The Abilene Christian Wildcats hit the road for the second round of the FCS Playoffs and thrived early on in one of the nation’s toughest road environments.

The Wildcats quickly pounced on NDSU to seize a 14-point lead by the early second quarter, but the Bison rallied behind senior quarterback Cam Miller.

Miller and the Bison scored 31 unanswered points, as No. 2 North Dakota State cemented its comeback with a 51-31 win over Abilene Christian in the second round of the FCS Playoffs on Saturday afternoon at the Fargodome in Fargo, North Dakota.

The Bison (11-2) advance to the quarterfinals with the victory — their 15th consecutive quarterfinals appearance — where they will host No. 7 Mercer. NDSU also improved to 36-1 all-time in home playoff games.

The Wildcats (9-5) seized the momentum during the first quarter when they stopped North Dakota State in the red zone and held NDSU to a field goal on the opening drive of the game.

Led by quarterback Maverick McIvor, who was sidelined for ACU’s 24-0 first-round playoff victory against Northern Arizona, Abilene Christian rattled off back-to-back touchdown drives to end the first quarter ahead 14-3.

But the Wildcats struggled to hold onto the ball, coughing up a fumble on a strip sack on the opening drive of the second half and tossing two costly fourth-quarter interceptions.

Miller and North Dakota State’s offense couldn’t be stopped in the second half either.

The Bison scored touchdowns on four straight possessions from the end of the second quarter to the end of the third. Miller completed 20 of 29 passes for 274 yards, three touchdowns and an interception.

McIvor threw for 153 yards, a touchdown and two interceptions on 20-of-32 passing for Abilene Christian. Senior running back Sam Hicks led the Wildcats with 153 yards rushing and two touchdowns on 16 carries.

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Game-changing plays

ACU jumped ahead early thanks to its success on pivotal plays. 

The Wildcats converted two of three critical third-down situations during their opening drive and hit on a fourth-and-short attempt, too, which allowed McIvor to find JJ Henry for a 13-yard touchdown pass.

On the first play of ACU’s next possession, Harris found a hole and took off down the sideline for a 90-yard touchdown run to end the first quarter.

Abilene Christian padded its lead again when junior defensive end Kaghen Roach picked off a screen pass — his first career interception — that set up Ritse Vaes’ 29-yard field goal to put ACU ahead 17-3 with 10:35 left in the second quarter.

North Dakota State’s Jackson Williams returned the ensuing kickoff 100 yards to ignite an explosive 31-0 run for NDSU.

The Bison offense found the end zone for the only time in the first half when Miller connected with RaJa Nelson for a 6-yard touchdown pass to enter the half with a 20-17 lead over Abilene Christian.

North Dakota State scored touchdowns on each of their third-quarter drives. The Bison stripped and recovered a fumble when they sacked McIvor to start the third quarter and later scored on a 1-yard touchdown run by Miller.

Miller threw 30- and 36-yard touchdown passes on NDSU’s next two possessions to give the Bison a 41-24 advantage by the start of the fourth quarter.

The Wildcats fought to claw their way back into the game late with back-to-back second-half touchdown drives that cut North Dakota State’s lead to 41-31 with 11:11 remaining.

The Bison, however, picked off two passes during the final four minutes and sealed their victory with a 31-yard interception return touchdown by Logan Kopp with 3:25 left.

They said it

Abilene Christian head football coach Keith Patterson: “It was about what we expected. We knew it was going to be a hard-fought game that was going to go for 60 minutes. … If you had told me before the game that we’d hold them to 100 yards rushing, I thought it’d probably be a different game. But at the end of the day, we just made too many mistakes to be able to win against an opponent like North Dakota State with the history and tradition they have. They’re a challenge to stop offensively. You had to load the box to stop the run, but then you create problems for yourself on the back end. Hats off to them, they made plays when they had to.”

Abilene Christian quarterback Maverick McIvor: “I knew we weren’t going to change. We like to throw the ball a lot. And anytime you throw the ball a lot and you turn the ball over three times, I think it’s really hard to win, especially on a team like that of that high of a caliber. We knew that it was going to be a hard-fought battle and anytime we turn over the ball three times, it’s going to be really, really hard to win.”

Up next

Abilene Christian wraps up a historic 2024 campaign with Saturday’s loss.

After nearly knocking off Texas Tech in overtime on the road in its season opener, ACU won nine games — a new program record at the Division I level — and finished the year with a 4-2 record against ranked FCS opponents.

The Wildcats won the United Athletic Conference championship, their first conference title since 2010 and the program’s first since moving to DI, and clinched a berth and the No. 15 national seed in the playoffs for the first time in school history.

Abilene Christian dominated its playoff debut with a 24-0 shutout of Northern Arizona in Abilene. The Wildcats will return to action when ACU kicks off the 2025 season on the road against Tulsa on Aug. 30, 2025.

Second Round – FCS Playoffs

North Dakota State 51, Abilene Christian 31

Abilene Christian 14 3 7 7

North Dakota State 3 17 21 10

SCORING SUMMARY

1st Quarter

NDSU – Griffin Crosa 21-yard field goal GOOD; 8:52

ACU – Maverick McIvor 13-yard touchdown pass to JJ Henry (Ritse Vaes kick GOOD); 2:45

ACU – Sam Hicks 90-yard touchdown run (Ritse Vaes kick GOOD); 0:00

2nd Quarter

ACU – Ritse Vaes 29-yard field goal GOOD; 10:35

NDSU – Jackson Williams 100-yard touchdown kickoff return (Griffin Crosa kick GOOD); 10:24

NDSU – Griffin Crosa 37-yard field goal GOOD; 5:58

NDSU – Cam Miller 6-yard touchdown pass to RaJa Nelson (Griffin Crosa kick GOOD); 0:21

3rd Quarter

NDSU – Cam Miller 1-yard touchdown run (Griffin Crosa kick GOOD); 10:38

NDSU – Cam Miller 30-yard touchdown pass to TK Marshall (Griffin Crosa kick GOOD); 6:08

ACU – Sam Hicks 3-yard touchdown run (Ritse Vaes kick GOOD); 3:23

NDSU – Cam Miller 36-yard touchdown pass to Bryce Lance (Griffin Crosa kick GOOD); 0:40

4th Quarter

ACU – Rovaughn Banks, Jr. 2-yard touchdown run (Ritse Vaes kick GOOD); 11:11

NDSU – Griffin Crosa 24-yard field goal GOOD; 3:34

NDSU – Logan Kopp 31-yard interception return (Griffin Crosa kick GOOD); 3:25