RJ Urzendowski sat at a table between Carson Wentz and Tre Dempsey at the postgame press conference in the Fargodome’s lower level Saturday after North DakotaState added to its football lore with a Brock Jensen-like victory over South DakotaState.
This is noteworthy because Wentz is a redshirt junior quarterback who’d never needed to lead the Bison on a last-minute comeback. Dempsey is a redshirt freshman who’d never before played in a playoff game. And, best of all, Urzendowski is a true freshman who a year ago had just completed his senior season at Omaha’s Creighton Prep.
Not a senior among them. Yet they were the ones making the biggest plays when the Bison absolutely, positively had to have them.
“We told the guys, ‘You guys are all playmakers. Let’s go make some plays,’” a grateful Bison coach Chris Klieman said.
Indeed. Urzendowski made a difficult athletic catch of a perfect Wentz pass for the game-winning touchdown with 54 seconds left in the game, and Dempsey sealed it by picking off Jackrabbits senior quarterback Austin Sumner a few moments later and the Bison lived to fight another day. The final score was 27-24 for the Bison, who’ll host runnin’ and gunnin’ Coastal Carolina next Saturday as the quest for four straight FCS national titles continues.
“What an unbelievable game,” Klieman said. “An unbelievable finish at the Fargodome.”
NDSU hadn’t been tested in the playoffs since the 2012 semifinals against Georgia Southern, when the Jensen-led Bison staged a last-minute drive and the quarterback ran into the end zone on fourth down to complete the rally. It was those kinds of rallies that made Jensen a beloved figure around Fargo.
Wentz showed he has some moxie, too. In his first opportunity be the hero (or the goat) when it really mattered, Wentz engineered an eight-play, 76-yard drive in just 2:18 to keep the heads of about 18,000 Bison fans from exploding.
Wentz might be responsible, too, for saving the lives of the Colonial Athletic Association officiating crew that looked to be swimming in about 8 feet of Red River water while wearing cement boots. The game got away from them early – particularly umpire Rob Kinter, who apparently doesn’t believe cornerbacks and receivers should touch each other at all – and they never recovered. If NDSU had lost this game, the fans might have stormed the field and paraded down 19th Ave. N. with the officials’ heads on pikes. And they might have been acquitted by a jury.
Urzendowski’s 29-yard catch-and-run over the middle put the Bison at the Jackrabbit 21 with just over a minute left and assured NDSU was going to have a few chances to win the game. On the next play, Urzendowski drew a pass interference call on an SDSU defensive back that put the ball at the 7. A false start moved the Bison back, but Wentz lofted a ball toward the back left corner of the north end zone and Urzendowski leaped high and caught the ball above SDSU's Dallas Brown before slamming to the turf.
Touchdown, upheld by video review. Another year, another legendary drive.
Urzendowski’s reaction? Ho-hum.
Keep calm and RJ on.
“I just tried to stay calm. We ran that play a few times. I thought it was coming to me,” he said.
That’s it? No excitement? No racing pulse? No dramatic words for the assembled media?
“We practice that situation every week,” Urzendowski said, his voice never leaving monotone and his mouth never curling into a smile. “We just had to stay calm and do what we do.”
The fireworks weren’t quite finished. There were still had 48 seconds and the Jacks had a senior quarterback in Sumner who hadn’t thrown an interception in forever and a week.
That changed quickly. Dempsey stepped in front of a quick sideline pattern and caught Sumner’s throw to seal the game. Dempsey didn’t have his best game, but he made the play when it mattered most.
The finish gutted the Jackrabbits, who’ve now lost seven straight to the Bison. That includes two playoff games.
“I thought we had it,” said Zach Zenner, the all-world running back who finally cracked the 100-yard mark against the Bison. “I thought it was a lock, to be honest with you. I had total confidence our defense was going to stop them.”
Zenner choked up.
“The only thing that matters is winning and we didn’t get it done,” he said.
Not this time. Only it wasn’t only because of the many seniors who fill the Bison roster. It was a couple of freshman and a playoff-green junior who added their names to the history books.
(Mike McFeely is a talk-show host on 790 KFGO-AM in Fargo-Moorhead. He can be heard 2-5 p.m. weekdays. Follow him on Twitter @MikeMcFeelyKFGO.)