Athletics
NDSU's sports teams are known as the North Dakota State Bison, or simply The Bison; however, they are also known as "The Thundering Herd." NDSU's athletic symbol is the American Bison.
North Dakota State's intercollegiate sports teams participate in NCAA Division I in all sports (Division I Championship Subdivision in football). NDSU was a charter member of the Division II North Central Conference (NCC), and made the move to Division I sports in the fall of 2004. NDSU spent the next two years as an independent in Division I in all sports other than football, in which it was a member of the Great West Football Conference. The school was accepted into The Summit League on August 31, 2006, and began play in that conference on July 1, 2007. The football team left the Great West Football Conference and joined the Missouri Valley Football Conference on March 7, 2007. They became a full member of the conference during the 2008 season.
The Bison football team was the winningest program in NCC history with twenty-six conference championships and eight national championships (1965, 1968, 1969, 1983, 1985, 1986, 1988, 1990) before moving to Division I Championship Subdivision in 2004. In January 2012, NDSU defeated Sam Houston State in the FCS National Championship game becoming the 2011 season National Champions. NDSU football is a major event in the city of Fargo and the region, averaging over 18,000 fans per home game. The Bison play their home games at the Fargodome (cap. 19,287).
The men's and women's Bison basketball teams play in the Bison Sports Arena. The women's basketball team won five titles during the 1990s - 1991, 1993 through 1996. In January 2006, the NCAA recognized NDSU's four consecutive Division II Women's Basketball Championships (1993–1996) as one of the "25 Most Defining Moments in NCAA History." NDSU's men's basketball team gained national recognition in 2006 with an upset win at #13 ranked Wisconsin, and again in the 2006-07 season with a win at #8 ranked Marquette. In 2009, the Bison earned an automatic bid to the NCAA tournament as winners of the Summit League. On March 10, 2009, North Dakota State gained a bid to the NCAA Basketball Tournament in its first year of eligibility for Division I postseason play by defeating Oakland 66-64 in the Summit League Tournament Championship game.
The Bison wrestling program has won four Division II team titles in 1988, 1998, 2000, 2001. The team is fully eligible for the Division I tournament competition. They recently joined with six other institutions to create the Western Wrestling Conference.
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