FARGO, N.D. – Top-ranked North Dakota State erupted for 31 second-half points and won its 33rd straight game 37-17 over No. 18/19-ranked South Dakota State in the Missouri Valley Football Conference on Saturday, Nov. 1, at Gate City Bank Field at the Fargodome.
North Dakota State (9-0, 5-0 MVFC) scored on all five possessions after trailing at halftime for the first time in 17 games. NDSU held the ball for more than 21 of 30 minutes in the second half and the FCS leaders in time of possession totaled 38:20 to second-ranked SDSU's 21:40.
Defensive end
Kyle Emanuel registered a career-high 10 tackles and 4.0 sacks and moved into third place in NDSU history with 33 career sacks. He had eight tackles and 3.0 sacks by halftime and also had a forced fumble and quarterback hurry in the game.
NDSU held SDSU to 89 yards rushing with Valley Football all-time leading rusher Zach Zenner getting 96 yards and one touchdown on 17 carries. He averaged 5.6 yards per carry after combining for just 127 yards and 2.9 per carry in four previous games against NDSU.
It was 10-6 at halftime before the Bison came out of the locker room to march 88 yards in 12 plays and go ahead for good on tight end
Kevin Vaadeland's 2-yard reception from
Carson Wentz that made it 13-10 at the 8:35 mark of the third quarter.
SDSU (5-4, 2-3 MVFC) pulled within 20-17 early in the fourth quarter but NDSU answered with a 5-yard TD run by Wentz to make it 27-17 before the Jackrabbits turned over the ball on an interception, fumble and downs on their final three possessions.
NDSU's
Colten Heagle got his second interception of the year on a deflected pass at the SDSU 32 that led to an
Adam Keller field goal, and Emanuel's strip sack at the SDSU 23 led to 1-yard TD run by
John Crockett five plays later to make it 37-17.
Crockett ran for a season-high 152 yards and the Bison had dual 100-yard rushers for the second straight game with Wentz getting a career-high 100 yards on 16 attempts. Crockett passed Tony Satter and Chris Simdorn for fifth place on NDSU's career rushing chart with 3,354 yards.
Wentz was 12 of 20 passing with seven receivers combining for 115 yards through the air.
Zach Vraa made three catches for 31 yards and Vaadeland,
Trevor Gebhart and
RJ Urzendowski made two catches each.
Keller connected on field goals of 33, 45 and 45 yards and established a new NDSU single-season record with 20 field goals made, passing his own mark of 18 made in 2012.
Ben LeCompte punted twice for 63 and 66 yards.
SDSU quarterback Austin Sumner was 14 of 28 for 187 yards in his first game back since breaking his foot in the season-opener at Missouri. Jake Wieneke caught five passes for 87 yards including a 42-yard TD strike that gave SDSU its 10-6 lead 37 seconds before halftime.
A sellout crowd of 18,832 was on hand at Gate City Bank Field to watch the Bison win the Dakota Marker for the fifth straight time. It was NDSU's sixth straight win over SDSU, including a 2012 playoff game.
North Dakota State plays the first of two straight road games at 4 p.m. Saturday, Nov. 8, at Northern Iowa. The Panthers are 5-4 overall and 3-2 in the MVFC after a 35-29 home win over previously unbeaten Illinois State.
