Playing North Dakota State might not hurt the image of our program
Isn't that where Scottie Pippen played? 
Just looked it up, Pippen played for Central Arkansas (bear aggies). North Dakota State doesn't have many notable alumni. Some former governors/senators, former CEO of Walgreens and two Miss North Dakotas (2006, 2007).
Some other notable alumni:
Ronald Offutt - Owner of RDO (major John Deer Dealership) and R.D. Offutt Co. (Owns 80% of the potato farming operations in North America). Wealthiest man in ND.
Doug Burgum - Creator of Great Plains Software. They were bought out by Microsoft for something like $300 million and lead to the 2nd largest Microsoft campus in the world being located in Fargo. The software that Microsoft coveted is known today as Microsoft Dynamics GP, one of the worlds largest and most used accounting/ERP software.
Alf Clausen - Alf was the composer for the jingle that is played at the beginning of every episode of The Simpsons.
Also, NDSU has produced something like 18 NFL players since 1960. Not to shabby for a school that was D2 up until 2003...