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It’s just a big ol’ block of stone. It isn’t sculpted. It’s not bronzed or dipped in gold. It hasn’t been carved into the image of a football or a dude carrying a football. There are no corporate logos. Just simple black block letters embossed into three sides of the rectangular rock, reading “S.D.”, “N.D.” and “190 M.”

The quartzite it is made from is roughly a billion years old, exposed on the Earth’s surface by the flow of the Big Sioux River after its spigot was turned on more than 10,000 years ago. Yet this trophy is so young it couldn’t yet buy itself a drink if it wanted to. But somehow, in only 18 years, it has become as timeless as the forces that forged it, the rough-hewn reward for winning what might very well be college football’s most intense rivalry.

It is the Dakota Marker, and all 75 pounds of it will be hoisted this weekend on the floor of the Fargodome by either the North Dakota State Bison or the South Dakota State Jackrabbits. A pair of schools separated by only 190 miles (see: that “190 M” engraving), divided by a border that is watched over by the 800-pound, 130-year-old quarried ancestors of the trophy they fight to possess.

“The Marker would be special all on its own just because it’s so cool and the history behind it is amazing. It’s the story of the Dakotas,” Carson Wentz explained this summer when the Bison-turned-Washington Commanders quarterback was asked about the rivalry in which he went 2-0 as a starter. “But then you add what is at stake in this game, what always seems to be at stake in this game, and it just multiplies what the Marker means by a hundred.”

When the rivals kick off Saturday (3:30 PM ET, ESPN+), they will do so as the nation’s No. 1 (NDSU) and No. 2 (SDSU) teams in the FCS. The victor will seize an undisputed top ranking while moving into the inside lane for both the Missouri Valley Conference championship and home-field advantage throughout the FCS playoffs.

The Bison are seeking their mind-bending 10th FCS championship since 2011. The Jacks are still hunting their first, having lost the title game by two points just two seasons ago. This will be their 10th straight meeting as top-10 teams. Two of those came in the playoffs, the most recent an NDSU win in the national semifinals. North Dakota State has lost only two regular-season FCS games over the past two seasons, and both were Dakota Marker losses to the Jackrabbits. Last December it appeared the two teams might be on track for the ultimate postseason rematch in the national title game until SDSU lost to Montana State in the semis.

There are 18 North Dakotans on the Bison’s roster and three South Dakotans. On the Jackrabbits’ roster there are 29 South Dakotans and exactly zero players from “the state to the north.” NDSU linebackers coach Grant Olson won three national titles as an All-American Bison linebacker. SDSU quarterbacks coach Zach Lujan threw 29 TD passes as a Jack, and passing game coordinator Josh Davis still holds the school record with 16 catches in a single game. NDSU assistant coach Tyler Roehl was an All-American running back who ran for 263 yards against Minnesota in a Big Ten “money game.” SDSU assistant Jimmy Rogers registered 312 tackles and three forced fumbles as a Jackrabbits linebacker. One of those was via a head-in collision with Roehl, a turnover that all but clinched South Dakota State’s taking of the Dakota Marker in 2007. Now they match wits as offensive coordinator versus defensive coordinator.

“There’s a level of frustration because you can’t go back in time and redo what you did as a player,” says Roehl, visibly working hard not to furrow his brow as he talks more about the two Marker games he lost as a player than the one his team won. “But that’s why I am back. You can continue to work to have an impact on the game from a coach and continue to put our players in position to be successful. I respect them. I just really want to beat them.”

“It consumes me, to be honest,” Rogers confesses, sitting at a desk covered in old-school playbook pages. “Not hoisting the Marker. Don’t ask what that feels like because I’ve never done that. Not as a player or a coach. I let the other guys do that. I don’t want to be running to that and miss my favorite part.”

And, what’s that, Coach?

“Watching them walk off the field. Watching them have to leave that field knowing they have lost.”

Oh, damn. So, that’s how it is.

“We all know each other so well, maybe a little too well,” fourth-year NDSU head coach Matt Entz says with a laugh. “We recruit the same kids. So many of the guys I tried to sign are down there, and so many they tried to sign are up here. Years ago, I almost went to work for Coach Stig at SDSU. Imagine how different our worlds would be then, right? That’s how close this all is.”

“I think the measure of a true rivalry probably comes with the question how much do people talk about the game,” says John Stiegelmeier, aka “Coach Stig.”

