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SIOUX FALLS — All nine teams in the Missouri Valley Football Conference have a game against an FBS foe this year, which isn’t always the case.

That’s usually not by design — the chance to play in a Big Ten, SEC or Big 12 stadium is supposed to be one of the perks of choosing the FCS level — but sometimes those games can be hard to negotiate, especially for national championship contenders like North Dakota State, who went an astounding 9-5 against FBS teams before moving up to that level themselves.

And even a team like South Dakota State, that’s just 2-11 against the FBS, can be a less than attractive opponent for nearby power schools, because it’s likely going to be a difficult win to pull off. Lose and it can ruin your season; win and, well, nobody cares, that’s what you’re supposed to do. Nebraska, Minnesota, Iowa and TCU are among the FBS teams that would probably rather never see the Jacks again.

There are 10 FBS games for the Valley this year (Murray State plays two).

Before we get to the games, here are the Valley records against FBS teams all-time.

Illinois State: 8-42
Indiana State: 11-64
Murray State: 3-42
North Dakota: 1-15
Northern Iowa: 11-36
South Dakota: 2-15
South Dakota State: 2-11
Southern Illinois: 6-43
Youngstown State: 20-36

Now for the games. We’ll take a look at them in chronological order, and rate them according to potential entertainment factor and likelihood of an upset.

Indiana State at Purdue

The Boilermakers have gone 3-21 over the last two years, and 0-18 in the Big Ten.
One of their two wins last year was a 34-17 victory over Southern Illinois, and their only win in 2024 was a 49-0 rout of…..Indiana State.
Purdue may be bad, but they were smart enough to schedule their FCS game against the Sycamores and not a national championship contender. If the Trees win this game I think it’s fair to kick the Boilermakers out of the Big Ten.
Entertainment factor: 🏈🏈
Chance of an upset: 🏈

Youngstown State at Kentucky

New Wildcats coach Will Stein made some headlines at SEC Media Days earlier this week in Tampa when he said that yes, he believes the Wildcats can win in the SEC, and when asked why answered, “because of me.”
OK, then. Like the confidence, guy.
The former Louisville quarterback and Oregon offensive coordinator has his work cut out for him, as the Wildcats are just 3-13 in the SEC over the last two years and haven’t had a winning record in conference play since 2018.
They should be good enough to beat the Penguins, but with YSU bringing back star quarterback Beau Brungard this has the potential to be interesting.
Entertainment factor: 🏈🏈🏈🏈
Chance of an upset: 🏈🏈🏈

Murray State at Middle Tennessee

The Blue Raiders are in their third year under Derek Mason, who went 27-55 in eight years at Vanderbilt and has gone 3-9 in each of his two seasons in Murfreesboro.
I wrote a whole paragraph here about Mason’s career in the NFL before realizing he’s not that Derek Mason.
Are the Raiders better this year? Maybe, I don’t have time to do a deep dive into their 2026 roster and outlook.
But Murray State has obviously been the doormat of the Valley since joining, and while I like what Jody Wright is doing in trying to push the boulder up the hill, I’d be surprised if they’re ready to beat an FBS team, even a bad one.
Entertainment factor: 🏈
Chance of an upset: 🏈🏈

Illinois State at Northern Illinois

The Redbirds are coming off a drive to the national championship game, having played a whopping 17 games in 2025. Coach Brock Spack said at Media Day that all that extra work paid huge dividends in helping his roster develop, meaning the players being asked to step into new roles in 2026 are going to be farther along than might otherwise be expected.
The Huskies, meanwhile, are coming off a 3-9 season, and saw coach Thomas Hammock leave to be the Seahawks running backs coach in February, leaving NIU to name defensive coordinator Rob Harley as interim coach.

Trent Singer / Sioux Falls Live

NIU beat Notre Dame just two years ago, so it’s not like this is a program that doesn’t know how to win, but this feels like a really winnable game for the Redbirds.
Look out, Huskies.
Entertainment factor: 🏈🏈🏈
Chance of an upset: 🏈🏈🏈🏈

Southern Illinois at Illinois

Bret Bieleman has done pretty good work in Champagne, going 37-26 in five years at the helm, including 19 wins in the last two years.
This should be a special day for the Salukis, taking on the top program in the state, and watching DJ Williams go against a Big Ten defense will be fun. An upset isn’t out of the question, but it would take something close to a miracle.
Entertainment factor: 🏈🏈🏈🏈
Chance of an upset: 🏈🏈

Northern Iowa at Iowa

Who’s the Hawkeyes quarterback this year? I don’t care anymore because it’s not Mark Gronowski.
I still wish the Hawkeyes wouldn’t have waited until the Bowl game to let Captain 11 cook like he’s capable of, but I digress.
It’s eternally cool that Iowa and Iowa State routinely play the Panthers, even back when they were good and could threaten to beat them.

