No. 6/17-ranked North Dakota State rallied from a 20-point deficit to defeat No. 11/13 Southern Illinois 35-27 in a Missouri Valley Football Conference game played before a sellout crowd of 18,942 in the Fargodome on Saturday, Oct. 4. It was the third straight sellout for the Bison and the seventh out of the last 10 games.

It was also NDSU's 15th straight win at the Fargodome as the Bison scored 35 unanswered points against Southern Illinois (2-2, 1-1 MVFC) to snap a brief two-game losing streak. NDSU improved to 7-1 against ranked teams over the past three seasons.

North Dakota State held the ball for over 18 minutes in the second half. The Bison came up with 210 of its 379 yards of total offense in the second half. NDSU was held to 38 yards rushing in the first half and finished with 184 yards on the ground overall.

The Bison (3-2, 1-1 MVFC) drove 80 yards in 15 plays for the go-ahead score early in the fourth quarter. The drive was capped by an 11-yard pass from Nick Mertens to Jordan Schultenover. Schultenover made an incredible diving catch of a deflection after tight end Jerimiah Wurzbacher was drilled by a pair of SIU defenders attempting to make the catch at the 2-yard line.

Mertens threw for a pair of touchdowns including a 9-yard toss to Wurzbacher 36-seconds before halftime, and added a 1-yard TD run. He completed 16 of 24 passes to seven different receivers for 195 yards. Kole Heckendorf had one reception and has caught a pass in 30 straight games and 37 of 38 games in his career.

Tyler Roehl rushed 26 times for 125 yards and a touchdown, and caught three passes for 34 yards. Roehl went over 100 yards for the third time this season and ninth time in his career.

Chris Dieker tossed two touchdown passes for the Salukis, including a 12-yarder to Bryce Morris to give the visitors a 20-0 lead late in the second quarter. Dieker completed 15 of 29 passes for 186 yards and three TDs including a pair of scoring strikes to Ryan Kernes. Linebacker Brandin Jordan led the Southern Illinois defense with a game-high 11 tackles.

North Dakota State's defense stiffened and allowed only 126 yards in the second half, most coming on the final drive in the last four minutes of the fourth quarter. The Salukis converted only 1 of 6 third down chances in the second half.

Linebacker Mike Maresh tied a career-high with 10 tackles, while strong safety Cyrus Lemon came up with a career-best nine stops and linebacker Tyler Henry finished with nine. Free safety Nick Schommer came up with an important interception early in the fourth quarter. It was Schommer's 11th career pick and puts him eighth on the NDSU career list.

North Dakota State is scheduled to host No. 21/22-ranked Western Illinois (3-2, 1-1 MVFC) at 3:07 p.m. Saturday, Oct. 11, in the Fargodome.