FARGO-North Dakota State moved up two spots in the FCS Football Playoff Committee rankings and will take the No. 2 seed into the playoffs. The field was announced Sunday morning on ESPNU.
The Bison will get a first round bye and play the winner of San Diego and Northern Arizona on Saturday, Dec. 2. San Diego won the Pioneer League and NAU is an at-large entrant from the Big Sky Conference.
NDSU finished the regular season 10-1, with their only loss to fifth-seeded South Dakota State. It's the eighth straight playoff appearance for NDSU, which won an NCAA-record five straight championships from 2011-15.
Top-seeded James Madison ended that run in the semifinals last season. The Dukes ripped through the regular season unbeaten and carry an 11-0 mark into postseason, a record that is part of 23 straight victories.
It was a busy Sunday for the Missouri Valley Football Conference, which put five teams into the field. Besides NDSU and SDSU, Western Illinois, Northern Iowa and South Dakota made the field.
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The Bison won the Valley title outright on Saturday with a 20-7 win at Illinois State, the seventh straight conference championship either solo or shared for NDSU. It was the sixth win over a top 25-ranked team for the Bison.