Trent Singer / Sioux Falls Live

They don’t have to worry about that now, however. Maybe Todd Stepsis is going to get UNI back into contention, but they haven’t shown much yet to indicate that turnaround is imminent.
Entertainment factor: 🏈🏈
Chance of an upset: 🏈

Murray State at Oklahoma State

New Cowboys coach Eric Morris is a man. He is 40.
(Sorry, couldn’t help myself, but he literally is)
Once the coach of FCS contender Incarnate Word, Morris went 11-2 last year at North Texas, but left Denton to replace legendary man Mike Gundy, who was finally fired last year.

Jenn Kenyon/Sioux Falls Live

In 2024, OSU began the season ranked in the Top 20 and beat SDSU 44-20 in the opener. They ended up 3-9. Then last year they went 1-11. The fall was fast for Gundy’s boys.
They shouldn’t have any trouble with the Racers, but who knows how much of a mess the Cowboys will still be as they try to rebuild from the wreckage of the last two years?
Entertainment factor: 🏈🏈🏈
Chance of an upset: 🏈

North Dakota at Nebraska

This is UND’s second trip to Lincoln in four years. I remember driving back to Sioux Falls from the 7-3 Iowa/Jacks game and finding it on the radio, then laughing when I heard the game was tied at 17 in the third quarter. Man, Scott Frost was a disaster.
The Huskers did rally to win that one 38-17, but it was not a good win for the Bugeaters, as UND was a pedestrian FCS team, going 7-5 that year like they usually do.
This proved to be Frost’s last win at his alma mater, as the Huskers lost to Georgia Southern at home the following week, leading to Trev Alberts canning the former golden boy.
None of that has anything to do with this game, really, I just wanted to rehash all those details for any Nebraska fans who may read this.
Anyway, the Huskers are slightly better under Matt Rhule, who has a podcast and reportedly prefers black coffee to bottomless margaritas.
The Hawks, meanwhile, are seen by many as an FCS up-and-comer. This could be interesting.
Entertainment factor: 🏈🏈🏈
Chance of an upset: 🏈🏈🏈

South Dakota at Boise State

USD’s first FBS win, over Minnesota in 2010, remains one of my favorite moments in South Dakota sports history.

I wrote a column at the time calling it the biggest win in South Dakota sports history, and a bunch of people who aren’t USD fans got mad at me, but none of them could come up with a better one. It is no longer the biggest win in South Dakota sports history, but it was at the time. Argue with a wall.

Matt Zimmer/SFL

The Yotes’ second FBS win came over Bowling Green, which wasn’t a surprising win at all.
USD fell flat against Iowa State in last year’s FBS game, but they lost 27-13 to Wisconsin the year before and have had some other close calls/competitive games.
This one doesn’t look like a very favorable matchup for the Yotes. They’ve got a new coach and will have a new quarterback, while Boise is the preseason favorite in the new Pac-12. Still, weird things happen. Also, blue turf.
Entertainment factor: 🏈🏈🏈🏈🏈
Chance of an upset: 🏈🏈

South Dakota State at Northwestern

So Northwestern is moving into a new (almost) billion dollar stadium, but not until their third home game against Penn State.
Kind of a bummer that SDSU doesn’t get to play there, but I get not wanting to open the new place against an FCS team. It’s not a sexy opponent for Wildcat fans, and also, you might lose. They might lose to Penn State, too, but that wouldn’t be embarrassing. Losing to the Jacks would be.
And it could happen.

Northwestern athletics

Northwestern has been fairly mediocre under David Braun, and firing Zach Lujan after two years to replace him with Chip Kelly feels a little like a save-your-job-Hail-Mary move.
And while this will be Northwestern’s opener, the Jacks will come in with a game under their belt, against non-scholarship Stetson. That feels like a big advantage for SDSU.
Sioux Falls’ own Griffin Wilde will be going against his former teammates, too, adding a personal touch to this one.
Entertainment factor: 🏈🏈🏈🏈🏈
Chance of an upset: 🏈🏈🏈