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The Missouri Valley race gets clearer on Saturday in Vermillion. No. 7 North Dakota (6-2, 3-1 MVFC) plays at No. 8 South Dakota (6-2, 3-1) at 2 p.m. ET at the DakotaDome. Ranks are from our Week 7 FCS Top 25.
Youngstown State leads the Valley at 4-1. Both of these teams have one league loss, so the winner stays even with the Penguins in the loss column and the loser falls a game behind. There's a playoff bye on the table, too. Both teams sit in the committee's first top 10.
North Dakota is coming off its best win of the year. The Fighting Hawks beat South Dakota State 21-10 in Grand Forks last Saturday after building a 21-0 lead. It was their first win over a No. 1-ranked FCS team in six tries, according to UND Athletics.
Their two losses came at Nebraska, 34-7, and 24-17 at Northern Iowa, their only league loss. The Fighting Hawks score 36.6 points per game.
South Dakota has won three straight since a 47-28 loss at Youngstown State. The Coyotes beat Southern Illinois 31-10 and won 48-20 at Murray State last week. Their other loss was 38-24 at Boise State of the FBS.
The Coyotes lead the MVFC in scoring at 39.1 points per game. They have also won seven straight at home, their second-longest home streak of the FCS era, according to South Dakota Athletics.
UND QB Jerry Kaminski (senior): Kaminski has completed 147 of 220 passes for 1,742 yards, 21 touchdowns and four interceptions. He was banged up at Northern Iowa but came back to beat SDSU.
UND RB Charles Langama (sophomore): Langama leads the run game with 514 yards and six touchdowns on 65 carries, an average of 7.9 yards per carry.
UND WR Deng Deng (junior): Deng has 34 catches for 518 yards and is Kaminski's top target.
UND EDGE Braden Mohr (senior): Mohr leads the MVFC with 7.5 sacks, and 6.0 of those have come in four league games. Senior linebacker Ethan Boll leads the Fighting Hawks with 48 tackles.
USD QB Austyn Modrzewski (redshirt freshman): Modrzewski has thrown for 1,734 yards, 22 touchdowns and six interceptions in his first college season. His 178.0 passing efficiency rating leads the FCS, according to South Dakota Athletics, and his 22 touchdown passes tie Chris Streveler's 2016 total for fifth on USD's single-season list.
USD RB Charles Pierre Jr. (redshirt senior): Pierre has 585 rushing yards and seven touchdowns.
USD WR Brayden White (redshirt freshman): White has 468 receiving yards and an MVFC-best seven touchdown catches.
USD LB Wade Abrams (redshirt senior): Abrams leads the Valley with 68 tackles.
This is the 104th game between the old North Central Conference rivals, a series that goes back to 1903. North Dakota leads it 64-34-5, but South Dakota has won the last three, including a 26-21 win in Vermillion last Nov. 1. The Coyotes lead 4-2 since both schools joined the MVFC.
The building has been even tougher on the Fighting Hawks. North Dakota is 9-12 all-time in the DakotaDome and has lost five straight there, and its last win in the Dome came in 2008, according to UND Athletics.
It's a rare stage, too. Counting the Stats Perform and AFCA polls, Saturday will be just the fourth top-10 matchup in the DakotaDome since it opened in 1979 and the third in the FCS era, according to South Dakota Athletics. The Coyotes are 2-1 in the first three.
The quarterbacks are almost even. One touchdown pass and eight passing yards separate Kaminski and Modrzewski. Both backs are named Charles, and both average better than six yards a carry.
Turnovers may be the bigger gap. North Dakota is minus-5 in turnover margin and has lost nine fumbles. South Dakota is plus-2. In a game between two offenses that score in the high 30s, one extra possession could be the difference.
Watch Mohr against the USD line, too. Modrzewski has been hard to stop when he's upright. If North Dakota can't get pressure with four rushers, it will have a hard time keeping up.
Both teams are in the FCS playoff committee's first top 10 of 2026, with North Dakota sixth and South Dakota eighth. The top eight seeds get first-round byes, so this game could decide which of the two holds a bye spot when the committee updates its list. As far as Redshirt Sports knows, the committee doesn't use our poll, but it can be a good indicator. Both teams were bye seeds in our Week 7 bracket projection.
Kickoff is 2 p.m. ET (1 p.m. CT) on Saturday, Oct. 24, at the DakotaDome in Vermillion, South Dakota. The game streams on ESPN+ and airs on Midco Sports.
