The Dakota Four

Last updated
The Dakota Four
Sport Football
First meetingNovember 3, 1894
North Dakota State 20, North Dakota 4
Latest meetingOctober 2, 2021, NDSU 16, UND 9
TrophyYes (Nickel Trophy), (Sitting Bull Trophy), (Dakota Marker)
Statistics
All-time seriesUND146-92-10
NDSU120-92-8
SDSU112-138-14
USD84-126-12
Largest victoryNorth Dakota State vs South Dakota State, 85–0 (1903)

The Dakota Four are a group of American college football teams which are all members of the Missouri Valley Football Conference: [1] the North Dakota Fighting Hawks, North Dakota State Bison, South Dakota Coyotes, and the South Dakota State Jackrabbits.

Contents

Since North Dakota's entry into the Missouri Valley Football Conference in 2020, the four member universities in the Dakotas have protected rivalries. With 11 members, the MVFC has an unbalanced conference schedule that results in not all teams playing each other on an annual basis. To promote rivalries, and to reduce travel costs, North Dakota, North Dakota State, South Dakota, and South Dakota State are all guaranteed to play each other every season.

Trophies and rivalries

Nickle Trophy Nickel trophy NDSU.JPG
Nickle Trophy
USA MidwestMap01.png
Yellow pog.svg
North Dakota State
Green pog.svg
North Dakota
Red pog.svg
South Dakota
Blue pog.svg
South Dakota State
Locations of Dakota Four Rivalry Members

All-time series

[3]

Facilities

TeamStadiumCapacity
North Dakota Alerus Center 12,283
North Dakota State Fargodome 19,000
South Dakota DakotaDome 10,000
South Dakota State Dana J. Dykhouse Stadium 19,340

MVF Conference titles by school

SchoolChampionshipsChampionship Years
North Dakota State
9
2011†, 2012, 2013, 2014†, 2015†, 2016†, 2017, 2018, 2019
South Dakota State
2
2016†, 2020‡
North Dakota
1
2020‡
South Dakota
0
N/A

2-way tie for conference championship
3-way tie for conference championship

NCAA Division I Football Championships by school

SchoolChampionshipsChampionship Years
North Dakota State
8
2011, 2012, 2013, 2014, 2015, 2017, 2018, 2019
South Dakota State
0
N/A
North Dakota
0
N/A
South Dakota
0
N/A

NCAA Division II Championships by school

SchoolChampionshipsChampionship Years
North Dakota State
8
1965, 1968, 1969, 1983, 1985, 1986, 1988, 1990
South Dakota State
0
N/A
North Dakota
1
2001
South Dakota
0
N/A

Related Research Articles

Missouri Valley Football Conference

The Missouri Valley Football Conference (MVFC), formerly the Gateway Football Conference, is a collegiate athletic conference which operates in the Midwestern United States. It participates in the NCAA's Division I Football Championship Subdivision (FCS) as a football-only conference.

North Central Conference

The North Central Conference (NCC), also known as North Central Intercollegiate Athletic Conference, was a college athletic conference which operated in the north central United States. It participated in the NCAA's Division II.

Summit League American college athletic conference

The Summit League, or The Summit, is an NCAA Division I intercollegiate athletic conference with its membership mostly located in the Midwestern United States from Illinois on the East of the Mississippi River to the Dakotas and Nebraska on the West, with additional members in the Western state of Colorado and the Southern state of Oklahoma. Founded as the Association of Mid-Continent Universities in 1982, it rebranded as the Mid-Continent Conference in 1989, then again as the Summit League on June 1, 2007. The league headquarters are in Sioux Falls, South Dakota.

The North Dakota Fighting Hawks represent the University of North Dakota, competing as a member of the Missouri Valley Football Conference (MVFC) in the NCAA Division I's Football Championship Subdivision. From 1973 to 2008, they played in the NCAA's NCAA Division II, winning the National Championship in 2001. From 1955 to 1972, they competed in the NCAA's College Division where they participated in and won three bowl games.

North Dakota State Bison football College Football team of North Dakota State University

The North Dakota State Bison football program represents North Dakota State University in college football at the NCAA Division I Football Championship Subdivision level and competes in the Missouri Valley Football Conference. Since the Bison's older brother, The University of North Dakota, has joined the conference, the Bison have not placer higher than the Fighting Hawks in the conference standings. It is notable that the Fighting Hawks won the conference most recently. The Bison play in the 19,000 seat Fargodome located in Fargo. The Bison have won sixteen national championships and 36 conference championships. They won five-consecutive NCAA Division I FCS National Championships between 2011 and 2015 as well as three more consecutively between 2017 and 2019. NDSU is the only college football program to ever win five consecutive NCAA national championships, and hold the record for most FCS titles with eight.

Florida Gators football Team representing the University of Florida in American college football

The Florida Gators football program represents the University of Florida (UF) in American college football. Florida competes in the Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS) of the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) and the Eastern Division of the Southeastern Conference (SEC). They play their home games in Steve Spurrier-Florida Field at Ben Hill Griffin Stadium on the university's Gainesville campus.

Dakota Marker

The Dakota Marker is the trophy awarded to the winner of the annual football game played between the rival Division I Championship Subdivision North Dakota State University Bison and the South Dakota State University Jackrabbits. Both schools are members of the Missouri Valley Football Conference.

Nickel Trophy American college football rivalry

The Nickel Trophy is presented to the winner of the currently annual football game between the rival University of North Dakota (UND) Fighting Hawks and the North Dakota State University (NDSU) Bison. The two universities are approximately 76 miles apart on the eastern border of North Dakota. The two schools suspended play in 2003 and resumed play in 2015.

