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The University of Northern Iowa was probably warned not to mess with the power North Dakota State can throw at an opponent these days. The Bison had United States Olympic shot putter and Bison graduate Payton Otterdahl throw the toss before the game.

Otterdahl, in a rare defeat on home soil, lost the toss. UNI deferred until the second half and the Bison would take the ball on offense first. Well, not entirely.

TK Marshall initially seemed hesitant after catching the kickoff a couple yards from his own end zone. Once in full gear, and on their way onto the field, an official’s yellow flag flew in an area that is almost always an illegal blockade.

Marshall kept going, finally finding space down the left sideline and scoring, a 100-yard kickoff return. However, fan reaction at Gate City Bank Field was somewhat muted with the flag on the grass.

Marshall felt it too.

“I didn’t see the flag, but I liked feeling it,” he said. “The atmosphere was like ahhhh… there has to be a flag somewhere, right?”

Even the Bison players began walking in the opposite direction. After a brief discussion, the referees raised the flag and a touchdown was signaled. That pretty much summed up Northern Iowa’s season and this game, which ended with a 42-19 Bison victory in front of 14,528 fans who might have left the building with the same thoughts: Aside from a couple of third-quarter runs, what the hell happened? to a UNI program to dig a 35-3 hole?

The only pressure Bison quarterback Cam Miller put on him as he passed might have been anxiety at waiting so long to draft his top wide receiver. It didn’t matter if the Panthers rushed just their linemen or threw a blitz package at the Bison blockers; There were no cracks in that wall.

He didn’t have all day to throw, he also had all night and could have been left in the pocket until Sunday morning. UNI came in with five quarterback sacks all season and the Bison offensive line showed it was no fluke.

“I think in the last four or five years, that’s probably the best protection we’ve had,” Miller said. “I could have sat there for five to 10 seconds and taken a shot. That makes my job a lot easier, the guys got open and we made plays.”

They made plays like Bryce Lance’s spectacular 14-yard touchdown reception while dancing with the line out of bounds. Or Lance’s 42-yard catch over the middle where he shielded a defender and kept the ball from being knocked down.

Miller completed 17 of 20 passes for 216 yards and two touchdowns. He once again spread the wealth, with seven different receivers taking a catch in the first half alone. It ended with the Bison up 28-3, with the only drive that didn’t result in a touchdown a few plays left in the half after a UNI punt.

At 2-6 at the start, the Panthers looked defeated and deflated. At least there’s the transfer portal in the offseason to try to find some defensive linemen in the mold of the Panthers of old, who had a few guys over the years.

“It just felt like his feet were never interrupted,” NDSU head coach Tim Polasek said. “I don’t know if they took him out of his spot and I don’t know if they touched him outside the quarterback box. Really good.”

In the process, Miller and teammate Marty Brown further established their case for a pair of postseason awards: Miller for the Walter Payton Award which is given to the best offensive player in the FCS and Brown for the Jerry Rice Award, which It is awarded to the best first-year player. .

Miller broke the school record for consecutive passes without an interception and now has 311 in a row. Trey Lance maintained the mark of 307 achieved mainly in 2019, the year in which he won the Payton and the Rice.

“That’s a credit to a lot of guys,” Polasek said. “That is a credit to many coaches and many people. I mean, it’s a great time to let Trey Lance go.”

Brown had 80 of his 124 yards in the first half and will most likely continue to maintain his position as the leading rusher among all freshmen in Division I FBS or FCS.

NDSU improved to 9-1 overall and 6-0 in the Missouri Valley Football Conference with a much-needed bye week ahead. It all started with a fast start from kickoff, a first quarter that Polasek harped on his team all week.

He started from the front.

“The offensive line is difficult here,” he said. “Wherever it is valued, it is never good enough. You can always separate those guys, but that protection really seemed to be adequate.”

Jeff would like to dispel the idea that he was around when Johannes Gutenberg invented the printing press, but he’s already been working as a reporter at Forum Communications for three decades. The son of a reporter and an English teacher, and the brother of a reporter, Jeff has worked at the Jamestown Sun, Bismarck Tribune and since 1990 at The Forum, where he has covered North Dakota State athletics since 1995.
Jeff has covered all nine of NDSU’s Division I FCS national football titles and has written three books: “Horns Up,” “North Dakota Tough” and “Covid Kids.” He is the radio host of “The Golf Show with Jeff Kolpack” from April to August.