OGDEN, Utah -- Kyle Steffes ran for  a career-high 176 yards and two touchdowns to lead North Dakota State to a 31-17 win over Weber State in a non-conference football game played before a crowd of 4,112 at Stewart Stadium on Saturday, Nov. 6.

The loss gives the Wildcats (1-9) their first nine-loss season since 1976. NDSU is 2-0 over Big Sky Conference teams over the past two seasons -- both road wins -- against Montana (25-24 in 2003) and Weber State.

The Bison (7-3, 1-3 GWFC) never trailed in the game -- taking a 17-7 lead into halftime after Steve Walker hooked up with Travis White for a pair of touchdowns of 53 and 15-yards, and Cory Vartanian booted a 30-yard field goal. NDSU scored on its first three possessions of the contest. The Walker-to-White 53-yard scoring connection was the longest pass play of the season for NDSU. Walker was 8 of 12 passing for 141 yards.

Weber State's lone first-half score came on a 6-yard run by Nick Chournos.

In the second half, the Wildcats came within a touchdown on two occasions, but couldn't get closer. Steffes put the game out of reach with his two TD runs -- the first a 50-yard scamper with under a minute left in the third quarter and the other, a two-yard plunge, at the nine-minute mark of the fourth.

Steffes, who now has 979 yards this season heading into the final game of the season, was the featured back on both of the scoring drives. During the second, he rushed for 41 yards and also caught a 20-yard pass from Walker.

Chournos finished with two touchdowns and 21 carries for 124 yards -- pushing him over the 1,000-yard mark on the season. He's the first Big Sky rusher to reach the mark this season.

North Dakota State didn't commit a turnover during the contest, while Jake Johnson recovered a Weber State fumble following a kickoff late in the first quarter that led to the Vartanian field goal. The NDSU defense was led by Jayd Kittelson with a game-high 14 tackles including 10 assists and a forced fumble, and Brian Erenberg with 11. Ryan Olson and Rob Mamula combined for a sack, and the Bison defense stopped a pivotal fourth down play.

The Bison rushed for 255 yards and had 396 yards of total offense compared to 355 for the Wildcats. Along with Chournos, Ian Pizarro completed 18 of 27 passes for 192 yards. Weber State, which held the ball for over 11 minutes in the third quarter, was hurt by nine penalties for 67 yards. NDSU had five penalties for 37 yards.

North Dakota State is scheduled to close out its first season of NCAA I-AA football at No. 23-ranked UC Davis (6-2, 3-1) at 3:05 p.m. (CST) Saturday, Nov. 13, in the Great West Football Conference finale.