Bison Sports Update: October 31st

Quite the weekend of Bison sports. Lets unpack it!

Football
NDSU Football hosted Indiana State this Saturday for the annual Trees Bowl. The North Dakota Fire Association recognized standouts with planting trees this past year before the halftime show.
The coaches chose to go with Sophomore Cam Miller at the QB position. Your guess is as good as mine as to why Quincy did not start. While Cam played well in relief of Patterson last Saturday, it seems this start was more for rest to QP2 then an indication of who will start next Saturday.
The Bison came out of the tunnel hot. Indiana State deferred to the second half, so NDSU got the ball first and drove it down the field for the first touchdown of the game. It was a short 3 yard connection between Miller and Josh Babicz. After that, the Code Green defense came on the field in the namesake game as well. On Indiana State's very first snap they fumbled it and NDSU recovered. However, the Bison offense wasn't able to move much and they kicked a 43 yard field goal to increase the lead to 10-0. Indiana State wasn't able to do much again against the Code Green defense, and was forced to punt. NDSU then showed more offensive prowess. First there was the 43 yard pass from Miller to Gindorff and then 3 straight runs gave the Bison another touchdown. NDSU went for the 2-point conversion but did not get it as it appeared Miller was short on the rush attempt.
The next Indiana State drive brought us into the 2nd quarter. The Sycamores drove all the way down to the NDSU goal line. But the Code Green defense had something to say about this. Indiana State went for it on 4 straight plays and were unsuccessful on every one of them. NDSU got the ball back at their own goal line. There was an unsuccessful rush more then 3 yards. The second play of the drive saw running back Kobe Johnson go 97 yards to the house! This made a new record for the NDSU program, Johnson now owns the longest rush from scrimmage in program history! This brought the Bison lead to 23-0 halfway through the 2nd quarter. Indiana State did not do much with the ball again and punted back to NDSU. The Bison marched down the field again that was highlighted by another run by Kobe Johnson (43 yards) and a 26 yard pass from Miller to Mathis. Then NDSU scored on a Miller to Watson diving touchdown catch in the endzone! Not much happened the rest of the half and NDSU had a 30-0 lead at halftime!
In the second half Indiana State got the ball first and did nothing with it again. NDSU drove down to the goal line and scored on a Miller to Luepke 1 yard catch. NDSU now had a 37-0 lead. Both teams traded punts. In that time, NDSU switched quarterbacks to true freshman Cole Payton. Both teams traded drives again to start the 4th quarter. However, Code Green intercepted the ball not long after the 4th quarter began and had it at the Sycamores' 22 yard line. They scored not long after on a Cole Payton rushing touchdown, most likely his second touchdown on the year! Indiana State did nothing on their next drive, NDSU received it and did nothing as well. On the punt to Indiana State, the snap was fumbled and nearly punted away but was blocked through the endzone for a safety. Both teams traded drives and NDSU won 44-2!
The game went well overall, the defense allowed no points all day. A very big lesson in bending but not breaking. Cam Miller looked very confident out on the field yet again, making the question even more urgent with South Dakota State looming on the horizon for next weekend. The team impressed me today, they didn't lob around like they knew this would be easy, they went out and did exactly what they are supposed to. 
The Bison will now travel to Brookings, South Dakota next Saturday for a Dakota Marker matchup with the currently 10th ranked Jackrabbits.

North Dakota State Football is 5-0 in MVFC play and 8-0 overall on the year.

Volleyball
The NDSU Volleyball team had a pretty good week at home. They hosted St. Thomas and Western Illinois and won both games; the first a 3-0 blanking of the Tommies, the second a 3-1 decision over the Leathernecks. Both teams were bottom dwellers just below the Bison in the standings so this was expected. 
The Bison will now hit the road for 2 of the last 3 road games of the year. They will visit 11-1 Omaha on Thursday at 7 PM CT, and 9-2 Denver on Saturday at 2 PM CT.

North Dakota State Volleyball is 5-8 in Summit League play and 11-14 overall on the year.

Soccer
​The NDSU soccer team finished up their season this week. They started out in Western Illinois where they lost to the Leathernecks 4-1. Then they travelled to St. Paul to play St. Thomas where they won 1-0 in overtime!
Since the Bison were not good enough to land in the top 4 of the Summit League, their season ends here. Good season ladies! 
North Dakota State Women's Soccer finishes the season 3-6 in Summit League play and 3-12-1 overall.

The Basketball teams will be starting soon!!

Go Bison!