North Dakota State Wins 4th Straight Championship
FRISCO, Texas — Carson Wentz and his North Dakota State teammates didn’t panic when they trailed by four points and little time to work with late in Saturday’s NCAA Division I Football Championship game.
Wentz engineered a successful last-ditch drive, including his five-yard game-winning touchdown run, that lifted the Bison to a 29-27 victory over Illinois State at Toyota Stadium.
“We’ve been here before,” the junior quarterback said.
The Bison (15-1) won their fourth straight FCS title as Wentz went 3-of-5 for 78 yards in the desperation 61-second drive after the Redbirds claimed a 27-23 lead.
“When you’ve had the success that we’ve had over the past four years, guys just know how to win,” North Dakota State coach Chris Klieman said. “And when you know how to win, you always feel you have that chance.”
Illinois State closed at 13-2 in a historic season that saw its most victories ever and first trip to the national finals.
The Redbirds claimed a 27-23 lead on quarterback Tre Roberson’s 58-yard touchdown run with 1:38 to play.
Facing a third-and-1 at his own 42, Roberson bolted up the
middle and then sprinted right toward the end zone. A two-point conversion try failed.
“I thought we were in pretty good shape,” Illinois State coach Brock Spack said. “(But) there was a lot of time left and we knew their quarterback is a pretty good player.”
The Bison matched an all-time NCAA championship run established by Division III Augustana College, which won four straight titles between 1983-86.
The championship game marked the first time teams from the same conference have played for a Division I title.
Illinois State and North Dakota State are members of the Missouri Valley Football Conference but didn’t play this season. The teams ended up as co-champions with 7-1 records.
Wentz completed 15-of-22 passes for 237 yards and a touchdown pass, while rushing for 87 yards and his winning touchdown.
Roberson completed 11-of-23 for 157 yards and three touchdowns, and rushed for 161 yards and another score.
Illinois State running back Marshaun Coprich carried 16 times for 106 yards.
“I told our players after the game that you didn’t lose the game, you just ran out of time,” Spack said.
North Dakota led, 10-7, at half and started to extend the margin in the third quarter. The Bison recovered an onside kick to start the half and extended the lead to 13-7 on Adam Keller’s 41-yard field goal at the 12:55 mark.
The lead grew to 20-7 less than five minutes later as the Bison moved marched 76 yards on eight plays, capped by running back John Crockett’s 7-yard touchdown run.
Roberson cut the deficit to six at 20-14 when he fired a pass to tight end James O’Shaughnessy — open along the sidelines — on a 41-yard scoring play late in the third quarter.
North Dakota State got three points back on Keller’s third field goal of the day — a 24-harder — after the Bison stalled at the Illinois State 7-yard-line.
Coprich set up Illinois State’s third touchdown with a 33-yard sprint to the Bison 2.
Three plays later James O’Shaughnessy hauled in his second touchdown pass of the day and Nick Aussieker’s extra point kick cut North Dakota’s lead to 23-21 with 8:05 remaining.
