North Dakota State Bison 2026 Season Preview

Polasek's Head Start

Tim Polasek takes over a 12-1 outfit, which is about as soft a landing as a first-year coach gets, even with the program checking in at just No. 100 in the power ratings. That gap between the record and the raw rating is the whole story here: Polasek inherited more talent than the metrics credit, and a debut season with this much margin for error is rare for any new hire. The floor is a winning record already in place, so year one is about proving the 12-1 was the roster and not just the schedule.

Hayes Owns the Huddle

Nathan Hayes threw for 381 yards with 4 touchdowns against a single interception in a limited 2025 sample, and now the offense is his to run under Tim Polasek in year one at the helm. There is no quarterback competition to track here, just a proven, careful decision-maker who protected the ball behind a 12-1 team and gets a full season to expand that role. The question for 2026 is not who plays quarterback but how much Polasek asks Hayes to do with an offense built around him.

North Dakota State loses Cole Payton and his 2,719 yards and 16 touchdowns off a 12-1 team, but the job belongs to Nathan Hayes, who already has 381 yards, 4 touchdowns and just 1 interception in his limited action behind Payton. Tim Polasek inherits the program in year one and hands his offense to a passer who has shown efficiency in a small sample rather than an unproven arm. The bet for 2026 is that Hayes scales up what he did in spot duty into a full season without the turnovers creeping in.

Barika Kpeenu comes back off a 1005-yard, 20-touchdown season, and that alone makes this the least complicated room on the roster for Tim Polasek in his first year running the show. DJ Scott's 502 yards behind him give the Bison a legitimate one-two punch, and with Myles Mitchell, Cortez LeGrant and Owen Johnson all back for depth, there is no scramble to replace lost production here. Three-star signee Godson Rufus-Okomhanru arrives with no snaps to his name, which means he is a developmental piece rather than a factor in a backfield that already has its bell cow.

Bryce Lance's 1079 yards and 8 touchdowns walk out the door, and nobody left in the room came close to that workload. RaJa Nelson, who caught 29 passes for 440 yards and 4 scores, becomes the clear top target, with Jackson Williams (293 yards) the next-most-proven hand. Mekhi Collins turned just 6 catches into 159 yards and 2 touchdowns, a big-play rate worth expanding, while three-star signee Myles Ellis arrives from Homewood-Flossmoor as a projection rather than a proven answer. Under new coach Tim Polasek, this group wins by committee or it does not replace Lance at all.

Reis Kessel is the only tight end here who did real damage last season, and his 15 catches for 335 yards and a touchdown mean whatever Tim Polasek installs in year one still runs through him first. Carson Williams and Finn Diggins each caught 8 balls, giving Kessel complementary pieces rather than a true second option, while Truman Werremeyer's single touchdown on just 3 catches hints at a role more about matchups than volume. The staff added Cash Danner, Caden Ward and Colten Gunderson with no college production yet, which reads less like an overhaul and more like insurance stacked behind a room Kessel already controls.

Tim Polasek inherits a line that kept most of its bodies from a 12-1 team, with Devin Lockerby, Josh Magin and Kaden Chadwick among the juniors back up front alongside Griffin Empey, Jack Liwienski and tackle Ryan Babatz. Only Trent Fraley and Beau Johnson are gone, so continuity favors North Dakota State even without a clear picture of who actually started. The four incoming freshmen, led by Kansas transfer Kene Anene, look like depth pieces for now, with real snaps likely to fall to the group of returners rather than the newcomers.

A 12-1 season bought North Dakota State nothing but a new address, and the defensive line that helped get there now has to prove itself again in the Mountain West under Tim Polasek. Brody Clubb, Jaxon Duttenhefer, Chase Evink and Jack Hansen give the interior a veteran core with no gaudy numbers attached, just experience, while Allante Burley and Carter Dauner return off the edge to anchor a group replacing Toby Anene. Three-star additions Daniel Devine, Zach Hellendrung and Skyler Werner, plus Jason Hunter Jr., arrive as unproven depth, meaning this line's identity in 2026 rests on its returners translating FCS success against a tougher level of competition.

North Dakota State returns a full six-man group at linebacker in Austin Altepeter, Sam Anderson, Carter Appl, Chase Brixius, Damian Devine and Alex Elliott, none of whom carry gaudy stat lines but all of whom bring experience back to a unit that helped the program to a 12-1 season. Nathaniel Staehling is gone, and rather than lean on the portal to replace him, Tim Polasek's staff added high school signee Jack Wilson out of Mount Horeb along with Cornell transfer Keith Williams Jr. to add depth. With so many bodies back and no statistical proof of who the difference-makers are, the answer likely comes from within that returning group rather than the newcomers.

North Dakota State went 12-1 with a secondary that left no statistical fingerprint, and Tim Polasek inherits a group whose numbers simply do not exist on paper despite last year's results. Jaylen Archibald, Hudson Artz, Walker Braaten and corners Antoine Booth, Kendrick Carter and Anthony Chideme-Alfaro all return, so the operation stays intact even as Jaquise Alexander and Jailen Duffie move on. A five-man 2026 signing class of Gunner Thielges, Kobe Russell, Deron Russell, Brayden Dozier and Q Barnslater adds bodies rather than instant answers, meaning this unit's 2026 identity rides almost entirely on the returning group repeating whatever it did right.

Eli Ozick leaves behind 110 points and a program-trusted leg that hit 16 of 18 field goals last season, and Drew Klein is the answer on paper with exactly one attempt to his name, a 46-yarder. Aaron Bickerton comes back averaging 43.5 yards on 34 punts, giving Tim Polasek's first team a settled net-punting operation even as the placekicking job carries far less proof of work. If Klein's small sample holds up, the drop-off from Ozick is more paperwork than reality.

Hayes Inherits the Offense

Cole Payton's 2719 yards and Bryce Lance's 1079-yard, 8-touchdown season walk out the door together, and it is Nathan Hayes, who threw for just 381 yards and 4 scores in his limited look, who now runs the whole show. The heavier losses sit in the trenches and secondary with Trent Fraley, Beau Johnson, Jaquise Alexander and Jailen Duffie all gone, while the incoming help is almost entirely high school talent rather than portal reinforcements, headlined by three-star signees Gunner Thielges, Braylon Toliver and Kene Anene. With a recruiting class ranked 117th and only three portal additions replacing seven departures, Tim Polasek is banking on Hayes to grow up fast behind a rebuilt group that will lean on true freshmen sooner than a defending 12-1 team would like.

Nathan Hayes

North Dakota State went 12-1 with Cole Payton throwing it, and now hands the offense to Nathan Hayes off a 381-yard, 4-touchdown sample size. Barika Kpeenu returns after 1005 yards and 20 scores on the ground, which buys Hayes time to grow, but a 117th-ranked recruiting class and a net loss of four portal players means there is little margin if his first extended look does not translate.

A New Line Entirely

North Tim Polasek enters Mountain West play with a blank betting ledger, which is the point: the Bison are jumping levels off a 12-1 season, and no market history exists to tell bettors how a program built for FCS dominance will price out against a new tier of competition. Tim Polasek inherits that record in his first year at the helm, but oddsmakers have nothing to anchor to beyond last season's results, so early lines on this team will be pure guesswork until the Bison establish themselves on the road and in conference games. The absence of any against-the-spread data is itself the story, a program stepping into unfamiliar markets with only its FCS reputation as a reference point.