Stiegelmeier is in his 26th season as head coach and his 36th straight year on the staff. The Selby, South Dakota, native is also a South Dakota State alum. “Here in Brookings, they talk about this game 365 days out of the year. It wasn’t always that way. But now, that is most definitely the case.”

To be clear, this game has roots that reach back nearly 120 years, to the first meeting of Dakota Agricultural College and North Dakota Agricultural College in 1903. They have played 112 times in all, and since 1919 the only years missing are the three years lost to World War II. But during the first century of their series, the matchup was largely venom-less, lukewarm at best, as each school’s biggest rival was the school featuring its name minus the “State”: the University of North Dakota Fighting Hawks and the University of South Dakota Coyotes.

As the 21st century rolled around, both NDSU and SDSU started looking at moves from NCAA Division II to what was then known as I-AA, now called FCS.

“What we realized very quickly was that if we were going to make that jump, we needed a partner to do it,” Stiegelmeier says. “We both agreed that we would do it together. So, we met at the border and shook on it.”

It is a moment that is so Dakotas it sounds completely made up, an image taken straight out of a “Yellowstone” script. A pair of college football coaches, a pair of athletic directors and a couple of university administrators, standing along an imaginary line on the Great Plains, leaning into the wind as they leaned in to shake hands.

“We stood right by one of the Dakota Markers when we had that meeting,” Stiegelmeier recalls. “So, when we decided this game needed a name and a trophy, the Dakota Marker, that was the only way to go.”

The Dakota Territory was incorporated in 1861, the northernmost section of land acquired by the United States in the Louisiana Purchase. As the 20th century approached, the territory was earmarked for statehood but was considered too large as it was, so it was split in half, north and south. There were, of course, vicious politics and infighting and resistance from both sides, but ultimately, on Nov. 2, 1889, President Benjamin Harrison signed the papers that made North and South Dakota separate states. He had been warned that the two states were already talking 19th century smack over which one of them would become a state first, so he requested that the documents be shuffled and their titles covered so that no one could accuse him of playing favorites.

The line chosen to split the states ran along the seventh standard parallel, found at 45°56’07” north latitude. But someone needed to show everyone where the border actually was. On Sept. 19, 1891, Charles Bates of Yankton, South Dakota, began that process, armed with surveyor’s tools and guided largely by the North Star above the prairie. A team of nine men located the tristate corner where Minnesota bumps up against both Dakotas. They dug a posthole and filled it with a 7-foot-long, 800-pound quartzite marker, carried over the plains and buried halfway. The part of the marker above ground was marked on its 10-inch-wide sides with “ND” to the north, “SD” to the south and mileage from the eastern starting point next to an “M.” This first marker included an added “IN.MT” for “initial monument.”

From there, Bates and his crew marched 360.57 miles, from Minnesota to Montana. It took a year. They battled pits of snakes, clouds of mosquitoes and a two-day snowstorm that covered their work under a 30-foot snowdrift. They spiked a total 720 markers into the earth, what Bates called “silent sentinels on the prairie” that were delivered by steamboat and train to be literally picked up by his team.

Over the next century, the Dakota Markers faded out of the memories of most Dakotans. Some sank into the ground under their own weight. Others were vandalized or dug up by angry farmers and Native Americans. Many were mistaken as fence posts or cemetery headstones. Eventually, volunteer groups were formed to try to save the markers that remained, but hundreds are likely gone forever.

A drive earlier this week to find the initial monument was met with curious questions from twilight combine operators and one woman who came out onto the front porch of her farmhouse to shout: “Keep going! The marker is down this path! I can’t believe you made it all the way out here in that car!”

“People who had lived here their entire lives had no idea what a Dakota Marker was, and this is coming from a guy who was born and raised here,” Stiegelmeier said. “Now they do. Thanks to a football game.”

Not just a football game. Maybe the grandest, grittiest football game played this season or any other, no matter what NCAA designation it might be played under. Neighbors. Frenemies. Divided by a line they must cross each fall in order to bring home a marker designed to show us where that line is. But connected by a Dakota DNA that is as unique as that trophy they fight for.

And we do mean fight.

“When this game started under the new idea of the Dakota Marker, we were all in this together, right? Kumbaya, let’s move up together and this will be fun. That lasted less than one game.” Jimmy Rogers speaks of the 2004 contest, in which the Jacks threw a missile of a 22-yard TD pass with 39 seconds to go, winning the initial Marker 24-21. “From then until now, they know we mean business and we know they mean business. To do what we want to do, win a national championship, we have to beat them. Honestly, to me, we have to beat them anyway. I don’t care if we’re 0-6 going into kickoff.”

