FARGO, N.D – Sam Houston State stuck with the three-time defending national champions for a half. The second half, and a berth in the Football Championship Subdivision title game, belonged to North Dakota State.
The Bison shrugged off a sluggish first half to score 28 unanswered points in the second half and roll to a 35-3 victory over the Bearkats Friday at the Fargodome.
"Hey, we're going to Frisco!" first-year Bison coach Chris Klieman said. "What a dominating second-half performance."
NDSU (14-1) will play the winner of Saturday’s New Hampshire-Illinois State game for the FCS title Jan. 10 in Frisco, Texas. The Bison will be going for an unprecedented fourth consecutive title.
Bison senior John Crockett rushed for 166 yards and three touchdowns.
Sam Houston State, which started the season 1-3 and were unseeded in the playoffs, finished 11-5. The Bearkats beat Southland Conference foe Southeast Louisiana in the first round before winning road games at third-seeded Jacksonville (Ala.) State and sixth-seeded Villanova.
“I think we eventually wore out,” Bearkats coach K.C. Keeler said. “Our journey started in Huntsville, went to Jacksonville, went to Philadelphia and ended up here in North Dakota. We eventually wore out.”
Much of that had to do with the Bison’s potent offense. Trailing 7-3 at halftime after gaining only 99 yards, NDSU pounded SamHoustonState for 217 yards and two touchdowns in the third quarter. Crockett, stuffed for 27 yards on eight carries in the first half, went for 110 yards in the third quarter alone behind the Bison’s massive offensive line.
“Unless we made some plays early in the game, we were going to wear down and that’s what happened in the second half,” Keeler said. “We just needed to make some more plays.”
The Bison finished with 219 yards on the ground and 398 total yards.
Sam Houston’s offense, averaging 454 yards and 36 points per game, got only a 22-yard field goal from Luc Swimberghe early in the second quarter. The Bearkats managed 338 total yards against the Bison, who are ranked third in FCS in total defense and scoring defense.
But the Bison struggled at times in playoff victories over South DakotaState and Coastal Carolina, needing a late game-winning drive against SDSU for a 27-24 victory before sneaking past Coastal 39-32.
“They heard everything the last couple of weeks about, ‘they’re not as good, they’re struggling a little bit,’” Bison coach Chris Klieman said. “To hold that team out of the end zone was remarkable.”
With NDSU leading 7-3, King Frazier broke a 33-yard TD run with 7:34 left in the third quarter for a 14-3 advantage. The score was set up by Carson Wentz’s 35-yard pass to Crockett on the previous play.
Crockett went 55 yards for a score on the first play of the Bison’s next possession for a 21-3 lead.
Crockett carried 10 times for 58 yards on NDSU’s next drive that spanned the late third quarter and early fourth. He capped it with a 10-yard TD run and a 28-3 lead for NDSU.
“That’s a championship-level team,” Keeler said. “You can see what a championship team looks like. We’re not there yet.”
Crockett had the game’s first score, a 3-yard run with 3:52 left in the first quarter.
Sam Houston State, averaging 250 rushing yards per game, had 111 against NDSU.
Wentz completed 13 of 19 passes for 179 yards and a TD.
Quarterback Jared Johnson ran for 66 yards on 25 carries for the Bearkats. Keshawn Hill had 26 yards on 12 carries. Sam Houston averaged just 2.7 yards per rush.
Johnson was 20-31 passing for 227 yards and an interception.