South Dakota State Jackrabbits football

The South Dakota State Jackrabbits football team represents South Dakota State University in college football. The program competes at the NCAA Division I Football Championship Subdivision (FCS) level as member of the Missouri Valley Football Conference (MVFC). The Jackrabbits play their home games at Dana J. Dykhouse Stadium on South Dakota State's campus in Brookings, South Dakota. South Dakota State is considered to be among the few perennial powers in the FCS. South Dakota State is also one of only 13 FCS schools to host ESPN's College GameDay. GameDay came in 2019 when the #3 Jackrabbits hosted the #1 NDSU Bison, where they lost a close battle 23-16 after losing their starting QB to a season ending knee injury.

Fresno State–San Jose State football rivalry American college football rivalry

The Fresno State–San Jose State football rivalry is a college football rivalry between the Fresno State Bulldogs football team of California State University, Fresno and the San Jose State Spartans football team of San José State University. The two teams currently play annual, regularly scheduled contests as Mountain West Conference opponents.

Missouri–Oklahoma football rivalry American college football rivalry

The Missouri–Oklahoma football rivalry is an American college football rivalry between the Missouri Tigers football team of the University of Missouri and Oklahoma Sooners football team of the University of Oklahoma. The Tiger–Sooner Peace Pipe is the trophy awarded to the winner of the game.

Sitting Bull Trophy American college football rivalry

The Sitting Bull Trophy is the name of the rivalry trophy that was awarded to the winner of the annual football game between the University of North Dakota Fighting Hawks and the University of South Dakota Coyotes. The rivalry stems from the time the two teams spent competing together in the North Central Conference (1922–2007) and later in the Great West Conference (2008–2011).

South Dakota–South Dakota State football rivalry Collegiate football rivalry

The South Dakota–South Dakota State football rivalry between the South Dakota Coyotes and the South Dakota State Jackrabbits is a yearly rivalry match-up in football between the two largest public universities in the state of South Dakota: the University of South Dakota in Vermillion and South Dakota State University in Brookings.

2015 North Dakota State Bison football team American college football season

The 2015 North Dakota State Bison football team represented North Dakota State University in the 2015 NCAA Division I FCS football season. They were led by second-year head coach Chris Klieman. The team, which played its 23rd season in the Fargodome, entered the season as the four-time defending national champions. The Bison have been members of the Missouri Valley Football Conference (MVFC) since the 2008 season.

2016 North Dakota State Bison football team American college football season

The 2016 North Dakota State Bison football team represented North Dakota State University in the 2016 NCAA Division I FCS football season. They were led by third-year head coach Chris Klieman. The team played their 24th season in the Fargodome, entering the season as the five-time defending national champions and five-time Missouri Valley Football Conference Champions. The Bison have been members of the Missouri Valley Football Conference since the 2008 season.

2017 North Dakota State Bison football team American college football season

The 2017 North Dakota State Bison football team represented North Dakota State University in the 2017 NCAA Division I FCS football season. They were led by fourth-year head coach Chris Klieman. The team played their 25th season in the Fargodome in Fargo, North Dakota as members of the Missouri Valley Football Conference. The Bison finished the season 14–1, 7–1 in MVFC play to win the MVFC championship for the seventh consecutive year. As a result, the Bison received the conference's automatic bid to the FCS Playoffs as the No. 2 seed. In the playoffs, they defeated San Diego, Wofford, and Sam Houston State to advance to the National Championship game. There they defeated James Madison 17–13 to win the school's sixth National Championship in seven years. The September 30 game against Missouri State was the 700th victory since the team's founding in 1894.

2017 South Dakota State Jackrabbits football team American college football season

The 2017 South Dakota State Jackrabbits football team represented South Dakota State University in the 2017 NCAA Division I FCS football season. They were led by 21st-year head coach John Stiegelmeier and played their home games at Dana J. Dykhouse Stadium in Brookings, South Dakota as members of the Missouri Valley Football Conference. The Jackrabbits finished the season 11–3, 6–2 in MVFC play to finish in a tie for second place. They received an at-large bid to the FCS Playoffs where they defeated Northern Iowa in the second round and New Hampshire in the quarterfinals before losing in the semifinals to James Madison.

2018 North Dakota State Bison football team American college football season

The 2018 North Dakota State Bison football team represents North Dakota State University in the 2018 NCAA Division I FCS football season. They were led by fifth-year head coach Chris Klieman, who also coached his final season with the Bison before heading off to take over for the retiring Bill Snyder at Kansas State. The team played their 26th season in the Fargodome in Fargo, North Dakota as members of the Missouri Valley Football Conference. They entered the season as defending National Champions and had won six of the last seven FCS titles. In 2018, the Bison finished the regular season 11–0, the first undefeated Bison season since the 2013 campaign, and won their eighth consecutive MVFC title. They received an automatic qualifying bid to the FCS playoff tournament and were seeded as the No. 1 team. The Bison then went 4–0 in the FCS playoffs to finish 15–0 and FCS champions.

The 1993 North Dakota State Bison football team was an American football team that represented North Dakota State University during the 1993 NCAA Division II football season as a member of the North Central Conference. In their seventh year under head coach Rocky Hager, the team compiled a 7–3 record.

References

  1. "Although UND is set to play first Missouri Valley football contest, coordinators say schemes mostly stay the same". Grand Forks Herald.
  2. "2021 Football Media Guide" (PDF).
  3. "McFeely: NDSU-UND rivalry regains heat faster than expected". INFORUM.