Reusse: RaJa Nelson could play in almost 80 college games for North Dakota State’s football powerhouse

FARGO, N.D. – St. Thomas and a college here known as North Dakota Agriculture played football with some regularity from 1905 to 1939. Those train rides between St. Paul and Fargo were so popular the teams played twice in 1908, splitting home games.

The Tommies posted a 15-0 road shutout in 1939, and that ended the semi-regular competition. The Fargo school’s title changed to North Dakota State after World War II. That didn’t create much gridiron prestige.

Ex-Gophers great Stan Kostka was 1-7 in a final season as Bison coach in 1947, and starting then through 1962, the Bison were 34-103-4.

Herbert Albrecht came in as president in 1962, stated that a winning football program was a priority, and he hired Darrell Mudra as coach.

Humbly known later in life as “Dr. Victory,” Mudra didn’t stay long but NDSU has been the true “Thundering Herd” for most of the six-plus decades since Mudra’s magical turnaround.

St. Thomas did get beat twice by the Bison in 1965-66, putting NDSU’s all-time series advantage at 14-7-2.

And there is one primary reason that the Tommies, in their fifth-year playing FCS in the non-scholarship Pioneer Football League, will be visiting the defending and 10-time FCS champion Bison at 2:30 p.m. on Saturday: The payment that will be going into the St. Thomas athletic funds.

St. Thomas will be receiving $200,000 to fill this opening at the end of NDSU’s schedule.

The Bison are 11-0, won the Missouri Valley with an 8-0 record and on a 15-game winning streak. The last loss was 29-28 to South Dakota, when Aidan Bouman of Buffalo, Minn., threw two late touchdown passes for the Coyotes in the 2024 regular season finale.

Polasek is a straight-shooting, fired-up leader and this week was hard into promotion — trying to get spoiled-by-success fans into the FargoDome in a sizable number on Saturday.

A game with St. Thomas, with the Bison as prohibitive favorites and set to be home for an anticipated three home playoff games as the No. 1 seed … that’s a tough sell.

The coach’s pitch was that this will be the day when tremendous seniors will be honored: a group where several started with the MVFC’s post-pandemic spring season in 2021, and has mostly stayed together as FBS programs have been raiding top players from the FCS.

NDSU was able the limit the loss of standouts to two players. And speaking of Bison commitment, there’s RaJa Nelson, the Star Tribune’s Metro Player of the Year out of Lakeville North in 2019.

Nelson will set an NDSU record when he plays in his 74th game on Saturday.

He arrived in 2020, the pandemic carryover pushed the season to the spring, when RaJa was a backup to a collection of excellent veteran receivers. He played in all 10 games, returning a few kicks as well as backup receiving.

Nelson played more in the fall of 2021, including catching a touchdown pass from Cam Miller against South Dakota State. He moved up the depth chart in 2022, was honorable mention all-MVFC as an all-purpose player (receiver, returner) in 2023, and figured he was entering a final senior season in 2024.

He was dealing with mainly a groin injury and lesser injury issues in the early going. Division I football players can play four games and maintain a redshirt season.

His choice was to shut it down after four games. But here’s the deal: The four-game limit for redshirt applies to the regular season. Playoff games don’t wipe out a redshirt.

“Obviously, I was able to play in more than four games last season,” Nelson said.

Yes, he was. Eight. And in the championship game vs. Montana, he had five catches, a couple of which Polasek was praising this week for their difficulty.

Bryce Lance has been the go-to receiver with 47 catches for an explosive 895 yards. RaJa is next with 24 catches for 349 yards. As always, the Bison are going to run it down an opponent’s throat first, so the receivers also have to block.

A healthy Nelson could reach 78 games if the defending champions make a run back to the FCS final. And barring another pandemic and extra eligibilities, that should stand as long as does St. Thomas’ 85 years since the last victory over the Bison.