McFeely: Pumped-up Polasek exudes energy and joy as semifinals approach – InForum

FARGO – The last time North Dakota State played South Dakota State, Tim Polasek led his team out of the tunnel in the northeast corner of the Fargodome, punching the air three times while jumping into the air. He shouted at the sold-out crowd to get even louder.

When the Jackrabbits come to town for the FCS playoff semifinals on Saturday, the Bison head coach might rappel down from the domed ceiling after landing at the 50-yard line and tear off his polo shirt.

The Bison won last time. There is more at stake in this go-around.

It’s NDSU vs. SDSU with a trip to Frisco, Texas, and a spot in the national title game on the line.

Polasek is jacked.

Juiced.

Pumped.

Supercharged.

“Honestly, the game is starting,” Polasek said at his weekly news conference Tuesday, his voice growing more excited as he went from reflecting on the quarterfinal win over Mercer to looking ahead to the Jackrabbits. “I just think it’s going to be a war.”

Some want to convert the country to green energy. How about green and gold energy? Connect a cable to Polasek and the network will never go dark again.

This is different. That is fun.

We, the media, learned earlier this season that the first-year head coach was different from his predecessors in one obvious way.

It only has fuel, no brakes.

All the time, every day.

It’s not arrogant or strange when you ask, “What about this guy?” And he doesn’t talk nonsense about the Jackrabbits. Polasek had a sincere and reverent respect for SDSU’s success, coaches, players and program.

It’s just pure enthusiasm and excitement that makes you wonder if it’s Saturday yet.

Alyssa Goelzer/The Forum

Pure joy.

“He’s always like that,” senior defensive tackle Eli Mostaert said. “He is always full of energy. He gets to play against the Jackrabbits again and has put a lot of fire into them over the course of his career here. So it’s a big issue for him too, just like it is for us.”

Polasek’s weekly media sessions and postgame press conferences can go from 0 to 60 in a split second. One moment he’s breaking down a question from a reporter, the next he’s talking louder and faster, his pulse quickening as he drives home a point.

It’s fantastic. It’s real. Sport should be fun and Polasek has fun.

“It will be football at its best,” said Polasek. “Let’s not create separation in lines or divisions or where we stand, FBS or P4 or whatever. This will be football at its finest.”

If Craig Bohl was the ultimate CEO while Chris Klieman and Matt Entz were even-tempered managers who carefully measured their public words, Polasek lets it rip. He knows the Bison’s playoff and championship history and conjures up a classic battle from yesterday.

“We’re incredibly excited to be getting ready to play in front of a sold-out crowd at home and I’m honestly excited to see if it’s going to be like Georgia Southern. “I think it will be an absolute war,” Polasek said.

David Samson/The Forum

Georgia Southern, then an FCS power but since moved to FBS, came to the Fargodome twice at the start of the Bison dynasty. NDSU defeated the Eagles 35-7 in the 2011 semifinals, stunning the established Bluebloods with the help of an electrifying full house that turned up the heat.

The next year saw another duel in the semifinals, with the first-time defending champion Bison defeating a supremely talented Eagles team 23-20 in the game that set the standard for Fargodome noise. “Georgia Southern Loud” became a thing. Late in the fourth quarter, when quarterback Brock Jensen’s fourth-and-goal from the 5 crossed the middle into the end zone for the game-winning touchdown – NDSU’s legendary Fourth and Frisco play – the roar could be heard in Williston .

When Polasek was hired by athletic director Matt Larsen after Entz left for USC, part of the job was to restore some momentum to the Bison program. To burn off the malaise that naturally comes with nine national championships and dozens of playoff games.

Polasek tries, and it’s neither forced nor fake. He naturally wears his energy on his sleeve.

Cam Miller, NDSU’s level-headed senior quarterback, was asked if the head coach was particularly feisty this week. The question elicited a slight grin.

“Yeah, you know, there were weeks here and there where he was really nervous. But he woke us (butts) up in the morning, like 7am, and sent text messages. ‘It’s time to get up. We.’ “I have work to do today,” Miller said. “I think the guys really appreciate it. We understand what this weekend is about.”

Polasek referred to Saturday’s game several times Tuesday as “a heavyweight fight,” “one for the storybooks” and “unfinished business.”

The foot was on the pedal, the throttle was wide open.

The new guy brought a different energy.

And it was only Tuesday.

Is it Saturday already?

Mike McFeely is a columnist for The Forum of Fargo-Moorhead. He began working for The Forum in the 1980s while studying journalism at Minnesota State University Moorhead. He has been at the Forum full-time since 1990, except for a six-year hiatus when he hosted a local radio talk show.