FRISCO, Texas (AP) - Three-time defending national champion North Dakota State and Illinois State shared a conference title without having to play each other this season.
Until now, with a much bigger trophy at stake for the Missouri Valley Football Conference co-champions in the FCS championship game today.
"It's really cool to get to play the conference championship at the same time as the national championship," North Dakota State quarterback Carson Wentz said.
"Who's the better team? It's going to be settled," Illinois State running back Marshaun Coprich said. "Might as well, whoever wins, take both (trophies)."
North Dakota State (14-1) again made it from Fargo to Frisco and is going for an unprecedented fourth consecutive title in the Football Championship Subdivision. The Redbirds (13-1) are making their first FCS championship game appearance.
With the eight-game league schedule in the 10-team MVFC, each team misses one conference foe. North Dakota State and Illinois State didn't meet in the regular season for the first time in eight years.
"Yeah, it's kind of cool that it ended up like that ... finally facing each other in the national championship," said safety Christian Dudzik, set for his 61st NDSU start. "It's like a storyline, or scripted."
This is the first time two teams from the same conference face off in the FCS title game.
The only loss for both teams was to Northern Iowa, which Illinois State beat in a rematch in the Redbirds' playoff opener a month ago. Now they get another conference foe.
"Early in the season kind of eyeballed this, thought that would be something if that happened, and you're just kind of fantasizing really," Illinois State coach Brock Spack said. "When we started getting on a roll, I said this could happen."
A few other things to know about the FCS championship game, being played in the home stadium of MLS team FC Dallas for the fifth year in a row, about 40 miles from the Dallas Cowboys' stadium where Oregon and Ohio State play their title game Monday night:
DYNAMIC DUO: Indiana transfer Tre Roberson, who arrived at Illinois State last summer, has completed 67 percent of his passes for 289 yards passing a game with six touchdowns and no interceptions in the playoffs. The All-MVFC quarterback has averaged 353 total yards this season. Fellow junior Coprich, the league's offensive player of the year, has the first 2,000-yard rushing season (2,168) in school history.
LOTS AND LOTS OF GAMES: Dudzik is believed to be the first Division I player to start at least 60 career games, spanning every game of his college career. Each season so far has ended with a national championship.
"I haven't had a season that's ended in disappointment," he said. "That's the extraordinary thing."
Five other Bisons have played least 50 career games, including defensive end Kyle Emanuel, who has started 53 of his 60.