Are we there yet? The first Missouri Valley Football Conference actual conference game is on Saturday, and it also happens to be one of the Top 5 "must see" matchups most FCS experts pegged before the season started.   So, after a month of non-conference bludgeonings for No. 1 North Dakota State (by a combined 138-17) and slipping, sliding, and recovering by No. 17 South Dakota, the two meet in the Fargodome on Saturday.   The Bison are an approximate 18-point favorite, but that doesn't mean there is a lack of anticipation nor storylines.   This clash is the focal point of the weekly "Thirsty Thursday Football Forecast" with Happy Hour host John Gaskins and SIoux Falls Live sportswriter Trent Singer from the Orion Pub in downtown Sioux Falls. They pick it apart thoroughly, from NDSU's motivation to atone from prior losses to USD to statistical warfare.   Then, a glimpse into No. 2 South Dakota State's non-conference finale against Mercyhurst, which has an interesting track record against common SDSU opponents. Will Augustana and USF be coming into next week's Key to the City game off victories? And what will be the follow-up acts for Lincoln and Jefferson after their wild fireworks display last week?   Then, Gaskins gets the Bison perspective from 30-year Forum of Fargo-Moorhead columnist Mike McFeely, who bore witness to the three woodshed beatings NDSU thrust upon unranked FCS opponents.    How can the Coyotes not just beat the spread but beat the Bison for the third time in four meetings? How can we tell via their competition just how good NDSU is, particularly new quarterback Cole Payton, whose numbers and highlights have been sparkling?   And in the larger FCS picture, is there much more to the subdivision than the "Big 5" from North Dakota, South Dakota, and Montana (NDSU, SDSU, USD, Montana, Montana State)? Are there any teams beyond this worth keeping an eye on? McFeely is a long-ago advocate of NDSU — and by proxy, other schools like the Jackrabbits, Bobcats, and Grizzlies that play in 19,000-plus seat stadiums, rabid fan bases and so some  NIL funds — moving on to the FBS?    Yeah, we dug that up as another Dakotas showdown comes around the bend.   Before all that, McFeely weighs in on Carson Wentz's fairy tale first start for his boyhood team, the Minnesota Vikings, and gives insight into Wentz's time at NDSU and how things went south for his QB1 career in the NFL the last several years.

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