The chase is officially on. North Dakota State will play for its seventh national championship in eight seasons as the No. 1 seed in the 2018 FCS playoffs, and we now know the 23 teams that will be gunning for the Bison.
The FCS selection committee announced its 24-team field on Sunday, placing the Bison as their top seed. The eight teams that earned first round byes are as follows:
1. North Dakota State
2. Weber State
3. Eastern Washington
4. Kennesaw State
5. South Dakota State
6. UC Davis
7. Maine
8. Colgate
Here is how each region of the bracket looks.
The winner of North Dakota State's section will face the winner of Kennesaw State's section.
On the other side, Weber State is the top seed, potentially in line to host Maine in the quarterfinals.
While Big Sky bunk mates Eastern Washington and UC Davis are potentially in line to meet in the other quarterfinals.
The FCS National Championship will be played Jan. 5 at Toyota Stadium in Frisco, Texas.