FARGO, N.D.--North Dakota State put two runningbacks over 100 yards and presented a solid defense in posting a 34-7 win over Nebraska-Omaha in North Central Conference football here Saturday afternoon at the Fargodome.

A homecoming crowd of 14,109 watched the Bison dominate the contest in improving to 5-1 overall and 3-0 in the NCC.

The Bison put together perhaps their best offensive effort of the year, running for 243 yards, passing for 111 yards on 16 of 21 in the air, and totaling 354 yards of total offense.

Freshman halfback Kyle Steffes and senior halfback Rod Malone provided a potent 1-2 punch for the Herd. Steffes carried the ball 23 times for 140 yards and scored one TD while Malone picked up 112 yards on 20 carries and scored twice.

Malone capped a 72-yard, 10-play drive on the opening possession with an 8-yard TD run to give the Bison the early lead. NDSU upped the margin to 13-0 at halftime with a pair of second quarter field goals by Cory Vartanian of 37 and 47 yards.

NDSU put the game away in the third quarter with a pair of scores--a 26-yard run by Steffes and an 11-yard scoring pass from Tony Stauss to Allen Burrell.

Nebraska-Omaha cut the margin to 27-7 mid-way through the fourth quarter on a four-yard pass from Brian Masek to Chris Denney. It marked the first touchdown by an opposing offense against the Bison defense in 13+ plus quarters (202 minutes, 55 seconds) since the second quarter of the loss to Cal-Davis in mid-September.

However, NDSU recovered the onsides kick and controled the ball for all but 50 seconds of the remainder of the game, capping a 50-yard, 12-play drive with a one-yard run by Malone.

The Bison defense played a strong game, intercepting three passes and recovering a fumble. NDSU limited UNO to just 132 yards rushing and 299 yards total offense in the game.

The loss dropped Nebraska-Omaha to 5-2 overall and 2-1 in the league.

The Bison return to the road for the next two weeks against arch-rival North Dakota and Augustana.