Bison Blast Bears 55-0 to Clinch Fifth Straight Valley Football Title

Saturday, November 21

Fargo, N.D.

2:30 p.m.

North Dakota State Athletics

9-2 , 7-1

Missouri State

1-10 , 0-8

Team	1st	2nd	3rd	4th	Final F
Missouri State	0	0	0	0	0
North Dakota State	14	27	14	0	55

Photo by: Richard Svaleson

Bison Blast Bears 55-0 to Clinch Fifth Straight Valley Football Title

11/21/2015 6:30:00 PM | Football

Box Score

FARGO, N.D. - North Dakota State rolled up a season-high 601 yards of total offense and capitalized on three first quarter turnovers to beat Missouri State 55-0 and clinch a share of its fifth straight Missouri Valley Football Conference title Saturday, Nov. 21, before a crowd of 18,624 at Gate City Bank Field at the Fargodome.

Eight different players scored touchdowns for No. 2-ranked NDSU, which ended the regular season 9-2 overall and 7-1 in the conference to tie Illinois State for the league title a second straight season. Missouri State ended its season 1-10 overall and 0-8 in the conference.

NDSU's defense set the tone with back-to-back sacks on the second and third plays of the game. Defensive end Greg Menard forced a fumble at the Missouri State 7 on the second sack and defensive end Caleb Butler recovered it in the end zone to give the Bison a 7-0 lead after Cam Pedersen's PAT kick.

Defensive end Brad Ambrosius intercepted a pass on MSU's next drive to set up an 11-play, 49-yard drive culminating with King Frazier's one-yard TD run.

NDSU got the ball back again late in the first when linebacker MJ Stumpf stripped receiver Calan Crowder after a six-yard reception. The Bison scored six plays later early in the second quarter on a four-yard reception by tight end Connor Wentz.

North Dakota State led 41-0 at halftime and tacked on a quick score in the first two plays out of the locker room when Frazier ran 38 yards on the first play and quarterback Easton Stick found tight end Jeff Illies on a 30-yard passing play.

The Bison had their starters out of the game by the 12-minute mark of the third quarter and scored on the second unit's first drive when Lance Dunn followed a block by fellow running back Bruce Anderson and rumbled 60 yards down the right sideline to make it 55-0.

Stick went 15 of 20 passing for 189 yards and four touchdowns, and Dunn led eight Bison rushers with eight carries for 125 yards. RJ Urzendowski made four catches for 56 yards and Darrius Shepherd made four grabs for 40 yards.

Zach Vraa's only reception was a one-yard touchdown pass from Stick in the second quarter, which gave Vraa his 27th career touchdown and sole possession of the NDSU career record for receiving touchdowns ahead of Tim Strehlow's 26 from 1996-99.

NDSU ran for 412 yards and averaged 8.6 yards per carry. It was the most rushing yards and total offense since the Bison ran for 424 yards and put up 623 total yards on Coastal Carolina in the 2013 national quarterfinal win.

Menard finished with three tackles, two sacks, one forced fumble, one fumble recovery and two quarterback hurries. Stumpf and Butler each made six tackles to lead the Bison defense.