Ace Hunt
GoSycamores.com
FARGO, N.D. -- No. 1 North Dakota State extended their FCS record winning streak to 31 games as the Bison earned a 34-17 victory over No. 22/23 Indiana State in front of 18,477 fans inside Fargodome.
The Sycamores dropped to 4-3, 1-2 MVFC while the Bison improved to 7-0, 3-0 MVFC.
Osborn Umeh finished the game with seven punts for 325 yards -- a single-game career-best average for the junior transfer of 46.4 yards. Umeh had three punts over 50 yards, including a long of 56 yards and pinned the Bison inside their own 20-yard line twice.
A.J. Johnson had seven pass receptions for 120 yards as well as a fourth quarter touchdown, while Robert Tonyan added three catches for 38 yards. Chris O'Leary tallied a career-best four pass receptions in the contest. Mike Perish racked up 196 yards of passing in the game, including the scoring strike to Johnson.
The Sycamore defense had three players in double digit tackles including a team-best 15 from Kendall Walker. Walker also forced a fumble in the game's second quarter. Donovan Layne added 12 with a quarterback sack while Garrick Ratliff added 12. Connor Underwood recorded six tackles, including a pair of tackles for a loss. Jordan Wallace owned a 72-yard fumble return for a touchdown in the fourth quarter.
Trailing late, the Sycamores put together a nine-play, 77-yard scoring drive which was capped by a 18-yard touchdown pass from Perish to Johnson to cut the NDSU advantage down to 34-10 with 5:54 remaining. Johnson had receptions of 18 and 17 yards on the drive while Chris O'Leary caught three consecutive passes to keep the drive marching down the field.
The Sycamore defense created a big play turnover with 2:52 remaining when Phil Wilson forced a fumble and Jordan Wallace picked the ball up and raced 72 yards for a touchdown which furthered trimmed the North Dakota State lead down to 34-17. It was the first fumble return for a touchdown for the Sycamores since Calvin Burnett had one for two yards at Indiana in the 2013 season opener.
The Sycamore defense bent but they did not break on the first two drives by North Dakota State. Drives of 15 and 12 plays resulted in Adam Keller field goals for 19 and 50 yards as the Bison took a 6-0 lead into the later portions of the first quarter.
A punt return set the Bison up for their third scoring drive, a two-play, 10-yard jaunt which resulted in a John Crockett touchdown run of two yards for the 13-0 advantage with just 21 seconds remaining in the opening stanza.
NDSU returned to the end zone on their fourth drive after a fumble nearly netted the Sycamores the ball near midfield. Instead, Carson Wentz found Zach Vraa for a 48-yard touchdown pass with 11:59 left before the half and a 20-0 Bison lead. North Dakota State then drove into the red zone, but a quarterback sack from Donovan Layne pushed the ball far enough away to force Keller into missing a 33-yard field goal attempt and kept the score at 20-0.
The Sycamores gained some momentum from the missed field goal and Perish got things started with a 35-yard pass down the sideline to A.J. Johnson for Indiana State's first trip into NDSU territory. On third-and-19 Perish again hooked with up Johnson for a 25-yard gain to keep the chains moving. Perish then found Tonyan for 14 yards as the Sycamores drove down to the NDSU 13. Eric Heidorn put the Sycamores on the board with a 39-yard field goal to cap the 11-play drive and cut the Bison advantage down to 20-3.
Dimitri Taylor opened the second half with a 33-yard kickoff return but the Bison defense continued to hold. After a booming 49-yard punt from Umeh forced NDSU to start at their own 17-yard line, the Bison gained a trio of first downs before Connor Underwood tallied the first of two tackles for a loss on the dive. NDSU still managed to score on a three-yard touchdown pass from Wentz to Vraa on third-and-goal to take a 27-3 lead with 6:36 remaining in the third quarter.
A 53-yard punt from Umeh as well as a 10-yard penalty on the Bison forced NDSU to start at their own 31-yard line. A 69-yard drive was capped by a three-yard touchdown rush from Crockett and NDSU stretched its lead out to 34-3 with just under two minutes left in the third quarter.
The Sycamores moved the ball into the Bison red zone on their first drive of fourth quarter with an 18-yard completion to Chris O'Leary as well as 20 more to Robert Tonyan. The pass to Tonyan converted a fourth down, but the Bison defense would hold on a later fourth down conversion attempt. The defense was able to respond with a three-and-out defensive stop.
Indiana State returns to action on Saturday, October 25 when they face their fifth consecutive nationally-ranked opponent in Southern Illinois. Kick-off is set for 7:00 p.m. (ET) and the game will be televised locally on WTWO-TV as well as nationally on ESPN3 through the Missouri Valley Football Conference TV Network.
