Senior quarterback Cam Miller and sophomore quarterback Cole Payton each scored on a pair of touchdowns and senior Griffin Crosa kicked three field goals as the No. 2-ranked North Dakota State Bison thumped the University of Maine 44-7 at the Fargodome in Fargo, North Dakota Saturday afternoon.
The Bison are now 2-0 and have won their last 25 home openers and 80 of their last 82 games against non-conference opponents at the Fargodome.
North Dakota State has won nine of the last 12 NCAA Football Championship Subdivision titles.
UMaine fell to 0-2.
UMaine will open its Coastal Athletic Association campaign on Saturday when it hosts long-time rival Rhode Island at 3:30 p.m. North Dakota will entertain Central Arkansas also at 3:30 p.m.
North Dakota State totaled 456 total yards compared with UMaine’s 223 and forced four Black Bear turnovers including three interceptions thrown by senior quarterback Derek Robertson.
“You can’t do that,” said UMaine head coach Jordan Stevens, referring to the turnovers.
Miller completed 14 of 19 passes for 152 yards and ran the ball 15 times for 68 yards while Payton completed 3-of-5 passes for 40 yards and was the game’s leading rusher with 102 yards on eight carries.
Miller scored on runs of two yards and one yard and Payton also had a one-yard TD plunge to go with a 61-yarder.
Zach Mathis caught four passes for 62 yards and Joe Stoffel grabbed three passes for 34 yards.
Owen Johnson had a one-yard touchdown run.
Robertson completed 18 of 29 passes for 117 yards with Jamie Lamson registered a game-high six catches for 42 yards and Tristen Kenan and Joe Gillette catching three passes apiece for 28 and 19 yards, respectively.
Kenan ran the ball 14 times for 53 yards and John Gay had eight carries for 49 yards including a 13-yard TD run.
Stevens said his team’s defensive players “played their tails off. I’m proud of how they played. They were outstanding in the first half.
“Offensively, we couldn’t stay ahead of the chains,” added Stevens referring to the fact his
offense found itself in a lot of third down and long situations which was advantageous to the Bison because it forced UMaine’s offense to become more predictable.
Stevens praised North Dakota State, saying “make no mistake, they’re a very good team. They have a really strong winning culture.They’re one of the best teams in the country, if not the best team.”
The Black Bears could only generate 85 yards of offense in the first half, including 19 rushing yards, as the North Dakota State defense completely shut them down en route to a 16-0 halftime lead.
On UMaine’s first possession of the game, tight end Rohan Jones fumbled and the Bison’s Marcus Sheppard recovered at the UMaine 14-yard line.
But the Black Bear defense forced the Bison to eventually settle for Crosa’s 27-yard field goal.
Logan Kopp’s interception and 35-yard return set the Bison up at UMaine’s 23-yard line later in the quarter but again the UMaine defense buckled down and limited the Bison to Crosa’s 40-yard field goal with 4:01 left in the first period.
North Dakota State put together an 11-play, 40-yard drive later in the second quarter but again had to settle for a 31-yard Crosa field goal with 4:15 left in the half.
The Black Bears were again unable to move the ball and punted it away to the Bison, who received great field position as a result of a short 23-yard punt by Aidan Cadogan.
The Bison marched 48 yards on six plays with Miller’s two-yard run capping the drive.
Miller had run for 10 yards and 14 yards and threw a 10-yard pass to Mathis to set up his run with 52 seconds remaining.
The Black Bears strung together an eight-play 47-yard drive in the final 52 seconds but Cody Williams missed a 46-yard field goal on the final play of the half.
North Dakota State pulled away in the second half, taking the second half kickoff and driving 75 yards in 12 plays with Miller’s one-yard run finishing off the drive to make it 23-0.
UMaine moved the ball to the NDS-35 yard line on the ensuing drive but Cole Wisniewski intercepted Robertson’s pass on fourth-and-three to stall the drive.
Wisniewski intercepted Robertson again later in the third period and Payton engineered a five-play, 30-yard drive that he capped with a two-yard run.
Early in the fourth quarter, Payton scampered 61 yards for a touchdown to extend the lead to 37-0.
The Black Bears finally got on the scoreboard on Gay’s 13-yard TD run with 6:06 to go but the Bison didn’t let up, adding a one-yard TD run by Johnson with 22 seconds remaining.
Linebackers Julian Wlodarczyk and Nick Kubitz paced the Bison defense with seven and six tackles, respectively, and Wisniewski had his two interceptions.
Cornerback Kahzir ‘Buggs’ Brown and linebacker Darius McKenzie had a game-high nine tackles apiece while safeties Shakur Smalls and Robby Riobe combined for 15.