“I’ve been a part of 18 of these and my record is 11-7,” Roehl says. “I think you know now that I recall the losses more than the wins. I recall the fact that they have won the Marker two straight.”

A vein starts to rise from Roehl’s neck as he talks. The same happens to Rogers. They both start recalling old games. The 2-point conversion for SDSU at the buzzer in ’08. Easton Stick in ’18. Wentz. College GameDay at both schools. Those four playoff games.

Roehl and Rogers both sit up straight. Both get tears in their eyes. Both of their faces turn a light shade of red. The hue is unmistakable. It’s the color of quartzite.

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Tide, Canes in, Irish out as Indiana tops CFP field

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December 7, 2025

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Tide, Canes in, Irish out as Indiana tops CFP field
Dec 7, 2025, 12:39 PM ET

After being on the outside looking in last year, Alabama and Miami can breathe a sigh of relief as the Crimson Tide and Hurricanes were the last at-large teams selected — ahead of Notre Dame — for the 12-team College Football Playoff field announced Sunday.

Undefeated Big Ten champion Indiana (13-0) earned the No. 1 seed, while two Group of 5 teams — American Conference champ Tulane (11-2) and Sun Belt victor James Madison (12-1) — were selected to the CFP field.

In addition to the Hoosiers, No. 2 seed Ohio State (12-1), No. 3 Georgia (12-1) and No. 4 Texas Tech (12-1) were awarded first-round byes, guaranteed to the four highest teams in the rankings.

The Fighting Irish (10-2) were the first team out as the committee took Alabama (10-3) and Miami (10-2) instead.

The Crimson Tide, which stayed at No. 9 after their 28-7 loss to Georgia in the SEC championship game, will visit No. 8 seed Oklahoma (10-2) in the first round.

Miami, which didn’t play Saturday after failing to advance to the ACC championship game, will visit No. 7 Texas A&M (11-1).

With Duke‘s win over Virginia (10-3), James Madison finished ahead of the Blue Devils (8-5) in the final CFP rankings — the committee takes the five highest-ranked conference champions — to get the No. 12 seed. The Dukes, who officially moved from the FCS to the FBS in 2022, will visit No. 5 seed Oregon (11-1) in the first round.

Tulane is the No. 11 seed and will face No. 6 Ole Miss (11-1) in a matchup of programs affected by coaching carousel chaos. The Rebels enter the playoff with a new head coach (Pete Golding) following Lane Kiffin’s exit to LSU, while the Green Wave will continue to be coached by Jon Sumrall, who will depart for Florida following the playoff.

The first-round games will be played Dec. 19 and Dec. 20 at campus sites of the higher-seeded teams. The quarterfinals (Dec. 31-Jan. 1; ESPN) and semifinals (Jan. 8-9; ESPN) follow at the traditional New Year’s Six bowl games, and a national champion will be crowned on Jan. 19 at Hard Rock Stadium in Miami (7:30 p.m. ET, ESPN).

Bowl season kicks off Dec. 13 at noon with the Cricket Celebration Bowl at Mercedes-Benz Stadium in Atlanta.

In all, 36 bowl games are scheduled, in addition to the 11 games of the CFP, and 42 of those games will air on the ESPN/ABC family of networks.

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Duke stirs CFP pot, calls for bid as ACC champion

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December 7, 2025

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Duke stirs CFP pot, calls for bid as ACC champion

  • David HaleDec 7, 2025, 12:30 AM ET

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    • College football reporter.
    • Joined ESPN in 2012.
    • Graduate of the University of Delaware.

CHARLOTTE, N.C. — Duke defensive end Wesley Williams said he heard the refrain throughout the run-up to Saturday’s ACC championship game: A Blue Devils win would be “a doomsday scenario.”

At 7-5 and unranked, Duke arrived in Charlotte with a chance to win the conference and, in doing so, knock the ACC out of the College Football Playoff entirely, with two teams from the Group of 5 — Tulane and James Madison — potentially making it instead.

Well, doomsday has arrived, thanks to a series of fourth-down calls by Duke coach Manny Diaz, including one in overtime that resulted in the game-deciding touchdown in a 27-20 Blue Devils victory over No. 17 Virginia.

