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Nevada's Jeff Choate and New Mexico's Jason Eck chat during the Mountain West Football Media Days on Thursday, July 16, 2026, at the Palms Casino Resort in Las Vegas, Nevada.
FARGO — The better half is a North Dakota State hardcore fan. A rube, in today’s affectionate parlance. Her favorite team is the Bison and the team she hates the most is whatever team is playing the Bison, and especially whatever team might beat the Bison. She is the same way with her favorite professional team, the Boston Celtics.
This is the woman who attended a Harry Styles concert with our daughter last month at Madison Square Garden, New York City, and when Knicks hero Jalen Brunson was shown on a video board and given a shout-out by Harry to the full house at the home of the NBA champions … my wife stood, cupped her hands to her mouth and booed as loudly as she possibly could. My wife booed Jalen Freaking Brunson at Madison Square Garden.
Yeah, it was a Harry Styles crowd and not a Knicks crowd, but still. She likes what she likes and, um, strongly dislikes what she doesn’t.
When NDSU was invited to join the Mountain West Conference in February she, like many other Bison fans, had questions.
Among them: “So who is our rival in this new conference?”
Wyoming seems like a natural rival being a similar state to North Dakota and the history with Craig Bohl, I said.
“That makes sense,” she replied, though she didn’t seem entirely sold.
I’ve been told Northern Illinois is interested in getting something started, I said.
“Whatever. That doesn’t seem like a rivalry.”
Having been married for nearly 30 years and knowing what triggers could be effective, I fired the next salvo.
Jason Eck is the head coach at New Mexico, I said.
This information was greeted with silence. Whatever hint of levity that was in the room disappeared. Her jaw clenched.
“Well, there it is. They’re our rivals. Hate them already if that guy’s coaching them. Maybe he can post more (stuff) on Twitter.”
Eck tweet.jpeg
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That was a reference to Eck taking shots at NDSU on social media when he was an assistant coach at South Dakota State from 2016-2021. I asked Eck about that and wrote about it at Mountain West media days in Las Vegas in July.
He was for a time Public Enemy No. 1 for NDSU fans.
My wife, hardest of hardcore Bison fans, has not and will not forgive Eck for his time served in Brookings. He remains a big-time villain.
Mountain West Conference football games this week. All times Central.
Friday, Oct. 23
Air Force at Wyoming, 8 p.m. (CW)
Saturday, Oct. 24
NDSU at New Mexico, 9 p.m. (CW)
San Jose State at Nevada, 4 p.m. (MW+)
Hawaii at Northern Illinois, 2:30 p.m. (MW+)
It is time to revisit the old days. NDSU plays an important game at New Mexico this Saturday, in a nationally televised game with a 9 p.m. kickoff. The Lobos are 4.5-point favorites.
The question of the day is this: Do other Bison fans still feel the same way about Eck, or are you warming to the big fellow?
National media loves the guy. I’m convinced one of the reasons New Mexico gets mentioned so often as a top Group of Six program is not just because the Lobos have improved so greatly, but because they’ve fallen in love with Eck. He’s accessible, he’s glib, he’s loose, he’s funny. National media want New Mexico to succeed because they adore the head coach.
After New Mexico posted on social media the video of Eck playing “Jeff” the ticket salesman in an attempt to sell out University Stadium for the Bison game, written about by our Jeff Kolpack , NBC reporter Nicole Auerbach tweeted: “@Coach_Eck is a national treasure.”
The video was funny and it’s always good to see a college football coach not be an uptight stiff like 93% of them are, but “a national treasure?” The Grand Canyon is a national treasure, Nicole. Jason Eck is a football coach having fun trying to sell some tickets.
Bison head coach Tim Polasek seems willing to let bygones be bygones. Polasek was here in 2016 as an assistant when Eck was at the height of his social media sniping in Brookings. Jake Dickert, then an assistant at SDSU and now the head coach at Wake Forest, was part of it, too.
“I think a lot of the social media stuff that goes back to those battles in the rivalry is kind of interesting because here’s the deal,” Polasek said at his weekly press conference. “Jake Dickert, Jason Eck, I think they just kind of said they had enough and they were going to put their hands up and fight back.”
Conf Overall
New Mexico 2-0 5-1
NDSU 3-1 6-1
Air Force 3-1 5-1
Wyoming 3-1 4-3
San Jose State 2-1 4-3
UNLV 2-1 4-3
Nevada 1-2 2-4
N. Illinois 0-2 0-6
UTEP 0-3 1-6
Hawaii 0-4 1-6
Prior to 2016, NDSU won eight straight games against the Jackrabbits. The rivalry wasn’t much of one.
“If you look at it, it was probably a pretty big turning point in what it became. So, you know, just a competitive guy,” Polasek said.
So Polasek is willing to give the benefit of the doubt. There were other staffers, including the head coach at the time, who to this day probably would not be so forgiving.
An interesting nugget came out of New Mexico, where Eck’s staff includes former Jackrabbit assistants Luke Schleusner (also a former North Dakota player) and Zach Lujan. One of the Lobos’ strength coaches played at South Dakota. New Mexico’s defensive coordinator was the DC at Illinois State from 2009-2017.
Linebacker Mercury Swaim told Albuquerque media that those coaches have made their feelings about NDSU known to the Lobos.
“We have so many guys on our staff who don’t love North Dakota State,” Swaim said. “They don’t love those guys very much. They definitely make that known to us.”
No quarter given. A different approach than Polasek.
We’d be curious to know how your average, everyday Bison fans (aside from my wife) feel about Eck?
Do you still hold a grudge?
Or did the move to FBS take off the edge?
Leave your thoughts in the comments section.