Bison Football Unveils Major Season Kickoff Announcement

May 2, 2025 Nero Scoffield College Sports 0

The Citadel announced Thursday, May 1 that the football game with North Dakota State will be an 11 a.m. kickoff on Aug. 30.

FARGO — North Dakota State’s first visit to South Carolina this fall is expected to be a hot one, thanks to an early kickoff time.

The Bison will open their 2025 football season on Aug. 30 at The Citadel in Charleston, S.C. On Thursday, The Citadel announced the game will kick off at 11 a.m. Central Time.

The matchup will take place at Johnson Hagood Stadium, which holds just over 11,000 fans. The playing surface is a FieldTurf product known as Spor Tuf.

Ahead of the 2020 season, The Citadel upgraded to an artificial turf system featuring innovative cooling technology. The field uses T°Cool infill, an evaporative system designed to reduce surface temperatures by 30 to 50 degrees. The black rubber infill absorbs moisture and slowly releases it to cool the turf during games.

A capacity or near-record crowd is expected when NDSU visits Charleston. The matchup is part of a home-and-home agreement between the two programs, with The Citadel set to visit Fargo on Sept. 18, 2027. As part of the deal, each school will receive $50,000 in travel compensation.

“We’re taking on one of the most challenging schedules in the nation this year,” said Citadel head coach Maurice Drayton. “We’ll face the defending FCS national champion, last season’s Division II runner-up, a top SEC contender, and strong Southern Conference opponents.”

North Dakota State is projected to open the 2025 season as the No. 1 team in the FCS preseason rankings.

Hagood Stadium has hosted a top-ranked team before — in 1988, The Citadel defeated No. 1 Marshall 20-3 in front of over 20,000 fans, well before the stadium underwent renovations in 2005.

The Bulldogs finished the 2024 season with a 5-7 overall record, including a 3-5 mark in SoCon play. When they face the Bison, it will mark the sixth current or former Southern Conference program NDSU has faced since 2011. That list includes Georgia Southern, Furman, Wofford, Samford, East Tennessee State, and Mercer.

Warm-weather games are nothing new for Bison fans. In September 2022, NDSU played Arizona in Tucson with an 86-degree kickoff at 8 p.m. local time. Last season’s warmest game was in Carbondale, Illinois, where temperatures reached 82 degrees at kickoff against Southern Illinois in October. When NDSU visited ETSU in Johnson City, Tennessee, it was 80 degrees at kickoff. According to The Weather Channel, Charleston typically sees an average high of 85 degrees on August 30.

North Dakota State has also released kickoff times for its 2025 home games:

  • Sept. 13 vs. Southeast Missouri State – 2:30 p.m. (home opener)

  • Sept. 27 vs. South Dakota – 1 p.m. (Homecoming)

  • Oct. 11 vs. Southern Illinois – 2:30 p.m.

  • Nov. 1 vs. Youngstown State – 2:30 p.m. (first visit by the Penguins since Oct. 2022)

  • Nov. 15 vs. Northern Iowa – 2:30 p.m.

  • Nov. 22 vs. St. Thomas – 2:30 p.m. (UST makes its Division I debut in Fargo and is now eligible for the FCS Playoffs)

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