North Dakota State Wins 10th FCS National Championship

The North Dakota State Bison (MVFC) survived a second half comeback by the Montana State Bobcats (Big Sky) to win the school’s 10th FCS National Championship. Cam Miller went 19 of 22 for 200 yards and 2 touchdowns through the air and added another 121 yards and 2 touchdowns on 18 carries as the Bison posted a narrow 35-32 victory over the Bobcats. Tommy Mellott posted 330 yards of total offense and three touchdowns on the losing end in the highly anticipated quarterback matchup.

NDSU opened the game with a methodical 12-play drive that was capped off by Miller’s two-yard plunge. After forcing Montana State to punt, the Bison looked set for another long drive but a defensive lapse allowed Miller to break off an easy 64-yard run to the end zone for a 14-0 lead. Not to be outdone in the long drive department, the Bobcats came back with a 17-play series that took 11 minutes and 13 seconds off the clock but only managed a field goal.

The end of the first half was emblematic of the opening 30 minutes. Montana State had a tough call to make trailing 14-3 with a 4th and 5 at the NDSU 44-yard line. The Bobcats opted to go for it but failed and the Bison made them pay. In less than a minute, Miller led the Bison to the goal line, back-to-back Bryce Lance catches ended the drive, and the lead grew to 21-3 going into the break. The Bobcats had only 108 yards of total offense in the first half including only 4 yards per carry, noticeably lower than the 6.6 YPC average they had coming into the game. Miller had 92 yards on 10 of 11 passing and another 108 yards and 2 touchdowns rushing on only 11 carries.

Montana State made a surge to start the second half by going on a long drive that took nearly 7 minutes off the clock. A couple of big third-down conversions courtesy of Mellott’s arm along with a Bison penalty in the end zone led to a one-yard touchdown run by Scottre Humphrey. After forcing a defensive stop, Montana State scored again in two plays and converted the two-point conversion to cut the deficit to 21-18.

With all the momentum on Montana State’s side, the Bison settled in and created breathing room again. A deep pass from Miller to Lance on third down set up an easy one-yard TD toss by Miller to Joe Stoffel. The Bison lead was back to 28-18 but it didn’t last long as the Bobcats and it was the Walter Payton Award winner who made the big play. Mellott ran 44 yards down the sideline into the end zone to cut the deficit back to three points at 28-25 with under 12 minutes remaining.

After both teams made a defensive stop, the Bison got the ball back halfway through the fourth quarter and went on a classic NDSU drive. Every time a big play was needed, someone stepped up for the Bison as they drained valuable time and scored a touchdown that salted the game away. The five-minute drive ended with a 3-yard run by CharMar Brown to extend the lead to 35-25 and prove too big a gap for the Bobcats to bridge in the final three minutes. The Bobcats scored a late touchdown when Mellott hit Taco Dowler and had an excellent opportunity to recover the onside kick but failed to do so as the Bison held on 35-32.

It was a fitting end to the Frisco era as the FCS National Championship will be played in Nashville, Tennessee the next two seasons. The Bison won all 10 of their FCS titles in Frisco and only suffered a single loss when they fell 45-21 to archrival South Dakota State in 2022. NDSU’s 10 FCS titles are the most in FCS history and four more than second-place Georgia Southern who left for the FBS in 2013. Youngstown State (MVFC) has the second most FCS titles among current FCS programs at four.

The loss ended Montana State’s perfect season as the Bobcats finished 15-1 overall and their run at an elusive second FCS title. Montana State has seen its FCS playoff run ended by NDSU six previous times including the 2021, 2023, and 2024 seasons. The Big Sky is now 0-4 against NDSU in FCS title games and 6-11 overall in title games while the Missouri Valley Football Conference improves to 14-6 all-time in the championship game.

Photo Credit to the Associated Press / AP Photos

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