“Coach Diaz said this week, ‘If you think people hate Duke now, just wait until we win the ACC,'” Williams said.

The ACC’s fifth tiebreaker — combined win percentage of conference opponents — sent Duke to the league’s title game from among five teams tied for second place in the standings, including No. 12 Miami, a team on the fringe of an at-large CFP bid that could have benefited significantly from an extra game to wow the selection committee.

Instead, it was Duke that got the chance to avenge a Nov. 15 loss to Virginia and make its own case for playoff inclusion.

“I’m not going to take anything away from James Madison,” Diaz said. “They had a really great season. … The Sun Belt has been a really good conference in years past, but most of their top teams are having a down year. So when you start comparing strength of schedule — you can’t just look at wins and losses. It’s who you play against. That’s the whole point of playing a Power 4 schedule. There’s a reason all these coaches are all leaving for Power 4 jobs. There’s recognition that’s where the best competition is.

“The ACC champion should go to the College Football Playoff this year and every year. And we’ll be very excited to see how they rule on that tomorrow.”

James Madison coach Bob Chesney has accepted the head coaching position at UCLA, but he is expected to stay with the Dukes through any potential playoff run.

The Dukes finished the season 12-1 but lost their lone game against a Power 4 foe, Louisville, in September. James Madison beat Troy 31-14 on Friday to win the Sun Belt championship.

James Madison athletic director Matt Roan offered a counterpoint, noting that Dukes quarterback Alonza Barnett III was just coming back after a long-term injury and the Dukes still played Louisville close before losing 28-14.

“The next week, we started what is now the second-longest winning streak in the country,” Roan said. “This team is clicking since that time and separated itself as one of the five best conference champions in the country after winning the Sun Belt. JMU led the nation in wins over bowl-eligible teams with seven, matching Indiana and Ohio State. We can score points and stop points with anyone in the country. Our second halves, and fourth quarter in particular, have been untouchable. Who you play matters, but more important is how you play. Our players and our coaches have been elite all season and are deserving of this opportunity.”

James Madison was No. 25 in the most recent CFP rankings. Duke was unranked.

Diaz said after Saturday’s win, however, that the committee now has a more complete body of work to consider.

According to ESPN’s metrics, James Madison has the No. 18 strength of record but the No. 123 strength of schedule. Duke entered Saturday’s game with the No. 59 strength of record and No. 74 strength of schedule. Two of the Blue Devils’ losses were to teams outside the Power 4: playoff hopeful Tulane and 9-3 UConn.

“Having been on the selection committee, I understand it’s complicated,” Duke athletic director Nina King said. “I think we’re deserving when you look at some of these numbers like strength of schedule, number of Power 4 teams we’ve played and won. I think we’re deserving, but I fully appreciate the challenge [for the committee].”

The ACC’s doomsday scenario was in some ways more of a “Mission: Impossible.” After Duke lost to Virginia in Week 11, the Blue Devils were +1800 to win the conference and, according to ESPN’s FPI, had a 3.8% chance of winning the ACC.

Now, the conference will wait for the committee to deliver a verdict on both Duke and Miami on Sunday. The Hurricanes are 10-2 but have consistently been ranked behind several other two-loss teams, including Notre Dame, a team they beat in Week 1.

“Miami should get in,” Diaz said after Saturday’s win. “The head-to-head should matter. And so should we, because we’re the conference champion.”

ACC commissioner Jim Phillips argued the same before Saturday’s kickoff, but he declined to comment after Duke’s win over Virginia that might have left the conference with no playoff bids.

The doomsday scenario for the ACC, however, could just as easily turn into a boon with two teams in, should the committee buy into Duke’s sales pitch. Blue Devils linebacker Luke Mergott, who hauled in the championship-clinching interception in overtime, believes it will.

“We represent the ACC, and the ACC is a respected conference,” Mergott said. “I think we’ll be in, and I’m confident our name will be called.”

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Hoosiers bask in Big Ten title, CFP’s No. 1 seed

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December 7, 2025

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Hoosiers bask in Big Ten title, CFP's No. 1 seed

  • Adam RittenbergDec 7, 2025, 02:10 AM ET

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      College football reporter; joined ESPN in 2008. Graduate of Northwestern University.

INDIANAPOLIS — Indiana assistant coach Ola Adams put his hands on his head in disbelief as confetti fell and the crowd roared at Lucas Oil Stadium.

