“You can look at it as a revenge tour”; Bison Football players have a chip on their shoulder heading into Fall Camp

FARGO, N.D. (Valley News Live) - Members of the herd haven’t forgotten how their season came to an end last year.

The Bison Football team suffered their first loss in Frisco, Texas since they started their decade of dominance over the FCS, falling to their biggest rivals in the title game. It’s been seven months since the final whistle in the Lone Star State, but it’s still fresh on the mind for some members of the roster.

“That championship game was not the best version of ourselves, and we know that, as a team we know that.” said sixth-year running back TaMerik Williams. “Honestly, you can look at it as a revenge tour, we know what we’re trying to do, we know what we’re trying to accomplish, but first we have to take care of the Valley first, and then focus on the big championship.”

Senior corner Jayden Price echoed that sentiment, saying ”I think our entire team generally has a chip on their shoulder, because after knowing what happened last year, but defensively, we wanna be a top five, if not the number one defense in the nation every year, and obviously we didn’t make that mark last year, and we know we gotta go out and prove something this year.”

Now it’s on to the 2023 season as the Bison look to right a wrong. The herd has been busy since last season ended, with the majority of the roster putting in work through the Spring and Summer, but things definitely ramp up when the whistles blow to open fall camp.

“All the energy is here on day one, as it is probably everywhere.” senior receiver Zach Mathis said. “Everyone is just excited to get back out here. It’s great to be playing football again versus each other and that competitive aspect. It’s great for the team and we’re excited.”

While the Bison may have some fresh faces, especially in the Defensive Backfield, they also have plenty of depth heading into the season. They also looked healthy, with very few members of the roster out of action for day one, a trend that Head Coach Matt Entz hopes to continue.

“I can go back to last December with how frustrating it was to see good players stand next to me, but at the same time one of the benefits that we seldom talk about at the time is all the guys who replaced them are back.” Entz said. “You can have a guy like Jaxon Duttenhefer, Kody Huisman at defensive tackle, Kole Menz who has played a ton of football, Logan Kopp who has started a little bit and played a lot of football. It’s created some depth for us at certain spots which has always been beneficial going into our non-con and of course a tough conference season.”

That non-con campaign starts off with a bang. The Bison host Eastern Washington in U.S. Bank Stadium in Minneapolis on September 2nd.

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