North Dakota
Missouri State football gets reality check in blowout loss at North Dakota State
Missouri State football’s hopes of winning a share of the Missouri Valley Football Conference on Saturday quickly disappeared as the Bears didn’t put up much of a fight against the No. 1 team in the Football Championship Subdivision.
FCS No. 14 Missouri State (8-3, 6-1 MVFC) didn’t stand a chance in a 59-21 loss to FCS No. 1 North Dakota State (10-1, 7-0 MVFC) at the FargoDome in Fargo, North Dakota.
The Bears were dominated along the offensive and defensive fronts against the nine-time FCS champions. The Bison scored early and often, taking a 21-0 lead at the end of the first quarter and keeping their foot on the gas throughout.
The loss will be a measuring stick for Missouri State as it departs the FCS to become an FBS program in Conference USA next season. NDSU would rank among the better Group of 5 teams as a well-established winning program the Bears hope to build toward. It’s clear they have a long way to go.
Missouri State has an outside chance at still winning a share of the MVFC. The Bears would have to beat FCS No. 3 South Dakota State (9-2, 6-1 MVFC) in Springfield in their FCS finale while requiring the Bison to lose to FCS No. 5 South Dakota.
Missouri State football fell into too big of a hole early
The Bison scored two touchdowns within the first quarter’s first five minutes. A 52-yard rushing touchdown on the Bison’s second offensive play was followed by a Jayden Becks fumble deep in MSU territory on the Bears’ first play of their second drive. NDSU star quarterback Cam Miller completed a three-yard touchdown pass, on fourth down, shortly after.
NDSU built its lead up to 28-0 with 8:16 left in the half. The Bears scored off a one-yard Jacardia Wright run before Miller threw his first interception of the season. A trick play saw Hunter Wood throwing a 40-yard touchdown pass to Becks to cut the lead in half.
Any feel-good the Bears could take into halftime disappeared when the Bison marched down the field and scored on a one-yard touchdown pass with eight seconds left, regaining a three-touchdown lead.
North Dakota State dominated on both fronts
The biggest concern for the Bears heading into the game was how well their offensive and defensive lines would hold up against both elite Bison units. The answer? Not very well.
North Dakota State gashed the Bears on the ground with beautiful blocking throughout, opening up giant holes and allowing runners to pick up big gains. The Bison scored on rushes of 48, 49 and 52. They ended with 364 rushing yards while averaging 9.6 per carry.
On defense, the Bison got after Bears star quarterback Jacob Clark, sacking him four times and then sacking Brock Bagozzi twice when he came in relief. They limited the Bears’ grounded game to 86 combined yards with Jacardia Wright finishing with 68.
Were there any positives for Missouri State football?
Clark didn’t play poorly but looked overwhelmed early. He missed a few passes you’re used to seeing him make while the Bison pulled away. His 247 yards helped him break the school’s single-season passing record in one fewer game than Jason Shelley played during the fall 2021 season.
Other than that? There wasn’t much to write home about. It’s not terrible that the Bears got to see where they’re behind a top FCS team that might be among the best in the Group of 5 if NDSU ever gets an FBS invite. They have a lot of work to do in recruiting more offensive and defensive linemen who can be competitive at the next level.
Ethics is a system of moral principles guiding behavior, defining what’s right, wrong, fair, and good for individuals and society, essentially asking, “What should we do?”
A commission is a group of people officially charged with a particular function.
The citizens of North Dakota voted for and passed an Ethics Commission measure. The Ethics Commission has infuriated the North Dakota Republican legislators and North Dakota government in general. (NOTE: Every elected state government official in North Dakota is Republican.) They have denied that any monitoring of ethics is needed.
North Dakota Republicans have done everything possible to make sure the Ethics Commission has virtually no teeth, no say, and remains invisible under constant attack by the Attorney General’s Office.
Why do Go. Armstrong, Attorney General Wrigley and the Republican members of the North Dakota Legislature fear ethics?
Henry Lebak lives in Bismarck.
FARGO, N.D. (AP) — Markhi Strickland had 15 points in North Dakota State’s 79-77 double overtime victory over Oral Roberts on Saturday.
Strickland also contributed five rebounds for the Bison (12-5, 2-0 Summit League). Trevian Carson added 14 points while going 6 of 10 (2 for 3 from 3-point range) and eight rebounds. Damari Wheeler-Thomas finished with 14 points, while adding six rebounds.
Yuto Yamanouchi-Williams led the way for the Golden Eagles (5-12, 0-2) with 19 points, five rebounds and two blocks. Connor Dow added 15 points and two steals for Oral Roberts. Ofri Naveh also put up 14 points.
A foul sent Wheeler-Thomas to the line with seven seconds to play, where he sank one of the shots to send the game to overtime. Jack Turner tipped in a shot for Oral Roberts to send the game to a second overtime. Noah Feddersen tipped in a shot for North Dakota state with one second to play for the win for the Bison.
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The Associated Press created this story using technology provided by Data Skrive and data from Sportradar.
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