For the sixth straight year, the North Dakota State Bison will hold the Missouri Valley Football title. This year, it comes on the back of a 28-21 win over the University of South Dakota. The result means the Bison get a share of the conference crown, along with SDSU who beat UNI 45-24.
The Bison left the DakotaDome after doing something that the team had struggled with, closing out a game. And with it, were able to put to rest the demons of last year’s loss.
The Coyotes had surged into the Bison red zone in the fourth quarter. A touchdown tied the game with less than five minutes left. To make it more difficult, an NDSU penalty made it first and five.
But the Bison red zone defense ranks in the top-six in the FCS for a reason. Four stops would hand the ball over to the offense.
The combination of King Frazier, Lance Dunn and Easton Stick killed the clock. Eleven plays chewed the clock down to zeros. The Bison faced just two third downs in that span. The first conversion was a slick Stick pass on the Omaha Connection to RJ Urzendowski to move the chains.
“Do you want anyone else catching a third and five? That was a big time catch,” Bison head coach Chris Klieman said.
This was a big thing for an offense that has struggled to do that during conference play.
“How awesome was that? That is something we have been talking about. Finish what you’ve started,” Klieman said.
Another area that sparked to life in the regular season finale was the passing game. Stick found three different options in the end zone. It was the first time since Oct. 1 against Illinois State where Stick threw for three scores.
The first was the beauty of the three. Rolling out to his right, Stick made an adjustment to touch the pass over the defender and into Darrius Shepherd. Shepherd made an adjustment of his own to reel in the pass. The 40-yard pass restored the Bison lead to 14-7.
Both tight ends got in to the mix as well. Both Jeff Illies and Connor Wentz caught touchdowns in the second half. For Illies, it was his team leading fifth touchdown catch of the year. Wentz picked up his first of the year.
Stick finished the afternoon with 154 passing yard, three touchdowns and one interception. He was also 13-20 passing.
“He doesn’t get rattled, he throws a pick and comes back to throw a couple of great balls,” Klieman said of his 18-1 starting quarterback.
The re-ignition of the passing game was masked under another dominate performance in the running game. Lance Dunn led the way for a bunch of Bison runners. The sophomore gained 145 of the Bison 346 rushing yards. King Frazier added another 91 and a touchdown, his team-leading 10th of the year.
Dunn, Stick, Chase Morlock and Erik Perkins all had rushes longer than 25 yards.
The defense performed to their high level in the second half, but left with a few concerns. The foremost is an injury to Pierre Gee-Tucker. The linebacker went down with a knee injury in the second quarter. He patrolled the sidelines in a brace for the remainder of the game.
The Bison look to get healthy over the next week. They go into the break knowing that the first goal of the season had been reached.
“That is our number one goal, to win the Missouri Valley Conference. We need a week off,” Klieman said.
Attention now turns to the playoffs, as the road to Frisco will once again go through Fargo.
“I like our chances in Gate City Bank Field,” Klieman said.