North Dakota State (1-0) hosts Fordham (0-1). The market has North Dakota State (1-0) favored by 41.5.
What’s at stake
North Dakota State
- North Dakota State hasn’t beaten a ranked opponent since 2016.
Fordham
- A win would be one of Fordham’s biggest of the season — a 154-spot gap in the power ratings.
Face-off
What each fanbase carries into this one.
Fordham
The chipFans here believe no chip — Fordham owns the guilt. The program hasn't recaptured the era when the Rams and Rose Hill (the campus) were known nationally. The question isn't what happened to us; it's whether we can become anything again.
What this game touches
The 2025 collapse to 1-11 and the pattern of football instability. After three consecutive winning seasons in the early 2020s, Fordham collapsed to 1-11 (1-6 Patriot League) in 2025 under coach Joe Conlin. The wound runs deeper: the Seven Blocks legacy (Vince Lombardi on the 1936 line) is impossible to carry in modern Patriot League football. Fordham football is caught between a legendary past and a struggling present.
North Dakota State
The chip · vs the national mediaThe chip is fourteen years of national media calling the FCS titles impressive but small — asterisked by the level, dimmed by the division, never fully counted. Bison fans believe that ten championships under any banner is ten championships, and they are carrying that belief into the Mountain West to prove it matters at any altitude.
Best players
North Dakota State
- Donovan Woolen (LB) · 10 tackles
- Blake Schiltz (DE) · 1 sacks
- Darius Givance (S) · 5 tackles
The line, and the room
The model and the market don’t fully agree on North Dakota State’s chances here.
Home −41.5 · O/U 56
Conditions
North Dakota State is 95% at home, 82% on the road since 2018 (60-3 home, 31-7 away).