Almost 10 minutes after the game had ended, stunned Iowa fans continued to stand at their seats, trying to comprehend what just happened.
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There are 128 FBS teams playing at a higher level of college football than North Dakota State, but it’s clear that the Bison could hang with a lot of them.
Cam Pedersen kicked a 37-yard field as time expired and North Dakota State, of the FCS, rallied to beat No. 13 Iowa 23-21 on Saturday for its sixth straight win over an FBS opponent. After last season’s disappointing finish in the Big Ten title game versus Michigan State and the Rose Bowl against Stanford, this isn’t a game the Hawkeyes can overlook if they’re going to get back to Pasadena in January or into the College Football Playoff discussion.
You can pin the loss on a defense that couldn’t hold its ground, on receivers who dropped passes, on quarterback C.J. Beathard not being as accurate as he normally is.
“Just base run”, said offensive coordinator Tim Polasek. “It wasn’t working today”. Heading into Saturday’s matchup, the Hawkeyes had won 14 consecutive regular season games. Bison head coach Chris Klieman, a Waterloo native, made a decision to go for the 2-point conversion.
Villanova will rely on a strong running game which saw three 80-plus yard rushers last week.
The fact that NDSU doesn’t have Carson Wentz should be a slight sigh of relief for the Hawkeye faithful, but this is an NDSU team that would love nothing more than to win on their biggest stage of the season.
What that means, of course, is Iowa’s offense was misfiring like your grandfather’s old tractor.
The Bison rushed for 239 yards, compared to just 34 for the Hawkeyes.
“They basically look the same”, he said.
The challenge for us now is to – we got a feel for what it’s like, and we’re going to have to push forward here because we’re going to play more good teams this year. Two years ago we played UNI. “Those little things make a big difference in momentum”. We didn’t come out and play our football.
Iowa had one drive in the second half that worked – a 10-play, 70-yarder that was fueled by a 37-yard completion from true freshman QB Nathan Stanley to tight end George Kittle.
“Obviously today it’s pretty disappointing”. “I’m just trying to do whatever I can to contribute to this team”. He completed a 10-yard pass to RJ Urzendowski on the next play to move the ball to the Iowa 27-yard line. The career record is 174 receptions set by former wideout Kevonte Martin-Manley. “It’s as simple as that”, Iowa head coach Kirk Ferentz said. With starter James Daniels likely out for the second straight week, the Hawkeyes will need LeGrand to anchor the middle of their line again.
Iowa scored the next two touchdowns and took a 14-7 lead into the half.
Klieman has made no bones about the fact this Iowa team will be the most hard challenge North Dakota State has faced at the FBS level.
Quarterback Easton Stick is off to a good start on his inaugural season as the Bison quarterback, averaging 225 yards per game and sporting an efficiency rating of 156.
The Bison are about to play a football game against a team that’s an actual power-5 contender with better players in literally every position. “They’ve got an excellent football team, and it came as no surprise to us they’re a tremendous team”. They’re certainly not going to be overwhelmed by it. Danny Etling is the man for now, we think, but as long as the ball is moving forward in the hands of Leonard Fournette LSU fans should feel good.
NDSU had closed within 21-20 on Stick’s 7-yard touchdown pass to Chase Morlock with 3:41 left in the game, and rather than try for the extra point to tie it, the Bison went for the two-point conversion but a pass failed. It’s not often that an FCS team beats an FBS team.
Hornibrook completed 8 of 12 passes for 122 yards and one interception.
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“We came here to win, ” Klieman said.
