North Dakota State made magic happen in their comeback to escape Johnson City and improve to 2-1 on the season. This week has special meaning for NDSU as it is the annual homecoming game, and it means even more because the architect of the NDSU D-1 dynasty was in the house as Craig Bohl was inducted into the Bison Athletic Hall of Fame on Friday and flipped the coin before kickoff. The opponent on homecoming was also important, as the Towson Tigers came to Fargo for the first time in 40 years. The Tigers and Bison have only faced three previous times, and Saturday’s matchup was the third matchup since both schools moved up to division one. NDSU won the two earlier meetings by the same score of 35-7 when these teams faced each other in Frisco in January of 2014. The third straight FCS title and Craig Bohl’s last of 104 victories came against the Tigers. Even though Towson has struggled over the past few years, Pete Shinnick and company nearly beat 5th-ranked Villanova last week, but two missed field goals doomed them to a 14-13 loss. Now they face a second straight top-five team on the road.
The Bison and Tigers both kicked field goals on their opening drives, but NDSU would flex their offensive muscle as four consecutive pass plays, the last being a 49-yard catch by Chris Harris, put the ball at the Towson 21-yard line. The Bison then ran the ball seven consecutive plays, and the seventh run equaled six points as CharMar Brown found the endzone from a yard out to give the Bison a 10-3 lead. Towson went three and out on their next possession. Bryce Lafollette punted from his own 17, and his punt ended up in the arms of Jackson Williams, who took it back 67 yards for his first collegiate touchdown and put the Bison in front 17-3. NDSU kept piling on at the end of the half as just before the break, Bryce Lance caught a slant pass and took it to the end zone from 19 yards out to give NDSU a 21-point lead going into the locker room
Self-inflicted wounds halted both team’s first drives of the third quarter. Towson’s drive ended in a Marcus Sheppard interception, and NDSU’s drives ended in a missed 44-yard field goal by Griffin Crosa. Both teams then scored a touchdown on their second drives of the quarter as Towson backup QB Nathan Kent found paydirt on an option play to cut into the Bison lead, but then NDSU would respond with a nine-play, 83-yard drive that was capped off with a three-yard CharMar Brown touchdown to put the Bison up 31-10.
Towson controlled the beginning of the fourth quarter, as rushing touchdowns of 15 and 72 yards brought the Tigers within seven, 31-24. The pressure was building on the Bison to respond, and they did by first tacking on a 34-yard field goal to make it a two-possession game, 34-24. The Bison salted the game away with CharMar Brown’s third touchdown of the game, this one from one yard out, to close out Towson and win on homecoming 41-24.
Cam Miller again showed why he is a prime candidate for the Walter Payton Award. He completed 17 of 19 passes for 219 yards and a touchdown, but redshirt freshman running back CharMar “Marty” Brown stole the show as his 126 yards and three touchdowns were the main difference in this Bison win. Jackson Williams had his breakout game as his 169 total yards were critical in this game.
The Bison had 407 yards of total offense but gave up 213 yards rushing, which will need to be addressed before they open MVFC play next week at Illinois State. Kickoff is set for 2 p.m. from Normal, Illinois; the game can be seen on WDAY/ESPN+.