NDSU camp to the tournament format in college football. Coach Craig Bohl was an assistant on the 1984 Bison team that reached the Division II title game.
Offensive line coach Scott Fuchs was on the 1990 NDSU national championship team and was an assistant at Southern Illinois, along with wide receivers coach Kenni Burns, in 2008 when the Salukis reached the FCS playoffs.
But for the most part, Bohl said the magnitude of a playoff game in Fargo is tough for his players to grasp.
"I don't know the age of some of our guys but they had to be in diapers at that time," he said. "The younger players have no idea what has occurred. The seniors do, they understand how hard it is to get into the playoffs."
So do the Bison fans. They watched back-to-back 10-1 seasons in 2006 and 2007 go to waste in terms of the playoffs because NDSU was ineligible due to the reclassification.
No longer.
"As far as it being another game, it is," junior free safety Daniel Eaves said. "But it's postseason, and it's different territory for us."
