FRISCO, Texas – Pat Anderson of Sabin, Minn., with his face painted green, was standing in line with hundreds of other North Dakota State football fans to cheer on the team as it walked to their locker room this morning-two hours before the start of today's Football Championship Subdivision championship game against Jacksonville State of Alabama.
"This is amazing," said Anderson, who is experiencing his first trip to Frisco.
Anderson has been a Bison fan since he was in sixth grade growing up in Crookston, Minn. He is also a Minnesota Viking fan, where he routinely paints his face purple for the games played in Minneapolis.
But he doesn't plan on attending Sunday's Viking playoff game that will be played in zero degree weather. The 45-degree, windy weather in Frisco is balmy compared to that.
"I'll get back home in time to watch the game on TV in the warmth of my home," Anderson said.
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Jacksonville State fans also lined up to cheer on their team. One of them was Connie Thompson, a JSU graduate and former alumni director for the school.
"It's been magical," Thompson said of JSU's season. "When I was in college, I watched our football team win a Division II national championship in 1979 in Wichita Falls, Texas."
What did Thompson think of all the Bison fans lined up for the team walkthrough?
"It's O.K.," she said. "I'm thrilled that they are as passionate about their school as we are of our school. That what you want is passionate fans."
