It has been five years since North Dakota State defeated South Dakota State on the football field, since Trey Lance led the Bison into Brookings and escaped with a 23-16 win. Since then, 1,825 days have passed, and over that time, the Jackrabbits have won the “Dakota Marker” five times in a row, won 29 consecutive games (19 of which came against MVFC opponents), beaten 32 consecutive FCS opponents, and won back-to-back national championships.
NDSU has struggled against SDSU mainly due to turnovers, as the Jacks have turned over the Bison 10 times in the previous five meetings, and NDSU wasn’t able to force even one turnover. SDSU has played near-perfect football thanks to the play of quarterback Mark Gronowski. The senior QB from Naperville, Illinois, has been a throne in the side of NDSU as he has compiled a 5-0 record against the Bison, and in the 21st meeting for the “Dakota Marker” trophy, someone was going to hoist the rock for the 11th time. The question was, who?
You could sense pregame that Tim Polasek and his team wanted this game, and he got the crowd involved as during warmups, he sprinted to the student section and fired up a sold-out crowd of 18,807. All of those fans got their money’s worth in a four-quarter war, but the game was a slow boil as the first quarter went by with no points as SDSU’s first drive ended a Hunter Dustman 53-yard field goal that doinked off the left upright. That play was the only action in the first quarter, as the defense would be the theme of this game, each team feeling out the other, but North Dakota State would throw the first punch in round two of this heavyweight bout.
NDSU had great field position all half long but couldn’t find any kind of points but then a senior wide receiver battling injuries came up clutch–enter RaJa Nelson. Following a Jackrabbit punt the Bison set up shop at their own 31-yard line and started to get their feet under them on offense. A 12-play drive brought them to the SDSU 18 before Cam Miller fired a bullet down the seam where Nelson broke free from Jackrabbit safety Matthew Durrance to haul in the go-ahead touchdown.
The Jackrabbits however would quickly respond as backup quarterback Chase Mason would take a read option play 66 yards for a touchdown. While the play was concluding a scuffle ensued near the student section as Jackrabbit QB Mark Gronowski and Bison defensive lineman Kody Huisman got into a shoving match where a pile of Jacks, Bison, and officials was created. The scuffle eventually was broke up and three players received unsportsmanlike penalties: Mark Gronowski and Evan Beernsten of SDSU and Kody Huisman of NDSU were the guilty parties. Huisman took all his frustartations out on the extra point as he blocked Hunter Dustman’s point after attempt and the ball fell into the arms of Marcus Sheppard who was able to run the blocked kick back to the SDSU 23 before being corralled by Bryce Johnson of the Jacks.
South Dakota State would take the lead before the halftime buzzer as Hunter Dustman’s rough half would end on a positive note as he nailed a 42-yard field goal to give SDSU a 9-7 halftime lead.
The second half was a defensive stalemate as NDSU and SDSU were stout defensively as the best scoring chance the Bison had was a shanked a 48 yard field goal by Griffin Crosa that was a good four yards short of the mark. The bitter rivals combined for 95 total yards in the 3rd quarter and it looked like SDSU was about to pull away in the 4th as the Jacks reached the NDSU 31 but after a holding penalty set them back to the 38 where a 3rd and 17 seemed like the Bison were going to force a punt. However, Mark Gronowski showed why he was the reigning Walter Payton award winner as he escaped the pocket and threw a pinpoint pass to a wide open Grahm Goering at the NDSU 2 yard line and it looked like the knockout punch but Goering was called out of bounds so the magic act that Gronowski pulled off went down as an incomplete pass, forcing Hunter Dustman to pin NDSU at their own 8.
NDSU has had a legacy of clutch drives and comeback wins inside the Fargodome. Each of the last four Bison signal callers has had that signature drive that you will always remember them by. Cam Miller was looking to have his “Heisman moment” or call it “Walter Payton moment” against the team he had never beaten. Before the drive he got on the headsets and said to quarterbacks coach Randy Hedberg “Get the ball in my hands; we’re gonna win this game”. The task seemed daunting for Miller and the offense. They had to cover 92 yards and score on a defense that was 4th in the FCS in scoring defense, only allowing 14 points a game. The Jacks had only allowed 170 total yards through three quarters but you could just sense that something special was about to happen.
The drive began with three passes to Truman Werremeyer, Braylon Henderson, and CharMar Brown to get the Bison to the 31-yard line before Miller used his feet to get to the 35. Three more passes to Mekhi Collins, RaJa Nelson, and Chris Harris had NDSU in field goal range as they reached the 22-yard line before the two-minute timeout. Following the stoppage a two-yard run from Miller caused Jackrabbit head coach Jimmy Rogers to call his first timeout and set up the biggest play of Cam Miller’s career against SDSU. From the 20-yard line, everyone was expecting a run so the Jacks would call their second timeout to conserve the clock but offensive coordinator Jake Landry and Miller had other ideas as the Bison signal caller lofted a pass toward the front right corner of the endzone where RaJa Nelson made an over the shoulder catch to give NDSU a 13-9 lead. Miller was 7 of 7 on his signature drive.
The Bison were unsuccessful on the two point play giving Mark Gronowski one more chance to salvage a win. A penalty on the kickoff pushed SDSU back to their own nine but the Jacks were able to drive to their own 47 and then Gronowski tried to fit a pass to Goering that would get SDSU into NDSU territory but in the theme of dramatic irony, Logan Kopp intercepted the pass to ensure the the rock would return to Fargo as #2 NDSU finally beats #1 SDSU 13-9.
The intercpetion was SDSU’s first turnover against NDSU since 2019, the last time the Bison won the marker.
The Bison outgained the Jackrabbits in the fourth quarter 105-80 thanks to the Walter Payton award frontrunner at quarterback as Cam Miller finished the game 20 of 27 for 163 yards and two touchdowns. He finally outplayed Mark Gronowski as he finished the evening 17 of 29 for 118 yards and an interception. The Bison played the near perfect game in the forth quarter and they did it without many starters on defense as Dylan Hendricks, Nick Kubitz, Jailen Duffie, Oscar Benson and Sam Jung were not on the field in the closing moments. That shows the depth and leadership this team has.
The Bison will more than likely be the #1 team in the country when they head to their old Kentucky home and face the Murray State Racers in Murray, Kentucky on Saturday. Kickoff between the Bison and Racers will be at 1 p.m., the game can be seen on WDAY-ABC, and ESPN+