For North Dakota State football, it had been two long years since the Bison last played in an FCS national championship game on the grass at Toyota Stadium in Frisco, Texas, and three years since they last hoisted the trophy as the national champion.
The two previous years for NDSU were filled with disappointment as a loss in Frisco and a semi-final loss in Missoula last year left the Bison with more questions than answers regarding the 2024 team. All of their questions were quickly answered with the emergence of redshirt freshman running back CharMar Brown, junior wide receiver Bryce Lance, and the return of the “Code Green” defense. The herd won 10 of 12 regular season contests, including a win over then #1 ranked South Dakota State. A late-season stumble in Vermillion left NDSU as the #2 seed heading into the playoffs.
NDSU beat #15 Abilene Christian, #7 Mercer, and #3 South Dakota State to reach the school’s 11th national championship game. If they were to win their 10th title, they would have to beat a team that was thought of as a team of destiny, #1 Montana State. Led by quarterback Tommy Mellott and former Bison assistant turned-head coach Brent Vigen, the Bobcats ran through their regular season slate undefeated, including an FBS win at New Mexico. They then defeated UT Martin, #8 Idaho, and #4 South Dakota to reach Frisco for the second time.
On the Saturday night before the game, Brent Vigen won the Eddie Robinson Award for Coach of the Year, and CharMar Brown won the Jerry Rice Award for the freshman of the year. The last award given out that night was the Walter Payton Award, which goes to the offensive player of the year. Both Tommy Mellott and Bison QB Cam Miller were nominated for the award, but Mellott edged Miller by just 16 points in a close race for the FCS equivalent of the Heisman.
When Monday finally came, it was time for the top two quarterbacks in the FCS to duke it out for either the 10th title in 14 years or the 1st in 40 years. The game was nationally televised on ESPN, and a crowd of just over 18,000 was in attendance for what was one of the best FCS championship games.
The Bobcats won the toss and elected to defer their choice to the second half, giving Cam Miller and his offense the ball first. The Bison offense responded to the challenge by starting fast with a 12-play, 75-yard drive, which ended with a Cam Miller helicopter-style touchdown dive from three yards out to give NDSU a 7-0 lead.
The drive took over seven minutes off the clock, and “Code Green” then halted Tommy Mellott’s opening march at midfield. The Bison then threw a haymaker on their next possession. On a third-and-4 from their own 36, Cam Miller was alone in the shotgun. He took the snap and ran a quarterback draw play 64 yards untouched to give NDSU a 14-0 lead over the top-seeded Bobcats. The herd outgained the Bobcats 157 to 40 in the first quarter.
Montana State would finally get on the board in the second quarter as a 17-play, 61-yard drive yielded just three points. NDSU would punt on its next possession, and then it looked like MSU would tack on more points before the half, but after the Bobcats failed on a 4th and five conversion attempt near midfield, the Bison would make the ‘Cats pay as a 10 play, 56-yard drive in just 47 seconds would be capped off by postseason hero Bryce Lance as his two catches on the drive, a nine-yard catch to the one and a one-yard touchdown catch on a slant pattern gave the Bison a 21-3 halftime lead.
The Bobcats came out swinging in the second half with 15 unanswered points as a Scottre Humphrey rushing touchdown and a Rohan Jones receiving touchdown, plus a two-point conversion caught by Jones, gave MSU all the momentum. Still, they didn’t have the lead, and Cam Miller ensured that on the next drive.
Miller guided an eight-play, 75-yard drive that ended in the endzone. On second and goal, Cam found Joe Stoffel for a one-yard touchdown pass to extend the lead to 28-18. Tommy Mellott then showed why he was voted the Payton winner. Five plays later, he scored on a 44-yard touchdown scamper to bring the Cats back within three, 28-25.
Each team then exchanged punts, and it was now Cam Miller’s time to put the finishing touches on a legendary season and career. His offense started at the NDSU 34; then the offense started charging down the field as passes to Bryce Lance and a few rushes by Marty Brown brought the ball to the MSU 21-yard line, but they were faced with a 3rd and 5. On perhaps the most significant third down of the game, Cam would find RaJa Nelson for a pickup of seven yards to the 14-yard line.
From there, it was the Marty Brown show as Brown would pick up the final 14 yards on carries of nine, two, and most importantly, on a first and goal from the three, Brown fought his way into the endzone to give NDSU a 35-25 lead with just 2:41 to play in the game.
Montana State would respond quickly with a 10-play, 73-yard drive in just a minute and twenty-six seconds. With the score 35-32 and just 1:09 remaining, Brent Vigen had no choice but to have Brendan Hall attempt an onside kick. Bryce Lance recovered Hall’s onside kick.
NDSU now had to run the last 66 seconds off the clock, and with Montana State still holding onto two timeouts, this game wasn’t over yet. Three runs by Miller and Brown ran the clock down to 10 seconds before the Bison were left with a 4th and 2. NDSU took a delay of game to give punter Kaedin Steindorf more room to get off a clock-killing punt.
Montana State did not have a returner back, so all Steindorf had to do was get it over the line and kick it deep enough, and it was ball game. Caleb Bowers snapped it to Steindorf, who took one step and got away a knuckleball, and his punt kept rolling on the ground. When Bowers downed the ball at the MSU 15-yard line, there were only zeros on the clock.
In what was an instant classic of a championship game, North Dakota State won its 10th FCS national championship in 14 years with a 35-32 win over previously undefeated and #1-seeded Montana State. Cam Miller was named the game’s Most Outstanding Player, as he was 19 of 22 passing for 199 yards and two touchdowns. He was also the team’s leading rusher, running the ball 18 times for 121 yards and two touchdowns. The best receiver in the FCS showed up in the biggest game as Bryce Lance caught nine passes for 107 yards and a touchdown.
“Code Green” held Montana State to just 198 yards rushing; the Bobcats averaged over 300 yards on the ground per game. Tommy Mellott was 13 of 24 passing for 195 yards and two touchdowns. He was also MSU’s leading rusher, as his 14 carries for 135 yards and one touchdown wasn’t enough as the Bison outgained the Bobcats 401 to 393.
Tim Polasek becomes the fourth head coach in NDSU history to win an FCS title and the third first-year coach in a row to win the title in program history. Cam Miller is the fifth different starting quarterback to win a national championship and is now one of four NDSU quarterbacks who have won multiple titles.
This championship continues one of the most remarkable runs in sports history, 10 titles in 14 seasons. It’s an unbelievable run that doesn’t look like it’s ending any time soon.
As former NDSU radio voice Scott Miller would say, “My Oh My!”