Jax State is not going to Fargo to play a supporting role

The national television angle for Saturday's Week Zero game at North Dakota State writes itself — NDSU's first FBS game, 10 national titles in DII/FCS and a program that has dominated its level of college football for the better part of two decades stepping onto a bigger stage. CBS Sports Network has the broadcast at 4:30 p.m. The storyline the cameras are there to capture belongs to the Bison.

Charles Kelly and Jacksonville State are fine with that. They are bringing 50 returning lettermen and seven defensive starters to Fargo, and the Gamecocks are not particularly interested in which program the broadcast might choose to celebrate.

“It’s two great institutions that have years and years of winning, and it’s a great opportunity for both schools with them making the move up like we did a few years ago,” Kelly said.

Jax State made the same FCS-to-FBS transition four years ago, won the CUSA championship in 2024 and went back to the championship game last season as regular season champions before finishing 9-5 with a bowl win over Troy. Kelly was not at Jacksonville State for the move — he is in his second season as head coach — but he has been around the program long enough to understand what carried it through. He has also been to Fargo before. The last time was 2005, when Craig Bohl was the head coach, and he has watched NDSU’s consistency across two decades and multiple coaching staffs since.

“I dare say that they’re probably the only team that’s been more consistent than them in college football is maybe Alabama and maybe Georgia here lately,” Kelly said. “What they’ve done is very impressive.”

That kind of respect from a head coach usually comes with distance — an acknowledgment that the other program operates at a level above yours. Kelly closed that gap in the next breath.

“I would hope when people watch this play, they say, you know what? They play very similar,” Kelly said. “They play very similar. They’re tough. They’re disciplined. They’re hard nosed.”

The two programs have not played since the 2015 FCS Championship Game in Frisco, Texas. The series stands at 2-1 in Jax State’s favor, but NDSU won that title game and both programs have left the FCS since. Saturday is 1,070 miles from Jacksonville — the second-longest road trip on the schedule — and Gate City Bank Field is going to be rocking for NDSU’s first home game as an FBS program.

Kelly was asked how he prepares a team for that environment.

“We can’t control how many people they have. We can’t control whether we play in the parking lot,” Kelly said. “Doesn’t matter. It’s still going to be 100 yards long, 53 yards wide. All right, they’re going to have two goalposts, and that’s how we’re going to play.”

The Jax State offense starts on the ground. Kelly spelled out the philosophy without leaving room for interpretation: “You got to be able to run the ball to win, and you got to be able to throw the ball to score.”

Caden Creel returns as the starting quarterback after averaging 5.9 yards per carry last season — the highest among returning CUSA quarterbacks — with a 132.2 pass efficiency rating that was second-highest among CUSA returners. He was the only scholarship quarterback on the roster when Kelly took the job. Kelly said Creel has become a more efficient passer during the offseason and the receivers around him have improved, but he wants to see it under the lights before he makes any declarations.

“We’ve got to prove it in a game,” Kelly said. “I like the way they work, and I like the chemistry that you know Caden and our other quarterbacks have with those guys, but it’s like anything else. We’ve got to execute it.”

Center Lucas Mrachkovskiy is one of five returning offensive starters. He walked on at Jax State after earning all-county honors at St. Clair County and made CUSA All-Freshman. His first career start at center came last year at UCF in front of 40,000 people at a position he had never played before that week.

“I really just want to get over the first snap,” Mrachkovskiy said. “Like I knew our offensive coordinator told me what the first play is going to be on Wednesday, so I was thinking about that play for three, four days, exactly what I was going to do. And after that, ripping the band-aid off, I was fine.”

The defense returns more experience than any team in the conference — seven starters, including three of the top four tacklers from 2025. Caleb Nix had four interceptions last season, tied for the most in CUSA, and earned first-team all-conference honors. Tre’Quon Fegans, who played for Kelly at Alabama before redshirting in 2022, allowed just 12 receptions on 38 targets and made honorable mention All-CUSA. Mac Sanders led the conference in tackles for loss with 11.5 as a true freshman and earned Freshman All-America honors along with CUSA All-Freshman. Jawaun Campbell missed the final five games last season with an injury but is back on the defensive line.

“Me and Lucas are very well good leaders in this group, and we just want to be great leaders for the young guys coming up, so we can show them the way,” Campbell said.

They will be tested immediately. NDSU averaged 212.6 rushing yards per game last season with 451.4 yards of total offense and went 12-1 under Tim Polasek, who is 26-3 in three seasons. The Bison added FBS-experienced players through the transfer portal at multiple positions heading into their first season at the FBS level.

Campbell was asked about the opportunity to play on a national stage in Week Zero against a program with NDSU’s pedigree.

“They have a great program over there. They do. They’ve been waiting for a long time,” Campbell said. “And just to be able to go against a program like this and measure up, I’m very excited.”

Kelly was asked the same question — how he approaches the magnitude of a nationally televised game between two programs with this much history on opposite sides of the same transition.

“I don’t think I have to address that because I think these young men know how important and what a great opportunity it is,” Kelly said. “This is why you play.”

He was asked what has made Jax State’s transition from FCS work as well as it has. The Gamecocks have won 20 league games in three years in CUSA — the most in the league — and are the only team to make multiple championship game appearances in that span.

“This place has a tradition of winning,” Kelly said. “It didn’t matter whether you were Division II, whether you were FCS, didn’t matter what league you were in. Tradition matters, and tradition doesn’t guarantee that you win. In fact, I tell our players all the time: when you get on the bus, tradition gets on with you. When you get off the bus, tradition gets off with you. It’s up to you whether it gets back on with you on how you play.”

Kelly was asked about expectations for a team with most of the roster intact. He went back to the same place he always goes.

“It’s like climbing a mountain,” Kelly said. “Many mountain climbers that look at the top, they slip and they die. You got to take it step by step.”

The first step is Saturday in Fargo.