FARGO, ND--Lamar Gordon picked up an errant pitch from quarterback Graig Gorder and turned it into a 61-yard touchdown run to ignite North Dakota State to a 42-10 win over South Dakota here Saturday night before 14,101 fans to give the Bison their fourth straight win of the season.

The Bison trailed 3-0 midway through the opening quarter when Gorder's pitch bounced off fullback Ryan Simmers' back, bounced around on the ground before Gordon scooped the ball and raced past the stunned Coyote defense.

Gordon finished the night with three touchdowns and 200 yards rushing on 18 carries as the Bison, ranked first by D2Football.com and second by the American Football Coaches Association in NCAA Division II football, improved to 2-0 in the North Central Conference and 4-0 overall.

The win sets up the big intrastate battle between NDSU and archrival North Dakota (5-0) next week in Grand Forks.

NDSU scored again early in the second quarter as the Bison marched just 29 yards in three plays with Gordon going over from one yard out. The drive was set by by Richard Lewis' 46-yard punt return.

Lewis played a major role in the contest. After his fumbled punt return led to a USD touchdown, he came back to thrown and end-around pass to quarterback Gorder for a 44-yard touchdown aerial late in the half and the Bison were up 21-10.

NDSU took the opening drive of the second half and Gordon capped a 57-yard, seven-play march with a one-yard scoring run. The Bison put together another long scoring drive later in the quarter with DeShawn Perkins going over from 11 yards out.

North Dakota State wrapped up scoring less than a minute later when strong safety Billy Erenberg picked off a pass and returned it 21 yards for a touchdown.

NDSU had 416 yards total offense including 251 on the ground. South Dakota, despite having a huge time of possession advantage, finished with just 285 net yards but became the first team this year to gain over 100 yards on the Herd, picking up 140.

The win was the 14th straight for the Bison over the Coyotes. NDSU has now won 29 of their last 33 games.