North Dakota State and South Dakota are set to open the 2025 Missouri Valley Football Conference season Saturday inside the Fargodome, with plenty at stake on the final weekend of September.

The Bison have lost two straight regular season games to the Coyotes, including last year’s stunning 29-28 win by USD in Vermillion. The Coyotes have struggled to begin this season, losing their first two games to Iowa State and Lamar. USD knocked off Northern Colorado and Drake the last two weeks to even its mark at 2-2.

NDSU is coming off a bye week after dominating its first three opponents. The Bison will enter this game relatively healthy, with the potential of senior wide receiver Chris Harris returning after missing the last two games with a foot injury. Linebacker Austin Altepeter will return after missing the game with SEMO with a calf injury.

The Coyotes return quarterback Aidan Bouman, who will make his fourth career start against NDSU. Bouman has thrown five touchdowns and four interceptions to start the year.

The Forum’s Mike McFeely and WDAY’s Dom Izzo go through the matchup and chat about the other games in Week Five of the FCS season.

Dom Izzo is the Sports Director at WDAY-TV. He began working for WDAY in 2006 as the weekend sports anchor and was promoted to Sports Director in 2010.