After a relatively rocky playoff in the Football Championship Subdivision (FCS), No. 1 Montana State will face No. 2 North Dakota State in the FCS Championship today at 6:00 p.m. CT in Frisco, Texas. The NCAA announced that this will be the fifteenth and final championship game played at Toyota Stadium ahead of anticipated renovations. The two teams met three years ago in the FCS championship game, where North Dakota State defeated Montana State 38-10.

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Who is playing?

The top-seeded and undefeated Montana State Bobcats play the perennial powerhouse and second-seeded North Dakota State Bison

Montana State Bobcats

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Record: 15-0

Final FCS Coaches Poll rankings: 1

Remarkable home game results: Defeated Idaho 38-7, defeated Montana 34-11

Notable results in road games: Defeated New Mexico 35-31, defeated UC Davis 30-28

Prize winner: The Montana State Bobcats are led by Walter Payton Award-winning quarterback Tommy Mellott (who narrowly defeated North Dakota State quarterback Cam Miller for the award). Coach Brent Vigen won the Eddie Robinson Award.

North Dakota State Bison

Record: 13-2

Final FCS Coaches Poll rankings: 4

Remarkable home game results: Defeated South Dakota State 13-9, defeated Mercer 31-7

Notable results in road games: Lost to Colorado 31-26, lost to South Dakota 29-28

Prize winner: Running back CharMar Brown was awarded the Jerry Rice Award, which recognizes the best FCS freshman in the country.

What you should pay attention to:

Quarterback game

Interestingly, this year’s championship game will feature the exact same starting quarterbacks for each team as there were in the championship game three years ago – a rarity in the age of NIL and the transfer portal. QQuarterback Tommy Mellott was instrumental in Montana State’s undefeated success, showcasing his dual-threat abilities with 29 touchdown passes with just two interceptions. The Bisons are led by quarterback Cam Miller, who has shown efficiency and poise this season with a 31:4 touchdown-to-interception ratio and throwing for over 3,000 yards. Both quarterbacks want to show why they were finalists for the Walter Payton Award.

Rating

The Bobcats and Bison rank 1st and 3rd in offense this season. They’re also both very efficient: Montana State scores on 96.8% of attempts and North Dakota State scores on 93.0% of attempts. This would normally indicate a lot of action on the scoreboard. However, these two teams also boast the No. 6 (Montana State) and No. 10 (North Dakota State) scoring defenses in the country, meaning points could be close. The over/under is currently 58.5 total points, according to ESPN Bet.

Story

The Bison are regulars in Frisco, TX. Between the 2011 and 2021 seasons, North Dakota State won nine championships – more than any other FCS program. This year’s game is a rematch of the 2021 FCS Championship, where North Dakota State defeated Montana State 38-10 in their last championship victory. Montana State is seeking its first FCS title since 1984. Last year, North Dakota State was defeated by South Dakota State in the title game.

Here’s how to watch

The game will be broadcast live on ESPN and streamed online on the ESPN+ platform.

Betting odds

Montana State is currently the 3.5-point favorite to win tonight with a moneyline of Montana State (-170) and North Dakota State (+145). This puts the implied win probabilities for the Bobcats at 63% and for the Bison at 41%.

Take away

This year’s FCS championship game has the makings of a thriller. Two top-seeded teams and a tight spread suggest that we are in for a hard-fought duel with all the accolades of recent winners and historical implications. Tonight in Frisco, two FCS powerhouses will collide, and when the dust settles, one of them will have their name etched in the annals of championship history.