We are in the midst of the first North Dakota State vs. North Dakota football rivalry week since 2003 and despite some ugliness from the fringe territories of Bison and Not-Sioux fandom, this is a good thing.

It’s been too long.

It should never be this long again.

The rivalry went by the wayside when NDSU announced its decision to move up to Division I in all sports. UND’s brain trust, and we use that term loosely, decided the best course of action was to mock the Bison’s decision and stop scheduling its rival.

That’ll show ‘em.

It didn’t and UND ended up looking foolish when 1) NDSU thrived at its new level and 2) UND realized it needed to move to Division I to keep pace with other regional schools.

Then it was NDSU’s turn to be arrogant. After the Bison had great success in football, it decided to stiff-arm UND when the school to the north started begging to renew the rivalry.

“We can’t fit it into our schedule,” the Bison bosses said.

“We don’t need UND,” they said.

“They are not our rivals anymore,” Bison fans said.

NDSU had the leverage and was using it. UND wanted to renew the rivalry every year. The Bison said no. UND wanted a game in Grand Forks if it was going to play a game in Fargo. The Bison said no. UND wanted … well, it didn’t matter. NDSU wasn’t going to give UND what it wanted.

Eventually, with the Bison in the middle of winning four straight FCS national championships and becoming the darlings of the almighty ESPN by hosting two College GameDays in downtown Fargo, boosters at UND told athletic director Brian Faison to schedule a game with NDSU no matter the circumstances. UND football was as close to irrelevant in the state as it could be and needed any boost it could get. The schools agreed to play in 2015 and 2019, with both games at the Fargodome.

So here we are. The teams will play before a jam-packed dome crowd Saturday at 2:30 p.m. and another chapter will be added to a great college football rivalry. The Bison are expected to win, and might win big, but that is beside the point.

Imagine what will happen if UND pulls the upset. But even that is beside the point.

This game should be played whenever possible because it involves two taxpayer-funded state universities. Period.

NDSU vs. UND (or UND vs. NDSU, if you prefer) is bigger than any school president, athletic director, football coach, athlete or fan base. The state and the people of North Dakota own the rivalry and they deserve to see the schools play, if they so desire. And, polls have shown, they do by an overwhelming margin.

The schools first played in 1894. The famed Nickel Trophy was first contested in 1938. Other than a year or two here and there, mainly because of couple of events called World War I and World War II, the schools played continuously until 2003.

Both teams held dominance over each other for long stretches. Head coaches came and went. So did players, of course. The rivalry survived world wars, the Great Depression, a president being assassinated, Vietnam, 9/11 and scores of other tragedies and events.

It could not survive one school’s move to a different level of competition, mainly because of the short-sightedness and ego of those in charge. How odd.

It’s returned in an era much different than when it disappeared. Political divisiveness is rampant, public discourse is coarse and the online nastiness once relegated to the far corners of the Internet is now front and center on Twitter and Facebook.

All of that will be forgotten Saturday at 2:30 p.m. when one team kicks off to the other. Then it will be NDSU vs. UND again and statewide bragging rights will be up for grabs.

Despite some of the ugliness, it’ll be fun. It’s the people of North Dakota’s game. Enjoy.

(Mike McFeely is a talk-show host on 790 KFGO in Fargo-Moorhead. He can be heard 2-5 p.m. Follow him on Twitter @MikeMcFeelyKFGO.