For the first time in two years, North Dakota State football is the #1 team in the FCS after its emotional 13-9 win against South Dakota State last Saturday night inside the Fargodome. NDSU’s next game would be played in foreign territory as they traveled to Murray, Kentucky, to face the Murray State Racers.
The school that is best known for producing 2x NBA All-Star Ja Morant is in its second season in the Missouri Valley Football Conference, and they have struggled in their new conference as the Racers are 1-11 in MVFC play. Murray is also 0-1 versus NDSU, as the Bison beat the Racers in Fargo 38-6 last year.
Murray State came into this season with a new head coach, Jody Wright. The new head coach for the Racers has coached with Nick Saban at Alabama and spent time at South Carolina where he coached tight ends. He not only has SEC connections, but he also has connections to NDSU, as his QB coach, Zeb Noland, was Trey Lance’s backup at NDSU and started a majority of games during the 2021 spring season. Wright’s starting quarterback is Jayden Johannsen. The Murray State signal caller spent his true freshman season at NDSU before transferring to South Dakota School of Mines, where he was a finalist for the Harlon Hill Trophy (The Dll equivalent to the Heisman Trophy). With all these NDSU connections, maybe Murray could at least put a scare in the new #1 FCS, right? Wrong.
The most running Murray State did all day was pregame when they came out onto the field behind “Racer One,” an actual racehorse that runs a lap around the track surrounding the football field when the Racers score a touchdown. The funny thing is that “Racer One” could’ve gotten a pretty good workout in if it was the mascot for the other team, as NDSU won the toss and took the football first to send a message. The message wasn’t received well by Murray State as NDSU’s first drive as the new #1 wasn’t met with much resistance as a six-play, 75-yard drive ended with a seven-yard CharMar Brown touchdown. Brown’s touchdown was the only play that was under 10 yards on the drive.
Murray State would miss a field goal on their first possession, and Bryce Lance would make them pay for it as he caught a 74-yard touchdown from Cam Miller on the very next play to make it a two-score game. Three plays later, NDSU was back in the endzone, this time on defense as Jayden Johannsen was picked off by Enock Sibomana, and the Fargo South grad would take it the distance as his 34-yard return put the Bison up 21-0.
Murray State would miss another field goal on their next drive, and NDSU would continue their first-quarter dominance into the second as a seven-play, 60-yard drive was capped off with CharMar Brown’s second touchdown of the half to extend the herd’s lead to 28. Brown’s nine scores on the year has landed him on the Jerry Rice Award watchlist (The award goes to the top freshman in FCS football).
The Racers would finally get on the board, but Racer One would remain in the stable as James London would hit a 24-yard field goal to make it a 28-3 Bison lead. Murray would then get tricky and try an onside kick, but it didn’t go 10 yards, so NDSU would get the ball at the MSU 42. Cam Miller and the offense took advantage as only three plays were needed to find the endzone as Bryce Lance would score his second touchdown on a 17-yard slant pass to make it a 35-3 lead. Murray State’s next drive ended on a Darius Givance interception in the endzone giving Nathan Hayes his opportunity to get some snaps. Cole Payton is done for the year with shoulder surgery, and with the score the way it was, Coach Polasek decided to give Cam Miller the rest of the day off, giving Hayes his opportunity to run the offense.
Hayes’ first drive was rather successful. He led a seven-play, 80-yard drive that ended with Bryce Lance’s third touchdown of the half, giving NDSU a 42-3 lead. Lance now has eight scores on the season, which is tied for fourth in the FCS. The score was also Hayes’ first collegiate touchdown pass. The Bison would carry that margin into halftime.
NDSU continued its dominance into the second half, as Jaquise Alexander intercepted Johannsen on the first play of the half. NDSU padded its lead from there, as CharMar Brown scored from a yard out five plays later to give the Bison a 49-3 lead.
“Code Green” would force another turnover on the next possession as Murray State backup quarterback Jameson Holcomb coughed up the ball. Austin Altepeter recovered the fumble, which led to an Eli Ozick 31-yard field goal on the ensuing drive to tack three more onto the lead.
In the fourth quarter, James London hit a 47-yard field goal for Murray, but NDSU put some finishing touches on the blowout with a 12-play, 75-yard putaway drive. Hayes found John Gores for a nine-yard touchdown pass for a final score of 59-6, North Dakota State.
The Bison offense was electric once again as they racked up 459 yards of total offense while Cam Miller was 5-5 passing for 128 yards and two touchdowns. Nathan Hayes came in and went 9 of 15 for 141 yards and two scores. CharMar Brown ran his way to 97 yards and three touchdowns, while Bryce Lance had his best receiving day as he caught four passes for 104 yards and three touchdowns.
“Code Green” forced five turnovers, and those mistakes by Murray turned into 24 points scored by NDSU. The Bison will return home this week and face the University of Northern Iowa Panthers, who are 2-6 overall and 0-4 in MVFC play. Kickoff between the Bison and the Panthers will be at 2:30 p.m. inside the Fargodome.