NDSU isn't walking into this untouched, either. The Bison lose Barika Kpeenu, who ran for over 1,000 yards and 20 touchdowns last season, and top receiver Bryce Lance, who's since moved on to the NFL. Replacing that kind of production while also adjusting to a full FBS schedule for the first time is exactly the sort of transition that trips up even historically great programs — which is part of why the market hasn't fully bought into NDSU as an overwhelming favorite here.
Still, this is a program built different. The Fargodome's 18,700-seat, steel-roofed bowl has been one of the most hostile environments in college football for over a decade, and NDSU has a 38-2 record there in the FCS playoffs alone. Guard Griffin Empey, a two-time FCS All-American, anchors an offensive line that should give whoever wins the Bison's skill-position battles a real chance to establish the run early, which matters a lot against a Nevada defense that had to live with a broken offense all of last season.
For Nevada, this is as much about evaluation as it is about the scoreboard. Choate needs to see whether his new QB room and Bartolone's system can hold up against a team that simply doesn't beat itself, and a competitive showing in Fargo would say more about where this program is heading than the final score will. For NDSU, it's the latest step in a leap nobody in FCS history has quite made at this scale — proving the dynasty travels, not just that it wins at home against overmatched competition.
Whatever happens, it's a matchup worth circling for the novelty alone: a 10-time national champion trying to prove itself at a level it's never played, against a rebuilding program that's just trying to prove it belongs on the same field.