But the scene unfolding before Adams on Saturday night was very believable. Since the moment coach Curt Cignetti swaggered onto campus two years earlier and outlined a success plan for the losingest program in college football, Indiana has been climbing.

On a magical night 50 miles from their home stadium, the Hoosiers reached the top, outlasting Ohio State 13-10 in a Big Ten championship game that matched the nation’s top two teams, both undefeated. Indiana beat No. 1 to become No. 1.

“We’re going to go in the playoffs as the No. 1 seed,” Cignetti said. “A lot of people probably thought that wasn’t possible.”

The milestones achieved are seemingly endless. The Hoosiers won their first Big Ten championship since 1967 and their first outright title since 1945. They beat Ohio State for the first time since 1988, ending a 32-game losing streak. And quarterback Fernando Mendoza likely clinched the school’s first Heisman Trophy with several heroic throws, rallying his team from a 10-3 deficit.

“It shows everybody: Why not? Why would you not want to come to Indiana?” linebacker Isaiah Jones said. “For any of the doubters out there, this kind of was the final nail in the coffin for any of the Indiana doubters, the Curt Cignetti doubters, the Hoosier doubters.

“This was the last thing that needed to be proved, and we did it.”

Indiana beat a top-ranked team for the first time in 17 tries, holding Ohio State scoreless for the final 40:08 and twice turning away the Buckeyes inside the 10-yard line.

“As a basketball manager, Keith Smart’s shot that won the national championship [in 1987],” Indiana athletic director Scott Dolson, who worked under coach Bob Knight for that title team, told ESPN. “This is right up there with that. This is a big moment.”

Cignetti guided the Hoosiers to a team-record 11 wins in his debut season, but when Indiana faced Ohio State, the eventual national champion, and Notre Dame, the eventual runner-up, its deficiencies were exposed in double-digit losses. Although Indiana faced a tougher regular-season schedule this fall, recorded a signature road win against Oregon and had shown clear improvement in several areas, it still entered Saturday’s game as the underdog.

But the Hoosiers (13-0) were better at the line of scrimmage, recording five sacks against an Ohio State team (12-1) that had allowed six the entire regular season. Facing Heisman Trophy contenders in quarterback Julian Sayin and wide receiver Jeremiah Smith, Indiana’s defense never yielded, making several memorable plays, including linebacker Rolijah Hardy‘s end zone pass deflection to prevent the go-ahead touchdown with 2:51 to play.

“We envisioned it,” defensive lineman Tyrique Tucker said. “We felt like we needed to handle business, especially due to last year. We felt like we had to finish some things and we had some unfinished business.”

Cignetti and his players thought that if they could keep the game close late, they would have an edge. Indiana rallied late to beat Iowa and Penn State and pulled away from Oregon with the score tied early in the fourth quarter. Ohio State, meanwhile, had not faced a second-half deficit this season until Mendoza found Elijah Sarratt for a 17-yard score with 8:02 to play in the third quarter.

“That’s what we dwell on, like, we come out and we take on a challenge,” said cornerback D’Angelo Ponds, who was matched up against Smith in man coverage throughout the game. “They haven’t been challenged all year. … We challenged them.”

Mendoza’s night began with a massive hit by Ohio State’s Caden Curry that left him writhing on the turf and forced him to miss a play. He also threw an interception that led to Ohio State’s only touchdown. But Mendoza steadied himself, even without top wideout Omar Cooper Jr., and found Charlie Becker for completions of 51 and 33 yards, the latter on third-and-6 in the final minutes.

Indiana fans gathered in the north end of the stadium chanted “Heis-Mendoza!” as Mendoza received game MVP honors.

“I don’t want to go in deep depth with the Heisman, but I remember Coach Cignetti brought me in, I think it was after UCLA, and he told me, ‘Hey, the Heisman’s a team game, it’s a team award. It’s not a player award. And if you win, then you can get nominated for it,'” Mendoza said. “Hopefully, I would love the opportunity to get the invite to New York, which would be fantastic.”

The Heisman ceremony awaits Mendoza next week, and Indiana will prepare for its first trip to the Rose Bowl since the 1967 season. But no one associated with the program will forget what happened Saturday night, just a few dozen miles from campus.

“It was just a dream come true,” Ponds said. “It actually didn’t feel real. We believed in ourselves, and we went out there and executed. It all just came together.”

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