GRAND FORKS — During breaks in action in the first half, UND brought out and honored Jim Kleinsasser and Digger Anderson — two former players with signature moments in the UND-North Dakota State rivalry.

On Saturday, the Fighting Hawks couldn’t find their next rivalry hero.

Instead, NDSU’s Cole Payton scored on an 8-yard run with 2 minutes, 22 seconds left in the fourth quarter as the Bison beat UND 15-10 in front of a sellout crowd of 12,749 in the Alerus Center.

No. 13 UND fell to 6-4, with four losses by a combined 14 points. The No. 1 Bison improved to 10-0, securing the Missouri Valley Football Conference title in the process.

“It hurts, right?” UND first-year head coach Eric Schmidt said. “It was one of those games where it was an ugly football game. It’s frustrating. It’s a learning process. I just think you have to continue to do the things that winning teams do, and you have to be loyal to winning. It takes what it takes every single week.”

As has been the case in all four of UND’s losses this season, the Fighting Hawks had a chance to win the game late.

UND took over at its own 29 with about 80 seconds left and no timeouts trailing by five.

Jerry Kaminski connected with B.J. Fleming, Korey Tai and Sam Strandell as the Hawks moved the ball to the Bison 28 with 15 seconds left.

On second-and-6 with time running out, Kaminski took a shot toward the end zone for Tai. The ball was intercepted by NDSU’s Anthony Chideme-Alfaro.

After throwing 22 touchdowns to two interceptions through UND’s first eight games of the season, Kaminski — a first-year starting sophomore — has thrown no touchdowns and five interceptions in the team’s current two-game losing streak.

Kaminski finished 21-for-38 with three interceptions for 170 yards and was sacked three times.

UND’s leading rusher was Sawyer Seidl, who had 23 carries for 68 yards and a first-quarter touchdown run. Seidl had a four-game streak of at least 100 rushing yards snapped against the Bison.

Eric Hylden / GF Herald

NDSU’s offense only managed 10 first downs.

Payton threw for 125 yards, no touchdowns and had a first-quarter pass picked off by UND linebacker Malachi McNeal, which set up the Seidl touchdown.

UND out-gained NDSU 286 yards to 268 and ran 30 more offensive plays.

Eric Hylden / GF Herald

The Bison were just 2-for-12 on third down.

NDSU star wide receiver Bryce Lance had three catches for 61 yards.

“Coach Schmidt was preaching to us how good those guys were and how we’re going to stop them,” McNeal said. “Coach had a really good game plan, how to approach angles on Cole Payton and how to guard Bryce Lance. I think we have a defensive coach who really knows ball and really studies them. It really helps because it helps you go out there and play fast and play confident.”

NDSU’s game-winning drive was set up when UND went for fourth-and-1 at midfield with 4:24 to play and Kaminski was stuffed on a quarterback run up the middle.

The Bison scored four plays later, with the help of a 30-yard catch by tight end Reis Kessel.

“(UND) is playing really good defense,” NDSU coach Tim Polasek said. “They played bracket coverage today, and we’ve got to have a better plan against it. We’ve got to be better. To Eric’s credit, they did a nice job adjusting. It looks like we’re going to have a hell of a chess match moving forward.”

Eric Hylden / GF Herald

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