Bison Corral Cowboys 28-0 on Homecoming to Claim "Battle of the Basins" Trophy

Homecoming is a week-long festival of celebration and fun on campus. It is also a week to welcome back notable alumni and to honor those who have made big contributions to the university. Perhaps the most notable person to come back this past weekend is a Nebraska graduate who is the winningest head coach in both NDSU and Wyoming history, Craig Bohl.

The 2024 NDSU Athletic Hall of Fame inductee won 192 games during his head coaching career in Fargo and Laramie and, like a proud father, watched from the sidelines as both schools competed in the inaugural "Battle of the Basins" game.

Round one of this new rivalry was one-sided as the Bison corralled the Cowboys 28-0 as a sellout crowd witnessed two Nathan Hayes rushing touchdowns and the "Code Green" defense holding Wyoming to 162 total yards.

The crowd theme for the Homecoming game was "Code Green", and the defense of the same moniker made sure the fans were on their feet from the first play, as Wyoming quarterback Tyler Hughes' first pass of the game was intercepted by Donovan Woolen, and the Bison were set up at the 18-yard line. Hughes had thrown five interceptions to just two touchdowns before Saturday's matchup.

Nathan Hayes and his feet would play a major role in this game, but on the opening drive for the Bison, his feet would find paydirt on third-and-goal from the eight as Hayes would scramble to his left and beat the Wyoming cornerback to the pylon, and NDSU would strike first.

The second quarter would be more of the same as Hayes would find the endzone with his legs again as he took a zone read play 14 yards to the residence and the Bison took a two-score lead over the Cowboys. Hayes second score of the half was the end of a 97-yard drive. Drew Klein would close the half with a 31-yard field goal, and it was 17-0 Bison at halftime.

If it sounds like this game was one-sided, well... it was. At halftime, Wyoming had just 73 yards of total offense, as they had more penalty yards (34) than passing yards (28). NDSU ran the ball for 135 yards in the first half and had 231 yards of total offense.

Klein would continue his hot streak as he split the uprights again from 37 yards out, and the Bison lead was 20 in the third quarter.

The Bison would salt it away late with a DJ Scott one-yard touchdown run and a Jackson Williams two-point conversion to lay claim to the "Battle of the Basins" trophy with a 28-0 shutout win over the Wyoming Cowboys for their first Mountain West home victory.

Nathan Hayes and the offense were efficient yet again as they rolled up 407 yards of total offense and 28 points on a team that gives up 22 points per contest. The Wyoming offense ran into the No.1 scoring defense in the country as the Cowboys managed just 162 yards after racking up more than 250 yards in each of their previous four games.

Hayes would pass for 187 yards on 14 completions, but it was the running game where he was most effective, as he led the team in rushing with 79 yards. As a whole, NDSU ran for 220 yards with six different players registering rushing yards. Myles Mitchell didn't play in the win due to an ankle injury suffered at Sacramento State.

"Code Green" registered its second shutout of the season as Tyler Hughes passed for just 52 yards, as he completed a pass to a wide receiver on just two of his five completions.

Coach Polasek preached "Code Green" in the win: "The kids take a lot of pride when we put them in all green." Polasek continued, "It's a badge of honor. When they say code green, there's some things that are critical to the core values of the defense in that unit. And one of those things that they always would like to capture is to hold a team to less than 100 yards rushing and pitch a shutout.

NDSU is now 5-0 on the season and 2-0 in conference play, but Jackson Williams said after the game that this is what they expected: " I think it went exactly how we thought it was going to go. Our mentality going into every week is to go 1-0 that week, and it's going to be the same way going forward."

Wyoming head coach Jay Sawvel spoke to his team's offensive ineptness, and that affected not only his offense but his entire team: "When you don't get anything done offensively, you just torpedo the whole boat eventually at some point. Defensively, you lose belief, and you don't play with the energy level that you need to play with."

The Mountain West tests get tougher from here for NDSU, as they head to Las Vegas this week to take on the UNLV Rebels. Led by former SEC quarterback Jackson Arnold and former Florida head coach Dan Mullen, the Rebels are 3-2 after a 39-31 win over the ACC's California Golden Bears. UNLV was the preseason favorite to win the conference, but losses to Memphis and a 38-point loss at North Texas have put the Rebels behind the eight ball for CFP consideration; they are right in the mix in the Mountain West conference title race as they finished runner-up to Boise State last season.

Kickoff between the Bison and Rebels is set for 6 p.m. Central from Allegiant Stadium in Las Vegas, Nevada. The game can be seen on The CW and listened to on Bison 1660/92.7 FM.