FARGO — The interception by Anthony Chideme-Alfaro was a diving grab seen more on Sundays in the NFL than Saturdays with Division I Football Championship Subdivision games. The North Dakota State senior cornerback saved the day last Saturday at the University of North Dakota.
The turnover came at the UND 1-yard line with 11 seconds remaining, preserving a 15-10 Bison win that clinched an outright Missouri Valley Football Conference title. Meanwhile, for most of the four quarters, punter Aaron Bickerton turned in his best game of the season in keeping the Fighting Hawks from better field position.
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His five punts averaged 55.6 yards, the second highest single-game punting average in NDSU’s Division I era that started in 2004. For that he was named the FCS Special Teams Player of the Week by Stats Perform.
Bickerton came from Howard University in Washington, D.C. Chideme-Alfaro came from Cornell University, two schools that are a long way from Division I FBS programs. But in the last decade with the transfer portal coming into vogue, some of NDSU’s best transfer players — and the Bison don’t have many of them — came from either the FCS or lower.
It helps, Bison head coach Tim Polasek says, “that we haven’t been affected by the virus to need a wholesale change” with transfers.
But it goes against the theory of impact players at the FCS need to come from the FBS. NDSU has lost some elite players to FBS schools, but has also found some gems from lower levels.
“Go to a level down where people appreciate it,” Polasek said. “They have a genuine appreciation for the administration, the people, the coaches, the care, the facilities. I’m not saying one way or the other because you have to look at everybody case by case.”
Last year, linebacker Marcus Gulley was a major player in the playoff run and eventual FCS title game win over Montana State. He came from Minnesota State Moorhead. The 2021 defensive line was led by Brayden Thomas, who came to NDSU from Minnesota State-Mankato. That Bison team also won an FCS title.
Thomas was a third team All-American pick and finished second in the voting for the Missouri Valley Football Conference Defensive Player of the Year. He led the league with 9.0 quarterback sacks on a team that set a program record with 49 for the season.
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Thomas was testament to the Bison finding guys who continually found an upside. He started his career at the University of Mary in 2016, transferred to Mankato in 2017 and sat out that season. His best honor in Division II was a second team all-Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference pick.
“I can’t speak for others but if you’re coming from FBS, you may feel like you’re coming down,” Chideme-Alfaro said. “In my head, it was always a step up and I was always excited to play on bigger stages, the playoffs and things of that nature.”
The 2015 national title team had a stout offensive line including guard Jeremy Kelly, a transfer from Minnesota-Crookston. He was an honorable mention all-NSIC selection before finding his upside with NDSU.
“Everyone’s situation is different but for me it was just getting an opportunity at this level compared to what I had before, at least facilities-wise,” Bickerton said. “How much they care about you and things like that. The hunger, it just makes you want it that much more and you’re appreciative of everything here.”
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North Dakota State’s Aaron Bickerton punts against North Dakota on Saturday, Nov. 8, 2025, at the Alerus Center in Grand Forks.
David Samson / The Forum
Bickerton came from Howard before last season, but sat out as a redshirt with senior Kaedin Steindorf handling the duties. Bickerton played as a true freshman and sophomore at Howard, where he was the team’s field goal kicker and punter.
He had punts of 64 (season long), 62, 55, 52 and 45 yards against UND. He is the fourth punter in NDSU history to win a national special teams award joining Mike Dragosavich in 2007, Ben LeCompte in 2013 and Garret Wegener in the spring 2021 season. Punt returner Christian Dudzick took the honor in 2013.
“It’s a cool award but I try to do that every week,” Bickerton said. “Every punt I try and put it where I need to and thankfully in that game it worked out well.”
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Chideme-Alfaro, from Sacramento, California, is one of the few players remaining in college football impacted by the 2020 pandemic. The Ivy League canceled his freshman season and he played just two games in 2021, which counted as a redshirt season since he played fewer than the NCAA maximum of four. He had one interception in each of the next two seasons, graduated in applied economics and management and began looking for another school for his last two years of eligibility. The Ivy League prohibits graduate students from playing.
Chideme-Alfaro had a key interception in the FCS quarterfinals last year against Mercer and couldn’t have picked a better time to come up with his first pick this season, which was his second straight save-the-day play for the Bison. Last week, with NDSU ahead 38-30 late in the game against explosive Youngstown State, he forced a fumble that the Bison recovered with 56 seconds to play.
Polasek reiterated this week the interception was one of the best defensive plays he’s seen, comparing it to a one-handed pick by USC cornerback Adoree’ Jackson against Ohio State in 2016.
“That was as big of a moment as I can remember,” he said of Chideme-Alfaro’s play.
It went to an officials’ review, although Chideme-Alfaro said he didn’t realize that it did.
“I knew the game was over,” he said. “There was no question I had two hands on it. All the hard work that I put in, it puts you in a good position. When I saw the ball in the air, I was just thinking, man, go get it.”
NDSU’s most productive FBS transfers have probably been running backs TaMerik Williams (SMU) and King Frazier (Nebraska). There have been some highly-acclaimed FBS transfers that didn’t work out as coaches had hoped, like quarterbacks Quincy Patterson from Virginia Tech and Zeb Noland from Iowa State. There were high hopes for receiver Desmond Cain from Illinois.
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But by and large, the impact guys have come from Division II or FCS levels like the Ivy League in the case of Chideme-Alfaro or Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference with Bickerton.
“The two things with those guys is how badly they wanted to be here,” Polasek said. “That’s what stands out in their recruiting.”
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South Dakota State's Alex Bullock grabs a reception against North Dakota State’s Anthony Chideme-Alfaro on Saturday, Oct. 25, 2025, at Dana J. Dykhouse Stadium in Brookings, S.D.
David Samson / The Forum
[ Jeff Kolpack](https://www.thedickinsonpress.com/Jeff Kolpack)
By [Jeff Kolpack](https://www.thedickinsonpress.com/Jeff Kolpack)
Jeff Kolpack, the son of a reporter and an English teacher, and the brother of a reporter, worked at the Jamestown Sun, Bismarck Tribune and since 1990 The Forum, where he's covered North Dakota State athletics since 1995. He has covered all 10 of NDSU's Division I FCS national football titles and has written four books: "Horns Up," "North Dakota Tough," "Covid Kids" and "They Caught Them Sleeping: How Dot Reinvented the Pretzel." He is also the radio host of "The Golf Show with Jeff Kolpack" April through August.