FARGO — The route to North Dakota State for offensive coordinator Dan Larson had the usual forks in the road, from starting low on the totem pole at Marietta College (Ohio) or making a career of it at Division III Macalester College in the Twin Cities. He made it to the Division I FCS level, but not without some help.

Perhaps the corner was taken at the intersection of University Drive and East Clairemont Avenue, right off the practice field at the University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire. Somewhere around there, as a freshman defensive lineman, Larson got cut from the Bluegolds football team.

The head coach at the time was Bob Nielson, who went on to big success at Minnesota Duluth, Western Illinois and the University of South Dakota.

“I don’t know if I cut him,” Nielson said last week with

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